Culture studies can be
defined as how a group of people creates meaning and shares the same
interpretation. Culture is made up of the values, traditions and beliefs of a
group of people. A simple explanation would be about how our traditional
culture works. For example, our culture guides us to dress appropriately,
respect the elders, how to talk to people and how to greet people.
Visual culture is the
symbols or signs that interpret a certain culture. For example, a flag
represents a country and a dove represents peace. However different cultures
have different interpretations of these signs.
Discourses and
ideologies involve a context coded by tradition, religion, law and culture. It is
used to understand the society. Politics, according to Stuart Hall, is a
struggle over meaning (Griffin, 2012). Mass media, especially television
usually program the dominant ideology (Craig & Tracy).
For example :
Discourse: Spiderman.
Ideologies: Portrays
masculinity, down to earth, hero, sincerity, responsibility and sacrifice.
Politics: Politics of
masculinity and politics of individuality.
Discourse: Cinderella
and Prince Charming.
Ideologies: Heterosexual
relationship, class boundaries, family conflict, beautiful and loyal woman,
love without prejudice.
Politics: Politics of
Heterosexuality in cartoons; Politics of class; Politics of femininity and
masculinity.
Discourse: Red Ranger
(Power Rangers)
Ideologies: guns are
for boys, color red represents strong, masculine, violence are common in men,
responsible and protective.
Politics: Politics of
consumerism; politics of color and gender; politics of masculinity and politics
of action figures.
As a conclusion, it is said that mass
media have a greater power in shaping our perception and therefore they can
easily interpret things the way they want by encoding messages in. for example,
using an advert. However, Stuart Hall argues that we can eliminate these
messages. And that is the reason why he would rather study cultures rather than
media.
References :
Griffin, E. (2012) A
First Look At Communication Theory.
Craig, R.T &
Tracy, K. Stuart Hall Cultural Studies. Accessed on 12th April 2012
from http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Theory/culturalstudies/index.htm
The Glaring Facts,
(2011). Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies. Accessed on 13th April
2012 from http://www.theglaringfacts.com/communications/comm-theories/stuart-hall-cultural-studies/
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