Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 74

It is important to remember that other cultural populations can participate in different cultural forums—with different discussions and information—than readers of mainstream texts. The reality of living in a society that expresses racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism through hate crimes is often lost on those who rely on mainstream media. These issues make a tremendous difference in how we perceive social reality on a day-to-day basis.

People come together through cultural magazines and newspapers, to affirm and negotiate their relationships with their cultural identities. However, magazines are just one example of how popular culture can function. Not all popular culture texts are easily correlated to particular cultural groups. Think about the various television programs, movies, mass-market paperbacks, and tabloids that flood our everyday lives. The reasons that people enjoy some over others cannot easily be determined. People negotiate their relationships to popular culture in complex ways.

Resisting Popular Culture

At times, people actively seek out particular popular culture texts to consume. At other times, they resist cultural texts. Consider the mixed reaction to music star Madonna. Some people love Madonna and identify themselves as fans. Others reject her and her music. So, although Madonna may be a popular star, her texts are not simply popular. They are not clear reflections of mainstream U.S. culture. In fact, Madonna's popularity and what she supposedly represents are somewhat controversial. Many people actively and strongly dislike the singer. So-called Madonna-haters are angered by the cultural values they see promoted by Madonna's texts In this example, the conflict of cultural values and cultural identities is apparent and leads us to think about resisting these popular culture texts. Resistance need not be seen as entirely unrelated and distinct from consumption.

The appearance of The I Hate Madonna Handbook reflects the complexity of resistance and consumption. The handbook's author explains: "This is a book for people who love to hate Madonna and for those who hate to love her." The handbook attacks Madonna's character from a variety of angles, but most notably on sexual politics.

People often resist particular forms of popular culture by refusing to engage in them. For example, some people feel the need to avoid television completely; some even decide not to own televisions. Some people refuse to go to movies that contain violence because they do not find pleasure in such films. These kinds of conscious decisions are often based on concerns about the cultural politics at work.

Resistance to popular culture can also be related to social roles. Resistance stems mainly from concerns about the representation of various social groups. Popular culture plays a powerful role in how we think about and understand other groups.

Representing Cultural Groups

People often are introduced to other cultures through the lens of popular culture. These introductions can be quite intimate, in ways that a tourist may not experience. For example, movies enter family homes and portray romance, familial conflict, or a death in the family. The audience sees and enters the private lives of people they do not know, in ways that they could never experience simply as tourists.

Yet, we must also think about how these cultural groups are portrayed through that lens of popular culture. Popular culture representations help us understand identities in relationships to other identities. Any popular movie can be taken as an example to illustrate this point.

Popular Culture and Stereotyping

In what ways does reliance on popular culture create and reinforce stereotypes of different cultures? As we noted at the outset of this chapter, neither author has had the opportunity to travel all over the world. Our knowledge about other places, even places we have been, is largely influenced by popular culture. For people who do not travel and interact in relatively homogeneous social circles, the impact of popular culture may be even greater.