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... to this analysis, and underlines that since 1961, a new component has been added to the military- industrial complex; communication, and gives the following example: "In 1986, the intersection between communication, industry and the military became most apparent when General Electric (GE), one of the worlds major defense contractors, bought RCA and with it NBC" (Roach, 17). Lee and Solomon give supporting evidence about the integration of the media and the military- industry: The boards of directors of the Big Three (CBS, ABC, NBC) are composed of executives, lawyers, financiers and former government officials who represent the biggest banks and corporations in the U. S. , including military and nuclear contractors There are numerous interlocks between the board of directors of the New York Times and the nuclear industry, which partially explains why it has been a fanatical supporter of nuclear weapons (Roach, 18).
Understanding the connection between the media and the military- industry gives us something more than its war promoting function, but shows its role in the decision making mechanism of culture industries. Their close tie with the heavy industry, and the connection of these industries to the political system draws a clear picture about what commercial channels can show, and what they want to show. Considering the fact that after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the pictures of the irradiated Japanese were not made available to the American public until 1980 s (Roach, 25), the picture becomes clearer, and the following example dramatically approves this. In November 1983 the Americans had the chance to watch ABCs The Day After, which was about the survival of a small number of Americans after an atomic blast. The film dramatically showed the dark side of the nuclear technology, and in 1982 a Canadian director, Terri Nash made a documentary called, If You Love This Planet, and won the Academy Award. In his work, he used the Japanese films about the effects of the atomic bomb.
However, "as of 1987, the U. S. Justice Department requires registration of screenings and persons viewing the film which it classifies as political propaganda", says ONeill, and continues: The difference between the two films is one that nuclear TV cannot stand, namely, that in one case we see the actual horror of a bomb dropped by Americans and that, in the other case, we see the fictional horror of a bomb imagined by Americans to have been dropped upon Americans by someone else. Thus TV is engaged in a retrospective political history on the nuclear front which parallels the current remaking of the Vietnam War and Americas re-humanization of military adventure (ONeill, 190 - 91). The difference between the two films is actually nothing more than the difference between the reality and the popular culture images. On the one hand we have the pictures of a real atomic disaster that has painfully become a part of the American culture, and on the other hand we have the images of a blast, but not in terms of its real-life dangers, rather as a picturesque mushroom cloud (Roach, 26).
ABC, first brings the reality into a harmless visual level where a fear of a nuclear assault is evoked among the public. At this level the public unconsciously legitimize the armament, since it is now seen as a protection from a horrifying end. Therefore, the channel satisfies its partners in the military industry. On a second level, ABC performs an example of good citizenship by making the public aware of such a danger. This as a result lets the rise of a confidence for the government since it had allowed the citizens learn how bad nuclear weapons really are, so a possible protest against the state policy (which could happen if real pictures were shown) is prevented and social stability is maintained. Therefore, by putting a cloak over the reality, a popular and harmlessly visual image of nuclear war is created, right in the eve of the Reaganist Star Wars project.
The process would probably be completed with the manufacturing of "Say No to Nukes" T-shirts by an ABC side company. Our next example is about how a popular culture phenomenon can turn into a mania, and what the social consequences of this mania can be, even if not intended. In November 1980, 70 million Americans had turned on their televisions to learn the murderer of J. R in the famous TV series Dallas.
After the show, 150 TV stations 3500 professional and 2500 amateur radio stations announced the murderer in the news headlines and broadcasted commentaries about the issue. During this specific episode of the series, a one minute commercial was sold for 500 000 US dollars (Senyapl, 112). In the same day Istanbul Martial Law Headquarters announced that they had arrested the murderers of Prof. Cart Orhan Ttengil, Prof.
mit Donna and Kemal Trailer. However, Okay E, a journalist in the Hrriyet newspaper, reports that no phone calls were made to the newspaper in order to ask who the perpetrators of these political assassinations were, but underlines that they were tired of telling the readers that the murderer of J. R was Christine (Senyapl, 121). Under the light of the above cases, two points must be made. Elihu Katz had argued in his "And Deliver Us from Segmentation" article that the existence of multiple commercial channels would lead to the atomization of the society. Due to a variety of profit oriented programs, the audience would be watching different programs at the same time, while in the case of a single public channel the opposite would occur, and a public sphere would be formed around the, say nine oclock news (taking the example of the Israeli channel).
