Sabrina Franklin
Eng. 4
Draft paper 2
Are You Serious?
A Review of Why Opera is Related to Pop Culture
An Opera is a music style that uses a storyline or drama that is sung throughout the production set to music preformed typically by an orchestra. An opera is usually only listened to by the rich
images of Grand opera houses, expensive clothing, cars, jewels, food, and a audience of people who walk around with a permanent grin on their face comes to mind. Their laughter is a Haughty hahaha vs. a more common laughter from within ones gut….. For those who typically listen to opera their lives are in stark contrast to those who listen to music in the form of pop culture. Opera listeners tend to be more economically sound than those who listed to pop.
Popular Culture is a term with many implications. For the most part Popular culture can be defined as being a group of ideas, methodology, themes, lifestyle, music, art that is shared by many with in a culture. http://iipc.utu.fi/iipcdebate1.pdf #23 Addionally, in Opera as popular culture John Storey after his historical analysis of opera Storey then goes on to quote Dobkins in Getting Opera: A guide for the Cultured but confused (17). Dobkins also gives declaration by sharing his opinions on how a person who listens to mainstream music should begin to view opera in the mainstream one should view opera. He writes “My point is, essentially, screw the whole struggle between high and low.
And certainly don’t be afraid of opera because some force has foolishly built it up as the ultimate in refinement. Opera has historically been a popular art form that aimed to entertain ordinary people. Don’t let that bother you, and don’t let some uptight classical geek tell you any different(Dobkin, 2000: 17)
link://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Imagehttps/Content_store/Sample_chapter/0631222103%5C001.pdf #9
So why all this discussion on what pop culture is? Due to the common beliefs that Opera is a style of music for the rich as stated by Storey, The musical form of Opera is one of the only forms of music that is synonymous with wealth. Opera in of itself means money, riches, high economic status in essence (by some estimations) all that is good in the world. However opera with it’s varied uses in other types of media, The familiarity of the form its self, and stark depictions of the common persons plights in life can be in modern society a style of music for not just for the elite but rather, opera can be a style of music for the masses, the people, the populous, and thusly can be seen as a part of pop culture once more. I want to show how Opera is akin to popular culture. Opera is pervasive in it’s modern uses. Opera’s rise has historical roots that began with common everyday people. Lastly, Opera is almost always used as a symbol of wealth and higher social stautus which in turn causes this form of music to be used by mainstream media to signify wealth.
The other night I web viewing ( as I nearly almost always do each night), the Rachel Maddow show On MSNBC a. I listened to her commentary on how the political climate of what is going on in the state of Wisconsin was indicative of economic pop culture. In Wisconsin the state’s Governor wants to eliminate collective bargaining right of union workers. In essence he want’s to render the middle class powerless. In her television commentary that aired on 3/2/2011 on MSNBC she goes on to state that “ There are two sides to this issue between the people who write the paychecks versus the people who get paid.” She further states that the economic populous is so popular that the only way the Republican party can even think about having any real power in this country is by using money as “leverage.” Maddow shows that the term Popular simply means whoever has the most people that support an idea.
Opera’s historical musical roots come from the same idea of a collective support of the people. What gave rise to this style of music is it’s basis in economic systems around the world.
In Italy and other European countries during the 9th – 15th centuries an economic system of feudalism was employed. Feudalism is a political, economic system that uses a Vassal’s (a person who held the land), for a Feudal Lord ( a person who offered protection for the homage a Vassal gave). This type of system initiated the social class structure in western society. Through many wars over feudal land in Feudalism a General Overview, William Stubbs describes how the social class started from the feudal system, he writes, Whereas previously grants of the Frankish kings to their followers had been in full ownership, the kings began to keep the ownership to themselves and to grant land only in benefice with a wide right of use and exploitation. Not only their own lands but also church lands were distributed. Once this process began to take shape the socio-economic took on an image of what is commonly known of low, middle, and upper class society. To further support the idea that opera’s roots came from support by the people, an illustration of the development of the social class in Italy is given by Charles Duggan in his essay entitled A Conscious History of Italy. Christopher Duggan writes
“One of the central themes of Italian history is the cultural and economic separation between southern and northern Italy. This separation dates back to 1100 AD. During this time, the Normans conquered Southern Italy (the areas that eventually became the Kingdom of Naples) and Sicily. With the dissolution of the Roman Empire, the cities in the north evolved toward autonomy. In contrast the Normans instituted a strong centralized government in the south. For the south, the Norman period was a time of economic wealth and cultural sophistication. Southern Italy was a center of Arab and Greek trade and the Norman court of this era was known for its wealth. “
With the monies now being centralized the new social class of the wealthy began to take shape, but what about the common person. The first opera house was built in Italy around 1560.
This style of music was not just for the entertainment of the wealthy but for the common man as well. The Opera houses of that day were not like what modern day society thinks of them being. At the opera during its rise, a person could go and eat, drink beer, talk, laugh and even shot at the performer if you did not like their work. People from all over could go and listen to this style of music. Opera could be considered during that time period as a style of music like a wild rock or hip hop concert. Opera during that time period was a part of popular culture.
Over the centuries however opera began to be only identified with the wealthy. How this became to be is through the medias of film , T.V, and advertising. The film industry used the music form of opera in pre modern society movie houses. At that time movies had no spoken dialogue to go along with the actors on the screen. Silent films as they were called used sub text and piano player or a small group of players to give auditory strength to a film. Opera was a style of music typically used because of the types of sound that each instrument could render in order to illicit the mental pictures of horror, fear, or sadness. Throughout the 1900’s opera’s use in film continued. During this time period became synonymous with wealth because that’s just what the film, T.V. and advertising industries wanted people to believe. These industries wanted to continue to divide the social classed by giving the images of wealth and a higher social status. It is no secrete that for most people, we all want the same things. A good education, a happy and productive life, and a healthy economic outlook is what most of us hope to attain.
It is for these reasons that opera is still apart of popular culture. The denotative elements, the large opera houses, the luxury vehicles that arrive in front of the building, the sheer opulence that is displayed by those who currently attend the opera is how we in popular culture base our social economic footing. If you are a person who can afford to attend such an event as the opera than you are considered to be apart of the elite. Advertisers know this fact about human nature and try without much struggle to suggest to the populous that images of cars with an opera theme song playing in the back ground suggest that that same car is intended for the wealthy, and if you own that particular vehicle you are wealthy. The populous usually falls for these tactics because who does not want to be rich right?
Over all, opera is still apart and or like pop culture because the life dream of many people are embodied in the connotative images of the music style of opera. Although there are many people who have never attended an opera, This form of music is used widely to give the audience a idea that you are a part of the popular culture because of ones desire to live the life of the rich and famous.
WORKS CITATED
Johnson, Burce. "What does "Popular" mean?." IIPC.utu.FI. University of Turku, 12 01 2010. Web. 26 Feb 2011. <http://iipc.utu.fi/iipcdebate1.pdf>.
Storey, John. “"Expecting Rain": Opera a Popular Culture?." BlackwellPublishing. N/A, N/A. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <linkhttp://history- world.org/feudalism.htm>.
Stubbs, William. "Feudalism, A general Overview." history-world.org. International World History Project, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <linkhttp://history-world.org/feudalism.htm>
Duggan, Christopher. "A Concise History of Italy." Bearcave.com. Cambridge University Press, 1994. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.bearcave.com/bookrev/italy.htm>.
allempires.com. “Propery ownership in Medieval Europe.” N.p., 1 2007. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.allempires.net/property- ownership-in-medieval-europe_topic17139.html>.
