Subculture - Dick Hebdige

Subcultures are groups or individuals within a sociey that have their own codes of conduct. This may be in the way they act, dress, talk, what they listen to etc. These are usually in contrast to what is acceptable in 'mainstream' culture.

The punks in the late 70's are good example of this, with their extreme fashion sense, loud and in-your-face music, brightly coloured dyed hair and foul mouthed attitude. This was lead by bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash, whos wild and unorthodox antics were copied by from the young generation. The music of these bands were an inspiration to a certain group, as it was completely different and so controversial.

The punks seemed to go against any kind of ethics, morals and codes of the mainstream society, this could have been a way of escapism from the world around them, as many of them would have been from a working class background.

Nowadays, there are similar sorts of subcultures. They could be a way of young people feeling like they belong to something, but it is interesting how the rules and conventions of belonging to certain subcultures are so closely followed. For example, The goths will all be in black clothing, and all seem to wear white make up on their faces, with black eye shadow. The skaters will be in baggy clothing and hoodies, rude boys in baseball with the peak completely flat, and wearing T-Shirts that are way to big for them, chavs in burberry etc etc etc.

The punks recieved a lot of negative response, due to their defiance of regular codes and conventions. They place themselves outside of a society, and therefore are looked down upon by the ones inside.

The Saints Are Coming

I came across an interesting article in NME magazine about the new Green Day and U2 song, The Saints Are Coming.


Following last year's devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans and it's neighbouring towns were left utterly destroyed. The article explains how U2 guitarist The Edge decided to try and raise some money to help the people of New Orleans by releasing a song, with proceeds going towards the Hurricane Katrina aid. He decided to get another very popular band (Green Day) and decided on releasing a cover of a 1978 punk song by a Scottish band called The Skids.



The headline reads 'There's nothing better to rally people than a good song' and underneath it says 'How U2 and Green Day joined forces to put right what President Bush wouldn't'. This is a rather bold statement, but despite this being a music magazine, the article begins more about politics rather than music. What is interesting is that song is being released by two bands who have never been afraid to shy away from political matters, with Green Day's multi platinum selling album 'American Idiot' being an attack on the government, and U2's front man Bono being the global ambassador for the cancellation of Third World Debt. The two bands also put a lot of work into Live8 and Make Poverty History.


The song itself ties into the theme of the disaster. Firstly, the name of the New Orleans football team is the New Orleans Saints, and the chorus of the song proclaims 'The Saints Are Coming'. It also uses lyrics about heavy rain and personal fears and loss.


I suppose it is true to say that 'There's nothing better to rally people than a good song'. People can watch the news, look at the atrocities and think 'my god, isn't that bad?' but not actually do anything about it. Some people may not even have the devastation or know anything about it. When two hugely successful bands such as Green Day and/or U2 release a song, a lot of people take notice. If they like the song, they will buy the cd, and by buying the CD they are donating money which otherwise they wouldn't have done.


I am huge fan of the music of U2 and Green Day, but I find their actions, not just their music, inspirational. These two massive bands have everything so many dream of having, and yet they are still trying to help those less fortunate. Some people have said this could be a publicity stunt, well, for a start, I dont think Green Day or U2 really need to try and make a name for themselves at this point in time, they are probably the two biggest bands on the planet. Also, it isn't the first time that they have got involved in good causes.

Photojournalism and the Tabloid Press - Karin E. Becker

Before photos were around in the press, newspapers consisted of just pages of text. Nowadays, a photo will be on the front cover of every newspaper, and will have several photos within it, especially in the tabloid press.

In the early 1840's, illustrated magazines were launching across Europe, which hired illustrators to portray what was going on through pictures, rather than words. The 'Illustrated London News' is an example of this, which was founded in 1842.

Photojournalism began with magazines using wood engravings, as aposed to actual photographs that would have been technically impossible to us at the time. There was huge competion among publications to be the first with their reports, and well known artists were hired to cover important events and get them back before anyone else could. An example of this is the hanging of anti-slavery movement leader John Brown in 1859, which saw 16 engravers work through the night in order to meet the press deadline.

In the 1920's, sensationalism in photography was appearing, with sex, violence, scandal etc major talking points in the tabloid papers.

In today's tabloids, that trend continues. With such an emphisis on celebrity lifestyle in the tabloids, photography and written word go hand in hand. For example, with headlines such as 'Beckham's new haircut' and a picture of it underneath, this is a far more effective way of telling people what David Beckham's haircut looks like than just describing it through text.

This can of course, be as effective for more serious and important matters, such as the September 11 attacks for example.


