Friday, February 2, 2007
Blog #2: Reflect on how your current identities have been influenced by any particular popular culture...read below
Applying concepts from Baudrillard, Visual Rhetoric, class discussions, observations, your WIKIS and course readings, reflect, by selecting one popluar culture that has "SUCKED" you in, how your identity has been infleunced. Consider the space(s) you inhabit when you participate in that popluar culture(such as a sporting event, or a dance club...), the logos present, colors, your senses, presence, and the tools that rhetors have used to seduce and construct identity. What sociopolitical ideologies impact those spaces?
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I think we get sucked into popular culture everyday. The example that I want to use is fashion. I think magazines and tv have totally sucked me in. I guess I could say I like to be up to date with fashion. I am interested in seeing what is "popular" and "in style." Who is to say that it is popular though? Why are certain clothes in style and others are not? I think that the media plays a huge part in this. For example everyone likes certain TV shows and certain movies. Everyone likes certain characters too. I think you sort of match yourself up to the character that you like. Maybe you like the way they look, or maybe you like the roles they play, or maybe you identify yourself with the way they act. Maybe you like their style and then your style is influenced by that person. We talked alot about being influenced visually in class. Commercials for fashion for example...those commercials are on at a certain time of day and they know who to market towards. So you see the commercial, you like the clothes in the commercial, and it makes you want to go out and buy that outfit. It is everything in that commercial that makes you go out and buy it. It is the music playing, the colors, the people. They might use someone famous so it catches your attention. They may play a catchy song so it is stuck in your head and you then can't stop thinking about it. Spring time will be coming around the corner, so they may use bright colors to get you out of the winter blues. It is ironic though because people spend so much money on clothes and then what happens when that trend is over?
What does happen when the trend is over? What satisfaction are you left with? Congratulations to us who identified with figureheads appointed by the media aka celebrities, artists, fashion designers, etc. What do we truly get out of it?
I have been asking myself this question for years. Why am I who I am today? Why am I still not wearing American Eagle Outfitters clothing that I HAD to have when I was in middle school in order to be a part of the popular crowd. (The truth is their clothes do not even fit me anymore, but if they did would I still wear them?) Why do I value loyalty and trust over a designer purse when it comes to picking friends even when popular culture states that that louis vuitton (spelling) means a great deal more?
How do we stop this cycle of sucking youth in? I obviously fell into it and fell out of it. Most likely fall into and out of it on a daily basis but how do we end it?
We can't.
I agree with Jessican'tpiole...we cannot stop this from happening. The reasoning for this is that we are surrounded by media, technology, celebrities, etc. that all have an influence on our identities and who we think we are. People are constantly "reinventing" themselves by buying certain name brand clothing or bags just because someone they idol in Hollywood may have the same one. Whatever the reason, this society is sucked in by things that are of interest to them. Some things that are appealing to one person may very well not be to another person. This all depends on what you like, where you feel comfortable fitting in, and why you like it or feel it would benefit or help you feel better in life. There really is no way possible to stop this from continuing in the world we are in.
I also feel that pop culture sucks us into these crazy trends and styles. When I think back to a pop culture that sucked me in, I think of "The Boardwalk". When I turned twentyone I had just moved back to Pittsburgh from North Carolina. The Boardwalk is a club in the strip district that has three different atmospheres. There is Tequlia Willy's which is half naked drunk girls dancing on bars listening to top 40 music. On the other side there is Donzi's where the lighting is dark and the music is R&B/Hip-Hop. But the greatest part of this establishment is the deck that connects the two clubs. The outside scene is what sucked me in. There are palm trees(which reminded me of the beach), two bars, and if you have a boat you can pull up to the bar from the river. Also there is live bands that play only on the deck. I thought that this was the most genius club ever. I could go there will ALL of my friend because all music tastes were covered and ALL of the bar scenes that we frequented were covered also.I think that this is the perfect "club pop culture" for young adults age 21-24. Now that I am twenty seven this pop culture no longer appeals to me, but I think thats what makes pop culture, culture. Eventhough I no longer go there the new twentyone year olds are currently enjoying the experience as I used to.
I can relate to what everyone above has said about fashion & not being able to escape the influences of pop culture. I’m not sure if it's really possible to escape unless you move to a deserted island somewhere (I actually had a friend who wanted to seriously do this!).
