21st century culture
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured:  |
21st century culture is culture from the 21st century. It is characterized by a continuation of and a reaction to modern culture and postmodern culture in a post-industrial society, increasingly marked by the digital revolution. It is the de facto contemporary culture, perhaps best set agaist the War on Terrorism, as well as the end of the dot-com bubble and the subsequent early 2000s recession.
Contents |
Contemporary film
- contemporary film, New French Extremity, Comic Book Movie Age, Jahsonic's film canon for the 21st century
- Notable directors are Ozon, Haneke, Breillat, Winterbottom.
Comic Book Movie Age
The 2000 film X-Men is considered to be the patriarch of the current "Comic Book Movie Age" that Hollywood is experiencing, as this film's box office success helped such films as V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and of course the X-Men sequels, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Documentary film
The documentary film also rose as a commercial genre for perhaps the first time, with the success of films such as Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.
Epic film
The success of Gladiator lead to a revival of interest in epic cinema, and Moulin Rouge! renewed interest in musical cinema. Home theatre systems became increasingly sophisticated, as did some of the special edition DVDs designed to be shown on them. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released on DVD in both the theatrical version and in a special extended version intended only for home cinema audiences.
Foreign film
There has been an increasing globalization of cinema during this decade, with foreign-language films gaining popularity in English-speaking markets. Examples of such films include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Mandarin), Amelie (French), Spirited Away (Japanese), City of God (Portuguese), The Passion of the Christ (Aramaic), Apocalypto (Mayan), Slumdog Millionaire (a third in Hindi), and Inglourious Basterds (multiple languages).
List of films
- Fast Food, Fast Women (2000) by Amos Kollek
- Spirited Away (2001) by Hayao Miyazaki
- Russian Ark (2002) by Aleksandr Sokurov
- Oldboy (2003) by Park Chan-wook
- The Machinist (2004) by Brad Anderson
- Caché (2005) by Michael Haneke
- V for Vendetta (2006) by James McTeigue
- The Banishment (2007) by Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Moscow, Belgium (2008) by Christophe Van Rompaey
- Broken Hugs (2009) by Pedro Almodóvar
21st century music
From the eighties revival trend of electroclash to the post-punk revival dance-punk; the trend in dance music was towards a more rock-oriented sound.
Non-dance developments: New Weird America (also called psych folk), Antony and the Johnsons, CocoRosie, Andy Votel, French rare grooves à la French Cuts series.
Teen pop
The late 1990s teen pop craze declines in the early 2000s, though still exists in the Disney Channel crowd with artists such as Hilary Duff, the Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus . The 1990s Alternative rock trend continues throughout the decade, and indie rock genres twee pop and emo both become mainstream. Gangsta rap remains iconic throughout the decade. Emo, a new genre of punk music, as well as a fashion aesthetic, is popularized. In the late 2000s, Auto-Tune edited vocals become a craze, led by artists such as T-Pain, Akon and Kanye West. The music industry faces a sharp decline in sales, arguably due to music downloading. Major influences from 1980s music and 1960s music especially apparent in later 2000s, especially in the music of artists such as Amy Winehouse and Duffy. Britney Spears, the most popular female artist of the decade, sells millions of albums, has numerous #1 singles worldwide, and is involved in numerous controversies. Eurodance music continues its massive success in Europe and in the latter end of decade, America.
Contemporary voices in black music
21st-century classical music
21st-century classical music is a diverse art form. Some elements of the previous century have been retained but there is a growing move towards Post-modernism, Polystylism and eclecticism, which seek to combine elements of all styles of music irrespective of whether these are "classical" or not. In other words, there is no longer a differentiation between the various musical genres. "Pop", "Jazz", "Rock", and so on are seen as styles to be used in any work rather than as separate disciplines. The combination of classical music and multimedia is also a notable practice in the present century; the internet, alongside its related technology, are important resources in this respect. The number of important female composers has also increased significantly.
See also
Contemporary literature
Fantasy
The 2000s saw a steep increase in the acceptability of literature of all types, inspired by the coming-of-age of millions of people who enjoyed the works of such writers as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in their youths. Neil Gaiman, for instance, one of the decade's most popular writers of speculative fiction, cites Tolkien, Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton as his three biggest influences growing up. J. K. Rowling admits to being heavily influenced by Lewis as well. Philip Pullman's gritty young adult His Dark Materials trilogy, written and published in the late 1990s, increased in popularity and was more widely read during the 2000s. The popularity of Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman, and Rowling was spurred on by movies which proved to be some of the biggest of the 2000s.
Manga
The 2000s also saw the popularization of manga, or Japanese comics, among international audiences, particularly in English-speaking nations.
