One of the markers of the 21st century popular culture is the apparent dilution in its quality and content. The medium with the widest reach, Television, is not only a source of entertainment but also employed by the powers that be to manipulate and deceive the gullible viewer in order to propagate its own political or business agenda. The contemporary media scene is such that the main focus is on vague and superficial qualities such as “the personality” and “the style” – a distinguishable shift from earlier programming that was more intellectually stimulating and culturally refined. Genres such as Reality shows, talent hunts, game shows, etc rule the roost in what is becoming an increasingly consolidated media space. Within an apparently diverse offering to the public, the issues and topics that find representation are very limited, more so in the news media (Marshall; 2004: 102). The rest of the essay will discuss the conditions that led to the present state of popular media, the direction it is headed and some possible remedies to reverse the situation.
To begin with, let us consider the meaning of the phrase “the cult of the personality”. The phenomenon of people being famous for being famous, as commonly seen in popular media of today is an apt description of the term “personality cult” (Marshall; 2004: 102). Such factors as the famous person’s achievements, virtues, values, etc are pushed to the background and intellectually thin attributes such as aesthetic looks, eccentric lifestyles, etc are given greater importance. The end result is the manufacturing of celebrity figures, conjured up on the basis of some superficial merits; hog a large share of communication airwaves, depriving representation for more weighty public issues. So while a majority of the general public is addicted to the “often-grotesque desperation of the rich and the famous”, we have to ask who the real beneficiary of this enterprise is:
“One of the attractions is the many, many levels of stardom. So, while at the top of the pile sit the Madonnas and the Tom Hankses of this world, at the bottom are the reality TV cast-offs that spend their day chasing agents to get them something – anything – that will allow them to strut around inquiring haughtily, ‘Do you know who I am?’ How has it come to this? Why do people turn up in their thousands to auditions for Pop Idol and Big Brother? They always say the same thing – ‘Because I want to be famous’ – but so few of them make it. Even those whose stars flared, such as Brian Dowling and Kate Lawler, have returned to relative obscurity” (Wiese; 2005: 239).
But how did a nation known for its sophisticated tastes and discerning audiences come to accept the staple offerings of reality television. An analysis of the history of mass media in the UK will be of particular relevance in answering this question. In the United Kingdom, the advent of television has had a crucial role to play in shaping its cultural landscape. Ever since the first public airing on 29th of September, 1946, the mass media industry in the UK had evolved into a very large industry in its own right. From the days of the BBC’s Third Program, which was said to cater to higher intellectual and cultural sensibilities, the decline in quality of programmes have been gradual and continuous. During these early years of British Television, full-length dramas of the classic mould such as Aeschylus were broadcasted for public recreation. In addition to this there were “European dramatists, lectures on philosophy, and announcements of major scholarly achievements were part of an intellectually nourishing fare for discerning listeners” (Osborne; 2007: 37). The academic community was also involved in this enterprise during the early 1950’s, which were very embracive of intellectuals and ideas from all sections of society. But unfortunately, this initial success also set in motion what is now commonly referred to as “celebrity culture”. While academics do not make for suitable celebrities in the twenty first century, they certainly did so a half-a-century back. Such authors as T.S. Eliot and E.M. Forster deserved their celebrity status during the 1950’s and 1960’s, but unfortunately their counterparts today are not from such accomplished backgrounds (Osborne; 2007: 37).
This leads us to the question of celebrity class. As is obvious from the above example, the calibre and stature of the community of celebrities have been down graded in the contemporary media. To illustrate the point further, let us take the following example: George Galloway’s elimination from the popular reality show Celebrity Big Brother was front page news in many tabloids as well as in news channels. In one particular late night news edition, this bit of trivial information was slotted as the third item on the programme, ahead of a discussion of the education White Paper. To say that it is absurd and insensitive would be to describe it mildly. This new found interest in “ordinary lives” says something about our own social values. For one thing what makes these reality shows and ordinary people’s lives interesting is the voyeuristic tendency in humans. What was erstwhile make completely private with the aid of four walls, had suddenly become a commodity in the pop-culture consumer market. The decadence associated with this rampaging celebrity culture is also evident from the fact that Heat magazine is such a big success in the UK (Osborne; 2007: 37).
