...Edited by Earl Lewis, George Lipsitz, Peggy Pascoe, George Sánchez, and Dana Takagi 1. Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies, by José David Saldívar 2. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture, by Neil Foley 3. Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound, by Alexandra Harmon 4. Aztlán and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War, edited by George Mariscal 5. Immigration and the Political Economy of Home: West Indian Brooklyn and American Indian Minneapolis, by Rachel Buff 6. Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East,1945–2000, by Melani McAlister 7. Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown, by Nayan Shah 8. Japanese American Celebration and Conflict: A History of Ethnic Identity and Festival, 1934–1990, by Lon Kurashige 9. American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture, by Shelley Streeby 10. Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past, by David R. Roediger 11. Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico, by Laura Briggs 12. meXicana Encounters: The Making of Social Identities on the Borderlands, by Rosa Linda Fregoso 13. Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight, by Eric Avila 14. Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom, by Tiya Miles 15. Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation, by Herman S. Gray Cultural...
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...University of Phoenix Material Film and Television Worksheet Name of the film or television show you viewed: Coming to America Respond to each question with a paragraph of at least 50 words. State your point of view and explain it thoroughly. What is the primary emphasis of the film or show? Examples: artistic expression, technological achievement, informative. Explain your answer. The personal freedom to choice how you live your life. The movie emphasizes breaking away from tradition and choosing one’s own path. The main character of the movie is a prince who is set to marry a woman he has never met, but he breaks away from his parents control and chooses his own bride. What cultural values is the film or show attempting to promote? Do you agree or disagree with those values? Explain your answer. What is the surface-level subject matter of the film? Describe the plot. What trends in this film or show are also commonly found in other films or shows? What is the subtext or underlying theme of the film? What issues or values are explored in the film or show? What cultural stereotypes or archetypes are present in the narrative? What is the purpose behind the stereotype or archetypal character? What is the source of conflict in the narrative of the film or show? How is the conflict resolved in the film or show? In what way is sound or music used to tell the story or to manipulate the viewer...
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...Popular Culture Popular Culture There are many definitions but this one seems most fitting when discussing popular culture. "Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns. These patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism" (p. 367). Culture is traditions passed on from previous generations. Different groups of people share common culture that can be found in things like the foods they eat, the language they speak, and the homes they live in. To learn about the finer things in life, like priceless art and high society would make a person “cultured” because most high class things are usually historical. Popular culture can be defined as anything that reaches a huge audience. Things that are popular today, like the iPod, the twilight series, trendy fashion, reality TV and celebrity obsession are pop culture. No matter how much you say you don’t follow pop culture it is still a active presense in your life. It reaches all audiences of life as long as they are a part of society. Three major trends that are popular in America today are among those mentioned above. The iPod is in everyone’s pocket these days. It has become more of a pocket pc and less of a music device. You can get the latest news, social networking updates and email all on the iPod. Reality TV is also popular in America. Americans enjoy watching “real” people deal with the drama in their everyday...
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...media applications and see countless pictures from parties of groups of friends drunk or high having what appears to be a great time. I spend my weekends working and I’ve never been much of a partier so it’s hard to not to see those images and feel almost jealous because it all looks so glamorous from the outside. I quickly remember, however, that the risks, consequences and realities of that night would not be worth the few “cute” pictures they got out of it. Media only shows you one, very biased, much edited version of something and it’s our job as the consumer to realize that. For many people, our youth mainly, it’s very difficult to see past what is at the surface of media. Music in pop culture ranges in topics from sex, drugs to alcohol, with very little in between. All you hear on the pop radio stations are songs about sexualizing women and getting messed up with the use of alcohol and/or drugs. Alcohol is glamorized in every form of media there is, so it’s not shocking that we have such high rates of underage drinking and alcohol related deaths. There isn’t enough proper education on alcohol and everywhere you turn there are movies, shows and songs depicting binge drinking and partying. The problem I have with a lot of these movies or shows is that they talk about the party itself but never the safety of it. You never see in movies or shows a designated driver for the night, they rarely even explain how the characters get home. In almost everything it’s just assumed that...
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...I believe that to some extent culture protection was a motivator, however the sale of popular American magazines put an economic pressure on local Canadian magazine vendors to compete with sales that they saw was going to hurt them economically. American magazines would attract advertisers and resources would be diverted to the publication of the American magazines that they felt would be a major issue to compete for readership and advertisers. These American magazines would show the American lifestyle and I do believe that those images and readings may have presented a concern to conservative groups and felt that young readers would be influenced by the American pop culture. An example of one such magazine that could be a major influence...
