Sex in the Media - Media-Centered Perspective

The Tea Party Movement

For my last blog for the class, I have decided to save the most meaningful one to me for the end. For a little over a year now, the Tea Party Movement has emerged throughout the country. As the days go by, the movement seems to keep growing at an effective rate. I remember just before a year ago on Tax Day 2009, there were many protests throughout many sections of the country. Most of these were covered by Fox News, and virtually ignored by many of the other networks, or at least not taken seriously. This was not a surprise to me since President Obama’s approval numbers were still relatively sky-high along with the fact that the Republican Party’s perception was relatively still very low.

Yet the movement did not stop. It continued to grow and began to gain more attention and credibility as the weeks and months went by. The past summer of 2009, the main issue that I can recall was health care reform, which kept being fought on throughout the whole calendar year and into the new year of 2010. The 2009 election year, a very small one compared to most, featured two surprising Republican Party victories in the states of Virginia and New Jersey. They were followed up by arguably the most shocking political upset in history as Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s former seat in Massachusetts, on the issue of healthcare nonetheless, which happened to be Kennedy’s lifelong crusade. After these victories, along with the passing of the Healthcare Reform Bill last month, the Tea Party Movement grew louder and stronger.

Near the Eve of Tax Day 2010, roughly 1 year after the Tea Party Movement began to form, I find myself sitting her and thinking to myself “This is the perfect example of popular culture itself”. I think there is no greater example, or at least no higher example, than ordinary citizens like you and me coming together, speaking out over an issue, and forming together to create a movement that has the power to effect each and every one of our lives. The Tea Party Movement is an effective example of this, and I believe that we won’t be seeing the last of it for a while.

War and Pop Culture

I think war and pop culture has shared a conncection toward one another throughout much of our history, especially in our recent history with the current War on Terror. News reports, news articles, and news shows generally show a daily, possibly hourly coverage when our country is in a war. I remember when the Iraq War first began in March of 2003, there was constant news coverage of it on all the networks. For a while, it seemed like it was a 24/7 coverage.
War can also interfere with popular culture as well. For example I remember that the beginning of the Iraq War was covered constantly to the point where coverage of that year’s NCAA Tournament was moved to ESPN so CBS would be able to show coverage of the war. Another example that most people don’t often think of would be every time the President makes a prime time address to the nation. Most often, it may interfere with a popular TV show such as LOST or American Idol. While it may not necessarily be about a war, keep in mind that the President is still the Commander in Chief of the military.
A more obvious example of war connecting with pop culture would be in terms of movies, books, documentaries, video games, and all varieties of entertainment. Some of the most popular movies, TV shows, and books are about war, both fiction and nonfiction. As you can see, war in general can have a direct impact on popular culture.

Culture Jamming and Politics

In the past few weeks as we’ve talked about culture jamming it got me thinking about the many examples of this in real life and why they are effective. Many examples of culture jamming, and the ones that I generally are able to remember the most, tend to be more politically oriented.

I think a classic example of this would be the Billionaires for Bush movement that existed throughout much of former President George W Bush’s Presidency, and especially during the 2004 Presidential Election campaign. The Billionaires for Bush were a grassroots movement of people who opposed the President, and would satirize him and his supporters by dressing as so called “billionaire moguls” and CEOs that would normally support the President and most Republicans in general. They would generally hold up signs promoting pro-Bush policies in a rather mocking way, and would often go to anti-war or anti-Bush rallies and pretend to be defending the Bush Administration, when in reality they were merely mocking the Administration. While I didn’t agree with the group, I found their method to be rather effective because they managed to draw a lot of attention at events and would do so in a more peaceful/nonviolent way. By posing as a satire of the Bush supporters, they were able to last throughout the entire previous decade as an effective grassroots movement. In fact just recently due to the healthcare debate, they have adopted a new name for the moment, called “Billionaires for Wealthcare”.

This is one of many examples of political culture jamming that I think has been used lately and could eventually be used in the future as well. Obviously not all examples of culture jamming are political, but when you tie in politics or a political issue toward a group, then it can be used as a very effective culture jamming method.

Pop Culture and Capitalism

Pop culture and capitalism have a direct link with each other. Both work hand in hand together to strive in the mainstream American society that we live in today. Capitalism is the free economic competition to thrive in society. It rewards those who work the hardest and do the best. In a similar sense, pop culture in general is like this as well. Executives and marketing experts choose the most popular shows, movies, songs, and ads to get aired the most for the consumers who demand to see/hear them the most.

In a free, democratic, and capitalist society, there is free open competition amongst networks, recording groups, and motion picture companies. Each compete freely and offer the highest money to the best actors, the best directors, the best artists, and the best writers in order to make the most money. In return, the consumers will spend their hard earned money to see the best movies and buy their favorite music of their choice. Likewise, they will also spend their free time, and even for some diehard fans, will even go lengths to MAKE time in order to make sure they get to see their favorite TV shows.

As you can see, both popular culture and capitalism work together in this sense. It is because of our capitalist and democratic society that allows for popular culture to be mass produced, massively advertised, and massively purchased throughout our country. At the same time, it is pop culture that helps make capitalism as great as it is. Capitalism allows for a very diverse and successful pop culture environment, while the consumers' desire for this pop culture environment allows for capitalism to exist.

Why Study Pop Culture?

In order to explain this, we first need to make it clear what pop culture is. Pop culture, according to Sellnow, is comprised of the everyday objects, actions, and events that influence people to believe and behave in certain ways. TV shows, movies, news, publications, video games, instant messaging, and the internet are just a few of the many examples that could be classified as pop culture.

So why study it? The reason why is because pop culture has a direct impact on our lives. They make us who we are. The TV shows and movies that we watch, the video games and sports that we play, the books and news publications that we read, all of these things make up our own self identity. In a more broader sense, they don't just define us, they can define an entire generation as well.

When you look back through time at the history of pop culture, we learn about the dominant and most popular lifestyles that defined the era. We learn of the movies that were most popular, the news anchors that were most watched and respected, the books and authors that were the most read and cherished, fashion statements and trends that existed from time to time, the music and musicians that we listened to, and the sports stars and teams that we watched and idolized. Through the years millions of people in America and around the world became fascinated and inspired by these trends. They influenced the way people thought, acted, and lived their lives.

Pop culture has defined generations in many different ways throughout history. The lives it impacts and the generations it has defined remind us of what the United States and the world used to be like. In return it also has a direct impact on the pop culture of the future, such as the ones mentioned above that are currently defining our generation. We study these trends over the years to understand why things are like what they are now, and what they may be like in the future.