Caroline Zielinski
archillesPopular Culture
March 24th 2008 09:09
It's funny how so many people still consider popular culture as the 'low', working people's culture, a culture which is really the opposite to the traditional meaning of the word.
It really annoys me how many 'intellectuals' degrade any interest in popular culture, defnining it as mass produced, consumption based market without any 'real' talent or heart. I have personally experienced bias against me and my interests, simply because i find fashion, novels and TV shows relaxing and interesting.
At my uni especially, you can find so many snobs who look down on those who do not devour classic literature or listen to Tanzian / African tribal music simply becuase they want to distance themselves from the 'mainstream culture'. Seriously, they treat it like a disease. Peronsally, I think everyone can benefit from a little pop culture, it will certainly relax and entertain a lot more than 'high class/ highbrow' literature.
That is not to say that I don't enjoy my Pride and Prejudice, Tess of D'Urbevilles or Jane Eyre. I appreciate good literature in the same way I appreciate an excellent story line, such as the one in Harry Potter - it depends which mindset I am in, and in which context I'm reading. High class literature is often defined as an exploration of language, an artistic representation of one's talent. It is what we consider 'hard' to understand and decipher, because of all the long and complicated words and obsolete syntactic and semantic constructions. It's great to study, don't get me wrong- I'm sure everyone benefits from reading Shakespeare and Ancient Greek Mythology, at least they're interesting. But the backlash against pop culture should really be reconsidered.
I know that shows like Big Brother are looked down upon a LOT. How many times have you heard someone say "I'm so ashamed to be watching Big Brother"? But really, why should they be? It's not only entertaining, it is also very interesting from a social and psychological angle. You get to observe people living in what is essentially a human zoo, where they are forced to interact in a 'natural' manner, but which in reality is far more constructed and acted out. There is a reason why the show is so successful, and why the little Big Brother spin offs include psychological evaluations from various doctors. We, as people, enjoy delving into other people's minds and attempting to guess their reactions, personalities, likes and dislikes.
This is similar to the fascination with celebritiy figures and their trials and tribulations. We LIKE seeing Lindsey Lohan going to rehab, or Jessica Simpson shopping for yet another Loius Vuitton carry case. We even like to see Misha Barton walking with a Starbucks coffe! It's all about trying to figure out why they are doing what they're doing, why they like doing this, and questioning if they're really regular people like us.
I also agree with schools intergrating popular shows such as the Simpsons or Clueless into their curriculum, as they've become highly relevant aspects of our society, and can help give us regular kids an insight (albeit in an exaggarated way) into the world.
Anyway I'm going to get off now as this turned out to be a lot longer than it should have been. Hopefully I've given people something to think about!!
It really annoys me how many 'intellectuals' degrade any interest in popular culture, defnining it as mass produced, consumption based market without any 'real' talent or heart. I have personally experienced bias against me and my interests, simply because i find fashion, novels and TV shows relaxing and interesting.
At my uni especially, you can find so many snobs who look down on those who do not devour classic literature or listen to Tanzian / African tribal music simply becuase they want to distance themselves from the 'mainstream culture'. Seriously, they treat it like a disease. Peronsally, I think everyone can benefit from a little pop culture, it will certainly relax and entertain a lot more than 'high class/ highbrow' literature.
That is not to say that I don't enjoy my Pride and Prejudice, Tess of D'Urbevilles or Jane Eyre. I appreciate good literature in the same way I appreciate an excellent story line, such as the one in Harry Potter - it depends which mindset I am in, and in which context I'm reading. High class literature is often defined as an exploration of language, an artistic representation of one's talent. It is what we consider 'hard' to understand and decipher, because of all the long and complicated words and obsolete syntactic and semantic constructions. It's great to study, don't get me wrong- I'm sure everyone benefits from reading Shakespeare and Ancient Greek Mythology, at least they're interesting. But the backlash against pop culture should really be reconsidered.
I know that shows like Big Brother are looked down upon a LOT. How many times have you heard someone say "I'm so ashamed to be watching Big Brother"? But really, why should they be? It's not only entertaining, it is also very interesting from a social and psychological angle. You get to observe people living in what is essentially a human zoo, where they are forced to interact in a 'natural' manner, but which in reality is far more constructed and acted out. There is a reason why the show is so successful, and why the little Big Brother spin offs include psychological evaluations from various doctors. We, as people, enjoy delving into other people's minds and attempting to guess their reactions, personalities, likes and dislikes.
This is similar to the fascination with celebritiy figures and their trials and tribulations. We LIKE seeing Lindsey Lohan going to rehab, or Jessica Simpson shopping for yet another Loius Vuitton carry case. We even like to see Misha Barton walking with a Starbucks coffe! It's all about trying to figure out why they are doing what they're doing, why they like doing this, and questioning if they're really regular people like us.
I also agree with schools intergrating popular shows such as the Simpsons or Clueless into their curriculum, as they've become highly relevant aspects of our society, and can help give us regular kids an insight (albeit in an exaggarated way) into the world.
Anyway I'm going to get off now as this turned out to be a lot longer than it should have been. Hopefully I've given people something to think about!!
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