In the article, Gans argues that popular culture doesn’t reflect the wants of society, and instead, he believes it is created by the greed of consumerism.
For my example, I decided to use going to the opera as an example of high culture, versus going to a Lil Wayne concert as an example of low culture. The opera is an example of high culture because more highly privileged, wealthy, and worldly people are the typical audience attending that sort of event. However, the type of culture that is typically found in the audience at a Lil Wayne concert is much different. This Lil Wayne concert was not played in a highly esteemed facility, such as the Met, and it also does not attract the same proper, high class, more cultured crowd. There is also an extreme distinction between these two audiences here because culturally, we see opera as more proper than we see mainstream rap music. Hence, much fewer people attend the opera (only the elitest of society) and much more people attend Lil Wayne or any rap concert. Although Lil Wayne is a successful artist, culturally, people do not accept him as high class because he represents drinking, drugs, and having sex with lots of women.
Here high culture is isolated from popular culture because only a select few from the population are “elite” enough to partake in certain venues, such as the Metropolian Opera. Whereas low culture is seen much more often, such as in rap concerts, and it is a much less selective process.
Perhaps Lil Wayne isn't the best example, but how much is an average ticket to a concert? With large portions of the American opera world in shambles, it's possible (and likely) that good seats to a high profile "low culture" concert would actually cost more and be in higher demand than what one typically thinks of as "high culture."
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