MayaCassar.Blogs

The Influences of Popular Culture

Popular culture surrounds us in more ways than one may realise, it is embedded into our world. I never really noticed its influence on my everyday life, from its impacts on the clothes I wear, the food I eat, and even the shows I watch. 

When asked ‘what popular culture do you consume?’ immediately a range of different TV shows and movies came to mind. I then realised that one of the main reasons I will watch a particular show is if it is widely popular, specifically, if it is popular among other people within my age demographic. Storey (2015) outlines different definitions of popular culture and begins with a simple statement that “popular culture is simply culture that is widely favoured or well liked by many people.” He also added that “such a quantitative index would meet the approval of many people.” and included examples such as the success of CD sales. One TV show that I never would have watched, as it originally did not spark my interest was Gilmore Girls. It is a TV show that aired before I was even born yet was recommended to me on Netflix, influencing me to watch it. Due to its popularity amongst my friends and other people my age, I ultimately decided to watch it. Thus, in turn, increasing the show’s viewership.

Once I began watching Gilmore Girls, I started to understand why it was so popular amongst my age group. Although Gilmore Girls has a primarily white cast, the TV show provides a different form of representation by highlighting the experience of adolescents. The show mainly follows the life of a young teenage girl, Rory Gilmore, as she grows up and goes through common life experiences such as starting high school, university, and new jobs, and it also explores the highs and lows of her relationships with friends, boyfriends, parents, etc. I feel that representation plays a vital role in the popular culture we consume as it can provide us with a sense of belonging. This show is popular as its viewers can relate to the situations the protagonist experiences no matter what background they come from or how they identify and ultimately provides them with a feeling of connection to the story and its characters, however, it could have shown more main characters of minority. 

Additionally, shows such as Gilmore Girls have become so widely popular due to globalisation. “Historically globalisation has been shaped by economic, political and military interests, and by technological innovation”. As a collective, we have been influenced to watch certain shows due to the technological advancement in how we watch content. From only a limited number of channels on black and white TVs to being able to record shows to now the mainstream use of a variety of streaming platforms that we can use on a variety of devices such as phones, laptops, tablets, and flatscreen TVs. Today we can easily access every tv show and movie with the click of a few buttons and with the technological improvements of the internet and wireless devices it is possible to watch a wide range of content at anytime, anywhere. This ultimately increases the views and popularity of shows and movies at high volumes around the globe.

In summation, the well-known TV show Gilmore Girls is widely favoured due to popular culture, its representation of young adolescents, and its easy accessibility due to the globalisation of technological advancements. These factors all contribute to the popular culture I, and many others consume today.