'Look What You Made Me Do Just Smashed Another Record'

Popular culture has significantly shaped political attitudes over time. Designed to appeal to the masses and aided by the advancements of social media and technology, the reach of popular culture has expanded exponentially. For instance, celebrated singer song-writer Taylor Swift has broken records on her latest album’s leading video, Look What You Made Me Do, amassing more than 42 million views in YouTube approximately 28 hours after posting (Hodak, “Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ Just Smashed Another Record”). Pop culture’s remarkable ripple effect has caused its significant influence in its viewers’ preferences and activities in its various forms. Its extending reach has impacted belief systems and political attitudes as well.

In Child Development, Laura E. Berk notes that teenagers in particular feel the need to cope with the trends due to their strong urge for peer acceptance. The philosophies of rising pop culture icons are also reasons why people immerse themselves in pop culture. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, for example inspire people to be the best version of themselves and that anything is possible. (“Effects of Popular Culture on Teens”) Many forms of pop culture have inspired and served as avenues for youth to express themselves. Pop culture has actually been employed in classroom settings and has been used to stimulate students to be more engaging in classroom instruction. (Caso, Hamilton

South African officials promoted rural music during apartheid while urban music was prohibited. This served as an act of expression that shed light on the injustices of apartheid, which played a major role in the reform of the South African government. (Jang et al. 114) Political novels such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli me Tangere have successfully inspired the spirit of rebellion among their target readers. Many of these political works are regarded as classics, used in classroom instruction and are still the fuel in present movements. George Orwell’s Animal Farm however provides an interesting case. It is a common misconception that in writing this novel, Orwell had the objective of going against the “socialist” cause, but he was in fact, devoted to British socialism, and insisted that its purpose was to warn readers against a dangerous form of socialism. (Orwell) The classic novel that sold nearly 600, 000 copies four years after publication and has not stopped selling since, has arguably formulated notions of socialism in its readers’ minds, which may be very contrary to the objective of the