Pop Culture: Journal Article Analysis

Article reviewed:
Yesil, B (2003) Internet Café as Battlefield: State Control over Internet Cafés in Turkey and the Lack of Popular Resistance, The Journal of Popular Culture, v. 37 Issue 1, Pages 120 – 127

This article is an interesting one because it talks about internet censorship that people in developed country normally do not have experience. However, in those developing countries, for various reasons, it is common to see internet censorship by government or religious leadership. In addition, how people react to this kind of control by state government also varies in different countries.

In the age of globalization, the whole world is just like a small village through modern telecommunication technology and internet. In other words, we are in an age of information sharing. As a result, popular culture also can not be treated as just a local issue. Taking advantage of modern technology, everyone no matter where he or she lives can watch foreign movies or enjoy music from another country once it is released to market. However, because people live in different countries where political, economic and religious backgrounds are different from each other; different states are treating popular culture according to their own principles.

In this article, the author examines what happens in Turkey when internet is popular and becomes a part of popular culture. The author notices that the government and religious leaders do not like internet because they believe internet is not spreading useful information and is against their traditional moral standards. On the other hand, those business owners are strongly against government’s ban to internet café. Interestingly, those common people who are internet users are not against government’s policy against internet café. For some who have lost easy access to internet café, they still think government is doing something right.

What this article describes actually is a scenario of the rising of nationalism in Turkey where government and religious leaders are trying to resist cultural influence from western countries, especially western popular culture imported from internet. Normally, this kind of nationalism is always strongly against western world and treated anything from western world as evil.

It is true that internet also comes with some contents that are not proper. However, nobody can deny how much internet has contributed to this world. Therefore, it is necessary to identify what is major contribution and what is just a minor. What happened in Turkey actually also can be found in other countries such as China. China has the largest internet user population in the world. However, to a considerable extent, internet in China is isolated from world internet because of strict censorship.

Popular culture is not treated the same way in different countries because of cultural conflicts, especially in countries where traditional religious leaders have strong influence over state government and society. Therefore, a popular cultural phenomenon like internet can be a part of usual life in some countries while it is partially or completely banned in other countries. From the perspective of popular culture analysis, it is necessary to realize that geography matters a lot.

References:
Deibert, R (2006) The geopolitics of Asian cyberspace, Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol.169 Issue10 Page: 22 - 25
Weatherby, JN et al. (2005) The other World, Pearson Longman

Pop Culture: Cartoon

No doubt, cartoon characters have been a part of our life. People like cartoon so much. From Snow-white to Kung Fu Panda, they are welcome everywhere in the world. There are TV stations that just feature cartoon shows every day. Cartoon is one of the most important figures in modern popular culture.

It is said that the very first cartoon was created two and half centuries ago by Benjamin Franklin in his newspaper. This unprecedented drawing caught people’s attention immediately and was reproduced by many other newspapers. For the first time, viewers were laughing because of this funny drawing and everybody explicitly understood what it meant.

Basically, cartoon is kind of humorous drawing that is able to catch the most essential characteristics of a specific figure while distorting the portrait of this figure to impress viewers. Not a surprise, politicians were the very first to be cartoon characters back to hundreds of years ago. After that, every social elite or celebrity such as movie stars or sport stars also could be used as a cartoon character.

But cartoon did not just stop in newspapers or posters. With the advances of motion picture industry, cartoon characters started their life on screen and TV shows. The most successful legend in this industry is Walter Disney for sure. Starting from a few simple cartoon characters, Walter Disney and Mickey Mouse has been world wide recognized American culture icon.

Today, cartoon shows have never been more popular. As a typical family fun, cartoon movies are not only just for kids but also for adults. Some TV cartoon shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy have been on TV for years and still are lots of people’s favorite cartoon shows.

Cartoon is a mirror that reflects a country’s culture. When the producer of Family Guy interviews some viewers who claim they do not like Family Guy, an interviewee tells him that she does not like this show because Peter Griffin is humiliating Americans. I think this is good because American culture has no problem with different voices told in various ways. In many other countries, a piece of cartoon drawing with no offensive meaning could cost artist’s future.

