written analysis 5

Many social barriers, that once were significant in our society has been wrecked because of the phenomenal facebook. Be it those really smart and cool people , you met just once , or those endearing colleagues you're too timid to converse with , or those friends who have been lost long ago can be "friends" through facebook, which is one of the most used social networking website today. Communication has been much easier, and much efficient, thanks to the alluring facebook.

Correlation of various theories exists, along with the sky rocketing fame of facebook.  There has been a lot of constructive contributions made by facebook, but at the same time theories has it that it is also contributing to marital unhappiness.  This could have been true in some instances, but the matter can never be generalized whatsoever. Some theories seem to portray that it is facebook that helped in uplifting political crevice in Egypt and Tunisia. After all, Facebook proffers a forum for severe conviviality and autonomous processes which gave the youths of those countries a flavor for democracy. United state authorities with their occupy movement grip the similar story. This has to be noted that, while Facebook unquestionably minister to the protests, it did not, in fact, activate them. Centuries of ill governance, series of corruption have triggered it, and facebook cannot be given the sole charge behind the mass uprising.

There has been various theories and one of the most popular theory of facebook is that is has been created by the CIA. With all the suspicion revolving around Facebook, it should come as no astonishment that the social media victor is alleged to have been developed by the CIA (But this rumor is limited within the internet only).  Similarly another theory says that several disguises has presaged users that Facebook was throwing away people's profiles due to lack of sufficient space.  The hoax reached it peak when it claimed this irrational theory after it started showing some problems in its server.

There have been some funny encounters on facebook. One of them is  that some hysterical users bustled to post this message: "If youre dynamic, send this message to 15 other user (copy + paste) or all of your friends so that we see that you're an active one. We delete the members after two weeks whose not send this message to their friends - Mark Zuckerbeg(quoted from a site).  Actually thousands of people fell for this grammatically challenged statement and did what the user said, and believed it to have come from the Harvard graduate. Using it rightfully can promulgate activism because of its association with popular culture, but exploiting it can cause a serious damage too. Just because it is a popular culture does not permit one to ignore their responsibilities and duties.

written analysis -2

Ritual and Stereotypes:  Facebook

Facebook has become widely popular in the past few years. Everyone has been so addicted to facebook and it has become a ritual for all of us to log in and post our personal thoughts or pictures and look into updates from our friends too. A ritual means things that are being done in the same way from a very long time. Facebook has made the world so narrow that it has stop people from meeting eachother. Because they can look into their lives through facebook and there is less use of time in doing so. They have made facebook a part of their daily life. It is so easy to get connected to the people we know through facebook and today they can log in facebook through their phone which they have with them 24/7, this is one of the main reason why facebook is so popular.

Facebook has become a ritual to everyone these days. And I don’t disagree that it hasn’t become to me either because even I log on to facebook everyday just to check what’s going on in my friend’s life or just to play the free game that we get in facebook. I am a game lover so I play temple run in facebook which is quite fun and very interesting too. Some of my friends also have the habit of posting funny pictures from different pages which has been quite popular these days.

And talking about facebook stereotype people think that through facebook our life has become too much public which I think is false because we can only share things to people which we want to because we have all kinds of privacy settings in facebook through which we can control what we want to show and what we don’t want. And they say many of the children these days areusing facebook which may hamper their studies and their life but I think it is upto the parent’s guidance because they should give their children a certain time limit of how long they can use the internet or facebook. Another thing that I have in mind is those people who do not have a facebook account are asked with a lot of questions by others and have been also called anti-social but I don’t think so because it is upto them and their own wish to own a facebook account or not.

I never thought about the rituals and stereotypes about facebook but as I have thought about it there are so many of them. But still I think it is just people’s individual perception towards facebook which is sometimes true but isn’t all the time. I think facebook is a great social networking site which has made our life very easy and fun at the same time to know what’s going on around the world.

Journal article analysis

The article that I chose to analyze is “Popular Musicians and Their Songs as Threats to National security: A World Perspective”.

Here the author believes that the people in the entertainment field have the knowledge of media which they use for the public entertainment besides this they also take advantage with their personal and professional resources.

