Electronic Media: An Element of Popular Culture - Essay Example

? Number] Electronic Media: An Element of Popular Culture The term ‘Popular culture’ pertains to theidea of prevalent customs or trends in the customary society. Thus, it signifies that; the actions practiced by general public of any society become popular culture trends. Therefore, any element of popular culture is produced by the people through a reflective process on the bases of their beliefs and standards. Moreover, popular culture acts like a mirror which reflects back perceptional beliefs of any community (Forbes & Jeffrey, 5). However, not all the elements of popular culture have been beneficial for the society like alcoholism, violence and bullying. In the twenty first century electronic media has taken pivotal position in shaping and forming popular cultural trends. Technology and culture have always been integrated through one another; the former cannot work without the contribution of later. Thus, their co-production and co-dependence makes their synergic relationship imperial for human race. With the expansion of technology, mass media became inevitable phenomena for human beings. Thus, they innovatively and meticulously constructed a platform, which could act like a hub for the exchange of communication around the horizon. With the commencement of television networks and broadcasts in the late twentieth century, a new culture emerged with its diverse and odd ethics. This new culture gained instant popularity and general public hooked to it for the attainment of entertainment, authentic news and beneficial information. With increased viewership, the values depicted on the electronic media became the values of existing societies and vice versa. For instance, through the science fiction shows in 1950’s and 1960’s (Commando Cody, Rocky Jones, Promethean struggle for survival, Buck Roger, Space Ranger, etc,) electronic media aimed to unite the youth under the cold war influence and instill nationalism in them for the sake of alien or enemy (Miller & Riper, chp.4). However, with the insurgence of freedom of expression campaigns, the censor policy was reduced and modified so to sustain the flow of expression. Therefore, controversial aspects like violence, strong language and content were shown and viewer likeness was kept in regard to produce shows, as the viewers disdained those shows which lacked the strong content. Thus, electronic media presented war facts till 1960’s, which changed the liking of audience and they were accustomed to view violence full content (Mittell, 63). Hence, it established the bad-fellow culture, which gained instant popularity especially, among youngsters of the society and became the foundation of gang and bully culture. With the advancement of technology, the expansion of electronic media took a swifter pace and became inevitable for the existing societies. Thus, print media, telecommunication, social media networks, news broadcasts, documentaries and discoveries, reality TV shows, music and film industry played key role in forming and sustaining perceptions all around the globe. Therefore, one assumes that values, beliefs and popular trends were primarily generated by the electronic media representatives and later they were depicted in idealistic manner so to form pop-culture trends. For example, with the increased advertisements of tourist spots travelling trend increased for Malaysia, Hawai and many other countries. Thus, people planned to spend their vacations on promising luxurious spots shown on television to taste the ecstasy, promised by the advertiser (Singh, 193). If we observe peculiarly, electronic media has a dominant position in our lives. We cannot consider our lives without it and some of us completely rely on it for our social life as well. We begin our day either with a news paper or quick updates of news from BBC or CNN, our success and failures are posted on the social media network and we expect our friends and acquaintances to respond over there. Our dietary plan directly comes from commercials or health and fitness shows. Our dressing trend is influenced from the magazines like People, Time, Elle, Glamour, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, Seventeen, Life, Playboy and Maxim. Thus, pop-stars and famous celebrities on these printed magazines inspire body images (air brushed), which become impractical and unreachable. Therefore, if only one of the aforementioned depicted value is missing or absent, one becomes an entity to ridicule in our popular culture. I also believe that MTV shows and Star Trek series have influenced our thought process to such an extent, that we believe in the judgments and actions of fiction heroes to spend our life. Lately, Singers, Actors, Models, Journalists and Bloggers have the power and ability to influence and inspire. Therefore, our life has become complex, which requires us to prove our ability and importance to the society or become worthless and docile. A prominent example of this would be celebrities visiting jail and facing legal penalties like Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus. Although, every day we come across numerous news of celebrities breaking laws and involving in illicit actions (drug and misconducts), but instead of disliking them; their fame and repute ascends with their stance on such actions. Thus, tweets and Facebook status acknowledge people of their perspective like Amanda Bynes’s recent claim of being abused by the police officer and her denial of throwing bong out of the car window (“Huffpost Celebrity”). This bad-fellow popular culture trend is firing back now; celebrities are voluntarily involving into illicit actions to earn negative repute and as a result idolized by the youth. The psychological notion here could be ‘to take a stand for what you believe in’, however, indulging in crime, violence, and drugs do not qualify for this sake. Viewers, readers and followers are simultaneously inspired and influenced by the actions of these celebrities. Thus, bad or wrong act of these do not qualify for misconducts and depravity unless they are related to crimes like murder or rape. Nevertheless, these popular cultural trends are making individuals self- conscious, aggressive, disgruntled and undermines their special characteristics. Moreover, it encourages immoral trend of traits, which would cause a long term side effect like mass shooting as happened in the case of T. J Lane (teenager) shooting at the school of Ohio and killing three innocent children. The increased display and access of ammunition has been influencing the youth for power and recognition. And depicting the notion that change can happen through force and repute is good even though earned through an illicit action. The anxiety to become known has increased people rely on their facebook and twitter contacts more rather than their actual family and direct social circle. MTV culture or most commonly known as pop-culture initiated a long hour trend of television watching, especially for music fans. Thus, it induced the increased value of music in the society and made the music a manifest fact of life. Therefore, we can observe that there isn’t a single electronic gadget, which lacks the music features, for example, answering machines, alarm clocks, CD- player, MP3 players, I-pad, I-pod, I-phones, Android cell phone, computers, Laptops, cars, alarm system, doorbell, play stations, toys and etc. These all electronic commodities offer music features and thus, music becomes inevitable element of popular culture. Reality TV shows have inaugurated a trend of live TV-telecast from the lives of few individuals. Thus, these social celebrities from any TV show for instance Jersey Shores, Teen Moms, Rock of Love, The Real World and many others, influence many the way the carry themselves. For instance these celebrities have been shown with a strong inclination towards tanning, which has prevailed a dangerous and health hazardous habit of tanning especially; among the teens. Conclusively, electronic media has influenced our lifestyle in many ways, from shaping our lifestyle to our perception of other cultures and regions. However, I believe that with the alteration in censor policies of Electronic media in the twenty first century, violence, sex, nudity, alcoholism, slangs and distorting content was made available for the audience of all ages. This uncensored content has adversely affected the prevalent culture and especially; to the children and youth, who idolize thugs and thieves now. Moreover, it has pessimistically impacted society due to increase in crime and violence rate. With electronic media advantage of entertainment and instant knowledge, its detrimental effects on health cannot be ignored. However, with its (media culture) immense popularity and prestige across the globe we tend to ignore its long term detrimental effects and consume the short term benefits. Works Cited: "Amanda Bynes Speaks Out After Arrest: 'I Don't Drink Or Do Drugs' (UPDATE)." HuffPost Celebrity 25/ 5/ 2013, US n. page. Web. 28 May. 2013. . Forbes, Bruce D, and Jeffrey H. Mahan. Religion and Popular Culture in America. Berkeley: University of California press, 2005. Print. Miller, Cynthia J, and Riper A. B. Van. 1950's "rocketman" Tv Series and Their Fans: Cadets, Rangers, and Junior Space Men. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print. Mittell, Jason. Genre and Television: From Cop Shows to Cartoons in American Culture. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print. Singh, Jagbir. Ecotourism. New Delhi: I.K. International Pub. House, 2010. Print. Read More