According to our textbooks, the definition of Popular Culture is defined as, "everyday objects, actions, and events that influence people to believe and behave in certain ways." To simplify that even more, it's what we consume through music, television, movies, and advertisements that tell us what we need to think is acceptable or undesirable to us.
For example, back in earlier times, our culture use to value women or men who were slightly heavier than others. However, that is most certainly not the case nowadays with many different women being portrayed as ridiculous skinny in magazine ads, film (although this has definitely decreased in recent releases), music videos, and etc. Our book even provides an example of the small island of Fiji that only had 6% of women dieting and obsessing over their weight, however when the island received access to cable television that number rose dramatically to 66%. Women's image has been harshly criticized in recent years thanks to popular culture that surrounds them.
Even this is present in men in our culture. Many women are shown these slick, muscular, scruffy looking men in magazines, movies, and pop stars, causing many of them to see this as the example of a "hot" male. These portrayals however inspire so men to become that image in order to attract women, but in other cases, it also mentally damages them. Myself, struggled with mental depression throughout high school and into my early years of college over my body image, and only in recent years have I been able to find comfort in my own skin. Even today, I still crack from time to time and find myself down over my body image.
Popular culture has the power to do many things to us without us even realizing it.
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