Samantha Wilson
Dr. Carter
English 112 FO1
24th February 2013
Pop culture and Our Society Pop culture gives the notion of having a lot of negative implications associated with it. Opponents accuse the mass media of minimizing the intellect of society. Pop culture has grown increasingly more complex over the past thirty years. Some of the biggest influences of style in pop culture stems from watching television, genres of music, video games, the internet and individual trends and fashions.
Television plays a major role in present day pop culture. The Nielsen Company estimates that there are 114.7 million United States households with a television. Commercials, music videos, and television shows that push the limits of the FCC, are in a continuous rotation on most networks. TV shows have changed a lot over the past thirty-five years. Also, people have changed their thoughts and perceptions about family concepts, social behaviors, personal interactions, and what’s acceptable in society. Families are no longer viewed perfect as they were once portrayed. Television shows with families like the Cosby’s, the Cleaver’s (Leave It to Beaver), and the Brady’s (Brady Bunch) have become obsolete to today’s suggestive humored sitcoms. Nowadays most television shows are based upon sex, drugs and violence. Sex and murder have become the norm on primetime television. Media news today did a study with 600 films and 5,000 students to find that movies play an important role in people lives (medical news today).
News media outlets have taken on larger roles, more than just reporting the news. News broadcasting companies have catapulted to the forefront of political influence. MSNBC has become the front for the left wing media and FOX News has become the front for the right wing media. CNN has claimed the reigns as the global news network, supposedly fair and balanced. CNN reaches over 20 million households in over 212 countries and territories. Comedy Central, known for its comedy based programming, have embarked on political viewpoints with commentators such as Steve Colbert (The Colbert Report) and Jon Stewart (The Daily Show).
Family Journal.com states that over 27 percent of children under the age of 18 will be raised in a single family home and single dads raising children are increasing in numbers rapidly. There are 34 million children ages 6-13in the United States in which three-quarters of those kids have parents who both work outside the home. That means approximately 10 million kids come home from school to empty houses. Parenting is tested at its most elevated levels because children are more exposed to progressive ways of thinking.
Rap, Heavy Metal and Rock and Roll play an important part of American society. Music effects people economically, physically and even psychologically. Different decades lead to different styles of music, but the effects are still the same by influencing popular culture and setting new trends that travel through different social arenas. In “The Power of Music”, Elena Mannes dictates how music affects different groups of people and how it could play a role in medical procedures. Also, Mannes says music has the potential to help people with neurological deficits. Stating that a stroke patient who has lost verbal functions, that those verbal functions may be stimulated by music.” Reading this statement gives me the understanding that music could possibly manipulate the mind of an individual that has a feeble thought process.
Video games have a representation that all games are violent and destructive to our children and society. In video gaming, everyone wants the newest and hottest games. Video games have progressed to borderline realization. An object which started as a simple piece of entertainment has had a great effect on the lives of any one who plays. Video games have moved from an individual’s living room to the World Wide Web and beyond. Once video games shed their distinctive vector – graphic and primary-color 8 bit origins, a commercially ascendant subset of game slowly but surely matured into what might well be the most visually derivative popular art form in history (Tom Bissell). Video games are the easiest to see the growth of pop culture convolution. The video games industry has taken over in the younger generation and a majority of the kids would rather play the video games than do schoolwork. Because of video games there are a lot of inactive and unhealthy teens. We should not hold the video gamers responsible for the actions of people. Everyone has to be responsible for their own actions. Everyone has a little violent side if pushed or rub the wrong way. The internet has narrowed the world in such drastic fashion. The internet gives people the option to view music, news, and movies. We also use the internet to pay bills, shop online, research materials, and communicate social ably. A user can reach anyone or any web page with internet access. There is plenty of pop culture on the social sites like Twitter, Face book, YouTube and Instagram. You can share a lot of information through these sites and people of all ages get on these sites to browse the web. The internet is a solid trend that will be here for a very long time. We use the internet or websites to announce the birth of a child, wedding, someone’s death, and the latest gossip, and to promote business or party information. The world has been placed at the tip of your fingers with access to the internet.
Fashion is probably the biggest recipient of pop culture. People tend to wear what’s the latest or what they see a lot of musicians, athletes, or movie stars wearing. Fashion changes quickly and it indirectly reflects the rapid pace of change in pop culture. Right now seems as if the 80’s are making a comeback. Teen boys are wearing skinny jeans and tight shirts. Today’s girls are wearing tight pants, leggings, big ear rings, and wedge hills. The standard that women should be beautiful and sexy are present throughout these images. Girls are starting young, dressing up like grown women. Fashion shapes who people are and how people live. Not purposely, but fashion indirectly creates cliques.
Pop culture has been a movement that has been consistently evolving since its beginning. The culture remains the same; but trends, fashions, and styles are on a continuous loop. When it comes to my position on pop culture, my stance varies. Mainly, because I do not favor the hardcore lyric content in rap and other music but I am a strong proponent free speech and creativity. I also believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to appropriately monitor what’s going on in their children’s lives. Parents need to explain to their children the difference between reality and entertainment.

http://familyjournal1.blogspot.com/2010/02/latchkey-kids-in-single-parent-homes-on.html http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/nielsen-estimates-number-of-u-s-television-homes-to-be-114-7-million/ http://www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain
Study mode.com
They Say I Say Steven Johnson, Tom Bissell, Medical News Today National Institute on Media and the family