Low culture
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| == History == | == History == | ||
| The history of low culture can be traced to [[panem et circenses]] (bread and circuses) and [[Latin profanity]] in Roman antiquity, to the [[picaresque novel]] and [[genre painting]] in the Renaissance, to [[mass readership|mass audiences]] of [[dime novel]]s, [[erotic photography]] and [[music hall]]s in the [[Victorian era]], to [[pulp magazine]]s [[exploitation film]]s, [[video nasties]] and [[shock site]]s of the 20th century. | The history of low culture can be traced to [[panem et circenses]] (bread and circuses) and [[Latin profanity]] in Roman antiquity, to the [[picaresque novel]] and [[genre painting]] in the Renaissance, to [[mass readership|mass audiences]] of [[dime novel]]s, [[erotic photography]] and [[music hall]]s in the [[Victorian era]], to [[pulp magazine]]s [[exploitation film]]s, [[video nasties]] and [[shock site]]s of the 20th century. | ||
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| - | == See also == | ||
| - | [[body genre|"body" genres"]] - [[bread and circuses]] - [[low art|"low" art]] - [[Lowbrow (art movement) |lowbrow (American art movement)]] - [[working class culture]] - [[culture]] - [[folk culture]] - [[popular culture]] - [[low modernism]] | ||
| - | |||
| - | == Related by connotation == | ||
| - | [[artificial]] - [[bad taste]] - [[basic instinct]] - [[camp]] - [[cheap]] - [[commercial]] - [[conventional]] - [[common]] - [[derivative]] - [[entertaining]] - [[ephemera]] - [[exploitation]] - [[formulaic]] - [[gratuitous]] - [[low budget]] - [[lurid]] - [[mass]] - [[ordinary]] - [[pop]] - [[popular]] - [[proletariat]] - [[prurient]] - [[sensationalism]] - [[scatology]] - [[shocking]] - [[stereotype]] - [[trash]] - [[under-the-counter]] - [[underground]] - [[vulgar]] | ||
| - | |||
| - | == Contrast == | ||
| - | [[high culture|"high" culture]] | ||
| ==By medium== | ==By medium== | ||
| === In film === | === In film === | ||
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| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | + | *[[body genre|"Body" genres"]] | |
| + | *[[Bread and circuses]] | ||
| + | *[[Culture industry]] | ||
| + | *[[Exploitation culture]] | ||
| + | *[[Folk culture]] | ||
| + | *[[Intelligence|Human intelligence variation]] | ||
| + | *[[Kitsch]] | ||
| + | *[[Lowbrow (art movement)]] | ||
| + | *[[Lower art]] | ||
| + | *[[Lower class]] | ||
| + | *[[Lowest common denominator]] | ||
| + | *[[Low modernism]] | ||
| *[[Mass society]] | *[[Mass society]] | ||
| - | *[[Kitsch]] | ||
| - | *[[Popular culture]] | ||
| - | *[[Culture industry]] | ||
| - | *[[Bread and circuses]] | ||
| *[[One-Dimensional Man]] | *[[One-Dimensional Man]] | ||
| - | *[[Reality television]] | + | *[[Outsider art]] |
| *[[Primitive art]] | *[[Primitive art]] | ||
| - | *[[Lower class]] | ||
| - | *[[Lower class]] | ||
| *[[Prolefeed]] | *[[Prolefeed]] | ||
| - | *[[Outsider art]] | + | *[[Popular culture]] |
| - | *[[Lowbrow (art movement)]] | + | *[[Reality television]] |
| - | *[[Trash culture]] | + | |
| *[[Shock humour]] | *[[Shock humour]] | ||
| - | *[[Intelligence|Human intelligence variation]] | + | *[[Trash culture]] |
| - | *[[Exploitation film]] | + | |
| *[[White trash]] | *[[White trash]] | ||
| - | *[[Lowest common denominator]] | + | |
| + | == Related by connotation == | ||
| + | [[artificial]] - [[bad taste]] - [[basic instinct]] - [[camp]] - [[cheap]] - [[commercial]] - [[conventional]] - [[common]] - [[derivative]] - [[entertaining]] - [[ephemera]] - [[exploitation]] - [[formulaic]] - [[gratuitous]] - [[low budget]] - [[lurid]] - [[mass]] - [[ordinary]] - [[pop]] - [[popular]] - [[proletariat]] - [[prurient]] - [[sensationalism]] - [[scatology]] - [[shocking]] - [[stereotype]] - [[trash]] - [[under-the-counter]] - [[underground]] - [[vulgar]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Contrast == | ||
| + | [[high culture|"high" culture]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 08:23, 21 August 2012
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Low culture is a derogatory term for some forms of popular culture and working class culture. The term is often encountered in discourses on the nature of culture. Its opposite is high culture. Strictly speaking, both high culture and low culture are subcultures.
Kitsch, slapstick, camp, escapist fiction, popular music, comic books, tattoo art and exploitation films are examples of low culture. It has often been stated that in postmodern times, the boundary between high culture and low culture has blurred. See the 1990s artwork of Jeff Koons for example of appropriation of low art tropes.
Romanticism was one of the first artistic movements to reappraise "low culture", when previously maligned medieval romances started to influence literature and Susan Sontag was one of the first essayists to write about the intersection of high and low art in her 1964 essay "Notes On "Camp"".
Contents |
History
The history of low culture can be traced to panem et circenses (bread and circuses) and Latin profanity in Roman antiquity, to the picaresque novel and genre painting in the Renaissance, to mass audiences of dime novels, erotic photography and music halls in the Victorian era, to pulp magazines exploitation films, video nasties and shock sites of the 20th century.
By medium
In film
B-movies - exploitation films - grindhouse films - paracinema - television - video nasties - violent films
While the term exploitation was initially coined in the 1950s to describe 1930s and 1940s (the classical era of American exploitation film), the practice of exploitative fiction is as old as fiction itself. Areas of interest in this field include grub street hack writing, dime novels and pulp fiction, paperbacks and white slavery films, blaxploitation, Grand Guignol and slasher films.
In print
comics - escapist fiction - dime novels - genre fiction - men's magazines - paraliterature - popular fiction - pulp fiction - yellow journalism
In music
disco - house - music hall - popular music - pop music -
In the visual realm
- advertising - applied arts - caricature - decorative arts - design - graffiti - kitsch
Low art refers to the lesser or minor arts, including the decorative or applied arts, with the assumption that these are low partly because of the poor quality of materials and manufacturing. They are said to be superficial kitsch, catering to popular taste with a couch potato mentality.
In performing arts
burlesque - circus - peepshow - striptease - vaudeville -
By genre
adventure - "body" genres - carnival - comedy - horror - melodrama - pornography - romance
Baser instincts
Low culture is frequently said to address the baser instincts of hedonism and escapism.
Low culture by region
In search of national stereotypes by way of their exploitation culture.
American exploitation culture is well-known throughout the world, European exploitation culture less so.
Main themes
Subthemes
blaxploitation, artsploitation, b-movie, cautionary tale, comics, cult films, "dime novels" and "penny dreadfuls", escapist fiction, erotic horror, fantasy, fantastique, giallo, gore, gothic, grindhouse, horror, mondo films, Nazi exploitation, nunsploitation, pornography, prostitution, pulp, sensationalism, sexploitation, shock, slasher, snuff film, trash, video nasty, violence, white slavery, women in prison, working class culture
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a manner of being extremely controversial, loud, attention-grabbing, or otherwise sensationalistic.
The term is commonly used in reference to the media. Critics of media bias of all political stripes often charge the media with engaging in sensationalism in their reporting and conduct. That is to say they charge that the media often chooses to report on shocking or attention-grabbing stories, rather than relevant or important ones.
Exploitation films
See also
- "Body" genres"
- Bread and circuses
- Culture industry
- Exploitation culture
- Folk culture
- Human intelligence variation
- Kitsch
- Lowbrow (art movement)
- Lower art
- Lower class
- Lowest common denominator
- Low modernism
- Mass society
- One-Dimensional Man
- Outsider art
- Primitive art
- Prolefeed
- Popular culture
- Reality television
- Shock humour
- Trash culture
- White trash
Related by connotation
artificial - bad taste - basic instinct - camp - cheap - commercial - conventional - common - derivative - entertaining - ephemera - exploitation - formulaic - gratuitous - low budget - lurid - mass - ordinary - pop - popular - proletariat - prurient - sensationalism - scatology - shocking - stereotype - trash - under-the-counter - underground - vulgar
Contrast
