Low
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Low refers to something in a position comparatively close to the ground; small in height or metaphorically depressed, sad.
Contents |
Etymology
From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“lying, flat, situated near the ground, low”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots laich (“low”), Low German leg (“low, feeble, bad”), Danish lav (“low”), Icelandic lágur (“low”), West Frisian leech (“low”), North Frisian leeg, liig (“low”), Dutch laag (“low”), German läge (“lying, low”). More at lie.
Low culture
Low culture is a derogatory term for 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 minority cultures. The combined influences of both strains constitute mainstream culture. 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 chivalric romances started to influence literature. Susan Sontag was one of the first essayists to write about the intersection of high and low art in her 1964 "nobrow" essay "Notes On "Camp"".
Low-life
A low-life or lowlife is a term for a person who is considered morally unacceptable by their community. Examples of people who are often called "lowlifes" are the dregs of society: drug dealers, drug users, alcoholics, thieves, liars, thugs, hustlers, con artists, prostitutes and pimps. Often, the term is used as an indication of disapproval of antisocial or destructive behaviors, usually bearing a connotation of contempt and derision.
See also
