9/11 Impact On Pop Culture Essay

Before looking closely at exactly what impact the events of 9/11 had upon American popular culture, it is important that we first explore the role of aesthetics – that is, any modem of artistic expression, such as film, art, poetry, music, etc. – in the context of international relations theory. Although it may seem a strange thing to connect, aesthetics and International Relations are surprisingly more intertwined with each other than many inside and outside the study of social sciences would probably believe. Throughout history, politics has affected our art and popular culture in various ways, whether it be propaganda material for despotic regimes or monarchies (even as simple as a national anthem or flag), or the entire Counterculture movement in the 1960s, with artists such as The Beatles and Leonard Cohen producing ‘political’ songs such as ‘Revolution’ and ‘Blowing In The Wind’ respectively. But the reason I want to focus on this theoretical side is because I want to show that the impact of 9/11 on pop culture isn’t simply a vague connection that has little impact outside Media Studies – there is a hefty political theory behind it.

It should come as no surprise, however, to many in the realms of social science that the links between International Relations theory and what artists and musicians create have not been considered greatly for many years, with political scholars viewing art as ‘a minority interest, routinely ghettoized’ , and ‘aesthetic sources...generally seen as politically irrelevant.’ An understandable situation, considering humanity’s general understanding of popular culture and aesthetics as low-brow culture, targeted at mass audiences who simply want entertainment. How would scholars be able to take such ...

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...ic chorus) that was used as a theme song in Ronald Reagan’s 1984 Presidential election campaign. While Springsteen was heard to be appalled by this nationalising of his protest song (so much so that he has the Reagan campaign stop playing it ), it is interesting in this case to note that ‘once composed, a piece of music takes on its own life, independently of the intention its creator bestowed upon it’. It does not belong to anyone, much like any form of aesthetic, but it belongs instead to the people, the audience. Theorist Stuart Hall talks about how media texts are ‘encoded’ by the producer with values and messages, but then ‘decoded’ by spectators. And this is probably the most important thing to remember in aesthetic studies, and something we will look at in the next chapter – once a piece of art becomes public, it can be twisted to mean whatever the audience