Pop Culture, A Reflection Of Social Change

“Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change,” quotes American writer John Podhoretz. This shows that pop culture is an emerging topic all over the world as the subject matter seems to be growing alongside its audience. Not only does pop culture have underlying academic studies, but also relies on the changes of our society to expand its popularity. Pop culture is something that does deserve academic study as there is fundamental knowledge in the theories as well as it is an opportunity to 'examine the multiple uses and meanings of the arts and culture of everyday life' through 'innovative interdisciplinary coursework’ (Fehlen).

First of all, there is a hidden meaning behind things that appear in pop culture.

In fact, author Lisa Holmes compares this idea to her theory of ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’. Holmes states that, “If you think monkeys are fascinating and you want to understand and be of value to them, it's not enough to be an expert on what monkeys should ideally eat. You have to understand what monkeys actually eat.” Furthermore, this theory deems true with what people consume. Society around us and what people surround themselves with actually affects the way they think, whether it should or not (Holmes). For example, ‘Duck Dynasty’ created controversy when a star was suspended after making homophobic remarks (Holmes). This shows a prevalent relation between the pop culture we witness and the effects it has on our lives. If students can identify that what they are learning is relevant to outside society, they may take more interest in the academia (Hoekstra). It's simply looking around at the people you both live with and walk past, looking at what they're listening to and reading, and thinking about whether it's what they ought to be thinking about or not (Holmes). An important social function is shown our attention is given to pop culture and we can connections to what appears important to us.

In conclusion, it deems extremely important for pop culture to be studied in academia. Pop culture has a hidden meaning behind the entertainment that allows for relevance