Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Popular Culture
I think that I have greatly been affected by popular culture ever since I was a young kid. It seems like when I was younger I was doing different things every day. Trends seem to just change every week. Popular culture has also shaded my friends somewhat. My friends and I for the most part are interested in the same things. We listen to the same music and pretty much like all of the same movies. New music and movies are constantly coming out though. Then, we start listening and watching whats new. The clothes I tend to wear are usually what is popular and at the mall. Every time that I go it seems as if they have different styles out. It gets pretty expensive to constantly be buying the latest clothes. Not only does popular culture affect clothes, music and movies, technology is largely affected by popular culture. You buy a fifteen hundred dollar computer and by the next year after you purchase it, its outdated. It is hard to keep up with popular culture. Most people seem to be able to keep up though. I think that says a lot about this generation. We seem to be forever changing, nothing stays the same. I think my generation does not have a good idea of tradition. Why keep something as it is if we can improve it?
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5 comments:
Indeed, the materialistic aspect of popular culture runs rampant and is practically the substance used to craft it. While there are certain intangible characteristics, such as ideals, beliefs, morals, values, etc, practically all of this is communicated to us in this age via a technological item, or a tangible, material construction (a book, a newsletter, a television set, etc). This is something which plagues my concerns regarding America and the global community in general; that we place far too much emphasis on the physical, tangible, material items in our day to day life, and far too little importance on the ideals themselves, which could in fact be tearing our society apart; and that this fast paced, technological culture is reaping the whirlwind, more or less unaware of the destruction left in it's wake, or which may come to pass.
Expense is an issue so many people in our country must take into account regarding their families meals, and here is this "popular culture" circling around expensive, sometimes needless items. I agree... we are in a way losing our sense of tradition... however, our current tradition as Americans (I feel) is indeed one of never-ending change, a paradox of sorts. This (Dan's) post is by far the most affirming of one's decision to make choices based on their preference of popular culture. While many people state they are not influenced much at all by "popular culture," the truth is that as soon as several people gather around specific sets of ideals, that particular culture has now become "popular," with the capability of influencing more and more individuals. Therefore, a person being uninfluenced by what I (particularly) view as popular culture would have to be what we call feral. We are all individuals, yet we are all individuals which seek companionship and belonging, therefore a person will manage to "keep up" at nearly all costs.
Again, both a pleasantry and a pain...
i like what you said about improving it if we can and how hard it is to really keep up with popular culture. your gonna need a job or 2 and some rich parents if you want to even come close to keeping up with all the new stuff comes out and thats even if you hear about it before its old.
i think you have pretty much explained everything there is to say. materialism is very important to young adults and it's sad to say but most of us our easily influenced. every person is different in their own way, but the way the world is now you wouldn't be able to tell one persons identity from another.
i REALLY LIKED YOUR IDEA OF IMPROVING!
You make a good point saying how it seems like trends are changing everyweek. I sometimes feel the same way. It seems like as soon as you feel like your up to date and in with the latest greatest thing that it changes and your once again out of date. Things are constantly changing...your right, what happened to tradition.
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