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Television and popular culture. Popular culture Mass media

XX century to characterize the changed place of culture in modern society... The time of its appearance is the middle of the 20th century, when the funds mass media(radio, print, television) penetrated into most countries of the world and became available to representatives of all social strata. The extremely intensive development of the mass media and communication has led to the fact that no individual person, and a large number is a mass of people. Unlike the elite, Mass culture focuses on the average level of mass consumers.

The phenomenon of mass culture reflects the impact of the modern technogenic world on the formation of the human personality. It is unique as the art of manipulating elementary "subhuman" reactions and impulses ("drives") of the masses of people, using the most refined achievements of culture (technology and science). A system of tested techniques designed for the simplest unconditioned reactions is created, attraction, increased eventfulness, shock moments are used.

Popular culture is emphatically focused on entertainment, is quite cheerful, in many respects exploits such spheres of the human psyche as the subconscious and instincts.

Consider the impact of television on popular culture.

Television is a very young cultural phenomenon, which at its inception had to be built into the already existing "system of things" and into the corresponding system of representations. For comparison: when the first car was created (1895), its shape resembled the shape of a carriage and, we emphasize, could not be different: in the minds of both the creators of the car and all other people, the idea of the carriage as the most comfortable means of transportation dominated. Let's call a carriage a model-prototype of a car in order to briefly describe the phenomenon itself. The entry of television into culture demonstrates the same approach and, very importantly, something completely new.

When radio emerged (A.S. Popov, 1895), the prototype was the sounding human speech, later - sounding music, that is, the phenomena related to the beginning of human culture. When cinema emerged (the Lumière brothers, 1895, J. Méliès), its prototypes were the theater (the European tradition dates back to the ancient theater of the 5th century BC) and photography (the founders - the inventors L.J.M. Daguerre, 1839 , J. N. Niepce in France; W. G. F. Talbot, 1840-1841, in England), which, in turn, had painting as a prototype model (origin - about 40,000 BC. ). Due to photography, cinema has already approached the "television effect" that interests us.

At its inception, television did not rely on ancient prototype models; radio and cinema acted in their capacity, that is, the latest phenomena that have not yet been sufficiently mastered by mankind (additionally: newspaper, older model). Subsequently, the same effect was repeated with the emergence of a computer culture (in particular, the Internet), where television should be named first of all among the prototype models. Behind the latest models, ancient and even new models are seen only historically, outside of actual awareness, and this is something new that was formed in culture with the advent of television.

It is the renewal of prototype models that is taking place in the culture of the twentieth century that can explain why the essence of television remains insufficiently revealed.

The newest models themselves have not yet been fully mastered, which leads to the desire to rely on a more solid foundation (that is, more familiar).

Hence the concept of television as a new art form. There was an extensive discussion on this score. From the stated point of view, its hidden meaning is in drawing an analogy between television (new in culture) with art (old, mastered, understandable in culture) or in criticizing this analogy.

A large amount of evidence can be cited confirming that television is a special form of art (or more broadly, artistic culture).

Then, having accepted the general thesis, it is necessary to take the next step - to compare television with various types of art (artistic culture). No matter how the specificity of the artistic possibilities of television is revealed, its tendency to be secondary and its orientation towards a multi-million audience, that is, features of mass artistic culture, will inevitably come to the fore. This, it seems, led to the now traditional view of television as a form of mass culture (which served as an explanatory model for television). The concept of "mass culture" is painted in negative tones, hence the quite logical transfer of this emotional tone to the conceptual interpretation of television.

Meanwhile, television, with all the external resemblance to the mass artistic culture, performs a different role, obviously so new that it defies an elementary definition through analogy and requires special research.

A unique property of television as a communicative subsystem of culture is the transmission of images over a distance. It fulfilled the long-standing dream of mankind about a kind of "all-seeing", about the opportunity to look beyond the horizon of the visible living space. Thanks to this, television spread so quickly and widely, it turned out to be so in demand by people.

“Television messages - especially now, with the presence of communication satellites - come from all over the world, which means that the great gift of television is that through it the whole world has gained visibility. And since TV does not “take away” the viewer from his everyday environment, on the contrary, it strives there itself, together with television the whole world bursts into the home of a separate individual ... In the era of television, not a person travels around the world, but images from all over the world - from all countries and continents - they rush to the viewer and, having lost their materiality, swarm around him - as if in order to submissively get into his “aggregate social experience” and “model of the world,” wrote the famous television researcher V. I. Mikhalkovich.

