Week 8- Celebrities and Celebrity Culture

Celebrity culture and the construction of 'the celebrity' appears to be a most interesting subject of inquiry, after all it is them who are responsible for selling certain types of media, ideas, concepts, business etc and for that reason, they must be seen by the public as larger-than-life figures of interest.

Sternheimer states that much of American celebrity culture stems from the notions of the 'American Dream' and the idea that anyone can achieve wealth regardless of their demographics or social standing (Pg XIII, 2011) and this i believe while not the case for every culture and how the treat celebrities, certainly has a ripple effect that endures with America being the world superpower that it is, and  as having the dominant contribution to Western culture.

Another point for observation in celebrity culture is the particular attention to lifestyle excesses and the paparazzi; important in determining the key differences between the 'ordinary citizen' an the 'celebrity' as an idealistic figure. There tend to be a gap in my mind between the lives lead by celebrities and those who do not, this seems to be related to media coverage of both negative stories and positive stories which indeed strips the celebrity figure of any of their personal and relatable human characteristics and places them up on a pedestal separate from the community at large.

Sternheimer contends what constitutes a 'celebrity' has been opened up in the wake of social network sites (pg 2, 2011) and the benefit (and subsequent 'explosion') of such social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter is that it allows connection to celebrity culture in a way that both is not filtered or placed in context by the media and provides people to the humanising details of everyday life that are not usually heard by regular citizens.

References-
Sternheimer, K, Celebrity Culture and the American Dream, Routledge, 2011, New York, pg XIII, pg 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TARRfE4DDWw Prince Harry naked Photo Scandal!

Week 7- Diasporic Marketing

The media has a big role to play in the foundation and creation of diasporic cultures, and can ultimately shape   the varying diasporic cultures and identities; although these  large number of forms are quite numerous and are constantly shifting  through everyday life- the media gives the means for self-imagining and identity building. (Youna, K pg 135, 2011)

Breaking this down I would say that media (and of course new media) is the dominate platform in which diasporic identities are able to form and achieve a coherent sense of self within the new host nation, and as such also are subject to marketing based on certain assumptions of the host nation at large on their transnational identities and how they can therefore be appealed to.

Diaspora within the media is viewed by Youna as a site of contest between transnational identities relating to nation, race, gender, class, culture, and language- and how they are built upon continuing interaction and re imagining (pg 136, 2011). Taking this into consideration it is easy to see that such identities are complex and constantly in opposition to what as perceived as the traditional culture of the state.

Examine this example of diasporic media; the YouTube sensation SuperWog, who while the content of his videos can be quite crude, both represents a form of cultural diaspora and also interestingly in the context of this discussion- parodies what it means to be a part of a certain transnational group.

In terms of how this has adapted I would contend that online social media platforms allow greater access for diasporic communities to communicate and share ideals and sense of self- and hence it makes it so that it is easier for companies to target what they believe will interest certain groups. I have heard for example that the ads you see on Facebook are presented to you largely based on your interests based off page 'likes'-

It is little wonder they appear to be surprisingly relevant most of the time!

References-

Youna KimInternational Journal of Cultural Studies, Mar 01, 2011; Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 133-151

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkJgRbW2cWk&feature=relmfu Superwog: How to Fight

Week 6- The Blogosphere

The Blogosphere and how it sites in relation to the public sphere is quite an interesting topic for discussion; in some ways has it taken over as a voice for the people which was once contained within much more rigid and hierarchical bounds. The main issue concerned with online forms of personal expression/opinion as Barlow & Leston state is that the sheer supply of information available impairs our ability to critically evaluate what is useful, and what isn't (2012, pg 195)

The Twittersphere, and indeed the blogs (which we are contributing to) offer up public interaction in ways not possible before; whereas as public debate was once confined to things such as talkback radio, rare public interaction on television debates, and letter to the editor type of input- current technology allows for any individual to present an opinion or point of view in a dynamic, well thought out and unfiltered manner. But perhaps the filtering system of traditional media is a necessity for

Say for example I wanted to make a statement on the upcomng U.S elections, depending on my point of view i could easily provide such a humerous video such as this which makes U.S presidential candidate hopeful Mitt Romney look ignorant and out of touch with the voters he hopes to win over-

indeed quite amusing and may even with some over to my particular way of thinking, however concise, accurate and non-biased information hardly. In combining however, with my personal opinion imagery and video footage it creates a very diverse form of communication that is attention grabbing across many platforms and which has the potential to research far greater numbers of people relevant to the topic of discussion.

So in the end, how exactly does one see the point in which the value of free and individualised thought, meets the problems associated with online saturation and misinformed content? Always a point to consider while in the Blogosphere/Twittersphere.

References-
Barlow & Leston, Beyond the Blogosphere, ANC- CLIO, California, 2012, pg 195
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQwrB1vu74c&feature=related Still voting for Mitt Romney?

Week 5- Making Culture

Making culture, each of us in our own way does it on a daily basis depending on our personal interests, beliefs, ideologies, practices and so on. Regardless of how exactly you do this, everything you do has the potential to influence culture both on a local and international scale.

How i would characterize my impact on local and international culture, would be through musical consumption, preference, creation, etc. There are numerous ways in which one is able to contribute to culture in this manner; through the bands/artists you choose to support locally and internationally, playing/recording and sharing music yourself, contributing to online forums and discussions via social media, and even by following causes that come to attention within certain social circles.

I like to write and record music myself, play and go see gigs of local and international bands and just in a broad sense engage in music in general. Online platforms provide great opportunity to get immersed in the sharing of musical culture and can even provide positive aspects such as the sharing of noteworthy causes;
Australian band, The Amity Affliction for example, often has anti-suicide messages in their lyrics and thus has a strong affinity with BeyondBlue and HeadSpace which helps to raise awareness of depression.

Fortunati et al would characterise the aforementioned kind of cultural response and sharing of musical ideas as intercultural that is with the pluralistic and open; allowing the crossing of borders from all directions to contribute. (pg 23, 2012)

So in concluding, i'll just end with a last few thoughts; has music always been a source of intercultural culture and to what extent? And does it have power to build upon cultural ideas beyond what is just physically heard?

References-
Fortunati, L et al, Migration, Diaspora and information technology in Global Societies, Routledge, New York, 2012, pg 23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0om8Yi2IA The Amity Affliction// Chasing Ghosts, Roadrunner, 2012