Pop Culture Definition

Malala Yousafzai is a women and children activist born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12th 1997. While growing up, she began advocating for the right to education among girls . Due to her persistence and determination in her activism, on October 9th 2012 Malala was shot on her way home from school by a gunman. She survived the incident and became more passionate towards her fight for education for young females. This incident gave her popularity and in 2013 Malala became nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, which she won in 2014. Malala became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (Yousafzai 481). Due to the problems that young females had been facing in Pakistan and worldwide, it was essential to understand her education, the oppression by the Taliban, the devotion towards her religion named Islam and activism on the basis of the novel ‘I Am Malala’.

Pop culture, what does this term even mean? It seems to be a word that contains subjects of media, social structure, and society as a whole. According to the dictionary, pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. In the society we live in today, we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, either that is with television, magazines, different sources of social media and/or exposure to others. Due to pop culture being such a dominant contribution into our world today, it has effected many parts of society. The domination of social media has created idealistic views that are stressed upon female adolescents in particular. Upon media’s influence, traditional tactics and work have been modified in order to keep up with our technology oriented society. This alters the schools and education systems. Through the use of television, social media and other means of pop culture, serious study is necessary due to the negative effects it has on the younger generation and the effects it has for their futures.

There is a cliché quote that people say, “Beauty is in the eye of beholder.” But in the essay “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” (1998) Dave Barry argues about how women who spend countless hours on their so called “beauty” whereas men seem not to care. Barry uses juxtaposition and exaggeration to poke fun at men and women behavior and shed light on the harm that the beauty industry is doing. When Barry argues his point of his essay he addresses both genders, but more specifically teenage to middle age men and women, but he writes about it in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

Everyday people stare at billboards, magazine covers, movies, television, or pictures on the Internet of someone or something that they classify as beautiful. Some things people glance over and other things fascinate them. For example, when Farrah Fawcett’s famous picture of her in her red bathing suit came out; many teenage boys hung that picture in their bedrooms. Their idea of Farrah’s beauty was based strictly her outward appearance.

Throughout the years, the definition of beauty constantly changes. In our society today many children are told to be true to themselves, to be unique, to be who they are, etc.; But on the other hand social media and the celebrities on there are a constant reminder that there is a certain type of beautiful. The juxtaposition between being yourself and being what is “beautiful” has consistent grey areas and blurred lines making it almost impossible to keep up with what’s “beautiful”. The media, whether intentional or not, portrays this certain body image that you have to be in order to qualify as beautiful.

In today’s society, we commonly hear phrases such as “Everyone is beautiful” and “Size doesn’t matter” yet women are constantly bombarded with idealized images of beauty they are told they must attain to. In Beyonce’s song titled “Pretty Hurts” released in 2013, she highlights the pressures put on women to adhere to society’s unrealistic beauty standards which exist to alter womens’ perceptions o fhow they view themselves. Since women are continuously pressured to meet impractical expectations of beauty, rather than being satisfied with themselves, they critique and attempt to change their physical flaws in fear of not being accepted. Through the use of various stylistic devices such as diction, contradiction, metaphor, and mood, Beyonce reveals how society forces women to conform and uphold to impossible beauty standards which further reinforce the unfair expectations of gender roles.

This is Beyonce’s fragrance so it makes sense that Beyonce is the model for it. Since Beyonce is a worldwide phenomenon that many people look up to, she really grabs the audience’s attention by being in the ad. Not only is Beyonce a brand of her own, she is also a very attractive woman. Beyonce attracts men with this ad because she is Beyonce and the sexy glance that she is giving. She also lures women in with this glance because they see Beyonce looking like Beyonce and they think that if they get the same perfume that Beyonce uses, they will be sexy like she is. She is using ethos by including herself in this ad which shows that this product is a reliable and credible because Beyonce herself is using the product and being her own spokesperson/advocate for the product. This is personal branding which really works well for this ad because this is Beyonce’s product and it shows just how reliable this product

