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Culture générale

Cultures et Subcultures

La culture « mainstream » s’est toujours inspirée des genres et sous-genres. Mais auparavant ceux-ci étaient dilués lentement et par touches.

Quelle place reste t’il aux sous-genres quand la culture les absorbe de plus en plus vite, totalement et brièvement.
Quelle trace en restera t’il dans la culture générale quand ces éléments sont aussitôt remplacés par d’autres, plus « tendances ».

Où va notre culture pop quand elle n’est définie que par des trends spotters travaillant à rendre des marques ou des artistes (quelle diférence?) cools?

In recent years, we’ve seen Katy Perry go seapunk, Harry Styles go Dalston, Calum Best go deep house, Little Mix do dip-dyes, Joey Essex do Supreme, Britney do dubstep, Taylor do dubstep, Ellie do dubstep, America go EDM and OFWGKTA go ASOS. Picture a youth culture that you think is cool right now – or, if you don’t think anything’s cool, picture any scene that the mainstream currently seems less conscious of than Nando’s and Clean Bandit. Picture that, then think about what’s going to happen to it as soon as somebody your nan’s heard of comes along, skins it and starts parading around in its flayed hide on Saturday night TV like some kind of youth culture assassin bug. And then perhaps reconsider your position on Venus X’s hissy-fit.

Obviously the mainstream has always done this; the process just used to take a little longer. It used to be that a scene, look or sound would have the time to grow into a movement. By the time brands and celebrities cottoned on, everyone would be laughing about how over it already was, and how the mainstream would never be able to pick up on such things quickly enough, because the mainstream is inherently lame.

But now the mainstream is quick enough, which sucks, because it’s still inherently lame. Scenes, sounds and subcultures are barely out of the embryo stage before they’re being appropriated and corrupted by the big money boys. This is partly due to the burgeoning industry of those mercenary cultural poachers and collaborators: the trend forecasters, brand advisors, hype-spotters. The consiglieres of cool, whispering « Angel Haze so hot right now » into the ears of their moneyed overlords.

Stop Fucking with Our Youth Subcultures | VICE | United Kingdom.