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This is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.

Here's the link to the event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81992193154?pwd=NkJvU0Nob2VaWkNFeE1xVis1bFdrUT09

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IS POLITICS DOWNSTREAM FROM (POP) CULTURE?

INTRODUCTION:

As some of our members will remember, I announced in December that our meetup would focus more on cultural analysis this year, since it's a topic I've mostly neglected up until now (aside from our meetups in the fall on comedy, horror films & Xmas films). I'm also hoping that it will appeal to some of our members who may have educational backgrounds in the humanities and/or an interest in pop culture, which can give us an occasional break from the more quantitive social science topics we typically cover.

The objective for this meetup is to give us some tools & concepts for thinking about popular culture like movies, TV shows, music, video games, comic books & novels (although we won't focus as much on the latter, since reading for pleasure has declined in recent years among the general public, especially young people). Hopefully, we can then apply these general principles in later meetups this year that are focused on specific genres of pop culture.

The title from this meetup comes from a famous quote by the conservative pundit Andrew Breitbart who declared that "politics is downstream from culture". To understand this quote, we have to first ask "what is culture?" One of the most coherent definitions I found was "the system of values, beliefs, norms, and practices held in common by a group of people that serve to integrate them into a cohesive social entity." It's important to note that "culture" can be divided into 2 general categories:
(1) Surface Culture: the more visible social norms that are explicitly associated with a group's way of life (e.g. language/dialect, religious affiliation, food, clothing, music, art, history, folktales, flags/symbols, rituals/holidays)
(2) Deep Culture: the less visible social norms that are implicitly embedded in a group's way of life (e.g. gender roles, family values, work ethic, propensity for violence, orientation towards time, communication styles, sense of personal space, concepts of fairness, politeness & honor/shame).

A lot of the commentary I found on Breitbart's famous quote was confusing because it didn't explicitly state whether they were claiming that politics was upstream or downstream from surface culture or deep culture. Andrew Breitbart himself appears to have been thinking primarily of surface culture, specifically popular culture, and was lamenting the dearth of conservatives in today's movie, TV & music industries. However, he appears to have placed such an emphasis on pop culture because he thought it could shift a society's deep culture over time, which would in turn change the political climate. An article at Breitbart magazine by Lawrence Meyers, one of Andrew Breitbart's young proteges, states the importance of pop culture for politics thusly:

"Our lives — indeed, our very species — has storytelling wound into our DNA. From the earliest cave drawings, man has expressed himself in terms of story. Ancient civilizations understood that stories are vital to understanding our place in the world, so much so that they codified storytelling and found base rules that form it... Stories instill moral and ethical values. They place joy and tragedy in context. They preserve cultures. At their best, they deliver the secrets and meanings of life...

So whenever we view a piece of popular culture, we should ask what messages it delivers. What values are espoused or rejected? What is the moral of the story? How did the characters change? What did they learn? What means did they use to their ends? Finally, how do you feel about the answers to these questions?

Because whether you like it or not, or believe it or not, the messaging of popular culture is resonating inside everyone’s conscious and subconscious mind... Given the influence that story has on our everyday lives, and that popular culture is barraging us with story on a regular basis, we must remain ever vigilant as to the messaging in those stories.

Regardless of one’s ideological, moral, ethical, or religious leanings, every person should be aware of the messaging of every piece of popular culture... The vast majority of those with the power of content creation are Liberals... Given the breadth and depth of popular culture in our daily lives, it follows that Liberal messaging is what is primarily being imparted on the masses."

So how accurate is Meyers' claims about the pervasive influence of pop culture on a society's norms & values which in turn affects its politics? To answer that question, we'll need...

A QUICK CRASH COURSE IN FILM CRITICISM & MEDIA EFFECTS THEORY:

As I mentioned in our earlier discussion on horror films back in October, "film theory" began in the early 20th century with a mix of Marxist social analysis and Freudian psychoanalysis. This meant that characters & plot elements were either interpreted in terms of Marxist concepts like class conflict, alienation & false consciousness, or in Freudian terms as signs of repressed sexuality, conflicted feelings towards a mother or father figure, or the fear of death evoked by "uncanny" characters. Since the 1960s-70s, academic film theory has added newer approaches based on Lacanian psychoanalysis, structuralist semiotics, gender studies, and poststructuralist literary theory.

