Popular Culture Review Vol. 15, No. 2 | Page 90

86 Popular Culture Review perspective (aesthetic entrepreneurs as cultural institutional leaders) would find both support and divergence for their theories in Gonzales’s work (see DiMaggio 1982). Contrary to this perspective, the Homies emerged from a subculture and were initially marketed to this market segment. After their popularity grew, the artist licensed the representations to generate larger markets. Someone with gatekeeper power had to recognize the value of these figurines as a capitalist tool and greenlight their diffusion into wider society. 4. The idea of hegemony is based on the work of Gramsci (1971). The term refers to a particular form of dominance in social situations >^iierein the ruling class legitimates its position of power over subordinate groups by gaining their acceptance of the ruling class norms, values, and other socially defined constructs. The idea of counterhegemony indicates that subordinate groiq)s would resist this dominance by the production of alternatives. For example, the counterhegemonic movement could generate alternative political dialogue, norms that are in opposition to the status quo, and even popular culture products like the Homies that rise from street culture. 5. Character details, pictures, and biographies for the Homies figurines can be found on http://www.homieshop.com. 6. A subculture is one \\here ethnic groups, a subpart of larger social systems such as communities or societies, share language, ideas, practices, norms, folkways, mores, and other social interaction patterns. They are both an important part of the diversity of a culture and a source of conflict with the larger cultural forms and practices. For an illustrative discussion on subcultures, see Hebdige (1979). 7. These controversies could be characterized as class-based, interculturally based, and intraculturally based. The figurines are primarily working-class, have characteristics that embody working-class culture, and represent normative structures that could be seen as glorifying the class differences commonly seen between barrio residents and the larger, and potentially more affluent, class structures. The history of class-based analysis of popular culture owes a debt to the groundbreaking Popular Culture and High Culture (Gans 1974). 8. For a comprehensive discussion of culture and the three vaiying definitions in use, see Edles (2002). 9. See note #8. 10. See the work of Diaz (1990), Menard (1995), Dominguez (1996), and Dunitz (1997). 11. See note #8. 12. Gonzales’s characters received a large amount of press from many sectors of the population (Sefer 2000; Mudede 2001; Kuhnau 2002; Bir 2003; Parvaz 2003; Sanchez 2003; Sullivan 2003) 13. For a discussion of cultural codes and the interpretation process of signs, refer to Hall (1980). 14. To refer to someone as a ''homie” does not just acknowledge that person as a friend; it often indicates them as a best fiiend. 15. See note #5. 16. Romo (1983) provides a lucid accoimt of the macro-level structural and social conditions that gave rise to the East Los Angeles barrio. “Pachucos” (early gang members) >\1io made their presence felt beginning in the latter half of the 1930s are characterized by their unique and distinct appearance. Contemporary “gang style” derives from this earlier form and Gonzales created the female character, Ghuca, as a model vAio represents this classical style. In addition, Hollywood is noted for his flawless stylistic