I'm Ben. 20. @BennSt
BA Media & Communication at Birmingham City University. I make websites and design for print, produce and present radio as well as take photos. Among other things.
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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
On Sunday night I ashamedly bought into the consumer culture and went to see X Factor Live at the NEC in Birmingham. Whilst I’m not afraid to admit that I actually enjoyed it - albeit apart from Wagner’s hip-shaking - I couldn’t help but observe it from a Leavisite perspective.
(If you’re reading and wondering who on earth this Leavis guy is, in short he is a highly respected mass culture and literary theorist with strong views on mass communication and consumer culture.)
The X Factor franchise, which every year is bought into en mass by thousands of consumers (myself included), could be seen to have began the resurgence popularised talent competitions, as by far the most successful televised talent competition. One of Leavis’ main criticisms of the mass media is the standardisation of film, advertising and television. With so many programmes of the talent genre appearing on screens up and down the country, could Leavis’ concerns of standardisation truly be producing passive audiences willing to watch these fairly repetitive programmes week in week out?
Leavis’ work “The Canon” was a critique of the traditional process of naming a definitive list of outstanding literature - a list that if read and comprehended by all would lead to mass culture. Whilst the “Scrutiny” journal, founded by Leavis, followed a canonised discourse, critics then and now have questioned how a definitive list of culture can be produced. In which case, should questions not be raised about the canon-like process in which the X Factor is dictating the number one singing talents in the country?
Whilst the programme gives the illusion of the winner and subsequent runners-up being decided by the mass publics, the genre of the show automatically dissuades a vast majority of consumers away from being part of the process. Therefore, the X Factor is not representative of mass culture or preference, instead it is resultant of passive consumers accepting the Leavisite canon which is the wide-spread talent genre.
This post is part of a module in Media Culture which I am studying at Birmingham City Univeristy. Fan of Glee, or abhore the concept? Read Lucy Hird’s excellent Leavisite take on the programme »
