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In this essay, I will be analysing on _________, specifically ______, using various theories

such as hegemony, denotation and connotation, feminism and comparison between

celebrities with talents and celebrities without talents. I aim to show that even though there is

a change in the prerequisites for people to become celebrities, not all modern celebrities are

perceived as talentless. Culture, clearly, is not just made up of objects and activities, but it

has symbolic significance as well; it involves thought processes, all kinds of significance,which helps to construct a sense of self and a common-sense reality that we supposedly

share with others. The study of culture should be able to show how something that has

been constructed has beeen naturalized, made to feel as if that is just ―the way things are.‖

1. Culture 2. Myths and Signs 3. Ideology 4. Hegemony

Power of repetition, simulation, the copy (anticipates Baudrillard):

Hall posits three positions that the audience can take in relation to media message: 1)

replicating the dominant or preferred code of the message (acceptance)

2) negotiating and modifying the message (synthesis)

3) a global negation of the preferred code (rejection)

Thus we have two different takes on media and power, ones that are not necessarily

antithetical and not necessarily complementary, but both of which have proven useful and

productive for the analysis of culture and cultural objects

Postmodernism

Postmodernism: A rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon

anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically un-

representable. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject

and object, self and other. This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the

―John Wayne‖ individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or

re-present the human subject.

Postmodernism is a philosophy that says absolute truth does not exist. Postmodernism

supporters deny long-held beliefs and conventions and maintain that all viewpoints are

equally valid.In today's society, postmodernism has led to relativism, the idea that all truth is

relative. That means what is right for one group is not necessarily right or true for everyone.

The most obvious example is sexual morality. Christianity teaches that sex outsidemarriage is wrong. Postmodernism would claim that such a view might pertain to Christians

but not to those who don't follow Jesus Christ; therefore, sexual morality has become much

more permissive in our society in recent decades. Taken to extremes, postmodernism

argues that what society says is illegal, such as drug use or stealing, is not necessarily

wrong for the individual.

Cities and Space

Ways of thinking about space:

Sites (buildings, design concerns, significant spaces, functional spaces, public and private

spaces) Singapore Mutations (Europe vs. Shopping). everyday spaces: inside and outside;

work, leisure, dwelling, traveling, shopping, exercise; world and community i.e., the

specificity of local spaces; Subversion of classical notions of space; postmodern buildings

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2. Everyday Life

Michel de Certeau Practice of Everyday Life (activities like reading, walking, talking,

dwelling, or cooking)

4 Principles:

1. Usage or Consumption

2. The Procedures of Everyday Creativity (the network of an anti-discipline)

3. The Formal Structure of Practice (and the ―element of chance‖)

4. The Marginality of a Majority (but not a homogeneous mass)

Tactics and Strategies

Strategies: Proprietors, enterprises, cities, scientific institutions (Universities) have their

―proper‖ place for generating relations with competitors, adversaries, clienteles, targets, or

objects of research. This proper place de Certeau calls ―strategy.‖

Tactics: a tactic ―depends on time—it is always on the watch for opportunities that must be

seized ‗on the wing.‘ Whatever it wins it does not keep. It must constantly manipulate

events to turn them into ‗opportunities.‘ The weak must continually turn to their own ends

forces alien to them.‖

―In our societies, as local stabilities break down, it is as if, no longer fixed by a circumscribed

community, tactics wander out of orbit, making consumers into immigrants in a system too

vast to be their own, too tightly woven for them to escape from it.‖

Virtual

Virtual: existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact; Something which is a

representation rather than the real thing. In advertising, the word ―virtually‖ means ―almost.‖

now the Web means everything we can access online or in cyberspace – a space that

appropriates and changes extant communications technologies such as broadcasting,telephony, mail, and publishing while adding some new ones, such as audio and video

download, linking/hypertexting, info tracking, gaming, blogging etc.

the emergent, evanescent nature of the Web and technoculture means that engagement

with and study of the various phenomena related to it will always become quickly outmoded

During argues that blogs radically alter the private-public sphere as well as that of web

publishing because they are free and relatively easy to use -- blogs are both ―lost in‖ and

―enabled‖ by the endless chatter: neither secret nor public, ―statements to and for the world‖

one trend that seems consistent over the past few decades is the increasing control ofcommercial interests and traditional media on the Web -- the old gatekeepers that

early cyberactivists and cyberartists sought to bypass or overturn have largely reasserted

their control



Virtual reality, the reality that might be said to be perfectly homogenized, digitized, and

‗operationalized‘, substitutes for the other because it is more ‗complete‘, it is more real than

what we have established as simulacrum.‖ (39)

―The fact remains that this expression, ‗virtual reality‘, is positively an oxymoron. We no

longer have the good philosophical sense of the term, where the virtual was destined tobecome actual, or where a dialectic was established between these two notions. The virtual

now is what takes the place of the real; it is the final solution of the real in so far as it both

accomplishes the world in its definitive reality and marks its dissolution.‖

A virtual simulation of the world, of the real ―Second Life‖

The mee card: ―a snippet of youness‖

Web 2.0 map mashups

Twitters/microblogging

Google Sightseeing ―Why bother seeing the world for real?‖

Simulacra and Simulation (Jean Baudrillard)

Using Baudrillard‘s ‗The Precession of Simulacra‘ (1994), we can view ____ as a sign that is

a ‗perversion of reality‘ and which does not faithfully show us reality. This is the second

stage of the sign-order.

