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ON THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF MODERN POPULAR CULTURE: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE KNOWN THINGS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2015. Issue 3 (5). P. 97-116

The article describes the typical features of modern popular culture: the dominance of the hyper-real object, simulation, replication, visual representation. Some of the most common critical judgments about the nature and functions of popular culture are analyzed. It is shown that production of simulacra and of hyper-real objects can be connected with the ways of production of popular forms of social and cultural existence rather than with the implementation of escapist attitudes and replacing of reality with its counterfeits. Therefore, it should be assumed that hyper-real objects do not deny the reality as such, but only its forms that have lost their efficiency, cultural significance and value in the eyes of the community or its individual groups. It is shown that the foundation and the source of the typical features of popular culture should be connected with the demand and wish for visual ization. It is argued that it is not due to the primitiveness of the consumer or an escape to the world of illusions, but to the need for the desired fullness of feeling and suitable models of understanding the world, as well as schemes for organizing and managing one’s actions. In these terms, replication should be interpreted as a way of establishing and maintaining stability, balance, completeness of theclaimed cultural and social space.

Keywords: popular culture, mass culture, simulacrum, hyper-reality, replication, visual representation