Week 7 Questions (Pleming)

 1. In "What is this 'black' in black popular culture?," Hall frames popular culture as a "war of maneuver" in a Gramscian sense. I find this idea compelling primarily because it suggests a reframing of our evaluation of culture. Rather than reacting to each piece, or each movement, in a vacuum, it can be fruitful to place these in a larger context of change over time. This connects as well with Hall's assertions that culture is not static but rather in constant flux. My question(s) regarding this is how, precisely, does it change our approach to culture? If we understand culture as part of a long war of position, can or should we approach culture strategically? Is cultural engagement something that can be meaningfully planned over a long stretch of time?

2. Regarding Horkheimer and Adorno, I wondered how much of their critique of pop culture had to do with scale. By scale, I mean that with the advent of radio, television, and then the internet, cultural artifacts are produced and shared faster and more widely than ever before. Additionally, more money than ever before is invested in producing movies, tv shows, etc. While I found Horkheimer and Adorno's critiques to be salient, I wonder if this is a change in culture created by capital, or if capital has simply supercharged the propensity of popular culture to reproduce and copy.