Americans, after all, did not invent fast food, amusement parks, or the movies. Before the Big Mac, there were British fish and chips. Before Disneyland, there was Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens (which Walt Disney used as a prototype for his first theme park, in Anaheim, a model later re-exported to Tokyo and Paris). Richard Pells
1. Introduction
No matter what corner of the world, it is more than unlikely to walk up to an adoles-cent, mention the names Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Eminem or Bruce Willis and be confronted with a questioning face of ignorance. Performers and actors such as these have become increasingly omnipresent in people's lives all around the globe. American popular culture with its above-mentioned
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This definition will work for the purposes of this paper. American popular culture has never been more dominant internationally than in the middle of the 90s nor more controversial. Serious money is involved as pop culture is America's second-biggest export after aircraft (Rockwell 1994). There is a common perception that in the process of globalization American products dominate everywhere on the world's markets. The fact that you can quench your thirst with Coca-Cola in about 185 countries is but one example of U.S. economic ambition (Stephens 1993, online). Likewise, European anti-globalization activists have long criticized Hollywood and its big-budget studios for monopolizing the world movie in-dustry and, consequently, flooding other cultures with American iconolatry. The popu-larity of a movie like Jurassic Park (1993), for instance, was identified as threatening to the national identity of other cultures. It has also been lamented that due to the widespread distribution of "industrialized" music and the loss of music that is charac-teristic of a certain culture, civilizations are increasingly losing a sense of national identity and pride (cited in Lanza 2001, online).
The high-culture canon has been remarkably transnational for at least the past century, but as soon as popular culture with its Western-made goods and the ideo-logical values they are oftentimes said to carry
Hirschberg & Hirschberg. (2002). Everyday, Everywhere: Global Perspectives on Popular Culture. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 706
Canadian magazine dispute is one of a great example that shows how a globalization is a number one influenced in any local or domestic cultural diversity around the world. As we observed from the reality about Canadian magazine dispute, trade, and technology played an important role to completely give up your valuable cultures without reasonable doubt. the Global system should never separate cultural value from the trade system at all. to protect the value of one country is In critical under globalization or global development. addition, we have seen many from American values are consistently dominating all world and reflection of cultural imperialism.
Nevertheless, it is true that the industry reacts depending on the steps taken by the audiences. The industry takes advantage of their power over both cultural personality and their receiving public; it takes control of the product and changes and re-changes it in regard of the different demands exerted by potential consumers and their reactions to these variations. In other words, as it has been argued, the movie business controlled its stars to obtain from them the biggest profit possible, and it continues doing so. Audiences and society play a game of two with the industry: none of them is anything without the other, then, cultural icons work perfectly in a capitalistic society as the American one. Social reactions trigger the creation of icons, which lately in response to this, are exploited by the industry, whose capitalization of the iconic figures perpetuates their presence in the cultural —and consumerist — sphere, prolonging connections and reactions on the side of audiences and consumers.
Learning about pop culture truly frightened me when I saw the book we were utilizing at the beginning of the semester. Having been without television for more than 10 years now, I suspected I wouldn’t know much. Being a single parent amid this time gave me an opportunity to see this present era progress through the technological advances of our time, and interestingly, my age placed me in pop culture arena’s that the more youthful era doesn’t even think about. Our book, “Signs of Life in the USA” was splendid at addressing such a variety of products, movies, television, spaces, semiotic multiculturalism, alongside the gender and sexual societal rational to name a few. The transition back to school after 40+ years has given me some shock in the amount of openness and evaluation of actually any subject, religion to politics. Since these are places I refrain to go into conversation with others on the planet, to have my opportunity of opinions gives me a protective feeling with the
Popular culture is consumed through interaction in the social media that includes television programs, movie theaters and virtual social networks. From the media, interests lie in the political developments and discussion concerning governance. These media satisfy appetite for political information while guiding an understanding on the national issues and choices made.
media texts of Western origin are massively present in other cultures. But the key question is, does this presence represent cultural imperialism? Clearly the sheer presence alone does not. A text does not become culturally significant until it is read (Tomlinson, 1991,
Aside from political enactments cultural products are the cause of diverse opinions of America in the world. Since the late 19th century American cultural products have spread widely across the world and by now hold a huge influence.
