PoP Culture Trend and Media Essay

When I was a child, all I wanted was to be a doctor. I obeyed my parents, studied hard, and played around every once in a while. I had my simple ambitions and simple outlooks. I lived a simple life. Today, however, you can ask any child about his ambition and he would most likely tell you that he would be a Dennis Rodman someday, or a Britney Spears if it was a she you’ve happened to ask. Another possible scenario could be that the child you’d like to ask wouldn’t even talk to you because he/she is too busy with his/her cellular phone, Gameboy Advance, i-pod nanno, or personal computer. Looking at this everyday situation, my father had always been asking me what is happening to this generation. This picture had also been a popular topic for homeroom or sociology classes, and online debates. Each of these discussions, however, boils down to a common phrase: pop culture. Pop Culture, or Popular Culture, is the set of customs, beliefs, values, arts, and entertainment common to massive sectors of the society.  (http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/~smitha/PopIndex.htm).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Oftentimes, it results from the everyday interactions, needs and desires, and cultural ‘moments’ of the mainstream. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_media). It is important that we examine the prevailing Pop Culture as it can shape people’s beliefs, values system, and attitudes since trendy music, movies, television programs, and fads often mirror the outlooks and behavior of the masses. James E. Combs recognized even in 1984 that â€Å"Popular Culture is so much a part of our lives that we cannot deny its developmental powers.   Like formal education or family rearing, popular culture is part of our ‘learning environment.’   Though our pop culture education is informal-we usually do not attend to pop culture for its ‘educational value.’ It nevertheless provides us with information and images upon which we develop our opinions and attitudes.   We would not be what we are, nor would our society be quite the same, without the impact of popular culture.† (Combs 1984). Nowadays however, an additional factor to the power of popular culture and to the importance of evaluating its effects is technological advancement. Specifically, electronic media has become a tool to further elevate the influence of pop culture, in an ever faster and unstoppable way, to all corners of the world. â€Å"Electronic media are those communications mediums which are based on electronic or electromechanical means of production and most often distinguished from print media. The primary electronic media sources familiar to the general public worldwide include radio, sound recordings, television, video recording, and streaming internet content†. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic media). Personally, I have been most fond of surfing the internet, watching television programs and movies, listening to contemporary and pop music through radio, cd player, and i-pod, playing computer games, and messaging through cellular phones, either for educational or entertainment purposes. I am now aware that most of my viewpoints have been influenced by the things that I watch, read, and listen to that’s why I have been trying to balance out my views by patronizing different sources of information. My most poignant realization was that pop culture has affected my viewpoint on what is beautiful. Seeing models and actors who are almost perfect and worshipped everyday and everywhere has blinded me into considering beauty as skinny, 36-24-36 for females, and hunky, tall, and handsome for males. Everything else that did not replicate what pop culture has embedded on me seemed merely normal, or worse, ugly. I very much think that this has also been the case for majority of the people in this generation, what with the number of anorexics and bulimics, and steroid users rising up to an alarming level internationally. Social responsibility and morality had also been largely affected by today’s pop culture. The case of pornography that has been very widespread, moreover in the advent of the internet and camera phones, is just an example. The concept of privacy has also been oftentimes mutilated either consciously or unconsciously through electronic means propagated by pop culture. Relationships have also been builded and shattered in the blink of an eye as a result of the prevailing culture and technology. Gossips and defamation had also been most common and aggravated these days, usually spreading worldwide in a split-second. These, however, can either be conscious or unconscious. It can be conscious in the part of the companies who perpetrate these kinds of trend to gain profits in the employment of their technology. It can also be unconscious or subconscious in both sides especially now that these trends have already been inculcated in the society’s culture. It must be noted though that pop culture, aside from its commonly criticized negative influences, also has contributed positive effects to the society. In the negative matters, social responsibility and civility must draw the line. This can only be done by a more conscious meditation and evaluation of the popular culture that is being imposed upon us. As human beings, we were given the capability to analyze the things that are going on around us. And we should. As for the trend in pop culture that had greatly influenced me, I have already mentioned that it is the way that I viewed beauty. Upon analysis, I have come to a conclusion that it had been a result of both my personal desires as a consumer, and the media’s making. Popular culture, in general, does not only result from the corporation’s commercial pursuits. I believe that it is a mixture of the continuous interaction of the consumers and suppliers in every society. References: Combs, James E. Polpop:Politics and Popular Culture In America. University of Wisconsin Pr. 1984 http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/~smitha/PopIndex.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_media http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic media