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What Pop Culture Means Term Paper

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Reflection

Popular culture and values inform people on what to hold as important in their own lives. They are informed by what they see and hear on social media—i.e., their peers and groups that they interact with. As Bandura (2018) points out, people’s behavior and thoughts are influenced by media, peers and groups. The values that people have are thus shaped by what they come across in popular culture, which is exactly what Adorno and Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School taught in their analysis of the culture industry. They asserted that popular culture was shaped to keep the public thinking and behaving in a specific manner, to be comfortable with the status quo and to keep them from questioning new ideas or alternatives to their present situation.

One example of popular culture that really appeals to people today is Star Wars. When Star Wars first came out in the 1970s, it was a very different phenomenon. Today it is almost like a cult, with people following the lives and characters so closely that their whole lives are wrapped up in that world. Star Wars can thus be seen as an artifact of popular culture that gives some people meaning in their lives. Others view it and mock and argue how silly and superficial it has become. They do not embrace the significance of the event and reject it as meaningless. They probably come from a different cultural place, one where meaning and values have been supplied by some other source, such as religion or education or political ideals.

Star Wars today has polarized many because it has adopted a politically correct tone that has turned off some viewers who do not like going to the movies to be hit over the head with PC doctrines. Others do not mind at all and really appreciate the diversity of the new Star Wars films. Culture thus plays such an important part in how we see the world and it also shows in our response to it what we value.

References

Bandura, Albert. "Toward a psychology of human agency: Pathways and reflections."  Perspectives on Psychological Science 13.2 (2018): 130-136.

 

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