Are you online?

In an earlier blog I spoke of subculture in the real world. As I was surfing the internet and frequented my daily websites, such as Facebook, Myspace (music) and other social networking sites, I realized that these sites formed an online subculture. My attempt to define subculture as a culture or group of people which deviates from the norm or mainstream influence seems to work in close contact with these websites. People all over the internet attempt to identify themselves as being unique in some form or another. Pictures depicting a wide assortment of weird and wacky obsessions litter these social websites. I found myself looking at my own profile and realized that I was following the same compulsion. Mainstream influences placed in our lives are deeply embedded that the realization that life has a lot more to offer than a simple rat-race is solicited by online subculture.

Networking websites are not the only form of subculture available on the internet, I also found myself gravitate towards the massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG, MMO for short). Games which include, World Of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI Online and a horde of other titles. These games offer the player a form of alternate reality in which the world is molded by every action the player makes. These channels of subculture enable the formation of bonds and relationships between players. In these worlds there are no restrictions or mainstream influences placed on personas. Another example where this non restrictive alternate reality is evident is Second Life, another world where players create avatars to interact with other players. Within these games or worlds it is evident that the real world can be completely left behind so that one may live in this parallel universe. There has been proof that people have made incredible sums of money through living a Second Life.

Basically what I’m getting at here is that facebook, myspace and all those awesome MMORPG’s offer a different medium in which to interact with subculture. Whether you are a facebook creeper or a video gaming nerd like me, you are helping to shape the online subculture of the next generation.

The Ultimate Subculture

I’m sure most of us are aware of how popular the UFC actually is. The abbreviation, UFC, which stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, is synonymous with pulverizing your opponent into submission. A single question comes to mind; are people stupid or do they revel in the power granted to them by displaying dominance over their opponent? Obviously the answer is the latter. People do not care about the consequences of their actions or the physical toll it takes on the human body. While I realize that the UFC is not the only culprit in this savagery, it is a fundamental example of international subculture. This trend of masculine domination is also displayed in commercialized wrestling, the National Football League and any other modern day re-hash of 1st century Rome.

The coliseum weighted heavily on roman culture and was widely accepted. Gladiators would vie for respect and freedom through combat. Similarly, those in the UFC as well as any other combative sport garner a certain amount of respect in the form of women, fame and money. This respect is what renders combat incredibly popular. Are people so fixated on brutality that it has become widely accepted? My answer is most certainly, to the point in which we will fatally accept accidents.

Governments have accepted this worldwide phenomenon and as a result realize the potential impact of its commercialism. Subculture in the form of combat displays a high adrenaline influence over mainstream society and corporate North America.

Communication

Plasma, LCD or even the latest LED Television sets, Ipods, Laptops and cellphones have become ubiquitous in culture. These cultural products seem to have an everlasting effect on humanity. But was there ever a time in which we never needed them. Sure there was, “was” being the key word here. Communication has become so fast paced that without technology life wouldn’t be the same. Blu-ray players even allow access to the internet, an ability that old technology could never live up to. With access to the internet from various medium’s communication has never been easier. In reality the question is not, what would my life be without these products but rather what would life be without communication? A perspective shared by many is that technology is what defines humanity. Therefore if humanity can be defined by technology then technology can define communication and communication can define culture. Culture is indeterminably embedded in communication that it is now be impossible to be separated. While many would argue that technology is not needed for communication thus dispersing with technology, would anyone be willing to give up the luxury of having their cellphone? I think not.

P.S. I don’t own a cellphone, a laptop or a high-end TV.

The Age Of Zombies!

Reality bites! What a nice way to start off my entry of the day, wouldn’t you agree? There a few conclusions I can draw from that cliché. One, while there may be what appears to be zombies in south Africa due to voodoo magic, zombies are more or less a part of everyone’s imagination. I’m talking real zombies. You know the flesh feeding kind? Now, let’s rewind a few years back and take a look at where the zombie phenomena started. George Romero, in 1969, released a film entitled “The Night of the Living Dead”. This film depicted the living dead, more commonly referred to as zombies, feeding off the living, devouring flesh and other monstrosities. At the time, this sparked a series of zombie film releases. Fast forward to the present and we see MANY things related to zombies and zombie paraphernalia. Let’s take a look at some of society’s zombie addictions. The first thing that comes to mind is the wide variety of zombie movies released and slated for release in the future, second, there are many zombie related video games aimed to please the horde of zombie starved teens. In music we have Rob Zombie, who through various songs depicts death, corruption and disease. There is even literature detailing zombie anatomy and what drives the zombie movement. Finally geared towards the adult scene there is an alcoholic beverage with the name The Zombie. This in fact is what I will call The Age of Zombies! Let’s shift our attention briefly to the establishment of the mall. Yes, I realize this is from left field, but there is a relationship.

A mall is a place where many people of all walks of life go to escape from reality. Though for some a mall displays many things that are out of their reach. Therefore, a mall is to entertain a mass of people, a flock of middle class citizens. As you know malls are frequented on a daily basis during the hours of operation and that there are certain guidelines one must adhere to while in the mall. But these guidelines are not just limited to the mall, these rules are enforced everywhere. In Popular Culture: A User’s Guide there is an article in chapter 9 that analyses the term “public” and “space” denoting that “public space” does not exist(299). As many “public” places are constructed many “public” places are in fact privately owned, such as malls(299). The relationship between public and private has become intertwined to a degree that many freedoms have been restricted. Then why go to a mall? Well, the trip to the mall has become customary.

