Pop Culture & THEM

[Tom Evans]

At 10:35 AM 7/2/96 PST, MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu wrote:
>When is pop no longer pop?  It is in the nature of 
>at least our particularly nefarious brand of capitalism, perhaps all
capitalism, that >it is wonderfully adept at co-opting any and all aspects
of culture which might 
>conceivably aid the counterforce, denuding and defanging them when it does.  

Pop is no longer pop when it looses general currency.  If it needs a
footnote, it is no longer pop. And if it needs a footnote, marketers won't
be much interested.  It will drop out of popular culture and into whatever
collection of subcultures still have use for it.  It is what TRP does so
well--pick up little bits of decaying pop and breathe strange new zombie
life into them. Zoyd's movies, e.g.

Indeed, capitalism uses the popular culture for its own nefarious ends, but
then so do all the individuals and subcultures that participate in it.  What
does a quarter pounder with cheese mean?  Depends on whether you are opining
on nutrition or watching "Pulp Fiction."

A mailing list is less pop than a newsgroup. And it could be that
cyberspace, the ultimate expression of niche marketing and cultural
balkanization, will be the death of pop culture.