Depiction Of The Working Class Subculture And Pop Culture In The Music Videos
A subculture is a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture. The working class subculture has different attitudes and values from the rest of society. A music video that greatly illustrates this is “Hard Hat And A Hammer” by Alan Jackson. This music video captures images of what many people in the working class subculture look like on their daily, average paying jobs. The lyrics in the song, “Behind the scene, below the grade. Hardly notices but a part of everything.” shows that the hardships of the working class usually gets unnoticed, but has a big impact on everything under and below it. The song brings pride to the working class and helps bring awareness to honor the working class more often.
I believe the video offers an accurate representation of the working class subculture because it talks about how there is nothing wrong with working hard and being a part of the working class because that is what helps keep this world together. The music video shows manual labor from the working class in many different occupations. The only thing that I would add onto this video to make it seem more realistic is to make it more diverse. I understand that the song is about working men but I believe the addition of women throughout the video would make it more realistic instead of waiting till the very end to add a women into the subculture. In addition to women I believe adding other people of different nationalities would make it more realistic in the view of the working class.
The audience of this music video is the working class and to anyone else interested in hearing about the working class. I would expect to find these people interacting at their repetitive 9AM-5PM jobs and relaxing at home on their usual weekends off. I would describe the people of this class to be on the lower end of the middle class, living their lives paycheck to paycheck. A blue-collar worker is considered the backbone of the economy. The education of the working class is usually a high school degree or community college. A lot of these jobs are manual labor jobs like manufacturing companies, construction, plumbers and electricians. The income of these workers is a median income of $43,318 annually.
Pop culture is modern popular culture transmitted through the mass media and directed particularly at younger people. A music video that represents this culture is “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift. The music videos images of flamboyant dance moves show what is popular in the pop music culture. The lyrics “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I shake it off, I shake it off.” show the concept of pop culture because the idea to ignore or block out the people who judge you is a very popular concept in this generation. I believe this music video shows a great representation of today's pop culture because it is a common style of popular music in this generation. The song is all about the new thought of “shaking off” all of the negative things life throws at us. This song is an inspiration to tell people to keep pushing for what they want and that everything is going to be alright in the end.
The audience of this song is the younger crowd. Now that social media has become a big influence on people today pop culture style music has grown to be a big hit for the younger people of society. I would expect to find the audience of this music to be interacting at school, concerts, or house parties. I think they belong in the households of many middle class families and are just starting to get a grip of living independently to prepare for college or their career choice. I believe that the education of these people are currently in school or just going into college. Most have part time jobs such as fast food workers, retail workers, babysitters, or any other job that doesn’t require much education or experience. Overall, the two songs that I chose “Hard Hat And A Hammer” by Alan Jackson and “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift illustrates two different concepts in society. “Hard Hat And A Hammer” shows the working class subculture by talking about the blue collar workers that are the backbone of society economically. The song “Shake It Off” shows the pop culture of this generation by showing the most popular music style for the younger generation.
