Smiley Face - 4/23

For my post class post, I would like to evaluate the work of Hooks with a couple of previous theorists from class, as well as look at the way mainstream media influences our independent consumption of media. The first one I had in mind when discussing her in class was Dick Hebdige and the commodification of subcultures. Both theorists recognize the difference between dominant culture and subculture, and the subsequent desire of the dominant to have a taster of the subculture and explore it within the safe limits of their culture. When you think about the term 'subculture' it covers a broad array of meaning, but in its most basic definition it refers to any group that is not part of the dominant hegemony. But, these days, it seems as though subcultures can no longer hold that title due to the immediacy of mainstream media to normalize everything. Our popular culture today demands the new (Habermas) 'now' (Derrida) when, as we found in class, the term 'now' is constantly on the move to the next now, and the now after that, and the now now...which could go on and on. The use of technology, or more like reliance on technology, encourages the notion of new-ness and now-ness for mainstream media as well as the audience. The internet, for example gives the user a means to be come an active member in their bubble of culture in which they can find any culture and be apart of it. This sounds relatively unbiased since users are able to search what they like without the judging eyes of the media watching them or pushing them in any particular direction(Foucault). On the other hand, people talk and tell each other which sites to visit or youtube clips to watch. As a result, subcultures are being discovered online that are not controlled by the media and therefore it means that the media must normalize it as mainstream sooner. Even without the pressure of mainstream media dictating hegemony within the public sphere, with often times a pinch of a subcultural element thrown in to "spice" it us as put by Hooks, those pressures are slowly merging into the private sphere of individuals surfing the web in ways the media intend. Is there any escape?