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Pop culture influence
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How has popular culture influenced people
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Bertolt Brecht asserted, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Art, encompassing all popular culture artifacts, both reflects the society that creates it and is itself an agent capable of changing social reality. Popular culture artifacts, like the Harry Potter series discussed in Nexon and Neumann’s work, Harry Potter and International Relations, exert agency, or causal power over the meaning and interpretation of cultural elements, by influencing the way ideas and values are constructed in everyday life. This paper will demonstrate that popular culture artifacts construct meanings and influence interpretations of reality.
In Harry Potter in International Relations, Nexon and Neumann argue that “popular culture is a crucial domain in which social and political life are represented” but that “such representations are not merely passive mirrors; they also play a crucial role in constituting the social and political world.” Durkheim explains that social life is created through human agency, consisting of entities that, as Durkheim asserts, exist “as realities external to the individual” and “as a product of human agency.” The production of these facts is not founded by individual opinion but through collective understanding, manifested in popular culture. Popular culture artifacts, then, assume the agency of the individual in predetermining the interpretation to be accepted.
Because popular culture is widely accessible, artifacts easily affect the way human beings perceive the world by shaping the collective view. The opinions and representations presented through popular culture artifacts are accepted by the collective and thus become real as they inform the basic assumptions of soci...
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...o shape interpretations through presentation of meaning and experience, it must be accepted that popular culture artifacts have agency ranging from the individual level to the level of international politics.
Works Cited
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
Goff, Patricia. Producing Harry Potter: Why the Medium is Still the Message. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.
McLaughlin, Greg, and Stephen Baker. The Propaganda of Peace. Bristol, UK: Intellect Ltd., 2010. Print.
Neumann, Iver, and Daniel Nexon, ed. Harry Potter and International Relations. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , 2006. Print.
Swider, Ann. "Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies." American Sociological Review. 51.2 (1986): Print.
... America's Cultural Role in the World Today. Access to International English, 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
The article Hop on Pop (2002) explains how culture is influenced, especially by the tactics of mass media and popular culture. This aspect is one that Walt Disney and his company used and did very well. This article opened me up to think about how the media is trying to influence society through what they are portraying. The feeling of nostalgia is a strong feeling that most popular culture makes viewers want to experience films like they did in their past.
Harry Potter is a very sensitive issue to many people, especially now that a movie has been made, based on the first book – a movie that broke almost all US box office records as flocks of people came to watch it. The movie alone brought in just under one hundred million dollars in the first week (Brook). In addition, J.K. Rowling’s first four Harry Potter books (there are three more books planned in the series) have kept her on the bestseller list for the last four years. Each book has sold over a million copies (BBC News Online).
Ideology is “a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that world.” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). According to Sturken (2001), the system of meaning is based on the use of language and images or representation. Therefore, media texts come along and select what is “normal” and what is “deviant” to the extent that this hegemony of constructed meanings in the viewer’s head becomes “common-sense” (Gramsci in Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). From this standpoint, what America claims to be pop culture which is omnipresent in media internationally, is a representation, through “politics of signification” of what is right or wrong (Kooijman, 2008). An example of America’s cultural ‘manifestation’ is Mean Girls,
Woodrum, Emily Anne. "The Harry Potter Controversy - Joyner Library." The Harry Potter Controversy - Joyner Library. East Carolina University, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 May
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
In recent history a cultural phenomenon has occurred. With the rise of Harry Potter, this nation's youth have displayed a “mania” that has not been seen in reference to books for a long time. For example, Barns & Noble America's largest bookseller has recently declared that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be their “largest seller in the history of the entire company” (Mangan). In light of this rise to fame one should note that Harry Potter can and will impact modern culture.
Durkheim, E. (1965). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York, New York: The
There are many ways to define popular culture. Many individuals have grappled with the question what is popular culture? And how to critically analyze and deconstruct the meanings. Looking at the root words of popular culture is where to begin. Raymond Williams states ‘popular’ means: “well liked by many people" or “culture actually made for the people themselves (Storey, p.5). This is part with the word ‘culture’ combine to look at how the two words have been connect by theoretical work within social and historical context. John Storey approaches popular culture in six categories, they are as followed: “Popular culture is simply culture that is widely favoured or well liked by many people”, Popular culture is “the culture that is left over after we have decided what is high culture”, Popular culture is “mass culture”, “Popular culture is the culture that originates from ‘the people.” and “Popular culture as a site of struggle
Many people have debated popular culture, and whether or not it is beneficial or harmful. The people who say it’s harmful feel that way because it has decimated a majority of different cultures. People who support popular culture are avid consumerism, and support business growth. Here’s a special look at popular culture in action, how it became so dominant, it’s benefits, and it’s dangers.
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What popular culture and mass culture are, their significance to society and how they are consumed are very multifaceted questions that have been subject to wide debate is the fields of Sociology and Cultural Studies. Many theorists have chimed in on the debate to answer these questions. Two notable theories on this topic are that of Dwight MacDonald in his work “A Theory of Mass Culture” and John Fiske in his work “Popular Culture”. MacDonald argues that mass culture is a phenomenon that is detrimental to society. He believes that although mass culture is something that produced “by and for human beings” that is ultimately is what leads to the loss of individuality and individual thought and expression in favor
On an individual basis, popular culture helps establish and mold the subjective self. It influences the way individuals think, act and respond, and this becomes part of how people develop their personalities, preferences, beliefs, and their overall identity. For example, most people idolize certain fashion statements or fads which determines their preference of clothing. This process of self-formation coincides with both elements of personal choice and the responses and attitudes of others. Furthermore, the identity that an individual asserts is influenced by and helps determine the development of social relationships; it influences the communities and groups to which an individual will identify with and how that identification is processed. In the establishment of communal bonding, mass culture helps with, as Leavis describes, a “leveling down of society” (35). The lines of class distinction have been blurred which, to Leavis is not a good thing, but it unites us nonetheless. Popular culture also promotes unity in that it “blurs age lines” (29). As stated earlier, the products of popular culture are targeted towards a variety of audiences; adults read comic books, children watch adult films, etc. (Macdonald 29). Similarly, teenagers and young adults are brought together through night clubs, fashion, and music; college students come together to enjoy campus events; book fans wait in line hours for new releases, etc. Each of these instances produce feelings of belonging, acceptance and connection with members of society over a common
Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change” (John Podhoretz). It encompasses the advertisements we see on T.V, the clothes we wear, the music we listen too, and it’s the reason Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar yet. It defines and dictates the desires and fears of the mainstream members of society; and it is so ingrained into our lives that it has become as natural as breathing. Moreover, adults never even bat an eyelash at all the pop culture and advertising that surrounds them since it has become just another part of everyday life. Pop culture is still somewhat seen as entertainment enjoyed by the lower class members of society; but pop culture standards change over time. A notable example of this is the sixteenth century author, William Shakespeare, since his works were considered pop culture, entertainment that could be enjoyed by everyone, but now they are considered literary classics. While pop culture encompasses most aspects of our lives, its influence is most obvious through each generations reaction to media,