List of books
- 2001 - Seabiscuit: An American Legend – Laura Hillenbrand; Life of Pi - Nobel prize: Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
- 2002 - Atonement - Ian McEwan; Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World - Nobel prize: Imre Kertész
- 2003 - Roman Triptych (Meditation) - Nobel prize: J. M. Coetzee
- 2004 - Free Culture - Lawrence Lessig; Nobel prize: Elfriede Jelinek
- 2005 - Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk; Nobel prize: Harold Pinter
- 2006 - The Road, by Cormac McCarthy; Daniel Handler, The End, 13th and final book in A Series of Unfortunate Events; Les Bienveillantes, by Jonathan Littell; Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon; Nobel prize: Orhan Pamuk
- 2007 - ''The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini; On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling; Nobel prize: Doris Lessing
- 2008 - 2666: A Novel by Roberto Bolaño; Feuchtgebiete by Charlotte Roche; Nobel prize: J.M.G. Le Clézio
- 2009 - The Humbling by Philip Roth; Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel; Nobel prize: Herta Müller
In popular fantasy literature, the 2000s were dominated by the conclusion of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (vols. 5-7 appearing 2003, 2005 and 2007) .
See also
Contemporary architecture
Contemporary architecture is the architecture being made at the present time. It also includes that of the last few decades, from the 1980s to the present.
Topics in contemporary architecture
Contemporary art
Sculptor Daniel Edwards makes a sculpture of pop legend Britney Spears giving birth to her son.
Contemporary philosophy
Contemporary philosophy in the Western world, for the sake of brevity and for the purposes of this article, is defined as themes and projects in the history of philosophy conducted within the last four decades. In addition to classical problems in philosophy, scientific and technological achievements and socio-political developments in world events have introduced new problems and ideas for philosophical debate.
Postmodern philosophy
Postmodern philosophy is a new and complex trend of thought. Beginning as a critique of Continental philosophy, it was heavily influenced by phenomenology, structuralism and existentialism, including the writings of Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger. It was also influenced to some degree by the later Ludwig Wittgenstein's criticisms of traditional philosophy, including earlier analytic philosophy. Postmodern philosophy is skeptical of many of the values and bases of analytic philosophy; for instance a postmodernist might disavow that the complex system of meanings embodied in normal or philosophical language could be represented in logical annotation (some might even disavow any traditional notion of "meaning" altogether).
Contemporary philosophers
Popular philosophy
Philosophy has re-entered popular culture through the work of authors such as Alain de Botton. This trend is reinforced by the recent increase in films with philosophical content. Some films, such as Fight Club, eXistenZ, The Matrix trilogy, Little Miss Sunshine, and Waking Life have philosophical themes underpinning their overarching plots. Other films attempt to be overtly philosophical, such as I ♥ Huckabees.
A number of philosophers have also increasingly drawn on film rather than literature to illustrate philosophical and theoretical views. Slavoj Žižek illustrates some contemporary philosophy concepts in his film documentary The Pervert's Guide to Cinema.
See also
- 20th-century philosophy
- Deconstruction
- Postanalytic philosophy
- Poststructuralism
- The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
- Collapse (journal)
The years 2000 to 2009 were marked by a kind of cultural escapism from the issues of that decade that were in large part a continuation of the same aesthetic of the more carefree 1990s. These issues include the Iraq War and War on Terror, several major natural disasters during the decade, most notably the 2004 tsunami, the ecological crisis, Hurricane Katrina, and during the last three years of the decade the Late 2000s recession.
2000s Fashion
Trends
- The Grunge aesthetic falls out of fashion, but is part of the reason why the decade has a non-distinct, laid-back fashion when it comes to clothing.
- Tattoos and body piercings become completely mainstream: a 2004 study showed that 36% of people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 had a tattoo, and 15% of Americans age 18 to 50 had a body piercing in a place besides the earlobes.
- Blue jeans ubiquitous among younger generations. Baggy jeans were popular in the first half of the decade, tight jeans in the second half.
- Ugg boots become a craze among women during this decade.
- The fashion of the 1980s experiences a major, but limited revival, after being extremely out of the style in the 1990s.
- Emo fashion is popular among people who listen to emo music.
- Geek chic, especially around 2007, becomes a craze as nerds are more accepted, even to the point of sometimes being considered cool.
2000s society
- Profanity becomes more acceptable in public, and is used quite equally by both sexes, as artists such as Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne and Lily Allen use explicit language in their music.
- In the United States, gay rights are supported by the majority of people for the first time. Bisexuality becomes an accepted sexual orientation.
- As people borrow less money due to the credit crunch and Great Recession, freeganism and frugality see increased interest.
- The Internet continues to grow tremendously, in the First World becoming used far more heavily, and for many more applications, and in the Developing World used by more and more people.
- Multiculturalism becomes more accepted, and the United States elects Barack Obama as the President of the USA.
- Cellphones become small, cheap and affordable for everyone. They also include many capabilities such as text message, internet, TV,camera, music, gps, and etc.
2000s television
- Reality TV becomes a standard. Popular shows include The Bachelor, Survivor, American Idol and Big Brother.
- Nickelodeon cartoon Spongebob Squarepants runs through entire decade, and is popular with both kids and adults.
- The serial drama becomes a popular format on the major networks. LOST (2004-2010), Desperate Housewives (2004-2011), 24, The Shield, Nip/tuck, and Prison Break are among the most popular.
Other
- The iPod becomes the best-selling MP3 player and an icon of the decade.
- Chatspeak widely used online, especially with the Post-Echo Generation.
See also
