Popular culture has been the common term used to depict practices that represent diverse and overlapping aspects of culture. Through this interrelation, unique traditions are introduced and recognized. In the American setting, popular culture has been used to describe the people’s way of living. Thus, popular culture has been defined by Browne as the daily culture used by a certain large or small group of people. The United States, being a democratic country, uses popular culture to voice out the likes, dislikes, practices and the total existence of its people[1]. In the economic sense, popular culture is based on market that is deeply rooted in entertainment. While others may perceive popular culture under the artistic point of view, a large portion of popular culture involves the transfer of mass culture by means of entertainment, from producers to consumers[2]. This then relates popular culture to mass production and mass consumption.
Around 1800, historians believed that mass production was first used in the firearms factory of Eli Whitney, in which the term was used to describe the process involved in industrial production. In the 20th century, the method of mass production was used to define the processes in automobile manufacturing wherein a number of workers are used to piece together the interchangeable parts of an automobile. Eventually, mass production was used to describe the process in which the constant flow of products moves progressively toward completion[3]. In popular culture, as it is patronized by people, manufacturing industries of popular culture products like music videos, tends to be mass produced. This trend then leads to mass consumption. Mass consumption may further be explained through an example.
The cultural globalization between the United States and the European countries can be identified as popular culture as there is an intermingling of cultural practices between diverse regions. As producers and strategists are aware of this cultural differentiation, they create specific products that include specific cultural tastes and preferences. Because consumers can adapt to these new creations, products of popular culture undergo mass consumption. In the music video industry, a good example of this mass consumption trend is the international music video broadcaster, MTV, who has successfully established regional music channels, showing music video programs that are designed in accordance to varied preferences and tastes[4].
While music videos are being mass produced and consumed as a source of popular culture, varied sociological issues arise. As noted by Pat Aufderheide, music videos have certain distinct features of social expression that aim to engulf the viewer in communication with itself, fashioning image into reality[5]. This then gives rise to the curiosity of what could be the possible effects of mass production and consumption of music videos to viewer’s perspectives? Do viewers see different meanings out of these videos? In this discussion, the meaning of mass-produced music videos among viewers will be analyzed within four aspects: personal connections, gender roles, physical beauty and sexual expression.
Music Videos and Women
Women have been part of several music video creations. While this may be true, certain meanings are given by viewers regarding this issue. Take for instance, country music videos. Women have long been part of country music video production. Recently, efforts have been made to challenge the traditional old honky-tonk girl or country bumpkin images that viewers traditionally perceived out of country music videos[6]. From these changes, country music videos are demonstrated in a more homogenous manner, where love is the common paradigm. However, the articulation of different love themes from these videos was incorporated in accordance to a man or woman’s perspectives.
Based from this development, women viewers expressed that though such themes are less conventional, country music videos became more assertive and realistic. While it is improper to say that country music videos have illustrated the liberated women, it is more proper to suggest that country music is an element of popular culture that shows women’s resistance to submissive roles.
From this transition, it is apparent that viewers highly relate images to reality. While country music is traditionally created with submissive country girls, the changes have transformed country music into reality. This in turn generated a stronger response to viewers. In other words, viewers give significant meaning to images in which they can relate to. Adolescents for instance, can highly relate to songs and music videos by popular pop singers like Mandy Moore or Christina Aguillera as they show how fun and enjoyable it is to be a teenager.
Music Videos and Gender Roles
Viewing music videos has a significant effect on how the audience perceived gender roles. This perception is similar to the effect on how males and females give meaning to a certain movie. A horror movie for example, receives varied connotations depending on the gender of the viewer. In this study[7], the findings were consistent to that of the traditional gender roles; women do not enjoy horror films as much as men did. While women showed a higher fright response, men were less frightened by horror movies. The effects of music videos are similar to this.
The theory of gender role socialization of effect is a known theory that is related to this phenomenon[8]. Basically, this theory suggests that the use and appreciation of mass media content have particular social origins. Young women are encouraged to act in ways culture identifies as feminine, meaning one that is behaved and considerate of others. Men on the other hand, are expected to exhibit maleness through dominance, callousness and mastery. Under the perspective of this theory, it is then expected that the affective reaction of both genders to music videos will be congruent.
Indeed, in the findings of one related study, results showed that there is a significant relation between gender and affective reactions to music[9]. Furthermore, the results were consistent with that of the gender role socialization theory. In the study, male participants were found to prefer hard rock music videos than soft rock music types. Alternatively, women found soft rock music videos more enjoyable than hard rock ones. The study also tested the degree of disturbance these music videos elicit from the respondents as well as their reactions to them. From the results, males and females alike showed a more intense response to hard rock music videos. Moreover, a negative connection between enjoyment and disturbance were observed among women participants. The study concluded that the enjoyment factor is dependent on the degree of disturbance women perceived from the video. Hence, women do not enjoy music videos that are very disturbing. On the contrary, men found disturbing music videos more enjoyable.
