Pop culture concepts and contemporary influence

Pop Culture

Serazio, Michael. "Shooting for Fame: Spectacular Youth, Web 2.0 Dystopia, and the Celebrity Anarchy of Generation Mash-Up." Communication, Culture & Critique 3 (2010) 416 -- 434.

In "Shooting for Fame," Michael Serazio argues that the new media environment creates unique opportunities for a vehemently destructive sort of narcissism. Pointing to the Columbine massacre, the Virginia Tech massacre, and the Jokela High School Massacre in Finland, the author claims that the attacks are both "premeditated," in the traditional sense that their perpetrators planned the attacks; and "premediated," in the sense that the acts were "prepackaged," as Serazio puts it (425). The media was instrumental to the message and the massacres. The act of premediation also suggests that the perpetrator choreographs movements and actions to make them media ready and therefore celebrity-ready. Celebrity consciousness creates narcissism, distorted ideals, skewed role modeling, and also egomania. Therefore, "Shooting for Fame" discusses the violent repercussions of a society that celebrates fame more than any human moral quality.

Each of the murderers has a different social profiles and background, but they show how new media is a tool of personal empowerment for better or worse. Both Cho and Auvinen knew how to capitalize on new media to craft their personas and messages. By creating "mashups," and spreading their videos on YouTube, the perpetrators designed their own documentaries. They designed the drama, wrote their own script, and starred in their own movies. Auvinen said, "I want this to be remembered forever. Maybe I'll get followers too. Because I am an ubermench, nearly a god," (cited by Serazio 427). Likewise, Cho attempted to "write himself into history," (Serazio 426).

Narcissism is the underlying psychological force that promotes the creation of a narrative like these events. Celebrity culture is a culture of narcissism, central to the Me-generation sensibility. Social alienation promotes even more inward-focused personal discourse and new media enables the narcissistic trend. Even while new media is democratizing and empowering, it can be a tool to foment brutal spectacles that mimic Bruckheimer movies. The spectacle also becomes one that is interactive and self-perpetuating because the society collectively creates the celebrity culture via viral marketing-like techniques.

"Something New." Chapter 5

Pre-wedding and wedding rituals reveal the most sordid elements of conspicuous consumption. Television shows like The Bachelorette promote a distorted vision of American values. When Trista Rehn and her fiance prepared to get married on television, the networks boasted about the show costing four million dollars. Viewers ate it up, and sought to emulate the excess in their own weddings.

Moreover, television has promoted the idea of a "perfect" wedding or "superbride" phenomenon. The phenomenon is rooted in part in the patriarchal fairy tale mythos that permeates the cultural norms. As a result, the wedding industry sector has been booming. It is not just the big event, either; it is all the preparatory and ancillary issues that are covered such as pre-parties and setting up flowers. For example, bachelorette and bachelor parties are normative and expected. In all cultures, weddings can be emblems of social class status and are still used that way without any global critique of the institution.