‘10’(1979) vs. Man, Woman & the Wall(2006)

            Many may be wondering why these two films have been chosen to be compared and contrasted.  Both films are from different eras, different countries, and have very different interactions between the characters, they do have something in common, which is their envisioning of what and who a woman is from a far off perspective.  Which brings about the question, have men changed since the late seventies or has pop culture continued to shape the idealized view of a woman.

            ’10’ and Man, Woman, & the Wall (MWW), are both considered to be romance/sex comedies, though MWW and the wall at times seems to border on the Japanese genre of Pink Eiga (Pink Movie, softcore pornographic scenes found in film).  ’10’ centers on an older man who has a love interest, though he is also going through a mid-life crisis.  He then happens to find a woman who he considers an ‘11’ out of ‘10’, on the attraction scale.  This leads to him becoming obsessed and creating a fantasized idea of whom she is, which then leads to him following her around the world.  In MWW, the main character is a twenty-something who lives in a small apartment and has no girlfriend, but happens to have a thin wall between himself and his next-door neighbor, whom he begins to fantasize about who she is and what she looks like.  This leads to the main character devising different methods in which to become a part of his neighbor’s life.

            First, let us dissect what women of desire represent in each film separately, by the end there should be a mutual relationship that is shared amongst them.  Bo Derek, the woman of desire in ‘10’, is in actuality a very liberal woman who envisions sexual freedom and individualism, according to Barker she would fall under raunch culture.  Her position in raunch culture is explained best by Barker, “Raunch advocates sexual provocativeness and promiscuousness by women as women…women identifying within this ‘culture’ speak of their rights to objectify sexuality like a man…” (312).  This is not to say that she is a woman who embodies anything evil or wrong, but because she embodies this idea, the main character begins to find her less attractive as he begins to learn more about her.  This is because the main character still holds the concept that for a woman to be beautiful she needs to represent, the good wife.  The good wife according to Barker is a woman who embraces the ideals of being a domesticated, passive, well-mannered woman (307).

            In MWW, the desired woman is imagined before she is ever seen by the audience and the main character.  Because of this, the audience is given the chance to be truly connected to the main character and to see what he sees through his imagination.  Similar to the film ‘10’ the audience and the main character learn the personality of the desired woman only at the end, only to find they are somewhat disgusted by the woman’s nature.  Though the difference between the two films are that the protagonist in MWW meets and befriends his love interest fairly fast, whereas in ‘10’ the protagonist doesn’t befriend his love interest until a little past the half-way point of the film.

            The scene in question in the film is where the protagonist is spending time with neighbor, after her boyfriend had left her.  From there she begins to get drunk and tries to seduce the protagonist into coitus, the main character views this action as not fitting his idea of who this woman is or what he would like her to be.  The woman in this film does not represent raunch culture as did Bo Derek’s character in ‘10’, though both women are the subject of a man’s interpretation of what an idealized woman would be.  Both men seem to view the women as having the personality of, the good wife, but as each film progresses we learn neither of these women share this ideal, thus forcing the men to reject them.

            This aspect of how men from two different cultures are able to come up with the same idea of what a perfect woman should be is very intriguing.  It proves the point that pop culture over the past few decades has created an image of what the perfect woman should envision, in opposition to who they truly are.  Because of this media control, we can see a clear trend of how women are being viewed, whether it be the interpretation of the late seventies or that of the 21^st century, there seems to be very little that has changed in the man’s mind of what a woman is. 

• Barker, Chris. "Sex, Subjectivity, and Representation." Cultural Studies Theory and Practice. London: Sage Publications, 2007. 301-13. Print.

Ethnography

Pop Cultural Imperialism through the Eyes of the Consumer

            A retail store is a location that most everyone goes to at least once a week, though most people who venture into these establishments probably do not notice how the pop culture of their society is defining them as they shop.  After spending a vast amount of time working at retail stores and having spent almost all my weekend window-shopping, my decision had become clear.  The retail store consumers had become my subject of interest and of study.  Consumers essentially are not so different from the common person walking on the street, yet their attitude and choices are clear reflections of the role that pop culture imperialism plays.

            During my study at various malls, I noticed that many people would typically go to brand name stores or chain stores that in a way had become a brand for selling certain categories of items, such as Best Buy or Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Many consumers would typically make a choice between the popular/reliable items or what items were cheaper; this is for the reason that many of the items that are popular were typically marked as being the most reliable.  A great example of this was watching people go to the Apple Store and Best Buy, I saw many customers leaving Best Buy with an Apple computer, even though the Apple store was upstairs.  Another similar incident was that of Jamba Juice, there was a Robek’s just across the food court, but Jamba Juice had a line, whereas Robek’s looked fairly empty.

            Western style modernity does not provide human beings anything that could be considered meaningful.  This is due to the fact that western society stresses the concept of ‘more is everything,’ which is based on providing the consumer more material goods, however these goods do not offer any significant cultural values, thus material goods only focus on our material gain as oppose to growth, mental or otherwise.  However according to Tomlinson, if modern western society is compared to that of pre-modern societies, there is an obvious lack of community, morality, God, and family traditions.  In comparison, western society is now spiritually very poor, which relates to the rising issues of, addiction, mania, depression, low self-esteem, and self-indulgent behavior (qtd. in Barker 164).