If we were to look beneath this second layer (perversion of reality), it would reveal a third

layer where the unreal is more real than the real, thus we enter into the world of the

hyperreal. So is ____ just a_____ that is a mere caricature of stereotypes or will it transcend

the boundaries of the show to become more real than reality itself?

Three orders of appearance, parallel to the mutations of the law of value, have followed one

another since the Renaissance:—Counterfeit is the dominant scheme of the ―classical‖

period, from the Renaissance to the industrial revolution; —Production is the dominant

scheme of the industrial era;—Simulation is the reigning scheme of the current phase that

is controlled by the code.

The first order of simulacrum is based on the natural law of value, that of the second order

on the commercial law of value, that of the third order on the structural law of value.

From ―what does it do?‖ to ―does it work?‖ and then ―does it work better than the lastmodel?‖

Gadgets, gizmos, thingamajigs, go-faster stickers, and other devices (consider also the

range of domestic and cosmetic devices and ―scientific‖ or ―technological‖ lotions, potions

and procedures, including Prozac, Xanax and Viagra—the ―Spam-Cures‖). The

word gizmo perfectly exemplifies for Baudrillard the superfluous, ―empty‖ meaning of all

those gadgets that are, when it comes right down to it, of no real use.

Denotation & Connotation: First and Second Level of Meaning (Roland

Barthes)

In Barthes‘ ―The Rhetoric of The Image‖ (1977), images and texts consist the signified and

the signifier. The signified has two levels of meaning which are denotations and

connotations.



However, this particular scene has different connotative meanings for different audiences.

According to Barthes, having a similar cultural background leads to receiving similar

decoding of a signified. Hence, it is natural that Asians receive different connotations from

the same scene. From the Asian viewpoint, the connotation is that it seems that the Glee

producers have some misconceptions about Asians only caring to ace in their studies

instead of everything else. This, however, is not always the case in an Asian society.

Hence, from understanding and applying Barthes‘ theory to images, we can analyze the

particular ____ and see the different connoted messages within it. This is useful for

examining and understanding the significance in different types of shared meanings of a sign

across various different cultures such as the Asian and Western cultures.

Each media message has a meaning encoded in it; the message has political, social, and

ideological dimensions to it, whether intentional or not.

An audience engages with the message and must decode it in order to understand what is

being conveyed at the level of content (what is says) and ideology (why the content is beingcommunicated)

- Denotation and connotation (examples): ―The terms ‗denotation‘ and ‗connotation‘,

then, are merely useful analytic tools for distinguishing, in particular contexts,

between not the presence or absence of ideology in language but the different levels at

which ideologies and discourses intersect.‖

Myths (Roland Barthes)

According to Barthes, myths are the ―dominant ideologies of our time‖ and bothdenotation and connotation form ideologies. Myths serve the ideological functionof naturalization and naturalise the cultural. Dominant cultural and historical values,attitudes and beliefs are made to seem entirely 'natural', 'normal', 'common-sense'and are 'true' reflections of 'the way things are' (Chandler, n.d.). Myths takesmeaning, are accepted and subsequently acted out, which would serve to reinforcedominant values onto others.

Roland Barthes: Myth and Semiotics. The notion of myth connects to the notions of ideology

and hegemony: each is doing similar service and trying to get at the same thing: how culture

makes its political and historical constructedness apparent.

Ideology and culture, as kinds of propaganda, work best when they are not recognized as

such because they contribute the construction of what people think of as ―common sense‖

Three Messages:

1. Linguistic

Pure Iconic Message:

2. Symbolic: a series of discontinuous signs "imbued with euphoric values" (associated with

feelings of well being):

A. A return from the market - i freshness - ii domestic preparation

B. (Yellow) - White - Green - Red (Tricolour) – Italianicity



. Literal or "non-coded" (the relationship between the signifier and signified is "quasi-

tautological")

Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)

Antonio Gramsci posits that hegemony is the process of ideological domination, in which the

dominant group gains consent from the dominated through ―the thought, the common sense,

the life-ways and everyday assumptions‖ (Gitlin, 1973). Hegemony can hence be

perpetuated through mythologies, by working on the routine level of thought and life.