              Popular music and popular musicians have positive effects and negative effects on people as well, but the concern should not be forgotten when taking into account any potential threats to the security of a State or Country. Because of these concerns, there have been Government authorities that have attempted to restrict the production of popular music. They have tried to control art subsidiaries, establish state monopolies, and have even forbid some production and distribution practices of music.

Few popular musicians who are considered as threats to national security are Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and John Lennon because of their political positions and actions which made it appear as if they supported the “other camp”. That could be seen as weakening security and integrity of their country. They have also been noted as making strides for civil and human rights around the world, and they have testified on their communist activities.

The popular musicians and their music are able to provide their fans the a feeling of security who has the same feelings as in their music and makes them feel like they are not the only ones who has to suffer and also makes them think that they are not only the ones feeling low or struggling.

The author believes that popular musicians can play an important role in security that concerns individuals and groups of people opposed to the national territories and borders, as the music may be affective in an emotional sense opposed to an objective or material sense. The author believes that there needs to be further research on popular musicians and their music within the security studies, as there is also an ongoing debate about the true meaning of security.

I agree with the author in the sense that music can have influence over people, but I do not necessarily agree that the music can be used as a threat or as a form of terrorism. Music has been said to have influence on the listeners, but I think that it would be more on the individual or group side than as a national threat.

Musicians are normal people and they have the same thoughts and feelings as others do, being able to create music to share their thoughts, is a way to release their thoughts to the world. People can relate to the things that are being sung about, and seeing that others may feel the same way makes them engaged in the music and they may follow other thoughts and words that are displayed by the musician.          

I agree with the author that it is important to define the meaning of security before you can determine whether or not popular musicians will have an effect on it. We need to define the security properly in order to determine the effects on the society.

Threats to National Security are very important and should be taken seriously. This article is really important and should be given a look if the government is concerned about the threats of popular music to the national security. These are the threats that are not to be ignored but should be considered a really serious matter.

written analysis-3

I have considered facebook as my topic in regard to the popular culture. This subject is one of the most relevant topics in this area. Youths as well as people of any age seem to get drawn towards the magnetism of facebook these days. Facebook has become such an evolution that, it has, as a matter of fact become a religion to most of the people. Almost everyone has a facebook account these days, and it stands as one of the tallest pillars in the history of mankind. However, there is either side to look upon the supremacy, the ascendancy of facebook. Yes, it has definitely made our world much narrower. It gives us the notion that we are living in a global village, a technological community. At the same time, facebook has depicted dependency among the people and portrays the fact that we are transforming into the slaves of technology, which should be otherwise actually.

Why is facebook so popular? Why do people worship facebook? Why do individuals spend hours in facebook? These are some of the questions that make us anxious. It has trimmed off our productive and potential time into something that involves chatting with buddies, updating silly statuses, poking friends unnecessarily, playing funny prediction games. These are one aspect of viewing this so called twenty-first century’s addiction. We do realize the fact that it has helped flourish social and political awareness, helped in campaigns and movements or lobbying and advocacy. There are various theories that we can associate with facebook.

Fame always comes with a price, and we all are well aware of that. Facebook has been attaining the peak of its success over the period of some years now. Yahoo, Google, MSN, these were some of the popular internet hubs some years back, but the craze to these websites have deteriorated because a much powerful web called facebook and youtube entered the frame. But the cycle of fame is such that it will  definitely land the ground after attaining the height of popularity. This is called the effect of gravity. In few years time facebook will be replaced my something mightier and grandeur.

There has been this theory that Charles’s Darwin proposed, that said “survival of the fittest’. Yes the fittest, and the strongest survives and stands out in the crowd while the weaker and the feeble ones disappear. Since facebook addressed the emotional sensitivity of an individual, that made it so popular. It stands as a hero, one that informs about the whereabouts of a family or a friend, one that keeps you in touch with the people you love, one that provokes social messages and awareness programs. These days we see a lot of celebrities being associated to facebook and other social networks. This has made laymen to get an easy access over a celebrity’s life. The association of famous people in facebook has made facebook even more famous and popular. This is also known as the cult of the celebrity.

