So, it’s been quite the five weeks since our pop culture course began. So much has happened between the break up of Jon and Kate and the death of so many media figures in such a short span of time. When I teach this course, because I rely so much on what is going on in the world of pop culture, I never know where things will lead us. It’s been quite the adventure during this short summer semester. With the death of four media figures in the course of five days, it has given me pause to consider my own mortality. That’s one of the ways in which pop culture works: we use what the culture gives us in order to make determinations about our own thinking and perhaps beliefs. I have argued that pop culture comes at us with such frequency that we don’t have time to savoir any one instant and therefore the effects are not long lasting. In a sense that’s a shame, because pop culture could work toward the public good, especially given the amount of time we spend with pop culture each day. I have also argued that one of the stresses we feel in contemporary American society is derived from the competing ideas that are thrust at us through pop culture. Simply put: pop culture overwhelms us. It has been my hope that during this shortened summer version of the course that you have become more conscious of the role that pop culture plays in your life, as it has been one of the goals of the course to raise your awareness about pop culture, something we take for granted. And, although we have had only a short time to process a lot of material, I hope that as you move forward in your life that there will be instances that will remind you of some of the ideas, issues and theories you have learned in this course.
