Popular culture embodies the beliefs, ideas, perspectives, attitudes, and images of various cultures. Popular culture is heavily influenced by mass media, key celebrity figures, movies and related entertainment, as well as sports and news. However, in the past decade, the Internet and social media has come to be a significant influence on pop culture.
Social Media influences what music we listen to. In the past people used to listen to songs that had meaning behind them, and it was because they personally enjoyed the music. For example “ Go back in time a few decades, to the 60s, 70s, and 80s… Many of the bands of the past wrote music that had real depth to it. Their lyrics were meaningful.”- states GiannaA. In today’s society
On Instagram, a photo-based social media site, highly popular pages showcase, and therefore market, photographs of food to their followers. “If you can get through the Vogue.com holiday dessert roundup—featuring this salted caramel apple pie and more—without your mouth watering,” - states the Vogue Magazine Instagram feed, “then you 're one step ahead of us.” Although the audience is only looking at a photograph, the language used as a caption contributes to an idea that the caramel apple pie is delicious, in-demand, and a must-have. In other words, to be normal and to be able to fit in is to find the apple pie enticing. The caption leaves no space for personal preferences because it makes the public assumption that all will enjoy this apple pie. Although this particular example comes from a more traditional source, Vogue Magazine, there is a vast number of self-made “celebrities” on the Internet who have gained a mass following. Although magazines and businesses often try selling a product online, online celebrities are selling themselves online. In a constant quest for a large following and more engaged audience members, online celebrities resort to sharing posts and photos that would appeal to the largest number of audience members. They reinforce existing ideas by both sharing the ideas, and by modeling what “normal” ideas are for
To test the theory out I showed my family members, and friends the same exact pictures and amazingly enough they all said left for both faces. But if we didn’t have the Internet, the chances are we would prefer the images on the right! The reason many people prefer the faces on the left for image 1 is because of the stereotypes men are given. A man is supposed to be more masculine, have a more defined jawline, and tough skin; from social medias perspective at least. For the picture portraying the female I also chose left, that’s because of how social media portrays the perfect woman, soft, thin, and less masculine. There was a test done surveying 200 men and women (ages 18-25). Before the test was conducted there was a survey to see who had Internet access, or any type of social media access. Those who didn’t have any access to the Internet mainly picked the images on the right, meanwhile those who had access to the Internet mainly focused on the images to the left, the reason behind this is because of the stereotypes men and women are given. Stereotypes have developed our preferences of how a human should look like. If it wasn’t for the Internet,
Murphy has taught us the good and bad side of the ‘Foodie” culture of social media. A good side of her argument explains how it really is a scrapbook of your life, since you reflect what you eat. The other side reveals that to others who are not a part of the culture, such as myself, perceive it as a waste of time and energy, since food is intended to be consumed and enjoyed in that sense, and not just for the visual appeal. This also brings up the issue of determining what makes a food ethnic, since regardless of how hard a person tries, if a certain dish is something a person is not use to eating, it will be foreign to them. Both authors have good arguments toward what they intend to share about American food culture, but there is always an obstacle blocking their
Foster creates a logos appeal by providing strong reasoning and evidence to support her argument. Through her example about how Facebook advertisers are aware of their user’s insecurities about their body, thereby, increasing publication of advertisements in hope that users will undergo negative self-reflection and realize they do not conform to the mainstream ideal of thinness. Her examples also include research that she references from other scholarly authors. “For example it is no secret that exposing women to images of thin celebrities causes them to feel dissatisfied with their own appearances (Grade, Ward, & Hyde, 2008).” Foster’s second strong claim to her logos appeal by writing, that in spite of user’s insecurities, Facebook advertisers hope user’s will feel more dissatisfied with their body image and turn to the ads for a solut...
