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From Subculture to Mass Culture: The Impact of Internet Photography on the New York Club Scene

Richman, Lisa Helene
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1205860298

Abstract Details

2008, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies/Communication.
This study examines a contemporary New York City Club Culture whose history is rooted in the likes of Studio 54 and Andy Warhol's Factory; it is valued by its members for providing a safe, inclusive space for alternative performance of self and style. Club Culture has always navigated between subculture and mass culture systems. With the introduction of Internet photography to the Scene, the Scene's sustained future is threatened by capitalism and mass culture commodification. Within this study I contend that while past New York club scenes experienced cultural appropriation of their art and lifestyles through printed media and exclusive art showings, digital photography disseminated through Internet spaces has increased the depth and speed with which mass culture impacts the once exclusive spaces. During fieldwork in the current New York Club Kids' Club Scene I performed participant observation, interviews with Club Kid girls, and later, archival research of Scene-focused media coverage. Subcultural research suggests that the internal process of meaning making is key to sustaining subcultures. Internet photography impedes this process through the popularization and commodification of the Club Scene (e.g. books, style trends, images) and through the facilitation of external meaning making. A new group of partiers are drawn to the clubs who are externally educated by popular media representations of the Scene. The entrance of the public into the private space of the physical clubs reinforces the mass media's representation of the Scene with hypersexualized, heternormative female roles. This process undermines and marginalizes the Club Kids within what was once their most private space.
Radhika Gajjala, PhD (Committee Chair)
Jeannie Ludlow, PhD (Committee Member)
115 p.
American Studies; Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Gender
Club Kids; photography; New York; hipster; Internet; commodification; capitalism; style; performance; power; subculture; mass culture; scene; Studio 54; Michael Alig; Misshapes

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Richman, L. H. (2008). From Subculture to Mass Culture: The Impact of Internet Photography on the New York Club Scene [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1205860298

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Richman, Lisa. From Subculture to Mass Culture: The Impact of Internet Photography on the New York Club Scene. 2008. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1205860298.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Richman, Lisa. "From Subculture to Mass Culture: The Impact of Internet Photography on the New York Club Scene." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1205860298

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1205860298
7,524
© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.