Assignment 2-1 Icon Analysis

POP CULTURE ICONS

The World English Dictionary defines an icon as a person or thing regarded as a symbol of a belief, nation, community, or a cultural movement. A true pop culture icon can withstand “the test of time”. Meaning, that years after their work or career has ended, the icon is still very well know. Three major pop icons of the past 20 years are Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson and Michael Phelps.

Michael Jordan was one of the greatest and most well known athletes of all time. Easily proven by the fact that he is the proud owner of six NBA championship rings. Then, even after Jordan could no longer compete athletically, his shoe brand has withstood the test of time with people of all ages wearing Nike Air Jordans. The Nike Air Jordans have actually sold more shoes than any other shoe and made Michael Jordan the first athlete to reach $1 billion in annual sales (Rovell, 2009). Three out of every four pair of basketball shoes sold in the U.S. are Jordan branded.

Michael Jackson may be the most recognizable pop culture icon of the past 30 years. He certainly is one of the most popular musicians of all time, with his album “Thriller” spending more weeks at number one on the Billboard charts than any other album in the history of the Billboard Top 200 ("Michael jackson: The," 2013).

Yet another Michael that has become a recent popular culture icon is Michael Phelps, the US Olympian. Michael Phelps has the world record for most Olympic medals with 22 total medals, 18 of which were gold. Phelps’ three great showings at the Olympic games started in 2004, which were the first summer games following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and gave America yet another figure to unify behind.

REFERENCES

Icons- definition. In (2013). World English Dictionary. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/icons

Michael jackson: The artist. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/the-artist/timeline/legacy

Rovell, D. (2009, September 11). Michael jordan first athlete to $1 billion. . Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/32798277

Assignment 2-2 Myth Analysis

BAD VS. EVIL

A huge myth in popular culture not only in American popular culture, but in pop culture all through time is the bad/evil myth. People always tend to root for the good guy in the movie, show, story or whatever else they may be viewing or reading. It seems that every summer a good vs. evil movie appears as a major box office competitor. Currently, 4 of the top 5 grossing movies in the US box office are good vs. evil myths ("Imdb charts: Top," 2013). Growing up in America, it is nearly impossible to avoid Disney movies and heroes are an integral part to so many Disney movies. All of the publicity and toys typically surround the Disney princesses, but for every princess there is a prince charming that everyone roots to save her. This may be part of the reason that American popular cultures feature bad vs. evil concepts so often. Two inescapable and truly legendary artifacts of the bad vs. evil myth of American popular culture are “Die Hard” and “Dark Knight”.

            “Die Hard” is based around the hero, Lieutenant John McClane, officer of the NYPD, who tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others, after they are taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles (Imdb: Die Hard, 2013). The movie is a classic good vs. evil movie, with one hero taking on twelve bad guys in a skyscraper. “Die Hard” is also a representation of popular American culture because the bad guy is a German terrorist, playing back to the anti-German sentiment of WWII. The audience is also convinced to root for not only the good guy, John McClane, but also the little guy, John McClane, as FBI agents step into the movie and attempt to take over negotiations with the terrorist group. At that point it is John McClane that plays the voice of reason against the larger FBI group that is also a more brash and hasty group. The popular culture reference doesn’t quite stop there, however. Just to finzlize the association of John McClane as the good guy with the audience, that officer outside of the Nakatomi Plaza that John is communicating with refers to John as Roy Rogers, who played a classic, good-guy cowboy on American television.

            Another instant classic artifact of the American popular culture bad vs. evil myth is the movie “Dark Knight”. In this movie, the superhero Batman, who has appeared in a vast number of films, a long-running television show, cartoon series and comic books, partners with police commissioner Gordon and DEA Harvey Dent to take down the Gotham mob ("Imdb: Dark knight," 2013). Simultaneously, the Joker is unleashed on Gotham, after the mob decides that Batman is an unbeatable force and contracts the Joker to terminate Batman. The representation of Batman in American popular culture is obvious with the previously stated popularity in the culture since Batman’s first appearance in 1939. Superheroes have been a huge part of the American myth of good vs. evil. One cannot walk through the toy section of any department store without seeing superhero action figures. Joker’s representation of evil as the villain may be less obvious, aside from the fact that he is trying to kill the esteemed Batman. In one man’s opinion, the Joker’s appeal to the modern American audience as villainous and pure evil because he represents chaos and unpredictability. We live in society where everything is planned and organizers are never any further away than a cell phone in your pocket, but there is no way to control the Joker. Chaotic attacks such as the Sandy Hook or Aurora, CO shootings have a significant devastating effect on people because of unpredictability of the attacks, which is exactly what a villain such as the Joker brings to the movie “Dark Knight”.

REFERENCES

Imdb: Dark knight. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

Imdb: Die hard. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/

Imdb charts: Top movies. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/chart/?ref_=nb_mv_4_cht

HUMN240 Pop Culture Assignment

Okay I am writing this blog because it is an assignment given to me in a popular culture class. The following will explain my feelings about "pop culture":

I believe pop culture is exactly what is wrong with the United States of America. Mostly because current pop culture is no longer about culture, it is about commercializing any form of media that can be commercialized and selling it to a mass of peons that will buy it and view/listen to it simply because everyone else is buying it. Unfortunately, there is no lyrical value left in music because all that sells these days is a beat for people to bounce along too. Even genres that were once rich with meaningful lyrical content have transformed into pop music (hip hop, country, etc.). There are no moral and value teachings in mainstream movies or meaning about real life. Instead, there is just crude humor so that something of shock value can be put in a trailer to peak people's interest in buying a ticket to the movie. This also has not always been the case. There once was a time when music had true lyrical value and not just some of the music but most of the music. Including that which was part of the popular culture. Unfortunately, that time has ended.  

For a chosen artifact (song, film, etc) that represents the good in pop culture today, I chose the song “I Gave You All” by Mumford & Sons. I believe this song, along with the rest of the Mumford & Sons collection, shows a true passion for the meaning of the lyrics and well put-together harmonies. Most of my beliefs stated above were aimed solely at “pop” culture, meaning the mainstream media that the majority of society knows, sees, and hears about. That is not to say that all media is atrocious. Please enjoy the song and lyrics of Mumford and Son’s “I Gave You All” below.