Popular culture is all around us; in fact, it could be argued that this entire course emphasizes pop culture. You have defined and evaluated the major trends of 20th Century art, music, film, and literature, and you have also explored the figureheads behind theories of freedom, morality, and happiness. All of these contributions have been left behind as artifacts, telling you about the values of the past.
To connect to previews work the cinema, consider the film The Gods Must Be Crazy. This film is a comedy devoted to the premise of discovery and meaning. While flying over a remote corner of Africa, a pilot tosses out a soda bottle. The bottle is discovered by a man who has no idea what it is. Cut off from mass media, he believes it to be a message from the gods. He and his fellow villagers try to figure out what it could possibly mean.
Imagine that someone cut off from mass culture finds an artifact from today's culture, an item from popular culture. Consider the following points:
Discuss what item you would like this person to find
Indicate what you hope this item would signify to them
Discuss how you imagine this item could be interpreted. What might some of the possible uses for this item?
How is this item representative of pop culture?