Many people can agree that popular culture is invasive, but the opinions differ on how invasive it actually is and whether it is harmful or beneficial. In David Denby’s Buried Alive: Our Children and the Avalanche of Crud, he clearly states his opinion of popular culture and how it has invaded his home and the attitude of his children. The main source of popular culture according to Denby is the media, which has become “three-dimensional, inescapable, omnivorous, and self-referring” and has taken away the idea that parents and teachers are the ones to nurture their children. The media hitherto is not always a good influence on children because of its vulgarity and addictiveness, which can cause children to take on the attitude and life style portrayed on television. Denby is correct in stating that popular culture affects children’s lives and their attitudes, but he is incorrect in saying that pop culture only has negative affects because it can actually benefit the human mind and keep the world connected.
Popular culture includes television, the Internet, radio, and any other form of media. Although pop culture is indeed invasive, it can be beneficial by connecting people to the world by informing us on social, economical, and political issues, as well as current events. Without the Internet, television or radio, the world would not have found out about the government shutting down so quickly, nor would we have followed the presidential election so closely. Therefore, children can be educated on many subjects through the media without it impacting them in a negative way. Children can get a sense of how the adult world functions, and learn just by watching television, reading on the Internet, or simply listening to the radio. Pop culture in this sense helps people stay knowledgeable of everything going on in the world.
The Essay on A Summary of ’Mass Media, Television, and Children’s Socialization: Making Peace With TV’
A Summary of ’Mass Media, Television, and Children’s Socialization: Making Peace With TV’ It is a study written by Tatyana Dumova, Richard Fiordo, Stephen Rendahl, an assistant professor, a professor and an associate professor in the School of Communication at the University of Dacota, and was produced by The Berkley Electronic Press in 2008. At the beginning of the text the authors clarify that ...
Another form of popular culture is video games, where people interact with virtual characters to complete goals. In Steven Johnson’s national bestseller, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, he defends the value of modern pop culture by stating that “popular culture has, on average, grown more complex and intellectually challenging over the past thirty years.” Although most people agree that popular culture has deteriorated, Johnson argues that it has actually become more intellectual and stimulating to the brain. Modern video games have improved their structure greatly by challenging players in a more complex way that stimulates the reward centers of the brain. Players are not appealed to the video games for their possibly sexual or violent content, but rather for the thrill of completing a difficult challenge. Even when players struggle during a game, they persevere because of the wanted feeling of satisfaction. Accordingly, video games help children to build determination and perseverance along with stimulating their brain to function in a more complex way.
On the other hand, children can expectedly pick up bad habits from the media because they are influenced mostly by what they surround themselves with. Children find popular culture intriguing because it either relates to their life or it completely strays from their daily routine. The media does indeed display vulgar content at times, but in many movies and shows, there is a positive ending. In the movie Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection, the daughter of the family holds a horrible attitude towards everyone in or out of her family. Throughout the movie, she continues to have a negative attitude and use vulgar language, but at turn of the plot in the movie, her attitude changes. She eventually learns to appreciate everyone in her life and realizes that her attitude was horrible and needed adjustment. So although the media portrays negative attitudes, it reinforces itself in the end.
The Essay on Culture And The Mass Media
The term culture is one of the most widely used terms in modern language. Discuss the key debates surrounding different interpretations of the term and the relevance of these debates to analysing the mass media. What was once a celebrated art form, a human expression for ones desires, thoughts and feelings, something that was once held in great esteem by academics, philosophers and other high ...
Popular culture is not all beneficial, however, teenagers in the modern day are so consumed by it that they are willing to risk their lives along with the lives of others. Teenagers are willing to text message while driving or crossing the street, which is life threatening because their mind and eyes are focused on their cellular phone instead of the road. They feel a burst of excitement whenever they receive a text message, making them constantly want to check their phones. The media, in this sense, has consumed modern day children and teenagers for the worse part. I for one am one of those teenagers, who put my life at risk to check my phone while driving. While I took my eyes off the road for a second, not paying attention to the road, I rear-ended the vehicle in front of me. Although the crash was mild and consisted of no injuries, it could have been much worse.
Many teenagers are yet to experience a life changing event due to the media, and therefore do not realize the consequences of being so consumed by it. Furthermore, David Denby is not entirely wrong in saying that pop culture is invasive and damaging, but he did not look for the many benefits it has to offer. Popular culture keeps people updated and connected from all over the world. It can also help with the growth of children’s brains and stimulate their reward center, making them strive harder to obtain what they want. Popular culture can differ in many ways, and can indeed be damaging to children and their lifestyle, but I believe it was ever thus. Children are always participating in things adults do not approve of, but they eventually grow up and out of that stage into a mature adult. Denby argues that the media’s portrayal of children is degrading, vulgar and all in all a bad influence, but he does not mention how there are turn of events in each movie or show that could be a good influence on the children.
The Term Paper on Culture Theory and Popular Culture
The study of culture has, over the last few years, been quite dramatically transformed as questions of modernity and post-modernity have replaced the more familiar concepts of ideology and hegemony which, from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s, anchored cultural analysis firmly within the neo-Marxist field mapped out by Althusser and Gramsci. Modernity and post-modernity have also moved far beyond ...
I believe Denby’s essay was one sided and incognizant of popular culture as a whole, but certain points are indeed relevant. Children nowadays are so consumed by the media, that they are willing to risk their lives as well as others. Moreover, I do not completely disagree with David Denby’s argument that popular culture is damaging, but I have a different stance on the argument, because pop culture can patently be beneficial.
