I’ve been thinking about the construct of stability and instability, as this comes up at a time when I usually ask students whether or not they perceive their world to be stable or not. But given the current economic situation and the elusive job market they will be chasing, I think I know the answer. But beyond the instability of the economy, what about the physical world itself? Fires in California. Volcanoes erupting. Glacial melting. Rising sea levels. The list goes on. And what about the stability of society? Relationships seem like a temporary thing, or virtual (if you count your seven hundred friends on Facebook). Oh well, you get the picture. The world is not a very stable place. But we (humans) need stability in our lives; we seek stability in our lives. This is where pop culture enters into the picture. You know the world may not be a particularly stable place but on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, for sure, American Idol will be on television. I may not be able to trust the world around me, but I can trust that pop culture will be there routinely – I can count on it. And so, we develop media rituals around pop culture and technology that lend stability to our lives: you wake up to your cell phone or music on your Ipod; you immediately check out PerezHilton.com or Facebook to see what’s going on in the world (your world) of gossip; you turn on The Today Show (as I do) or one of the other morning programs; read the newspaper (I know you don’t do this, but I read two every morning); listen to music on your Ipod on the way to campus. You see where I’m going with this – we use pop culture in order to develop routines in our everyday lives that ultimately provide a sense of stability in an otherwise unstable world. Did you ever think that pop culture could play such a vital role in our lives? Furthermore, we utilize what pop culture provides to make sense of our world. The tragic loss of actress Natasha Richardson reminded us that life could be extinguished in a moment. Pop culture. We don’t think much of it, but it’s really important in a post-modern world such as ours.
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In a world of instability and uncertainty, popular culture provides a stable ground. Popular culture by definition is the totality of distinct ideas, perspectives and attitudes that are recognized as preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture. Popular culture is all that is well-liked by the masses enabling popular culture to be the one tangible thing that remains within our control. While a dwindling economy and an unpredictable physical world, including natural disasters such as tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and hurricanes occur outside of human control, popular culture remains within human jurisdiction. After all, popular culture is governed by society because advertisers and marketers will produce the media consumers want to see and hear. Therefore, it can be concluded as Dr. Alperstein stated in the purpose of his blog, that popular culture offers stability in a world of instability.
Life is filled with many uncertainties and instabilities that lay outside of our control. As individuals, we are told not to take life for granted because things happen outside of our control. People die while others are born, natural disasters occur and rebuilding occurs, relationships end while new romances begin, but at the end of the day, individuals can rely on the fact that One Tree Hill will be on Monday night at 9 pm or that I can catch on old episode of Friends on TV. As harsh as it seems, one may no longer have a job because of the dwindling economy, but it is certain that Face book will always be there. Popular culture then becomes a place of stability; a place where in an unpredictable environment, one can find a sort of comfort food in popular culture because it will always be readily available to society.
Right now in my own life this has to got to be the most unstable time I have ever experience. This semester alone I must say in my life I have had a lot of ups and downs and I have not been as prepared as I have been the past semesters. Maybe it is because I am a senior, maybe its because I don't know what will happen a month from now. This time more than ever I wish I knew what was going to happen because than maybe I could stable myself. However there are things that have remain constantly stable even when my life is not.
Perez Hilton I check everyday and I know he will post bloggs almost everyday. He will tell me what is going in the lives of people like octo mom, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Aniston to name a few. This may sound a little selfish but when I see celebrities going through what I believe is a hard unstable time for them it makes me feel somewhat better. I think in our world today we get so caught up that we think ourselves always have it the worst nothing is working out, we don't have a plan but sometimes if we look to pop culture in many ways it can help us. Pop culture is like that in many ways, pop culture itself doesn't have a plan but it is stable because it's there all the time. It is nice to know I can watch episode on television when I know it's going to be on. I love being able to buy US weekly and People and know there will be pictures of some of my favorite celebrities every week with their troubles printed on the pages. This is somewhat embarrassing to say but I look at their stories regardless if they are true or not and see if there is a way I can work what they did into my own unstable life.
I feel as though maybe it is not popular culture which brings us stability, but rather our political system and government which allows us to live in such a free and stable environment. Since we do not have to worry about our own survival or safety on a daily basis, we are able to focus so much of our time on popular culture, which brings a false sense of security to our lives. It would not matter if Friends or ER were on the same time the same night every week for 30 years if we had to worry about roadside bombs on our way to work or school or a suicide bomber attacking the local starbucks we love to frequent.
It's interesting because although I do believe that popular culture to a certain extent does bring some stability just due to its mere existence, I do on the other hand think that it also has the potential to shake a lot of things in our lives up. With such dependence and indulgence in the news and entertainment of popular culture also brings with it a certain kind of stress. At least for me it does. When watching different shows I analyze the characters and their actions and choices, comparing them to my own life which often leads to a spiral of thoughts and questionings of my life. Same goes for celebrities. Sometimes its hard not to measure your own values against theirs and wonder if you should be living your life a different way. So, yes, it is a stability, but I question whether this stability brings solace and comfort or and added stress to our already chaotic lives.
Completely agree. Embarrassing fact: I watch cartoons. Whenever I feel anxious or stressed out I feel like I can't even watch "normal" television. I have to watch the most fictional characters of all: cartoon characters. It's only when I'm stressed though! I feel like I can't even handle real people playing fictional characters because I find myself comparing myself to them. It's weird, but the fact that a cartoon character can't be compared to me gives me some sense of stability when I'm stressed. It relaxes me because in no way, shape, or form can these actors cross into the real world because they're just animated characters. Am I making sense? It is completely true how popular culture can give us stability. It can even have a relaxing effect. The fact that I know that these cartoon characters are there for me to watch takes me to a completely different world. The world of unreality where I don't have to worry about anything...at least for a half an hour. :)
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