Media influences are everywhere from billboards to magazines to Television and music. The American culture would not be what it is today without Media influences, the average American child is raised by their flat screen TV’s. Some parents just don't have time for their children and the parent that are attentive can not stop their children from being brainwashed by words spoken on the TV and radio. Parents can not cover their children's eyes form images in magazines showing beauty as a pale women who look like she's missed a meal or two, or three. How does our society expect young girls to respect themselves, when women are always being sexualized on television and in music. Parents try to teach their sons to respect women but it seems impossible
The study of culture is very important to our society, as we have been studying our past and identities for as long as we can recall. Studying our cultures allows us to understand each other as a people, so we can comprehend what we have done, and possibly, what we may do. As we study American popular culture, we see something that began as almost nothing, to a group of patterns that has captured the minds of not only the American people themselves, but the whole world, as well.
Back in the 1920s people had receive news and entertainment through the radio, which then in turn out-shined newspapers and magazines. Now day’s social media sites have become the most popular form to get the news and information. The biggest tool in the media that generates revenue by the millions every day, is advertising. The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions.
Pop culture has always influenced the American way. In fact, there is a saying that politics is downstream from culture. What this means is that laws, policies, and guidelines that the government enforces are all influenced by what is being said and done in pop culture. It may be hard to see this example today, but there were certain parts in time where this idea could be easily seen. One of these eras was the 1960s.
Not only does American popular culture overshadow the goodness of America, it also blurs other countries’ cultures. Every part of America is big: the entertainment industry, the food business, the economy, so it makes sense how irresistible it is to morph to American culture. However, it is unfair. The world is becoming homogenized. In large cities in nearly any country, a Starbucks or McDonald’s can be found, and advertisements for Hollywood films will be aired. This homogenization is a
Pop culture is defined as a product of a culture that has a mass audience (Zeisler 2008:1). Pop culture is considered dependent on advertising, depicting women and people of colour in a problematic way and discriminating manner (Ziesler, 2008:2). Popular culture has become our common knowledge, and to understand it is a key part in understanding society as a whole. According to Beamish (2016), popular culture is a form of symbolic communication between humans. Symbols can be anything that can be recognized by a culture and often presented in the forms of language, values, norms, and material culture. The use of language is a powerful tool that allows for the media to relay particular messages to the rest of society. The imposition of certain concepts as a result can be argued as having a direct affect on the daily lives of those who are exposed. Whereas material culture allows the population to see these messages visually through advertisements, film, and television. Some basic forms of pop culture include television, film, music, news, and advertising. Popular culture is rooted in mass culture, and deemed for those who could not afford the means to participate in high culture activities. Those who subjected to the popular culture were assumed to be uneducated and unworthy of “real art” (Ziesler, 2008:1). The mass media
For centuries, historians have denied the accomplishment of African Civilization. To this day the day, the misconception planted racist historians remain in the media. American media often displays Africa as a place of extreme poverty and lack of culture. In contrary however, African people had many advances before the arrival of the Europeans. The advances of the African Kingdoms are shown through their successful trade routes, ordered government, wealth, Education system, individual morals and art.
Popular culture is generally believed to be comprised of a variety of elements. For example, popular culture covers the most contemporary and instant aspects of our lives. These aspects can often show the characteristics of rapid change, especially in today’s highly technological and informative world in which, people are highly influenced by the universal media. Certain standards of behaviour and common beliefs are reflected in pop culture. Because of its cohesion, pop culture both influences and reflects people’s daily life. Moreover, brands can reach iconic pop status. However, these aspects are not constant and may change rapidly. (Abbott and Sapsford, 1987).