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...Popular American Culture SOC/105 July 3, 2013 Popular American Culture Many Americans consume popular culture in their everyday lives. IPod, cell phones, computers, and popular television shows, are just a few things that create popular culture in society. According to Michael Petracca (2007), “popular culture has two counter parts, high culture and folk culture”. High culture consists of the artifacts, fine art, and classical music. Folk culture consists of a non-technical society of people who create artifacts and is usually passed on through tradition and communication. To answer the question on what is popular culture, it is shared practices and knowledge of a specific group at a specific time. It is obvious in today’s society what is popular to the majority of American people. Three major trends in American culture are entertainment, technology, and travel. Television has changed the way many Americans shop, eat, and even receive information. Many homes in America today have at least one television to watch the most popular shows or the hottest movies. Technology has taken the place of many things like the house phone now there is the cell phone. The cellphone technology now includes computer, camera, and television combining innovation with necessity. The automobile has been a big part of American culture and now has been manufactured to run on electricity which in turn will help heal the planet. Americans decisions are influenced daily simply by...
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...American Pop Culture Annalisa Muehlberg UOP Soc/105 Should teenagers face sex charges for nude photos on their cell phones? A question many parents should ask themselves over sixty teenagers in various states are being investigated for these actions. It has become popular with young teens to send picture text messaging and some of those messages are nude photos. My reason in choosing this article to be quit honest was the headline on the website. I think the teens shouldn’t nessicarely face charges in this matter, because they are only kids. I believe they should offer a solution rather than a punishment such as banning teens under the age of eighteen from picture messaging. This will also allow parents to feel more at ease with what exactly their children are receiving and sending with their cell phone. It is also unacceptable to charge teens as sex offenders for such a minor offense. A young teen in Virginia is facing twenty years as a sex offender and she is only seventeen. This article relates to American Pop Culture because this is an issue that would have not been brought to my attention had it not been for mass media. Personally when I hear about this issue I think of my younger sister who is seventeen, and honestly in this situation I believe it would be great concept to only allow legal adults to have access to picture messaging. I found this article online from USA Today and my reasoning for choosing an online article is online...
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...In this essay, I will discuss my research regarding fan work in the Supernatural fandom and discuss why the emergence of folk culture from pop culture is so prevalent and why this is important to...
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...The term popular culture has different meanings based on who’s defining it and the context of use. Popular culture, or pop culture, affects everyone. In society today, the media bombards teens with images and trends of all sorts. An important characteristic of every teenager’s maturation is her self-definition. Self-definition can be defined as the way you see yourself. For teens, that image is influenced to a large extent by personal choices, which are, in turn, influenced by the images and associations teens glean from pop culture on a daily basis. Although researchers disagree on exactly the extent of these influences – for example, not every teenager that listens to gangster rap self-defines as a gangster – researchers agree that pop culture has some impact on teenagers’ self-definition. Pop culture can provide benchmarks with which teenagers pin their self-definition. In this way, they see themselves take characteristics from the various celebrities and stimuli they see in pop culture. Lastly, self-definition can be intrinsically tied into self-esteem and confidence, two critical components of a healthy disposition throughout maturation and into adulthood. Most if not all pop culture icons extend their visibility beyond culture and into brands, which they sell via advertisements or products carrying their name. Teenagers who see, for example, Jay-Z wearing his Rocawear label may then be influenced to wear that label. Beyond fostering a certain degree of commercialism...
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...Popular Culture Essay CUL502MMA Over the course of the semester I have learned a lot about popular culture and how it affects society. I believe there are both positive and negative affects to pop culture. Pop culture is diverse, it affect a variety of people from different race, sex and age. It can effect these people both positively and negatively, the positive effect on pop culture is that people are now becoming more accept of someone being different or unique. Such as the reality T.V star “Whitney Thore”. She’s the star of the show “my big fat fabulous life”. A show that celebrates diversity and being comfortable in your own skin by owning who you are, regardless of your size or shape. Whiney said this on one of her shows. “Whitney, you’re not fat, you’re beautiful.” And I’m like, that’s ridiculous, I’m almost 400 pounds, I’m definitely fat! But it just shows that people cannot reconcile that you can be attractive and fat, or smart and fat.” (Escobar)...
