Comparing pop vs. commercial culture: holiday lawn decorations during December

commercial versus popular culture (click image for full size view)

Maybe in in 20 or 25 houses put Christmas scenes, accent lights, or ornaments in front of the building for public display that goes beyond hanging a wreath on the front door. Most of the scenes or figures have to be plugged in for operating the lights (occasionally soundtrack, too) and, for inflatables like these, for running the fan or blower to hold the internal pressure steady. There figures from popular (TV the first two, film for the right-hand figure) are from left to right: Frosty the Snowman (c.1969), The Grinch who Stole Christmas (c. 1966), and Chewbacca of Star Wars (c. 1977). At the front door a green bulb has replaced the normal white illumination, since green and its opposite no the color wheel, red, are prominent colors for the dark nights of Christmas season (evergreens betoken life, even in the dead of winter; red for the berries of some wintertime plants). The red painted planks standing next to the door give one of the seasonal greetings.

A few things come to mind when thinking about the overlapping meanings of commercial culture (significance is mostly instrumental, occupying public space and imaginations thanks to mass creation and distribution) and popular culture (things connected to stories in the society or linked to themes of the language/culture). Popular culture has exited long before industrialization and mass production or consumption. Things like folk songs, folk stories, folk costumes and characters of the stories circulate widely among people and form a shared currency or pool of imagery and words. On the other hand, commercial culture only took the place of, or overshadowed and dominated, things made by hand --one's own or another person specializing in making the thing-- with the rise of factories and mass production and selling.

Another difference is that commercial culture extends beyond what the average person recognizes by brand name or product appearances. This culture includes the people, places, and lore concerning the making of the particular product. By contrast the pop culture, too, extends to places that have no connection or correspondence to commercial operations and experiences. As an example, there are customs that are widely know and practiced (like Christmas stockings hung near a fireplace for the convenience of Santa Claus (or St. Nicolas). To the degree that uniformly sold stockings are widely used, there is a commercial culture layer. And to the degree that home-made, making do, or craft-fair, individually distinct stockings are used in a family's Christmas customs, then it is popular culture that is being referenced and expressed.