Crime in Cronenberg’s Videodrome: A perversion of the everyman’s subconscious
Rena King:
“Don’t you feel such shows [of soft-core pornography and hardcore violence] contribute to a social climate of violence and sexual malaise, and do you care?”
Max Renn:
“Certainly I care. I care enough to give my viewers a harmless outlet for their fantasies and their frustrations…”
Videodrome stars James Woods as Max Renn, president of an independent, Canadian (more specifically, a Torontonian) television station, Civic-TV. At a time when everyone seems TV-obsessed, addicted to the emissions of the all-powerful Cathode Ray Tube, Max’s station offers to viewers sensational programming – specializing in a unique mix of illicit sex (“smut”) and violence (“snuff”) – which earns it the dubious slogan of “the one you take to bed with you.” Fearing that his station – and indeed all of North America – is getting too “soft”, Max embarks on a quest to find “tougher” material for his audience. The plot thickens when he discovers pirate tapes of an experimental show called “Videodrome”, a raw, seedy program without plot or characters, only merciless acts of violence, torture and murder. Max quickly becomes infatuated with the scrambled images from the single-camera operation – in which a screaming victim is tortured, whipped, chained and beaten to death by two hooded figures – and develops an obsession with the “purity” (simplicity) of its message.
The ‘Chinaman’ in the basement: Visual den narratives of the late-nineteenth century
Historically, art and literature have served a fundamental role in mirroring (and perhaps creating) a society’s cultural climate; they have become the means through which a society comes to ‘know’ itself. By artistically or literally depicting categories of people, or ‘social types’, one is easily able to comprehend society at large. Yet the socio-cultural worldview that art and literature inform is often based on idealised depictions of reality, heavily influenced by custom, tradition, optimism and romanticism; however, so too does it oft include realistic portrayals of everyday, plebeian life.
In reflecting a particular socio-cultural ‘reality’, art and literature have also played a historic role in constructing meta-narratives of criminality. This paper will explore the way in which mass-media ventures of the late-nineteenth-century, specifically popular illustrated fiction, served to shape Victorian notions of criminality by establishing an archetypal, Asian ‘Other’ as a villainous criminal.
iMac – the making of an iCon
The masses are always “in the know” about pop culture; although trends change routinely, we can almost automatically recognize (without much consideration) the cultural icons that are currently worthy of our admiration, and those that aren’t. Yet I wonder: what qualifies an item to be a part of “popular culture”?
Raymond Williams defines objects of popular culture as those which are (a) widely accessible, (b) popular and (c) intentionally constructed to be popular. [1] What, then, distinguishes Williams’ objects from other mass-produced, accessible and well-liked items? Where is the distinction between shoelaces or paper clips (objects that meet all three of Williams’ requirements, yet do not instinctually appear to “perform” popular culture), and cultural “relics” that, without contest, symbolize societal trends and values?
I would therefore like to amend Williams’ definition; I assert that the quality which separates these two types of objects is a seamless integration of function and form (aesthetics). The visual design of pop culture objects allows one to experience a product that seems elite, whilst also encouraging the consumer to personalize and “own” a product. Thus, in promising a prestigious lifestyle tailored to meet a consumer’s desires, the object’s aesthetic qualities promote it from mass-produced object to mythical cultural icon. To illustrate these claims, let us examine an object which, although largely excluded from the discourse, is undoubtedly a staple of contemporary Western/North-American/”developed” culture: the personal computer (PC).
The Blue Jean – Cultural metaphor & masculine icon
It may seem odd to consider items of clothing critical components of ‘popular culture’. Contemporary clothing is a key element in the construction of personal identity; it is used to denote an individual ‘style’ and a personality unique to its wearer. Yet from the corset to miniskirt, such items serve not only as practical coverings, but also as indicators for the current values and belief systems of a society.
Thus I wish to examine what has become a most popular article of clothing – the ‘blue jean’ [1] - in an attempt to unearth some of the socio-cultural phenomenon that is ‘popular culture’. According to Raymond Williams’ definition, the ‘blue jean’ qualifies as an object of popular culture due to its (a) wide-spread accessibility, (b) popularity, and (c) construction as an object intended to be popular.[2] But perhaps the ‘blue jean’ is not only a product, a piece of commercialism. I assert, rather, that this cultural icon has become a gauge of changing interpretations of masculinity in mainstream American culture. The ‘blue jean’, symbolically, is the white, middle-class, ‘All-American’ man. I would like to examine what, specifically, makes the ‘blue jean’ stereotypically ‘masculine’.
Art as myth
The development of semiotics in the 20th century revealed much about ideology in mass culture. Structuralist Roland Barthes' texts on the matter are very much products of their times, yet many still have a troubling modern-day relevance. Barthes' Mythologies demonstrates the possibilty to find meaning through the 'trivia' of everyday life. He claims to want to challenge the 'innoncence' and 'naturalness' of cultural texts and practices, as they are capable of producing a multitude of supplementary meanings, or 'connotations'.Although objects, gestures and practices have a certain utilitarian function, they are not resistant to the imposition of meaning. Barthes wants to suspend consideration of function, and concentrate rather on what things mean and how they function as signs. Mythologies is a study of the ways in which mass culture constructs this mythological reality and encourages conformity to its own values.