I know I am very guilty of being influenced by pop culture. I change my "image" a lot & although as I have gotten older I do not look to say MTV as much for fashion trends, ect., (like I did when I was younger) I am still influenced by other around me. I guess I'd say I’m more influenced now by counter culture rather than pop culture. I've thought about the idea of pop culture & "image changing" before & sometimes wondered if because I change my "image" so much.. does that mean I don't really know who I am? Or does that mean I am just growing & my tastes are changing? Or do I just simply get bored? Does anyone really know "who they are?" Is that a definable thing?
I have a favorite quote that I think really relates to this that is taken from "The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche. he says:
"We believe in a personal, unique, & separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography," our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards... It is on their fragile & transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are? Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom we have been living all the time but we never really wanted to meet."
I agree with fashion being a pop culture that is very easy to get suked into. I know I for one am always looking in magazines to see what is popular now. Also i think that brand names influence what we buy and wear so much. Alot of people i know only carry coach purses, i think this is because people think of coach as upperclass and high fashion. And so many people shop at abercrombie and american eagle because of the names. When you can probably get the same outfit, without the name for alot cheaper at a place like... JcPenny or something. I am guilty of this too, I think its crazy that we can so easily be sucked into these brands cause we see celebrities carring coach bags or because all the popular kids in school are shopping at abercrombie you should shop there too.
I agree with others have said. To me, we get sucked in to pop culture at an early age. My example of this is Nickelodeon. They have TV programs and also magazines that show young children what is cool. They show them what clothes, shoe, and styles are cool, and were to shop at. Nickelodeon also has commercials that shows were they should shop at such as Gap, Limited Too, and Claire's.
Everything around us shows what pop culture is, not just from young children, but everyone.
[I apologize beforehand for this being so long!]
I really don't believe that I have been sucked in to pop culture. I was raised to appreciate the things I had and to be happy with not having much. I've always been exceptionally over-enthusiastic about learning, and so over the years as I was growing up I have made it a point to learn as much about the world as I can. Therefore, it would take a lot for visual rhetors to "suck me in".
Nevertheless, I do enjoy the company of activists (hippies, anarchists, new-monastic Christians). I suppose it can't be denied that this would be a counter-culture. And we all know, as much as it pains me to say it, that people of this counter-culture are stereotyped, and a certain type of fashion does ensue; dreadlocks, home-made clothes, sandals, hemp..you know the type. I do not dress this way however, because I don't want to buy into a fashion statement (though making home-made clothes is logical if you are protesting child labor and unfair worker wages).
Some spaces I have inhabited within this counter-culture are community homes. I had the privilege of visiting The Camden House in Camden, NJ this summer. It is a home in the worst part of Camden where at least seven 20-something's live in community together working to restore Camden. They have gardens throughout the city to help promote sustainability, they eat vegan organic food, and work with the children of Camden to educate them on ways to live a better life. The house was hot because they didn't have air conditioning, it was bare save for the essentials, and they all have dinner together every tuesday, by which I had the opportunity to sit with them and talk about politics and religion.
I have seen, though, that visual rhetoric is beginning to play a part even in this anti-corporate, anti-media involvement culture. We have all seen a celebrity or two wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt, and is it just me or is it disturbing that the supermarkets are up'ing their organic food stock? Which, by the way, is a disgusting concoction of everything but organic products; but the popularity of organics is on the rise so they know they'll make a profit. Anyway, a point I do want to make is that anything and EVERYTHING is marketed, and there is no way around this, as some of the posts have mentioned. I'm not sure there is even such a thing as originialty anymore. There are certain colors that are tested to have a more prominent effect on the human pysche. Marketers, for instance, like the colors red and yellow. I myself am attracted to browns and greens,and would be more apt to buy something of these colors. I like used bookstores and coffeehouses, but am aware that even these have come with their own marketable presence. Come to think of it, in my own personal case, my secondary discourse is what helped to shape my primary discourse. Or rather, what I mean to say is that because such a thing as "secondary discourse" exists, I am able to engage my primary discourse more passionately. Education is a very powerful combatant to the tricks and illusions of the media. The more you learn, the better you become at realizing that most things done in this world are done so to gain some sort of profit or power. The more you learn, the better you become at distinguishing between rhetoric and authenticity, between marketing propaganda and truth. The more you learn, the more you are apt to stand against these things and to think for yourself; to realize that life isn't about materialism or money or wants. And the socioeconomic society we live is only based on wants because they know humanity is having a hard time looking past that. I'm not saying I am immuned to visual rhetoric, but every day it's easier to pick up on what is being formulated and created for me.
