From the Kardashians to the Drake Hotline meme template, from Korean Drama to Baby Groot, we’re all surrounded by things that are categorized as pop culture. Even if you live under a rock, it’s difficult to ignore things of pop culture; they’re everywhere and in various forms.
While it’s something that seemingly does not affect our regular, day-to-day lives, pop culture still takes up a rather large portion of our lives. But before we begin to see whether or if at all pop culture affects our lives in any way, let’s see what can be called pop culture.
Simply put, anything that creates a buzz or things with a flair around them can be called pop culture. It’s something that attracts everyone’s attention, enough to make it a part of popular things in our culture. The umbrella of pop culture includes various domains including, but not limited to, entertainment, politics, sports, fashion, technology, and recently, slang and meme are also a part of the term.
Pop culture as a conversation starter
While pop culture may seem like a very millennial thing, it isn’t quite so. Even if you haven’t seen it, you probably know something about your parents’ favorite show or movie from when they were growing up. They’ve probably brought it up dozens of times because they cherish those memories. Pop culture has the power to start conversations and build relationships, no matter the age or background of the people involved.
That goes the same for people you might not know well. You might not know much about them, but there’s a good chance that they’ve seen the newest superhero movie or played the latest popular video game. Pop culture talks can be great ice breakers and give you a chance to open up and find people of common interests as you.
Pop culture exposes us to new things
One thing that makes pop culture so exciting is that it’s always on the move. TikTok and phone culture have made the move even faster, making the retention time of anything popular, suite short lived. But what this means is that we are exposed to new things more often than ever.
Coming across new books, movies, and games exposes us to new ideas, new stories, new characters, and even new writers and artists who bring their own experiences into pop culture. That means you have new experiences all the time, which makes you more aware of what’s going on in the world around you. Pop culture presents an opportunity to discover something new every single day.
Pop culture as a way of expressing ourselves
The kind of content we interact with says a lot about our personalities, our likes ad dislikes. When you show interest in something from pop culture, it shows what you value as an individual. From the clothes you wear to the food you eat, everything can be a reflection of the type of person you are, and these can very well be influenced by pop culture.
Chances are that you have a favorite Marvel movie and have a friendly argument when someone mentions they like some other movie from the franchise. Or you probably know of a certain brand of blue jeans that you saw on your favorite actor in a movie that you really like. You’re likely to go out of your way to buy them. This goes on to show that pop culture has a real effect on our everyday lives and how we see ourselves in relation to others.
All these things make pop culture popular. It allows us to showcase our interests and parts of our personalities, which we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. It allows us to cross any seeming boundaries and becomes a medium to make connections and bonds with people. Even if you do not like something that is considered pop culture, that dislike still allows you to make connections with others who share a similar view.
