Pop Culture Prezi, Cultural Symbols, Comics, and Portfolios

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Pop culture in 2013

There is a difference between a fad and popular culture. Often objects, people, and events (or inventions) continue to influence our own culture from age to age or even from centuries in the past. Depending on your education level, your background, your own culture, and various other traditions or interests, some things never seem to really fade into obscurity, something likely to happen to a fad or a person who might be popular today. As a writer, it is important to familiarize yourself with some common popular cultural icons and consider why these things are still popular after all these years. We've touched on some items, but here are a whole host of others.

In the lab, read these articles. Consider how familiar you are with them. Enjoy them for what they're worth, but also consider how you might use them to create your own writing. Perhaps you will reflect on the topic in an essay, or use an idea found here in a story. After researching and reading today, please write something that includes popular cultural ideas from years gone by that are still with us today. Here's the list:

Superheroes, superheroes, and comic books (a history)
Unofficial history of Unicorns
Zombies and more zombies
Vampires and vampires and more vampires
Cthulhu and The Call of Cthulhu (short film)
Utopian and Dystopian Fiction
Jane Austen
Sports and Sports in Australia
Dinosaurs
Vegetarians
Shakespeare
Opera
Theme Parks

HOMEWORK: Find at least one other popular cultural influence from time gone by and be prepared to share it with the class. Be prepared to explain what it is, where it came from originally, and where we've seen it lately. Do NOT write about a fad. A fad is popular now, but has little to no history. If it didn't exist 100 years ago, don't choose it.

Please read Part IV of Jennifer Government.

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