Is all pop culture really identical and all the same?

        One of the themes that stuck out to me during this module was John Storey’s argument that, “all mass culture is identical, and predictable”.  This is actually based on the term ‘culture industry’ that was coined by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1979) where they claim a major part of the culture industry is homogenous, or essentially that all mass media is identical and or predictable.

        Can you think back to some form of popular culture that you were watching, reading, etc. and you predicted the end or what was going to happen next?  Can you think back to a recent form of pop culture that you engaged with where you saw very similar themes or topics that aligned very closely with another show, movie, or text that you engaged with?
        
        
        I think one of the reasons why this stuck out to me in this module is because this is something that has come up for me recently where I feel that a lot of the pop culture we are seeing, hearing, or reading isn’t necessarily original.  By not being original I mean to say that it feels like almost half if not more than all pop culture I have engaged with over the last several years are either movie remakes, or movie/tv show spin offs, etc.
        Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed watching th Mandalorian series on Disney + and thought that there were a lot of new ideas, characters, themes, adventures, etc.  However, at the end of the day, it was based on Star Wars.  Although many aspects of that bring a sense of nostalgia because I love Star Wars and almost got emotional (SPOILER ALERT) when certain characters come back into the story such as Luke Skywalker and others.  It feels like this is the exact phenomenon that Story is arguing here about all mass media being identical or predictable.

        Another pop culture artifact that I saw recently that would fall into this category was the new Willy Wonka movie.  Just like many other films that have been done and redone over and over, like Batman, Spiderman, etc. This is one that has found itself coming back with different variations.  I personally thought this one the best versions of Willy Wonka, but I bet others would disagree.  It is interesting to me to put this occurrence into contextual and literary perspective and put theories and definitions behind what and why this happens.  One other film that I absolutely love is the Secret Life of Walter Mitty and didn’t even realize until a year or two after I had originally seen it that it also was a remake.

        I’m not complaining that certain films, movies, or tv shows get remakes or appear to be very identical.  However, now after taking this course and putting actual concrete evidence behind this phenomenon I can now say I begin to understand that this indeed does take place.  I will probably be more aware of this, and now have the language to explain the theory and arguments behind why it happens.  



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