Fashion plays a major role in a person’s life because it is expressing how one looks and feels about one’s self. Clothing, accessories and makeup communicate fashion, which are all successful ways of bringing attention and persuasion to popular fashion brands. However, can also lead consumers to higher standards thinking that they can resemble the professional model posing in the advertisement. Like a Cover Girl advertising fade proof, waterproof, and ignore- proof mascara and new intense eye shadow blast that has a photo of Drew Barrymore behind a light grey background with light blue eye shadow around her entire eye. Likewise, revealing Drew Barrymore’s greenish blue eyes with perfectly curled black eyelashes that one can have from the use of this particular new Cover Girl eye shadow blast and mascara.

Feeling beautiful deals with many factors but it has become incumbent with focus being placed on the physical aspects of person Una Marson writes about beauty and how it drives many women into changing their features and making those features fit into the standard of beauty. Her poem, “Kinky Haired Blues” speaks about that notion, of women wanting to assimilate to what the norm is. Specifically women of ethnic minorities, she talks more about Black Women and the pressure for them to bleach their skin and to iron their hair. Matters such as race are at forefront of the issues in her society and of the society we currently live in today. Una Marson’s poem “Kinky Hair Blues” speaks to the idea of beauty and the standard of beauty. And how many

Everyone is surrounded by popular culture in our society today. It is everywhere. From watching TV, to reading magazines, being on social media, and just browsing the internet. Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture. The question is popular culture good or bad?

It is too common for women to compare themselves to images of models, actresses and singers they see in the media. Many of these images aren’t even real, media uses photoshop to make models look thinner and clearer. These images distort our perception of beauty, Photoshop makes models look unattainably perfect. The video Evolution was created in 2007 by the Dove self-esteem project, and highlights the untold story of the journey from real to retouched photos (The Evolution Video). This video illustrates just how lighting, makeup and digital manipulation distort our perceptions of women.

Firstly, I would like to talk about the similarities of these two music videos, and why they are so similar. The initial major similarity that I noticed is the intended audience, which is insecure men and women. Furthermore, the two other major similarities are the mood and tone, in which the shared mood is uplifting and inspiring, and the shared tone is powerful and inspirational. Lastly, the final similarity of the two music videos is the overlaying theme, or message, which is that you should be confident and accept your own natural beauty, despite the views of the people or the media. In contrast, the differences that I noticed between these two music videos is the way that they are portrayed and the way that the message is presented to the audience. The way in which they are portrayed is different, because “Beautiful” is portrayed more as a

In society today, the standards of beauty are set by media, which strongly correlates beauty with perfection. Particularly towards women, media portrays an unrealistic and unattainable ideal look that females should strive for. Unfortunately, in the process of attaining this perfect figure, a female’s happiness is sacrificed because of the extremes women must go through to achieve perfection. In the music video “Pretty Hurts,” by Beyoncé Knowles, portrays the negative effects of society’s standards on a female’s body, mentally, physically, and emotionally. The song is considered in the genre of power pop because of the meaningful and insightful message the music video tries to convey for viewers.

Society is full of ideas pertaining to the definition of beauty and has been controversial for centuries. Beauty is visually pleasing and can satisfy the other senses as well, but it cannot be fully defined through only the senses. It blossoms from the soul; it is an epitome of serene emotion. Beauty is imperative to the mentality our society maintains as if the world would transform to be completely dark without it. The word “Beauty” originates from the Anglo-French term beute meaning “physical attractiveness” and “goodness and courtesy” (dictionary.com, n.p.) Beauty is charming, mesmerizing, graceful, and captivating. Brutality is invaluable because beauty brings peace to the mind.

The definition of beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty has negative and positive influences on mostly people. Beauty is described by the inside and outside of us. Due to beauty, our self-esteem has been hurt dramatically, especially towards girls. Beauty is not always about our outside looks but it’s about our inside personality also.