The Effects of Popular Culture A Look at Three Examples...

Popular culture has an effect on everyone’s life in this world. If we don’t look like the pretty faces our television and movies advertise to us, than our life tends to be more difficult growing up. Our country provides fast food chains that are deleterious to our health, but since corporations made them popular, the average American thinks nothing of it. Even though a lot of American popular culture isn’t the best choice in our lives, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and Eric Schlosser use this theme of popular culture in their essays. In Cofer’s â€Å"The Story of My Body†, the author talks about her experience growing up in a world where her culture and looks does not fit into America’s popular cultured society. For instance, Cofer is†¦show more content†¦As you can see, skin color, race, and looks has a lot to do with the current place and time in popular culture. In Nora Ephron’s â€Å"The Boston Photographs†, many reactions are conveyed from a photo that all ties into popular culture and what’s acceptable in society. Stanley Forman, who was the photographer for this photograph, captured a rescue attempt that failed and led to a woman’s death. Ephron writes that â€Å"they are pictures of death in action, of that split second when luck run out, and it is impossible to look at them without feeling their extraordinary impact and remembering, in an almost subconscious way, the morbid fantasy of falling, falling off a building, falling to one’s death† (434). There were a lot of responses around the country and most of it was negative due to the result of the incident. Even though most of the comments were negative about the photograph, there were some positive comments that go beyond the demise of the young woman’s death. Marshall L. Stone of Maine’s Bangor Dailey News, â€Å"claimed that the Boston pictures showed the dangers of fire escapes and raised questions about slumlords† (435). Ephron wrote that the photographs â€Å"dramatically conveyed something that had happened, and that business we’re in. They were news†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , even though the pictures show a real life event and not woman’s dead bod, the people are not used to seeing reality. Popular culture in America atShow MoreRelatedPopular Cultures effect on Sports role models1234 Words   |  5 Pagesfantasize about them daily. Particularly through the eyes of young children, who often view professional athletes as role models, and look up to them. Popular culture is a part of everyone’s lives today, and it affects sports through a plethora of positive and negative ways. Popular culture makes certain athletes look very humbling, but then sometimes it could make an athlete look like a complete fool. Many young boys who enjoy sports usually have dreams of playing professionally one day. Therefore theseRead MoreThe Southern Sambo, Mammy, And Jim Crow967 Words   |  4 PagesThe Southern Sambo, Mammy, and Jim Crow are three major stereotypical characters of African Americans in past and present popular culture that served their own purposes, held their own characteristics, and completed their respective actions. As a whole, each character completed the task of negatively portraying Blacks in popular culture. Although these characters were made centuries ago, many of them have either transformed or adapted to times in order to remain relevant even in the twenty-firstRead More americanisation of australian television Essay1019 Words   |  5 PagesAmerican economy, with drastic effects upon the modern Australian nation. Not only is Australian free to air TV being dominated by American produced shows, but a lot of the content on the Australian TV shows is sourced from America. 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