Pop Culture In Star Wars

While political and economic effects might be easier to see, social effects can sometimes be overshadowed but there are still tons of social aspects imprinting on the societal putty. One major social effect from movies involves the birth of a religion. In the current time, most religions have already been developed far too much for anyone to even think of creating a new one but yet again, pop culture surprises the world. The religion in question was solely based upon a film franchise started in 1977 that is now a household name among many. This franchise is Star Wars. In the Star Wars films there are many characters who identify themselves as Jedi. Most of the protagonists are Jedi and they describe the Jedi way as more of a lifestyle and

According to BBC News, “The 2011 [British] census, 177,000 people declared themselves Jedi under the religion section, making it the seventh most popular religion”(BBC News). The fact that a media franchise has enough power to instill the beliefs in people to change their style of worship is tremendously important to the current society. This goes to show that pop culture is one of the biggest effectors of modern society. Another example of change in society based upon pop culture media is the 1955 Nicholas Ray film, Rebel Without a Cause. The film revolves around a trouble-making teenager, played by James Dean, who moves to a new city to start off with a new, clean slate. The film was very controversial due to the depiction of the protagonist and his anti-societal views and rebellious nature. The notoriety of this film was so huge that it actually caused the nation of New Zealand to ban the film in response to the ideas that it would cause a social change in teenagers of the time (OFLC Student). The fact that a film is so powerful and intense that it can push a government to ban a film with the intent of avoiding nationwide teenage delinquency is a massive effect. New Zealand wasn’t even the only country against the film