Subcultures and consumption

A subculture is concerned first and foremost with consumption. The creation and diffusion of new styles is inextricably bound up with the process of production, publicity and packaging which must inevitably lead to the diffusion of the subculture's subversive power (Hebdige). This is a pivotal quote for my address of how subculture is effected by consumerism. In my essay i will address the particular effects that consumerism has had on the surf/ skate subculture since the 1970's. I will argue the essay topic that 'Hollywood gave modern consumerism its distinctive bent' to the point that it is consumerism that has made both Hollywood and subcultures the commercial mass consumed products of society that they are today.

'The cycle leading from opposition to diffusion, from resistance to incorporation encloses each successive subculture' (Hebdige). This quote will allow me to address the negative impact consumerism can have on a subculture. As soon as a subculture is taken on by the masses, it is no longer meaningful.

I would also like to address how the subculture is sold to consumers in a comparative look of the fashions from the documentary film Z-boys and Dog town and hollywood film Lords of Dog Town.

key point from Z-boy and Dog Town:

Aggressive loacalism and outcast behavior.

Anti mainstream.

Bad boy culture

New unique and different

This is where we live and who we are

Dead wonderland

Death to invaders

Hardcore culture

Street kids

Provided identity

Surf skate style- concrete v water

Devotion to style

The lords of Dogtown

G.BEATO

Twenty years ago you, you did not drop in on Tony Alva.

Twenty years ago, if you found yourself standing next to the volatile, gravity defying Alva at some crowded backyard pool in the Valley, and he was planning to take the next run- even though he had just taken the last one- it was just best to not even look at him. Today old school protocols do not exist. Could this be a direct result of the commercialisation of the subculture and the resulting loss of the underlying meanings and values associated with the pioneering days of surf-style skate boarding?

For kids who couldn't quite match Alva's radical athleticism or Jay Adam's spontaneous irreverence, a skateboard or a helmet bearing their signatures was the next best thing. This again relates to how the products are sold and marketed towards youth. Transforming what originated as lower class society kids finding their release from the negative environment they endure at home through skating and surfing, and turn it into a marketable industry exploiting insecurities of working class kids.