Culture and Communication 2

In the past, communication mostly occurred from talking to one another.  People were only affected about events that occurred in their area; there were no forms of communication to connect people over far distances.  The ability to communicate to large masses of people in different countries began with the invention of the printing press. The ability to reproduce the same piece of writing or artwork with little time and money, allows access to any social class.  Albert Durer was one of the first artists to mass-produce images for popular markets.  “These prints became an early form of mass culture that helped to foster consumerism in the lower classes of society”(Culture and Communication 23).  Fine art could now be distributed widely and influence different cultures across the world.  Now thousands of people could interpret the meaning behind artwork and form their own opinion.  Printing paved the path to new mediums of communication: novels, the telephone, photography, radio, advertisements, television, the Internet, etc.  “As new technologies developed in the industrial age, they had to find away to serve the new society”(Culture and Communication 28).  Society today revolves around these technologies to inform them of local and worldwide news.  People began using these mediums of communication to express themselves and to share ideas with others, creating mass culture.  Mass culture continues to increase around the world as developing countries go through the EPS cycle, but not all approve of it.  Critics think that popular culture is not genuine and is superficial in a way that one with no background of fine art or literacy can perfectly understand the countless forms of art posted online.  “The democratization of art, critics continue, leads to the homogenization of our culture, which is analogous to the homogenization of milk: The globules of cream are evenly distributed throughout the milk instead of floating separately on top”(Culture and Communication 32).  All types of culture have now mixed together.  There is no dividing line between what society sees as elite or folk art. 

The advancement of technology has given the chance for many people to share their own creations and become apart of popular culture.  Some argue that popular culture is like a flood that takes any type of culture displayed and jumbles it all together.  In the film Press Pause Play, Andrew Keen states, “A young Hitchcock, a young Scorsese, they wouldn’t make it in this business.  Slap up their early stuff on Facebook, on Youtube.  It would get lost in the Ocean of garbage “(Press Pause Play).  Culture today may be too saturated with visuals, sounds, pictures or any other medium of communication.  This upcoming generation has been labeled the “me” generation because people are obsessed with sharing information about themselves. There has been lack of appreciation of quality art produced by trained professionals.  Never the less, the availability of technology allows for people without the greatest economical standpoint to make a name for themselves.  One only needs a smart phone to write a book, take pictures, create film, or even draw.  David Girhammar says, “I would not be where I am today if I lived 15 years ago, because I was in the age of the specialist”(Press Pause Play).  One can now publish a book or post their own music by themselves online and become their own boss without larger companies interfering; A third party is not needed to be involved to distribute ones art and taking a percent profit from the artist.  Anybody with an imagination can create whatever he or she wants and can share it with the world.  Moby says, “The human spirit when it’s allowed to become made manifest through art invariably is going to create greatness.  It almost doesn’t matter what the medium is…when humans make things, they tend to make interesting things”(Press pause play). With all the different kinds of technology and social media, almost anyone can express themselves in a way they want to.  Anybody can belong to a culture or even create their own.