Creative Exploration of Group 1 – Jersey Shore and Geordie Shore In week 8 of Media Entertainment and Popular Culture we presented creative explorations on various popular culture products. The creative exploration of Group 1 got my attention in particular. The focus of the exploration were two reality TV-shows produced by MTV – Jersey Shore (US) and Geordie Shore (UK). Geordie Shore is the glocalized version of Jersey Shore, that depicts common misleading stereotypes of working class people in the UK. Glocalization, can be seen as opposite of Americanization - the spread of American ideology and values through various media products. In this case, glocalization is a form of cultural globalization, the adaptation of globally marketed products
Television programs often retain an aspect of reality in order to relate to the audience and commentate on social issues. Although both The Goldbergs and The Twilight Zone address controversial issues such as gender roles, insanity, and ethnic stereotypes, genre differentiates their approach and their audiences’ receptiveness to change. Whereas The Goldbergs, an ethnic sitcom, addresses the external world using comedic relief, The Twilight Zone, a science fiction program, delves into the human mind using imagination. Despite their common efforts to direct social change, the programs are inverse images of one another, and The Twilight Zone’s genre structure allows it to resonate more with the audience. From 1949 to 1956, The Goldbergs dominated television as the first televised sitcom.
Terry Golway’s “A Nation of Idol Worshipers” is an article written about his own perspectives about american television and the ways it has ruined the minds of americans. Golway expresses that he believes in today 's society doesn 't find real careers aspiring. Americans are influenced by what they see on television. Shows such as American Idol and America 's got talent taint the minds of youth brainwashing them to think that fame is the only aspiring thing life has to offer. The glitz and glam shown on TV are distracting americans from the real idols and the important aspirations and goals in which they should be aiming for.
I agree that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society. Entertainment is everywhere, and there are millions of people around the world every day who are influenced by entertainment. There are commercials and shows on TV, lots of music, radio commercials, comedians and actors, and video games, as well as many more forms of entertainment that reach millions of people daily. Wherever you look, there are bound to be people immersed in some form on entertainment, whether that be games on their cell phone, radio, or music. Since we are so reliant on entertainment to distract and captivate us, it is a reasonable statement to say that entertainment could run, and possibly ruin, society.
Entertainment is seen everywhere whether it 's reading a book or seeing a movie with friends. Entertainment can shape a society and many individuals include time for entertainment on a daily basis. Many people love entertainment and find it as mode of relaxation. The truth is that entertainment has the capacity to “ruin” society. The concept of entertainment in society has been growing and has the capacity to ruin the state of society while negatively influencing individuals.
This includes the concept of lingua franca, diffusion, and non-material culture. The article references how globalization has a long term effect on the French language in Canada. Globalization is defined as the “shrinking” of the world in terms of communication and interaction, this plays a role in the diffusion of the lingua franca of English. Since English is the lingua franca of the world, the language the used around the world to do business and well as communicate with each other, many people will be learning English for better communication with other parts of the world. This article could also relate to the concept of non-material culture.
Throughout the show we see common pop culture concepts cited. One example would be Social-Conflict Theory. Propounded by Karl Marx, the theory claims that individuals or groups
In the 90’s MTV started to focus less on music videos due to the decline in ratings and started to create programming such as reality shows, game shows, cartoons, talk shows and dramatic series. This differed from their traditional twenty-four-hour music video programming but as the youth changed their interest and focus so did MTV. Shows Like The Real World, Beavis and Butthead became the new staples of the network due to the popularity it garnered with the Teen and young adult demographics. As the world entered into the 2000’s and social media started to emerge the network again reinvented itself by losing all of its music programming and centered the rest of its show around social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Many people who were once fans of the music giant criticize the network because of its lack of music programming .Cameron
The viewers related to the show and gave the network their full and undivided attention. Ultimately, the teens adopted the attitudes and behaviors they were exposed to. Personally, I have been a part of such loop when I was an adolescent. I followed trends such as clothing, shoe ware, soft drinks, cellular phones, TV shows and more.
A number of products are massified and distributed in trough media, but within those we can still find niche sections. I believe the real distinction should be, within mass culture, is it if something is “kitsch” or not. Although, I watch television on a regular basis it doesn’t mean that I watch every single reality TV, soap opera that is on. I may choose, instead, to watch other shows like a documentary on the History channel, a poker game or renowned TV series. In a sense, we can say that reality TV is a mass culture product – kitsch - but watching Breaking Bad or The Wire or even House of Cards, can be seen as way to challenge that same mass culture.
Pop Culture in Academia One may ask, is studying pop culture in academia worthwhile? In the 21st century, people are completely immersed in pop culture. According to Dictionary.com, popular culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people” and it has become a norm in daily life (Popular culture, 2018). Due to pop culture’s massive influence, most of what we do is shaped by pop culture in some way; therefore, studying pop culture with all the same importance of any other subject would be beneficial in many ways. Studying pop culture may allow us to understand trends in culture that can aid in other careers, as well as study societal and power constructs with greater precision.
Cultural globalization is often understood as the spatial diffusion of global products. At a deeper level, cultural globalization may be seen as the contested process of internationalization of values, attitudes and beliefs. The spread of cultural practices and symbols makes the world more the same, but at the same time triggers resistance. Hence, cultural globalization while uniting the world is also seen to strengthen local cultures and is a major force behind the creation of identities. Such homogenization or differentiation can be noticed in the change of cultural practices and consumption patterns over time and space.
In this sense glocalization lends itself to the idea of heterogenization, the adoption of elements of global culture to local cultures. The spreading of the local shows as well as the original show allows for cultures and countries to see how they differ and are similar to
Meet Sophie Rawson, a twenty year old on her year abroad from the United Kingdom to intern at her top choice in the United States: the University of San Diego, California. Graciously, the International House on campus got me in touch with the lovely lass to talk politics and media over a phone call. As a program and marketing communications intern there, she was more than willing to explain to me her insight into the media systems she was exposed to living in the UK. The two of us covered various topics during the interview, though focused among them were media faucets such as online articles, and television both serious and satirical. Through her experience, I explore the analysis of Hallin and Mancini’s Northern Atlantic media pattern in
Chapter 5: Do soap operas break boundaries? Soap operas have dominated television screens for over fifty years, and are now integral to British culture. People prefer to gossip about soap opera characters and storylines, more than they do about those they know in real life (Brooks, 1994). Though soap operas are not often considered a contributing factor of a change in society, there is evidence that suggests that this genre has been successful in educating the masses - with their combination of drama and societal commentary - they have been able to capture people’s attention, and bring an entirely new perspective to a large audience.
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,