{"id":25,"date":"2017-05-16T19:45:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T19:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/chapter\/1-1-media-and-culture\/"},"modified":"2017-05-16T19:45:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T19:45:44","slug":"1-1-media-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/chapter\/1-1-media-and-culture\/","title":{"raw":"1.1 Media and Culture","rendered":"1.1 Media and Culture"},"content":{"raw":"
\n

Pop Culture Mania<\/h2>\n
\n

Figure 1.1<\/span> <\/p>\n \"1.1.0\"<\/a>

\n

Paul Townsend - 1960s Beatlemania Fashion<\/a> - CC BY-ND 2.0.<\/p>

Just as fans could purchase Jerry Lind hats, Beatles fans could purchase Beatle wigs (as pictured above).<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n

In 1850, an epidemic swept America\u2014but instead of leaving victims sick with fever or flu, this epidemic involved a rabid craze for the music of Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. American showman P. T. Barnum (who would later go on to found the circus now known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey), a shrewd marketer and self-made millionaire, is credited with spreading \u201cLindomania\u201d through a series of astute show-business moves. Barnum promised Lind an unprecedented $1,000-a-night fee (the equivalent of $28,300 in 2009) for her entire 93-performance tour of the United States. Ever the savvy self-promoter, Barnum turned his huge investment to his advantage by using it to create publicity\u2014and it paid off. When the Swedish soprano\u2019s ship docked on U.S. shores, she was greeted by 40,000 ardent fans; another 20,000 swarmed her hotel (Barnum). Congress was adjourned specifically for Lind\u2019s visit to Washington, DC, where the National Theatre had to be enlarged to accommodate her audiences. A town in California and an island in Canada were named in her honor. Enthusiasts could purchase Jenny Lind hats, chairs, boots, opera glasses, and even pianos. Barnum\u2019s marketing expertise made Lind a household name and created an overwhelming demand for a singer previously unknown to American audiences.<\/p>\n

The \u201cJenny rage\u201d that the savvy Barnum was able to create was not a unique phenomenon, however; a little more than a century later, a new craze transformed some American teenagers into screaming, fainting Beatlemaniacs. Though other performers like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley were no strangers to manic crowds, the Beatles attracted an unprecedented amount of attention when they first arrived in the United States. When the British foursome touched down at New York\u2019s Kennedy Airport in 1964, they were met by more than 3,000 frenzied fans. Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> was seen by 73 million people, or 40 percent of the U.S. population. The crime rate that night dropped to its lowest level in 50 years (Ehrenreich, et. al., 1992). Beatlemania was at such a fever pitch that Life<\/em> magazine cautioned that \u201ca Beatle who ventures out unguarded into the streets runs the very real peril of being dismembered or crushed to death by his fans.\u201d The BBC publicized the trend and perhaps added to it by highlighting the paraphernalia for fans to spend their money on: \u201cT-shirts, sweat shirts, turtle-neck sweaters, tight-legged trousers, night shirts, scarves, and jewelry inspired by the Beatles\u201d were all available, as were Beatles-style mop-top wigs.<\/p>\n

In the 21st century, rabid fans could turn their attention to a whole swath of pop stars in the making when the reality TV program American Idol<\/em> hit the airwaves in 2002. The show was the only television program ever to have snagged the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for six seasons in a row, often averaging more than 30 million nightly viewers. Rival television network executives were alarmed, deeming the pop giant \u201cthe ultimate schoolyard bully,\u201d \u201cthe Death Star,\u201d or even \u201cthe most impactful show in the history of television,\u201d according to former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker (Carter, 2007). New cell phone technologies allowed viewers to have a direct role in the program\u2019s star-making enterprise through casting votes, signing up for text alerts, or playing trivia games on their phones. In 2009, AT&T estimated that Idol<\/em>-related text traffic amounted to 178 million messages (Poniewozik, 2009).<\/p>\n

These three crazes all relied on various forms of media to create excitement. Whether through newspaper advertisements, live television broadcasts, or integrated Internet marketing, media industry tastemakers help shape what we care about. For as long as mass media has existed in the United States, it\u2019s helped to create and fuel mass crazes, skyrocketing celebrities, and pop culture manias of all kinds. Even in our era of seemingly limitless entertainment options, mass hits like American Idol<\/em> still have the ability to dominate the public\u2019s attention. In the chapters to come, we\u2019ll look at different kinds of mass media and how they have been changed by\u2014and are changing\u2014the world we live in.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\nBarnum, P. T.\u201d Answers.com<\/a>, http:\/\/www.answers.com\/topic\/p-t-barnum<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nCarter, Bill. \u201cFor Fox\u2019s Rivals, \u2018American Idol\u2019 Remains a \u2018Schoolyard Bully,\u2019\u201d New York Times<\/em>, February 20, 2007, Arts section.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nEhrenreich, Barbara, Elizabeth Hess, and Gloria Jacobs, \u201cBeatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun,\u201d in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media<\/em>, ed. Lisa A. Lewis (New York: Routledge, 1992), 84\u2013106.\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nPoniewozik, James. \u201cAmerican Idol\u2019s Voting Scandal (Or Not),\u201d Tuned In<\/em> (blog), Time<\/em>, May 28, 2009, http:\/\/tunedin.blogs.time.com\/2009\/05\/28\/american-idols-voting-scandal-or-not\/<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t","rendered":"
\n

