Compare Fashion in 19th century to contemporary form of popular culture - Research Paper Example

Compare Fashion in 19th century to contemporary form of popular culture This paper seeks to compare fashion in the 19th century to contemporary form of popular culture. More specifically, the paper will examine a form of popular culture in the 19th century and another form of popular culture in the contemporary society. The paper pays interests to the kinds of people who participated in this culture, their socioeconomic and cultural context, material practices involved, spaces needed for culture, and the purpose of the cultures to their participants. This paper compares and contrasts the two popular cultures; literary writing and cyber culture. Popular culture refers to intricate assembly of ideas, perspectives, fads, attitudes, images, and values widely practiced by the mainstream population in a given culture. Popular can also entail culture oriented for the market, which is spread via mass media. Popular culture arises from universal exposure to the same media (Hinds, Motz and Nelson 3). Popular culture permeates everyday lives of large segments of people giving them identity. Popular culture affects and consensually informs interests among mainstream population (Boehm 37). Various desires of the masses make up popular culture in the contemporary world. Counter cultural groups and religious groups criticize popular culture because it is shallow, consumerist, melodramatic, and contaminated. However, consumers of popular culture oppose indoctrination and negative view points from critics. Fashion in the 19th Century Literature This includes writing styles and literary genres such as creative writing, popular science, drama, romance, poetry, thrillers, comic books, letters, and crime fiction. Prior to 19th century, the literary economy did not have a stabilized audience for literary goods. With infiltration of literary as a mainstream culture in mid- 19th century, authors could now afford to support themselves from writing. This from of culture in 19th century accommodated different audiences and authors. Most of the literature and writings exhibited varying styles occasioned by prevailing ethos, periods or movements. Literary writing responded to the culture of the family centred middle class. Most of the literary writings of 19th century were metropolitan each addressing an audience (Patell 18). For instance, there were children books mostly dwelling on comic and literature for scholars such as scientific writings. Children literature expressed practical advice and enhanced moral and spiritual growth. The Comic in both books and newspapers came in different shapes, colours and sizes. They both used humor expressed in basic and straight drawings. Similarly, domestic fiction’s chief audience were women. The literary space paid homage to family space; men’s, women’s, and children’s world as well as historical. The literary writings highlighted domestic culture as they addressed socially distinct audiences. Literature provided spaces for reading and writing. Each space attracted a distinctly constituted audience. The divergence of audiences experienced its own cultural forces hence bestowing contrasting value and support. Literary writing of the 19th century provided open-spaces for re engagement with the society. The culture illuminated the culture of the peoples constructively. Literary writings of the 19th century documented historical truths of the society and aided in reconstitution of new cultures e.g. advancing the debate on slavery and racial equality which eventually led to civil rights movements (Patell 22). This culture was amplified by nationalism, in a special way; it articulated the prevailing anxiety on cultural dependency that had endured political independence. The literary market of 19th century was boosted by the vitality of middle-class literary taste. The literary works did no longer enumerate and support class defining values. This heralded a new organization of consumption, purely for entertainment. Some of the audience were working class with limited education or little surplus income for entertainment. In other cases, the lower class people as well as some immigrant readers had a weak command of literacy skills. The first novels of 19th century were popular. At this time, the middle class used to read domestic tales and adventure tales (Volo and Denneen 18). The people who had lower education, mostly lower class, preferred reading adventure novels and urban crime novels. At this time, the southern writers such as William Gilmore, compiled works such as tales of pirates and sea monsters targeting working class and younger readers. Other works such as urban crime novels featured urban poverty and criminality within the society. This culture gave the masses non-derivative forms of expression. The novels provided psychological and sociological insights on many problems that afflicted the society of that time. Literary writing in the 19th century and earlier was elitist portraying the dominant culture of people in the upper socioeconomic ladder. Though most of the writing was stereotypical, it started debates on topical issues in society such as slavery and civil rights. The writings also stirred pride in the American dream hence bringing together different groups in society (Volo and Denneen 20). In particular, the literature provided insights on urban poverty, class division, prostitution, and social inequality. The literature of the 19th century especially comic books paid a lot of attention to superheroes and anti heroes. Similarly, the trend of comic books was dramatic in line with the changing political and cultural values. Comic literature utilized cartoons and animations illustrate comics. Literary writing was out of reach for many. In addition, they were expensive and directed at audiences such as children literature. This culture of the 19th century featured vernacular expressions, which incorporated ghost tales, tales of heroes and villains, and