Television expands the boundaries of the real world available for human vision and comprehension, complements and complements the socio-cultural space available to the individual, that is, it contributes to the formation of an individual image of reality. This means that the requests of a particular person for television as a source of information about the surrounding reality, in general, are the same as for reality itself.

French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu makes a very accurate observation: “For some of our philosophers (and writers),“ to be ”means to be shown on TV, that is, in the end, to be noticed by journalists or, as they say, to be in good standing with journalists (which is impossible without compromise and self-compromise). And indeed, since they cannot rely only on their works in order to continue to exist for the public, they have no other choice but to appear on the screen as often as possible, and therefore write at regular and as short intervals of time as possible. whose function, according to Gilles Deleuze, is to provide their authors with an invitation to television. "

Personality, constantly navigating the world of changing social conditions, may have a wide variety of requirements for television content. Life orientation is one of the most important functions of television in relation to the viewer, along with recreational and compensatory. For example, a person does not understand the sphere of self-realization. He lacks human communication. He needs some kind of life alternative if the immediately available social reality is not valuable and desirable enough. In search of responses to these requests, a person also turns to TV.

Television programs, in turn, reflecting this or that part of social reality, organizing it, carry certain meanings of this reality, which can influence a person, acting as sources of value alternatives of socio-cultural reference points in relations with the world. Therefore, special attention should be paid to such a feature of television programs as the formation of these alternatives for the viewer, and their specific content should be considered in the context of the three defining processes of human life: activity, behavior and communication. Perceiving certain meanings of TV programs, forming new socio-cultural landmarks on their basis, a person can form a personal value attitude towards them, and these new landmarks can, according to B.M. Sapunova, "to determine his life attitudes and behavior." ...

The role of television is multifunctional. However, in the plurality of specific functions, two fundamental functions stand out, which allows us to speak of the bipolar functionality of television. The first function is informational. The second function is leisure.

The information function is the basic feature of television as a cultural phenomenon. To clarify this point, let's compare the showing of a feature film in a cinema and on TV.

In the cinema, no matter how poorly equipped it is, we meet with the work of art itself, this is the form of its existence.

On the contrary, a film shown on television, even to the most perfect, is only information about a work of art (just like Leonardo da Vinci's La Gioconda, which we see in an illustrated magazine or book, is only information about a picture in Louvre).

In a narrower and more familiar sense, information on television acts as a collection of information about events and news.

At a new stage in the development of television broadcasting (in our country since perestroika, in the West - much earlier), the information function of television has fundamentally changed in content (and, as a consequence, in forms), because the very idea of television information has changed.

The domestic viewer, brought up on the programs of information and educational (with a pronounced ideological setting) of Soviet television, was amazed by the appearance on television commercial advertising... At first inept, imitating Western standards, then more and more quality, even talented, she persistently interfered with the broadcasting network.

Information advertising permeates the entire field of television broadcasting. It is both open (commercials) and hidden (mentions of advertising objects in the speech of presenters and participants in broadcasts, clothes, hairstyles, other entourage of characters authoritative for the audience, what they hold in their hands, what they touch, what look, what they listen, what surrounds them, etc.). Information about events, turning into information-advertising, changes its structure.

So, the sequence of news programs of the Soviet period (official block - the country's working life - foreign news block - cultural news - sports - weather) is replaced by another sequence: the most sensational news (disaster, murder, etc.) - less sensational news (among which there is, for example, the official block). If a major scientific discovery is made, this is the material of the end of the issue, but if the scientist received the Nobel Prize, then this is the beginning.

In Soviet times, a certain percentage of negative news in the news program was established: no more than 40%.

Analysis of modern news shows that negative news prevails even on official channels. On some of them (for example, on "RenTV" with Romanova) their number reaches 90% and sometimes even more.

