Introduction
Population culture includes all the aspects of life that we live by. It is the manner in which we socialize and the basis that helps in decision making (Danesi, 2008). It is the laid out set of laws by the society at any given time, which defines changes in the society, as we approach different times.
Popular culture helps businesses to grow because they have to get what is trendy at any particular time in order to meet the people’s needs. My popular culture artifact will be referred to as Against All Odds (Giuns & Cruz, 2005).
Icons
The first icon is Oprah Winfrey, who is African American and hosts a talk show that is greatly watched by so many people in America and in many other countries around the globe. Oprah is known to have come from a very humble background, and she has overcome so many setbacks in her life to get where she is.
People love this show because of the good work that Oprah does, of helping the needy persons in society. She is known to empower so many persons by giving them hope in life. She strives to show people that they can achieve anything that they want in life as long they put a lot of effort into it.
Oprah Winfrey seeks to inspire women more, especially the black American women, she accommodates the whites too without any prejudice. Oprah Winfrey has given back to society by making changes, which include helping to educate girls from poor families so that they can be empowered (Browne & Ambrosetti, 2001).
The second icon is the last supper painting. This painting is found in many homes, and it symbolizes religion. Being raised by my grandmother and my great grandmother, they adored this painting and hence had one in the house. They always told me that the men who were in the table with Jesus were honored to dine with him.
I found this picture in so many homes, always in church and also on the store shelf. Every time I saw it, I felt admiration and also inspiration knowing that the Lord would give me the strength to strive through my challenges in life.
The function of the last supper painting is to show that mankind cannot be successful by himself. We need supernatural powers to strive through life, and it does not matter the religion in which we come from, what matters most is to have faith, and God will do the rest. Religion gives us strength when life becomes too hard in terms of financial and social needs (Storey, 2009).
The third and last icon is Barrack Obama. Barrack Obama stands to be the greatest icon of all time. He has greatly inspired many people from all walks of life. He amazed so many people by becoming the president of America, given his background of being an African American. Not so many believed that he could have made the far he did. The slogan, yes, we can see that he used during his campaigns gives hope to many persons.
He is very strong-willed, and in comparison to all the person’s elected president in the United States, he has faced more obstacles. Hard work is what has got Barrack Obama where he is today. He had a dream that he never let go if he could have belittled himself; he could never have made it. The above three icons have helped mankind to rise from their cocoons and face issues by the horns instead of waiting for other people to sort them out.
Myths surrounding popular culture
Some of the myths I will include in popular culture are related to religion, romance, and the American dream. The American dream has different meanings to different people. This is because, for some people, it is all about acquiring wealth, which is accompanied by power.
For others, the American dream is about the freedom that is acquired in America and the justice system, which is known to be the best in comparison to other judicial systems in the world. For the majority of the people, they view the American dream to be about success and the fame that comes with it.
However, none of the things related to the American dream are acquired on a silver platter. One of the myths about the American dream is that wealth in America comes right away. Immigrants view America as the land of honey and milk. One needs to plan and compete hard in the market to be able to live the American dream.
I chose this myth because people do not understand that they have to be persistent and work harder to earn a living and hence accumulate wealth. The other myth is about status, which is related to education and wealth. There is a myth that an educated person cannot fall in love with a person who is uneducated and have a relationship that will last for long (Freccero, 2004).
Romance myths are all about gender matters and the different races that people come from. Romance myths are about interracial marriages and also about women getting married to men who are wealthy so that they can live comfortably.
Religion defines the culture that the majority of people hold. There is a religious myth that people tell, which says that religion tends to brainwash human beings — being brainwashed means that people will tend to lose their true identity and follow religion blindly.
I chose these myths because they are all related to the financial status that persons are in, whether educated or not. People should hang on the belief that they have the potential to succeed and become an inspiration to other persons. One does not have to become the president to help make changes in our economy and in people’s lives.
The role of stereotype in my artifact is to educate people to stop hanging onto fiction and deal with reality. Rituals have a significant role in bringing people together by helping them learn to accommodate other tribes and respect their way of life (Johnson, 2006).
The popular culture artifact will have a mentorship hero who will be all rounded to mentor graduates to become resourceful employees and employers so that they do not lose their way as they struggle through life.
The hero will evoke the spirit of giving back to society by training people in society to become volunteers and learning to appreciate whatever God has granted to us so that we can strive for more. When people do not appreciate what they have in life, they easily lose direction; even with good education, they sometimes find themselves in challenges which they cannot avoid.
For this artifact, I would like to use Donald Trump as my celebrity because he has very liberating thoughts on how people can acquire wealth, among other things. He has very modern ideas and presents facts about life that people need to integrate with.
Donald Trump settles for the best and helps people to become innovative in their ideas to make progress in life. He encourages people to make sacrifices to get whatever they want, and he demonstrates that intelligence and wisdom are in an application for every step of the way (Freccero, 2004).
I would like to use the formula of stating facts as they are, the beliefs that surround them, the facts, and then stereotypes. This formula is dynamic because it states the facts which are inexistent and finally ends with the current situation that the guests in the show have experienced. It will change with time as the occasions change and as we embrace new cultures. This formula should still be applicable, and only very little aspects of it will change.
Conclusion
The against all odds reality television shows will demonstrate values of change, sacrifice, charity, strength, skill, and wisdom, among other values. To advertise the popular culture artifact, I would use the media because it is a television show that is bound to have very moving real-life stories that people can relate with and about celebrities.
I would prefer to use magazines among all the other types of media because they are all about lifestyles in which people live, and that is what culture is all about. Besides, magazines are not expensive for people to buy. All in all, culture is very important and should always be preserved for the generation to come (Danesi, 2008).
References
Browne R. B. and Ambrosetti R. J. (2001). Continuities in popular culture: the present in the past & the past in the present and future. Mexico: Popular Press.
Danesi M. (2008). Popular culture: introductory perspectives. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Freccero C. (2004). Popular culture: an introduction. New York: NYU Press.
Giuns R. and Cruz O. Z. (2005). Popular culture: a reader. Phoenix: SAGE.
Johnson S. (2006). Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. New York: Riverhead Books.
Storey J. (2009). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York: Longman.