​Seeds



Are the Cultures and cultural materials signifying this issue which determines base and superstructure?

 

In the basic explanation, Culture is totality of the movements’ human activities; we call that some everyday life acts; eating-drinking acts and the fashion... etc. Besides every usage tool constitutes cultural heritage objects. But we have to say that the work of art is a part of culture. Pre-modern age, modern age or post-modern age, all of them have a lot of valuable works of arts. And all of them forms cultural integrity

As Marx said in his cultural theory I agree with the subject that substructural and superstructural association designations have different effects for different periods. The cultural (which includes art) activities that caused many different results which were twenty or a hundred years ago can be established at the present day.

 

After 18th century, modernism started to show itself on culture and the cultural productions become to break into pieces as higher and lower ones. As a reflection of faster production process of Fordism, social structure started to break into pieces as well.

The effort of bourgeois class that tried to seperate itself from worker class and produce a superior culture had been seen. But expecially when we came to 19th century this participation effects are also can be seen in political pronunciations. And the cultural or ethnical particiation had been used in designation of political strategies. And when we came to 20th century, many alternative settings and formations had been created.

 

But in all these periods, the one idea that hasnt been changed is Gramsci’s hegomonia concept. The idea that; ‘all the tools of the state can be used to control the masses’, is always in our minds. Its the reason of cross examination in our minds about today’s art intellection and even the media culture. According to Kellner; hegomonia theory explains that how can the culture be an instrument of social masses and political pronunciations.

Now i would like to talk about (the structure of art in culture) the work of art in the culture. First of all lets talk about how the photography and cinema had run over the other arts that Benjamin had olso mentioned in his article specially. According to Benjamin, cinema is superior for it has an ability that can include all the other arts into it. For a person which had died sixty years ago we can understand his foresight for his matter in that days conditions. But for today theres a more sensitive community that understands every art work in its unique path. Its beyond doupt that if we make a critic today, cinema industry cant pressurise other arts. But right now all arts including cinema are under attack of another culture. That is the media culture.

 

All kinds of printed or visual madia tool now has Benjamin’s recycling devices. And it uses this advantage completely as well. Asd As we go back to the question at the begining, today a certain culture is able to designate and change substructure and superstructure. And this is called media culture. Today a single news can change stock exchanges which means the change of economical values. This is the biggest proof of our subject. Besides much more of media tools is acting on cultural production and consumption. Essentially we will start to exprience the problems coused by uncontrolled visual products today and in the future.
And probably after that the determination of production forms and social or political features will be impossible to talk about.

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Kellner, Douglas; Kültürel Araştırmalar ve Sosyal Teori: Eleştirel Bir Müdahale
Hall, Stuart; Yeni Zamanlar için Manifesto’dan