one aspect of visual culture that keeps popping in those who resist its incorporation into curriculum is its transience: the fact that, as we live visual culture, its difficult to discern at a given moment the crap from the classic, for lack of a more refined turn of phrase. what determines what snippets of culture become legendary icons and what becomes a weird hiccup in the collective conscience lasting until something new and shiny comes along?
take for example the "jk wedding entrance" video that swept the internet like wild fire over the summer, only to fade out of the public interest. this week it was revived and directly referenced in jim and pam's wedding on the most recent episode of "the office:"
this silly (and a little awesome) video, song, and moment will be forever immortalized as an icon of this time, even though it is so seemingly so inconsequential. it's always interesting to meet someone who knows about/shares enthusiasm for some oddly specific piece of pop culture trivia, like an instant connection between you is formed through common appreciation. that feeling of, "wait, you watch/read/listen to/know about/love this TOO?!" is inexplicably gratifying. and the office pulled together millions of viewers in that way with their inclusion of theat wedding dance.
So I wonder if there is anything about the fact of its being mass-oriented that in some way both strengthens and "flattens" it at the same time?
ReplyDeleteThis kind of hyper-cross-referencing that is all over the place in our culture right now is amazing - it really has changed the "face" of information. For me, managing and accessing information that is visual/material/textual/CULTURAL is what is so fascinating about using visual culture in the classroom - and the situation we're in that it is soooooo accessible, so interesting, provocative, timely.... and on and on and on...