Week 3

What is culture and how does it affect the meaning of the product or artwork?

Define: culture

High – Philosophical intellectual pursuits on art

Low – Everyday consumption of goods, services, popular activities, entertainment and sport.

Change with geographical specific culture

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Barbie goes to Nigeria

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Just a doll not interpret the same way &; Wrong colour

Barbie in time (culture) reflects the fashion of the time.

BARBIE 1: (60’s)

More is.

• Everything on body is exaggerated

• Blonde

• Pouty/ full lips (baby)

• Large eyes (innocence)

• Extreme proportions (difference between breast and waist measurements)

• Long legs

• Blue eues

Connotation – Baby, innocence, submission, manipuable, sweetness, unquestioning love.= Power, sexuality

Sexuality is something primitive and can’t be ignored.

Source of Power

• Money

• Sex (love)

• Male (from the contation)

• Sense of power

• Perpetuates an old paradigm

• (The unbalance between the sexes)

• Today girls have brains and can make more money, whereas men fashion will become more femimine.

Culture

• The process of societies intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development.

• Eg. Philosophers, poets etc

• Particular way of life of a people period or group (eg. The development of

• literacy, the types of sports played, the celebration of festivals)

• Works and practices of intellectual and artistic activity, novel, ballet, opera and fine art

Popular Culture

• Phenomenom evolving out of the consumers and emerging youth culture of the 50’s and 60’s.

• It’s products are accessible and mass produce

• Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the masses of specific community.

• Culture produced by industry and consumed and popularized by word of mouth and the media

Criticism of popular culture

Theodore Adorno of “The Frankfurt School” described consumers of such culture victims. Political implications are that this process maintains public passivity towards institutions. In this way, visual communication is an agent of ideaology.

Assessment question: An examination of how the narratives of Walt Disney reinforce and explore the values, prejudice and fears of the culture and is from.

Address also whether from popular culture or high culture

• Physical culture it fits in eg Australia, Brazil

• Historical culture and how it influenced other things.