Whitney Scholtes
Resisting Popular Culture
A lot of the time people seek out popular culture texts to consume, but in other cases some popular culture is resisted. To resist pop culture it is to withstand, strive against, or oppose a specific popular culture. One way people can resist forms of popular culture is by refusing to engage in a them or in a specific activity. One example would be for someone to not watch a specific television show or to not own a television at all. Some people who don't believe in violence my not go to movies that have violence in them. Since popular culture plays a powerful role in how people think and understand other groups, resistance to popular culture can also be related to social roles. (Martin & Nakayama, 2009)
One example our book talks about is the University of North Dakota's mascot. Their mascot is called the "Fighting Sioux" and the symbol is of an American Indian head. There are mixed feelings and controversies of how this symbol is used. Some believe it is a strong symbol representing the history of some of the first people in North Dakota and others think of it as a racial aspect. The president of the university, Charles Kupchella states "I don't have a clue why anyone would take offense to something done respectfully and clearly meant as an honor" while a psychology professor, Doug McDonald states "I've had students in my office in tears because of the harassment we get". (Martin & Nakayama, 2009) Resistance is largely portrayed through media and media can distort the image of history and meaning.
In another class I'm taking this semester, I recently found out about a banning of books in Tuscon's schools after suspension of a Mexican American Studies Program. I'm still a little fussy on the whole situation but a video I will post at the bottom may help you understand whats going on. Several books were banned at a school because they were deemed to be "bad books" and officials told teachers to stay away from books were race, ethnicity, and oppression were key. This is a good example of resisting popular culture because certain texts have been banned from schools and these books are consisting of mostly the culture "Mexican American". I hope you find this youtube video as enjoyable as I did and find it as a good example to resisting popular culture.
I also had some pictures but couldn't get them to go onto my blog like I wanted or in a visually appropriate way. One was of the Fighting Sioux, Heidi Montag and how she wants to be "perfect", and of some chained books. Sorry I couldn't get those on my blog!
References
Martin, Judith N. & Nakayama, Thomas K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.
Martin, Judith N. & Nakayama, Thomas K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.
"Debate: Tucson School's Book Ban After Suspension of Mexican American Studies Program 1 or 2- Youtube." Youtube- Broadcast Yourself. 28 Mar. 2012
I find your section on how colleges abstain from certain texts interesting. This reminds me of how many professors at UNL say don't use wikipedia because it is unreliable. Even UNL professors telling students not to use wikipedia is a form of resistance to the very popular wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think about resisting popular culture as both voluntary and involuntary. Countries banning Facebook and social networking are creating a society resisting popular culture, however the citizens are forced into resisting. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting aspect of your blog is how people can be complete opposites in regards to popular culture. Some fight to resist while others fight to conform but it is still not understood the impact that it clearly has on society from both points of view. Great Blog!
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