I see the points that others have made, but I look not to fashion or trends so much as to music. I think that we get sucked into that as much if not more than other forms of pop culture, even when the particular form of music is considered "underground" or "alternative". We use the form of music that we listen to to give ourselves an identity, and we change our identities according to each song that we hear. For instance, if we were in a club, and they were playing hip hop, we would change our attitudes and demeanors to suit that particular genre. The same would go for a country song. I know from personal experience that I have slipped fron one genre to another easily simply through the form of dance that I would do. In one evening, I went from pop-locking to doing the watermelon crawl, and my demeanor changed drastically from one to another as well. We are influenced by our ears as much as our eyes, and I think that we even go into different simulacras when we hear different songs. Our environment can change for us immediately with a new beat, or a new guitar riff.
I agree with my classmates about how we get sucked into pop culture everyday. I would say magazines have the most influence on me, especially since I am a Fashion Merchandising major and I need to be knowledgeable about all of the new trends and fads. I see what the models are wearing, how they look, and what accessories they are wearing. They do have an influence on me because I want those things and I would like to look like them. It makes me want to go to the mall and find those exact “seven” Jeans and ArdenB. shirt they are wearing in those magazines. Also, television has an influence on me. When watching say MTV, how the people act and what they wear, does have an influence on me. Whether I do it consciously or unconsciously, I imitate their actions and their apparel.
I have absolutely been "sucked" into pop culture in a multitude of ways. I love watching television and films and escaping my own life for an hour or so. I follow fashion trends and care about what style I am projecting to the world. I read magazines and easily get caught up in mindless works of fiction. Something that I realize that I have really gotten caught up with during my college years (the past 3 and a half years) has been going out to eat. I love the atmosphere of a restaurant or even a quick sit down place. I enjoy socializing during a meal and making it as positive an experience as possible. I feel that this interest is most likely driven by a various number of things, such as maturity (little kids and young teens don't seem to care about socializing during eating as much), laziness (most college kids aren't motivated to cook), etc. Additionally, eating out is and has always been a symbol of status. Many people are drawn in by the way in which they are waited on, taken care of, and served full, complete meals. They present clean, inviting, and most often well decorated spaces. To me, restaurants, regardless of style or type of food, serve as social places where patrons of multiple identities come together to experience something that is ideally enjoyable and relaxing.
I agree with what the others have said, however, i agree most with stephski84 in that music influences our identity more so than magazines or fashion trends. On a small scale, different beats will change our demeanors in different ways but on a larger scale a style of music will change our image. For example, if you attend a Kiss concert the most dominant color that you will see is black, if you go to a country concert you see alot of jeans, cowboy boots and hats and if you go to see a jam band you are sure to find tie-dye, long flowing skirts and bare feet. Whatever particular style of music you prefer influences the way you dress. It's very unlikely to find a Kiss fan dressed as a "hippie" and vice versa. So whatever happens to be your favorite musical style is what you will most likely adapt as your image or style. This seems to become even more prominent when you actually attend the concert as to what you would wear on a daily basis. I know that i use concerts as opportunities to wear certain clothes. The clothes are part of my everday dress but when i go to a show i look at it as a chance to go all out, to adapt to the entire image instead of half-heartedly. It seems to be that you adapt to the simulacra of that musical style.
When I was young I played all of the mainstream sports baseball, football, and basketball depending on the season. Then when I was approximately fourteen years old I attended my first motocross race. I was completely sucked into this sport the first time that I saw it. For the next twenty years I trained for, practiced, and raced motocross whenever there was an opportunity to do so. Over time it seemed that all of the friends that I had were the same people that I raced with. During the winters we would get together to go skiing or play racquetball to keep in shape for racing. I realize that I missed out on a lot of things other people were doing, but I enjoyed my lifestyle. When I was racing I always felt like I was in good shape and had a lot of energy. Now that I have been away from racing for a long time I feel lousy. Motocross has never been very popular in the United States, and it may never be more than a niche sport. But to me and other people that enjoy it motocross will always be the best sport.
