Week 5 - Subcultures
- Leighanne Fernandes
- Jul 25, 2020
- 5 min read
Subcultures is an interesting topic of discussion because it is a branch from mainstream that has it's own set of culture and values. It helps to understand that the best way to know of these subculture groups is to let them enjoy it the way they like to, even if it doesn't pertain to your tastes or understanding.
Pre-Class
The one statement from the whole online lesson that stood out to me was this:
"Globalization and commodification of subcultures can also lead to backlash as ‘true followers’ of the subculture bully and harass those deemed as ‘fakes’ or ‘wannabes’ who are trying to gain membership and seek belonging within a subculture after the time of its emergence into mainstream consciousness"
~SAE Dubai, 2020
This is because I had first-hand experience or was able to be a witness of such a thing. To explain, I believe that I belong to the subculture of Kpop fans because of multiple reasons which separates these fans with other fans of music. The example of this situation was when Kpop group BTS has broken into mainstream American market, the fans from the West suddenly began acknowledging Kpop and South Korea. They suddenly became those "know-it-all" fans who claimed to have been supporting these group from years ago but in reality wouldn't really know much about the subculture of kpop. This aggravated a couple of OG fans or "true followers" because they would pretend to be a hard stan only after the rise of BTS and kpop in the West. It is almost like saying they wanted to hop onto the bandwagon to see what all the fuss is about, and pretend to know what and how this culture is run.
I had a couple of friends who did this but I couldn’t be bothered since I only became a fan in 2017. However, I saw and experienced the rise in popularity and objectively found it to be very annoying.
During Class (with post class research)
During class, this was the point I brought up as I was aware of such a thing. However, there were a couple of other interesting points discussed in the class that I made note of as follows:
Tiktok
TikTok has recently gained a lot of popularity due to its excessive use during quarantine. However, it has recently made known that the app is in fact a spyware from China and is in the process of being banned in a couple of countries. Reasons range from the accusation of the origin of Covid-19, to the lack of privacy security, to the current border war of India and China, and so much more.
We also discussed how people who used to be famous on Vine had eventually streamed out into Youtube and have gained fame and popularity there. Tiktok is lowkey being compared to how Vine used to be in the past.
Instagram and youtube
The average attention span is getting shorter everyday. Instagram has a massive following of about 600 million, particularly in the age group of 18 to 35 years. Hence, these are the type of followers who'd like to have their information conveyed in a span of 10 seconds or less, or else they will click out of it. With this, endorsements on instagram gives money to these creators apart from their monthly allowance from Instagram itself.
Youtube, on the other hand, also does the same. However, Youtube has a different approach to gaining your attention which can be a more lean-back approach than Instagram's lean-forward approach. Below is an image diagram explaining the difference between videos tailored to lean back and lean forward approaches.
This being said, Instagram and Youtube have their own subculture if you think about it. The way they both operate might be similar but their content can be tailored for the purpose of adhering to various types of people who would either choose to be on one platform that suits their tastes. This is what subculture truly exemplifies - people have different tastes that can adhere to a smaller group of people, but once it gains recognition it grows into mainstream. Instagram started off as an app from Facebook but now its popularity has risen quite a bit, surpassing that of Facebook. However, Instagram and Youtube are still two of the frequently used platforms for media sharing content. Below are some statistics but I wont go much into detail.
Watching TV
Netflix was a once a subculture but now everyone watches it. Pre-Netflix was a time where people would watch telecasted shows, setting time aside to watch these as they were being broadcasted. Now, with the availability of recorded videos and shows, no one does that anymore. Hence, watching TV in the past which used to be a mainstream culture has now almost ceased to exist with the emergence of Netflix. It pushes the way you think and work.
Subculture is mainstream to the sub culture you are in - Kunjal
This is true for the fact that Instagram's algorithm, for example, tailors content to your interests by showing you what you want to see or what it thinks you want to see. It has been rumoured that Instagram and facebook spies on you in the sense that it can hear what you talk about and will show you ads or posts relating to what you just discussed. As creepy as it may sound, just like Tiktok being accused of spyware, all other apps also do the same.
I carried out a poll on instagram where i asked if other people have experienced a situation like so and was astonished to find out that a lot of them did. They shared stories with me of when that happened to them and its creepy to think this could actually be true.
Goth and punk culture - people don’t understand it
There are a lot of subcultures, that people who don't belong to wont understand. Instead of spending time and effort explaining it to them, it would be much wiser and respectful if people would accept it as something not of their taste and let go of it. But because everyone believes they hold the power to voice their opinions and concerns, it has spiraled into something termed as Cancel Culture.
KKK, is an example of a subculture group that receives hate because of what it does but not all sub cultures should receive the hate, just be accepted even though they don’t understand it. Goth and punk culture are examples of other subcultural groups that appeals to certain people through their lyrics, message and type of music. Just because one doesn't understand why it has its own following, doesn't mean it should receive the hate it gets.
Post Class
This following week is the week I present on my topic for the dialectical inquiry on fans and fandoms. I realized as I was preparing for my presentation that most of what was discussed in the subcultures lesson applies to my topic as well since I am focussing on fans and fandoms from a particular subculture - Kpop. In this week, as i brought up the topic of kpop (as explained in the pre-class section), some students from the class were completely unaware of such a thing. Apparently they don't get why kpop is a subculture of its own because they assume it the culture of the country when in reality is just a genre of music. Just like how Hiphop is a genre of music but also a subculture of fashion, beliefs, slang and attitude, so is Kpop.
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