6-1 so what does all of this mean to me?

Going into this class, I did not know a lot about what popular culture was. My understanding of popular culture was that it was the younger generation’s (13-21) culture. Items that I thought popular culture was were hip hop music, the movies that are top sellers, and computers. While completing my first assignment I realized that popular culture changes over the years and it is composed of more than just one generation’s ideas; popular culture affects all aspects of everyone’s life.

Unfortunately, I have ideas about different races. I do not however, allow these stereotypes to pigeon hole the people around me; I try to keep an open mind. I realized throughout this course that stereotypes affect more than just race. Stereotypes can be based on a city that you live in, a store you shop at, of a job you work at. These types of stereotypes are what will affect my major and future career. My major is accounting. As an accountant I may be responsible for advertising in my company. Using stereotypes can help me identify where I want to advertise, how much advertising would be sufficient, and how I want to advertise.

Completing the assignments in this class has allowed me to study the values of our society. This is because part of popular culture is what society likes, dislikes, and in turn values. In assignment 2-2: Icon Analysis, I had to think about what some icons were in America. American’s icons are people who possess the values that they agree with. Through this analysis, I found that some values of our society are innocence, honesty, hard work, and heroism. I also found that Americans value fame and fortune. Other assignments that encouraged me to look at societies values were 1-4, where I did my weekly analysis on modern day heroes, and 2-3 where I did my myths analysis on the American Dream.

These values are implemented in people’s lives because they see them in their icons and heroes and also they are passed down in myths and in rituals. Innocence and honesty are seen in the icons of young children. I believe this, as well as from my family, is where I learned to value these traits. I want to be a hero to somebody, in some small way, because of the value we as a society place on heroism. Assignments that make people think about their values allow them to be aware of the values they want to have. This is how I will implement the values I learned about: by being aware that I want to have these values and change my behaviors to meet them.

5-1 Twilight

Twilight is an artifact from our society that I believe is a part of our popular culture. Twilight is a four book series that has become a hit movie series. There are three movies currently out: Twilight came out in 2008, Twilight: New Moon came out in 2009, and Twilight: Eclipse came out in 2010 (The Twilight Saga, 2010); two more movies are expected to come out based on one book, Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, 2010).

Twilight has become a part of our popular culture because whether they like the series or not, almost everyone in our society has heard of Twilight. Stores have clothing apparel, purses, and shoes with the Twilight logo or characters on them. Twilight’s impact on popular culture is seen through its appearance on Face book and Twitter. When searching for Twilight on Face book I found multiple fan pages that had thousands of people who “like it” (Twilight, 2010). When I searched the word Twilight on Twitter, pages of random users came up who had recent tweets about Twilight (Real time search Twilight, 2010). In the time that I have typed this paper two hundred and thirty-one more posts concerning Twilight have been posted (Real time search Twilight, 2010).

One reason that Twilight is so active in our popular culture is the multiple types of people who like it. Twilight appeals to book readers and movie watchers; as well as having an action appeal and a romantic appeal. This allows for a wider audience and more ability for viewers to like Twilight. Twilight is known throughout our society. It is liked and disliked and will probably only be a fad, fading out to another popular series. This is why Twilight should be considered a part of our popular culture.

References

(2010). The Twilight Saga. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from www.eclipsethemovie.com

Real time results for Twilight. (2010). Twitter. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from twitter.com/#search?q=Twilight

Twilight. (2010). Facebook. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from www.facebook.com/tilight#!/search

weekly analysis 4-1

4-1 weekly analysis- Realuity TV shows

Reality TV shows have gained in popularity in the recent years. I would consider it a part of popular culture because of the vast amount of viewers this type of show has. According to the text book, 70% of society 18-24 years old are viewers of reality TV shows (Petracca, 2007). These shows feed off what viewers want to see and it reflects the values of the popular culture. One type of reality show is where contestants get voted off every episode. Some examples of this are Survivor, Next Iron Chef, and Weakest link.  These shows are a part of popular culture because they appeal to viewers ideas to get rid of the worst person on a team. Another type of reality show is the type where the show follows a group of people around in their everyday lives. Some popular shows of this type include Jersey Shore, The Real Housewives, and Rehab. I think the reason these shows are a part of our popular culture is because It gives people a chance to live someone else’s life. They get to experience the ups and downs of someone else’s life by watching it on TV. This is the same idea with soap operas, which were a part of popular culture after the great depression.

Reality shows are a part of popular culture because they are the shows that society is interested in right now. There is such a broad range of topics that reality shows cover that there is a show that will interest every person.

Petracca, M. & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common Culture. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey.

4-3 Heroes and Celebrities

Heroes and Celebrities

The words hero and celebrity get used quite often in our society; the media especially. For the most part, the media tells us as a society who to revere as a hero or as a celebrity. It is a good thing for a society to have heroes and celebrities. It gives us someone to look up to and want to be like, which both types of figures do, however, it is important to know the difference between a hero and a celebrity.

A hero is someone who benefits the community they are in. They are thought of as a hero because they are looked up to as being someone better than the rest of society and someone that society wants to be like. According to dictionary.com, a hero is “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities” (Hero, 2010). A celebrity is “a famous or well-known person” (Celebrity, 2010). They could be known for a multitude of reasons, from being an actor, a singer, a hero, of just doing something to make themselves known by many people.

