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American Popular Culture: News, sports, music, film What is American popular culture? There has been recently much of discussion about influence of Culture in the modern society. Lets identify current trends of American popular culture. They are as follows: films, news, sports, music, popular literature, etc. Research workers often examine popular culture as ideological weapon, which determines and influences conscience of people. We understand popular culture as expression of authentic interests and world views of humankind.
Ill try to examine how popular culture trends and electronic media have formulated views or attitudes regarding the following topics: a) Social responsibility and civility Social responsibility is an integral part of the modern society. Current trends of American popular culture provide us with exemplary models of such people. Film industry, news and modern literature help us to be more responsible. Films improve and social responsibility as well as our interactions in society, that are reflections of our civility. They teach us not only to think about our own success but about the nation as a single whole. Popular culture helps us to associate ourselves with the nation.
In such a way we have been and well continue to be, balancing our needs with needs of the modern American nation, to build a prosperous society. b) Family obligations Family obligations are the important thing for many American families. American popular culture also provides us with different exemplary models to follow them. Loving couples in the films and literature, the image of loving and responsible parents All this makes us to realize that there is time to consider making serious decisions regarding the family.
Popular culture gives us a tremendous opportunity to see that there are ways to balance our own needs with family obligations... c) Consumerism Popular culture has strong commercial interest. I should rather call influence of American popular culture to be more bad than good. Different TV-Shops, fashion industry are the subject of commercialization. Popular culture insists that a person must have something to be happy, to be loved by the others, etc. On the other hand, John Dean in his European Readings of American Popular Culture considers that the powerlessness and tractability of the masses are increasing with the amount of goods apportioned (p. 203) d) Work American popular culture focuses attention on collaborative work aimed to build strong society.
It underlines the significance of labor for the benefit of the modern nation. e) Happiness Although happiness can be defined in different ways, American popular culture trends reflect a model of happiness that influences our conscience. Films and books teach us that happiness is something that cannot be bought. Popular culture focuses on happiness and individualism that fully coincide with goals of modern American society. f) The human body Its not a secret that popular culture has great influence on our behavior.
Young fashion models serve as the example to women. Mighty media images create goals and aims that so many young women want to achieve. On the other hand, influence of beauty industry on women often provokes eating disorders that have become commonplace in American society. Sport has a great influence on the life of modern Americans.
Since this country's beginning, some of the most prominent men in American history were advocates of physical fitness (Inge, vol. 2, p. 925). Sport propagates healthy way of life and can be to be thought of as psycho-physical culture, unifying the body and the mind (p. 930) g) Justice, law and order TV-heroes brightly represent struggle for justice. The angle of vision with which one approaches television will have a marked impact upon the way in which its history is recorded (Inge, vol. 3, p. 1367). Concepts of justice, law, crime and order are often discussed in literature and films. Culture trends describe the representation of the law, the breaking of law and reaction of society and authorities to the breaking of law.
They are fixing on the battles for justice: right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, etc. American popular culture tries to educate people in cooperation with the law, helping those in need and fighting injustice and crime. h) Sexual identity Cultural trends such as television, films, etc are constantly changing and quite flexible as to identity. Modern society has become very loyal to gays and lesbians.
On the other hand, such flexibility creates many cultural conflicts in America. Music is also a question for discussion. Every day we are bombarded by sexually explicit music which sometimes is too aggressive or rude. i) Friendship and love American popular culture used to reflect values of Americans.
Friendship and love are no exception to this rule. Culture focuses attention on co-operation between an individual and community. It helps us in the work of moral education. Films and literature also provide us with longing to a perfect man or woman. Culture trends manage to inspire love and friendship. They remind us of old traditions and values such as devotion, happiness, ability to take care of somebody, etc.
Regarding the influence that these trends exert on our world views, I would say that they are both conscious and unconscious. On the one hand, cultural trends consciously inspire us with exemplary models helping us to achieve success in life. They help us in self-realization and building a stronger society. These models of behavior remind us of old traditions and values such as responsibility, dignity, attitude to work, love, friendship, etc. On the other hand, we cannot forget that American popular culture is a mass culture that has strong commercial interest. In such a way cultural trends unconsciously substitute our aims and goals with those commercial models.
The content of popular culture is mainly determined by its trends such as film, sports, news, literature, music, etc. However, popular culture cannot be understood as combination of popular trends. American popular culture is the result of continuous interrelation between cultural trends and members of society influenced by them. In conclusion I want to say that its never late to set new goals for our society. American popular culture cannot be identifies as an enemy destroying our culture values.
On the other hand, we should understand that it brings both good and bad to us. We need to realize what is really going on in the modern American popular culture and how it is affecting our lives. Bibliography Dean, J. (1996). European Readings of American Popular Culture.
Jean-Paul Gabilliet. Greenwood Press Inge, Th. (1989). Handbook of American Popular Culture Vol. 2. Greenwood Press Inge, Th. (1989). Handbook of American Popular Culture: Propaganda-Women Vol. 3. Greenwood Press
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