Can We Be Family?
My mom asked, "Who is Bluey?" as my sister explained what her kids could watch all day. There seems to be a generation gap when it comes to popular culture. It's been decades since my mother had little children, so she is unfamiliar with the current shows for kids. On the other hand, my sister has three young ones at home and she feels the need to entertain them to get her housework done. Being able to discuss what is popular with kid's shows in recent years already showed me what Chuck Klosterman described in 2007, “it is only a matter of time.”
While Klosterman was hilarious in his satirical article, he brings up several good points regarding our obsession with popular culture. He said there are three basic kinds of information:
- Information that you know you know.
- Information that you know you don’t know.
- Information that you don’t know you don’t know.
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In the example with my mom, she didn’t even know about the show "Bluey." She didn’t know what she didn’t know. Stephen Sewell explained in his 2010 address that pop culture is a form "of exclusion. That is its primary purpose. To draw a line on the other side of which lies everybody who does not know what is hip, happening, and hot. And on this side of which lies nobody at all, because nobody can possibly know, have, and be consuming everything you need to know, have, and consume in order to be hip, happening, and hot at all." Popular culture does exclude people who didn't have those things growing up or in their lives currently.
Another example of exclusion is my daughter's friend wearing a "Friends" TV sitcom t-shirt. I asked her if she liked the TV show that has been off-air for 20 years now. The poor girl was confused as she only got the shirt because it referred to her friends like my daughter. In my eyes, I saw and remembered a show that I saw on occasion and even had the opening song play through my head. On the other hand, my daughter's friend probably thought I was crazy to ask about a TV show set in the last century and one she didn't know existed before that moment. Pop culture is a phenomenon that needs to be studied because it can help explain why generations have different gaps in understanding. Understanding that there are those three kinds of information that Klosterman briefly talks about is a good way to help remind people of how they are being influenced.
That brings me to my questions. Does the popular culture add to family generation gap problems? How to overcome these exclusions in conversations? Hopefully, further readings and research will help me find answers, "it is only a matter of time."
Thanks for an awesome post, and pointing out about the generational gaps. This was actually something I did not really think about, but it makes complete sense. From the module video, we see that pop culture is different for everyone, but you bring up the good point in that it can cause issues other than not having the social capital to talk about certain topics.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading through your post, I began thinking of other issues that might arise on top of generational gaps. While there are generational gaps in pop culture, I began thinking about those who know more than one language, and whether this creates further confusion or issues. What might be popular in another language, is not popular for the current language of others. It made me think about how this might be one of the reasons that learning a new language is difficult. I speak two languages, and pop culture is not limited to the English language. Often, when I am watching Spanish content, trends are different.
I wonder if people who are learning new languages need to start learning pop culture of that language to truly learn? Maybe when people of different languages speak to each other in English, for example, pop culture becomes something that needs to be translated. I could talk about a new Spanish soap opera with another Spanish speaker, and they would understand me, but speaking about it with an English speaker, they might not understand at all. I have had several instances of trying to explain things in English from a Spanish show, phrase, or video, but it does not have the same impact or direct translation when being explained in English. It's kind of like, "if you knew Spanish, it would be more funny/you would get it."
Thinking about the generational gaps and relating it to language gaps, I thought about the explanation part. As a society, maybe it is on us to explain what certain pop culture moments are? Maybe that is how pop culture catches on. I can relate to your story. There are definite generational gaps in my family. I am in my 20s, and my parents in their 50s and 60s. There are often times they bring up items I might not fully understand. But what I have seen work to overcome those gaps is rather than skipping over it and sweeping it under the rug, or them saying "you wouldn't get it," they take the time to explain it to me, if the timing is right. For example, one of these topics is music. My parents are lovers of 70s to 90s music. A lot of the music I have heard while growing up is because they put it on. I remember countless times in my childhood where my father would put on videos of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Sting, Journey, or any other artist collaborations, and show them to me. My dad would show us his favorite movies, like Back to the Future, and so on. Because he took the time to show those to me, I am now aware of what he constitutes as pop culture, and maybe what was viral during his time.
