Culture and Communication Essay

               For many years the culture in classes have been split apart in fine art, literature, and classical

music. Now the two classes have began to combine with the help of the mass media, technology, and public

schooling. Some people are very much against the fact that both sides have began to unite with the help of

the mass media and other effects. There are some out there that think that the combination of the classes is a

good thing.

               The elite culture known as the rich and the ruling class its the high culture. "During the Middle

Ages a caste system kept the culture of the elite separate from the folk culture of the peasants. The elite

culture consisted of fine art, literature, and classical musical." (Culture and Communication 4). As we get

into our age the culture of the elite class has became accessible to the middle call with the help of TV, for

instance, the royal family in Britain. "ordinary people can at least observe some of it on TV shows featuring

the "rich and famous" and in the supermarket tabloids, which often feature the British royal family and

celebrities" (Culture and Communication 4). With the help of television we are now being educated on

how the elite class lives, which very many of us are intrigued about. When the death of Britain's Princess

Diana occurred, the funeral was aired world wide and was watch by million. Even though the funeral didn't

air until 8 A.M. eastern time, and 5 A.M. pacific time, the estimated viewing audience was at 33 million

people, which tells you how fascinated the popular culture is with the elite culture. "During the Middle Ages,

society was highly stratified; people belonged to one of three groups-clergy, nobility, or peasants/artisans-

and their social rank virtually never changed." (Culture and Mass Communication 22). And now even  if

you were born poor you could get a good education and get academic scholarships and become a wealthy

businessman. It also occurs a lot with professional athletes. Another way the the two cultures have

combined is the access to fine art, and literature.
             
               Fine art has been apart of the elite culture for many, many years. In order to see a very rare and

popular people of art you had to be apart of the elite class and you had to have a lot of money. But now

because of our accomplishment with technology have been so great, now the access to fine art is very is to

be accessed by the middle class with the use of the internet. All you need to do is type the art you wish to

see and it pops up an image. Its not as memorable or fascinating as seeing it in person but its still accessible

that not seeing the art at all. This is known as democratization. This guy "Olafur Arnalds-Ljosio" (Press 

Pause Play) was discovered by his youtube video which had the combination of paint the moved to the

classical music which became very popular. Classical music was restricted to the elite class until things like

iTunes and youtube came into play. Now you can by a recording of the band for one dollar instead of

paying a lot of money to go to a performance. Another way that the culture of the classes have became

accessible to each other is with literature. In early ages if you weren't in the elite class you couldn't even read

which is were school education came in. "Printing became the first mass-produced and mass-distributed

commodity in this new Western culture" (Culture and Mass Communication 23). When printing came into

play, literature was even more easily to be accessed and the "Most books published during the first century

of printing were reproductions of traditional religious works, such as the Bible" (Culture and Mass 

Communication 23). Technology has made more things accessible to the world. "Instead of picking up a

guitar you pick up a computer." (Press Pause Play). Even if you don't know how to play guitar you can go

on a computer and have the computer basically play it for you. Also if you're on the internet it makes you

more known.

               A lot of people say that our generation is selfish. "In 2007 TIME magazine gave the award for the 

person of the year to “You”. It’s you and I. It’s just global masturbation." (Press Pause Play).  The reason 

why they say this is because our generation is about use. The technology that we have created is about us. 

Also another reason why is all the media that we have created like, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and 

Instagram that make it all about us. 

               The way our generation has formed the culture we live in today is a good thing. It gives more 

people a chance to become known and do what they love to do even if they didn't start out rich. It also 

gives a different perception to other people who do and send out more ideas to other artist.