TheCiriticsofAmericanTelevisionViolenceCulture(美国电视暴力文化的批评).docVIP

The Critics of American Television Violence Culture Abstract: Culture is a historical phenomenon. It is a deposit of social history as well as the carrier of history, so culture is considered to be a historical culture form and it can be interpreted from a historical perspective. This thesis chooses contemporary American popular culture---television as the research object, starts from the concept of culture by Raymond Williams, and gives a comprehensive illustration of popular culture. And finally, draws the conclusion on the violence television’s impact on American society and culture. Key words: Culture；Popular culture；Television violence 1.Culture In order to define popular culture we first need to define the term ‘culture’. Raymond Williams (1983: 87) calls culture ‘one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’. Williams suggests three broad definitions. First of all, culture can be used to refer to ‘a general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development’ (ibid : 90). A second use of the word ‘culture’ might be to suggest ‘a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group’ (ibid.). Finally, Williams suggests that culture can be used to refer to ‘the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity’ (ibid.). Using this definition, we would probably think of examples such as poetry, the novel, ballet, opera, and fine art. To speak of popular culture usually means to mobilize the second and third meanings of the word ‘culture’. 2.Popular culture There are six definitions about popular culture. The first definition is to say that popular culture is simply culture that is widely favored or well liked by many people. We could examine sales of books, sales of CDs and DVDs. A second way of defining popular culture is to suggest that it is the culture that is left over after we have decided what high culture is. A third way of defining popular culture is as ‘mass culture’. It is m