In The Rise Of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch they covered a few different things. One thing that caught my attention was something Susan Smulyan said. She said " Many of us were television kids, born into an age of rock and roll, and our out looks on popular culture were formed indelibly by the fact that we liked mass- mediated forms of entertainment." What she said has meaning now. Kids born now are born into a media booming age, its all about technology. Everyone has some form of technology in their lives, no matter what age you are. It plays a big role now, as it did then when a lot of this was new.
I also found what Nye had looked into and gained knowledge about in 1965 was interesting. He studied African American culture. After getting more knowledge of another culture he said that it was " the most important intellectual breakthrough by historians." He learned more about another culture. Popular culture is about whats "popular" with media, technology, people, and whats popular in other cultures. I've learned a lot within these past few weeks. I didn't know much about pop culture, i knew about the popular things around us and the basics, but i didn't know what it really stood for and how much it really effects us all.
Indeed, we were “television kids.” However, at least it didn’t completely absorb our time or prevent us from playing outside. Technology today goes far beyond “Saturday morning cartoons” or an evening spent with one’s family watching a weekday program. I think it’s quite sad that kids now days are hooked up to so many devices of “mass distraction.” Kids no longer read books but play computerized war games. We live in a bizarre society, where people think it’s normal to spend hours “talking” to their “millions” of friends on social media websites. Technology has turned our society into a likeness of George Orwell’s 1984 book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that. We were television kids, but we played out side as well. We didn't watch tv for hours and sit around. I admit I text and use my phone quite often, BUT I love to read and get out of the house and do things more than just sit around glued to the tv or my phone. Technology has become a huge part of who we are and how far we've come in society. But it isn't always good, we have too many automated services, and too many devices to be consumed with. Personally I like talking to people when I call or go some where, it gives it more of a personal touch. There are things that are useful, like cellphones. There convenient and good for emergencies. But we take advantage of the fact that we can text someone rather then talk face to face. Our generation has evolved a lot but we rely too much on electronics.
Deletei remember the old school morning cartoons, Back in the day i think popular culture to us was "Tom and Jerry" and "The Loony Tunes". I think that aside other cultures, pop culture is also associated with different age groups. Think about it. What is popular for little kids who watch cartoons, is COMPLETELY different from what is popular for teens who are in high school and are competing to have the latest smart phone. This is something I should have mentioned in my blog. But, i really think pop culture goes beyond just the adult realm,
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I had no idea how much popular culture really did affect us.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is constantly trying to out-do itself, it's as if it is never satisfied! Thinking about how things were when we were growing up versus how things are for children now a days is completely different! I used to play outside all of the time with minimal T.V. Where as now its only technology sucking kids in, but also the fact that society looks completely different. It's a lot more dangerous for a child to be outside out of their parents sight.
It's interesting too with what is popular for T.V. shows nowadays than when we were growing up. PowerPuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Blues Clues, Power Rangers, Rocket Power, Kenan and Kel, are all so different from things like Adventure Time, iCarly, Phineas and Ferb, and Good Luck Charlie. The list goes on of course, but's interesting how things are constantly changing before our eyes.
Media truly has become embedded within our culture. I’ve grown up using the internet in classrooms. Even as early as elementary school I was learning how to type documents in word and play videos on YouTube. I’ve also seen skills that were previously important, like writing in cursive (or penmanship in general) become irrelevant because of this new technology. Even small skills that we use in daily life change between generations as new media becomes available. New technology is an important aspect of pop culture because it changes the way we think, work, and live.
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