Answer :

Contemporary Chinese Society and Popular Culture

Chinese Society and Popular Culture

Introduction 

The following essay has been prepared to give review upon the special chapter of a particular book that deals with different aspects related to pop culture. The main theme that is reflected in the book deals with different topics dealing with pop culture. These include the business of pop culture, pop music, Cinema and Video, and Online Pop Culture. The theme that is specifically discussed in the given essay is Online Pop Culture. The theme is chosen because it cultivates the idea of what is impacting the pop culture most in the current time. The discussion of this theme is must because it reflects the current scenario and the most impactful online sources that are affecting pop culture (Ross, 2016). 

By reading the particular chapter on Online Pop Culture, the most significant opinion that one can frame is that the advancement of technology and media have reshaped the definition of what pop culture was, when it originated. Newer advancements that are coming in the online media in the form of Facebook, YouTube, twitter, etc. have reframed the horizons and the reach of pop culture. The reach of pop culture has increased to a newer and larger bunch of audiences. The masses are now able to present what they feel. The viewer choice matters significantly now and is having a sole role in popularising any particular content of pop culture (Clark, et. al 2017). Many transition stages have a hand behind popularising this trend of pop culture. In a layman’s language pop culture is nothing but certain ideas, beliefs or practices dealing with any genre, that are highly prominent in a society at a certain point. The mass media is seen as the main transmitter of the pop culture from the American society to all over the globe. It is no more specific to the western countries.

Part 1:  Review one selected theme from the book 

The media has a huge role to play in the widespread emergence of pop culture as compared to other local or folk cultures. Pop has been considered as a “high” form. There is a paradigm shift which is observed in the society because of the content reflected by the pop culture. Conversely the society is also able to largely affect the pop culture content through the help of mass media. The world can now be considered as a “global village” because of the independence that technology has bestowed. This has been appropriately phrased by Marshall McLuhan. The internet and the related media services have provided pop culture a new and heavily audience stage to deliver its contents. It is accepted that through the help of online media a larger section is able to access any information or culture, but at the same time this has created a circle of physical isolation between the human beings (Askin, & Mauskapf, 2017). 

The stage that the pop culture now shares is not a one night affair. Several transitions in the way content can be transmitted have paved way to today’s place. The culture has been initially supported by the oral media, i.e. through speaking the ideas or beliefs to the hierarchical generations. With the arrival of alphabets the culture over the world changed socially. After that development, a series of advancements hit the pop culture to its highest. The technologies of movable type made it possible to record and permanently preserve the information in duplicate forms at cheapest possible rates. And then came the era of electronic technologies radio, cinema and television (Danesi, 2018). These transformed the way communication of pop culture was done. The area of communication has increased because there is no physical limitation on the signals to travel any boundary (Burgess, & Green, 2018). 

All the different stages of communication have converged together to reach the current place. A cultural convergence has made it possible. Every sort of topic is now available. The emergence of platforms like Ted (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) talks has taken the intellectual part of media to next level. It is through the cyberspace, Facebook, twitter, and YouTube that content is getting popularity in form of memes (Jin, & Yoon, 2016). It is exactly the concept of, “through the people, for the people and by the people”. Newer communities online have been framed and the screen conversations have taken the place of face to face communications (Phillips, 2015).