What is Poppin’? : Pop Culture and its influence on society

What Is Pop Culture?

Social Media has spread its reign vastly in this last decade. Everyone is now more or less hooked to whatever device they have available and are aware of “what’s trending”. Popular Culture, or pop culture in short, is not a new emergence; although it has changed its form and face with every coming generation. It may include a varied set of subjects and beliefs ranging from fashion trends to art forms to internet caricatures and entertainment. Sporting events, such as the Super Bowl in USA and the IPL (Indian Premier League) for cricket in India are great examples. Video games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto (GTA) have captured the attention and imagination of people across nations.

But is it a mere reflection of the society? Or does it have a say on where the society is headed?

Historical Background of “Pop Culture”

The term came into being in the mid 19^th century , creating a contrast between the kind of culture shared by governors and that of common men. The emergence of which greatly affected society. A new type of culture which now targeted the common societal classes came to light. All throughout history, popular culture has been widely accepted and appreciated by a variety of masses, but mostly by the general public.

Popular culture is simply a reflection of what the majority seems to want.

Victor Davis Hanson

Social media changed the scenario slightly

With Social Media however, the class division is no longer an issue, and popular culture has made its way into the life of every individual on this planet. However, the youth still remain the major consumers of this culture. How they perceive the world highly depends on the type of content they consume.

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The Influence on Society: Good or bad?

As every coin has a flip side, popular culture has both its benefits and disadvantages. But let’s focus on what is good first.

Brings people together

Popular culture creates a sense of unity among those who share the same interests. Thanks to social media, people are able to connect to a global community and voice their likes and dislikes, understand and adhere to certain things and let go of others. It has helped the youth, including myself, create a sense of self and comradery.

Visiting Comic Conventions or gaming events are a thing that feels like a recluse to whoever is lost in their rush of the daily mundane life. A huge crowd people from diverse background attend it to interact. This helps them overcome differences and become acquaintances. Interacting and sharing increases the interest in the said topic and people discover more of what they might like.

This was unimaginable in the past decades, but as it stands today, pop-culture might be the key to remove all social differences. These kind of events may make the idea of an actual ‘global-community’ come true.

Pop culture also inspires and innovates

People learn and draw motivation from various content made available to them. This helps them deal with a number of problems facing them. For example, there are thinkers who typically use the internet to spread their knowledge and experiences. People can use these information to their good, if they so desire.

Popular culture is most powerful when it offers us a vision of how our society should look – or at least reproduces our reality.

Janet Mock

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The Negative Influence of Pop Culture

This culture also has its negative effects, some of which include bad influence and thinning the line between what is good and what’s bad. If we take certain books and series for example, we’d see how this plays out. The undermining of certain overwhelming themes such as gore and sexual predation creates a baneful effect on the mindset of the consumers, especially if they’re too young to notice. There’s practically a ruse to attract audience using negative themes under the pretense, ‘Humans love violence’. Depiction of certain detrimental psychological behavior and “romanticizing” the same creates a huge impact on the mind of youth, and can affect their lives badly.

Other than that, oversharing is also an issue in today’s world. Everything falls under popular culture, whatever is trending or can go viral is a part of it. So much so that people sometimes even forget if, what they share, is harming anybody.

…the highest degree of reverence should be paid to the youth, and that nothing indecent should be suffered to approach their eyes or ears.

Samuel Johnson

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My Personal Anecdote

As a student of literature I can say that popular culture has been a serious part of our study. The contrasts and changes overtime that have taken place are something of a fascination to every student in our field. My teacher often said this when I first started my learning on this topic:

Pop culture is but a device to show what is truly going on in this society. It can never attempt to or succeed in changing the way people think.

I personally both agree and disagree with this statement, because those who want to learn, will learn; those who want to change somehow will definitely do so. We can draw inspiration from everything around us, and that includes pop culture as well.

Pop Culture will only go further

As stated earlier, pop culture has only grown and is ever growing. More and more things will be included in “what’s trending?” and more and more people would become a part of the consumer circle. Therefore, it is in the end up to us to decide what we’d expose ourselves to.

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About The Author

Mohana Das is pursuing Masters in English Linguistics and Literature. She is an avid reader with a passion for writing. She holds a keen interest in languages from all around the world.

She is also a lover of human psychology and uses her free time to read and ponder on the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’.

Pop Culture: Related Reads

Here are some posts that you may find interesting across the fields of movies, music and sports – three elements that define pop culture in many countries.

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