Essay Example on Pop Culture: Shaping American Reality

Introduction

Popular or pop culture, which includes the stories, movies, and music that is easily accessible on the media play an important role in American society. Popular culture depends on factors such as the presence of cultural groups, demographics, socio-economic status, the occurrence of a insurgency, and the presence of colonial rule. A majority of the words and images presented in the popular culture industry reflect the realities that surround American life. It can be said that the portrayal of various aspects in popular culture is relevant to issues that surround politics and the government. The 2020 presidential election is less than two years away and the list of candidates are from different backgrounds. Popular culture, politics, and gender have always intertwined. In politics, there are often representations of females being deemed incompetent to take power. This paper reflects on the topic of popular culture representation of gender and politics moving towards the presidential election of 2020.

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Popular Culture Representation of Gender Moving towards Presidential Election of 2020

Popular culture is propagating the evolution of gender in politics. There is an undeniable fact that few women have participated in presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential campaigns, Hillary Clinton stood against Presidential Donald Trump and lost. Over the years, Hillary Clinton has been featured in the popular culture from a wide array of perspectives. Gender-based inequities are present in presidential campaigns. Waldman (2019), an opinion writer indicated that when the 2020 primary race began, many Democrats were worried that if their party nominates a woman, what happened in 2016 will repeat itself. From a personal perspective, the writer's statement is entirely true. As Waldman (2019) explained further, the 2016 presidential election saturated a toxic system based on sexism. Furthermore, Taveria (2016) described the American presidential campaign as pop culture. According to the author, this is the case because the presidential election surrounds netizen journalism and social media. Also, the author added that Donald Trump used popular culture in the 2016 campaign more than Hillary Clinton because he made it pop culture. By looking back, the 2020 presidential campaigns show how striking it is to have more representation in regards to gender balance.

There is a compound relationship between gender, popular culture and the presidential campaign of 2020. Popular culture reflects and shapes public consciousness on political life and gender in specific. The gendered reality of popular culture has outstanding implications for women's political prospects. There is an undeniable doubt that popular culture plays a role in reflecting as well as influencing how women climb the stairs of politics. Siddiqui (2019) affirmed that women in the 2020 presidential campaign face the likability question. For example, Elizabeth Warren publicly announced her interest to run for the presidency in 2020 and the question of whether she would pass the likability test arose (Siddiqui, 2019). California senator Kamala Harris also faced the same scrutiny (Siddiqui, 2019). Moving towards 2020, more women are willing to view for the presidency and limit Donald Trump's term to only one. On the subject of likability, which is not far from popularity, Hillary Clinton stood alone in the 2008 primaries and Barrack Obama told him that he was likable enough. According to Siddiqui (2019), in her first presidential bid in 2008, she received widespread criticism in regards to her personality, tenor voice, the clothes she wore, and what the media termed as "cackle." In the presidential election, it is shocking that the popularity aspect is being gendered.

Popular Culture Representation of Politics Moving towards Presidential Election of 2020

Politicians have always made use of popular culture as evident in the way they match themselves to celebrities and their popularity. In the 2016 presidential campaigns, presidential candidates were making use of popular culture through their advertising strategies, catchy commercials, and theme songs, which would make them find celebrity endorsements. Moving towards the 2020 presidential campaign, it is arguable that popular culture in politics will manifest. President Donald Trump already has celebrity endorsements in the 2020 election. Hollywood has gained a reputation for being liberal. For example, celebrities such as Melissa Joan Hart, Kelsey Grammer, Tim Allen, and Kristy Swanson have been open about their endorsement for Donald Trump and the Republican political party in 2020 (Dibdin, 2019). So, this raises the question, do celebrity endorsements matter in American politics. Well, the answer could be yes and no. however, considering the facts, celebrity endorsements do matter in regards to giving them political mileage. Celebrity endorsements are an indication that a candidate has the support of a public figure, just like endorsements by other politicians is a gesture of a candidate's support.

With the rise of populist politics, popular culture is a definite factor in American politics. Internet memes, for example, have played a significant role in election campaigns. Moving towards 2020, there is no doubt that the spread of memes will continue. The meme culture will play a crucial part in the 2020 presidential campaign. Youths online use online memes as a political tool to increase or decrease voter turnout. Some of the memes include the following,

Nevertheless, from a personal perspective, memes have become effective devices for humor in the wake of populist politics. Based on some of the thousands of memes available online, I am inclined to assert that in the 2020 elections, President Donald Trump is unlikely to win because of his decline in popularity. A salt-lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics survey found that 54% of Utah residents were unlikely to vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 elections (Rodgers, 2019). According to the author, the president has garnered poor approval ratings in Utah because of his performance. Arguably, even though it has been there for years, popular culture has become more widespread in the Trump era.

Conclusion

The president of the United States serves as a symbol of popularity. The 21st century has seen an increase in the role of popular culture representation in gender and politics. Pop culture has constantly assumed a noteworthy job in reflecting and molding popular supposition, political movement, and even the advancement of administrative organizations in America. It is important that we perceive the job that pop culture plays in our political lives; today, the music, films, and words we see or hear are real sources of the pictures and myths we have about government and legislative issues. It is arguable that America politics is gendered. The aspect of popularity culture appears to lean towards women. For this reason, women presidential candidates have to view their gender as an asset. Overall, it is important to understand the evolution of gender and politics concerning pop culture in American society to know its dynamics.

References

Dibdin, E. (2019). 10 Celebrities Who Are Republican. The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/g28385960/republican-celebrities/?slide=4

Rodgers, B. (2019). New poll finds Trump's job performance gets thumbs-down from 53% of Utah voters. The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved from https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/07/18/new-poll-finds-trumps-job/

Siddiqui, S. (2019). Why women 2020 candidates face 'likability' question even as they make history. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/04/why-the-likability-question-pursues-2020-female-candidates-even-as-they-make-history

Taveria, R. (2016). The US election doesn't just feed pop culture - it is pop culture. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-us-election-doesnt-just-feed-pop-culture-it-is-pop-culture-66554

Waldman, P. (2019). Why gender will define the 2020 election. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/11/why-gender-will-define-election/?utm_term=.2ec97daaca33