            This leads to the concept of, personal meaninglessness, this is the feeling that life has nothing worthwhile to offer, which has now become a fundamental psychic problem of the late modernity (Giddens qtd. Barker 165).  Which comes from the lack of moral pressure that society places upon us, thus with this lack of morality, we are denied the proper resources in which we need to live a full and satisfying life.  This internal struggle stems from the acceptance of one’s routine, be it work or school, which may lack moral meaning, and therefore, can be experienced as empty practices.

            In relation to consumer culture, which was born from modern western society, there is an unconscious belief that the purchasing of goods or materials creates a better life or places meaning in our lives, though in reality it only delivers a hollow object of desire, which cause the average consumer to question their own value as a human being.  With the rise in consumerism in western culture the cares and attention that one has, typically now goes to that of the advertisers and the goods that supposedly make our life better, thus solidifying our problems in a tangible form of commodity.

            Pop cultural imperialism is to blame for the leading cause of issues that are currently plaguing the consumers of modernity.  This is due to the nature of cultural imperialism evolving within western society, since the society is deemed open-minded and liberal it is easy for a new concept to manifest itself upon others, especially in a country like America.  America is a unique country with certain states being so progressive that they have made the leap into becoming ‘melting pot societies.’  In the ‘melting pot society’, it is often hard to find a true culture behind this society, thus leaving a void for something such as pop culture to propagate itself, which leads t domination by the new medium, that being pop culture.  Therefore, if pop culture is given the chance to redefine the ideals of another society it is fair to say that pop culture has turned into a form of cultural imperialism.

            Even now, “companies are trying to find new ways to keep ad-weary consumers’ attention through pop-culture references.  Corporations and marketers are finding new ways to reach out to customers who are bored with traditional advertisements” (Miller).  It is very clear that pop culture plays a huge role in what we buy and what brands we trust, the fact that consumers have become bored with the typical advertising campaign has now lead the corporations to fund a new marketing machine (which is based on the idea that there is such a thing as pop culture imperialism) to reach the masses.

Works Cited

• Barker, Chris. "A New World Disorder?" Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Sage, 2008. 164-65. Print.
• Miller, Elizabeth. "Pop-culture Ads Grab Attention; Companies Need to Be Creative." The Washington Times 20 June 2007: A02. Print.

Weclome

            Welcome!  As you may not know yet, you have just stumbled upon my Pop Culture blog.  Within this blog I will try to describe pop culture and its relationship to culture as a whole in my own point of view, hopefully you will find my ramblings interesting.

            I have just recently read an excerpt from, “The Politics of Culture,” by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, chapter 1 to be specific.  Chapter 1 being the introduction to the book, presents many concepts that some people may be aware of, but many of the concepts are presented in such a manner that we are to assume that most people are unaware or misinformed in regards to how ‘culture’ is presented within our society.  Most notably would be the authors’ description of how the word ‘culture’ came to be, and how culture stems from either that of the high-class aspect of society, the lower class aspect, or quite possibly both in their own simultaneous nature.

             Therefore, this begs the question, where is culture created, how does it manifest itself within us, and how does subculture play its part in all of this?  In regards to the for mentioned concept of where does culture come from, the politics that define culture and it’s aspects is the fact that culture originally stems from the upper class.  During this time of modernism, we often categorize everything around us using labels/categories, thus we think of culture as existing within two categories, ‘culture’ and subculture.  Because of the existence of two categories of culture, it is safe to assume that both aspects of culture play a large role in the creation of, ‘culture’ as oppose to culture originating from upper class society.

            ‘Culture’

            Culture without the nationality/ethnicity aspect of itself has many different definitions attached to it, though culture is often considered to be a social expression of life and social interactions within human beings.  Though I feel people tend to presume that ‘culture,’ the word itself represents an idea of a certain class of people, that of the upper class.  This presumption is based on the misinformed who believe culture is defined as having an appreciation for, “art, literature, and classical music” (pg. 1026).  A perfect example of this would be that of the description of someone who is ‘cultured.’  Typically, when people hear this term they tend to already have a preconceived notion of what this person is like, which is typically a person who comes from wealth and has travelled quite a bit, thus giving them an aura of understanding a realm of life that most people have never experienced.

            Subculture

            A culture, which differentiates itself from the larger culture to which it originally belonged, that is composed of a group of people from other cultures.  Subculture can be thought of as an expression of style which pertains to a certain select group of people, whereas culture is an expression of the whole country and or city/town.  Because of this difference, subculture is placed in its own category and studied separately from culture.

            Therefore, pop culture in itself is divided between two different categories, culture and subculture, which is why it has such potential to become ‘popular.’  Because pop culture utilizes both of these aspects of our life, we feel connected to it.  Nevertheless, pop culture can also present new knowledge that can equally grasp us, thus informing us and teaching us of another aspect of life that is different from our own but at same time relating it to our own lives.  A wonderful example of this would be that of, Cheezburger.com.  Cheezburger.com is a site that is dedicated to the process of mass production and information of Internet culture.  Since the creation of this site, Internet culture is now accessible to any person in the world, changing the preconceived notion that Internet culture was nothing more than hackers and porn-aficionados, to that of family friendly culture which can be easily acceptable by soccer moms. 

Here is a clip from Cheezburger.com’s Know your Meme episodic.

• Ryan, Michael. "Chapter 1. Introduction: "The Politics of Culture"" The Politics of Culture. By Julie Rickin. 1026-027. Print.