Asher P1 T1 Contemporary Synthesis

Wiktionary defines popular culture as “the prevailing vernacular culture in any given society, including art, cooking, clothing, entertainment, films, mass media, music, sports and style”. Random House Dictionary defines it as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. While the literal definition of popular culture is quite easy to understand and define, explaining its sensibility is a much more difficult task. What’s popular and what’s not seems to change by the second in our society, and pinpointing a general trend in our pop culture is difficult in the present.

With the rise in popularity of social media websites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Youtube, people all across the world try their hand at creativity and wit. While the attempts at creativity seem to hint at a lack of a central theme of pop culture, these attempts usually prove futile and we instead spit out different interpretations of novels, theater, etc. that were once considered original. The sensibility of pop culture today (or lack thereof) seems to lean towards one of emulation and building off of previous works. In fact, only one out of the ten top grossing movies for each of the past ten years can be considered ‘original’ as the list is dominated by films like “Toy Story 3”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and Harry Potter films which are adaptations of previous movies, novels, comic books, and even amusement park rides. Because of this, one has to search far and wide for truly original works such as the movie “The Artist” or the musical “The Book of Mormon”, and because of this, these works tend to receive much praise and acclaim from critics. Even novels, which tend to be original works, become homogenous. Authors try their hand at dystopian and fantasy novels (popularized by “The Hunger Games” and the Harry Potter series) in order to earn some cash.

The heavy focus on immediacy and profit keeps pop culture growing and every changing as people continue to churn out more and more ‘works of art’. However, quantity does not mean quality, so it’s difficult to identify whether the pop culture of the present will remain in our history books, or whether it truly lacks a strong sensibility that seemed so dominant in other eras.