Pop Culture Essay

Throughout, history popular culture has been a common factor in everyday life. The identity of popular culture is seen through many elements of art. It was derived from artifacts and styles of human expressions developed from the creativity of ordinary people, and circulate among people according to their interests, preferences, and tastes. For example, music, fashion, people, stereotypes, and social rituals all play a role in the development of what is known today as pop culture society. These elements have shape society to behave and think a certain way, all in which are seen to have a more negative impact to the public rather than promote positive influences. Moreover, we will examine three main elements of popular culture that affect the American culture on a day to day basis. â€Å"Stereotypes, social rituals, and arts are all elements of popular culture that have been adopted and appeals to large masses of people, normally the middle class citizens† . Thus, popular culture comes from people; it is not just given to them. This perspective tears away at distinctions typically made between producers and consumers of cultural material. According to Webster stereotypes are oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment. For example, â€Å"people develop conceptions about certain groups of people because of what we see on television and use these generalizations in everyday life, such as Gender and where the media portrays ones masculinity and femininity† 2. Stereotypes can be seen with real or imaginary people or objects. For example, real icons such as expensive cars can be portrayed as a person being wealthy with luxury. Imaginary icons are things such as Bat mobiles or spaceships that are seen as a â€Å"warp speeding icon expressing in truly magical ways- faster than light travel, to demonstrate power beyond discovery† 3. Other real or imaginary stereotypes are heroes. For instances, Martin Luther King Jr. is a known for leading many Americans to freedom from slavery and racism. On the hand, Superman is an imaginary hero that saves the world from danger. These stereotypes have shaped America’s beliefs to be based on judgments of their own opinions as opposed to the truth. Social Rituals consist of â€Å"highly patterned symbolic events in which we all participate as a way of marking important passages in our individual lives or in society as a whole† 4. For example, holidays such as Christmas which is only celebrated by some who believe in decorating and exchanging gifts for the birth of Jesus Christ. However, others prefer not to engage in certain holidays or activities. Moreover, rituals integrate with heroes and icons that are built from a base structure of hierarchy. For example, voting is a common social ritual that plays a significant role in many American’s life. After voting, many constituency wear clothing to symbolize their heroic effort or support for the candidate they endorsed. Art is one the largest rooms of pop culture with a vast and diverse amount of subdivisions. Art includes; magazines, movies, television, recordings, comic books and others. Art correlates with all forms of pop culture and its affects with society. For example, books discuss heroes, icons, stereotypes, people, myth, beliefs and values. All of these elements interact with one another and result in moving to another room that leads to other possibly subcategories. Thus, arts are group together based upon shared characteristics which are known to both popular artist and the audience. Pop Culture is a trend that many learn about through film, media, music, people, fashion and others. These trends can sometime have a negative effect on the way society may behave or act to certain situations. For instances, many people use stereotypes to judge others or relate their lives to those individuals. In addition, others use heroes whether they are real or imaginary to compare and contrast their way of living. On the other hand, there are other elements of pop culture that make up these special trends. For example, social rituals is another element that allows people to express themselves based on their belief, things such as holidays, voting, and weddings. Lastly, Art is the element of diversity it relates to all subcategories of pop culture, within these categories all elements interact and form other elements.