Lately, I’ve been on this kick reviewing my past course work during my ASU years as a Film & Media major. As I continue to review the course work from my various classes (and there were many of them!) I enjoy remembering those days and sharing that here, for others with similar interests.
Generally speaking, we think of film, tv, and music as arts and entertainment media, and are well aware that these are huge businesses out to maximize profits as much as possible. Nonetheless, in one of the online lectures I found it disconcerting to hear these endeavors referred to as “industrial products” as though they were on a par with mass produced products like cars and trucks, textiles, or footwear. However, after continuing with these classes, and in particular “Teens And American Culture In U.S. Film” with Professor Megan Biddinger it’s more understandable how some would reach this conclusion.
On Part One of the final exam for this course we were expected to choose five terms from a list of “Identifications” and define those in detail. In addition we had to write two essay subjects which I’ve discussed in a previous post. The first term which intrigued me the most was “Transmedia Exploitation” which refers mainly to the creation and exploitation of teen idols by the mainstream Hollywood film studios in carefully prepared campaigns to gain greater financial returns for themselves. These ambitious efforts were (as Thomas Doherty relates in Teens & Teenpics) : “These campaigns were well-orchestrated cooperative endeavors in which the motion picture industry acted in concert with – or fed off – the efforts of other teen dependent media.” (Pg. 164)
While such schemes have been in play since the earliest days of Hollywood film, they were in full swing and increasingly finessed where teen idol manipulation was concerned by the late 1950s. Elvis Presley is the supreme example of a major teen star whose contentious, yet sensational rock & roll music was heavily promoted on popular television variety programs like the Ed Sullivan Show. Even the more low-key, typical pop music of clean-cut idols like Pat Boone, Tommy Sands, or Frankie Avalon were featured on musical televised dance programs like American Bandstand with charismatic, popular hosts like Dick Clark.
He enthusiastically promoted the singles and albums of these teen idols – which in turn gained increased radio play around the country, causing the songs to move up the music charts and thus encourage greater music sales at the retail outlets. In turn, these songs and their performers were often featured prominently in Hollywood film showcases that offered further exposure for these young stars and lured patrons back into theaters which had recently suffered from other competitors for teen dollars across multiple media forms.
The next term that captured my interest as an exam choice was “commodified nostalgia”. In this instance, film writer David Shumway explained how the rock & roll soundtracks of certain teen-oriented films such as Easy Rider (1969) and American Graffiti (1973) in Rock And Roll Soundtracks & The Production Of Nostalgia “…not only mark the emergence of the rock and roll soundtrack as a formal feature but also initiate the linking of such music with nostalgia and the generational solidarity that in later films was taken for granted.” (Pg. 36) Shumway continued: “Commodified nostalgia involves the revival by the culture industry of certain fashions and styles of a particular past era”. (Pg. 39)
These “revivals” of fashions, whether it be the music, clothing or other retro artifacts from the 1960s or whatever era are not only brought back from time to time as an appeal to those who actually lived during the period and recall it fondly – but also for those who are curious about the bygone era and wished they had been alive then or old enough to recall it clearly. In these instances, (or say reliving the Renaissance of the 1400s or the Antebellum American South Of The 19th Century) Shumway states: “Nostalgia is used by analogy with the personal experiences since no one living could actually have such experiences.” (Pg. 40) Vintage movies or “golden oldies” music “evoke the fiction of a common past” as Shumway tells us “because it was and is commonly shared.” (Pg. 40) Of course, all past cultural revivals are “commodities” because it is big business that derives profit now – as then.
