Fringe and Fortune: The Role of Critics in High and Popular ArtWhy does the distinction between high and popular art persist in spite of postmodernist predictions that it should vanish? Departing from the conventional view that such distinctions are class-related, Wesley Shrum concentrates instead on the way individuals form opinions about culture through the mediation of critics. He shows that it is the extent to which critics shape the reception of an art form that determines its place in the cultural hierarchy. Those who patronize "lowbrow" art--stand-up comedy, cabaret, movies, and popular music--do not heed critical opinions nearly as much as do those who patronize "highbrow" art--theater, opera, and classical music. Thus the role of critics is crucial to understanding the nature of cultural hierarchy and its persistence. Shrum supports his argument through an inquiry into the performing arts, focusing on the Edinburgh Fringe, the world's largest and most diverse art festival. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 39
... participate in popular art forms — they often do so more frequently and with greater enthusiasm than the working classes . In place of a “ compositional ” approach , which addresses the question of cultural hierarchy in terms of the ...
... participate in high art forms is to acquire the potential for status enhancement through the process of building cultural ... Participation in high art forms involves a status bargain : giving up partial rights of control of one's own ...
... participants in a stream of discourse that defines the cultural hierarchy . The social role of the critic emerged over the past two centuries together with high and low art as identifiable categories of experience . It is not that ...
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Contents
10 | |
CHAPTER | 25 |
CHAPTER | 42 |
CHAPTER THREE | 63 |
TABLES | 69 |
CHAPTER FOUR | 83 |
Assembly Rooms | 85 |
CHAPTER FIVE | 109 |
CHAPTER SEVEN | 144 |
CHAPTER EIGHT | 165 |
CHAPTER NINE | 181 |
CHAPTER | 193 |
EPILOGUE | 213 |
NOTES | 229 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 265 |
CHAPTER | 125 |