Alright, so how exactly does this the mall and the zombie relate? Well, the mall is the principle location of congregation. Nobody realizes the restrictions placed upon them, people move about the mall as if in a trance, captivated by the window displays, the intoxicating aroma of the food court and synergistic effect of socialization! In places such as IKEA, people may browse for hours and only when the place closes do they realize “Whoa! What times is it!” This in effect puts meaning to the Age of Zombies, that every living soul has been subjected to consuming popular culture without ever knowing.

The image at the top is from the video game deadrising, I use it to further emphasize my point that by consuming too much popular culture you'll look no different than these guys!

The Urban Dictionary

Recently I came across an interesting website, www.urbandictionary.com. My initial perception of another dictionary website was of distaste. However, upon closer inspection I soon began to realize that this was not the same as www.dictionary.com, the Cambridge online dictionary or even Google’s dictionary. This was a dictionary where people could literally define their own words. Let’s take for example the word "blog". I’m sure we are all familiar with this word as this is what we are creating. Blog is easily defined as an online diary, correct? One interesting entry that attempts to define the word blog found on the urban dictionary stated, “A recent and disturbing trend on the internet. A blog lets people easily post comments onto a webpage…These people have such massive egos and are so narcissistic that they believe that other people would be interested in reading their pointless ramblings” (Whodey). Two things come to mind while reading this comment. One, the Urban Dictionary has become popular culture and two blogging is following in the same footsteps. Whether it’s an attempt to define a word or make an opinion both are utilizing the internet to spread to the many desktops and laptops around the world. Another interesting thing to note is that Whodey attempts to define the word blog while stating his opinion. I believe that the Urban Dictionary is just another blog medium, albeit a truncated one. The fact that this is possible allows anyone to deliver their definition of a word in the form of an opinion. Furthermore, the fact that anyone can define a word and have it globally accepted allows this dictionary a part of culture. I might as well attempt my own definition on popular culture, but why when I need only look at the Urban Dictionary and others have already attempted?

IBM vs Mac (old news but relevant)... The struggle for dominance!

Because this class has a primary focus on popular culture I can only assume that owning a computer is popular culture. It may have become ubiquitous in modern society to actually own one. This was not always the case. In the late 1970’s and early 80’s there was a huge technological war and computers were not available, at least to my knowledge, in abundance like they are today (same thing can be said about cell phones). By war I mean economical and financial war, nothing like the violence I have explained about in the last two or three blog things I’ve written. Pirates of the Silicon Valley was a movie directed by Martyn Burke displayed this re-enactment of the war on the big screen in 1999. This film touched on the experimentation and race to be the first company between IBM (now Microsoft) and Apple Macintosh (now Mac) to have the first computer on the market. What is most amazing about this whole “war” was the fact that both company founders Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, knew that this in fact would be the future of society. This in fact would present to the public the ideal popular culture. In as I sit here and type on this computer I realize that my life is so much easier than that of my parents. The war that I speak about was not fully realized by society until 1984 when Steve Jobs created the commercial based off of George Orwell’s novel “1984”. There is a link to the youtube version below. What makes this commercial so significant and put Apple Macintosh on the market and a healthy competitor was the fact that it explained to the public that the IBM was geared towards a more conservative generation, a safe way of putting it. Whereas the Apple Macintosh was the down to earth, more savvy, easy to use at home operating system. If you wanted a system this was it. The point I’m trying to make here is that anything can become main stream so long as the society of which it is introduced accepts it and lets it flourish. Popular culture is simply not black and white, yes or no, it is a constantly evolving way of life.

“1984” commercial for Apple Macintosh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

Inglourious Basterds... reality??? I think not!

Upon examining the subject of popular culture and violence focus your attention towards the modern film industry. Movies are inaccurate reflections of history in some senses. An example of this would be recreations of history such as the movie, Pearl Harbor, The Patriot, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan and Inglourious Basterds. Each of these movies share certain aspects of truth in terms of a historical sense but pretty much depict a fantasy world. These movies are also apart of popular culture. I can’t remember if I’ve defined popular culture. If I didn’t well I am attempting at my definition and that is culture that encompasses everything that is main stream. With that out of the way returning back to the focus on movies, each of the movies I listed all have one thing in common. Violence. Pearl Harbor, though a romantic fight against the odds type of story depicted a pretty graphic re-telling of the men and women who died in the destruction of the ships posted in the harbour. The Patriot with its graphic Mel Gibson duel tomahawk wielding battle also depicting his sons murdering, oops I mean in war is call engaging hostile enemies, red coats. How about the savagery of the full-scale wars in Braveheart or the mighty re-telling and graphic yet visually appeasing of the landing on Normandy Beach on D-day. Finally, the complete bone-chilling, fantasy, extremely violent re-creation of a group of men hell bent on visciously murdering Nazi’s behind enemy lines in Inglourious Basterds. Looking at each of these movies and then comparing it to video games or songs which are more violent? Obviously again this is all based on popular culture being the cause of violence but the medium again has shifted. As people begin to become decensitized to these violent main stream productions so too will the violence from our youth.