The Wiggles as a Popular Culture
The Wiggles are a children’s music and entertainment group consisting of four members who formed in Sydney in 1991. The original members were Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Jeff Fatt. Before the formation of the group, Field and Fatt were members of the Australian pop band The Cockroaches with Page being a roadie, and met Cook at Macquarie University where they were studying to become pre-school teachers. Together, they formed The Wiggles. Using connections gained from The Cockroaches, The Wiggles’ first manager Jeremy Fabinyi negotiated with the ABC to air The Wiggles’ TV show. This program essentially promoted their first album and tour, launching The Wiggles’ careers.
The Wiggles, due to the development of technology such as television and the internet, have globalised into an internationally recognised franchise. By definition, a popular culture has four characteristics; they are associated with commercial products, develop from a local to international scale, allow consumers to have widespread access to it, and are constantly changing and evolving. The Wiggles can be classified as a popular culture due to its conforming to these characteristics. The group conforms to these characteristics by having much associated paraphernalia, such as albums and posters, has developed into an international franchise which tours the world, allows consumers widespread access to The Wiggles products, and is changing and evolving in order to benefit the children of the present day society.
Advances in technology have allowed social and cultural studies to become more in-depth. Such studies have highlighted the importance of children’s social and cultural experiences linked with their literacy development. Children who participated in the watching of programs such as The Wiggles were noted within these studies to have higher literacy rates at the start of their primary schooling than children who didn’t. This has enabled The Wiggles to have status in the early
The Wiggles, due to the development of technology such as television and the internet, have globalised into an internationally recognised franchise. By definition, a popular culture has four characteristics; they are associated with commercial products, develop from a local to international scale, allow consumers to have widespread access to it, and are constantly changing and evolving. The Wiggles can be classified as a popular culture due to its conforming to these characteristics. The group conforms to these characteristics by having much associated paraphernalia, such as albums and posters, has developed into an international franchise which tours the world, allows consumers widespread access to The Wiggles products, and is changing and evolving in order to benefit the children of the present day society.
Advances in technology have allowed social and cultural studies to become more in-depth. Such studies have highlighted the importance of children’s social and cultural experiences linked with their literacy development. Children who participated in the watching of programs such as The Wiggles were noted within these studies to have higher literacy rates at the start of their primary schooling than children who didn’t. This has enabled The Wiggles to have status in the early