Apart from the obvious intellectual and cultural damage that the 21st century mass media propagates, there are darker aspects of it as well. One shoot-off of this milieu that is a big concern is Stalking. This modern day affliction had become so pervasive that separate departments are dedicated in Psychiatric institutions to deal with its theory and practice. So much so that five distinct types of stalkers have been identified – The Rejected Stalker, The Intimacy Stalker, The Incompetent Stalker, The Resentful Stalker and The Predatory Stalker. Stalking is relevant to mass media and celebrity culture because most stalkers are from the fan-bases for these celebrities. The threat posed by the fan-base to the celebrities is aptly illustrated by the following research findings:
“The number of cases of stalking is rising rapidly, resulting in greater instability in relationships, shifts in the balance of power between the sexes and the ‘blame culture’ are all causing more people to pursue the imagined objects of their affection. All these are attributable to a pervasive culture of celebrity and other social changes. As many as one in five women and one in ten men aged 16 to 30 in the UK have been the victims of some form of stalking” (Birmingham Evening Mail; 2001 : 9).
It is an appalling reality that modern television programs have induced people into psychopathic and unethical behaviour such as stalking and paparazzi photography respectively. The power wielded by mass media goes well beyond the realm of entertainment, for the structural underpinnings of modern democratic institutions and entertainment channels are strikingly similar. To give an example, 120 million Americans turned up to vote during the 2004 presidential elections, while nearly 86 million Americans tuned into television to watch the annual sport spectacle that is the Super Bowl. The comparison between the workings of political institutions and modern entertainment culture becomes inevitable as “the discussion, participation, creativity, interventions, judgments, and votes that take place around reality television are all activities that would qualify as civic competences if they were performed in the context of the political field” (Fiske; 1996: 254). Also, fans and citizens have much else in common:
“Both fan groups and political constituencies encourage emotional investments and require active participation from their members. More important, the behaviour of committed fans mirrors what we hope to see from inspired citizens. In addition to the interpretive and informative components of entertainment politics, viewers of popular reality television programs such as the American and British versions of Big Brother and Idol even can shape the outcome of the show by voting for their favourite contestants.” (Fiske; 1996: 254)
To the question of equal and balanced representation, the shift in the type of symbol that find currency in the current media environment is quite contrary to traditional assumptions about social reality, creating a new avenue for the powers that be “to redefine public conceptions of authority and who should hold it”. The thrust behind this framework is not to blatantly discourage democratic participation that might undermine the status quo since “the way an outsider group’s experiences are (or could be) coded in tele-visual culture may both encourage and reflect a transformation in people’s assumptions about that group’s identity and roles in society” (Sullivan; 1998 : 21). A prime example of this reality is the way female politicians are perceived. The mass media and its celebration of pop-culture create unfair expectations of them and fail to highlight their professional merits. In effect, citizens schooled in mass media fed cultural sensibilities often perceive female politicians through these tinted lenses. Hence, in terms of actual representations of people and ideas, the mass media had fallen short without doubt (Cashmore; 2006: 112).
In this context, a discussion of Narrative theory is essential. When Vladimir Propp proposed the idea of Narrative theory by identifying and correlating common aspects of the Russian narrative prose, its relevance was not immediately known. But after further analysis and research by French high Structuralists such as Claude Bremond, Tzvetan Todorov and A.J.Greimas, it has become quite clear that the application of Narrative theory is valid across many genres of mass discourse. Of course, the list of functions identified by Propp in a story narrative is different in other genres. The discovery of Narrative theory is a double-edged sword. It could be used in a constructive way for the greater common good or it could be abused by those in power to further their own interests. Politicians and Business Executives have already appropriated it to aid their political careers and promotional campaigns respectively. Some studies have already indicated how the education system is vulnerable to the misapplication of Narrative theory (Zigo; 2001: 62).
