Popular Culture

As much as I would like to think that my life is not totally consumed by popular culture, I know that is not true. I didn’t think I would be able to find much evidence of this in my own room, since I just moved in and there isn’t much in there. To my surprise I was wrong, and it is very evident that popular culture is very present in my life. There isn’t much in my room right now, so it was surprising to notice that most of the stuff that I do have can be categorized as popular culture. This shows the importance and the role that popular culture has in my life.
There are three types of popular culture that are easily identified in my room: music, entertainment and brands. I wouldn’t classify the music that I listen to as mainstream, I prefer to listen to underground music, but the device in which I listen to my music would fall into popular culture. The IPod has become a very dominant device in popular culture in the past years; the brand (Apple) itself has become a prominent leader in electronics. Nike is brand that is known throughout the world, it has defiantly become a part of popular culture, it is present nearly everywhere, including my room. I have a stack of boxes with the swoosh on it; this is a brand that I am dedicated to. Finally, I have a stack of tabloid magazines and fashion magazines. These magazines are my way of keeping connected and up to date with everything that is considered mainstream in the U.S. I feel that tabloids and magazines are the epitome of what popular culture is. They provide us with information of everything that is popular at the moment whether it is music, television etc. I don’t have much in my room but these three items were enough to show the influence that popular culture has on my life.
There are definitely things that I have refused to buy and therefore are not present in my room. The example that Martin and Nakayama gave about the Fighting Sioux is something that I related to. The University of Illinois had a similar problem with their mascot the “Chief” many people found it offensive to the Native American culture but others saw no problem with the use of it. I choose not to support the use of the Chief as the mascot, and therefore have never bought nor wore anything that represents the chief.
I believe that all these things fit in with my own cultural identity. I identify myself as Mexican-American. The things that I have in my room do show that I am influenced by America’s mainstream culture, but at the same time the things that I do not have are influenced by my Mexican culture. I choose not to support the chief as a mascot because as a minority I feel that it is offensive to exploit others culture for the benefit of a mascot. Popular culture does play a role in my life but at the same time I know when not to compromise my own beliefs.