Youth and Subcultures

Youth Sub-Culture is a mass who are connected through a similar style or belief for example clothes, music, politics, religion ect.  Sub-culture masses are non-mainstream groups who go against the normal mainstream cultures (popular).

The Goth subculture is modern and still very active subculture which known and shown throughout many countries. The subculture started in the 1980s in England’s rock culture. The Goth subculture is a successful subculture which has lasted almost 23 years and has continued to progress. Goth subculture has had an impact on imagery and cultural tastes this indicates the influences it had on late 1990s and present literature also horror films.

The Goth subculture has linked itself in music such as rock, while have a strong effect in fashion which audience know Goths for wearing dark clothes. Gothic music covers a many different styles including Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Deathrock, Ethereal, Neo-Medieval and Neoclassical. Styles of clothes such as dresses within Gothic subculture are a range of deathrock, punk and Victorian style outfits, or combinations of above, most often with dark outfits, make up hair.

Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, dark eyeliner, black fingernails, black period-styled clothing; Goths may or may not have piercings. This is a gothic subculture signature of style which fits in people into the mass.

Violence and hate are not the elements Goth ideology as the elements are of recognition, identification and the grief over societal and personal evils which go against popular culture.

Goths values the importance of darkness in life by acknowledging the darkest and deepest thoughts such as death as they embrace death.

Grant McCracken believes that the postmodern world is full of diversity, dynamism and creativity which can be seen to be colourful, bright and having energy. By this he believes that not every culture came from the same one.  He believes if we look at the values, subcultures do not come from the culture mainstream.

CCCS’s views on subculture are that subcultures come from the main culture, mainstream.

However Hebdige believes that there is no subculture but a little culture because the richness surrounding them, so they can’t be mainstream.

True many groups are involved in protest and resistance against the mainstream but the form of this diverse and internally coherent.

‘CCCS generalise when it should be particularising’.

Also doesn’t blame for the acts of teenagers who switch to different subcultures frequently while older teens mix styles of subcultures to create a new. Or those adults can appear a normal working person but once they finish work they re-enter their sub-culture, normally on weekends, parties, festivals.

The CCCS’s approach is out of date because the 21^st century streams are crumbling as identity is changing. Mainstream is changing all the time constantly absorbing other cultures at such a fast rate that the mainstream does not exist. Thus being if there is no mainstream there is nothing for younger generations to react against, making them driven by motives which they understand by their own terms and no one else’s.

There are two different views on the relationship between pop music and youth in subculture. First being pop stars are constructed to appeal to specific subculture with specific values for example The Evanescence music group wear black and express darkness and sorrow to appeal to the gothic subculture. And the last view being that audiences are so unpredictable in their likes and dislikes that record companies can never truly know how to target them by values.

Richard Dyer believes that stars represent their cultural values and attitudes and will promote a certain ideology. People will start to agree with their values and become fans as they will wish to get closer to their glamorous lifestyle as they will tend to follow their values.  

I will now analysis the values Beyoncé the R&B artist promotes in these three images and what kind of audience would be attracted to her.

In this image Beyoncé promotes her self as a young sophisticated woman who looks attractive and has style. Her hair is goldern blonde while her clothes show a bit of chest but is not sexually revealing but engorging. The main audience which is attracted to this image is women as she presents her self as classy and common which would appeal to the pop culture as she appeals to everyone and easier to absorb as an ideology.

This second image shows her as a powerful icon as she represents the values of R&B subculture by showing herself as a sex figure. Her dress is shaped tightly around her body showing all her curves, she also looks attractive and glamorous. She also has behind her a great number of  attractive men following her. These aspects appeal to both genders of the audience as her sexual appearance appeals to men as sexual magnetism while the large number of men following appeals to women as they wish to be attractive like her and live her lifestyle.

Lastly in this image it shows Beyoncé in her teens. She promotes herself as pure she shows some sex appeal by showing her chest and shoulders but her appearance is natural representing the values of pop culture. Her audience would seem to be teenagers especially girls as she is idealised for her beauty and youth being easier to relate to.

In this image Beyoncé’s image has changed over time as it has become more erotic creating more sexual magnetism towards men and showing many innuendos for example her revealing outfit as she is half naked. She or her manger has done this to gain a larger male audience to draw them to her subculture easier by her sexual appearance; this creates more sales and connections to her audience.