Measuring the Value of Popular Culture
Posted in wordpress, internet, America, Hol_ywood, Opinion, Entertainment, myspace, facebook on May 8th, 2009 by Stanford Matthews 
What is it about that which can be characterized ‘popular culture’ or some sort of phenomena of civilization at any given time and its attraction for the masses? On the internet it may be MySpace or Facebook or Twitter. On TV it may be so-called reality shows like Survivor or Dancing with the Stars or American Idol.
Is it simply that those whose job it is to dream up money making ideas for television find a way to get millions of people to pay attention long enough to sell a great deal of advertising time? The same could be asked of internet geniuses who assemble online infrastructure to handle millions of users for who knows what valid purpose if one exists.
It may be fair to state that sporting or athletic competition in its well known forms of baseball, football, basketball, golf, tennis, racing, the Olympics and many others have helped strengthen the sense of community shared by those in participating locales. Aside from the periodic falls from grace of various sports stars as with any other celebrity group, role models and the positive outcomes from ordinary folks engaging in athletic training and competition as well as being spectators can encourage personal achievement and the development of enviable human qualities.
So what do these other popular culture phenomena have to offer? Where does MySpace, Facebook or Twitter offer some redeeming social value that trumps its obvious monetary benefit for those who control it? Certainly it is fair to say a handful of people have gained by competing on American Idol each year. And it is also fair to say that aside from the lure of a chance at great wealth they may be pursuing an honest dream to achieve a goal in the performing arts in some way. But where is that avenue for personal development with the others? Sure, you can network on social networking sites and it may possibly lead to assistance in reaching some reasonable goal like landing a job or something similar. But is that why so many are attracted to these current popular culture icons?
One Wiki definition offered for popular culture may expect too much from these ‘human activities’. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance …
Another definition from artconnected DOT org may be viewed as too critical of pop culture. The opposite of high cultural art forms, such as the opera, historic art, classical music, traditional theater or literature; popular culture …
But one from edublogs DOT org may be close. Cultural experiences widely enjoyed by members of various groups within the community.
Those definitions were simply found by using the define search on Google. But none of this answers the question of why some forms of popular culture do not appear to have any really useful value other than generating revenue. The only reason this point is raised on this blog is that it seems all the hype and talk about these current pop culture forms rests solely with the fact they are popular by virtue of the quantity of people attracted to them. How is that a measure of anything other than commercial success? How does it advance the species? How does this make us better? Is there anything about it which indicates a higher goal? Or is it just about money or being cool?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Even after a few days homosexuals may still be offended by a story about Amazon dot com. Depending on who you read or believe the only thing that seems clear is certain books were removed from Amazon’s ranking and/or sales feature and thus more or less fell off the map so to speak. Some (ABC) call the published works ‘gay titles’ and others (CNET) call them ‘adult’ books. And Amazon apologized for what they viewed as their own careless or bungling management of the book listings. Add to that a hacker who is taking credit for the episode.
Illegal file sharing sites is a topic that seems to never go away. The same could be said of malicious hackers and spam. And let’s not forget about those who want to rule the internet or tax it or overcharge for connection to it and use of it. But in terms of the specific story in this post, a writer being fired for illegally accessing a copy of a not yet released movie. What was he thinking?
But even better is the one million estimate offered on the date in between the other two. It may seem like a small thing and in this case it has the diminished value of who cares? Not so much who cares about the varying, correct or incorrect estimates but who cares about the movie? If you have an appreciation for storytelling or the cinematic experience, whatever that is these days, it is understandable you may be interested in this movie if the genre is your ‘thing’. But no matter what your interests or what you watch or how you fulfill the need to satisfy your personal demand for such leisure pursuits it is tough to argue that Hollywood and other sources for movies rarely fail to disappoint. The hype is also rarely justified after viewing the promoted offering.
An earlier post here indicated this blog’s hopes for Wisconsin success at the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship after the first round. Well now, here it is late Friday night or early Saturday morning about a week later and another March Madness result curbs the expectation of a fan. With Marquette and Wisconsin out in the second this fan’s support moved to any other Big Ten Teams that remain. The last review when unable to watch the tourney indicated Purdue was out and Michigan State was what remained of the Big Ten heading to the elite eight.
Here is one common denominator within professional and amateur sports emerging again during March Madness. In an industry in which many participants ‘earn’ massive incomes, receive an inordinate quantity of press coverage and end up in the tabloids no less than any other ‘celebrity’ group the method by which public statements follow regime changes is as hollow as victories tainted by bad officiating.
Another report of how enthralled (had to add this, enthralled = beguiled, filled with wonder and delight) consumers are with electronics offerings from manufacturers. This post is another attempt to raise some issues regarding consumer electronics. Some long standing criticism from this blog toward those who market electronics and control the infrastructure on which much of it is used range from how internet access is manipulated between what is available, offered and how it is priced to similar issues living in other telecom areas like wireless communication. Have you noticed how cell phones are marketed and its relationship to the primary function of telephones. That’s right. Voice communication between humans has long been the need filled by telephone service. Text messaging, chocolate phones, camera phones and all manner of other bells and whistles have relegated speaking to another on the phone as an afterthought. Could it be that spending the money necessary to offer reliable and quality voice communication does not present the profit margin desired by the providers? Could it be the public has once again allowed the market to be driven by the easily manipulated younger demographic with all that loose change to spend being ‘cool’? The manufacturers know it. Ignore the more demanding demographic for the one you can manipulate and who may have the most discretionary income with the most liberal criteria for purchasing decisions.
