Reza Samim
Abstract
The plurality of the cultural types and goods can be highlighted as one of the most important characteristics of the popular culture. It seems that plurality in societies in transition, which are not the original homeland of this culture, has caused a kind of heterogeneity, which is also evident in Iran ...
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The plurality of the cultural types and goods can be highlighted as one of the most important characteristics of the popular culture. It seems that plurality in societies in transition, which are not the original homeland of this culture, has caused a kind of heterogeneity, which is also evident in Iran as a society in transition. In addition, the consumption space of this culture in Iran, because of the limitations on the production of some types of popular culture, has turned this heterogeneity into conflicting interactions. The challenge between the official and unofficial types of this culture in Iran is an old and problematic one. In the present study, carried out on Tehran's consumers of official and unofficial types of popular music as significant manifestations of popular culture, attempt is made to address this question: how are the consumers of official and unofficial types of popular music constructed? For this purpose, the theoretical and methodological constructionist approach is adopted, and the focus group technique is employed to collect data; finally, the collected data is analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. Based on the extracted themes in each thematic analysis, it was concluded that the consumers of the official type are non-essentialist, nostalgic and lenient subjects, while the consumers of the unofficial type are essentialist, non-traditionalist, monopolist and universalist subjects. This fundamental difference in the subjectivity of the two groups of consumers results in a static conflicting interaction in the space of popular culture consumption.
Heshmat Sadat Moinifar; Najmeh Mohammadkhani
Abstract
Everyday life representation is the subject of many media productions in the United States. While talking about everyday life, family could be very significant factor. Many different television genres in US such as soap operas and sitcoms which their emergence dated back to 1950s, have specified their ...
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Everyday life representation is the subject of many media productions in the United States. While talking about everyday life, family could be very significant factor. Many different television genres in US such as soap operas and sitcoms which their emergence dated back to 1950s, have specified their topics to representation of family relations, dilemmas and problems. Leisure time and consumption patterns in a consumer society could be important in a sense that family relation, the way of choosing those patterns and their representation, could clarify the form and types of family relations in United States. Generally, understanding a family could be taken as a small piece of the greater society. The subject of study in this article is The Simpsons situation comedy. This famous situation comedies’ reputation has surpassed many cultural borders dates back to 1980s. As this sitcom is about American everyday life has absorbed many American and non-American viewers. This article will study the seasons 3-8 of this sitcom to answer the two following questions: 1. How every member of the Simpsons family, personally spend their leisure time? 2. How the Simpsons family spend their leisure time collectively? The theoretical base of this article is Stuart Hall`s theory of representation and the method is semiology. The unit of analysis in related sections is sequence and scene and in non-related sections is the subject of the special section.
Abbas Kazemi; Mohammad Rezaei
Abstract
Although the concept of wandering has not been applied popularly in Iran, it could explain many cultural phenomena. The present article first outlines the history of wandering and its used meaning. Then, it describes a form of wandering as the distinctive lifestyle of urban subordinate groups in the ...
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Although the concept of wandering has not been applied popularly in Iran, it could explain many cultural phenomena. The present article first outlines the history of wandering and its used meaning. Then, it describes a form of wandering as the distinctive lifestyle of urban subordinate groups in the shopping centers. The result of this article has been obtained by employing qualitative methods and through interviews and observation. The authors believe that shopping centers create a certain lifestyle for urban middle class people through the purchase and consumption of goods. At the same time, wandering in its used meaning in Iran has formed the lifestyle of lower class groups.