Hello!
Since Dr. Ivan breifly mentioned the circuit of culture, I thought I would share my notes on it from another module. Paul du Gay's notion of a circuit of culture
is an attempt to rethink how cultural forms work. It is a model different from the production produces consumption
model (unidirectional, deterministic). Each moment has a very important relationship with
another moment. The way to fully comprehend a cultural product is to take into account all of the 5 moments and their articulation
(the connection between the moments/the
process where the moments will form temporary or meaningful unities). The 5 moments are as follows:
-1. Representation:
how signs are used to present a meaningful concept (e.g. advertisement)
-2. Production: how does the product come to be/how
is it made
-3. Consumption: how this product is used, what
meaning people give to it when they use it, what kind of social context it is
used. Often consumption happens in very different contexts
-4. Identity: once meaning is constructed, how is the
product used to construct individual/group identity. Often created through the
assertion of sameness and difference. Also reproduced through systems of
representation. Often incomplete (e.g. if you identify yourself as singaporean,
you are missing out other identities such as male/female, chinese).
-5. Regulation:
not just government (e.g. censorship). To do with the norms and values of
society. Influences how the products come to exist in society.
In his article, Gay uses the example of Sony Walkman to illustrate the 5 moments and their articulation. I'll be using the case study of Apple to illustrate the 5 moments.
What’s in a
Name? i
-encampulastes contemporary cultural capitalism
-nobody knows what the “I” in ipod means.
-central
to the company’s image
-”I”:
individual, intelligence, internet, etc
Representing
Apple
-“It had broken every rule of the advertising game.”
-only
tells the product at the end of the commercial
-draws on
knowledge of Orwell’s 1984
-IBM
(Big Blue) was the “Darth Vader of the digital world.”
- IBM:
international business machine
-corporate,
bureaucratic, compartmentalized, entrenched, hierarchical.
-Apple was “friendliness, flexibility and adaptability
to creative work.”
-Lady: the
one to break IBM’s monopoly, to end “big brother” regime
-creative
people, men and women, integrated life, casual, informal.
-“Buying is revolutionary”
-Oxymoron.
If you buy apple computers, you can go against big brother.
-substantial impact (when it was released, 200 000 were
sold)
-Think Different (1995-2000)
-PC vs Mac (2006-2009)
Apple
Identities: The Cult of Macintosh
-Steven P. Jobs (1955-2011).
-his
identity is tied to apple
-Eulogies at his resignation late last month:
"Steve
Jobs was the Leonardo da Vinci of our age” (The Straits Times)
-Brand cult – akin to religion
-The Creation Myth
-he
has been liken to Jesus
-
biography titled the second coming of steve
-The Hero Myth
- Steve Jobs
as the new American hero
-Epitomized Silicon
Valley capitalism
The Satanic Myth
-ibm as satan
-Evangelizing
-“Macheads”
-consumption
of product becomes part of their identity.
Consuming Apple
-mobile
music.
-1.Music soundtrack, song selection.
-More control over music and song selection.
-2. Portable jukebox, portable music collection.
-Facilitates
greater social interaction around music.
3. Mix and match tracks.
-Create
soundtracks and mixtapes unconstrained by CD or tape.
-music has
become mobile (in a greater way) and social
-the ways in which people end up using ipod shows how
products go beyond their initial meaning
Design –
Articulating Production and Consumption
-Look and functionality of the iPod.
-Individual
and social uses.
-Links visual appearance, through tactile engagement,
to aural immersion.
-Apple:
design, systems integration, marketing.
-Others:
technological research.
-“It struck me as so unbelievable that these
incredibly great people had come together to make this collective work of
art.”—Steve Jobs on the Apple II in 1984, Good Guys and Bad Guys, Joe
Nocera.
Producing the iPod and iPhone
-“reflecting the global way business works today” (Mail
on Sunday)
-Globalization, and out-sourcing.
-Just in time production.
-obscures the actual production of the products
-Foxconn: Taiwanese company
-Suicides of factory workers
-these suicides could potentially undermine the image
that apple has carefully crafted
Regulation of
Culture – Piracy.
-Ownership of culture, intellectual property, fair
use, digital technology.
-Diminishing of the space for creative cultural exchanges
and free scientific communications.
-Greater surveillance of cultural consumption.
-Stifling of technological innovation.
-Retardation of the digital economy.
- Lawrence Lessig: for fair use of intellectual
property
-“Rip. Mix. Burn” slogan from 2001
-Music
industry saw it as an endorsement of priacy
-Debate over
intellectual property, music, copyright
-Rip, mix,
burn: users can be producers. Playing with the distinction between producer and
consumer.
-The slogan
was changed later.
-Now apple has iTunes and it sells music.
-Apple has changed positions in the debate over
cultural production/copyright/intellectual property rights
-apple from
counter culture to large corporation
-changing
identity as it becomes more popular
I hope this short example of Apple illustrates the 5 moments of the circuit of culture. If you wish to read Gay's work on the circuit of culture and Sony Walkman, you can locate it in Central Library. The title is
Doing cultural studies : the story of the Sony Walkman (1997), ISBN 0761954015 (cased) \ 0761954023 (pbk)
.
Cheers,
Kai Lin
Disclaimer: All of the above are notes that I have taken during a lecture for a sociology module, SC2214. All copyright belong to their respective owners.
