Elite culture vs mass

Elite culture has quite blurred boundaries, especially at the present time with the tendencies of the striving of the elements of the mass to express the individuality. Its peculiarity is that it is doomed to be misunderstood by most people, and this is one of its main characteristics. In this article we will learn what elite culture is, what are its main characteristics and compare it with the mass one.

What it is

Elite culture is the same "high culture". It is opposed to the mass, which is one of the methods of its detection in the general cultural process. This concept was first singled out by K. Manheim and H. Ortega-i-Gasset in their writings, where they deduced it precisely as the antithesis of the notion of mass culture. They meant by high culture one that contains a semantic nucleus capable of developing a human individuality, and from which the continuation of the creation of its other elements can follow. Another direction that they highlighted is the availability of special verbal elements accessible to narrow social groups: for example, Latin and Sanskrit for clergymen.

Elite and mass culture: contrasting

They are opposed to each other by the type of impact on consciousness, as well as by the quality of meanings that contain their elements. So, mass is directed to a more superficial perception, which does not require specific knowledge and special intellectual efforts to understand the cultural product. At the present time there is an intensified spread of mass culture due to the process of globalization, which, in turn, is spread through the media and stimulated by the capitalist system of society. Mass culture, in contrast to the elite, is designed for a wide range of people. Now we see its elements everywhere, and it is especially evident in the programs of television channels and cinematography.

So, Hollywood cinema can be opposed to art house. At the same time, the first type of film accentuates the viewer's attention not on the sense and idea of the story, but on the special effects of the video sequence. Here, quality cinema implies an interesting design, an unexpected, but simple for the perception of the plot.

Elite culture is represented by films of arthouse, which are evaluated by other criteria than Hollywood products of this kind, the main of which is sense content. So, the quality of the video sequence is often underestimated in such films. At first glance, the reason for the poor quality of the shooting is either the lack of good funding, or the amateurishness of the director. However, this is not true: in the movie arthouse the function of the video is to convey the information and the meaning of the idea. Special effects can detract from this, so they are not peculiar to products of this format. The ideas of the art house are original and deep. Very often, in the presentation of a simple story, a profound meaning is hidden from the superficial understanding, a real tragedy of the person is revealed. In the course of watching these films, you can often track that the director himself tries to find the answer to the question posed and studies the characters in the course of shooting. Predicting the plot of art house cinema is almost impossible.

Characteristics of high culture

Elite culture has a number of characteristics that distinguish it from mass:

1. Its elements are aimed at mapping and studying the deep processes of human psychology.
2. It has a closed structure, it is accessible only to uncommon people.
3. It is distinguished by the originality of artistic decisions.
4. Contains a minimum of visual means.
5. Has the ability to express something new.
6. In it, an approbation of what can later become a classic or a trivial art happens.