The two words hero and celebrity can get mixed up in society. This is because they are similar in nature. A hero can become a celebrity when their act of heroism becomes well known. President Barak Obama is considered a hero in his supporters eyes because he stands up for what he and his supporters believe in. He became a celebrity when he ran for president and everyone in the nation knew his name. Celebrities can also become heroes, when they use their celebrity status to do good in the world. Lance Armstrong was a celebrity among cyclists and became a hero to those who have cancer after his fight with cancer. The difference between heroes and celebrities is that celebrities are not always known for heroic things and heroes are not always considered celebrities. Some celebrities are known for their scandals; they are not someone you want to look up to as you would a hero. Heroes are not always well-known for their heroism. Heroes can be everyday people who have those selfless qualities of a hero.

Heroes are important to our society. They give us an example to look up to. Some common traits that I think of when I think of a hero are that they are brave, selfless, strong and respectful. Children grow up with heroes that have these traits and they in return want to possess these traits. In addition to being role models to society, real-life heroes also serve our society through their acts of heroism. I would consider those fishermen who helped clean up oil spills to be heroes. Without them, more wild life would be in danger and our ecosystem would be out of balance. I also consider anyone who does volunteer work to be a hero. They are heroes to those people that they are serving. Our society needs heroes because we need someone to look up to. We need to be working to be better than what we are and to be trying to obtain those traits of a hero.

Celebrities can be heroes in the eyes of their fans. When a celebrity has a large fan base that idolizes that celebrity it is known as the cult of celebrity (Cult, 2010). When a celebrity is idolized they have some of the same traits of a hero. I say this because they look up to the celebrity and they want to be like the celebrity. Many musicians have this type of celebrity status. Miley Cyrus and Brittany Spears have both had fans wanting to be like them. They rose above being celebrities and are icons to the music genre. I believe that celebrities exist in our society because society wants people to identify with. Football players are celebrities because football fans can identify with what they do. They like the sport and a particular player who excels at the sport so they become a fan.

Reality TV has made celebrities out of a lot of regular citizens. This type of television show has become increasingly popular for many reasons; some of which are: viewers want to see “real people” perform instead of “scripted characters”, people want to try to figure out the winners of the game, “to see people face challenging situations”, and to see what they would do in that situation (Petracca, 2007). The Next Iron Chef is one reality show that I personally watch. This show focuses on contestants cooking meals of their choice with surprise ingredients and competing against the shows “best chefs”. I believe that people watch this show because there is competition (in which people get eliminated) and they can critique what they would have done in that situation (what they would have done with the surprise ingredients).

I think that people are voted off in this show and in many other reality TV shows because the viewers accept and expect this policy. It is evident in the everyday lives of society that if there is something better we get rid of the old for the better. If an employer needs to get rid of employees to make room for new, he fires the worst employee. Reality shows feed of this accepted practice and vote off the worst contestant.

References

“Celebrity”. (2010). Dictionary.com. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from dictionary.reference.com/browse/celebrity

“Cult of celebrity.” (2010). Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cult_of_celebrity

“Hero”. (2010). Dictionary.com. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from dictionary.reference.com/browse/hero

Petracca, M. & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common Culture. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey.

1-5 Movies Videogames and Magazines

4-2 Heroes, spiderman

Spiderman currently consists of three movies, showing the journey that Spiderman (Peter Parker) went on. The three movies came out in 2002, 2004 and 2007 (Movies, 2007).
I picked Spiderman as the hero in this movie seriese because he displayed the characteristics that a hero should have. According to the text, Profiles of Popular Culture, heroes are the people that we look up to; those who we think of as higher than us and we want to be like them (Browne, 2005). Peter Parker, as Spiderman, is looked up to as someone who is there to save New York. It is true, durring parts of all the movies he was not liked, but there were always people who looked for his help.
Children who watched these movies also looked at Spiderman as a hero. They looked up to him and wanted to be like him. My brother once wore a spiderman outfit for halloween and we both had toys that shot silly string like a web. Spiderman is thought of as a hero both in the movie by other characters and from the viewers of the movie.
"Movies". (2007). Spiderman.sonypictures.com. Retrieved October 21, 2010 from Spiderman.sonypictures.com/movies/

Browne, R. (2005). "Rites and rituals". Profiles of Popular Culture: A Reader. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.

2-1 (forgot to post)

References

All about marijuana (2010). Retrieved October 8, 2010 from marijuanablog.us

Browne, R. (2005). Profiles of Popular Culture. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Marijuana legalization organization (2007). Retrieved October 8, 2010 from www.mjlegal .com

Medical marijuana. (2010). Retrieved on October 7, 2010 from medicalmarijuana.procon.org.

One popular culture topic that can be seen in all forms of the media right now is the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana can be seen in movies, like Pineapple Express; in television shows, like “Weeds”; and in the news, like if medical marijuana should be legal. This topic has become very popular in the recent years and I believe it will be a topic that will control the media for years to come. Looking on facebook (www.facebook.com), I found a multitude of groups that had over 1,000 people who joined. This is one form of expression for the everyday people. It shows that marijuana is on the minds of the people. There are also blogs and internet organizations who are promoting the legalization of marijuana. All of the media coverage on this illegal drug draws me to the conclusion that it is a dominate popular culture topic worthy of discussion. According to a study found at procon.org, 69 million people who are at least 12 years of age have tried marijuana. That means that at least 69 million people have had marijuana on their minds. In 2005, there 25.4 million active users in the same age group (Medical, 2010). If popular culture is what the majority of the people are interested in (whether it is for or against)(Browne, 2005), then this issue should be a part of popular culture. Fourteen states and Washington D.C. have legalized the use of medical marijuana (Medical, 2010). This means that these state governments have found that the majority of the people in their area agree that marijuana should be legal. I’m not saying that it should or shouldn’t be legal; the argument against its legalization is just as strong as for it. However, there is no doubt that it is a part of America’s popular culture.