No matter where you turn you will always be sucked in by popular culture. When we are younger we crave the attention of others. We try and find a place to fit in but it’s not until we get older and gain more worldviews that we stop being sucked is as much as we did when we were younger. I agree that there is no end to it but I think when we get older we have more solid ground to stand on. We try to keep our core identity the same but were are always changing by listening to other’s views, defending our own and pushing away ones we don’t agree with. I don’t think that there is one popular culture that influences everyone or sucks everyone in and the same with subcultures. Not everyone likes music, or movies, or sports but they take it in because they can relate to it, it makes sense to them and/or it’s just fun. They go searching for something that makes them happy and where they feel they are a part of something where others share the same views. This is where subcultures come in. I think that in some cases subcultures may have more influence on people than the pop culture it derived from. I believe it is when a person actually accepts the popular culture (or subculture) that they are truly sucked in. You can go through the motions of going to certain events or listening to certain music but until you make it part of your life and part of you then you really haven’t been sucked in.
I know I have been influenced by pop culture. I have my core identity but I try and see every movie I can. I am concerned with celebrities (even though I don’t want to admit it) and what things they will do next. I also care about what clothes I have on but no to the extent that I will get rid of clothes after the season is over. I still wear clothes that are a few years old just because I like them but I do follow the rule about white after Labor Day. Like I said before we are all still being sucked in and influenced by pop culture. I think I have a solid understanding of myself. I have many discourses but I think my identity is pretty solid. I will still try new things and see what else is out there, but in the end I take what I like and leave behind what I don’t.
You folks are total genuises! What a pleasure to read...:)
Television has definately contributed to my identity. I have willingly let the dancing images on on the glowing box absorb me, I have absorbed them for as long as I can remember.
While it may have seemed as if I was just doing nothing while I sat on the couch watching TGIF, I was actually mentally taking notes for what I would do with my life one day, as a communications media major who pursues a career in television.
Baudrillard would say that television is just another form of simulacra that tricks people into thinking that the images displayed before them are real when they are really just an illusion disguised as reality.
Its more complex than that I think. In the 21st century it may seem that reality reflects television, but television at the same time is reflecting reality. People who complain about the violence shown on tv should take a look around and notice the violence that is going on around them in their own neighborhoods and schools. Violence in our culture has been around long before television started putting it in their programming.
Therefore, television inhabits the third space- it is both real and imagined.
I find the idea of popular culture interesting in itself because it's getting to the point where it's hard to differeniate between pop culture and anything else. Aspects of popular culture infiltrate everything we do and often what we say, even if what we are doing or saying is in spite of popular culture. It is important for me as an English Education major to say up-to-date with many aspects of pop culture. Music, film, fashion, technology and of course literature are all things that I need to have knowledge about because my students will also have that knowledge. Literacy doesn't only pertain to books, so pop culture will be an important part of my life for many years to come.
I don't feel that I have completely been influenced by one particular pop culture. Music, dance, and film are things that I feel have affected me. I have knowledge about all of them and partake in of them. Music and the style that seems to emerge from it has particularly influenced me. In the early 90s, we had the grunge phase. It wasn't only a time of a type of music; it was an entire style. When I was younger, I embraced the hardcore rock scene moreso than I do now, but it has still affected me. My weekends used to revolve around going to shows, and I have gauges in my ears. I still really like the style and clothing as well. I wouldn't say that any particular popular culture can define me, but it has definitely shaped me as I have grown.
Ok, so I have come to the conclusion that at least 2 major popular cultures have affected me: Gaming and Film. Now, to elaborate on these 2...