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...Popular American Culture Paper Marie Loggia-Kee SOC/105 July 18, 2011 University of Phoenix Popular American Culture Paper When we talk about American Pop Culture, we are talking about society today, and how it has made a difference from the past. Culture is defined appreciating good music, food, and art. We see culture in our everyday lives; we eat, breathe, and speak culture in our homes. People become used to what is consider the new style. In our modern world, others refuse to participate. American Pop Culture is defined as culture that refers to the knowledge and customs of a specific group during a specific period of time, and simultaneously reflects and influences behaviors (Petracca & Sorapure, 2007). With the media changing through the years, our social habits have changed drastically for some, and not for others. For example I used to write letters to my family overseas, and now we email each other or use Facebook to keep in touch with all the updates within our family. Technology has gotten better throughout the years. With new technologies, everyone wants to be involved with in. Another great example of new technology is researching. We used to go to libraries to research on a book, product, or person. Now we are able to do it online in the comfort of our own homes. We also get to shop online which is another great example of pop culture. American pop culture has influenced our lives in many ways, like fashion for instance. Some of us like the new trend...
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...Popular culture is thought of as an accumulation of the most common, mainstream likes and dislikes of the majority of population, transmitted and shared through media and various means of communication. Pop culture diffuses and reaches a general audience almost immediately and could change the audience’s emotions and decisions. Their decisions consequently affect their identity. Identity has obscure definitions but generally can be thought of how a person’s behavior and actions are developed by what they interact with or avoid. The ease of which popular culture is assimilated causes an instantaneous reaction by people, which makes self representation in pop culture important to a great extent. A major factor in pop culture is social media....
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...Societal Impact of Pop Culture Western culture has always been influenced by ideas and content perceived as popular by others. The compilation of these cited works provide insights as to how social media and entertainment outlets continue to formulate perspectives and influence culture within western society as well as emerging global markets. The selected writings provide information specific to the societal impacts of watching TV, playing video games, and communication through social media networks. Bissell, Tom. "Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” They Say I Say, The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing With Readings. 2nd ed. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: Norton, 2012. 349-362. Tom Bissell describes his personal experience playing the newly released video game Fallout 3 on November 4, 2008. Bissell expresses how he played the game for seven hours straight and missed watching the CNN International broadcast of the United Sates Presidential election results that occurred this same date. The remainder of the article Bissell describes the related game content and characteristics for which he expended his time. Bissell evaluates and provides specifics regarding the games atmospheric graphic elements, overall style, and in-game play intelligence. Bissell expresses that he is more interested in video games that tell stories. Bissell evaluates the differences between films and video games by which the player creates the game...
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...September 23, 2012 Analytical Essay “Is Pop Culture Actually Good For You?” Popular culture which has been shortened to pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.” (“pop culture”) Television, movies, music, art, the internet, famous people, sports, and politics are some of the major components that make up pop culture. As expected by the standards of society there is a profuse amount of controversy about pop culture being either good or bad for someone. In an email written to Schlessinger, the writer expresses that, “...teenager had been using very offensive swear words since the age of 5 when this person saw an R-rated movie” and “...teenager had started inhaling cocaine after seeing it done in a movie.” (Schlessinger) According to the writer, the above actions are a result of children being over exposed to pop culture. Yes, it is possible that the effect pop culture can have on children can be more profound since it influences their developing morals, but that does not rule out the possible effects it can have on adults as well. In his own experience Carr states that, “[He’s] not thinking the way [he] used to think...[he’d] spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now [his] concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages...” (Carr) So it can be concluded that pop culture has a way of affecting not just the young...
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...From what I find funny to the clothing I wear to what I watch, American Pop Culture has played a major role in shaping who I am and what I think about various aspects of society. I took this course as a way to gain an understanding for why Pop Culture was (and still is) impactful in my life and to figure out what makes something popular enough to have significant in American society. While my interest in the topic is vast, my exploration into American Pop Culture is very slim — or just non existent. My experience in thinking and writing about aspects of Pop Culture mainly comes from in-depth conversations with friends about a movie and its meaning or being assigned to write a book review. Typically, a conversation I have about American Pop Culture turns into a conversation about American society as a whole, so I’m not sure if I’ve truly thought “critically” about Pop Culture in specific — which I’m excited to learn and discuss about in this course....
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