Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Mai Trinh
Prof. Archer
ENGL 20803
08 March 2019
Nike. Barbie dolls. Disney princesses. Snapchat. Twitter. All these prominent aspects of
pop culture are well known everywhere. Nike represents a fitness lifestyle that can encourage
exercise and health. Barbie dolls and Disney princesses encourage girls to be independent.
Snapchat and Twitter encourage communication, building connections around the world. These
examples show how popular culture can be beneficial to society, but it is important to take on
different perspectives to see the entirety of pop culture’s effects. The strong influence of pop
culture through the media easily persuades and informs- or misinforms- us, carefully selecting
information to control our knowledge. Social media creates false impressions of standards and
issues, leading to the promotion of stereotypes and gender gaps, and it sets unrealistic
Even though pop culture does help to spread awareness of issues affecting society, the
effort is counteracted with humor in a way to mask the strong impact they have on us, especially
when addressing violence. In the article, “Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ Video is a
Beautiful Nightmare,” by Clinton Yates, it is emphasized that the trauma our generation faces
“somehow allows us to make fun of the very specific way that we choose to kill each other”. In a
world with so much bloodshed, we choose to laugh instead of act. Even when action is taken,
instead of acknowledging the issues and working to share the impact they have on our culture,
tweets and memes reinterpret them for amusement. In a tweet, Snoop Dogg shares a meme
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depicting Childish Gambino shooting in an odd stance with the caption, “A n***a kill me in this
stance, God gotta give me a redo.” (Yates). The actual picture was taken from Childish
Gambino’s music video, “This is America,” which addresses the continued oppression of blacks
since slavery and the increase of violence in America today. We have been desensitized by social
media, and this has created the opposite of progressive activity; it reduces the feeling of fear and
makes us forget the seriousness of issues affecting not just us, our friends, and families, but
communities around the world. We live in a bubble, refusing to acknowledge that “the reality is
actually scarier than the nightmare we’ve been trapped in,” avoiding confrontation with glaring
There are some important issues represented through the media, but the issues portrayed
misinform us about problems affecting society as a whole. It causes us to only focus on what the
media has selected for us to see and to disregard what is not regularly displayed. We tend to
focus more on race and stereotypes, and although these do affect society adversely, we lack
attention to issues like poverty and the role they play in our culture. Not only does poverty affect
us, it affects the earth we live on. The impact of the popular culture is not merely local or even
national, it is global and affects cultures all around the world. By curving attention towards
specific problems and away from others, we build false impressions on what issues hold priority
and what can be brushed aside. Really, they all depend on the situation and the communities
affected. In this “highly technological world in which people are brought closer and closer by
omnipresent media,” mass media and pop culture become closely intertwined (Delaney). Going
hand in hand, mass media decides what aspects of pop culture it wants to portray, but at the same
time, much of the information presented becomes part of pop culture, which “both reflects and
influences people’s everyday life” (Delaney). The media chooses what information it wants or
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doesn’t want us to know about, brainwashing us in a sense. It uses its power to influence and
pressure us with extravagant claims and interpretations, usually presenting things in black and
white. We must choose one extreme or another with no in between or compromise: there must
only be good or bad, wrong or right. What is worse is that many people use social media as an
informational source and take things at face value, not questioning the accuracy or even
People easily believe facts spoon fed to them, and through this, popular culture creates
unrealistic expectations, contributing to the increase in stereotypes and gender gaps. In Stephanie
Hanes’ article, “The Disney Princess Effect,” the issue of the hypersexualization of women is
addressed. By 2009, “nearly every woman to grace the [Rolling Stone] magazine’s cover was
conveyed in a blatantly sexual way, as compared with 17 percent of the men” (Hanes). These
images, consistently displayed through the media, create “certain standards and commonly held
beliefs… reflected in pop culture” (Hanes). Not only is sexual material displayed all around
stores through magazines and billboards, it has weaved its way into children’s animation. Disney
princesses such as Jasmine, wear sultry off-the-shoulder tops and bare their midriff and even
Miss Piggy shows cleavage (Hanes). This aspect of popular culture emphasizes the expectation
of women to be sexy, creating the stereotype that only the “beautiful” succeed, contributing to
gender gaps grown not from gender roles but the idea of the “ideal” female. So many of these
expectations have snaked their way into our culture that even innocent children feel the pressure
to conform to these sexualizing standards. In 2003, “NPD Fashionworld reported… that more
than $1.6 million is spent annually on thong underwear for 7-to-12-year-olds” (Hanes). Girls lose
their identity as they try to fit into the mold popular culture has created, hiding and altering
Stereotypes and gender gaps are not the only problems progressed by popular culture.
unnecessary goods and contributing to the increase in mental health issues. People feel the need
to buy this and do that just because it is the new trend and everyone wants to fit in. Even though
shared ideas and “things” can create a level playing field where people of different social
statuses and backgrounds share a commonality, they contribute to feelings of isolation and result
in conformity. In a way, popular culture hinders the development of individuality through the
constant pressure it puts on people to take part in what is going on at the moment, such as buying
certain clothes and participating in certain styles even if they do not particularly enjoy them.
“Consuming pop culture items often enhances an individual’s prestige in their peer group,” but
when these individuals are not able to access these certain materials, they feel left out and lost
(Delaney). Depression and anxiety are major health issues in our world right now and feeling
unwanted and pressured by popular culture should be minimized. The number of people who
deal with mental health issues is sharply increasing, and the correlation with the drastic growth
of technology and increased use of social media in daily life is not coincidental. On top of daily
responsibilities, like school or work, the pressure young adults feel to be “normal” and well-liked
have added unnecessary stress and caused detrimental effects, in some cases even suicide.
In many ways, popular culture dictates our lives as we let it influence us without thought.
It forms demanding, irrational standards and expectations while negatively affecting us in the
process. We are puppets in a world controlled by mass media and must make a habit of thinking
for ourselves. Nike. Barbie dolls. Disney princesses. Snapchat. Twitter. Nike represents a fitness
lifestyle that can encourage materialism. Barbie dolls and Disney princesses encourage girls be a
specific type of beautiful. Snapchat and Twitter encourage absurd humor, desensitizing people to
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issues affecting the world. While the benefits of popular culture can be easy to accept, realizing
and acting on the issues it creates and promotes can lead to a positive change in the mindset of
the world.
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Works Cited
Hanes, Stephanie. “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect.” The Christian
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0924/Little-girls-or-little-women-The-
Yates, Clinton. “Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ Video is a Beautiful Nightmare.” The