Who has the People Magazine????

I don’t believe that when something becomes “popular,” it has diminished “meaning” or “value.” In fact I believe that in today’s world popular culture defines what our culture is. Maybe it’s not some kind of painting or magnificent piece of literature. But lets face it, times are changing and our culture changes with that. Back when Mozart was round they didn’t have television or the radio. Technology was a thing of the future. Today we are filled with technology. This technology gives us the attitude, “if it makes my life easier and more satisfying, I want it!” Our art is expressed differently than it was back in the 1800’s and whether or not we like it, popular culture is going to be with us for a long, long time.

In the end it is the people that decide what is “popular”. I believe that the artist has a very little amount of control over what we use or receive from their art work. As we have learned throughout this class people have different cultures. So if I were to watch an episode of The Simpson’s compared to someone who were to watch that same exact episode in China; well our views would be completely different. That’s the genius behind popular culture. It varies within different cultures. American popular culture is completely different from North Korean popular culture. Another great thing is that popular culture crosses over into other societies. The Europeans are becoming more and more influenced by American popular culture.

Whether it is high culture or popular culture, we decide which falls into what category. Some people might look at it as the high culture controls the pop culture, because the high culture individuals are the ones making the pop culture or involved in it somehow. And whether to say Kurt Cobain would have been happier and better off if he were to have stayed in Seattle with no one ever knowing him. Well one thing is for sure is that he would probably still be alive today, but I don’t think he would have been happier.

Check out this link from a very popular show in Japan. The object of this scene is to repeat the line on the screen in a short amount of time without messing up. If you succeed you go on to the next round. If you don’t…well check it out. What if Jeopardy were like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_0kCSYBWZs