Popular today, passé tomorrow.

For this week's blog, I will be doing my own deconstruction of Stuart Hall's "Notes on Deconstructing 'the Popular'". One of the main arguments presented in this article is that defining what is "popular" is becoming increasingly more difficult as it is constantly changing. The idea is put fourth that what is considered to be popular is ultimately dependent on the context and time period. We see this today with the constant reconstruction and upgrading of technology. A present day example of this would be the fact that person can buy an iPhone 4, however it is fairly well known the device will only be replaced by the "new and improved" iPhone 5 mere months from now.

Stuart Hall (1981) elaborates on this phenomena stating "'Cultural change' is a polite euphemism for the process by which some cultural forms and practices are driven out of the center of popular life, actively marginalized... things are actively pushed aside, so that something else can take their place" (p. 72). This is seen through all aspects of culture today; there is clearly nothing wrong with previous generations of iPhones, however they are pushed aside in order for supposed new, improved and more esthetically pleasing products to be released. Hall goes onto explain that the cultural industries do in fact have the ability to reshape what they represent. Through repetition and selection they are able to impose these definitions of ourselves to "fit" into the description of the dominant or preferred culture (p. 75). This is the contradiction we see of the popular forces versus the power bloc. The people in positions of power dictate what is "popular" and impose their opinions on the dominated class for profit, dominance and control. So it really is true that what is popular today is passé tomorrow.

Hall, S. (1981) Notes on Deconstructing the Popular. In Szeman, I., Kaposy, T. (2011) Culture Theory: An Anthology  (p. 72-80). Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell