Popular Culture: Not So Bad After All

Popular Culture has the ability to strengthen or weaken our minds. This depends on how well we interpret the information that is portrayed to us. In the book, “Everything Bad Is Good For You,” Steven Johnson explains the concept of the Sleeper Curve. He believes that mass entertainment in the form of video games, television, film, internet, etc has the potential to educate people. Steven Johnson goes into detail about IQ scores. His main point is that the people in our society are more intelligent than people in past generations. In my opinion, this shows that the media isn’t as bad for us as everyone makes it out to be. As technology advances, people get more and more sucked in to popular culture, yet our society is still advancing in the intelligence department. Granted, this has a lot to do with the school trends and our education system, but at least the media isn’t making us less intelligent than past generations. In order to become aware of how popular culture has the potential to educate us, I thought Steven Johnson’s analysis on video games and television shows was the most influential and enlightening.

Most people believe that video games are filled with violence and sex, but in actuality video games have the ability to educate young minds. Video games help with eye-hand coordination and with problem solving strategies. Some of the games are so difficult that people can spend hours trying to “beat,” just one level. Steven Johnson compares books to video games to help his reader understand that video games aren’t as bad as people make them seem. Even though video games will never be as significant as books are, in the way they educate the mind, video games give people the aptitude to use their imagination. According to Mary Schlimme, “Video games can be utilized to benefit players in several ways, such as through education about important topics...games can provide a context in which participants can discuss scenarios and outcomes in order to facilitate their understanding of important concepts.” As you can see, Steven Johnson is not the only person to agree with the fact that video games have the ability to educate the mind. Even though video games are sometimes looked at as being anti-social and addicting, the historical advancement that video games has undergone, gives people helpful skills for everyday life and can give students the idea that learning can be fun.

“The interactive nature of games means they will inevitably require more decision making than passive forms like television of film.” (Johnson 62) Just as games have increased people’s cognitive way of thinking so has television. When looking at the historical trends of television, shows like Mary Tyler Moore has the purpose to entertain, while TV shows today require you to think more and to evaluate what is actually going on. Steven Johnson states that shows from previous generations follow one plot, with one or two main characters, and a conclusion at the end of the episode. Shows on television today are more complicated, have many main characters, and many different storylines through out one episode. The end of the episode doesn’t always reach a conclusion. Being that the shows are more complicated, it requires more thinking and effort from the watcher. There is much more reality television today, than there was in the past. I think reality television is entertaining in the way that it is “unpredictable,” yet it is almost impossible to get any factual information from watching these reality shows. Watching a few hours of television is normal in order to escape reality, however, when children are sitting in front of the television for hours and hours on end, a real problem evolves. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of TV a day - even though the AAP guidelines say children older than 2 should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming.” In conclusion, I admit that I do watch shows like “That Girl,” and “I Love Lucy,” so it is easy to compare the shows from today’s generation to past generations. In my opinion, it is very evident to see how much these shows have changed. I believe that shows such as CSI, House and even Oprah are more influential than the older sitcoms.

After reading the book, “Everything Bad is Good For you,” by Steven Johnson, I have come to realize that students learn more useful and effective skills through books and educators, but since people are so dependant on popular culture, I think that it is important for popular culture to have more than one purpose. The main purpose of popular culture is to entertain. Being that our society gets sucked into spending an abnormal amount of time watching, listening, and playing with popular culture, it is helpful for our society to be educated and entertained simultaneously.

"The Rolls-Royce Statement"-Blog 4

“Entourage,” represents how famous people with money get sucked into the consumption of materialistic items. Vince Chase holds a lot of power being that he is the new “it guy” in the movie industry. The power he holds is also shown by his three friends who are also apart of his entourage. His entourage goes everywhere with him for entertainment and security purposes. Even though Vince’s manager clearly holds power over Vince’s entourage, his manager tells them to do whatever they need to do to keep Vince happy. The entourage also belongs to the upper class which is shown by the nice cars they drive and the expensive pets they own.

