Does popular culture change how society views an idea? Or does popular culture reinforce dominant ideas, thereby slowing the pace of change?

To prepare, read through this week’s Learning Resources.

• Violence

  Popular culture frequently has been accused of being too explicit, showing too much violence, pushing the boundaries of acceptable language, and displaying excessive nudity.

  A watershed moment in American television history is the infamous half-time performance at the Super Bowl in 2004 in which Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were performing. During the performance, a brief wardrobe malfunction occurred when Timberlake accidentally moved the fabric covering Jackson’s breast. While Jackson’s nipple was not exposed, most viewers believed it had been. This led to a crackdown by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the governmental body in charge of indecency on the public airwaves. The incident has been described as both an important moment for maintaining decency on the airwaves and so trivial as not to deserve comment.

  Consider how audiences have perceived indecent or violent behavior within popular culture. Have popular culture representations of violence or indecency pushed boundaries? Or have they reinforced societal ideas of what is appropriate?

Write a 300-word response in which you describe the influence of the intended audience on how the popular culture artifact in your discussion portrays messages about the issue.

sources:

American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Policy statement—Media violence. Pediatrics, 124(5). Retrieved from http://public.psych.iastate.edu/caa/abstracts/2005-2009/09AAPpolicy.pdf

Cieply, M., & Barnes, B. (2014, July 27). ‘Rule followers’ flock to a convention where fake violence reigns. New York Times, 14–17.

Jackson, S. (1991). The Lottery. In The Lottery and Other Stories. New York, NY: Farrar, 291–302.

Maloney, D. (2014). The violence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is actually good for teens [Blog post]. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2014/11/mockingjay-violence-teens

Schechter, H. (1996). A short, corrective history of violence in popular culture. New York Times Magazine, 145(50481), 32.

Menand, L. (2015, January 5). Pulp’s big moment: How Emily Brontë met Mickey Spillane. The New Yorker, 90(42), 62–69.

Retrieved from the Walden University Library databases.

This article discusses how literature classics were repackaged to appeal to a broader audience primarily through the use of cover art and cheap production costs.

Snider, M. (2014, March 13). Streaming makes rock royalty now: Grammy winner Lorde first made a big splash via digital streaming. USA Today.

Retrieved from the Walden University Library databases.

This article details how Lorde found an international audience despite being a virtual unknown outside of New Zealand.

Tschorn, A. (2014, May 27). 'Normcore' becomes fashionable, yet unclear. The Journal – Gazette.

Retrieved from the Walden University Library databases.

Normcore is a reaction to fashion trends. Advocates dress in ‘nothing special.’ It is a conflation of the terms normal and hardcore. In the process of reacting to fashion trends, 'normcore' has become a trend itself.

Watson, M. (2011, April 27). How can the Mona Lisa compete with a copy made from toast? New Statesman, 140(5050), 97.

Retrieved from the Walden University Library databases.

The author offers humorous opinions on art and culture. He cites an exhibition of Egyptian antiquities he attended in Melbourne, Australia, as an example of a phenomenon in which viewers find many of the world's most spectacular works of art less impressive than they otherwise might thanks to the prevalence of reproductions in popular culture.

Cultural Politics. (n.d.). Popular culture. Retrieved from http://culturalpolitics.net/popular_culture

Pop Matters. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.popmatters.com

USC Annenberg. (2014). Media, diversity, & social change initiative. Retrieved from http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/DrStacyLSmithMDSCI#…