▶ Your Answer : It seems that contemporary culture is easily epitomized as the media's spectacular display of loud music and lase shows. And since most of the consumers of popular music is the youth, it looks as if by examining the trends of the youth, one can understand contemporary culture in its whole. However, the culture that the media and the internet displays to the public is only a section of contemporary culture, which is more diverse in its form and comprehensive with age than one might think.
If one limits the boundaries of contemporary culture to the popular culture most consumed by the general public, it would not be so much of an exaggeration to state that the trends of the young represents most of contemporary culture. Indeed, the culture that is most enjoyed by the public in terms of consumer size, and thus mostly marketed in the media is the popular music which targets mostly young people within the age range of 1 to 25. However, considering the fact that most of theses young people lack purchasing power, theses cultures consumed by the young are mostly dependent on marketing and advertising in order to keep its volume, and makers of these cultures stick to idolizing their musicians and performers. These conditions make these parts of the contemporary culture seem larger in size and important than it actually is. Cultures that can be consumed without significant payment, such as TV shows, radio channels playing popular music, can therefore be considered to be less significant than is normally perceived.
Other forms of contemporary cultures exist, although not shown readily on the television. Paintings, musics and performing arts have also developed through the centuries and have a distinct trend that could be categorized as 'contemporary'. The consumers of these sophisticated culture are more extravagant then the young consumers of popular culture, and consequently, produces of theses types of culture are less dependent on advertising in order to attract viewers. Although invisible to those that don't enjoy it, high art has a significant stance in contemporary culture. There are many artists and performers who are regarded as geniuses, and admirers spend profligately to see them perform n stage. Many institutions exist that teach the young and gifted, where admission to these schools are more competent than any other top universities.
Fashion can as well be considered as apart of the contemporary culture. Trends in fashion switch very fast; different styles and makeup is introduced by fashion icons each season and a trendy person would never wear the same outfit for two consecutive years. The market in fashion is extremely diverse and developed, from budget bards such as H&M and Uniqlo, to exorbitant pieces costing more than a car for a single pair of shoes. Fashion also varies greatly with different age groups and social class, which creates the same problem introduced earlier related to summing up the entire contemporary culture with the culture of the young: If one were to summarize the contemporary culture or trend in fashion just by looking at how teenagers dress themselves, it would be almost hilarious to imagine a venerated sage wearing tank-tops and flip-flops as teenage girls do.
Contemporary culture is more diverse than is advertised in the media. Although most people are deceived in to thinking that contemporary culture is what is shown in the TV, there are many other forms of culture that people of different taste and strata enjoy. While it may be true that in terms of how many people share the same culture, popular culture best represent the majority, bu cultures vary greatly between groups and one should not disregard the diversity that enriches the content of contemporary culture. |
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