Term Paper on "Mass Media Popular Culture"

Term Paper 3 pages (1329 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Mass Media / Popular Culture

The Mass-Media Pygmalion

In the Classical Greco-Roman era, it was believed that Pygmalion, a sculptor, brought Galatea to life. However, today it seems to be a more common belief that Galatea creates Pygmalion. The question of whether members of our society create the media, or if the media influences members of the society to such a degree that it essentially creates the society, is a prominent one in the study of modern anthropology. Pop culture artifacts reveal a great deal about the modern society, including social trends, values, ideals, and more. The relationship between consumers and the mass media is a complex one that may not be simple enough to evaluate as a directional give-and-take diagram. There are many issues relating to social responsibility and the often clashing pursuits of individual wealth and greater good that come to play when discussing popular media, culture, and society. These complex relationships are certainly strongly connected to the other themes that appear repeatedly throughout the artifacts of popular culture, such as the desire for quantity over quality, a disconnection from reality, an inability to maintain a single focus, and the overwhelming fragmentation of ideals in modern society. Overall, many of the most significant trends and values held in popular culture today can be related to the development of the fast-food industry.

An important identifying feature of popular culture is the fast-food industry. "Should Armageddon come, should a foreign enemy someday shower the United States with nuclear warheads, laying waste to the continent, entombed within Cheyenne Mountain, along with the high-tech marvels, the pale-blue uniforms, comic books and Bibles, future archeologists may find other clues to the nature of our civilization - Big King wrappers, hardened crusts of Cheesy Bread, Barbecue Wing bones, and the red, white and blue of a Domino's pizza box." (Schlosser) In fact, Americans spend more money on fast food every year than they do on almost any other pop culture artifact: movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music combined. (Schlosser) One out of every eight Americans has worked at a McDonalds restaurant, two thousand more McDonalds restaurants open every year, and the Golden Arches are more widely recognized than the Christian cross. (Schlosser) All of these facts are proof that Fast food is not just a dinner choice, but it is an integral part of popular culture and society. However, one must ask what values the fast food trend has brought to society.

One value that is inevitable in a fast-food culture is conformity. Despite the fact that this society claims to be supportive of diversity, the franchise-friendly atmosphere attempts to extinguish all non-conformity and replace it with a fear of the unknown. To quote one of McDonalds' founders, "We will make conformists out of them in a hurry.... The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization. " (Schlosser) This mindset is adapted by consumers to apply to more than just fast-food chains; the value of conformity is present in all aspects of society. Those members of society that choose to dress or behave in ways that are against the norm are outcast and feared. This same trend is what propels all brand names to have such importance, as people look for recognizable, familiar brands that assure them they are acting as part of the "norms" of society when making their purchases. Fast-food chains, as well as all other brand-pushers, get children hooked on one particular image early, having playgrounds, contests, toys, games, kid's clubs, and more to lure in children. This early recruitment has made it so that "America's fast food culture has become indistinguishable from the popular culture of its children." (MAN) further value that is fostered by the fast-food atmosphere of popular culture is that of quantity (or speed) over quality. "The sociologist George Ritzer has attacked the fast-food industry for celebrating efficiency ahead of every other human value." (Schlosser) Fast food restaurants provide low-quality food very quickly, for what… READ MORE

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