In his article, “The Specular Economy”, David Marshall elaborates on the expansion of new media forms and their role in people’s ability to manufacture public online personas. Marshall also reveals the power and influence that social media has given individuals. This power and influence has come from the space created by the Internet, where images and text can be shared instantaneously. Because of this, online personalities have become our populations newest form of entertainment. It is now in this decade that we are seeing a populous so in control of the ebb and flow of popular culture. We now see more everyday people with no exceptional talents becoming online sensations and attaining celebrity status overnight. However, the rapid acquirement
…show more content…
However, what was truly frightening about this film is the acceptance, popularity and fandom that followed the acts of a criminal. One of the most recent examples of this alarming trend is the glorification of Tay K, a 17-year-old rapper wanted for capital murder. Since his arrest and the release of his story, his music has gained over 5 million views on Youtube, over 12 thousand followers on Twitter and 3 million listeners on Soundcloud. This is an unsettling example of the what the kind of power an individual can have over popular culture. In “The Specular Economy”, Marshall made the point that the 1970’s was the “Me-generation”. However, I believe that this generation has gone far beyond what was seen in the 70’s. It is true that we are in what Marshall calls “specular economy” in that we have an incredibly complex production of the self, utilizing the screens of social media via the Internet and mobiles, where we have collectively become more conscious of how we present ourselves. In “New Media-New Self”, Marshall states, “An entire new industry—an economy of circulating images, information, text, conversation and interpersonal exchanges—has been built to service the now more pervasive and oddly democratic construction of public identities”. Before the formation of this new industry, the trends of popular culture were centrally decided by producers and creators of entertainment. Now we have a generation where each individual has the power to be an idol or celebrity. There is now longer a need for a prerequisite of talent or good character required to attain stardom. Unfortunately, the specular economy we are now living in has produced a new establishment of personal presentation that is only beginning in its dissension towards disturbing
However, what was truly frightening about this film is the acceptance, popularity and fandom that followed the acts of a criminal. One of the most recent examples of this alarming trend is the glorification of Tay K, a 17-year-old rapper wanted for capital murder. Since his arrest and the release of his story, his music has gained over 5 million views on Youtube, over 12 thousand followers on Twitter and 3 million listeners on Soundcloud. This is an unsettling example of the what the kind of power an individual can have over popular culture. In “The Specular Economy”, Marshall made the point that the 1970’s was the “Me-generation”. However, I believe that this generation has gone far beyond what was seen in the 70’s. It is true that we are in what Marshall calls “specular economy” in that we have an incredibly complex production of the self, utilizing the screens of social media via the Internet and mobiles, where we have collectively become more conscious of how we present ourselves. In “New Media-New Self”, Marshall states, “An entire new industry—an economy of circulating images, information, text, conversation and interpersonal exchanges—has been built to service the now more pervasive and oddly democratic construction of public identities”. Before the formation of this new industry, the trends of popular culture were centrally decided by producers and creators of entertainment. Now we have a generation where each individual has the power to be an idol or celebrity. There is now longer a need for a prerequisite of talent or good character required to attain stardom. Unfortunately, the specular economy we are now living in has produced a new establishment of personal presentation that is only beginning in its dissension towards disturbing