o First genuine subculture group were ‘The Zooties’ in the 1940’s, and at about the same time ‘Bikers’
o ‘Rockers’ (1977)
Youth Cultures-1950’s:
o High urban populations and improved standards of living
o Rise of the teenager is a demographic fact as a consumer group
o Disposable income and credits for young people
o Abolition of National Service in some countries
o Not many young people went to university at the time
1950’s:
o The relaxation of the Hays code
o The widespread popularity of television
o Films began to be directed at the youth market which were operated in a different way
o ‘The Wild One’ (1953)
o ‘Blackboard Jungle’ (1955)
o ‘Rebel without a Cause’ (1955)
o Formulaic teen movies ever since
o ‘Easy Rider’ (1969) A seminal counter-cultural film. First film to have music on the sound track that wasn’t scored.
Alienated youth on a killing spree:
o ‘Gun Crazy’ (1950)
o ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967)
o ‘Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
o ‘Badlands’ (1973)
o ‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994)
o ‘Elephant’ (2004)
Hebdige/Hall and Jefferson Subcultures:
o They saw sub-cultures as resistance
o ‘Resistance through ritual’
o Opposing the dominant ideology
o Western consumption involved
o Japanese subcultures
o Working class but having money in style
o Symbolic resistance through style
o “The problematics of lived class existence”
o As un-employment kicks in-how does this affect subcultures?
o The idea of the subculture as young people who have jobs
o Hebdige on Bricolage-“The mods could be said to be functioning as bricoleurs when they appropriated another range of commodities by placing them in a symbolic ensemble which served to erase or subvert their original straight meanings…” (Hebdige, D.)
o Fighting of the synonymous enemies-for the mods it was the bikers
o Union Jacks-Mods utilised this symbol as a unifying symbol of identification
o Male dominated subcultures-Mods, bikers, skinheads
o Mods-influenced by Italians
o Things that are valued in their own right
‘This is England’:
o Finds his friends by hanging out with the local skins
o Looking back at Skinhead subculture
o Skinhead fashion never appeared as re-interpreted form on fashion catwalks
o Link between Skinheads and racism
o Skinheads against racism
o Nick Knight-whether there is anything you can retract
Subculture-Authenticity:
o Style leaders
o Active/creative consumers
o Innovative/original
o Opposing bourgeois values
o Resisting mass consumption/taste
o Picked up by cinema
o Style, taste and self-expression
Subcultures in Australia:
o much more related to consumption
Hebdige-two methods of ‘recuperation’:
o The commodity form-sub sued through commodity
o The ideological form
o ‘The Girl can’t help it’ (1955)
o ‘Jubilee’ (1977) –About a group of girl punks
o Appropriation
o Commodification
Sarah Thornton:
o Subcultures are not necessarily about resistance
o The creative and the commercial live side by side
o The boundaries between mainstream and alternative cultures are not distinct
o Subcultures are defined and created by entrepreneurs
o They are ‘taste cultures’, organised around ‘subcultural capital’
o Subcultural capital
o “While subcultural capital may not convert into economic capital with the same ease or financial reward as cultural capital, a variety of occupations and incomes can be gained as a result of hipness. DJ’s, club organizers, clothes designers, music and style journalists…” (Thornton, S)
Subcultures:
o Link to fashion-power of grunge in 90’s, and the return to authenticity
o ‘La haine’ meaning Hatred
o ‘Clubbed to Death’
Angela McRobbie-girls and subcultures:
o Suggests there were female subcultures, but they did not have the media presence
o Because female youth cultures were often based in the home and school, they were, to a large extent, ignored
o The notion that women, and in particular young girls, are excessively susceptible to domestic and consumer ideologies, has a long history
o Most girls’ magazines over-privilege the spheres of consumption and leisure in comparison to production and work
o Because they are not necessarily threatening or violent, most girl subcultures are often invisible to reporters and academics.
Film List:
o ‘Metropolis’ (1930)-First film to envisage the future
o ‘Blade runner’-Drew on themes in the film ‘Metropolis’
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