The Vulture Pop Culture
Technology Has Taken Over
Saskia, the author of “Just Watch” from “RED” sounds like a very confused girl. On one hand, she has such disdain for television’s impact on her and her family’s relationship. She talks about how television was supposed to be something you watched “when you were sick or it was hopelessly rainy outside and you had nowhere to be” (224). However, it ends up taking over her family. By sixteen, television is the focus of the family – whether it’s That’s So Raven, The Colbert Report, or, as Saskia admits, her Food Network channel .
Saskia sees this evolution destroying her family, yet she refuses to do anything about it. What is most fascinating is how she relies on other technologies to soothe her hatred for television. Instead of watching television with her family, she’ll run off and listen to music on her headphones. I would argue that putting yourself in solitary confinement with your headphones and RENT CD while your dad is watching MASH is worse than actually watching television with your family.
Ultimately, she would like to have family time: play board games, gather the family around, and talk. But, she is unwilling to take the necessary steps. Her story focuses on how television has disrupted her family. However, the bigger story is how she alienates herself from her family. The bigger story is how she allows technology to take over her life.
Pop Goes the Parent
Something Wald said in her rock and roll piece really stood out to me: “‘wannabe,’ a means by which young women articulate their subjectivity through their consumption of popular culture” (22). Isn’t that essentially what being a girl or boy is? Pop culture is an invisible parent who is always there to show you the way. I don’t think kids understand that pop culture is an invisible parent. When mom or dad isn’t home after school, who tends to the girls? Most likely television. And through that medium, pop culture invades the lives of girls, changing their thoughts, their beliefs, their desires, and their needs.
Pop culture then becomes a prism in which girls look through to form ideas and concepts about themselves. It spreads itself through the minds and hearts of girls so much so that it infiltrates instincts that are naturally prevalent. Nowadays, pop culture is even more abundant because of the myriads of technological advancements. It started with MySpace and now Facebook. Pop culture invades girls through these mediums.
When I was younger, the only medium that affected me was television. There were no social network sites, free porn videos, or the like. I feel for girls (kids) nowadays because there is a ton of information coming at them that I didn’t have to deal with.
Bi the Way
I appreciate how Driver discusses Willow’s sexual evolution as an evolution “rather than create a ‘special’ episode in which to package a queer teen story” (63). What I don’t appreciate, though, is the idea that the evolution consists of a stop-off at Bisexual Avenue on its way to Gay Boulevard. I find it fascinating that the only way to make homosexuality palatable is to incorporate an element of bisexuality. Why couldn’t Willow just be gay? Why does she have to deal with bisexual behavior? And while this response has nothing to do with “pop culture,” I do find it worth talking about.
Saskia, the author of “Just Watch” from “RED” sounds like a very confused girl. On one hand, she has such disdain for television’s impact on her and her family’s relationship. She talks about how television was supposed to be something you watched “when you were sick or it was hopelessly rainy outside and you had nowhere to be” (224). However, it ends up taking over her family. By sixteen, television is the focus of the family – whether it’s That’s So Raven, The Colbert Report, or, as Saskia admits, her Food Network channel .
Saskia sees this evolution destroying her family, yet she refuses to do anything about it. What is most fascinating is how she relies on other technologies to soothe her hatred for television. Instead of watching television with her family, she’ll run off and listen to music on her headphones. I would argue that putting yourself in solitary confinement with your headphones and RENT CD while your dad is watching MASH is worse than actually watching television with your family.
Ultimately, she would like to have family time: play board games, gather the family around, and talk. But, she is unwilling to take the necessary steps. Her story focuses on how television has disrupted her family. However, the bigger story is how she alienates herself from her family. The bigger story is how she allows technology to take over her life.
Pop Goes the Parent
Something Wald said in her rock and roll piece really stood out to me: “‘wannabe,’ a means by which young women articulate their subjectivity through their consumption of popular culture” (22). Isn’t that essentially what being a girl or boy is? Pop culture is an invisible parent who is always there to show you the way. I don’t think kids understand that pop culture is an invisible parent. When mom or dad isn’t home after school, who tends to the girls? Most likely television. And through that medium, pop culture invades the lives of girls, changing their thoughts, their beliefs, their desires, and their needs.
Pop culture then becomes a prism in which girls look through to form ideas and concepts about themselves. It spreads itself through the minds and hearts of girls so much so that it infiltrates instincts that are naturally prevalent. Nowadays, pop culture is even more abundant because of the myriads of technological advancements. It started with MySpace and now Facebook. Pop culture invades girls through these mediums.
When I was younger, the only medium that affected me was television. There were no social network sites, free porn videos, or the like. I feel for girls (kids) nowadays because there is a ton of information coming at them that I didn’t have to deal with.
Bi the Way
I appreciate how Driver discusses Willow’s sexual evolution as an evolution “rather than create a ‘special’ episode in which to package a queer teen story” (63). What I don’t appreciate, though, is the idea that the evolution consists of a stop-off at Bisexual Avenue on its way to Gay Boulevard. I find it fascinating that the only way to make homosexuality palatable is to incorporate an element of bisexuality. Why couldn’t Willow just be gay? Why does she have to deal with bisexual behavior? And while this response has nothing to do with “pop culture,” I do find it worth talking about.
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