Hegemony: A provisional alliance of certain social groups can exert social and cultural

authority over subordinate groups by ―winning and shaping consent so that the power of the

dominant classes appears both legitimate and natural.‖

Conclusion

With our theoretical analyses, we can critically discern that stereotypical treatment of the

Asian characters are decoded differently among the Asian and Western audience. Despite

Glee's general plot of social outcasts challenging social norms and finding acceptance in

their individuality, we see an ideological perpetuation of stereotypes in the case of the

Asians. This is especially apparent due to us viewing through Asian cultural lens, while it has

been naturalized as a hegemonic ideology in the American society.

In this model there are, firstly, basic assumptions in the culture (or sub-culture). These form the

bedrock of the culture and are unconscious for the most part.[2] These assumptions concern such

things as:

1. The relationship of humanity to the wider environment. For instance, in our culture there

is a assumption that, to a certain extent, nature can be subjugated and controlled; whereas

many older cultures see nature as the controlling force, even needing to be \'appeased\'.

Hitchcock\'s allegorical film \'The Birds\' depicts a conflict between these two points of view,

with some of the characters in the film seeing the attacks of the birds as retaliation against

humans for their maltreatment of the natural world.

2. The nature of \'truth\' and what is \'real\'. For instance in our culture we mostly accept as

true and real what is scientifically verifiable; whereas in other cultures the \'spirit world\' is

considered as just as real. But in many parts of rural Ireland people would consider itfoolhardy to dig up a \'rath\' or \'fairy ring\'; whereas in urban culture it would be a matter of

indifference.

3. The nature of human relationships. For instance, in some cultures there is an

assumption that humans are inherently aggressive, in others that they are inherently

cooperative. Golding\'s novel, \'The Lord of the Flies\', in which a group of boys marooned on

an island turn on one another savagely, is a vivid portrayal of one point of view.

The relative importance of the individual vs. the group. In modern Israel, the kibbutzim are

running into difficulties as a culture gap opens between the young people, who are more

interested in pursuing individual careers outside the kibbutz, and their parents, who have

spent their lives in the communal living of the kibbutz. In Ireland the family meal is almost a

thing of the past.

· The nature of human nature itself . For instance in some cultures people are thought of as

basically good, in others as basically evil, in others again as neutral. There are also basic

assumptions about whether people are \'perfectible\' or whether they are intrinsically flawed

and fallible. Consider the assumptions in Carole King\'s song, \'You\'ve Got a Friend\':



· The nature of human activity. Some cultures display an orientation towards \'doing\', other towards

\'being\'. It used to be said that German people live to work, while Irish people work to live. But there is

some evidence that in this respect the two cultures are coming closer together.

Values describe what \'ought\' to be done, in the light of the basic assumptions. For instance, whether

or not people believe that ghosts are \'real\' may affect their attitudes towards ploughing up

graveyards. Or, if there is an assumption that life is competitive rather than co-operative, there

is seen to be a value in fighting rather than talking . Although values arise out of basic

assumptions, these values also play a major role in creating the basic assumptions in the first

place. For instance suppose a new headmaster coming into an unruly school believes in the value of

strict discipline, and introduces suspensions and other penalties for even minor misdemeanors. If this

policy works, the value may gradually start a process of what is called cognitive

transformation among the school staff. It gradually becomes a belief among the staff, and

ultimately an assumption, which is not even consciously adverted to, about the correct way to

run a school.

Artifact is a technical expression, and while it does include technology and art, in

anthropology it also includes visible patterns of behaviour. The artifacts are derived from, or built

on, basic assumptions and values. Schein explains:

The most visible level of the culture is its artifacts and creations - its constructed physical and social

environment. At this level one can look at physical space, the technological output of the group, its

written and spoken language, artistic productions, and the overt behaviour of its members. [3]

Some artifacts become highly symbolic for the culture, for instance Orange marches for the Protestant

sub-culture in Northern Ireland. In general, a symbol is any act or thing which represents something

else or carries a deeper meaning or significance Some artifacts of our culture in the Republic of

Ireland which have high symbolic content would be the tricolour and the national anthem, the Angeluson TV, Croke Park and Lansdowne Road, Christmas and so on.

McDonald’s grew to become a meeting point and gathering area of the visitors of ECP, serving as its

de facto nucleus.

how a singular offshoot of a global fast food empire became a very unlikely site of cultural memory

and what the generated nostalgia represents in light of Singapore’s on-going redevelopment plan

The demolishment of one store seems harmless and insignificant when substitutes can easily be found.

However, the overwhelming response against the closure of this outlet suggests something more

They no longer have a connection with the place where memories of childhood and play are anchored.

The resulting loss of meaning is signified by a sudden, unassailable sense of placelessness

Emotional resonance is both consciously created and felt amongst Singaporeans when stories and

experiences in ECP McDonald’s are shared over social media1 and online forums.

Femininity has evolved over time and Victoria’s Secret is an agent of this change as VS produces a

new form of femininity. Through our analysis we have explained how something traditionally seen as

natural is actually produced and how a new confident, sexy, female-empowering form of femininity is

produced by this brand through the various marketing strategies. A cultural analysis of such a



revolutionary brand provides an understanding of how the culture industry affects consumerism in our

society today.

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