Mainstream
Both high culture and low culture are minority cultures. The combined influences of both strains constitute mainstream culture. In this sense, mainstream culture equals culture. The purpose of Jahsonic.com is to demonstrate this thesis.
Related: bestseller - classic - cliche - commercial - common - culture - general audience - majority - mass - mass media - normal - ordinary - pop - pop music - popular - popular culture - standard - stereotype - vanilla
One can safely regard Hollywood, or the American film industry, as the pinnnacle of mainstream.
By medium: mainstream film - popular fiction - popular music
Compare to: non-mainstream
Definition
Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. It is a term most often applied in the arts (i.e., music, literature, and performance). This includes:
- something that is ordinary or usual;
- something that is familiar to the masses;
- something that is available to the general public.
As such, the mainstream includes all popular culture, typically disseminated by mass media. The opposite of the mainstream are subcultures, countercultures, cult followings and underground cultures. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream [Jan 2006]
n.: The prevailing current of thought, influence, or activity: “You need not accept the nominee's ideology, only be able to locate it in the American mainstream” (Charles Krauthammer).
adj. Representing the prevalent attitudes, values, and practices of a society or group: mainstream morality. --AHD [Oct 2004]
Blogstream
Blogstream is a play on the term mainstream that references the alternative news and information network growing up around weblogs and user driven content mechanisms.
Clearly in evidence during the 9/11 disaster as weblogs became a valuable source of up to the minute information, images and personal experiences