Surname 1Student’s nameInstructor’s nameCourse numberDateProject about Pop-CultureIn order to study and understand pop culture we must first and foremost confront the difficulty posed by the term itself. This is because it is used in quite different ways and are of inquiry and theoretical definition and analytical focus. Popular culture is generally defined as signifying practices that produce meaning, has mass accessibility and appeal. Origin of popular culture can be traced to the creation of middle class generated by the industrial revolution. Popular culture was mostly associated with the poorly educated or the lower class while the official culture which was mostly associated with the well-educated and the upper class citizens. However,
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 so very well. This article opened me up to think about how the media is trying to influence
In the media,there is often two kinds of criminals: those with mental illness, and violent thugs.However, the distinction is based on the color of one’s skin and not the crimes they committed. The media influences criminal stereotypes against Blacks in many ways. News programs use racial slurs to discuss Black Americans; the movies constantly use the stereotypes of Black thugs, and social media reacts negatively towards the struggles of Black families. The case of Dylan Roof, Zimmerman,and Mike Brown are only a few cases of the media’s unfair portrayal of criminal stereotypes. Whereas white people can use mental illness to get sympathy from the media, Blacks are harshly criticized for the same crimes.Why is this accepted by American society?
Social media has been very popular due to different social networking sites, blog sites and video sites including podcasts. Social media sites run by a particular group or person cannot avoid to be biased though and we all know this. There are some who pays a particular domain or site to say or do their bidding and that is normal part of the social media. With the use of social media, we can gather a lot of information as well considering that this information comes from different group of people based on their backgrounds and point of view as well as their cultural differences.
Advertising in American culture has taken on the very interesting character of representing our culture as a whole. Take this Calvin Klein ad for example. It shows the sexualization of not only the Calvin Klein clothing, but the female gender overall. It displays the socially constructed body, or the ideal body for women and girls in America. Using celebrities in the upper class to sell clothing, this advertisement makes owning a product an indication of your class in the American class system. In addition to this, feminism, and how that impacts potential consumer’s perception of the product, is also implicated. Advertisements are powerful things that can convey specific messages without using words or printed text, and can be conveyed in the split-second that it takes to see the image. In this way, the public underestimates how much they are influenced by what they see on television, in magazines, or online.
With the invention and development of the Internet, communication has changed in to a revolutionized platform. The Internet has evolved from a means to facilitate data, to a stage of public communication through the use of social media. Social media has affected every aspect of interaction from personal lives to the business world. The business world however, has been especially impacted by the application of social media. Social media has opened up a plethora of opportunities for businesses to advertise, promote and market themselves to consumers. Social media “is one of the fastest growing and most promising strategies a business can employ to boost sales and conversions” (Adobe). As social media continues to grow as a marketing tool, more and more companies have incorporated social media into their daily business activity for brand awareness, target market reach, business expansion and customer interaction.
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
Popular culture is often referred to as being produced by the mass media ‘for’ the public, who are seen as consumers. An example of this would be the television programme ‘The X Factor’. The X Factor is produced by a large television company which is owned by a multi millionaire music mogul. The programme is shown extensively throughout the winter months, when people favour staying indoors to going outside. The concept of the show is that it entices people in during the first couple of week. This is done by showing the contestants’ auditions. The reason for t...
Social media entails the use of phones, laptops and other portable devices. In social media, people can stay in touch with their loved ones; they can share ideas, comment on people’s ideas and like brands of various products. Mass media, on the other hand, is a combination of different technologies, and their main aim is to reach a larger audience (Pérez 2010).
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
Growing up in this day of time, one is constantly surrounded by social media, affecting all of us in some kind of way. Social media is at the touch of our fingertips, within seconds, one can search the news that happened a minute ago and get the latest details. We are able to follow up with the most cutting-edge trends and the latest gossip going around. Social media, being one of the biggest social identity components, can leave teenagers and younger adults pressured to socially construct their identity, that including television, the internet, and social network.
Societies consist of several diverse elements, which are significant in the advancement of social notions. One of those key elements is media. In today’s society we approach countless varieties of media that are constantly influencing the way individuals live their lives. Consuming media on a daily basis has an immense effect on the way people view things within society. A source of media that tends to dominate our daily lives is music. Music is currently presented within every aspect of our lives and has become a commodity more than a cultural aspect. It is existent in every occasion with a variety of genres. It has now become available everywhere at any time of day. With music being such a big commodity in today’s society, popular music developed. Popular music is based upon what is appealing to most individuals throughout society, which is determined by a scale of activity such as music charts. It is considered as a key cultural expression that highlights the attitudes of personalities (Joan Serrà, 2012).
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,