Gaming has affected me in many ways, the foremost being its ability to suck me in and keep me involved, even when the games get worse.(mainly consoles) Every year they release and market new versions of the games that I play the most, such as NHL 2K?, Madden, Final Fantasy, etc. This just perpetuates the cycle of getting lost and immersed in their flashy, cgi worlds. Additionally, the only major changes that are made between these versions is to the space that players inhabit during their experience. I know, most people think that gamers only inhabit the space around their physical being, and this is true. However, it is also true that if the game is successful you transcend the space inhabited by your physical body and become a part of the virtual world that THQ, SquarOnix, Sony, Blizzard, or Sigil have created for your escapist pleasure. This process of immersion into a gaming world is even more prevalent in on-line gaming such as World of Warcraft and Everquest II. They provide an entire new culture, population, economy, and location for your chosen, and personally designed, avatar, or character, to travel through and interact with. This allows for a more complete escape into the fantasy world and a much more accurate experience of a virtual world.
Film, on the other hand, has slowly wormed its way into my life and taken over. I have always been fascinated with film and the various escapes that it provides to viewers. For the last few years this passion has evolved into what some of my friends call an obsession. I always know what actor is in which film and what most films are about; however my knowledge is limitted to mainstream US film. Also, I am now working in a video rental store which even further impacts my identity as a "movie buff", or what my friends call a "walking IMDB". Also, the knowledge that I have gained about film allows me to constantly daydream throughout the day about the various ways that movies allow us to escape from the world we are trapped in.
As I consider these observations about myself, it seems to me that I am a frequent resident of spaces within spaces. I am constantly losing myself in worlds within games and relatoinships within movies. The result is that it causes an interesting perspective on where reality ends and the fiction begins. Which should be very interesting to consider when watching "Stranger Than Fiction" in a couple of weeks...
I agree with my peers who say that popular culture sucks us in through all of its crazy trends. The craziest trend, personally, is the trend to be thin. Growing up I have always had an issue with my weight. Why is this? Because the on going popular culture trend that has been killing females in this country for years; the trend to be thin. We are exposed to this popular culture everyday whether it be in magazines, on billboards, television, or internet. The media puts a standard on what they feel is the ideal body type for a woman. The trend to be thin is always an issue in the news especially with models and actresses, most recently with Tyra Banks (being called fat at 160 lbs.); and Nicole Ritchie, Kate Bosworth, and Mary-Kate Olsen looking like starving souls who could blow away in the wind. Thankfully, this trend is progressing to a much safer body ideal due to the reality of how setting such insane standards really affects individuals.
I also feel that fashion is the biggest popular culture, because it changes all the time; each season of every year. It relates to the above pop culture trend of being to thin in that it is seen in every form of media and both trends are associated with each other. While looking through a magazine or watching a television show, I notice what people are wearing and am influenced to buy these items. (I used to think that it was because I truly liked an item, but i never took into consideration why I did. Was it because it was trendy and i was influenced or did it just go perfect with an outfit in my closet?)
I believe that we are surrounded by a number of aspects of today's culture that influence our lives without us even realizing it.
I think that the media has a great impact on our lives through the shows that are on, in particular, "So You Think You Can Dance". For those who are unfamiliar with the show, it is basically like "American Idol", they have group auditions, then those who make it to Hollywood are then forced to learn new choreography, and sometimes the styles are unfamiliar to them. When this show first came out, Hip Hop dancing was all that people thought there was because they saw it on MTV. Later the public found out that there was more than just hip hop, such as bboying/bgirling, Krumping, Pop and Lock, etc. By this show making these other genres of hip hop more main stream, more and more people wanted to learn how to do it. For example, those who want to learn how to breakdance dont want to take the time to learn the basics and the foundations that are necessary to be a bboy/bgirl, they just want to learn how to spin on their heads and do power moves to show off, and when that fad is over, they forget all about it. I will admit that I was one of those people who was influenced by this and who wanted to learn how to breakdance, but because I have danced all my life, I knew that I had to start from the beginning, and I have. I believe that other aspects of the media that have influnced us in hip hop dancing are the many movies that have come out in the recent years, such as "Save the last dance", "Step up", "Honey", "You got served", and "Stomp the yard".
"So you think you can dance" as well as "Dancing With the Stars", and the movie "Take the Lead" also made ballroom dancing more of a fad, and not just something that your parents or grandparents did at wedding receptions. This show made it the "in thing to do", and more more young people want to learn how to ballroom dance because they see people their own age doing it on tv.
