HOLLA! Hebdige

Dick Hebdige’s reading was interesting in the fact that it was a progression from culture in its simplest form to hegemony and the commodification and ideology of subcultures. In his literature review, Hebdige discusses ideology and its unconscious/natural state. This takes me back to last week’s class how we discussed ideology and how it is working on us in all areas and signs of our lives without us even knowing it. The reading also discusses the relationship between culture and society. These two things in my opinion are intertwined and are what make up our everyday lives. Reading past Marx’s, Barthes, Engle’s, Althusser, and other theorists ideas and progression of ideology of signs, the transformation of hegemony etc, I was very interested in Hebdige’s idea of subcultures (punk rock in particular) being defined by two characteristics. In CMC 100 we discussed how companies design products that individuals (mainly teens) will see as “cool”. Once items are made “cool” and put into the mainstream they are killed and lose the value of cool. The punk rock (noise) subculture in today’s reading discussed how this same idea of commodifying almost the avant-garde could be looked at as “the commodity form” (155) according to Hebdige. This idea was that the once hated and despised punk rock culture was turned into fashion and the cool thing resulting in this subculture (which originally was going against the norm) becoming comodified, mass produced, and the hegemonic power in culture during mid 60s, 70s, and early 80s. The second characteristic of “the ideological form” goes on the bases of turning the unfavorable group into the mass group and the new favored group among the masses (kind of like Gramaci’s idea of hegemony). For example, the mod-rocker movement of the 60s became a power player in society and culture. This idea went against the normal ideological ideas and in turn spun hegemony in its favor, making the mod-rocker the majority in power. I think I am understanding what Hebdige is discussing here and it is really interesting me. I may be wrong but I think he is trying to get across that the new form of culture (subcultures) results in hegemonic or ideological power shifting from the mainstream norm too avant-garde (not the norm) group of individuals. I also believe this shift is what makes things in the mainstream cool, commodifies them, and even gives them value. In turn this results in the creation of subcultures in our society as they try to step away from the power players, the masses, and the norm…but in the end they are becoming commodified, the norm and the hegemonic/ideological power; things they are opposed too from the beginning.