From this point, it appears that the meaning viewers give to a particular music video is dependent on societal traditions and gender roles. Moreover, their preference for a particular music genre is dependent on these gender roles as well.
Music Videos and Personal Character
Image elicits a strong impact to viewers. In the case of music videos, as popular music artists perform, the audience has a tendency to have varied perceptions of physical beauty and values. In the world of adolescent music for instance, beauty types are segmented into subcultures. These subcultures are derived from the image a music genre illustrates to its fans. Take heavy metal music for example. In a music video, the outfits of heavy metal bands, including metal-studded leather jackets and belts, black torn shirts and messy hairdo, seem to aptly fit the harshness within the lyrics of their songs[10]. In addition, the smashing of instruments observed during live concerts seems to be a common practice among heavy metal bands, suggesting coolness, ruthlessness and violence. Contrastingly, viewers of dance or pop music perceive beauty differently. The upbeat romantic themes that are often portrayed in these music genres often represent soft images or serene beauty as performers are donned with gossamer, wind-blown fabrics, set on beach scenes with openly loving, affectionate interactions. These effects are often seen in music videos done by Mariah Carey or Paula Abdul for example. In the same way, directors of these music videos play an important influence on how to fit different music genres to particular looks.
Hence, if the focus of rap music is multi-cultural, the video depicts a more exotic look. On the other hand, alternative or new wave types of music may call for a more trendy appeal. As music video creators select models they perceive to be compatible with a particular music genre, viewers expect the looks portrayed to be consistent with the assumed appearance gestalt associated with that music genre.
Cultural representations of beauty often result from the stereotypes held by media gatekeepers, as when music video casting directors intuitively select a girl next door look for a new teen pop idol. In this cultural practice, the perception of beauty and values of the audience is based on the artifacts or lifestyles that are related to a particular type of person with specific physical appearance and personal attributes[11]. Although the directors or creators involved in this selection process may not necessarily be aware of the common threads of symbolism each uses to weave his or her social tapestry, their choices reverberate throughout popular culture. The different looks systematically cast in music videos become icons of beauty which then act as powerful role models for consumers to emulate. The individuals who personify these looks may also become associated with a distinctive style, as exemplified Britney Spears’ pop star looks or Celine Dion’s diva appeal. Considering the referent power wielded by celebrities, it is reasonable to assume that consumers wishing to emulate such a cultural icon may use this information as input to an idealized self-image--how they would "ideally like to be, look, act"[12]. The idealized media images of attractive people can be regarded as prototypes that are used by audiences to evaluate their own looks[13] and to guide their own consumption activities.
Music Videos and Cultural Background
Music has been the subject of many studies, relating it to various issues such as cognitive development, listening habits and consumption patterns. To a greater degree, music has been frequently correlated with violence, drug abuse, suicide, satanic worship and sex. These numerous studies were done due to the perception that adolescents tend to be a passive audience or consumer who are incapable of creating personal symbolic meanings out of the content. However, the meanings adolescents give to certain media, such as music videos, are based on several other factors, one of which is an individual’s cultural upbringing. In this point of discussion, consider the relation of sexual expression with music videos.
In one study about this issue, it was concluded that cultural background plays a significant role in giving meanings to certain music videos[14]. For instance, as familial sources about sexual expression prevail in the African-American setting, female adolescents within this cultural background perceived music as a less influential learning source of sexual expression. On the contrary, Latinas found music videos as an influential source of learning sexual expression than familial resources. This is because female sexuality is considered a taboo as Latinas are not expected to be sexually confident and savvy. Hence, music videos that depict sexual education have a stronger effect on Latin background than among African-Americans.
For example, in the song sung by TLC wherein females are encouraged to take charge of their sexuality, the reactions of both cultural groups were varied. While others took this message with a positive outlook, others took in the opposite effect. This is so because females, being sexually assertive, tend to defy traditional beliefs and practices. In certain cultures, such defiance is a prohibited.
Conclusion
Being a source of pop culture, music videos are capable of involving the audience. As discussed above, music videos enable issues to be raised and make others think and analyze. As viewers watch music videos, they respond by means of constructing meanings, discerning messages, and relating them to social and political issues. Music videos then have a high potential of influencing viewers who watch and experience them actively.