News is interrupted by advertisements. A stable tandem emerges: the real news of the day is terrible (contract killings, corruption, wars, terrorism), catastrophic (hurricanes, tsunamis, mass epidemics), terrible for common man(fires, leaks, failures in the operation of power systems, water supply systems, sewerage systems, poor living conditions, low salaries, bribes of low-level officials, unfair trial, deprivation of benefits, increased prices for food, gasoline, increased housing costs, negligence in schools and hospitals, fraud, hooliganism , drunkenness, poverty), while in the commercials the viewer is presented with the ideal, happy life(wonderful things - from tights to refrigerators, all washing powders, medicines for any diseases according to the latest scientific developments, almost free loans for almost any amount, allowing you to dance even on critical days panty liners, adding volume to the hair, shampoos and eyelashes, mascaras, saving from caries toothpastes and chewing gums, luxury cars and computers of the latest models, exciting films, grandiose concerts, political parties guarding the interests of the people).

These two blocks are constantly interspersed, collectively awakening the polar emotions of viewers, through which television culture has, in essence, a suggestive influence on the consciousness and subconsciousness of millions.

Sensationalism as a principle of presenting information on modern television turns out to be a connecting bridge in the bipolarity of the main functions of television - information and leisure.

Television, reflecting new realities, has developed its new forms that implement the leisure function. In the spectrum of these proper television forms two TV genres were formed, which ended up at different poles: a video clip (in the brevity of which the option of minimizing leisure was reflected) and a television series (in the duration of which, reaching several thousand episodes, the option of maximizing leisure was reflected). Between these poles, an intermediate place was taken by a talk show, which combined information and leisure as television functions, but not through sensationalism, but through the illusion of interactivity.

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Mass media

An important role in the dissemination of mass culture is played by special channels through which works find their consumers, regularly broadcasting them. The media include television, radio, newspapers, magazines. Now the Internet has gained the greatest popularity.

What have we learned?

After studying the topic of social studies, we learned that mass culture is a type of human activity aimed at creating goods that have high demand in society. These can be films and books, music and paintings. Their main difference from other types of art is that they are created by professionals for the purpose of selling and have simple and understandable plots, reflecting emotions and feelings that are close to people.

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Detailed solution to paragraph Questions for chapter 2 on social studies for students of grade 10, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, Yu.I. Averyanov, A.V. Belyavsky 2015

1. What makes it possible to single out culture as an independent sphere of public life? Name the areas, elements that form the sphere of culture, reveal the connections between them.

Culture is a concept that has a huge number of meanings in various areas of human life. Culture is the subject of study of philosophy, cultural studies, history, art studies, linguistics (ethnolinguistics), political science, ethnology, psychology, economics, pedagogy, etc.

Basically, culture is understood as human activity in its various manifestations, including all forms and methods of human self-expression and self-knowledge, the accumulation of skills and abilities by a person and society as a whole. Culture is also a manifestation of human subjectivity and objectivity (character, competencies, skills, abilities and knowledge).

The variety of activities included in the sphere of culture can be divided into four large groups:

Artistic creativity;

Preservation of cultural heritage;

Club and entertainment activities;

Mass creation and distribution of cultural goods (cultural industry).

The basis for distinguishing these four groups is the difference in the composition of functions (creation, preservation, distribution of benefits) and types of satisfied needs (aesthetic, entertainment, informational), the orientation to which is the leading, fundamental for the corresponding types of activity.

2. “Culture,” wrote the French philosopher J.-P. Sartre - saves nobody and nothing, and does not justify. But it is the work of a man - in her he seeks his reflection, in her he recognizes himself, only in this critical mirror he can see his face. " What did the author mean? Can you agree with him in everything? Is culture capable of saving a person?

Sartre is absolutely right when he considers culture as a critical mirror in which only a person can see his face. Is it a lot or a little? Obviously, it is not enough if a person is simply satisfied with what he managed to look in the "mirror". And at the same time, it is a lot if he, having looked closely, will be able to draw a practical conclusion: is he capable or not, in his cultural appearance, capable of accomplishing his plans? This also applies to society as a whole. Consequently, the same Sartre is wrong when he asserts that culture does not save anyone and nothing. Saves - even when she is able to help a person in his historical actions; and when, having critically assessed itself (which is undoubtedly also an act of high culture), society refrains from actions that are utopian and meaningless in the given sociocultural conditions.

