Popular Culture & Edcuation

1. Popular Culture & Edcuation May 6, 2013

2. Defining Popular Culture • Via Raymond Williams (1983) • 4 uses of “popular” • That which is liked by many people • That which is deemed inferior or unworthy • Work that is trying to win favour with people • Forms of culture made by people for themselves • Via Stack & Kelly (2006) • Something we are exposed to day after day, year after year • “a kind of bizarre alternative curriculum” (p. 16) • Via Buckingham (2012) • As something that is ‘consumed’ • As something that can also ‘produce’ • Via Jenkins, et al. (2013) • As a form of ‘spreadable media’ • As something that is both produced and consumed

3. Definitions & Intersections • Popular Culture • New media • Spreadable media • Participatory culture • Consumption • Meme • Trope

4. Spreadable Media & Consumption • The authors begin by defining spreadable media in relation to ‘stickiness’ – now it is your turn – in your own words (as a group), define both stickiness & spreadable media • The authors give 4 examples of spreadable media – your job is to locate those examples and detail how those examples served to reshape cultural and political institutions (in your own words). • Name the two sides of the debate with regards to how consumption is characterized • Define the ways in which consumption is both a social and cultural practice • Articulate the difference between a producer-led approach to consumption and a consumer-led approach

5. Meme • Meme: A ‘meme’ is a term used to describe cultural and/or behavioural phenomena or particularities that are imitations or repetitions of cultures or behaviours before them. The term is borrowed from the biological sciences, capturing the process of genetic copying in its more idiomatic cultural context. A meme is something passed from one generation to another or across generations through the process of replication. Today those replications are often digitally altered to enhance or alter the original meaning of the image or words. Memes contribute to the perpetuation of ideas/thought patterns and beliefs in both subtle and overt ways. • http://www.buzzfeed.com/samir/skeptical-third-world-kid-meme-hate-it-or-love

6. Meme examples

7. Meme examples GRUMPY CAT

8. Another meme LET’S ALL GET HIGH GRADES ON THE FINAL EXAM

9. Trope • Trope: While a ‘trope’ can refer to a literary trope, which is a figure of speech used to denote something other than the literal meaning of the words (e.g. metaphors, hyperbole, etc.), the term has also taken on a more common pop culture meaning referring to stereotypical and overused plot devices. Examples of commonly used tropes today include the ‘damsel in distress,‘‘black dude dies first,‘ and ‘armoured closet gay‘ (overly “manly” macho by day, self-loathing gay guy by night). • http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/tropes-vs-women-3-the-smurfette-principle/