children stories. The grand narratives explored myths, humor, legends, and sermons detailing the identities of an ethnic group from a certain region. For instance, comic literature widely employed aspects such as wild exaggeration as well as pungent images. Some of the literature was also not immune to controversy. Most literature had virulent racial stereotypes, which degraded the subjects since they relied on dark humor (Patell 26). In addition, the content of some of the literary works also did not avail space to the minority people. Contemporary forms of popular culture Cyberculture Cyberculture refers to a combination of technologies (both material and intellectual), practices, and forms of thought, and values that emerge from growth of cyberspace. Cyberculture represents electronic cultures of the contemporary society (Turner 104). Cyberculture presents a revolutionised communication space with enormous economic, political, cultural and human potential. Cyberculture has led to the formation of cybercommunities bearing different nationalities, race/ethnicity, and gender. In the contemporary society, cyberculture is a popular culture, cross cutting to all social classes and reflects the overall culture of the mainstream society. This section will base its argument on three different kinds of cybercultures, namely: mobile phone culture, internet culture, and entertainment. Cyber culture incorporates cultural and ideological aspects brought about by ICT’s (internet and techno space). Cyber culture, which progress through time and space, involves a distinct culture sprouting from the use of computers and internet. Contemporary society exhibits wired cultural interactions and technological catalyzed social change. This in turn, leads to the creation of online identities and virtual communities. Cyberspace enables users to contain their offline identities and create online identities that feature altered set of characteristics, beliefs, and values (Boehm 42). In addition, internet is anonymous and unrestricted hence a form of empowerment. Unlike popular cultures of 19th century, people need not be discrete to consume it since cyberculture involves the creation of virtual communities and cyber-identities with varied meanings. The key economic and social roles availed by computer networks makes their acquisition a perquisite in order to gain an edge both commercially and socially. However, the distribution of communication networks is not even within countries, individuals, and societies (Turner 105). Disparities on the level of access are apparent between regions and communities have led to materialization of global divide. These disparities have led to the emergence on social divide where some people are information- rich, whereas others are information- poor. Similarly, the inequality of access between users has resulted to democratic divide (Nayar 26). Consequently, the digital divide may strengthen and broaden the prevailing social and material inequalities in the society. Cyberculture, just like material space, constitutes a series of social processes and interactions where interactions happen in a split of a second. Computer networks enable one to access an overwhelming amount of data cheaply, with ease. The spaces needed and created by this culture include private, public, and geographic. Cyberculture is shaped by online social spaces. Cyberspace has heralded a virtual world where virtual forums can be conducted anywhere at any time. Cyberculture has brought about new forms of production and distribution of languages and writings. The computer mediated communication increases the information been sent and received. Access to prompt channels of communication provides individuals and the community with a wide variety of opportunities such as political, commercial and educational advancement. The purposes of cyberculture to the participants are many. Cyberculture has had a lot of influence on social, political, scientific, cultural, and commercial wellbeing of individuals, groups, institutions, and countries. Nayar contends that, cyberculture has reconfigured the communications infrastructure by providing avenues for faster and easy communication such as electronic mail (30). Cyberculture has also brought about democratization of societies where people within the society are given the opportunity to appropriate for themselves, amid their own cultures, fresh knowledge, languages, and writings. Cyberculture is popular among young people who seek to explore other forms of communication other than the traditional ones. The young people have a yearning for venturing into new territories, which make them embody culture. The culture is also popular among the youth since it provides a lot of flexibility. Similarities between Literary Writings of 19th Century and Cyberculture of Contemporary Society There is connectivity between the above discussed popular cultures. This is because the two cultures can be considered to be cultural artifacts. The two cultures are also similar in the sense that they are both influenced by the prevailing cultural and material contexts. Literary writings focused mainly on the prevailing ethos, periods or movements. Different periods occasioned different kinds of writings. Similarly, cyberculture dwells heavily on the present technology. The two cultures are similar in the sense that they both depict the same ecology. It is inconceivable to view cyberculture as purely ICT’s without mention of issues of power, identity, ideology, and culture (Turner 120). For a culture to be popular, it must be driven by a certain ideology existing in a culture. There also exist underlying forces manifesting themselves as power. In this case, the two cultures are influenced by the underlying cultural, economic, political, and social aspects of the society. Just like Literary writing of the 19th century, class still has a profound effect on cyberspace. In the 19th century, the social classes did not have an equal access to the culture. For instance, many could not