Cultural Value of the Media Products Presented in the Skyscraper Model of Culture

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Skyscraper culture model
People are substantially diverse due to the differences that exist in their cultural backgrounds. Despite this, culture is difficult to categorize. While some people take culture to be a social process, others tend to perceive it as a set of products that can be categorized into high, low, or middle contexts. This is reflected in the skyscraper culture model, which categorizes media products based on how they are consumed by the people. The intent of this paper is to argue the cultural values associated with the media products in the bottom half of the skyscraper model of culture. The paper highlights the top, middle, and bottom products that can be placed in the skyscraper and the insights that emerge from popular culture.
Media products are subject to the perceptions that exist among the audience and critics in society. This leads to the development of a hierarchy where the superior products are at the top, and the inferior ones are placed at the bottom. This is reflected by a modern skyscraper, where the top of the figure is the high culture, while the bottom is low culture. In this context, the high culture is represented by art products such as ballet, symphony, art museums, and classic literature (Richard, Martin, and Fabos 20). The low culture includes media products such as soap operas, rock music, and video games. Drawing from the differences in the media products, high culture can be deemed to be of good taste by the audience and critics. This is linked to its association with higher education, sponsorship, and consumption by wealthy individuals that include corporate donors and expensive art products that are often restricted to libraries, theaters, and museums. Contrastingly, the low culture, which is also the popular culture is associated with a questionable taste. It is consumed by a large population because it is largely available in the mass media. This includes media products such as reality television programs, gossip internet platforms, and violent action movies. The middle section of the skyscraper entails products that are highly consumed by a particular group of people. For instance, adventure films such as Harry Potter and Star Wars that develop a cult following. Drawing from the skyscraper model, the high-low hierarchy reflects how culture is understood in the modern-day. From this perspective, the insights emerging from the bottom half of the skyscraper is reflected in different conceptualizations that people have about popular culture.
Consumers of popular culture can be deemed as people who lack the ability to appreciate fine art. This can be attributed to the notion that some forms of contemporary films, television programs, music, and literature fail to influence philosophical implications (Mustapha and Azeez 5). Resultantly, consumers of such products have stunted imagination, which compromises their capability to identify and understand great art. This critical perspective tends to pit popular culture against the high arts, which is reflected by the lack of an individual to value different media products concurrently. Such insights can be attributed to the assumption that popular forms of culture are developed for profit, which compromis...