There a virtualy no words on this entire front cover, except a small headline reading 'Day that changed the world'. The huge picture stirs more emotion than any amount of words could.






Tabloids usually use three different types of pictures. Firstly, a picture of 'the event', such as the one pictured above. These are usually at the time of when something is happening, again, like the one above, this picture was taken seconds after the impact of the planes on 9/11. Secondly, pictures of normal people in their normal surroundings to stir emotion. An example of this being the pictures of the two girls murdered by Ian Huntley, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The picture was of two friends with their arms round each other, in one of their houses, in Manchester United shirts. This was emotional as it showed a cruel injustice on two innocent, normal girls. The third being the 'candid' shot. These are photos of people who don't necesarilly know that the photo is being taken. This can of a celebrity doing something embaressing for example or a footballer scoring a goal. A recent example of this would be Kate Moss snorting lines of coke.

Photos and text compliment each other in the press and are not as effective alone. A single photo with no surrounding text can cause the reader/viewer to think 'so what?' where as text alone may not draw people's attention.

update

just thought i would post a blog on last weekend

flew back to the capital for the weekend, was cool to see my family and watch some sky tv, in high definition and on a 40 inch screen! i miss it so much.

friday night went out in london, and it makes you truly appreciate the cost of falmouth booze. bought 3 pints and didnt get any change out of a tenner, in fact i had to use whatever change i had to make up the rest of the bill! apart from being rediculously expensive, london is great.

Had a great night in leicester sq. going to a few bars, the comedy store, then onto the casino, which is always a laugh. we all chucked in a 5er and stuck it on red. the perfect end to a great night, we won and doubled to a tenner, which provided us the funds for a nice bucket of chicken.

i always love the fact that im jumping up and down going mental at the fact that ive just won a fiver, when theres a chinese bloke sitting next to me not even reacting to his £50,000 winnings.

one day i hope that one of those rich lot drops a £100 chip on the floor, they are far too snobby to pick it up!

i will return with a blog on this reading i am reading which i have now decided to stop reading now because its far too late to be reading this reading.

bye bye

Getting On Like A House On Fire

thursdays article from the guardian was about an obsessive loner called Mark Goldstraw, how had been released from jail early (after 3 years from a 7 year sentence) for killing a former lover. While on parole, he murdered 4 people in their house by setting it alight.

This article could also be viewed as an attack on the probation service. Goldstraw was released after 3 years, and was supposed to be banned from living in his hometown. He was living there anyway and nobody knew any different!

this was quite shocking for me to read, how can so many people be put at risk by such a careless mistake?!

if your going to let a killer out of prison, and issue him a ban from a certain area, make sure you know where he is so he isnt living there! rediculous.

i cant understand why he was let out in the first place. If someone is sentenced to 7 years they should have to serve it. They let him out and what does he go and do? set a house on fire and kill four innocent people.

its hardly surprising if we are just going let killers back on the streets.

i personally think the prison service is a bit of a joke. I think prison should be the most awful place on earth, it should be the ultimate deterrant. Instead, if you commit a crime, you get a reasonably comfortable new home, some with a TV! some people say its costs too much to keep people in jail, well for a start they could cancel their TV license and Sky connection!

many of us were moaning about how much we have to pay for accomodation, and i am annoyed that i cant watch football and various other things because i dont have sky. Let's all go and kill someone and we can get these things for free!

seriously though, if a man is capable of setting a house on fire and knowingly kiling 4 people inside, then someone working for the prison should have known about it before letting this lunatic out.

another week...

havnt written a blog in a while, really should get cracking on the important blogs, but i'll do those later.

We had an interesting lecture on photojournalism the other day, and if you would all kindly make your way over to Neil's blog (after reading what i have to say that is) you will see what photo journalism is all about.

A picture tells a thousand words. couldn't be more true.

one in particular of john terry and ashley cole lying on the ground at the feet of aaron lennon, helplessly looking back at the ball going into the net.

awesome moment in time. tottenham hotspur 2 - 1 chelsea. we even gave them a goal head start and still we beat the scum 2-1. very happy bunny that day i was. I had a phone call from my brother from inside the ground, couldnt hear a word he was saying, just delighted spurs fans, oh how i wish i was there.

still, in a pub full of chelsea fans, it was just so sweet, and the fact that arsenal had also lost just before, just made even better.

on a more negative note, i do have to make one moan in this blog.

i am disgusted to see that lost has been moved to sky one. what are they doing to us. spare a thought for the terestrial tv viewers. fucking sky, first they take away football from me, then the king of queens (anyone who doesnt know it, funniest programme on earth) now they take lost.

anyway, i will hopefully be back with a proper blog on one of the readings or something, so look forward to that. lol.