Pop Culture Mania<\/h2>\n
\n
\n

Figure 1.1<\/span> <\/p>\n

\"1.1.0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Paul Townsend – 1960s Beatlemania Fashion<\/a> – CC BY-ND 2.0.<\/p>\n

Just as fans could purchase Jerry Lind hats, Beatles fans could purchase Beatle wigs (as pictured above).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In 1850, an epidemic swept America\u2014but instead of leaving victims sick with fever or flu, this epidemic involved a rabid craze for the music of Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. American showman P. T. Barnum (who would later go on to found the circus now known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey), a shrewd marketer and self-made millionaire, is credited with spreading \u201cLindomania\u201d through a series of astute show-business moves. Barnum promised Lind an unprecedented $1,000-a-night fee (the equivalent of $28,300 in 2009) for her entire 93-performance tour of the United States. Ever the savvy self-promoter, Barnum turned his huge investment to his advantage by using it to create publicity\u2014and it paid off. When the Swedish soprano\u2019s ship docked on U.S. shores, she was greeted by 40,000 ardent fans; another 20,000 swarmed her hotel (Barnum). Congress was adjourned specifically for Lind\u2019s visit to Washington, DC, where the National Theatre had to be enlarged to accommodate her audiences. A town in California and an island in Canada were named in her honor. Enthusiasts could purchase Jenny Lind hats, chairs, boots, opera glasses, and even pianos. Barnum\u2019s marketing expertise made Lind a household name and created an overwhelming demand for a singer previously unknown to American audiences.<\/p>\n

The \u201cJenny rage\u201d that the savvy Barnum was able to create was not a unique phenomenon, however; a little more than a century later, a new craze transformed some American teenagers into screaming, fainting Beatlemaniacs. Though other performers like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley were no strangers to manic crowds, the Beatles attracted an unprecedented amount of attention when they first arrived in the United States. When the British foursome touched down at New York\u2019s Kennedy Airport in 1964, they were met by more than 3,000 frenzied fans. Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> was seen by 73 million people, or 40 percent of the U.S. population. The crime rate that night dropped to its lowest level in 50 years (Ehrenreich, et. al., 1992). Beatlemania was at such a fever pitch that Life<\/em> magazine cautioned that \u201ca Beatle who ventures out unguarded into the streets runs the very real peril of being dismembered or crushed to death by his fans.\u201d The BBC publicized the trend and perhaps added to it by highlighting the paraphernalia for fans to spend their money on: \u201cT-shirts, sweat shirts, turtle-neck sweaters, tight-legged trousers, night shirts, scarves, and jewelry inspired by the Beatles\u201d were all available, as were Beatles-style mop-top wigs.<\/p>\n

In the 21st century, rabid fans could turn their attention to a whole swath of pop stars in the making when the reality TV program American Idol<\/em> hit the airwaves in 2002. The show was the only television program ever to have snagged the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for six seasons in a row, often averaging more than 30 million nightly viewers. Rival television network executives were alarmed, deeming the pop giant \u201cthe ultimate schoolyard bully,\u201d \u201cthe Death Star,\u201d or even \u201cthe most impactful show in the history of television,\u201d according to former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker (Carter, 2007). New cell phone technologies allowed viewers to have a direct role in the program\u2019s star-making enterprise through casting votes, signing up for text alerts, or playing trivia games on their phones. In 2009, AT&T estimated that Idol<\/em>-related text traffic amounted to 178 million messages (Poniewozik, 2009).<\/p>\n

These three crazes all relied on various forms of media to create excitement. Whether through newspaper advertisements, live television broadcasts, or integrated Internet marketing, media industry tastemakers help shape what we care about. For as long as mass media has existed in the United States, it\u2019s helped to create and fuel mass crazes, skyrocketing celebrities, and pop culture manias of all kinds. Even in our era of seemingly limitless entertainment options, mass hits like American Idol<\/em> still have the ability to dominate the public\u2019s attention. In the chapters to come, we\u2019ll look at different kinds of mass media and how they have been changed by\u2014and are changing\u2014the world we live in.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

References<\/h2>\n

Barnum, P. T.\u201d Answers.com<\/a>, http:\/\/www.answers.com\/topic\/p-t-barnum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carter, Bill. \u201cFor Fox\u2019s Rivals, \u2018American Idol\u2019 Remains a \u2018Schoolyard Bully,\u2019\u201d New York Times<\/em>, February 20, 2007, Arts section.<\/p>\n

Ehrenreich, Barbara, Elizabeth Hess, and Gloria Jacobs, \u201cBeatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun,\u201d in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media<\/em>, ed. Lisa A. Lewis (New York: Routledge, 1992), 84\u2013106.\t<\/p>\n

Poniewozik, James. \u201cAmerican Idol\u2019s Voting Scandal (Or Not),\u201d Tuned In<\/em> (blog), Time<\/em>, May 28, 2009, http:\/\/tunedin.blogs.time.com\/2009\/05\/28\/american-idols-voting-scandal-or-not\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-25","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":23,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/23"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}