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Popular culture: we've seen the future and it's junk

Row of three soft drink cans in bright colours each with a letter to spell out the word 'pop'.

9 February 2010

There is a certain cast of mind that locates all virtue in the classics; a cast of mind that dismisses popular culture as worthless.

But in a society where so much popular culture is shaped by yesterday’s heroes, is the conservative critic just the ‘pot calling the kettle black’?

Is a new generation of creative minds forging a culture beyond our immediate view that is just as extraordinary as anything produced by the young Picasso, Beethoven and their like?

Discuss this topic

Speakers

For

  • Stephen Sewell is one of Australia’s most celebrated and experienced film and theatre writers, known especially for his AFI award-winning script of The Boys, and for plays such as The Blind Giant is Dancing, The Secret Death of Salvador Dali and Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America – A Drama in 30 Scenes, which is now the most awarded play in Australian history.
  • Peter Craven is a leading literary critic, journalist and editor. He is co-founder of the literary magazine Scripsi, which ran from 1981 to 1994. Craven has written about literature for numerous newspapers, including a column in The Australian for most of the 1990s.
  • Elizabeth Farrelly is a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald. She trained as an architect in Auckland, practised in London and Bristol and holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Sydney, where she is also Adjunct Associate Professor. She has been assistant editor of The Architectural Review in London, an independent Councillor in the City of Sydney and inaugural Chair of the Australia Award for Urban Design. Elizabeth’s writing awards include the Marion Mahony Griffin Award, the Pascall Prize for Critical Writing, the Adrian Ashton Award and the Paris-based CICA award for international criticism. She is the author of Blubberland: The Dangers of Happiness.

Against:

  • Bryce Courtenay is best known as Australia’s top selling novelist, having written nineteen novels, including The Power of One, which has been translated into eleven languages and was the subject of a major movie of the same name.  During a career in advertising that spanned thirty-four years, he was the Creative Director of McCann Erickson, J Walter Thompson & George Patterson Advertising. He has won many awards both in Australia and overseas.
  • Wendy Harmer is a prominent Australian comedienne and veteran of countless international comedy festivals. She has presented top-rating morning FM Radio, and has hosted, written and appeared in a wide variety of TV shows including ABC's Big Gig and In Harmer's Way. Wendy is also the author of several books for adults, two plays and a series of children's books. She has also hosted the television Logie Awards and has been a regular newspaper and magazine contributor.
  • Tom Crago is CEO of Tantalus Media, one of the world’s leading video game developers with over thirty titles to their credit and huge worldwide sales. He has worked with Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft and is President of the Game Developer’s Association of Australia. His other business interests include co-founding exercise ball company SmartBall as well as and fashion labels Jessie Tucker and Katarzynkha. A former lawyer at Minter Ellison, Tom holds degrees in Law, Arts and International Business. He has written for film, print, stage, radio and television. He was also Champion Athlete at the Pacific Games and a former NSW state champion in the triple-jump.

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff is Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre. Simon spent five years studying and working as a member of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Having won scholarships to study at Cambridge, he read for the degrees of Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. He was inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Director of a number of companies. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Foreign Policy Association, based in New York. Simon has been Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre since shortly after it was founded.