ipl-logo

Petraca And Sorapure: The Role Of Popular Culture

702 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of mass media in culture

Hunter Crawford
Prof. McDonald
ENG 107D
25 September 2015 The Role of Popular Culture
Are the commonly held beliefs about beauty and success in American society reliant upon what is portrayed to us a by the mass media? In the short excerpt “Why Study Popular Culture” Petracca and Sorapure make the claim that “We see reflected in pop culture certain standards and commonly held beliefs about beauty, success, love, or justice”. For this claim, I have no objection. I agree that popular culture reflects the commonly held beliefs of American society. However, who is doing the reflecting is another question. The commonly held beliefs in which many of us share are ones that I believe are not our own. These values in which Petracca and Sorapure claim to see reflected by Pop Culture are those value that the mass media has created and American Society merely emulates. This can be seen in most of the society 's ideal view of what beauty is. We find ourselves identifying beauty with the supermodels we see in magazines, online ads, and TV.
These commonly held beliefs, I feel are being dictated by the mass media are ones that attempt to greatly influence our core values and beliefs. I will analyze these collective beliefs and …show more content…

Popular culture is molded off of what 's popular or what 's considered cool by the majority in society at a given time. So if you had the power to instantly make something cool or trendy you could create your own target market in which to sell to. The mass media has this power through advertisements and the beauty market is just one of the many I believe to be greatly impacted by it. When searching for the word beauty on Google the top results feature makeup companies and sites to buy products to try and make you look and feel like the unrealistic conceptualization of beauty you see in the

Show More
Related

Saturday Night Live Michael Omi Analysis

592 Words | 3 Pages

Michael Omi argues that popular culture is shaping America’s attitude towards race and says, “Since popular culture deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate.” (540). Popular culture shapes how society views people of other races through, music, movies, the media and in print ads. These stereotypical images that we see of other races on a daily basis have an enormous influence on racism. For example, if we were to turn on the radio and hear a rap song, most people would assume that the rapper is black, and when you think of a gardener the majority of people would assume that they are Hispanic.

Read More

Examples Of Masculinity In Slim's Table

736 Words | 3 Pages

The perfection they strove for controlled every detail of their daily lives, including their appearance of themselves, their families, their houses, the way they acted and the activities they participated in. Ross explains that “the media corporations do a much more efficient job than government institutions of managing the emotions, aspirations and disquiets of large populations” (Ross. Ch. 13). This can be applied to Americans today and their consumption of mass media. The media controls many aspects of our daily lives including influencing our ideas of politics, worldviews, religion, body image, fashion, relationships and activities.

Read More

Miss Representation Essay

539 Words | 3 Pages

Media has a significant effect on our culture and the direction our society is headed in. Miss Representation shows that

Read More

The Lord Of The Rings: Pop Culture Analysis

811 Words | 4 Pages

Well, this leads us to the final popular culture theory, which is through people’s expression of interests, choices, and activities. This theoretical camp believes that people are active agents which create cultural meanings through commodities created by the cultural industry (Takacs 6). Yet, individuals place their own meanings in different and personal ways (Takacs 6). Suggesting that no commodity has a pre-determined culture, but it is created by individuals through how they consume or make do with it (Takacs 6). Although the mass culture theories of transmission and production are evident in the creation of the trilogy it cannot explain all of its success.

Read More

John Butler's Song Review: Used To Get High

805 Words | 4 Pages

In today’s society, which is dominated by what people think of one person, or how they are perceived by the public eye, the masses tend to gravitate towards things that are considered “cool.” This can be seen in the purchase of name brands such as Nike or Supreme, simply because it carries the logo that people hope will make them feel accepted or cool. This gravitation towards popular things simply because they carry a name brand or have a large following drive society backwards, as this discourages people to make their own decisions or utilize critical thinking to push society forward. As a result of this many artists continually choose to target many citizens appeal to popular. However not all pop culture artists are simply there to appeal

Read More

Old Women Stereotypes

467 Words | 2 Pages

We are all obsessed with the way we look. Being concern about our appearance is normal. When it comes to today 's depiction of men and women, I believe that what is shown as being "normal" is way off the mark. For human beings, there is no one true "normal" look. Everyone is different in many different ways including race, body type, hair style, skin color, etc.