In most cases, music videos can heighten awareness and encourage viewers to contemplate, think and reflect. At this extent, viewers encounter the videos as decision makers, granting adherence to the message found in the videos. Music videos then are not viewed by hapless, passive viewers. Just as what was discussed, viewers relate stereotypes, gender roles, reality, and culture to these videos, generating various meanings. Indeed, the mass production and consumption of popular culture, particularly of music videos, have given birth to intellectual and educated audience. Through these videos, viewers become more engaged in the presentation, evaluation and interpretation process of the images that appear before them. In general, music videos exist as a form of social expression in which audiences participate actively to interpret meaning.
References:
Browne, Ray B. “Internationalizing Popular Culture.” The Journal of Popular Culture 30 (1996): 23.
Cusic, Don. “The Popular Culture Economy.” Journal of Popular Culture 35.3 (2001).
Hansen, C. H. and R. D. Hansen. “Constructing personality and social reality through music: Individual differences among fans of punk and heavy metal music.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 35 (1991): 335-350.
Harvey, Lisa St. Clair. “Temporary Insanity: Fun, Games and Transformational Ritual in American Music Video.” Journal of Popular Culture 24 (1990): 39-64.
Krätke, Stefan. “Global Media Cities in a Worldwide Urban Network.” European Planning Studies 11.6 (2003): 605-628.
McLean, Polly. “Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: A Cross-Cultural Reading of Popular Music in the Construction of Sexual Expression among At-Risk Adolescents.” Popular Music and Society 21.2 (1997).
Mundorf, N., J. Weaver and D. Zillmann. “Effects of gender roles and self –perceptions on affective reaction to horror films.” Sex Roles 20 (1989): 655-673.
Olofsson, Anna. "Consumption and the Construction of Self," Proceedings of the Conference on Consumption in History, Umea, Sweden: Umea University Press, 1992.
“Production.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Richins, Marsha L. "Social Comparison and the Idealized Images of Advertising," Journal of Consumer Research 18 June 1991: 71-83.
Solomon, Michael R. and Lawrence Greenberg. “Setting the Stage: Collective Selection in the Stylistic Content of Commercials.” Journal of Advertising, 22 March 1993: 11-24.
Toney, Gregory and James Weaver. “Effects of Gender and Gender Role Self-Perceptions on Affective Reactions to Rock Music Videos.” Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 30. 7-8 (1994).
Wilson, Janelle. “Women in Country Music Videos.” ETC.: A Review of General Semantics 57.3 (2000).
Zillmann, D, et al. “Effects of an opposite gender companion's affect to horror on distress, delight, and attraction.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (1986): 586-594.
[1] Browne, Ray B. “Internationalizing Popular Culture.” The Journal of Popular Culture 30 (1996): 23.
[2] Cusic, Don. “The Popular Culture Economy.” Journal of Popular Culture 35.3 (2001).
[3] “Production.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
[4] Krätke, Stefan. “Global Media Cities in a Worldwide Urban Network.” European Planning Studies 11.6 (2003): 605-628.
[5] See Harvey, Lisa St. Clair. “Temporary Insanity: Fun, Games and Transformational Ritual in American Music Video.” Journal of Popular Culture 24 (1990): 39-64.
[6] Wilson, Janelle. “Women in Country Music Videos.” ETC.: A Review of General Semantics 57.3 (2000).
[7] Mundorf, N., J. Weaver and D. Zillmann. “Effects of gender roles and self –perceptions on affective reaction to horror films.” Sex Roles 20 (1989): 655-673.
[8] Zillmann, D, et al. “Effects of an opposite gender companion's affect to horror on distress, delight, and attraction.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (1986): 586-594.
[9] Toney, Gregory and James Weaver. “Effects of Gender and Gender Role Self-Perceptions on Affective Reactions to Rock Music Videos.” Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 30. 7-8 (1994).
[10] Hansen, C. H. and R. D. Hansen. “Constructing personality and social reality through music: Individual differences among fans of punk and heavy metal music.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 35 (1991): 335-350.
[11] Solomon, Michael R. and Lawrence Greenberg. “Setting the Stage: Collective Selection in the Stylistic Content of Commercials.” Journal of Advertising, 22 March 1993: 11-24.
[12] Olofsson, Anna. "Consumption and the Construction of Self," Proceedings of the Conference on Consumption in History, Umea, Sweden: Umea University Press, 1992.
[13] Richins, Marsha L. "Social Comparison and the Idealized Images of Advertising," Journal of Consumer Research 18 June 1991: 71-83.
[14] McLean, Polly. “Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: A Cross-Cultural Reading of Popular Music in the Construction of Sexual Expression among At-Risk Adolescents.” Popular Music and Society 21.2 (1997).
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