Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Pop Culture: Guilty Pleasure Or Metric of Social Change?
Pop Culture: Guilty Pleasure Or Metric of Social Change?
Do you watch Keeping up with the Kardashians? One of the perks of formally studying
sociology is that an indulgence in pop culture is not only forgiven, it is also
encouraged.
In sociological circles, the amorphous collection of tastes
and preferences of a group of people that is culture inspires endless debate
over why we like what we like. Given
such a prompt, the mind flies in innumerable directions. I can feel Pierre Bourdieu climbing out of
his grave to come take my computer away from me. The ghost of Karl Marx is standing behind me
rolling his eyes and saying, “Just don’t even go there.”
Okay. Fine, Karl!
But I would like to talk about the importance of popular
culture to activism. While the processes
of production of pop culture warrant our scrutiny and skepticism, pop culture
as its own strange, unpolished amalgamation strikes me as something truly democratic. It is the voice of the people! With our language, our food, our clothing,
our purchases, we vote for the culture we want—we vote for the world we
want. That is why it is always exciting
when trends in pop culture reflect progressive social changes that are
philosophically consistent with intersectional feminism.
One surprising example of such a reflection recently debuted
in theaters across America: Magic Mike XXL.
This film is a light and playful story about the journey of male
entertainers as they discover the intrinsic rewards of loving every women for exactly
who she is, what she needs, and what she desires. Another example, in theaters right now, is
Mad Max: Fury Road—a feminist masterpiece.
It is worth noting that both of these films were made by men, and while
they have done us proud, we still need women telling women’s stories in the
mainstream media. And those stories need
to be taken just as seriously.
Further worth noting is that it is not always so
simple. Pop culture is not always a
forum conducive to having the complicated conversations that are necessary to
deconstruct the patriarchal-capitalist agenda, as we have seen with conflicts
such as this. Still, the image of one of the most famous
women on the planet standing in front of the word “feminist” while millions
watch her take superstardom to another level is a big moment for girls
everywhere. In sum, pop culture, while
often ludicrous, is in fact something that deserves our attention because the
visibility of these issues is key to engaging the nation in a dialogue and what
we consume matters.