3. According to the German-French thinker A. Schweitzer, the worldview must meet three requirements: to be conscious ("thinking"), ethical, the ideal of which is to transform reality on moral principles, optimistic. What, in your opinion, is the detailed content of each of these requirements? Do you share the opinion of the scientist or do you consider it necessary to revise or expand the range of these requirements? Argument your position.

Any views and worldview of a person must have a certain basis, a person's beliefs must first of all be comprehended by himself, and at some moments everyone must rethink their views in order to ultimately find their "truth" based on life experience and observations, reasoning , thinking as such.

The worldview must correspond to the general ethical standards and first of all, be aimed at improving the existing world and order in accordance with moral principles, morality, humanity - a person should not get hung up on what has already been achieved and must look into a bright future, while participating in its "building", and not waiting until the world will change itself.

I share the opinion of the thinker A. Schweitzer. Now it is very important for our society, because speech and thinking are heavily polluted and it repels.

4. G. Hegel believed that an outstanding person who creates world-historical deeds is beyond the jurisdiction of morality. What matters is the greatness of the deed, not its moral meaning. Do you share this position? Justify your point of view.

Morality is strongly averaged. General rules necessary for social balance. And the preservation of the state. Any new undertaking requires going beyond this framework. The genius always drops out of the general stream. Even the famous religious reformers violated the already established laws, for which they were executed. Only history has shown who is great and who attributed to himself the immortal glory of the maker of history. The opinion of contemporaries is often deceptive and hasty. And the further from the event, the more adequate the assessment. Above the average morality, the creators of the consciousness of humanity, but they only expand the framework. Impostors have always been distinguished by unjustified cruelty and lack of modesty.

5. What popular proverbs and sayings condemn laziness, indiscipline and irresponsibility? Use the collection of proverbs and sayings collected by V. I. Dal.

I want to swallow something, but chew laziness.

A bummer in the middle of the river asks for a drink.

While the lazy one straightens up, the zealous one will return from work.

Laziness-mother was born before him.

Under the lying stone and water does not flow.

You will become lazy, you will drag with your bag.

He's too lazy to be too lazy.

Human labor feeds, but laziness spoils.

Long day until evening, if there is nothing to do.

Take matters in hand out of boredom.

Small business is better than big idleness.

Tyap-blooper - the ship will not come out.

You can't get a sleepy one, and you can't get a lazy one.

The lazy is always a holiday.

Postpone idleness, but do not postpone business.

Drink tea - do not chop wood.

White handles love other people's work.

The seat of the city does not take.

Long thread-lazy seamstress.

6. Russian scientist, Nobel Prize laureate Academician Zh. I. Alferov, shortly after the awarding, stated that if the Nobel Prize existed in the 18th century, the first one should have been given to Peter the Great for building an education system according to the triad: gymnasium - university - academy. Justify, based on modern experience, the essence and significance of this triad.

Triad: gymnasium - university - academy, in modern world reflects the continuity of education.

Continuing education is a process of growth of the educational (general and professional) potential of an individual throughout life, organizationally provided by a system of state and public institutions and corresponding to the needs of the individual and society. The goal is the formation and development of a personality both during periods of its physical and socio-psychological maturation, flourishing and stabilization of vitality and abilities, and during periods of aging of the body, when the task of compensating for the lost functions and capabilities is brought to the fore. The system-forming factor is the social need for the constant development of the personality of each person.

7. Find in reference books on religious studies, for example, in the dictionary "Religions of Nations modern Russia”, Concepts related to the moral teachings of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism. Compare them and highlight their common or similar content.

Christianity is an Abrahamic world religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ described in the New Testament. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Christians do not doubt the historicity of Jesus Christ. Christianity is the largest world religion. The largest movements in Christianity are Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Christianity arose in the 1st century in Palestine and in the first decades of its existence spread to other provinces and among other ethnic groups.

Islam is the youngest and second largest monotheistic Abrahamic religion in the world after Christianity. Islam is the state or official religion in 28 countries. The majority of Muslims (85-90%) are Sunnis, the rest are Shiites, Ibadis. The founder of Islam is Muhammad (d. 632). The holy book is the Koran. The second most important source of Islamic doctrine and law is the Sunnah, which is a collection of legends (hadith) about the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. The language of worship is Arabic. The adherents of Islam are called Muslims.

