Popular Culture What Does Anne Cranny-Francis Mean Term Paper

Popular Culture

What does Anne Cranny-Francis mean when she defines popular culture as "a way of operating" and why does she find it a useful definition?

Borrowing from Morris' definition of popular culture, Francis speaks of popular culture as a way of operating. Therefore, whether or not a work of art is considered popular culture is based on how the art is produced and how it is consumed. Something is popular culture because of how it is used within the culture and how it is incorporated into people's lives. Popular culture becomes a way of understanding the society in which one lives.

Curry finds Morris' definition of popular culture as a way of operating useful because it places the emphasis on the relationship between the viewer and the work of art. Francis believes that popular culture is about formulating questions about both the society that exists and the society that people wish existed, and the interrelationships of people in society. However, Francis cautions that one should not assume that all works are given equivalent value within the culture; some cultures maintain distinctions among varieties of pop culture.

Curry believes that the definition of popular culture as a way of operating is the most widely accepted in cultural studies because it avoids the problems raised by alternative definitions. Furthermore, the operating system definition appears to be enacted in the textual practice of contemporary texts, whether those texts are considered popular culture or postmodern. Therefore, literary criticism has developed in order to examine the idea of works of arts in relation to their consumption and creation. One aspect of this trend in literary criticism is that the critic of popular culture is not objective or impassive; the criticism of popular culture interacts with the method by which the art is consumed.

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What have been the social and political effects of a distinction between high and popular culture and why does such a definition lack validity?

Traditionally, high culture was the culture of the ruling class, and was tied to the upper levels of the educational system. The categories of high and popular culture presupposed a correlation between culture and class; high culture was aimed at the dominant class and popular culture at the subordinate class. However, because there is no longer a single ruling class or aristocracy, the modern culture system does not have one center. Furthermore, the fact that the methods of production and consumption that were once confined to the elite (such as purchasing books and the ability to read) have become accessible to the masses, the line between high and popular culture has blurred. Therefore, the idea…