AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE

The Most Influential Culture

• American popular culture is one of the most influential and globally widespread cultural forms today. Mickey Mouse, Barbie, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Basketball, Comics, jazz, Rap, Spngebob, Michael Jackson, Superman, Gone with the Wind, Titanic, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jordan, Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga—these names and genres joined American media and capital industry of products in spreading across the globe.

• Today, with the immense effects of media, magazines, television, movies, and the Internet, different types and genres of popular culture rely on each other to create benefits. The network of popular culture is greatly connected to the American daily life.

• Americans love fast food. They consume huge quantities of pizza, hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks at restaurants, not only because they like them, but also because these foods are often the cheapest items on the menu.

• Since so many women are working, families are eating a lot of fast food, frozen dinners, and restaurant takeout. It takes time to prepare fresh vegetables and fish; stopping at a fast-food chain for fried chicken on the way home from work is a much faster alternative.

• As Americans have gotten heavier, the image of a beautiful woman has gotten much slimmer. Marilyn Monroe would be overweight by today’s media standards. Fashion magazines, television shows, movies, and TV commercials feature actresses and models who are very slender.

• As a result, many teenage girls have become so insecure about their bodies that some develop eating disorders.

• Ironically, although media constantly promotes images of slender girls, the more American people watch TV, the less likely they are to exercise.

• Some Americans spend much of their leisure time lying on the couch, watching TV, and eating junk food. They are called “couch potatoes,” because their bodies do not move except for eyes, which are like the small marks on potatoes. They would rather watch MLB game on TV than go to play baseball outdoor.

• Most American people, including children, spend much of their free time watching entertainment programs such as dramas, situation comedies, reality shows, movies, and sports live.

• The advanced computer technology and the popularity of the World Wide Web have brought a whole new world of leisure-time activities to Americans. People tend to prefer spending their time in Google, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, communicating with friends or family via e-mail, or playing the online games.

• Globalization and the popularity of the Internet have brought movie industry a new development. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. cinema industry has a profound effect on movies across the world. Hollywood gives life to the American Dream of reinventing life as seen in the movies.

• Screen actors like John Wayne, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie have become icon figures. Paramount and Walt Disney were the leaders in movie merchandising. Movie industry creates profit by selling not only the theater tickets but also various products related, toys, shirts, DVDs, and many others.

• Although the U.S. tends to be a net exporter of culture, it absorbs many other cultural traditions, for example: pizza, soccer, Susie, and Asian films.

• In recent years, different film types became popular, and the US movie industries borrowed stories, techniques, images from Asian films.

• These include films from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan, such as Bruce Lee, Akira Kurosawas’s The Seven Samurais, Infernal Affairs, and Ang Lee’s Crouch Tiger Hidden Dragon.

• BYE~