Pop Culture And Stereotypes In Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Jersey Shore was a television show that aired in 2009 it was a reality-based look at the vapid lives of several Italians in their twenties and their respective friends and hookups. Throughout the series, there were numberless acts of the violent outburst, alcoholic behaviors, and sexual content all on camera. In a journal written by J. Johnson, he states that “evidence suggests that television’s influence on children and adolescents is related to how much time they spend watching television” (Johnson) and when a child is constantly watching these inappropriate shows they tend to pick up the behavior. First to take a look at the explicit language and violent outburst which can be categorized together as aggression. The show often displays aggressive

Over the years, views on women’s roles in society have drastically changed. The gender differences highlighted in Deborah Tannen’s excerpts from You Just Don’t Understand emphasize the differences between women’s desire for intimacy and men’s pull towards independence. By this theory, men tend to drift in the direction of power and self-reliance, which are characteristics of action television shows and movies, whereas women immerse themselves in romance and family oriented media. While The Game of Thrones appeals to males through the fast-paced storyline, the characters of Arya Stark, Sensa Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen break away from Tannen 's stereotypes and empower women watching the series through the ladies’ demonstration of survival and independent judgment, even among formidable males. As a result, both genders are equalized, but women are ennobled in the process.

During 1945 to the present there has been many changes in Australian pop culture, these areas of pop culture include Film, television, radio, music, fashion, sport and communication. Popular Culture refers to the beliefs, attitudes and lifestyles shared by a group of people.

With the shift of gender roles in American culture, comes the shift in how Americans portray characters in certain television and media shows. While the cultural norms and beliefs change as a country, so do the way people perceive the roles of males and females. In the 1950’s, it was normal for a female to be working on and at the home, taking care of the kids, and doing the tedious chores around the house. All while the male is at work, making the money to support the family. In today’s time, with many advances in women’s rights and cultural acceptance, these roles are not so specific to a gender.

Pop culture, what does this term even mean? It seems to be a word that contains subjects of media, social structure, and society as a whole. According to the dictionary, pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. In the society we live in today, we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, either that is with television, magazines, different sources of social media and/or exposure to others. Due to pop culture being such a dominant contribution into our world today, it has effected many parts of society. The domination of social media has created idealistic views that are stressed upon female adolescents in particular. Upon media’s influence, traditional tactics and work have been modified in order to keep up with our technology oriented society. This alters the schools and education systems. Through the use of television, social media and other means of pop culture, serious study is necessary due to the negative effects it has on the younger generation and the effects it has for their futures.

In conclusion, there is both reluctance and openness towards whether pop culture should be studied at an academic level. Pop culture has a value in sociology, the interests of students and a lack of resistance from students and professors. There are more positive resources that support pop culture as an academic study than there are ones of reluctance. From the evidence stated in above paragraphs, it is evident that there is much support for a new form of

Learning about pop culture truly frightened me when I saw the book we were utilizing at the beginning of the semester. Having been without television for more than 10 years now, I suspected I wouldn’t know much. Being a single parent amid this time gave me an opportunity to see this present era progress through the technological advances of our time, and interestingly, my age placed me in pop culture arena’s that the more youthful era doesn’t even think about. Our book, “Signs of Life in the USA” was splendid at addressing such a variety of products, movies, television, spaces, semiotic multiculturalism, alongside the gender and sexual societal rational to name a few. The transition back to school after 40+ years has given me some shock in the amount of openness and evaluation of actually any subject, religion to politics. Since these are places I refrain to go into conversation with others on the planet, to have my opportunity of opinions gives me a protective feeling with the

The story is of a teenage girl who is chosen to be the next Slayer, endowed with supernatural strength in order to aide her on her quest, because: “In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer”("Welcome to the Hellmouth"). In this series, the Slayer is known as Buffy Summers, and the series follows her as she faces one apocalypse after another, graduating school, dealing with boys and life and death and all the issues that one expects to arise from a coming of age series. What makes Buffy unique is that unlike the rest of the Slayers from the generations before her, she has a collection of friends who help her answer her calling, and together, they create an enthralling cast that keeps the viewers coming back to relive each episode. Feminists have hailed Buffy as being one of the most prominent series that deals with feminist issues and provides viewers with a strong female figurehead; others, however, look at the show with a more critical eye, wondering just what kind of feminism and feminist ideals are being portrayed in the series. This paper will touch upon most of these ideas, yet for now, the focus will be on the character of Buffy herself. .

