COMMUNICATIONS

AND

CULTURE

What is High Culture?

"The best that has been thought and known."- Matthew Arnold in relation to what culture should be

Matthew Arnold has described the idea of culture as the production and appreciation of works of art for example:

Van Gogh's "The Starry Night"

Shakespeare's Plays

Classical Music

What is Pop Culture?

Pop culture is defined as any form of mass communication and media and is often associated with the classes below the higher class (working class, lower class).

The high class, dubbed the "Elitists" are against pop culture as they see it as superficial meaning that it doesn't mentally stimulate them. 

"Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture." -Allen Ginsberg in relation to the way culture works

Leavises and the Canon

The "Canon" is a body of work (in art, literature, music etc.) that is considered worthy of study because they represent Matthew Arnold's idea of the "best".

Cue Frankie and Queenie Leavise dubbed "The Leavises". They were very strong supporters of the Canon but they believed that only the "elite" minority who were educated and could actually comprehend and appreciate the Canon which lead to them being accused of "Elitism".

What exactly is Elitism?

Elitism is the idea that those who enjoy the "canon" which is things such as:

Are fairly superior to those who enjoy things such as:

Why were Leviases against pop culture so much?

The Leviases were against pop culture so much for many reasons:

1. It was too sentimental.

2. Pop culture is too addictive meaning we end up taking it for granted unlike works of art that we rarely see meaning we appreciate them more e.g. Mona Lisa at The Louvre.

3. The Canon contains qualities that will last forever and have eternal value whereas a product of pop culture will only be popular for a certain amount of time before being disposed of.

4. It lacks taste.

5. They are superficial meaning what you see is exactly what you get, there is no deeper meaning and doesn't require much thought unlike products of the higher culture.