Lesson 12 - Politics and Popular Culture

Robert Wonser

Is Pop Culture Liberal or Conservative?

• It depends.• This issue is more complex than the question

makes it seem…• Several factors come in to play:• Who creates pop culture?• Who watches pop culture?

– That is, what do they take from it

• How is it disseminated? Does that make a difference?

• What about the news?

Who Creates Pop Culture?

• When pressed, many of our favorite tv shows creators admit to allowing there personal biases into their artistic creations

• This is nothing new• Each individual auteur imparts their particular view into

their creation• So the question of whether or not it is liberal or

conservative depends on what specific text we’re talking about

• South Park is usually Libertarian, skewering both liberals and conservatives

• Family Guy and The Simpsons tend to be more liberal.

Talking Heads

• Pundits often have a clear bias

• Fox parent News Corp. donates $1 million to Republican Governors' Association

Media Ownership

• Media are profit making corporations

• Does this pose a conflict of interests with the public good?

• Does this matter?• Businesses by

definition have a pro-status quo bent

Interpretation

• Audiences interpret and understand media content in different ways.

• Examples:– Indiana Jones– Barbie

• Does it really matter if a message is encoded if no one perceives it?

Myth of a Liberal Media

• None of these news organizations ever challenge the capitalist ideology

• “Reality, has a well known liberal bias.” - Colbert– The Third World really is poor and oppressed.– Our taxes really are regressive– Millions of Americans really do live in poverty– Corporations really do plunder and pollute the

environment– Real wages for blue-collar workers really have

declined– The rich really are increasing their share of the pie

Newscorp CEO

• Rupert Murdoch was once asked in an interview: “You’re considered to be politically conservative. To what extent do you influence the editorial posture of your newspapers?”

• He responded with refreshing candor:

• “Considerably… my editors have input, but I make the final decisions.” (Parenti 1995)

• How much would you say your interests align with this guys’ interests?

• Virtually all the chief executives of mainstream news organizations are drawn from a narrow, high income segment of the population and tilt decidedly to the right in their political preferences.

NPR and PBS?

• Generally ideologically conservative as any found on commercial networks

• Even Frontline and Bill Moyers’ programs use republicans more frequently than democrats

• A UCLA-University of Missouri study finds NPR scores similarly to Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report and slightly more conservative then The Washington Post

Reinforcing Norms

• Much of pop culture reinforces dominant values

• Is Jackass really subversive?

• How subversive can you be when you’re owned by a conservative media conglomerate?

• What does Matt Groening think?

• “To entertain and subvert”

Challenging Existing Norms

• While much of the time it reinforces, other times it directly challenges social norms and is often instrumental in social change and changing attitudes.

• Examples:– The Vietnam War– All in the Family– Three’s Company– The Simpsons– South Park– Roseanne– Etc.

How About Punk?When asked if punk was liberal or conservative, most people thought it …