Popular culture is not a
creation of the
twentieth century, nor of
capitalism. It has existed in one form or another as long as has the notion of
entertainment.
The pop culture of one
era is the
high culture of the next, a process that has repeated itself over and over in societies from
China to
North America. Yet,
academics,
literati,
critics, and
wannabe intellectuals persist in automatically
denigrating anything
popular. Yes, every era also has its
corny trash (witness
boy bands,
Britney Spears,
codpieces,
Tiny Tim, and
platform shoes). But if you look
askance at the notion that, say, all
science fiction is
junk and can never be
literary or
thought-provoking, then take a
pause when you dismiss everything that is
popular culture.
Mozart,
Shakespeare, the
ci form,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon,
Edgar Allen Poe,
Charles Dickens,
Alphonse Mucha,
Hiroshige: all elements of the
pop culture of their day.
Pop culture works on many levels and isn't always the culture of
the masses--though when it is, it's particularly valuable to
historians,
anthropologists and
sociologists. Unfortunately, due to its
stigma, popular culture has only been rising in the academic
radar since the
1960s, and is still viewed with
distaste and
distrust by the
old-fashioned faculty of many
instutitions of higher learning.