Pop Culture: Addicted to Celebrity Gossip

It is obvious that this country’s popular culture has been tightly hooked with celebrities’ gossip. Every day, when I turn on TV after work, there must be something about country’s celebrity, especially entertainment celebrities, from Lindsay Logan’s arrest for DUI to Britney Spears’ treatment in rehab center to Madonna’s adoption in Africa. In addition, there are lots of people who have claimed their addiction to celebrity gossip. Some people even have gone too far, becoming a celebrity stalker.

I thought it was normal that people would pay attention to some big names before Anna Nicole Smith died. After her death, I had to say whole country’s entertainment media was crazy for her death. Every day, when I turned on TV in the evening, it would be a surprise if I did not see any thing about her in five minutes. After that, I saw an internet essay that claimed this country’ culture was completely addicted to celebrities. I had to agree with the author. In those days, my ears were filled up with her name.

Besides that, we can see lots of TV shows that are centered by celebrities, such as Dancing with Stars, I am a Celebrity, Get me out of here, and Celebrity Apprentice. Well, that is fine. I guess celebrities might be enjoying this kind of attention that can be used to measure their popularity in the country even in the whole world. Actually, addiction to celebrity gossip can be found everywhere in the world. Brad Pitt might have never dreamed of his high popularity in Asian countries.

Researchers have conducted research over this interesting phenomenon and some conclusions have been drawn. Some have showed concerns regarding unhealthy status of fans that are highly addicted to celebrity gossip. A doctor observed that addiction to celebrity gossip is just like eating chocolate that could make people feel better. It is a kind of chemical process occurring in human brain. A New York-based researcher conducted a survey that asked hundreds of students to choose their ideal career. Interestingly, almost half of girls chose to be a celebrity / movie star’s assistant instead of other positions that also could have high income.

I think it might have something to do with a typical myth: American Dream. Celebrities are successful in their career and they are all super rich. Normally, they are gifted and are able to do something that common people can not imagine. It is natural that lots of people would admire them so much.

Pop Culture: Video Sharing

One of the most impressive characteristics of this age is sharing of information. Video sharing is one of methods to share. Internet video sharing has been popular in recent years. Taking advantage of modern internet technology, sharing personal videos with friends or even unknown people who are thousands of miles away has never easier. It is easy, fun and exciting. Anyone who has a digital video camera and an internet account can do it, uploading or downloading video clips.

First we should show appreciation to the advances of modern technology of internet. People can communicate so easily. Back to just 20 years ago, international call was extremely expensive that lots of people could not afford it. Today, using internet, well, family members or friends who live in anywhere in this world can talk or see each other immediately with no problem. After that, people start using internet to do more interesting things, such as picture sharing and video sharing.

There are lots of service providers of internet video sharing. The most famous one definitely is youtube.com which was created in 2005 by three people. Google purchased it paying 1.6billion dollars. Today, it is one of the mostly visited website in the world. People around the world can upload their video clips that they what to share with other viewers around world. This is really amazing. Everyone can watch high quality video clips through accessing this website. For people who want to watch some old but classical stuff, this site also is a good place to seek. You never know who has what in their computer.

Pop culture: Tattooing

The first thing that greatly impressed me when I came to this country was seeing tattoo popularity. Lots of people in this country have tattoos on their arms or other part of their body. The first person I saw having heavy tattoos on his arms was a police officer working at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. At that point, I thought this must be kind of cultural shock to me because back to where I came from, nobody who works for government is allowed to have tattoos and generally speaking, people would think it is against socially accepted moral standard for a person to have tattoos.