I don't think that being sucked into a pop culture is a bad thing. I do not like to consider myself in certain pop culture, because I like to try many different ones. Being a part of different kinds of pop culture leaves you open to other people's views, beliefs and ways of life, it can also help you find who you are yourself. I find it hard to describe the culture I fit into because through out my life I was associated with sports, punk scence, hippie groups, hard rock concerts, fashion, dances and clubs, and my fashion ranges from preppy to skater. I have a friend who just tries maintain her hippie image and i feel she misses out on a lot of other opportunities she wouold get from trying things from other cultures. I do not try to fit into one kind of culture and I think that many others consider themselfs as many different cultures, and there are those that make it a point to show what pop culture they are apart of.
Media does contribute to a lot of what is popular but I think it is also helpful in discovering pop cultures. Yes it can have a negative impact with weight and looks, but there show on television incourage people to be educated, be different, be yourself even if it isn't going to make you popular, strive to be successful rather than popular, like gilmore girls, veronica mars, and others I can not think of right now.
I agree with stephski in that music is a huge part of shaping identities. I feel the type of music you enjoy listening to is an indicator of the kind of person you are and the lifestyle you identify with. I know it affects my identity and how it changes slightly from one genre to the next. It doesn't mean that we have to identify with one particular genre because I don't feel anyone has just one specific identity- that is why we are all different. It is the many different blends of types of culture that makes us who we are- one can like rap, country and classical and that can shape them as a person and another can like rap, country and techno and that makes them a completely different person with a completely different identity. For me another part of culture that sucks me in is entertainment news. As much as I don't want that to be a part of my identity, it is. The glittering lives of the rich and famous is something I care about more than I should, I guess getting inside the fantasy world of celebrities is a kind of distraction from my boring reality.
I strongly agree and can relate to what purplegal said. I think the biggest influence on me is TV. For that 30 minutes or hour you can be sucked into watching something that seems like it is real. When I was younger I would watch shows such as Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World and think that my life was going to be like that. My friends and I would dress similarly to the characters and were heavily influenced by what we saw.
The media's influence on me now is much less, but it is still there. I still have shows that I watch each week and almost forget that the people on it aren't real. While I don't model my clothes or life after the characters I have been known to do things such as getting a popular hair cut similar to a celebrities.
I must say that television has had a good influence over my life. Although I do not watch it nearly as much as I did when I was younger this is one aspect of popular culture that still affects me. I know I have been sucked into this space because when it is time for my favorite tv shows to come on, I will drop everything I'm doing for that half an hour or hour. While the show is on, I will experience a simulacra, where I enter into an imaginary space in which eveerything that's false becomes real. When the show is over, reality hits and I realize the space in which I inhabited was only temporary. I think I just enjoy the pleasure I recieve from drifting away from reality for a time period and imagining the unreal to become real.
Pop culture has definitely "sucked" me in ever since I was younger. One thing that I can really identify with is sports because my whole life I have been an athlete playing sports year round. One T.V. show that really sucked me in was ESPN's Sportscenter. Probably since I was about nine years old every morning the first thing I did was poor a bowl of cereal and turn on Sportscenter. The famous Sportscenter tune "dunt dunt dunt...dunt dunt dunt" (if that’s how you spell it but I think you know what I'm talking about) would suck me in and get me ready for an hour of sports highlights from the previous night. The highlights were from sports of the season whether at the college or professional level. The hour program would be filled with funny comments and catchy phrases from the witty Sports Analysts.
I identify myself with sports and so do other men and women in our country. Sportscenter plays itself over and over in the mornings from around 5am to around 11am. This way people with different schedules can get a chance to get their sports fix in for the day. Sportscenter even plays a few times at night as well. In class we talked about commercials and T.V. programs and what time of the day they are played during. This is because the people at ESPN know who they want to market towards and when to do it.
I agree with a lot of what other people have already said - specifically that TV has influenced people's identities.
Laura mentioned that when she was younger she looked to shows like Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World and thought that her life would be like theirs. When I was younger, I also watched those shows. Although those shows were portraying the popular fashion trends of that time period, they were also sending appropriate messages to kids in terms of behavior and morals. In those shows, there was usually some type of conflict that was resolved within the half hour and sent a message to the audience somewhere along the lines of, "don't smoke" or "respect your elders".
