The goal in this paper is to present your critical analysis of some aspect of popular culture, using the definition of popular culture given by Maasik and Solomon in Signs of Life: popular or “pop” culture is “a commercial
The goal in this paper is to present your critical analysis of some aspect of popular culture, using the definition of popular culture given by Maasik and Solomon in Signs of Life: popular or “pop” culture is “a commercial, for-profit culture aimed at providing entertainment to a mass audience. Corporate rather than communal, it has transformed entertainment into a commodity to be marketed alongside all other products in a consumer culture.”
You may choose your own focus/topic for this paper, using that definition as your guideline for selecting an idea.
You will obviously need to present your thesis (assertion) in your essay along with your supporting reasons (points) and other evidence or facts. You want your reader to see your analysis as valid and worth consideration through your use of clear reasons and support for your argument.
This essay will obviously require you to do some outside research in order to obtain information and support for your topic. You will need to gather your information, summarize and synthesize it, and then smoothly incorporate it into the essay.
Your annotated bibliography should have helped you begin this process and you may use information from that assignment to help you support your ideas in this one.
I was thinking about writing about “How does pop culture affect society” and including these topics the use of technology
social media and advertisements (how they negatively impact society)
With the advent of social media, it has become easier to disseminate culture across the globe transforming the world into one global society. This has also seen the penetration of pop culture into various aspects of society.
To understand the impact of pop culture, we first need to understand what pop culture is. The simplest definition of pop culture is “Modern popular culture transmitted via the mass media and aimed particularly at younger people.” It has been noted across various surveys conducted that the youth is most influenced and is the biggest consumer of pop culture.
Pop culture affects society in many ways. The first and most rudimentary effect of pop culture is how it builds and strengthens interactions with people who are also into the same kind of things. Events to celebrate pop culture such as Comic-con help foster bonds among people of different background. Pop culture thus acts as a unifying agent for youth across the globe. As Shreyash, a student of BITS says, “It is amazing to see how people gel at Comic-con.”
Pixie, a student of Liberal Arts from Delhi says, “Comic- Con helped me make friends and gave me more topics to talk about in social settings.” Mukund, the manager of Blossoms, a bookstore in Bangalore talks about his observations about people getting into intense discussions based on a comic, or a book especially something like Game of Thrones that is quite current.
He says that he has also seen people recommend each other different books and make friends.
On a more personal level, pop culture helps people grow and be more accepting considering the vast amount of representation throughout the various genres in pop cultures. There have been instances and reports about students taking an interest in Chemistry because of Breaking Bad or history because of Dr. Who.(for a more detailed study:)
It is even speculated that the Motorola flip phone was inspired by Star Trek. As said by Pixie and his friends, pop culture icons even influence them on stage while portraying a character because they tend to draw similarities between the two characters.
It also helps the actors to connect with the audience because of the lasting influence of pop culture icons/characters. Shreyas also says, “It helps people become more creative and expands their imaginative horizons.”
With pop culture taking over the large and small screen, merchandise based on these fandoms has experienced a boom in sales. Earlier, it was just hardcore fans of a particular genre buying merch related to it but now fandom merch is flooding the streets.
From stores like Forever21 or Zara to the street shops, you can find band t-shirts, superhero t-shirts, wrist bands etc.
Zain, the owner of a small store that sells fandom merch on Brigade road in Bangalore says that he has seen an increase in sales since the mass media saw an increase in the adaptations of comics, book series etc.
He says he sees a boom in anime merch now that a lot of people are taking to it. He predicts that the hype would persist for at least the next decade.
An Iron Man fan, Zain talks about how the character helped him get more confident as he tried to imitate the Tony Stark swagger. He even talks about the more obscure characters such as Iron Fist, Luke Cage etc. are now gaining ground because of the TV shows which can further help boost sales.
However, apart from the mainstream merchandise, there are various small shops that sell customised merchandise commissioned to local artists. Case in point: Hysteria, a small grungy store in Church Street, Bangalore.
It is managed by four people- Selvin, Theja, Ryan and Anita who themselves are self-confessed fans of various aspects of pop culture.
The store sells only customised merch that is “out of the ordinary” and is designed by the owner, Theja, who then outsources her concept ideas to local artists. This is not only helping people earn money but is also giving local artists a chance to showcase their work. All because of pop culture.