Read More

The Importance Of Pop Culture In Academia

803 Words | 4 Pages

Between films, television, novels, and the Internet, there are many different types of popular culture in which society is immerged. One might argue that studying pop culture is shallow and worthless, but this is debatable because most of what we do is shaped by pop culture in some way. Studying pop culture may allow us to understand trends in culture that can aid in other society-based careers, as well as study societal and power constructs with greater accuracy. As technology and media develops further and further, pop culture should be studied in academia, as it is a relevant way to examine the moral constructs of the society and understand trends in culture. In the future, if pop culture is included in academia with the same importance as other subjects, future graduates may be more in tune with society than ever

Read More

Expectations And Standards Of Society In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

988 Words | 4 Pages

Consumer trends like fast fashion and over-consumption further influence fast-changing trends. Beauty standards and different lifestyles go in and out of style creating confusion and complex

Read More

Research Paper On American Pop Culture

335 Words | 2 Pages

Popular culture, also known as pop culture, refers to products and entertainment news that are being targeted for consumers and mass population. Due to the definition of pop culture, it changes in time as the population composition changes. Over the past 200 years the existence of American pop culture has learned how to embrace everyone around the world. American pop culture is a culture of unique ideas and entertainment that has been spread all over through social media and its massive appeal to different cultures. Not only music and movies but different entertainment such as news media and sports management.

Read More

Good Housekeeping: A Feminist Analysis

1817 Words | 8 Pages

Mass media represent a powerful force in modern societies as they shape public discourse and influence public opinion by transmitting social, political and cultural values. For decades, women’s representation in mediated popular culture has been a central problem because of the gendered ideologies it circulated. From the 1880s to the 1970s, American women’s magazines played a significant role in disseminating the dominant ideology and patriarchal order, perpetuating the myths of female disposability and domesticity, maintaining traditional images of femininity. They promoted the idea of women’s emotionality, vulnerability and beauty ideals.

Read More

The Nature Of Racialised Beauty In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

800 Words | 4 Pages

Claudia recognizes that if we conform to the Western standard of beauty, we may gain beauty but only at the expense of others. However, Claudia learns to love Shirley Temple; Claudia “learned much later to worship her” (Morrison, page 16) This suggests that the idea of beauty is something that is learned and not natural or

Read More

Television Influence On China's Popular Culture

1111 Words | 5 Pages

Popular culture is related to an enormous range of aspects. And all kinds of popular culture are connected with people. Popular culture can reflect the market and the consumption can also reflect the popular culture. Chinese

Read More

Society Beauty Standards

1164 Words | 5 Pages

According to the Straight/Curve website, about 70% of teenagers think that the ideal body type can be found in fashion magazines, while only 5% of women naturally look that way and about 91% of women diet to achieve what they feel is the perfect body size. Influence of mainstream media on the beauty standards Johnson (2016) stated that from television shows to commercials to magazine advertisements to celebrity culture, mainstream media has a big influence on how we understand beauty. That 's why media including films, spend money in order to cast for good-looking actors and actresses to trick people into setting up their belief on what beauty standard should be expected. Female characters in Hollywood films Films have the power that moves far beyond pure entertainment. In particular, they can sway our collective imagination and influence our perceptions on crucial issues related to race, class, gender, etc., but the extent to which they reflect real-world situations is bleak, particularly in regards to women.

Read More

Essay About Popular Culture

1281 Words | 6 Pages

People are immersed in popular culture during most of our waking hours. It is on radio, television, and our computers when we access the Internet, in newspapers, on streets and highways in the form of advertisements and billboards, in movie theaters, at music concerts and sports events, in supermarkets and shopping malls, and at religious festivals and celebrations (Tatum,

Read More

Influence Of Media On Society

998 Words | 4 Pages

Media are platforms of mass communication that can be categorized as either new of traditional media, with new media being forms of communication that make use of technologies such as the Internet, and traditional media being more conventional forms of media such as newspapers. Media, primarily new media, is getting more popular and influential, especially in today’s day and age since we are exposed to it a lot more than in the past and also since media is more easily accessible now. The media can shape our behaviours, perceptions and opinions, and it is important to know how people are influenced and impacted by it. The media can influence someone’s perception of social reality, or perceptions of beauty or even influence people’s behaviours and habits and therefore, the media does shape who we are. One way that the media can shape who we are is by influencing our perception of social reality.

Read More

More about Petraca And Sorapure: The Role Of Popular Culture

Related Topics

Open Document