Additionally, I was open to him showing me these items. Nowadays, I can see many people not wanting to take part on what is trending on social media or getting online to learn. There's been many times I've heard from my father that what is trending is "weird." In that case, he won't be aware of that pop culture in my own life, because he might not be open to learning more. I don't think it hurts to ask another to learn more. But to ease embarrassment if one is afraid to ask in a conversation, when one hears something they don't understand, they could take the time to research more about it online or ask a trusted friend or family member.
I think you brought up a really interesting concept. Without even taking popular culture into account, I am constantly thinking of how life will differ for future generations.
DeleteTruthfully, I've often thought about raising my future children the same way my parents raised me with popular culture. Selfishly, I'd like them to watch and read what I grew up watching and reading. However, as you mentioned, Klosterman's "information that you don’t know you don’t know" is a good perspective to have.
I don't know if there is any way to avoid the exclusions in conversations, especially because pop culture is so prominent in our lives. However, I think it’s important to have conversations about new and old occurrences – in this case, with pop culture.
Adding to that, I think those indexical, symbolical, and iconic definitions Brumett goes into in Chapter 2 correlate well with and give insight tp how being "left out in the cold" can come about culturally and generationally. That whole chapter was fun to read.
DeleteChuck Klosterman is a well spoken writer. HIs book Killing Yourself To Live grabbed my attention nearly 20 years ago. The way he expresses himself, how he embraces cynicism without glorifying it, is one thing I like about that guy. And we LOVE Bluey at my house!!!!! An adorably cute cartoon.
ReplyDeleteThank you for creating a personable, intresting and insighful post. When you referced your daughter weaing the "Friends" T-shirt and not even knowing where it was from was a great example of just how much of time and gernational gaps effect pop culture and influence us. What some pople belive to be a iconic timeless classics somone might not even bat a eye towards. However, with the growth in technolgy I think througout time pop culture has become more intertwined and the gap has lessoned. For exmaple I was born in 2000 and when I was in highschool I knew several peope that binge watched Friends online.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of how the inceease in technolgy has shortned the gap of pop culture is Spongebob. Every mornings before shcool I would watch Spongebob it was a classic for me. I willl never forget Spongebob dancing and singing the "Krusty Krab Pizza" or "What's funnier than 24? 25!" joke. However, my wife had not wacthed it until recently now we alwasys refernce it and crack inside jokes and it has brought us closer togeher.
Overall, I think the best way to overcome generational gap problems is not being afraid to try new things and learning about one another. One thing my wife and I do is I watch a episode of a show she likes then she watches a episode of somthing I like before we know it invested in both shows. I think the problem people have rgeading geraationla gaps is the sharing of values. As seen by "Collin Stoes: Hidden Meaning in Kids Movies" often the media we grow up with has a bigger impact on us than we know.
Refrences
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67hw7hj_xkc (Krusty Krab Pizza)''
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZGedBzcYas (25)
This is an insightful analysis of Pop Culture. I appreciate the way you delved into the generation gap within your own family, observing the differences in kids shows preferences between your mother and sister. As Stephen Sewell aptly puts it, pop culture can be exclusionary, leaving mothers of young ones with limited options while juggling housework.
ReplyDeleteI resonate with your sister's perspective, as I, too, have allowed my three daughters to indulge in their Roblox sessions when I needed undivided attention for my assignments. However, a recent visit to my friend's house, a father of four with no electronic gadgets, opened my eyes. He works from home daily and has equipped his house with various musical instruments, traditional games, toys, and school materials. Additionally, he ensures there is an abundance of kids' books, fostering an environment where his children engage in positive activities without disrupting his busy work schedule. While he admitted that it wasn't easy initially, after almost a year, his kids have learned to responsibly utilize the available resources.
Pop Culture inherently aims to create exclusion, a goal it often achieves. Nevertheless, we have some control over this influence. Completely eliminating pop culture's bad influence from our homes is challenging, given even books have their own cultural impact. However, we can effectively manage and limit its impact by selectively choosing what enters our homes and consciously dedicating our time and energy when necessary.