The clip I have chosen is from an episode where Vince decides that it is time to buy a new car. His first instinct is to purchase a Benz. After receiving a negative movie review, Vince and his entourage go car shopping. As they are walking to the dealership, his friend says to him, “Forget the Benz, what are you a soccer mom? I know what to get you.” While at the dealership, his friend convince him to look at the Rolls Royce. In order to persuade Vince to buy the Rolls-Royce, the car dealer claims that all the huge stars own one, Jay- Z, Queen Latifa, and Whitney Houston. This unintentionally suggests the negative stereotype that all African American music artists spend their money on expensive cars. The car dealer proceeds to say, “When you drive a Rolls-Royce, you are making a statement.” This implies that driving a Rolls-Royce will prove to everyone around him that he is very well off. Our society views people who drive expensive cars as being rich. For example, when a person is driving down the street in a Rolls- Royce, the first thought that usually comes to my mind is that the person must be loaded! As Vince and his entourage drive away in a new Rolls-Royce, Jay-Z’s “I got 99 problems, but a b*tch ain’t one” is blasting in the background. As they approach a red light, a car full of beautiful women pulls up next to them. Of course, the ladies compliment the car, and the boys invite them back to Vince’s house. The purpose of Jay-Z’s song is to show the audience (perhaps working class who dream of becoming big, or the middle or upper class) that Vince, while driving an extremely expensive car has no problem attracting women. The beautiful, skinny women in the car are just another example of how women are portrayed in the media. These wealthy men are shown to only be attracted to skinny, gorgeous girls. I don’t exactly find this offensive because I am aware that it is just used for entertainment purposes and is not always realistic.

The American Cultural Mythologies that this clip shows is the “Macho Manhood” and the “Player” representations. Vince acts as a macho man when he acts like he doesn’t care about the negative comments the movie critics say about him. The player representations are shown through out this clip. Vince and his entourage make it their priority to get as many women as they can. They do this by winking, smiling and flirting with any girl in their presence. In my opinion, the message of this clip is that money can buy materialistic things, such as cars and mansions, but it can’t buy happiness or success which refers to the movie critics’ negative comments about Vince’s acting.

"Biggest Entourage Fan"

I am a very family oriented person, as I have mentioned before. I am really close with all my family members, especially my aunt. My aunt is an accountant and does interior decorating on the side. She is a very busy woman. She gets up at 5:30 to get ready for work and to make her three children breakfast. She has 3 boys who are 9, 7, and 3 years old. She then takes her 2 eldest boys to school and drops her 3 year old off at daycare by 8:30. She finally arrives to work by 9:00. Her employees would never guess how busy her mornings are being that she is always well put together. She leaves work at 3:00 to pick up the boys and returns to work at home in her office and still makes sure her kids are doing their homework. Around 6:00, she makes dinner, cleans the house and does the laundry.

By looking at how hectic my aunt’s schedule is, makes it easier to see why she likes to take the time to watch her favorite show, Entourage. She doesn’t really have time to watch television until after 9:00, so she misses out on the relaxation of watching television until after her kids are asleep. Her days are very busy and television is her way to unwind at the end of a tiring day. She loves a good story she can get into in order to forget all the stresses of her day. It also keeps her mind away from thinking that she has to repeat the same hectic day in just a few hours. She loves the show Entourage because it’s humorous, flashy and easy to follow. There are a lot of guest celebrity appearances including Ana Ferris, Mandy Moore and Kanya West, who she surprisingly loves. The characters drive really nice cars, rub elbows with all the stars, and always do everything real elaborate. “The main characters live such a ridiculous lifestyle and money is never an issue.” Her favorite character is Lloyd. To my surprise, my uncle sometimes refers to my aunt as Lloyd whenever she runs up the Nordstrom’s bill. Lloyd is a homosexual man who likes to shop and is constantly primping himself. At the talent agency he works at, he is very hardworking, is a take charge person and is constantly holding the agency together. Being that my aunt owns her own company as an interior decorator, she is constantly feeling that the work doesn’t get done efficiently unless she is there to oversee everything herself. Lloyd is clean and anal about the house and especially his job. This resembles my aunt to the fullest. She is very organized and her house is so clean, you could eat off the floor. It isn’t exactly an escape from everyone’s reality, but it is an escape from her reality. There are rarely kids on the show, which almost helps her forget that her own children are just down the hall.

