Media and Culture Chapters 1 & 2

The textbook Media and Culture I found to be a lot more enjoyable than the previous assigned book because of it’s great amount of detailed information, written mostly from an objective point of view. The first to chapters were very informative, provocative in their topics, and exciting in their expression of achievement. 

I especially enjoyed the section on culture and the hierarchical system that was mentioned. I found the system to be very accurate in its placement of art in hierarchy and it’s differentiation of “high” and “low” culture through aesthetic choice. In my opinion the reason for placing art such as Beethoven’s symphony and James Joyce above all is not only based upon the challenge of understanding, but the individuality and creativity of the works that places them at the top of the list. Pieces such as the works of Beethoven could not be placed next to modern pop music because of Beethoven’s individual approach to music. If one heard Lady GaGa and ten other pop stars, they would be able to pick her out of the lineup but the basic chord structures and lyric choice seems to blend with others. However, if one was to listen to a Beethoven sonata and sonata’s of ten other romantic composers, there would be a great difference between them, in structure, expression, intent, and style. Leonard Bernstein, the famous conductor & composer, once analyzed the structure of a Beethoven sonata in his Harvard lecture series by taking the music and creating a conversation with it. The conversation expressed emotions that a modern pop star could not remotely create, even with the use of blatant lyrics. 

Another factor must be mentioned when analyzing an aesthetic choice as culturally “high” or “low” is effort, and time invested in the piece of art. In criticism of modern music, I will say that most songs created today(top 40) can be easily written within a week or less, not including production time of course. When compared with a composer of the romantic school or previous to so, the effort and time invested in a single project creates a great distance between modern music and classical. 

In my opinion art reflects a society’s values, and from the values being expressed  through art today(pop music, blank canvas’, fantastic literature) I would say there is a shortage of creativity, and the individual is in hiding. 

Another section of the Chapter that enjoyed very much was the progression of the internet. Aside from the great amount of information given, there was a great expression of human achievement in the section. The creation of the computer and the internet in such a short amount of time shows the great value of the human mind, and it’s need to innovate. I also thought that the light shed on some of the companies whose services we use on a daily basis was very enlightening. Even though I had known that most internet resources obtain their revenue through advertising, I still find it kind of strange. Mainly because when I think of these billion dollar companies I first think of the service they provide directly to online users such as Facebook communication, E-mail, etc. I believe however that their income is an accurate resemblance of their online innovation and is a great tool to measure their value to society.