I feel when a lot of people follow the same culture it becomes an inseparable part of their lives. But things do change, because people change and how do people change? It is because with things and people, time changes too. There is a time for everything and sometimes the time doesn’t give a fraction of its time to anything opr anybody in this universe. So in order to stand out as the tallest, one needs to challenge the time and then the time favors it in return.

written analysis-1

Popular culture is the entirety of thoughts, viewpoints that are desired by an unceremonious consent within the convention of a given culture. Influenced by mass media to a very large extent, this collection of ideas pervades the day to day lives of a society. I have considered the topic of facebook as it is one of the most widely accepted forms of popular culture in our society. It is popular among all the age groups and every type of individuals and has become one of the powerful means of socialization.Actually anybody who is associated to a popular culture depicts a different role and characteristics in a society. They have their own norms, and values code of ethics and respective culture. The grouping is usually associated with elements such as endurance, and peculiarity. Furthermore, "pop icon" status is evident from other kinds of disrepute outside of popular culture, like someone from the history.  Some historical icons were famous in their eras and remained very popular back then and are forgotten today, however some remain popular in all generations or eras.

There are various popular artists that we follow today. From Oprah Winfery, who is a popular television host to Mark Zuckerberg, who has created the phenomenal facebook to music artists, social entrepreneurs, business tycoons, film actors and revolutionary politicians have all become an iconic representation for the youths and the majority of population. This trend of following the renowned people have actually started since long ago and the trend still continues and will be an essential part of socialization for days to come. Usually the iconic figures are associated with mass media and media has played an utmost role in molding their popularity further. Who does not love a life full of glamour and glitterati like that of a famous celebrity? Who would not get influenced when a speaker is powerful enough to change one’s philosophy into another? Everybody is attracted towards beauty, power, pride and existence.

Popular culture like facebook changes constantly and occurs uniquely in different places time or event. Items of popular culture most typically appeal to a broad spectrum of the public. Today the world of media is plating a vital role. It depicts the work of various people be it scientists or celebrities or politicians, be what maybe but media of today reflects each and every actions and brings it into the eyes of the world. People get amazed and mesmerized through this depiction. Therefore media has been playing a vital and an utmost crucial role in the upliftment of any popular culture myths or beliefs. There are tremendous myths and beliefs and people have their won interpretations or narrations for each mythologies, myths or popular beliefs. The association of people’s belief in such phenomena has made the foundations of popular culture even brawnier.

There are various popular culture myths and beliefs.For instance there are Chinese myths and beliefs about dragons and gods, which are still very popular and which we entertain still today in various TV channels in the forms of cartoons and movies. Popular culture will always be provoked by a large number of people and it becomes popular for a very long time. However everything has a time limit of popularity and with time and space, even popularity continues its dynamics of change. Facebook may stand as one of the most significant achievement in the history of mankind, but we must accept the fact that sooner or later it will be replaced by something better and bigger.

Contemporary Icons

The three contemporary icons that I have selected are

1.     Reality Television show: MasterChef

2.     Social networking sites: like facebook, twitter, orkut, myspace,

3.     Media personality: Prabal Gurung (Most sought after fashion designer)

In today’s world mass media has taken over people so much that our life revolves around it. During our daily routine we tend to use one or the other media. Television has become a huge part of our life. It is a recreational factor for every age. And these days every television channels has at least one reality show because it has been a hit and everybody loves to watch it. In fact I think it’s a great time pass. The reality show that I am talking about here is a show called MasterChef. It is a television cooking game show, which was first aired on television in 1990 in the UK version of the show. After that the show was a big hit and many other countries around the world starting to use the same logo of the MasterChef. Today MasteChef is produced in more than 35 countries in the world and airs in at least 200 territories, which is great. This show is really interesting and it gives the viewers or the person who love to cook more confidence and has helped them realize that we should do what we love to do; you never know we might just succeed. All we need is a little confidence in ourselves and a lot of dedication towards our passion. And it has helped people showcase their hidden talent in cooking because not everyone who participates in the show is a cook or a housewife. Some of them are teachers, musician, and artist as well. So it is really fun to watch the show because different people from different background showcasing their art through cooking is very interesting. I personally love it because I am a food lover and has helped me learn to cook new things too.

