Day of a Thousand Readings

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Today, please choose one of the articles you read from "Pop Matters" and tell us about the article. Why did you pick it? What drew you to it? What was it about? Why is it relative to our culture?

What is Popular Culture?

Popular culture studies popular culture from a critical theory perspective. It is generally considered a combination of communication studies and cultural studies.

Barriers between so-called high and low culture have broken down, which encompasses such diverse media as comic books, television, mass media, and the Internet.

The theory of progressive evolution:

Capitalist economies create opportunities for every individual to participate in a culture which is fully democratized through mass education, expansion of leisure time and cheap media and paperbacks. In this liberal view, popular culture (low culture) does not threaten high culture, but is an authentic expression of the needs of the people.

Click here (a very pop culture idea in the first place) and read about Popular Culture on Wikipedia (another pop culture idea). Take notes to define, understand the component parts of the subject area, and its characteristics.

Then, check out some of the associated links:
* Pop art & Pop Icons
* Cultural icon
* Fads
* High culture
* Low culture
* MTV Generation
* Popular culture studies
* Trash culture

Take notes and prepare to discuss what you find next class.

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