Popular Culture [Monday, January 15, 7th period]
Rose was already in class, a steaming cup of tea on her desk.
There were photos of Galaxy Quest, James Bund, Space Battles, Barry Plodder, Mister What and Wendy the Werewolf Stalker on the blackboard.
As soon as the class was sitted, Rose began speaking:
"Last class we discussed each of your expectations in this class and most, if not, all of you agree that popular culture is one of the things you'll find necessary in this timeline particularly since you all come from different backgrounds and timelines yourselves. I hope you all read the handouts I've given you but I'll gave you the basics-- pop culture is the music you're listening to, the clothes you're wearing and the language you're speaking.
It's quite literally, the culture of the people.
Today, we're going to discuss one element of pop culture and that's language as I spoke to Hermione she raised a very important point. Who, in the end, decides what is or isn't part of of this culture? And how does it become a part of the culture, so much so it creeps into the language we're speaking? Is it because a book, a movie is considered a 'hit' ? Or how the same things I mention shape the general outlook of a certain time period?"
Rose leaned against the blackboard, "Each of these pictures signify an important role in shaping people's perception of pop culture, they've infilitrated speech and consciousness of everyone who live in this time period. You can't talk about space travel in this period without thinking of Space Battles, Galaxy Quest and Mister What. You can't talk about magic without people remembering Barry Plodder, you can't pretend to be a spy without conjuring the image of James Bund.
But that's for later, we'll discuss them in detail in the following weeks the reason I featured them today is to emphasize a point -- almost anything can be considered part of pop culture. The only question is how? And in what ways do they become part of it. Believe me, this phenomenon is not restricted to this time alone, from the 1500s to the year 5 billion people will constantly find ways to include what they like into their conversations, their past times and into every facet of their daily life.
We're going to talk how each of these in the following weeks and how they 'become, by common consent, part of the language we speak and by the end of this semester we'll be cycling back to this topic, hopefully you will all be verse in 'talking the talk' and understanding the 'talk'."
Rose paused.
"Here's the question, what do you think are the things in your century, in your time that becomes so popular it's become part of your language."
cheat sheet:
Galaxy Quest - Star Trek
Space Battles - Star Wars
James Bund - James Bond
Barry Plodder - Harry Potter
Mister What - Doctor Who
Wendy the Werewolf Stalker - Buffy the Vampire Slayer