From what I saw in grad school, these academic theories from the humanities tend to assume big priming effects on audiences. Film theorists with left-leaning politics often assume that movies "brainwash" us to accept capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, heterosexism, etc, as normative, while conservative film theorists often assume Hollywood is trying to "brainwash" audiences with an anti-religious, anti-family, anti-capitalist message. But these film theories are mostly just armchair psychology & amateur sociology. They typically have no basis in empirical studies with randomized control groups that try to assess how audiences interpret films or whether films change their behavior, so (in my opinion) they're of dubious value. They tend to resemble the simplistic media effects theories from the early to mid 20th century that are now known as the "hypodermic needle theory" (a.k.a. "magic bullet theory") that suggested that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. From what I can gather, these theories are now considered debunked by researchers, even if many pundits & members of the general public still believe them.

Instead, modern media effects theories suggest that media consumption has more subtle effects that are indirect, conditional & transactional. The influence of a piece of media on an individual are filtered though our preexisting views and shaped by the opinions of people in our social circle consuming the same media, as well as reviews by various critics & pundits we respect (which is known as "two-step flow theory"). People don't just passively observe media either - they typically seek out different types of media to satisfy specific desires (i.e. "uses-and-gratification theory") and exclude media they think they wouldn't like (i.e. "selective exposure theory"). To the extent that people still consume media that wasn't intended to satisfy their desires, its message is typically either rejected or reinterpreted, quite possibly in a way the creators didn't intend. (For example, you can find plenty of conflicting reviews that interpreted the same film, TV show, or pop song as depressing or uplifting, pro-capitalist or anti-capitalist, pro-feminist or misogynistic, racially aware or racist, etc.) Rather than persuading audiences to change their minds, controversial media may play "agenda setting" and "framing" roles when they become the subject of a public debate, particularly when audiences & critics are divided in their reactions.

The closest modern theory that somewhat resembles the old "hypodermic needle theory" is "cultivation theory" which makes the more modest claim that people who are regularly exposed to a certain type of media for long periods of time are more likely to perceive the world's social realities as they are presented by the media they consume, which in turn affects their attitudes and behaviors.

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DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over the social influences & political effects of pop culture. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about about 54 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. THE LONG-STANDING DEBATE OVER THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF SEX, DRUGS & VIOLENCE IN MASS MEDIA:

  • SECTION 1, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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1a) Jonathan Hetterly (Shrink Tank), "How Do Violent Movies Impact Us? The Psychology of Stylized Violence" (video - 12:55 min, listen to 12:00)

1b) Sydney Sleszynski, "Media and its influences on sex [among teens]" (video - 7:59 min.)

II. THE MARXIST CRITIQUE OF POP CULTURE AS AN "OPIATE OF THE MASSES" THAT COMMODIFIES DISSENT & COVERTLY JUSTIFIES THE CAPITALIST STATUS QUO:

  • SECTION 2, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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2a) D. Elizabeth Glassco, "Critical Theory, The Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer, and the Culture Industries Explained" (video - 7:19 min.)

2b) Newsweek, "Lazy Movie Clichés About Capitalism" (video - 1:53 min.)

III. THE DEBATE OVER REPRESENTATION IN MASS MEDIA & ITS CONNECTIONS TO STEREOTYPES & SOCIAL STATUS:

  • SECTION 3, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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3a) GMA w/ James Steyer, "How stereotypes in TV shows and movies may impact your child's development" (video - 3:38 min.)

3b) Jen Pan (Jacobin), "Why Liberals Lose Their Minds Over [Diversity in] Hollywood Movies" (video - 17:47 min, listen to 7:20)

IV. THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF CREATORS & CRITICS AMID THE "DEATH OF THE AUTHOR" & RISE OF ONLINE FANDOMS:

  • SECTION 4, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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4a) Newsy, "Do Celebrity Endorsements Matter? It's Complicated" (video - 3:57 min.)

4b) Indietro Film Reviews, "Why do film critics hate movies that audiences love?" (video - 5:31 min.)

4c) SciShow Psych, "Are Fandoms Good or Unhealthy Obsessions?" (video - 4:59 min, listen to 4:30)

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Related topics

Books and Movies Discussions
Psychology
Sociology
Critical Theory
Pop Culture

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