Truly Disappointed

Unsure about what to be more disappointed about: that Bush won or that the amazing adventure games I adored as a child no longer work on modern computers (Day of the Tentacle, King's Quest 6, Sam and Max...). I'm not even a video game person. I'm the guy that can live with 2 games: Halo and Leisure Suit Larry 1. Though you could add Lemmings to that. And Dig Dug on Apple II. This, of course, isn't counting NES/SNES games. Plus, Halo 2 comes out this week.
In any case, clearly the bulk of what I'm talking about has to do with a formative pastime for my generation.

Pop culture may very well be the most significant thing Western society has(put whichever term offends you in inverted commas) and frankly I'm sick of it getting belittled so often. Pop culture cannot help but impact you; if not directly, by way if your friends and any interaction with any cultural artefact. As my esteemed acquaintance Alex Jackson (check out his site)has said, a movie cannot help but comment on the society by which, and the time in which, it was made.
But pop culture gets belitted, as if Oscar Wilde was never a part of popular culture, and 'low culture' cannot become 'high culture' (oh, but it has).
Oh no, now we're into postmodern territory. Didn't want to be here.

However, maybe the belittling is part of it. By refusing to engage with pop culture, you are adding to the discourse. And I love that. We know it's trash, whether we embrace it or not. We realise it is only 'special' for a limited time, and in that time it's ok to feel for these characters(read: contestants); just don't bring up in 2004 how much you loved Mandy on the first season of Temptation Island.

Much pop culture becomes part of the collective memory (or, sometimes, the collective imagination) of a society. The way we remember (or are told about) different eras is based on pop culture. The nineties? Seinfeld, the Simpsons, Nirvana. Yeah, there was the Gulf War and other stuff. But were you there? Our depictions become our memory. Ooh, this is getting into all wooly Baudrillard stuff now.
This also involves nostalgia, which is a whole other big thing I also know nothing about. Once again, let's ignore that.

The depictions of celebrities enrich the culture too. Remember how much great subversive art, music etc. was created in the Thatcher/Reagan reigned 80s? In this way, at the very least, the (re)election of Bush is actually good for pop culture. How boring for the world if there was nothing to complain about or, for the escapist, nothing to be relieved from. Nothing for the apathetic citizen to say 'who gives a shit?' about and switch channels.

Pop culture means all there is a point-and-click approach to current affairs, making issues smaller and more manageable. All we need to know is that Bush is dumb, Kerry is boring, Howard has a funny voice, Michael Jackson rapes/makes love to children and Paris Hilton is a slut/moron/role model/genius and hey-presto, we have an easily communicated trope to deal with modern life.

And, yes, I am talking utter crap.


'To say the least I'm truly disappointed'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_culture

Alex Jackson's film reviews: http://cc.usu.edu/~alexjack/viddied.html