Research: Hebdige's Sub Cultures - Ms Begum

Hebdige's Sub Cultures

 

What are sub-cultures?

With sub-cultures, they are a group of people that don't follow the mainstream crowd. As the people that are in this sub-culture would have similar values, ideas and tastes, with sub-cultures they are based on stereotypes. 

 

For example;

Bikers are a "gang" and they would be rivals to the society. They are comfortable with their own ideas and they are against capitalist. Some of the typical things they have are, leather clothing, black, denim, have long hair, bikes (Harley Davis) and mainly big old hair men. With the bikers, they have traditional ideas but what they would do now is make old ideas their own with something new. With their music interest they would listen to heavy metal rock, with the genre it is not mainstream and only a certain group of people would listen to this.

Sub-Cultures:
- Bikers
- Punks
- Nerds
- Queer
- Hippies
- Greasers
- Jocks
- Goths
- Emo's
- Skinheads

Example: 
"Punks" they tend to listen to heavy metal just like the bikers but there is a difference between them. Punks are mainly young people in this group and bikers are usually older men but yet there might be some young. With punks the music genre that they listen to tends to influence them, by having bright hair colours or black, lots of piercings & facial, dress style. With the way the "punks" dress it is completely different to the mainstream lifestyle, and with doing this it is what they want such as wearing tight clothes and big boots shoes. This is because they do not want to look near or a like the mainstream as they are rebellious this could be due to the idea, values and tastes that they have are different. With the reason of them being rebellious could be the fact of the genre of the music that they are listening to which is what influences the way that they dress and their lifestyle.

With the sub-cultures I have named are quite known already or obvious to the mainstream industry the reason being is because;
- Conformity - They`re against the common values, of the popular culture and the systems
- Capitalism - The group do not follow capitalism, the subcultures like to go by their own rules
- Tribal/Gang - Don’t like mixing with another  race certain groups would  be stereotypical views about another group for example the skin heads dislike anyone that is not the same colour as them.
- New ideas – the subcultures have their own beliefs, they live the way  they want to live followers of subcultures don’t take upon neophyte ideas.
- Music Interests – Niche genres depending on the sub culture.

Grant McCracken:
He says that the post modern world is full of diversity, dynamism and creativity. With what he says if we take a look at the values and ideologies that we have a array of, I don't think it possible to say that cultures come from one culture. With McCracken what he is basically saying is that everyone is different in their own way and that we have a such a wide and diverse people, we cant say that all people come from that one culture because their are so many that are different to each other.

Hebdige:
With Hebdige what he said is that the people that feel like they are neglected by the societal standards their is. The subcultures is what allows them to develop an identity of themselves as they may find people in that subcultures to have similarities to them which brings them together. Although some people think subcultures appears to be different deep down they are the same. Subcultures are "little cultures" as they are all doing the same thing of resistance.
- Active process, different cultures read same cultural product
- Resistance against mainstream culture and will resist it and become a "subculture".
- People can resist mainstream culture and will resist it and become a "subculture".

Sub-cultures and the historical time in relation to music:
A lot of people would argue that with the people cultural music tastes depending on the historical time. And the music relates to the social, economic and politic change.

• 1950 - Teddy Boys, Rock n' Rollers
• 1960 - Hippies, Surfers, Rudeboys, Mods and Bikers
• 1970 - Skinheads, Soul Boys, Rasta's, Glam Rockers, Funksters and Punks
• 1980 - Heavy Metal, Hip-Hop, Casual, Goth, Rave and Club Styles
• 90's Noughties and beyond; distinctive blends of fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural landscape - depends on "what's cool and what social group you fit into...?

How does the industry now target the audience?
With the industry they now target the audience through gaps in the market trying to make newer/up coming artist famous or successful. One example of "creating" or a person to have potential is X Factor, what this show does is allow some people to audition and see if they have the star image and potential to be a star in the industry. With them doing this what it does is allow them is when the singer is going through the show they will start to create a fan base and by the end when they win they will use it to help increase their success.

Current day relation to Hebige:
In relation to Hebdige, with people consuming music is now a process that now differs from person to person. And with the person social background it can lead for different readings of the same song but the different types of people can like this song for the different reasons. With this theory it suggests that the different people with the same/similar tastes and interests have a different taste in the music due to their social background.

Current day relation to Dyer:
- Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and will promote a certain ideology.
- Fans who agree with that set of values will support the star.
- Fans will imitate stars in an aspirational effort to get "close" to the glamorous, fantasy lifestyle they appear to have - this may take the form of "dressing up" imitating performances, adopting behaviour etc.

Who am I targeting in my music video?
With the people I am targeting they are apart of the mainstream audience but some sub-cultures may like it as well. This is because the music video I would like to make is about a couple and their memories of each other together in their life but yet there was a incident where it broke them up. The audience I am targeting is the people who will like R&B, and the age of them would be 13-30+ because of the song and the video I would do to it.