It is commonly believed that the origin of tattoo can be found in a pacific island called Tahiti where people would put on decorative marks on their skin. In their language, which is called Tahitian, the pronunciation is ’Tatu’ or ’Tatau’. Obviously, this is where today’s English pronunciation directly came from. Actually, the tradition of tattooing also can be found in other places in this world. For example, the earliest was found on an iceman’s body. Also, a body of an ancient Egyptian that was mummified thousands of years was found having tattoos on it. Around the world, tattooing has been a kind of popular fashion for a while. Of course, in some specific periods in history and some countries, tattooing was treated as a type of extreme culture. For example, in Chinese history, tattooing was used to identify convicted criminal status. In Europe, it used to be forbidden because of the growth of religious beliefs.

Today, tattooing has been a popular practice around the whole world. More people have started appreciating the artistic merit of tattooing. Even in countries like China, tattooing also becomes popular among people. Tattoos are being used to express a person’s beliefs and attitude towards this world. No doubt, Hollywood movies contributed a lot to the popularity of tattooing because US military forces adopted tattooing as a means of protection and remembrance and historical military topics are always preferred by Hollywood movie directors.

American Icons

For me and I guess, for many people as well, Obama means much more than just a person who won presidential election in last year. I believe he has become an American icon that embodies American dream that has been lost for lots of people. Frank Sinatra was one of the greatest actor and singer. Although he died long time ago, his songs still sound great for fans. People like him so much. One of the best ways to understand a world that is new to me, I think is watching cartoon. The Simpsons is such a great show that has brought me not only fun but knowledge. All of them above have been a part of American culture and popular among American people.

Obama is the first African-American president elected by American citizens. His success is really a breakthrough in American political history and even world history. His success also means the core value of American dream is still being honored by American people. For a newcomer like me, what I have learned from him is if I work hard and I will get a fair return. In this society, hard working people are always respected by everyone and deserve a good life.

The first time I heard Sinatra’s name was when I was watching a TV show that ended up with his song New York, New York years ago. I spent a lot of time to find who the singer was. I really like this song and enjoyed feeling it brought to me. I have to say he was really one of the greatest singers in the world.

I watched the first episode of The Simpsons more than 10years ago and was not impressed at that point. But I changed my mind since I moved to the US. The Simpsons is more than just a single family and Springfield is more than just a small town. For me, this cartoon show is a prism that reflects people’s real life in this country. This show brings me not only fun but knowledge about this country, American society and how outside world looks like in American people’s eyes.

How Writing Blogs Change People’s Life

(Below: the most visited blog in China, 249,441,156 clicks)

It has been common if you see someone has his or her own internet-based blog that is open to the public. A blog is simply just a webpage where a blogger can post his or her views against anything in this world. In addition, if allowed by blogger, anyone who has visited this blog can leave a comment to the blog owner. In this virtual world, geography does not exist and people are able to effective communicate as easy as talking in person no matter where they are. Also, it is fortunate that everyone could easily find a host that provides people with free blog services. It is fair to say that the popularity of blog writing has made it a part of current popular culture.

The emergence of internet-based blog in fact is a result of information age in which people need more effective approach to exchange information. Why blog writing is so popular is because it works in a way that traditional media can not do. For common people, it is not possible that a media giant like CNN would be very interested in their comments and feelings everyday. However, that does not mean they do not deserve a space to express themselves. Some bloggers who came with no big names also are very successful. The era of internet has completely destroyed the old way that heroes were made. In the era of internet, everybody could be a hero.

The first personal blog was created in 1994 ¹. Today, there are hundreds of millions blogs around world. In different countries, blogs are embedded into local culture, reflecting dynamics of local life in countries. In China, there are a stunning high number of bloggers. Approximately, more than 100 million blogs are registered in China. Blog writing in China is highly related with country’s political and economic affairs due to China’s strict news and information censorship². Actually, blogging in China has been an alternative for information circulation and has been a social phenomenon that people in developed countries do not see. As a result, having realized how blogging has changed information exchanging in the country, Chinese government has significantly changed how it governs news media. Popular culture works everywhere.

References:
1. New York Magazine (2006) http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/
2. Rebecca MacKinnon http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/