spare some part of the income exclusively for entertainment. This prevented them from indulging in the mainstream culture of writing and reading books as a form of leisure. In the contemporary society, low- income communities continue to lose their ground in cyberspace as a result of an increasing digital divide. Digital divide has arisen from economic inequality, discrimination, and cultural misrepresentation of sections of the society. The uneven level ground has resulted to some sections of the society lagging behind in the adoption of cyberculture. The two cultures are also similar since the spaces needed and created by these cultures are the same. Both cultures, results to the establishment of three spaces, namely: private, public, and geographic spaces. Differences between Literary Writings of 19th Century and Cyber culture of Contemporary Society The two cultures differ in a number of ways. For instance, the participants of cyberculture need not be discrete to consume whereas Literary writing requires one be discreet. Similarly, cyberculture is entrenched in the social context of technology. In contrast, literary writing is grounded in the social and historical context of the society. Another distinguishing factor between the two lies in the audience that each culture attracts. Most of the literary writings of 19th century were metropolitan each addressing an audience. The literary writings addressed socially distinct audiences such as children, women, and men. The participants of the culture also had differential attachment. Cyberculture, on the other hand, draws homogenous participants, each oblivious of the other’s identity (Hinds, Motz and Nelson 15). Cyberspace enables users to contain their offline identities and create online identities that feature altered set of characteristics, beliefs, and values. This makes the culture appealing to many people since one can be able to withhold his/her identity. Cyberculture sometimes represents virtual communities, as opposed to literary writings whose participants are present physically. During the 19th century, some of the literature had virulent racial stereotypes, which degraded the subjects since they relied on dark humor. The Prevailing culture at that time was somewhat patronising and did not present a homogenised society. It was common for the dominant group to produce writings that were biased and which casted a degrading view of dominated sections of society. In the contemporary society, cyberculture offers its participant an equal avenue that is devoid of restrictions or stereotyping tendencies. Literary writing sometimes incorporated the writing of letters that expressed confidentiality, as well as building trust among the masses. In the contemporary society cultures such as cyberculture, confidentiality is a hard to achieve. Cyberculture is prone to threats of breach of confidentiality especially in instances where a hacker is determined in unmasking the identity of an individual. The two cultures are dissimilar in the sense that cyberculture involves wired cultural interactions as well as social change that is technological catalyzed. Literary writing, on the other hand, does not feature wired cultural interactions (Boehm 66). The cultural interactions within literary writing are physical. Cyberculture is mostly popular among young people who seek to explore other forms of communication other than the traditional; as opposed to literary writing whose participants are cross cutting within all age brackets. Why Literary Writings of 19th Century Differ from Cyber culture of Contemporary Society The differences between the two cultures can be attributed to time changes accompanied by cultural changes within the society. A comparison between the societies indicates that the society has undergone immense deal of social, political, cultural, and economic changes. The contemporary society is more advanced and civilized compared to the society of the 19th century. The difference can as well be attributed to the fact that the internet is anonymous and unrestricted. This frees the space for people who actively participate in the culture. Cyberculture has also brought about democratization of societies where people within the society are given the opportunity to appropriate for themselves the culture they want (Nayar 36). The differences can also be attributed to the fact that literary writing as a popular culture in the 19th century exhibited some exclusivity with motivation caped on merchandising. This restrained some people from indulging in the culture. Exclusivity repels people from getting involved in the mainstream culture. Cyberculture is popular among cross sections of people the participants feel accommodated in the culture. In conclusion, popular culture can be regarded as a combination of ideas, attitudes, perspectives, values, and images practised by a given culture. Popular culture mainly targets the market and is spread through the mass media. Literary writing encompasses culture, which includes writing, drama, and other forms of literature. On the other hand, cyber culture refers to thoughts and ideas that emanate from the invention of technologies such as the internet. These two forms of culture have significant differences and similarities. Works Cited Boehm, Lisa. Popular Culture and the Enduring Myth of Chicago, 1871-1968. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print. Hinds, Harold, Motz Ferris and Nelson Angela. Popular Culture Theory and Methodology: A Basic Introduction. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. Print. Nayar, Pramod. An Introduction to new Media and Cybercultures. London: Blackwell, 2010. Print. Patell, Cyrus. The Cambridge History of American Literature: Prose Writing, 1860-1920. London: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print. Turner, Fred. From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Print. Volo, James, and Denneen Dorothy. The Antebellum Period. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2004. Print. Read More