Cultural icon

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Mount Fuji is commonly used as a cultural icon of Japan. Views of Mount Fuji from Owakudani 20211202.jpg
Mount Fuji is commonly used as a cultural icon of Japan.

A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic symbol of that culture. When individuals perceive a cultural icon, they relate it to their general perceptions of the cultural identity represented. [1] Cultural icons can also be identified as an authentic representation of the practices of one culture by another. [2]

Contents

In popular culture and elsewhere, the term "iconic" is used to describe a wide range of people, places, and things. Some commentators believe that the word "iconic" is overused.

Examples

A red telephone box is a British cultural icon. Red telephone box, St Paul's Cathedral, London, England, GB, IMG 5182 edit.jpg
A red telephone box is a British cultural icon.

According to the Canadian Journal of Communication, academic literature has described all of the following as "cultural icons": Shakespeare, Oprah, Batman, Anne of Green Gables, the Cowboy, the 1960s female pop singer, the horse, Las Vegas, the library, the Barbie doll, DNA, and the New York Yankees." [4] A web-based survey was set up in 2006 allowing the public to nominate their ideas for national icons of England, [5] and the results show the range of different types of icons associated with an English view of English culture. One example is the red AEC Routemaster London double decker bus. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Matryoshka dolls are seen internationally as cultural icons of Russia. [10] In the former Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle symbol and statues of Vladimir Lenin instead represented the country's most prominent cultural icons.

The values, norms, and ideals represented by a cultural icon vary among people who subscribe to it and more widely among others who may interpret cultural icons as symbolizing quite different values. Thus an apple pie is a cultural icon of the United States, but its significance varies among Americans.

National icons can become targets for those opposing or criticising a regime, for example, crowds destroying statues of Lenin in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism [11] or burning the American flag to protest US actions abroad. [12]

Religious icons can also become cultural icons in societies where religion and culture are deeply entwined, such as representations of the Madonna in societies with a strong Catholic tradition. [13]

Criticism

Describing something as iconic or as an icon has become very common in the popular media. This has drawn criticism from some. [14] For example, a writer in Liverpool Daily Post calls "iconic" "a word that makes my flesh creep", a word "pressed into service to describe almost anything." [15] Mark Larson of the Christian Examiner labeled "iconic" as an overused word, finding over 18,000 uses of "iconic" in news stories alone, with another 30,000 for "icon". [16]

Types

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pop icon</span> Iconic person or object in popular culture

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindy</span> Fashion doll made in the United Kingdom

Sindy is a British fashion doll created by Pedigree Dolls & Toys in 1963. A rival to Barbie, Sindy's look and range of fashions and accessories made her the best-selling toy in the United Kingdom in 1968 and 1970. After Marx Toys' unsuccessful attempt to introduce Sindy in the United States in the late 1970s, Hasbro bought the rights to Sindy and remodelled the doll to look more American. As a result, the doll's popularity declined; in addition Barbie manufacturer Mattel filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which was settled when Hasbro agreed to remodel Sindy's face. During the 1990s, Barbie's share of the doll market continued to grow while Sindy's diminished, which led to Sindy being delisted from major retailers in 1997. Hasbro returned the doll's licence to Pedigree, and the doll was relaunched in 1999, manufactured by Vivid Imaginations. Sindy's 40th anniversary in 2003 saw a new manufacturer, New Moons, and another relaunch and redesign. There was a further relaunch in 2023.

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References

  1. Grayson, Kent; Martinec, Radan (2004-09-01). "Consumer Perceptions of Iconicity and Indexicality and Their Influence on Assessments of Authentic Market Offerings". Journal of Consumer Research. 31 (2): 296–312. doi:10.1086/422109. ISSN   0093-5301.
  2. Motley, Carol M.; Henderson, Geraldine Rosa (2008-03-01). "The global hip-hop Diaspora: Understanding the culture". Journal of Business Research. Cross-Cultural Business Research. 61 (3): 243–253. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.06.020.
  3. Odone, Cristina (11 March 2013). "The trashing of the iconic red phone box is one bad call" . The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12.
  4. Truman, Emily (2017). "Rethinking the Cultural Icon: Its Use and Function in Popular Culture". Canadian Journal of Communication. 42 (5): 829–849. doi: 10.22230/cjc.2017v42n5a3223 . S2CID   148775748. What constitutes a 'cultural icon' in twenty-first-century North American popular culture? All of the following have been attributed to this status in academic literature: Shakespeare, Oprah, Batman, Anne of Green Gables, the Cowboy, the 1960s female pop singer, the horse, Las Vegas, the library, the Barbie doll, DNA, and the New York Yankees
  5. "Our Collection". icons.org.uk. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  6. Jenkins, Simon (October 2005). Godson, Dean (ed.). "Replacing the Routemaster" (PDF). p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  7. British Postal Museum & Archive: Icons of England Archived 2014-12-05 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  8. Culture24: Icons of England. Retrieved 15 December 2012.[ dead link ]
  9. Parker, Mike (2012). Cultural Icons: A Case Study Analysis of their Formation and Reception (PhD Thesis). pp. 123–167.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. Bobo, Suzanna (25 December 2012). "Scuttlebutt: Wooden toy tells a story of love and industry". Kodiak Daily Mirror. Retrieved 9 April 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. Jones, Jonathan (December 9, 2013). "Why smashing statues can be the sweetest revenge". Guardian.
  12. Laessing, ulf (September 14, 2012). "Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film". Reuters.
  13. Anthony B Pinn; Benjamin Valentin, eds. (2009). Creating Ourselves, African Americans and Hispanic Americans on popular culture and religious expression. Duke University Press.
  14. "Heard about the famous icon? We have – far too often". The Independent. London. January 27, 2007. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012.
  15. Let's hear it for the Queen's English, Liverpool Daily Post
  16. Modern word usage amazingly leaves us yearning for gay, old times Archived 2010-12-25 at the Wayback Machine , Christian Examiner

Bibliography