High and Lowbrow Culture

 

After the lino I printed yesterday and the point I made about Women's magazine's I thought it was important to further some research on it. The illustrations above are from Life magazine in 1949 and picture what was classed as high and lowbrow culture. 
On the very bottom of lowbrow culture there is beer and comic books which is where the Women's magazines would lie. 
Although I think this illustration must be a emphasis on what the standards are/were it does highlight the issue of  the bad relationship between class and the education system. 
There was an article on the TLS titled 'Let the Brows Run Wild' which highlights the futility of a high and lowbrow judgement for any form of culture. 
As stated in the article Richard Steele an 18th century writer said 'reading to the mind is exercise to the body.' which for me means that any form of reading is valuable and therefore should be valued in the same sense as reading War and Peace or being well versed in Milton.  

As I have been thinking about this I've been trying to think that if someone who valued the 'brow' judgement were to read any of the kitchen sink books or watch any of the films where they would place them.
They have often been criticised by upper-class critics as vulgar and rude but have rarely been classed as pulp or lessened in literary terms. Shelagh Delaney won BAFTA awards and was the winner of the Writers Guild in 1962. 
Therefore it is clear the technical and structural aspects of their works are classed as higher brow but their subjects and dialogue and their whole point is on the lowest level . 
The two main aspects in any of the books is beer and sex along with the native dialects of the typically rough northern towns, I think this determines that you cannot class anything as high or low in culture as there are so many cross overs and this should be celebrated. 

link here