Pop Culture: Aspects Of Society

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Michelangelo, one of the most renowned artists that exhibited an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art was commissioned by the Church. Even Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus was funded by one of the most ingenious enterprises ever, the Medici family, who had a (not so) surprising lucrative partnership with the Catholic Church. When reflecting on the history of art during the Middle Ages, it seems that we can observe a similar trend: the Church was perhaps the biggest patron of the Renaissance, acting as an invisible hand that guided and sponsored art to show off Europe’s wealth and power. Similar to this, the pop culture we experience everyday seems to be filtered by mass corporations, serving as a gatekeeper that creates products of haunting similarity through its assembly line. Pop culture may entail many different aspects of society, like music, politics, and the film industry, produced for the taste of the masses. Though it is dynamic, it is homogenous. Though it reflects societal change, it is “not about depth. It’s about marketing, supply, and demand, consumerism,” as stated by Trevor Dunn. Today, a number of artists and politicians are employed by globalized corporations that follow a safe, unoriginal, and monotonous template, brainwashing our society.

Massive record companies seem to produce artists of great success. Take Hopeless Records, for instance, when a 1993 record label created pop punk artists like Sum 41, All Time Low, and Neck Deep. When comparing these bands, it’s evident that not only do the songs have the same rhythm, beat, and structure, but they sound the same, despite originating from different times. Most artists now are blissfully ignorant, creating universally accepted songs because that’s what has poisoned our society for years. The necessity for songs to entail meaning, substance, and passion has diminished. Why create a song that takes significantly longer to make, if you could mass-produce hundreds of 2 minute songs that all talk about the same subjects? The music industry revolves around a brand of ultra-smooth manufactured songs. Ever since the mid-Eighties, when new romantics like Duran Duran and New Order bowed out with a final extravagant flourish, it seems that our music has been replaced with uniformly soft groups of home-grown products of what teens cherish. Not only are artists encouraged to follow the homogenous lyrical template, but they are created to “look” the part. Artists are treated as shiny products to sell to America, as if you’re looking at an aisle full of Barbie dolls. All the dolls have the same hair, same plastic smile, only entailing a slight variation in their type. Are you listening to Nurse Barbie or Surgeon Barbie? The diversity really is shocking.

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Not only are musicians produced to follow a master prototype, but politicians are designed as static merchandise. Many politicians create short and concise soundbites and marketed slogans that are used to just reveal a small amount of information about a candidate, without actually showing their true beliefs. This creates popularized personas, filled with idle ideas and flirty rhetoric to gain momentum, leaving a brainwashed America following ‘celebrities’, not politicians. These personas see politics mainly in terms of winning elections, lacking substantial knowledge to implement their few concrete policies, usually that merely sound good on paper. These prototypes are aided by the biggest gatekeepers of pop culture: the media. Our media functions as a megaphone for the most presentable and controversial politicians, ignoring the few people that entail real ideas that could enrich our society with substantial change. Marketed slogans and concise soundbites need to be sold by a shiny product. Looking presentable already sells you more than another candidate even if he/she has better ideas to implement. One notable example is the Nixon v. JFK debate. When listening to the debate on the radio, it was obvious that Nixon won. His policies were structured better, his plans were more reasonable, and he presented his information in a concise manner. Yet, on television, he looked ill, a pale shadow of the composed senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy had a vivid tan, and wide smile, and sold himself as a youthful and articulate candidate for presidency. The difference in appearance elevated Kennedy in the public eye, eventually concluding him as the winner of the debate. Our political system heightens name recognition, flirty rhetoric, and a pleasing appearance, leaving a brainwashed society consumed by the toxicity of uninspiring political pop culture.

Evidently, however, there have been multiple instances where pop culture has entailed real, burning passion, reflecting the emotions that society feels. “Monkey Gone to Heaven” by the Pixies reflects their frustration with the ruinous effect humans have that is leading to the inevitable collapse of the government. Speaking out about the Syringe Tide and the massive hole in the ozone layer, it’s evident that the Pixies used the song to shed light on our destruction of the planet. Another notable instance was Black Sabbath’s masterpiece “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall”, where Osbourne challenged the status quo by speaking out about the faults of the government, illustrating politicians as cowardly witches, responsible for sending thousands of poor people to fight in a war they created. Straying from the blueprint that corporations have forced creators in has lead to creativity, creating a domino effect on other artists. Conformity does not breed creativity. And though these examples show the few exceptions, it seems that in recent decades, creativity has dwindled, replaced by the necessity to follow templates that brainwash America.

Pop culture is innately asymmetrical. It can be all types of colors, all different shapes. When it’s commodified, thrown into the conformity machines, it’s left as white squares on the assembly line. Packaged with a shiny bow, it’s sold to millions.

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