What is popular on TV nowadays is MTV. I do admit to being a fan of this channel and tune in for The Hills every Monday night, but I also realize that I am in the minority, as there are many more pre-teens and high-schoolers than there are college seniors watching these shows. I do not feel that they affect my identity, but only because of my age-level and because I am comfortable with myself. Therefore, I wonder about the messages sent to the younger children watching. 95% of what is on that channel is supposedly "reality" TV. However, if one were to look at the "real" people on the MTV shows, such as The Real World and Maui Fever, they all look like models and have the hottest fashion trends out there. Also, shows like My Super Sweet Sixteen give off the impression that it is ok for kids to act like spoiled little brats and demand whatever they want.
Therefore, if people really do start believing that these shows are truly "reality", it could certainly affect their identity in a negative way.
Everything around us on campus, everything we see on television, everything we hear on the news, EVERYTHING influences what we do, what we say, and how we act. Pop culture is the world that we live in and the world that we are suppose to simulate. These pop culture influences are everywhere we turn. I have never been one to jump on the band wagon when a trend sets in place, but I have always ended up catching up to the rest of the world. Fashion is one thing that I lag behind in. Right now the coats with the fur hoods are in. Between Christmas and my birthday I received three articles of clothing with fur on the hood. I hate fur. But I kept them, why? Because right now this is what is all around me, this is the influences that I see everyday. Every girl I see on campus (excluding myself) is wearing a fur-trimmed hooded coat. Now I am not saying that wearing these coats is bad, but my personal opinion is not to wear fur. Although I still kept the cloths. Maybe it is that little part of me that wants to fit in, not to be looked at as different, to be accepted by society. But next year there will be a whole different style of winter coats that every woman will buy just to look like they fit in. I think I am going to wait till next year.
I think that two particular popular cultures that I have been "sucked" into are definitely film and the jam band scene. Film has definitely become a part of my life every since I attended the Sundance Film Festival while living in Utah. Being able to see the screening of movies while the actual directors, writers and stars are in the same area as you is pretty amazing and from there I was hooked. I like the way that film can make you feel or think depending on what genre you are engaging in, not to mention the different feelings you get either at a private screening, or by going to the movie theater. By engaging in film I am influenced in the sense that I tend to relate a lot of things to the films I watch and sometimes compare my attributes to that of a character.
Another popular culture that I have been a part of for a while now is the jam band scene. Although I would imagine most people involved would like it to not be considered popular culture, I'm pretty sure its becoming so. I went to my first Phish concert when I was in fourth grade and it was all hippies and I loved it because you can learn a lot. Many of the people who stand outside the show at the shakedown before hand (where everyone parties and meets people) you can learn lots of things and be influenced in many ways. I have bought books from people at these shows that have influenced my life and i have traded cd's and magazines and artwork.
I agree with mllewis. I feel that my identites are directly impacted by an array of things such as television, magazines, advertising, music, etc. It is very hard in the world that we live in to not cave into fads in order to "fit in." While pop cultures normally start on a smaller scale, once people begin to catch on they want to participate in order to feel they belong. While I try to be an individual and not go along with the crowd it is not easy since fads are what we are bombarded with every day. We almost always cave in eventually. For example Grey's Anatomy. For the first season I refused to watch it because I thought it was going to be another unrealistic, "girly" show. However I gave into peer pressure and began to watch with my room mates and now I am completely addicted to it. So my identity was influenced by my friends. Things like this happen everyday to influence our identities in a new way.
a persons identity is affected by popular culture whether they take notice to it or not. For example: we see movies. During that movie (the popular culture) our identies become involved in the movie. we change to feel the emotions of the characters, we laugh at what they think is funny, the way they dress apeals to us in that time that we are there. then upon leaving the movie we may not feel affected anymore, but a week or month a year donw the road our identies may referncde that film, whether is be a catch phrase, a song that we liked, or a feeling that we had. All popualr culture affects us, whether realize it or not.
I agree with,KatieL, are identities are shaped through pop culture as in movies, but i also think music. Both makes us feel variuos of emotions and shape who we are and how we act.
I feel that for me the fashion world sucks me in. Fashion is constantly changing and trying to keep up with it can be very expensive. I like to stay in style but as the trends keep changing weekly, it seems impossible to do so. I go into a store one week and find something I really like and the next week its on the clearance rack and is old news. If I didn't care about fashion I would have much more money than I do right now.