Narrative theories put forward numerous unifying frameworks with which analysts can investigate the structure of the mass media environment, specifically in areas that are usually neglected in academia, such as “the complex ways that narrative attends to the cultural construction of time, space, and memory” (Voithofer ; 2004 : 48). A persuasive narrative is one which also has the capacity to create a dominant sense of place and time: two ingredients that are highly significant as the distinctions between real and virtual time and space become increasingly vague. The following passage elaborates on the key relationships within its theoretical framework.
“To fully develop the theoretical foundations of critical narrative theory it is important to discuss the evolution of Narratology in mass media. Media theories of narrative derived from film and television theorize modern narratives that engage multiple media and are more splintered and more fully theorize learning through the nonlinear connections of hypermedia in a post-modern context. Narrative theories are particularly instructive in describing how different media-based narratives work in inter-textual relationships to construct frameworks for meaning making” (Voithofer ; 2004 : 48).
The other drawback with the information distribution systems in place currently is their submission to capitalist market forces. Britain has a long tradition of scientific inquiry with such heroes in the past as Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton. But the way in which institutions for scientific understanding are sold over to show business production houses is a very sad development. A case in point is the London Planetarium. One of the biggest and technologically advanced “space theatres” in the country had been handed over to a celebrity light show company. The reason for this move: lack of profits. Tussauds, which owns the planetarium, had apparently decided that a few more pounds in their coffers is preferable than an enlightened Britain. Such is the abject state of entertainment based mass media and its subordination to a global, capitalist marketplace. It is all the more alarming when we consider the fact that teaching of sciences in general is in danger of dying out in British schools, with the number of pupils taking A-levels in the subject decreasing by 38 per cent since 1990, a problem made worse by paucity in qualified teachers.
References:
Cashmore, Ellis, Celebrity Culture (Key Ideas), Routledge, published in 2006, 192 pages.
Fiske, John, Media Matters: Race & Gender in U.S. Politics., University of Minnesota Press; Revised edition (March 1996), 304 pages.
Osborne, J. W. (2007). Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain. CLIO, 36(3), 462+
Our Country’s Reputation on the Line Because of Celebrity Culture; JADE GOODY and the Alleged Racist Goings on in the Celebrity Big Brother House Have Been Dominating the Headlines over the Last Few Days. Here Visitors to the Forums Section on Our Website Have Their Say. Make Sure You Log on to WWW.Iccoventry.Co.Uk/forums to Join in the Chat. (2007, January 23). Coventry Evening Telegraph (England), p. 11.
Marshall, David., New Media Cultures (Cultural Studies in Practice), A Hodder Arnold Publication (October 28, 2004), 128 pages.
Professor’s Warning over Rise in Stalking; Blame Partly Levelled at Celebrity Culture. (2001, February 8). Birmingham Evening Mail (England), p. 9.
Stand Up for Real Stars; the Celebrity Culture Which Has Put Paid to the Planetarium Is a Blow for British Science. How Can We Give Our Children Back a Sense of Awe about Space?. (2006, February 2). The Evening Standard (London, England), p. 13.
Sullivan, D. B. (1998). Images of a Breakthrough Woman Candidate: Dianne Feinstein’s 1990, 1992, and 1994 Campaign Television Advertisements, Women’s Studies in Communication, 21(1), 7+.
Voithofer, R. (2004). Teaching Computers to Tell Learning Stories: Using Critical Narrative Theory to Frame Design and Evaluation Strategies for Online Educational Experiences, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 47+
Wiese, D. R. (2005). Entertaining the Citizen: When Politics and Popular Culture Converge, Argumentation and Advocacy, 41(4), 239+
Zigo, D. (2001). From Familiar Worlds to Possible Worlds: Using Narrative Theory to Support Struggling Readers’ Engagements with Texts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(1), 62