Configurative Culture Examples

Transforming Positive Principles into a Society Fundamental

Music transforms societal viewpoints through its presence in various media forms and shifts in lyrical content. Often, artists integrate music and controversy, creating configurative culture. Blogger Henry Jenkins interviewed professor, author, and musician Aram Sinnreich about this concept; Sinnreich described configurative culture as “the distinguishing feature [in this] new communications landscape [enabling us] to combine and sequence these atoms of expression at our own will,” (Sinnreich 2010). Mashups, or combinations and rearrangements of two or more elements, specifically songs for musical mashups, are examples of configurable culture. I mixed the lyrics of “Dreaming Alone”

and “Clarity” to demonstrate configurative culture which provides an alternative perspective to common messages, such as drugs, violence, and breakups, presented in music. In this paper I will discuss how both the artists and I used configurative culture to demonstrate positive principles in our lives.
Both “Dreaming Alone” and “Clarity” present adverse principles, but transform them into a compelling argument favoring positive principles in our lives. “Dreaming Alone” expresses lyrics such as “love in the summer” and switches between male and female lead singers for the chorus to represent the artists’ devotion towards one another, regardless of prior troubles or disagreements. New studio technology enables artists the ability to combine and edit their musical compositions as a way to strengthen the articulation of their underlying message. Author David Morton describes the “Revolution in the Studio” as a way for artists to enhance the final production of their pieces (Morton, 141). Modern technology allowed the artists to splice individual components together and strengthen the message of their pieces. One expansion was the use of repetitive background sounds and variances to emphasize specific lyrics or transform the listener’s mood. In comparison, “Clarity” use specific specific words such as love, remedy, clarity, and deep to stress the focus of the composition. These words utilize pathos rhetorical strategies to emotionally connect with the listener and persuade them of their message. In addition, the song incorporates upbeat, transitive instrumentals to present the excitement and lively nature of the lyrical content. Studies, such as the one completed by scientists Jacob Jolij and Maaike Meurs about how “Music Alters Visual Perception,” relay the proposal that music alters both mood and perception (Jolij, “Music Alters Visual Perception”). The instrumentals included in “Clarity” aim at transforming the mood of the listener. Cohesively, these artists used specific lyric and music choices to express expansion of positive principles in society.
I reconfigured the artists’ compositions and added auxiliary sounds to demonstrate positive principles in our lives.

The cover mashup begins with the negative principles presented in “Clarity,” including suffering, pain, and disappointment. The piece transitions into a state of wonder and curiosity. “Is the glass half empty or half full?” is a philosophical question that inspired me to focus on positive principles rather than negative ones. This question argues whether an individual is a pessimist or an optimist. I am an optimist, and I believe that regardless of faults or troubles, something positive always debuts. During the artist’s concession, I added piano music to demonstrate the transition from admitting faults to pursuing the future. These sounds encourage semantic listening which “refers to a code or a language to interpret a message,” according to composer Michel Chion (Chion, 50). In this case, music is the language encoding the message. The music is bound by repeated sounds in the background, supporting and accentuating the lyrics. Media historian and professor, David Hendy claims repetition “[infuses] a speech with a feeling of soaring poetry” (Hendy 65). Repetition, specific word choice, and pathos rhetorical strategies mold the poetry created within the piece. Fusing the lyrics of “Dreaming Alone” and “Clarity” with an array of sounds carefully chosen amplifies the overall message of the

piece.
Configurative culture is also apparent in other media forms such as mashups and video ads.

Some artists create a mashup by combining copywrited material from multiple songs and more or less cut and paste sections together. One example of a mashup is “Pop Songs World 2015- Best Mashup 2015” by Yabanci Muzikler consisting of the top pop songs created throughout the world in 2015 (Muzikler, “Pop Songs”). Other artists create a cover mashup by taking an original song and adding their own instrumentals and or vocals. This is the media form I chose to demonstrate configurative culture. Another media form is through the use of video ads. One artist, ParkRidge47, chose to create a mashup between Hillary Clinton’s Vote Different ad and the Apple 1984 Super Bowl ad titled “Vote Different” (ParkRidge47, “Vote Different”). Regardless of the media form chosen to demonstrate configurative culture, rhetorical strategies used in each composition amplify its overall

message.
Music is a joint composition between thought, precision, sound, and noise; it is when humans transform music that configurative culture emerges. Sinnreich expressed, “If we persist in saying that music is A and not B, then it’s neither” (Sinreich 2010). I believe this “neither” is the use of configurative culture by artists. When I mixed the texts of “Dreaming Alone” and “Clarity” I introduced myself into this cross-cultural conversation, constituting the “neither” perspective. Specifically, I focused on optimism and the need for positive principles within society rather than negative ones. I amplified this message by using analytical word choice, repetition, and pathos rhetorical strategies throughout the piece. Configurative culture is also present in other media forms such as mashups, cover mashups, and video configurations. Reconfiguring and assimilating compositions enables amplification of the artist’s underlying message within a piece.