Popular Culture

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6iUrRifHCk

Popular Culture • The word popular means “of the people”• The word culture refers to the distinct practices,

artifacts, institutions, customs and values of a particular social group

• Mass Culture refers to the information we receive through print and electronic media. It is an important component of popular culture because of the immense size of its audience

• Sub-Culture or Counter Culture are terms that describe movements that resist conformity to popular culture

Popular Culture vs. High Culture

• Popular culture represents elements of everyday life, the artifacts and institutions shared by society, and a body of common knowledge

• High culture consists of artifacts traditionally considered worthy of study by academics. I.e. classical music, “fine” art, literature, etc.

• Popular culture encompasses the most immediate and contemporary elements in our lives. These elements are often subject to rapid changes in a highly technological world.

• Some elements of popular culture have the capacity to retain their popularity and become representative of high culture.

Andy Warhol and Pop Art“The World Fascinates

Me”

Conventions of Popular Culture

• It is transitory in nature (constantly changing)

• It is time specific

• It involves the shared knowledge, practices and artifacts of a specific group of people within a specific time

• Popular culture both reflects and influences people’s way of life (it has the potential to initiate change) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3UYncNwz4

Why is it important?

• In many ways, Popular Culture is the Instagram feed or snapshot that documents our lives in the social world.

• It is a backdrop of day-to-day life

• Everyone in our society navigates a range of Popular Culture and media in their everyday life

PARIS: High Art

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame Cathedral

Mona Lisa

Medium Culture

• Harry Potter

• Oprah

• CNN

• Bob Dylan

• The Beatles

• Game of Thrones

• Baseball

• Beyonce

Low Culture

• Tabloids

• Infomercials

• Keeping up with the Kardashians

• Nikki Minaj

• Fart jokes

• Vine

Popular Culture 21st century: Twilight• The Twilight books spawned everything from

movies to merchandise

• Terms from the novels/films became part of the vernacular (i.e. everyday language): “Team Edward” vs. “Team Jacob”

• The second last film revolves around the marriage of Bella to her vampire love. The series is so popular that Bella’s wedding gown will be available for purchase for those brides who want to experience the Twilight fantasy.

Bella Swan’s Wedding

Kristen Stewarts’s dress was designed by Carolina Herrera. Women who wish to wed in an identical gown, will soon be able to purchase the dress from a line called “Twilight Bridal” which is available in stores!

The dress is sold under the Alfred Angelo brand and costs $799.

Herrera did not design the knock off dress herself, but worked with Angelo’s ateliers to ensure the design was accurate.