However, considering the seventy million Americans getting united around the Dallas series, the problem takes a different phase. The commercial channel unites the society, but not with the principles of participatory democracy and political consciousness, rather with the principles created by the marketing executives. The public sphere transforms into an apolitical unity which functions for the consumerist ideals, more precisely for the popular culture. In the Turkish case the apolitical character of the new public sphere becomes clearer. The citizens isolate themselves from the sensitive political environment of the time, and they unite around a popular culture item; J. R.
On the other hand, according to John Fiske for the existence of popular culture there must be a widespread consumption, which is evident in our cases, and a widespread disapproval. This final point brings out a problematic issue. Can we really say that the seventy million Americans interpreted the message of the series in an opposing way by letting the power bloc benefit 500. 000 dollars per minute form the commercials, and allowing hundreds of TV and thousands of radio stations exploit this popular culture item, which is, for Fiske, the unique creation of the audience. However, Fiske would probably argue that the Turkish audience had managed to oppose the power bloc by keeping themselves out of the mainstream politics and creating a popular culture, but it is highly controversial to say that this act which takes the viewers away from reality, into an imagery world, is actually an anarchistic guerrilla activity of the audience organized to oppose the power bloc.
In 1992, a TV channel that was fully established on the purpose of entertainment, MTV, took a mission that was totally not executable. The channel started two campaigns called "Chose or Loose", and "Rock the Vote", in order to increase the voting rate among the young generation. The result was highly positive; polls taken in late October showed that 75 % of the 18 to 29 age group said that they would vote, compared to the 40 % in 1988. In addition the votes were heavily in favor of Clinton who had accepted to present himself on MTV, unlike Bush (Edelstein, 110). Although the picture may look positive at first, with a deeper analysis it becomes dramatic.
The only way of appealing to the young generation seems to be through a music channel, which is based on the creation and consumption of popular culture. The reality for them is the one that appears between Rock videos and designer jeans ads. The "in" thing to do is what Steven Tyler of Aerosmith does, so when he raises his hand and shouts; "Rock the Vote", the mechanism is activated and the kids are popularly politicized. This impact of popular culture items on the young generation keeps them under the control of the culture industry (of course not completely). Their free thinking ability is almost limited with the mediated images that they receive from their idols, and the picture becomes more dramatic when we consider that under such circumstances the mechanism can well be activated in an opposite way, that is to keep them out of politics. When there is a propaganda (even a post-modern one like this), there is always the danger of a counter-propaganda that can turn the process into an inverse direction.
The culture industries have close ties with larger sectors of the capitalist economy. Moreover, they are directed with the principles of profit maximization, which makes them alone strong capitalistic "bastions." Therefore, the continuity of the system is their main principle for survival. Motivated by these two facts they aim at creating a popular culture market, which serves both their economical goals and maintains the political stability. For this, they use methods of social influence and surveillance techniques, and in the end we have an apolitical, pop-public sphere in which the society is visually united around the principles of consumerist fetishism. Consequently, Marlboro smoking BMW riders with Che Guevara T-shirts, who secretly worship their cellular phones in commercial breaks, dominate our post-modern society. Bibliography: BIBLIOGRAPHY ONeill, John.
Plato's Cave: Desire, Power, and the Specular Functions of the Media. New Jersey: Able Publishing, 1991. Roach, Colleen. Communication and Culture in War and Peace.
Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1993. Senyapl, nder. Toplum ve latium. Ankara: Than Kitabevi, 1981. Turner, John C. Social Influence.
California: Brooks/ Cole Publishing, 1991. Edelstein, Alex. Total Propaganda: From Mass Culture to Popular Culture. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997. Fowles, Jib.
Advertising and Popular Culture. London: Sage Publications, 1996. Stevenson, N. Understanding Media Cultures. Sage, 1995. Katz, Elihu.
And Deliver Us from Segmentation.
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Research essay sample on Popular Culture Nuclear Weapons
