Is Pop Culture Good for You?

    As we live at the height of pop culture, society has made great shifts in directions that are unmanageable. The industry of all things pop culture has never been a pleasant one. Throughout its inception, there have been many positives and many negatives. There have been many examples across the decades that show us what it was really like in those times. One thing that will make pop culture as big as it is in 2023 is social media. Social media has the power to bring people from all walks of life together to share their favorite interests and ideas in one place. Although social media is a very strong place, there are things that can make it a dangerous place. The reason for this is that so many people can get influenced to do things they would never do, but if their favorite celebrity or influencer is doing it, people are going to find a way to get it. For example, at times, social media as a whole can promote things like weight loss in unhealthy ways, setting unrealistic beauty standards, causing people to buy unnecessarily materialistic things for the latest trends, and other things. However, with this in mind, apart from that, it is not even the tip of the iceberg that begs the question, “Is pop culture good for you?”
    Before answering this question, is pop culture good for you, really? Pop culture can be defined as “modern popular culture transmitted via the mass media and aimed particularly at younger people,” according to Oxford Languages. Pop culture can be things like “TV, movies, pop music, and more” that can be found in the heading of The New York Times. In addition, from all of the readings, TED Talks, and group discussions that we had the last two weeks. The one that explained it best was in the Ted Talk by Alexandre O. Philippe. Though he gave his best shot at defining what pop culture is, he explained it like this: “This is a World War II soldier. No. Absolutely not pop culture. Now, Stormtrooper… Yes! That is most definitely pop culture” (Philippe 2013). Then he further goes on to give a couple of more examples, like drawing the conclusion that pop culture is an idea or piece of content that is pieced together, shared through media, and has a common joy or expertise. Moreover, all of these factors, like movies, TV, music, and social media, are the foundation of pop culture, and for the average audience, there may be a line that gets drawn at a point where there is no overconsumption. But at times that line can be blurred, and this creates the phenomenon of overglamorizing pop culture as a whole. Additionally, to come back to the question, I personally can’t say that all things are done with good intentions because, at the end of the day, pop culture as a whole is a type of art form, and it is subjective to say that it is bad since not all aspects of pop culture are negative and no two people are going to have the same opinions. Since most of the industry is built on so many workers that produce movies, TV, and other forms of media. This is the one place that allows people to become creative with their ideas and be able to express and share their joy with the media. And this can be said for music and social media as well, because within the last twenty years or so, humans have been connecting to music and social media like never before. And so many memorable memes come from people who enjoy posting funny jokes on the internet, and this also goes into so many topics on social media. Therefore, every aspect of pop culture has influenced something at one point or another.

        Furthermore, pop culture has been a string that connects our society together. And it means finding ways to intertwine everyone’s life together and being able to provide information that helps make decisions, whether they are big or small. Take things like anime and KPOP; they both have made a significant amount of impact within the last ten to twenty years and have made money like no other compared to the west. One of the highest-grossed animes of all time is Pokémon, and there are so many more. With a profit of an estimated $100 billion, according to a CBR article. However, one of my favorite animes of all time, “Demon Slayer,” was able to make a profit of $9 billion, making it the fourteenth highest-grossed anime of all time. This goes to show that no matter the age, there is always a genre of media everyone can enjoy. Next, KPOP came in with a total of $4.7 billion made in the second quarter of this year, according to Billboard. And KPOP companies have made a whopping 71% in average revenue growth, which is more than a lot of companies here in the United States can make in one year. There is one thing to note about this: there are working-class people who are able to make to it these types of concerts, especially when the tickets can be very expensive. And with this in mind, this makes a huge dent in the economy. Currently, some of the most popular groups in this decade are BTS, Stray Kids, Blackpink, and so many other groups and artists. All in all, this goes to show how powerful pop culture and social media really are on the global spectrum. And how these types of industries can influence the common people.

                                                   (Members of Stray Kids via Billboard)             (Members of BTS via The Harvard Crimson)

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                        (Pokémon via IMDB)                                      (Demon Slayer via IMDB)

    Finally, I think it is important that there is a clear line between social media and pop culture because, as much as pop culture can be a good thing in the grand scheme of things, there can be avenues that may not be the greatest. However, social media is not being the greatest thing for all human society either. But social media is one aspect of pop culture that, at times, can intersect and be popularized. The types of apps we use for social media have no indication that they can be part of pop culture. It is even like what Gladwell spoke about in his article about the drawbacks of social media because it creates this form of social activism in this day and age. Throughout the article, he has so much to say about how social media is structured and how people use it, but he doesn’t have the same feelings about pop culture. Since pop culture brings everyone together, on the opposite side of the spectrum, social media will find a way to separate people because everyone wants to be heard all at once and wants to get the most attention, and this is where the problems start and lie. To conclude, I think that though both sides have many positives and negatives, there needs to be a line drawn in the sand when things can get too much. Social media is only one side of pop culture, and it doesn’t completely define what it means to have pop culture. And now back to the question, “Is pop culture good for you?” I personally think in general it can be a good thing because this is one thing that we as a society have to do to help connect people from all walks of life, and there can be times where pop culture can make a significant cultural impact that can change the minds of so many.

Sources:
1. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 22 Jan. 2021, www.imdb.com/title/tt9335498/.

2. Peoples, Glenn. “K-Pop Companies Had Average Revenue Growth of 71% in Q2.” Billboard, 16 Aug. 2023, www.billboard.com/pro/k-pop-companies-revenue-growth-71-percent-average-q2-2023/.

3. Petrou, Papi. “10 Highest-Grossing Anime Franchises of All Time, Ranked.” CBR, 22 Aug. 2023, www.cbr.com/highest-grossing-anime-franchises/#pretty-cure.

4.“Pokémon.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 8 Sept. 1998, www.imdb.com/title/tt0168366/.

5. pop culture definition - Google Search

6. “Pop Culture.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/spotlight/pop-culture.

 
7. Regassa, Alisa S., and Crimison Staff Writer. “What the Hell Happened: BTS Confirm New Album: Arts: The Harvard Crimson.” Arts | The Harvard Crimson, 21 Apr. 2022, www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/4/21/bts-permission-to-dance-on-stage-vegas-new-album-we-are-bulletproof/.

8. “Why Pop Culture?: Alexandre O. Philippe at TEDxMileHigh.” Performance by Alexandre O. Philippe, YouTube, YouTube, 15 July 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3UYncNwz4