With reference to one specific area of the media discuss the ways it may be termed popular culture :: essays papers

With reference to one specific argona of the media discuss the ways it whitethorn be termed hot shade For this essay I am vent to be studying the frequent animated TV series The Simpsons and say why I think that it is a programmeic example of popular floriculture texts. The programme is twenty- vanadium minute animation about a family at the bottom of the social ladder, the Simpsons. Revolving around the central family the show takes a sideways date at the life of ordinary Ameri keister people. The family has five main members Homer the father of the family is a blue-collar worker at the local nuclear power station. Marge the m opposite is a woman of the ho role who stays at home all day, then there are the children. Bart (a mischievous prankster) and Lisa (school swat) are pre-teens and lastly there is baby Maggy who doesnt do that much at all. Every week the family get into several(a) and amusing scrapes and generally carry out the activities that a working class fa mily are supposed to do. There are many factors that could categorise The Simpsons as being popular culture, one of them being its intertexuality. The show makes great use of both parody and pastiche as a reference to other popular culture texts much(prenominal) as Star Wars, Psycho and the pack Bond films. The programme also features guest appearances by stars of popular culture, such as actors, sports personalities and musicians. Very few people in these roles could be classed as examples of high culture. The other major factor in The Simpsons being termed popular culture is the fact that the show is in animated direct. No form of animation has ever been seen as a worthy piece of culture by academics and those who decide what is significant and what is not.To establish on the dot why The Simpsons can be termed as popular culture we have to define just what it is that we mean by the phrase popular culture. To put it in its most simple form popular culture can be anything that i snt categorised as high culture. Academics and members of certain social groups look down on anything termed popular culture as dumbed down merriment for the masses and something that isnt worthy of reading. These people attack popular culture as being vulgar and brash, they say its texts are insignificant culturally and that they are only superficial forms of entertainment.