Is Pop Culture Good For You?

Is Pop Culture Good For You?

A perfect definition of Pop Culture is given by Alexandre O. Philippe in his TedTalk “Why Pop Culture?” Philippe states,

“Pop culture is a universal language that manages in all of its seeming trivial glory to make us dream and smile, to connect us across racial, political, and social divides.”

Before this unit, I had never really thought about whether it was a good or bad thing. I believe the positive effects of Pop Culture outweigh the negative. To start with the cons, social media is the biggest one. With the rise of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok, information spreads faster than ever before; this comes with pros and cons of its own. Pop Culture is created and shared by millions of people each day. These posts come with negative comments that hugely impact people. Yes, a Pop Culture moment like Rihanna announcing her second pregnancy at the Super Bowl Half Time Performance was great in some aspects, while others dragged her for a horrible performance that people called “anti-climatic.” Whether you agree or disagree, people are going to share their own opinions on Pop Culture and it may not be very nice. Social media has changed the culture of Activism today and that is the most pressing con. Social media had made activism a part of Pop Culture; posting a black square on your Instagram is one example. In the article by Malcolm Gladwell, he states that “It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for the expression to have any impact.” While we are in an age where young people want to share their political and human rights views on social media, people tend to mix posting slides on their stories with actual activism. While social media can have negative effects on Pop Culture, I believe the positives do outrank the negatives.

      The pros of Pop Culture are seen in the TV/movie, music, and book industry. In the article by Steven Johnson “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” he concludes that the TV industry is nothing of what it used to be in the 1970s. Shows like Starsky and Hutch had a single thread or plot that was occurring in each episode, no new characters, and the same plot and event pattern; Whereas currently shows like Grey's Anatomy have hundreds of plots and different characters that have their own plotline and thread in the show. Johnson concludes that “there has been a noticeable increase in narrative complexity.” Alexandre O. Philippe uses the example of the “Star Wars” franchise, where people finally acknowledge that it changed the entire world. Most of the world has heard of or has seen one of the movies. There are Star Wars toys, songs, posters, and spin-off tv shows that all could be recognized as a part of the same realm. There are no negative effects of Star Wars in Pop Culture. Many movies and tv shows that are incredibly popular only bring people together. Most people notice when the theme songs of Star Wars, Friends, New Girl, Zoey 101, Hannah Montana, and Rocky come on. Whether people like the show or not they still recognize the song and have a memory of it that they share with others around them when they hear that song. When we have so many negative things around us in the world politically, economically, and socially, pop culture is the one thing that can bring us together and have a sense of unity.