The term “pop culture”, has largely been used as an all section of the world that we live in: the manner in which life is inherited, practiced and passed on to the descendants. Popular culture can have a significant impact on the lives as well as the attitude of various people, partly because it often provides meaning and insight in various ways. The fact of popular culture is the power it has in influencing people especially youngsters. In addressing the issue of popular culture, Danesi “Popular culture: Introductory perspectives” (201) indicated that the values of society are transmitted through the media via popular culture. The sense of helping one another becomes the dominant belief in our society. There have however been changes in lifestyle and habits; the movies show that pleasure seeking has become the governing theme.
While addressing the issue of pop culture Alex Ross a New Yorker Blogger, in his article the “The Naysayers”, addresses the issue of pop culture in the context that popular culture influences how people think about themselves (21), their relation to others and their place in the society. In a society where popular culture is the routine, it is in fact expected that various individuals are as at now profoundly affected by the drastic change and introduction of pop culture among people and almost everyone in one way or the other. The entertainment media, in particular, inform, explore controversial moral and social issues, and help people navigate through the complexity of our rapidly changing world.
For most Americans, leisure time is dominated by media. The average individual utilizes some form of media 71 hours per week, more than they likely spend in school or at work; thirty-two of those hours are spent watching television (Holtzman and Leon 44). Television is perhaps the most common basis of social interaction in a widely disperse and diverse national community. Television is an important transmitter of culture but is also portrays a very homogenous view of culture because, in seeking the widest possible audience, networks and sponsors find the most common ground and take few risks.
In America, presumably, pop culture is the voice of democracy --what makes American the country she is. The culture may be manipulated in our day by the media barons –who may react too slowly to the voice of democracy—as unraveled in the peculiar showing of the “Nielson Ratings”, or by the society which may demand too much for the people who create their culture in them (Bourdieu 245). As culture transforms, so does the value systems and the perceptions towards everyday life. Instead of blaming pop culture for entering a negative influence on people, it might be useful for us to maintain pace with the engines of life and recognize life as it is.
Works Cited
Ross, Andrew. No respect: Intellectuals & popular culture. Routledge, 1989.
Danesi, Marcel. Popular culture: Introductory perspectives. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Bourdieu, Pierre. "Television." European Review 9.03 (2001): 245-256.
Holtzman, Linda, and Leon Sharpe. Media messages: What film, television, and popular music teach us about race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Routledge, 2014.
