The word ‘Culture’ has many meanings. According to Chris Barker (2008, p.63), culture are the meanings generated by ordinary men and women, the lived experiences of its participants and the texts and practices engaged in by all people as they conduct their lives. From my understanding, culture is the patterns on how people act and behave all of their lives which include their customs, beliefs, morals, knowledge and so on.
As stated by Chris Barker (2008, p.6), cultural studies is concerned with all those systems of classification through which there are inculcated in a population particular values, beliefs, competencies, routines of life and habitual practices, institutions and forms of conduct. Culture studies is simply about the process of finding out on what a particular culture practice in their lives daily.
Visual culture is the showcase of a message of an identity or persuasion of a culture, which varies depending on the surrounding or environment. According to Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright (2007, p.54), visual culture is the central to how we communicate in which our lives are dominated by images and by visual technologies that allow for the local and global circulation of ideas, information, and politics. From my point of view, we live in an increasingly modern and visual word especially with the many media that has been exposed around us such as television and the internet. It is possible that we live in a way that we are somehow being influenced by the practices and images that w e encounter every day.
The example that will be use for this post is the series “Gossip Girl”. Gossip Girl is about a number of privileged teenagers attending an elite private school in New York City. Their lives are surrounded by money, jewelleries, posh cars, designer dresses, lavish parties and fame. Their lives are also full of dramatic drama such as about their love lives, families, friends, enemies, betrayals and so on.
Firstly, as mentioned by Griffin (2009, p.336), discourse is the framework of interpretations in which the primary function is to make a meaning. In addition, discourse is like a try to understand and interpret about a phenomenon. In cultural studies, discourse is refered a structural rule controlled by the author or speaker which shapes the subject. Therefore the discourse for this example is "Gossip Girl".
Secondly, as quoted by Griffin (2009, p.337), ideology are the frameworks through which we interpret, understand and make sense of social existence. From my opinion, it is basically our own idea of understanding when interpreting an image or practice or in short, our belief system. Therefore, ideologies of Gossip Girl are friendships, materialism, superficial, wealthy, extravagant lifestyles, anorexic, popularity and spoiled.
Lastly, politics serve as a description of cultural studies' own strategic practice, which sees the world as a field of struggle and a balance of forces.Here it means that cultural studies sees a culture as always having problems. Therefore politics for Gossip Girl are politics of same sex relationship, politics of fashion, politics of women’s sizes and politics of racism.
References :
Barker, C. (2008). Cultural studies. London: Sage Publications.
Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies
Sturken, M. & Cartwright, L. (2007). An introduction to visual culture. New York: Paperback Pages.
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