Being that it is on at 10:00, when her children are usually sleeping really keeps her focused and hooked on the show itself. She doesn’t have any kids running around screaming or crying and the house is “finally at peace.” Entourage is on HBO, which has a more mature theme than other channels on television. HBO shows more violence, sex, and provocative language which she can’t ever watch while her children are present. It is also the only show my aunt watches with her husband. Coincidently, Entourage is the only show my uncle watches other then Sports Center. Other then the fact that Entourage is the only show they watch together, she says that it feels good to laugh and escape from all the stresses of their lives. “Unfortunately, my husband and I don’t get the chance to go out often; Entourage gives us something to look forward to: watching our favorite television show while spending quality time together at the same time.”

Blog 2- Entourage

I decided to interview my aunt being that I knew she was a die hard Entourage fan. She is a successful business woman who is a mom to 3 kids all under the age of 10. As I said, she is a huge fan of Entourage and has seen every episode at least once. She was very enthusiastic about doing the interview and seemed to really take pleasure in answering my questions. The interview took place in her backyard where my uncle, couldn’t help putting his input in, being that he is a huge fan as well!

1. What is your most abused media habit and why?

2. As you have mentioned many times, your favorite show is Entourage, What is so great about the show that keeps you tuned in to all the episodes?

3. Can you associate yourself with any of the characters? If so, please explain.

4. In what ways do you envy the lifestyle of the characters on the show, Entourage?

5. Does the time or channel Entourage is on have any influence on the reason you watch it?

Blog 1- My visit to Geppi's Entertainment Museum

When asked to go to a museum for a class assignment, you can imagine that people aren’t too thrilled about the whole idea of spending their free time in a “boring” museum. Well, I am happy to say that Geppi’s Entertainment Museum was anything, but boring. It was actually pretty amazing. It was probably the most fascinating and enjoyable museums I have ever been to. There were so many different things to look at and was truly a blast from the past. Almost all the toys I ever played with were in these glass shelves separated by rooms. It was like a toy store for an older generation. Some of the things that really got me excited were the generations of teddy bears, Felix the Cat, all types of pez dispensers, “That Girl,” everything having to do with the Beatles, New Kids on the Block, Ninja Turtles, Care Bears, all about Walt Disney, the Jetsons, Tiger Beat magazine, Aunt Jemima, 7 dwarfs, old television sets, and much, much more. I can’t talk about Geppi’s Entertainment museum with out mentioning at least a few of the remarkable things I saw. If I would have to choose one thing that had a special meaning to me, it would be the Cut out doll books or paper dolls. I was a big fan of dolls when I was younger. I used to play with baby dolls all the time. I wasn’t big on Barbie’s because my mom didn’t really buy them for me, but she did buy me tons of baby dolls. The first time I remember playing with paper dolls was when I was about 6. I stayed home from school one day because I was sick with some virus. My grandma came over to watch me and bought me a bunch of toys to play with. One being a baby doll and the other was a thick book of paper dolls. I really didn’t understand the concept until she explained it to me. They were paper dolls that you cut out and dressed by folding tabs over to make the clothes stay on. They were many different dolls and sets of clothing that you were able to put on the doll. They ranged from evening gowns to bathing suits. Thinking back on it, I really don’t know why playing with these paper dolls was so entertaining for me. I think that it was the combination of my love for baby dolls and knowing that whenever I played with them my grandma would always play with me. Having the paper dolls at the museum really made me realize exactly how long these paper dolls have been around. My grandma played with them when she was younger and now I finally know the reason why she seemed more excited to play with the dolls than I ever was. The museum taught me a lot about entertainment in the past. It was very influential and educated me as well as entertained me at the same time. For instance, Elizabeth Taylor was a model for Dixie’s Ice cream, which I found so unusual. These beautiful women, fully clothed from top to bottom were models for all types of advertisements. It just shows how different the advertising strategies were back then, compared to now. I enjoyed this museum very much. It really got me thinking about how many things I used to play with that are no longer sold in stores and are now surprisingly, collector’s items.

3 possible topics:
Sex and the City

House
Family Guy