Popular culture has always reflected society’s ideals and notions about gender. With Western society more plugged in than ever, it has become easier for large populations of people to be exposed to (typically harmful) messages about gender expressed in television programs, movies, music, book, magazines, and social media. Two examples of television shows that have rooted themselves in American popular culture and vividly express their notion of what femininity looks like are The Swan and Virgin Brides. The Swan, which pays homage to the childhood story of The Ugly Duckling, is a show about female bodily transformations. The show’s format required that every week two ‘ugly’ women be transformed through extreme bodily makeovers into ‘beautiful’

In the first chapter of The Rhetorical Power of Pop Culture by Deanna Sellnow, the author defines popular culture and explains the importance of studying the subject. Sellnow begins with a short explanation of ethics to convey that the influence popular culture has is not always used ethically. Secondly, Sellnow compares the different contexts of culture, elitist and diversity, to explain what popular culture is not. Popular culture is compiled of everyday things that influence people through subtle messages such as what is appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad, and so on.

It is important to understand that pop culture is not the essence of becoming cultured

The second pattern that the show demonstrates is the dominance of heterosexuality and heterosextual privilege. All the character in the show are in a heterosexual relationship which are reflected in the nature of the space that they occupy. In the workplace and within the household the representation of heteronormative culture dominates. There is no representation of homonormative spaces or other sexual minorities in the show. The third pattern that the show demonstrates is gender performance. West and Zimmerman refer to gender performance as “doing gender” which will be later discussed in the next section. Due to the strong heteronormative nature of the show, the pattern of explicit gender performances are portrayed through clothing, behaviors, and interactions.These patterns are all related to specific locations in which each of the genders occupies. It is through this segregation of genders that the show perpetuates societal norms that support heteronormative culture and result in gender inequalities.

Television networks are continually expanding their programming slates, and many in the past have switched to a year-round programming schedule that makes the phrase “summer return” basically absolute. On every channel, in every magazine, every darken theater, we see the way pop culture limits women’s role- girlfriends, victims, hookers, corpses, sex bombs, and “teases,” but why? Television, for most women, was the first place where they were able to visually see themselves represented. And for quite a while, they didn’t see much besides the loving wife, the dutiful daughter, gossiping girlfriends, fashion models, and the occasional maid, granny, or nanny. In Where the Girls Are: Growing Up

What pops into your mind first when you think of popular culture in today’s day and age? The latest dirt on celebrities or the latest iPhone release? The latest controversial issue or the latest iTunes hit? Regardless, pop culture encompasses all four of these concepts and many more, which consume the world we live in each and every day. Think about education. At first thought, your mind may not make the connection between the newest Taylor Swift song and the highest ACT score, but the linkage between the two becomes undeniable when you dive deeper. Ponder this: each day millions of kids walk into school buildings across the United States, each of them glued to a little slice of pop culture, a.k.a. their phone. And each day these millions

Books, plays, and movies that depict culture and social life often make statements about social issues such as gender roles, racism, and class distinction. Stories set up a context in which characters relate, often representing “stock” characters chosen from society and placed in situations where their stereotypical behaviors—and sometimes their breaking of these stereotypes—are highlighted. As feminism became a popular movement in Western countries in general and the United States in particular, female voices were naturally heard through fictional characters. Social and political issues commonly fuel entertainment; feminism, racism, and classism—recurring themes in entertainment through the 20th Century and into the modern day—have