 The next icon that I selected is social networking sites like facebook, twiiter, hi5, myspace etc. This is also another icon, which has hold people together no matter how far they are from eachother. Today who doesn’t have a facebook page or who doesn’t have a twitter account? We would rather open a page and see what’s going on in their life than to call them and ask them personally. It has made our life so much better and easier. Today facebook is one of the many popular means of social networking. And twitter is used to express one’s mood or their current location, which has been more popular in the celebrities or businessmen’s world. The world has narrowed down due to these kinds of sites. My generation has become so into these social networking sites that each and every thing is done or seen from one’s facebook page or twitter page. Verbal communication has lessened which these social networking sites have replaced. But I guess we shouldn’t be depending on these computers for all our life. I guess I should try to live a week without it. The big question here is can I or can’t I ????

The last icon that I selected is Prabal Gurung. People are so into fashion these days. All they want to be is fashionable and stay in style. Prabal Gurung has become the hottest new designer in the fashion industry today. And the good thing about it is that he is also a Nepali guy born in Singapore and raised in Nepal. I feel so proud that a Nepali citizen is doing well worldwide. It is a great motivation for other upcoming fashion designer in our country. He has totally become an icon to every single girl or guys. I mean everyone in the Hollywood is wearing he’s designs from Michelle Obama to Demi Moore and many more another actresses has worn he’s design. Prabal Gurung has become a renowned fashion designer in a very short period of time which is a really good thing because it takes a lot time for some people to get this name and fame specially in Hollywood and hat’s off to he’s hard work and dedication. I really wish to meet him someday and wear he’s designs even though I cannot afford it. ;)

So, these three icons, which I have selected, are the major three things, which people are into these days. It is the three major parts of popular culture today .

Popular Culture and Facebook

 

The term ‘popular culture’ holds different meanings depending on who’s defining it and the context of use. It is generally recognized as the vernacular or people’s culture that predominates in a society at a point in time.

I tried to search a particular meaning for popular culture. It has a variety of explanations and abundant definitions. With the fundamental aspects in mind, popular culture may be defined as the products and forms of expression and identity that are frequently encountered or widely accepted, commonly liked or approved, and characteristic of a particular society at a given time. Similarly in the context of viewing the literary dimensions, I came across Ray Browne and in his essay ‘Folklore to Populore’ offers a similar definition: “Popular culture consists of the aspects of attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, customs, and tastes that define the people of any society. Popular culture is, in the historic use of term, the culture of the people.”

A popular culture involves a large mass, thereby making it eminent and renowned. Therefore if any business ideas could be innovated keeping in mind, the concept of popular culture it is sure to take off profligately. Popular culture is proposed by the mass media and given that the audience is large it plays a major role in the society.  The understanding of popular culture is important in business. Popular culture is produced in order to shape the perception of the masses, therefore when businesses are selling their products they will have to propose certain popular culture in order for the consumers to accept the product, this can only be done through the mass media whereby a certain cultural text is proposed by the media in order to promote the product of the business.

 

One of the most influential and popular culture these days would be the extensive use of face book. The culture is not just limited within a certain mass of people; rather it has engulfed children, youths, adults and senior citizens too. However, the charm of this culture predominantly exists among the youths. Everyone is updating their statuses, everyone is posting their photos, everyone loves to know what is going around them, and everyone loves being on “ Face book”. “Facebooking”is the common term that is used exclusively these days and at homes or offices, at business hubs, schools or colleges, facebook stands as an almighty. Moreover, thanks to the wireless connections or wi-f, and 3G,  facebook can be used almost everywhere; yes, while you’re walking or traveling or even shopping. Facebook has done wonders! 

There is no doubt that facebook is globalizing us as well as our lives, but we need to control facebook and make sure that facebook never controls us back. It should never be given that space to hinder our productivity and efficiency. Using it rightfully can promulgate activism because of its association with popular culture, but exploiting it can cause a serious damage too. Just because it is a popular culture does not permit one to ignore their responsibilities and duties. 

Therefore, popular culture is something which people live with, but in different phases of time. It has to come into every body’s notion that a thing that is popular today may not be as popular tomorrow.