A Marvelously Dire Addiction:
From television to movies to music to the internet, pop culture is everywhere and causes a craze amongst young adults across the country. So why do many people look at pop culture with a negative connotation? Is it because it constantly surrounds us and we are consumed by it? Or does popular culture act as the necessary evil to balance things out in our lives? The lyrics from the song “Capitalism Stole My Virginity” by The International Noise Conspiracy come to mind: “Robbed out of our bleeding hearts, smashed our illusions, tore them all apart, now we are unsentimental, unafraid, to destroy this culture that we hate.” As the author of “Bitch on Heels: Confessions of a Pop Culture Junkie”, Lisa Miya-Jervis discusses the reasons she can not stop indulging herself in the wonderfully appalling world of American popular culture. Her first and foremost argument is that popular culture is inescapable. No matter where you go or what you do, advertisements are everywhere, continually providing the unnecessary desire for someone or something. It is almost impossible to shelter yourself from these things. Miya-Jervis explains, “The mass media are collectively compelling, repulsive, horrifying, and maybe the best fu
Clearly Miya-Jervis is stuck between how she should feel and what she really feels about popular culture. When she says “Does that mean I’m gonna shut my legs tight and refuse the pleasure of it all?” clearly says that she is not willing to give up popular culture even though she has all of the knowledge about how she is being manipulated (Miya-Jervis 285). However, perhaps that is the point of her essay. That no matter what your opinion of popular culture is, in some way you are affected by it. It is an oxymoron to say you hate popular culture. Throughout her work Miya-Jervis hints at how feminism is portrayed in popular culture. It is the stereotypical female character that she focuses her attention. She describes their role with the following; “men saving the world while the women are left home to do nothing but serve as their motivation to return” (Miya-Jervis 284). It is clear that in American popular culture the dominant male figure goes out and saves the world and ends up getting the girl in the end. Is this truly what Americans want to see? For the majority of Americans, based on the type of films that come out and are successful, the answer to that question seems to be “yes”. However, the author does express her own opinion on the matter by stating, “More than anything I want
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Approximate Word count = 890
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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