Popular culture to me personally is very prevalent in every day life. Every time that we turn on our television, stand in line at the grocery store, or listen to the radio, we are being saturated constantly by pop culture in some way. I believe that pop culture in today's society is more important than it has ever been before. Politics, sports, and tabloid television shows and magazines mold and shape our opinions and beliefs more than any other time in American history. Almost everything that we see or hear can have an affect on our views of the rest of the world and the society that we are living in. Even the evening news has veered more towards a tabloid feel as they will cover Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears stories which I am sure does not make older generations very happy since they were brought up with hard-hitting news stories that actually had an effect on their every day lives. The MTV generation has been brought up completely opposite from this sort of media coverage with news organizations deciding to try and get ratings rather than to cover news stories that they may think that we would turn off because we are not interested.
I believe that the show South Park epitomizes everything about popular culture today. The show is very witty and controversial and often satarizes anything and everything that is currently going on in our world. They have had shows from anything from 9/11 conspiracy theories and global warming, to the most recent episode about the X-box game, Guitar Hero. They also often poke fun at major political figures, they have made fun of everyone from Jesse Jackson to Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. If you are in the news for whatever reason, you are not immune to the sharp-biting humor of the creators of Southpark. They have also spoofed different religions, including Catholicism and Scientology. I really like this show as even though it takes shots at just about everything, I believe that there is a morality to each episode which I know many people would disagree with, but every episode ends with a lesson that the boys from South Park have learned.
2 comments:
I agree with you that pop culture is prevalent with you in your everyday life, it is with mine, too. I hate that the local evening news covers stories like when Paris Hilton went to jail and Britney Spears performance on the MTV awards. I watch the evening news for real news. I really hope that changes soon.
You mention some very good points about why South Park is the epitome of pop culture. I hadn't thought of that but I see why you wrote it. Unless you know what is going on in pop culture, South Park may not make any sense to you. But when you do know what the show is talking about, it makes it really funny. South Park sums up and puts a twist on the popular stories. It is obvious as to how Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been making this show for so many years-- they have never run out of people/stories to make fun of and joke about. I think it will be a while before they will run out of material.
I hate that the evening news has joined the tabloid front. It is so bad anymore that I don't even watch the news. I was disgusted a couple mornings ago when I picked up the morning paper here in Cincinnati. Plastered on the front page was a giant article about Chris Henry (a Bengal's troublemaker for those who don't know). I am certain there was a lot more newsworthy articles that could have been front page news.
I also agree with your analysis of South Park. It is great to see a show from writers who aren't afraid to say what they think. I think public exposure is part of the job description of a celebrity and South Park plays on that. No celebrity or occurence is sage from South Park.
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