popular culture ANALYSIS Popular culture, or in modern terms pop culture is the total sum of ideas, perspectives, attitudes that are preferred in accordance to a given culture or a group of individuals. Pop culture is said to take shape due to the heavy influences of mass media and other popular media of communication in that region. Popular culture needs to be trivial and easy to understand by definition in order to find consensual acceptance among the masses. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various scientific and non-mainstream sources which deem it superficial. It is manifest in preferences and acceptance or rejection of features in such various subjects as cooking, clothing, consumption, and the many facets of entertainment such as sports, music, film and literature. Popular culture often contrasts with a more exclusive, even elitist “high culture”. That is, the culture of ruling social groups One of the most important examples of how popular culture works can be explained with the help of an interesting case scenario.
India, one of the upcoming superpowers in the recession wounded world of today is an amalgam of the old and the new culture. They are polar opposites, the old culture boasts of its extraordinary heritage of a bygone era, the Mughals, Cholas, Pandyas and that Marathas. The new India is the by-product of the new generation and the profound western influence on them. Leather sandals have given way to Nike sneakers; old transistors have morphed in to Apple iPods, traditional Indian marriages to live-in relationships. The new culture is like a young bull and the old bull is hanging on for dear life! According to television scholars specializing in quality television, American television, especially in comedy sitcoms like The Simpsons, Seinfeld and Friends reflect and exemplify the type of progression in culture. The Simpsons uses a flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the program as a television show.
The Essay on Popular Culture Is Not The Devil
... the human mind and keep the world connected. Popular culture includes television, the Internet, radio, and any other form of ... attitude and life style portrayed on television. Denby is correct in stating that popular culture affects children’s lives and their attitudes, ... mostly by what they surround themselves with. Children find popular culture intriguing because it either relates to their life or ...
In a particular episode, Bart Simpson even complains about the crass commercialism of a Thanksgiving Day parade. Other examples include Seinfeld, which was typically marketed as a show about nothing. The main character of the show has the same name as the actor who plays the character! The show reeked of subtle humor and that contributed to the success of the show. Critics of television and film have argued that the quality of regular television scheduled programming have gone from bad to worse as stations relentlessly pursue populism and TRP ratings. The focus is always on the glitz, the glamour and the popular. In films, Hollywood culture and values are increasingly dominating film production in other countries. Hollywood films have changed from its primary spotlight on scriptwriting and dialogue to creating formulaic films which emphasize shock-value, cheap thrills, computer generated imagery with themes that focus on the basic instincts of aggression, revenge, violence, sexual innuendos, lust and greed. The plots often seem simplistic, often employing a standardized template taken from the shelf, and dialogue is kept to a bare minimum.
The characters are shallow and unconvincing; the dialogue is very unreal, and badly constructed. Owing to the pervasive and increasingly interconnected nature of popular culture, especially its intermingling of complementary distribution sources, some cultural anthropologists have identified the use of popular culture within popular culture as a distinct phenomenon. Literary and cultural critics have identified this as following the well-recognized pop culture phenomenon. This phenomenon reflects the encroachment of popular culture into every realm of collective and wholesome experiences. Instead of referring to the real world media output devotes itself in beaming out irrelevant yet popular programs that bring in the viewership. Many cultural critics have dismissed this as merely a symptom or side-effect of mass consumerism, however alternate explanations and critique have also been offered. One critic asserts that it reflects a fundamental paradox: the increase in technological and cultural sophistication, combined with an increase in superficiality and dehumanization. Some of the most distinct pop culture instances in recent times are, MTV generation that thrived during a good part of the 80s and the 90s, Harry Potter mania, Star Wars, UFOs and Area 51, rapidly changing fashion trends.
The Essay on Culture and Cultural Norms
Culture can be referred to as a people’s way of life. It can be used to refer to the way we live and all that goes along with our life. That means that for us to have a life we have to be affiliated to a certain culture or to belong to a certain culture. To be in a certain culture, one has to comply will the cultural values, norms and expectations. Cultural values can be used or rather the term ...
The list is a never ending black hole. The question whether popular culture or mass culture is inherently conservative, or whether it can be used in a subversive strategy as well, is equally debated. It seems widely accepted that popular culture forms can function at any moment as anti-cultures. Products such as pornography and horror draw their popular appeal precisely from their expressions of disrespect for the imposed lessons of educated taste. They are expressions of social resentment on the part of groups which have been subordinated and excluded by today’s civilized society Whether this strategy is effective or not, it points to an important fact: the mass media are not above, but dependent on the public. The ideological messages the mass media receive are already mediated by a complex network of institutions and discourses. The media, themselves divided over innumerable specific discourses, transform them again. Finally the public meaningfully relates those messages to individual existences through the mediation of social groups and family networks to which they belong. Hence it is safe to conclude that even though pop culture might have both positive and negative influence on people, it helps in transcending several cultural barriers..
The Essay on Culture And The Mass Media
... cultures. With the media acting as the means of transmission for both information and popular culture, there is almost a sensory overload of this mass culture ... progression and integration of the mass media into these cultures. The basis of the media stems from these expressions of ... choose to label it good, bad, mass or particular. Adorno says that popular culture ignores conflicts and ethical class ...
