Hebdige talks about punk culture and how it takes taboo cultural practices and, in trying to stray away from normalization, transforms these practices back into the field of the mainstream.r“It is through this continual process of recuperation that the fractured order is repaired and the subculture incorporated as a diverting spectacle within the dominant mythology from which it in part emanates: as folk devil, as Other, as Enemy" (155). In class, we talked about Hot Topic. The store can be found in almost every mall across America. It is a culture all unto itself. Hot Topic caters to the punk/scene/emo/etc. subgroups. Yet, Hot Topic also takes whatever's trending and commodifies these sub-scenes. I think about Disney, as usual. A corporation itself, it of course commodifies its own intellectual properties. Yet, Disney has created, and sometimes on accident, other iconography within its parks, such as: the Purple Wall, the Bubblegum Wall, and other accidental hotspots. Fans take these aesthetic places and turn them into something of legend. Etsy shops began to model products after these places, and Disney caught on and started to sell mass-produced merchandise, like baseball caps that say "Meet me at the Purple Wall." Alternative rock has changed drastically over the years, going from more disharmonious garage rock to indie pop and electronica. It is, as its name implies, a subgenre. Although in the present day, alt rock is as popular as ever. It was seen as an alternative to the top hits pop radio stations; people sought meaning through their music, for music that could represent them and how they feel without putting forth a "basic" image. Now, alt rock is one of the most demanded genres out there, with an oversaturated music market and an overflow of music pouring into radio stations, like WPRK here at Rollins. These places and things aren't meant to be popular- sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. Yet, by flocking to alternative things, we only bring them back into the spotlight.
“folk devil”, as Other, as Enemy.
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