Buddhism is a religious and philosophical teaching (dharma) about spiritual awakening (bodhi), which arose around the 6th century BC. e. in ancient India. The founder of the doctrine is Siddhartha Gautama, who later received the name Buddha Shakyamuni. It is one of the oldest world religions, recognized by a wide variety of peoples with completely different traditions.

Judaism is a religious, national and ethical worldview that was formed among the Jewish people, one of the oldest monotheistic religions of mankind and the most ancient of the existing ones. Jews are an ethno-religious group that includes those who were born Jewish and those who converted to Judaism. About 42% of all Jews live in Israel and about 42% live in the United States and Canada, most of the rest live in Europe. Judaism claims a historical continuity spanning over 3000 years.

8. How are culture and religion related? Show with specific examples the relationship between secular and religious principles in works of art.

Religion is one of the forms of culture. Religion forms a certain worldview, gives answers to questions about the meaning of life and death. In the religious sphere, cultural monuments are created: temples, icons, musical compositions.

9. How is the knowledge of the surrounding world through art? Why is art called "figurative cognition"?

Cognition of the surrounding world with the help of art occurs as a person is perceived. Let's give an example. Let's say pictures. They can depict people, plants, nature, interior, landscape, whatever. Art is often based on reality, but there are exceptions. But these exceptions are the knowledge of the world of human psychology, which is also our environment. Art is called "figurative cognition" because there is an intuitive mastering of new phenomena.

Additional material:

All art is a historical source. And through the study of this art, people learn about the world in the past, distant or not so, as well as in the present. After all, say, modern avant-garde art is a good indicator of what worries modern man what forms of expression he finds, what problems haunt him, etc.

On the other hand, while creating, a person also cognizes the world, first of all, through the knowledge of oneself. Expressing oneself in art is one of the ways of reflection, ways not only to cognize, but also to come to terms with the surrounding reality.

The subject of art - the life of people - is extremely diverse and is reflected in art in all its diversity in the form of artistic images. The latter, being the result of fiction, nevertheless reflect reality and always bear the imprint of really existing objects, events and phenomena. An artistic image performs the same functions in art as a concept in science: with the help of it, the process of artistic generalization takes place, the selection of essential features of cognizable objects. The created images constitute the cultural heritage of society and are able, becoming symbols of their time, to have a serious impact on public consciousness.

10. Lead specific example phenomena of mass culture. Highlight the relevant features in it and explain how it affects the consumer.

Example: modern stage (pop music, TV shows).

Signs: the most important thing is available to the majority, does not require money, it arose at the time of globalization.

Influence: positive, entertains people, makes it possible to get acquainted with the culture of other countries (example: the manner of singing, dancing, speaking)

11. Try to independently develop a specific model of a work of one of the genres of mass culture. According to the laws of the genre, determine what the main character should be, what must be present in the plot, what the denouement should be, etc.

At first, the main character must be a nondescript, loser, working 5/2, who suddenly has superpower / luck / money / fame (and everything from which a loser from reality dreams), then any test must appear (save the world / sister / bank / love, etc.), and of course the LCD is a brilliant villain, whom no one could catch up to this moment, but then he appears, he does not succeed the first time, but the second the hero wins, but he must be injured in order to there was a tearful scene, n at the end of a kiss

12. Name the works of elite culture. Explain why you assigned them to her. Show how they interact with popular culture.

Elite culture (high) is a creative avant-garde, an art laboratory, where new types and forms of art are constantly being created. It is also called high culture, because it is created by the elite of society, or by its order by professional creators. It includes fine arts, classical music and literature. As a rule, the elite culture is ahead of the level of its perception by the average educated person, by the broad masses. The creators of an elite culture, as a rule, do not count on a wide audience. To understand these works, one must master the special language of art. So, the works of abstractionists in the form of color compositions are difficult for a person who is not familiar with the laws of painting, symbolic color images. The motto of the elite culture is “Art for the sake of art”. V modern culture the elitist include films by Fellini, Tarkovsky, books by Kafka, Belle, paintings by Picasso, music by Duval, Schnittke. However, sometimes elite works become popular (for example, films by Coppola and Bertolucci, works by Salvador Dali and Shemyakin).