What is Popular Culture?
In May 1992, MTV changed the way we think about popular culture with the phrase, “When people stop being polite and start getting real.”
Introduction: “Getting Real” and the Question of Reality
MTV’s The Real World (1992) and the promise of “reality”
Reality as lived experience vs reality as meditated representation
The cultural power of claiming something is “real”
Reality TV as a framework for understanding Popular culture
Binary: a choice or condition that involves only who options
Examples: Real or Fake? Good or Evil?
High Culture/Low Culture binary
High culture: the culture of the wealthy upper-class (bourgeois)
Requires an education to understand and money to attend
Examples: opera, orchestral music, art at museums
Low culture: the culture of the poor masses
Is everywhere and doesn’t require a special education to understand
Examples: Concerts, local plays, gallery walks
The “Real World” vs “Fake World” Binary
The phrase “the real world” as a disciplinary tool
College as “not real” vs. working life as “real”
Binary: a way of organizing the world into only two options “real” vs “fake”
How binaries simplify complex realities
Problems wit the real/fake distinction
College as a lived, real social world
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies: an interdisciplinary academic field that looks at the role of culture in society
Subcultural analysis: looks at the way groups of people usually youth, use everyday objects to represent ideas or construct oppositions identities to the dominant culture
Pop Culture Example: Seinfeld and Symbolic Meaning
George Costanza’s involuntary wink
Misinterpretation across contexts
Symbolic meaning shaped by situation, intention, and audience
Humor as cultural analysis
Clifford Geertz and “Thick Description”
Culture as interpretation
Thick Description: a thorough description of a social action that acknowledges the meaning and context of the action. Interpretation is a key part of this
Meaning as layered and contextual
Interpretation of interpretations
The wink as a symbolic act
Pop culture defined
Pop culture refers to cultural products like music, art, fashion, dance, film, sports, internet culture, & TV that are consumed by the majority of a society's population.
Popular culture means it is for the people—easily accessible, cheap, and doesn’t require a special education
Pop culture is…
★entertainment focused
★a form of material and nonmaterial culture (objects society consumes as well as values, norms, and beliefs)
Defining Pop Culture
Pop Culture as accessible culture
Five meanings of popular
Well-Liked
Mass culture
Folk culture
Media events
Ubiquitous culture
Popular culture is broadly defined as whatever is widely popular with people but that is not a complete definition.
Pop culture encompasses a lot of things.
What you listen to, watch, read, wear, and how you speak are all examples of popular culture.
Celebrities: anyone who is watched, noticed, and known by a critical mass of strangers
Fads: A short-lived, intense & widely shared enthusiasm for something; a craze
Trend: A long term pattern or interest
Pop Culture Is important because it can take a trivial topic and give it a universal appeal
Why is it worthwhile to study popular culture?
In May 1992, MTV changed the way we think about popular culture with the phrase, “When people stop being polite and start getting real.”
Introduction: “Getting Real” and the Question of Reality
MTV’s The Real World (1992) and the promise of “reality”
Reality as lived experience vs reality as meditated representation
The cultural power of claiming something is “real”
Reality TV as a framework for understanding Popular culture
Binary: a choice or condition that involves only who options
Examples: Real or Fake? Good or Evil?
High Culture/Low Culture binary
High culture: the culture of the wealthy upper-class (bourgeois)
Requires an education to understand and money to attend
Examples: opera, orchestral music, art at museums
Low culture: the culture of the poor masses
Is everywhere and doesn’t require a special education to understand
Examples: Concerts, local plays, gallery walks
The “Real World” vs “Fake World” Binary
The phrase “the real world” as a disciplinary tool
College as “not real” vs. working life as “real”
Binary: a way of organizing the world into only two options “real” vs “fake”
How binaries simplify complex realities
Problems wit the real/fake distinction
College as a lived, real social world
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies: an interdisciplinary academic field that looks at the role of culture in society
Subcultural analysis: looks at the way groups of people usually youth, use everyday objects to represent ideas or construct oppositions identities to the dominant culture
Pop Culture Example: Seinfeld and Symbolic Meaning
George Costanza’s involuntary wink
Misinterpretation across contexts
Symbolic meaning shaped by situation, intention, and audience
Humor as cultural analysis
Clifford Geertz and “Thick Description”
Culture as interpretation
Thick Description: a thorough description of a social action that acknowledges the meaning and context of the action. Interpretation is a key part of this
Meaning as layered and contextual
Interpretation of interpretations
The wink as a symbolic act
Pop culture defined
Pop culture refers to cultural products like music, art, fashion, dance, film, sports, internet culture, & TV that are consumed by the majority of a society's population.
Popular culture means it is for the people—easily accessible, cheap, and doesn’t require a special education
Pop culture is…
★entertainment focused
★a form of material and nonmaterial culture (objects society consumes as well as values, norms, and beliefs)
Defining Pop Culture
Pop Culture as accessible culture
Five meanings of popular
Well-Liked
Mass culture
Folk culture
Media events
Ubiquitous culture
Popular culture is broadly defined as whatever is widely popular with people but that is not a complete definition.
Pop culture encompasses a lot of things.
What you listen to, watch, read, wear, and how you speak are all examples of popular culture.
Celebrities: anyone who is watched, noticed, and known by a critical mass of strangers
Fads: A short-lived, intense & widely shared enthusiasm for something; a craze
Trend: A long term pattern or interest
Pop Culture Is important because it can take a trivial topic and give it a universal appeal to connect with people to discuss and influence people
Why is it worthwhile to study popular culture?
Pop culture helps build connections between people.
Pop culture has the power to influence society/people.
It can be one way to get people talking about important issues/topics or challenge accepted norms.
Americans’ beliefs/values are shown in our popular culture.
It is one way to study & understand history (themes of race, class, power and gender can all be seen in our pop culture.)
Popular Culture Reframed
Popular culture is for the people.
Accessible, affordable, and widely available.
Five meanings of popular:
1. Well-liked
2. Mass culture
3. Folk culture
4. Media events
5. Ubiquitous (out there, in your face)
Emphasis: accessibility, not popularity rankings.
Our tastes and interests are shaped by popular culture, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that many of our own names are drawn from pop culture.
Many top names are influenced by movies, books tv shows, & celebs.
Hunger Games made Katniss a trending girls’ name.
Game of Thrones inspired a spike in the names Arya, Khaleesi, Theon, and Snow, among others in the U.S. and U.K. The same effect has been seen with House of the Dragon.
Frozen: Elsa & Anna
Barbie movie: popularized Margot and Robbie as well as a jump in the number of Barbaras and Barbies
Star Wars: Leia, Anakin, Ren, Rey
Celebrities & their children: Blue moved up the naming charts thanks to Beyoncé & Jay-Z, Apple gained recognition thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow, George/Louis/Charlotte have moved up in the rankings, a tribute to Britain’s youngest royalty.
Pop culture creates an opportunity for regular people to have a wider influence on society:
Many of the founders of early Hollywood studios were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who were discriminated against in all other walks of life
Some of the best, most widely-recognized blues musicians are from Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the nation.
Think about how many singers have been discovered through YouTube, Soundcloud, TikTok, etc.. (Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, Doja Cat, The Weeknd, etc.)
Social media has created opportunities for a range of regular people to find fame.
Pop Culture & the Critics
In spite of its popularity, some people still argue that pop culture teaches us nothing, contains no worthwhile messages and has no value.
This class, at its core, is designed to show you the many ways that pop culture HAS value.