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Popular Culture In Thomas Pynchon's Vineland

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Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland” was released in 1990 but its main storyline is set in 1984 with frequent flashbacks to decades preceding the 1980s in order to introduce the reader to the past of the main characters in the novel. Those ages are notable for major political and economic shifts with capitalism going stronger than ever. 1984 is a significant year in American and world history. Most notably, the president of the US at the time was Ronald Reagan, whose was known for his conservative policies and the so-called Reaganomics, and during that year he was just in the middle of serving his first term. However, the first thing that comes to one’s mind when they hear 1984 is George Orwell’s novel of the same name, released in 1949, a dystopian novel. The story of Frenesi Gates is set in the …show more content…

Some would say it includes all forms of art that are well liked by many people, while others argue that the so-called “high-culture” is an exclusive category which is superior to pop culture which appeals to the masses; however, there is no universal opinion on what is considered “high” and what popular culture (Storey …show more content…

Given the political and social circumstances of the time, they were militant and anti-establishment. The group would show up for the events they wanted to document. An especially comical gathering they attended was the declaration of the College of the Surf, which made the decision to split from California and become The People’s Republic of Rock and Roll, being led by a maths teacher called Weed Atman, whose name is not a coincidence as the sudden radicalization of the College of the Surf was started by someone smoking

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