I have fallen prey to pop culture traps in the past. Now, I try and keep an awareness of who is trying to sell me what and why. Nevertheless, I find myself a victim of consumer culture because I am constantly bombarded with a never-ending stream of advertisements as soon as I open my eyes in the morning. I've given up on television and radio because I can't stand the advertisers telling me that I need to buy their product today or my life will be empty. I have no want or need for most of their products. I can no longer even stomach conversations about the garbage reality shows on MTV. When I was a kid I was proud to rock a hoodie that had American Eagle plastered across the front. Now I look for plain hoodies. I think back to the television programs I watched as a kid: Transformers, GI Joe, and the Thundercats. All of these shows were half an hour long commercials for the toys sold in the stores. I didn't recognize that when I was a kid. All I knew was that my buddies all had Transformers so I wanted them to belong. In college, my buddies and I would reminisce about the toys we had as kids and Transformers would always come up. That pop culture has had a lasting influence on who I was and who I am.
When I think of my current identity, I sometimes feel as if it changes everyday. I dont think it has to deal with whats surrounding me, or what we see as popular culture, i think it mainly has to deal with on the topic of how we " feel' inside everyday when we wake up. Sometimes I feel my identity changes, with what clothes I choose to wear in the morning. I can say my current Identity has changed a little since I've started to listen to punk music. I never lsitened to that kind of music before until I came to college, and it really changed my view on a lot of topics. For the good and bad. I do feel that everyones identity changes each and everyday. From what maybe popular, might not be tomorow. Such as fashion, and what is cool to wear and what isn't. I know since I've started to listen to punk muisc my dress wear is a little different. Instead of me dressing in baggie clothes, I've came to like the more tight fitting clothes, just because I feel it suits me better. In the next 10 years its going to be interesting to see how much peoples identities change.
I agree with the fashion being a popular culture that sucks us in. As I have mentioned in class before, the way I dress in this country and my home country differs in some ways because of the different views in fashion, sexuality, sociopolitical ideologies in the two countries.
I’ve always had my own ideal in fashion—a simple T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans!!
What may sound funny is that back in Japan, all my friends thought that I was “cool” for being this way. This was that girls’ fashion in Japan is a lot more various and different compared to the one in the U.S. Girls’ clothes have more different styles; for example, let’s say we have “the popular” style from the stores you will see in any malls, Goth, Punk, …etc. In Japan, they have so-called “teens/ young (but it is for our ages too)” “gals,” “pop,” “young ladies,” “Harajuku,” “Urahara,” “R&B,” “hip hop,” …etc. All my Japanese girl friends wear such fashionable, delicate, some times complex clothes. Dressing up in heals and accessories for school is so normal that being so simple in fashion was different and another way of being stylish.
However, after started studying at IUP, I immediately realized how everybody, and I mean everybody, wear T-shirts and blue jeans. I was no longer “stylish” for being different from others. I also learned that the many of American clothes are made to show body shapes, while Japanese clothes are not. This has to do with the strong focus on sexuality in American popular culture. So my fashion style has been adjusted and sucked into American style. I actually do feel comfortable in my new fashion style; however, some times they can be a little too exposing, too dynamic (huge earrings especially).
In general, Japanese styles are a lot more conservative than American styles. So when I go back to Japan, I don’t wear certain clothes that are considered “normal” here simply because they can be inappropriate. I switch my identities a little bit to be more conservative to fit in Japanese culture.
It is interesting because you really aren't aware that your identity is being challenged or changed as you enter a certain space, but it happens on a daily basis. For example, when I am at a bar or a club that happens to have a lot of dancing, I tend to try to fit in by dancing. Now don't get me wrong, dancing isn't an unusual thing. But I will try to dance a certain way to fit in with the people around me. Another place where I find that my identity is often challenged is at a job interview. Often times, based on the type of position I am interviewing for, I will change how I dress or speak in order to fit in and make myself appealing to a prospective employer. Our identities are challenged all the time when we enter different spaces. Sometimes because we feel the need to fit in, sometimes just because of our innate desire to conform without actually intentionally doing it.
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