Essay Example on PopCult and PostFem: Attitudes and Influences

Introduction

A pop culture which is short for popular culture is generally recognized set of practices, beliefs, and objects that are greatly influenced by mass media and are aimed particularly at young people. It is well popular in society and entails activities and feelings that come as a result of interacting with such belief, practices, or objects that are seen through our everyday lives. Popular culture thus influences an individual's attitudes towards a particular topic. Postfeminism refers to reactions that go against contradictions and absence of feminism which strives towards moving to the next stage in gender-related progress since the society is not defined by gender roles (Dubrofsky & Wood, 2014). Post-racism is the overcoming of racial discrimination, preference, and prejudice.

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Postfeminism and post-racism are present in the pop culture since there are new forms of media and it can be seen through the wide range of genres including music, advertising, print, television, or even sports (Joseph, 2009). Pop culture affects people who are intrigued by the same things thus improving interactions. Therefore, the presence of post-feminism and post-racism in pop culture is present through the following ways;

The male gaze

The male or masculine gaze to women is seen in society. Women are empowered to post a picture, i.e., through media like Twitter or Facebook to capture the male gaze. Female celebrities are seen posting pictures of their intimate daily activities to invite the male gaze. White women are observed to be hardworking through exercise and diet whereas the black woman is objectified and seen as already there to be gazed at as they attract the gaze naturally and without any effort. They do not require to work hard to attract this gaze. The female body and gaze are important in music videos that broadly defines the acceptable female body exposure (Dubrofsky & Wood, 2014). Marion Young states that 'the existence of female body modalities is rooted in the feminine existence of the body as a mere thing in their experience.' The objectification of the female body is supported through mass media but is rejected by Miss Eliot who disrupts the male gaze by controlling what the camera captures of her.

Power

Females have bestowed the power to control and demand their terms to be implemented in pop culture. Missy Elliot in her song, she is a bitch, demand the gaze in her terms (Sellen, 2005). It is gazed on her black face thus doing away with racism. She refuses to be defined by the masculine gaze, she uses masculine rap, and she does not adhere to female conversions. Through this, she has power and demands the viewers of her music to look at her by empowering women to refer to themselves as 'bitches.' This is opposed in the pop culture as it is seen that men refer to women as 'bitches.' She wears a breastplate, metal gloves, she is accompanied by female foot soldiers and has a bullet-shaped shell on her chest representing that she is ready for the battle. This shows male power.

Prejudice

Pop culture brings about judgments to people that are either negative or positive. People make assumptions on others with the basis of associations, perceptions or cultural habits. Thoughts of people are influenced by external factors like racial ideas or images. Many people have negative opinions towards black people, women and the old. Black people are associated with violence and guns; women are seen to be weak while the old are seen to be lonely. These are mainly seen through movies, magazines, newspapers, and books (Sellen, 2005). Therefore, pop culture is teaching people to be stereotypical with regards to ideas of race, gender and age. In movies that involve black people, violence and use of guns are a major theme like sons of anarchy, start-up, etc.

Empowerment and independence

Post-feminism has empowered women to gain political potential in terms of agency and resistance. The empowerment and resistance may be considered an impure practice because it engages in paradoxical strategies of resistance. There are debates concerning post-essentialism by consumer society. Women in popular culture are seeking politics and acquiring political seats in the government (Sellen, 2005). They are as well as gaining independence in their work despite being discriminated by their gender. The female gender is said to be weak, but they go against this notion and are elected in as leaders like the President of a country. A good example can be noted in the case of Croatia. Independence is seen when they can stand on their own either in businesses, providing for their family, in leadership positions, etc.

Identity

Pop culture establishes the boundary between female and male identity. This identifies one through their race, gender, or age. Missy Elliot is said to have a changing character throughout her career instead of sticking to one identifiable persona according to Mercedes Bunz. Battersby says on female identity, 'identity remains constant and fixed in terms of living forces, birthplace, one soul, or mindset even if qualities and attributes might change. Therefore, one's identity does not change; for instance, Michael Jackson who was a famous singer was identified by his blackness when he was young (Sellen, 2005). When he grew up and continued with his music career, he changed his skin color and was still accepted in society. His identity as a black man did not change since it remains fixed no matter the changes made (Lotz, 2003).

Objectification of women

Pop culture has made women in the post-feminism and post-racism to be viewed as sex machines. Women in previous music videos, movies, or even television show used to dress decently. During the pop culture, women are objectified as they are seen to be dressed scantily in these videos showing off most of their body parts close to nudity. The situation has made women to lose respect from men even as they seek to attract the masculine gaze. The word that constructs the lyrics of songs is seen to objectify women as mere sex objects that are used and left for another person to use. This is mainly seen in both white and black women but mostly on the latter.

The degree to which post-feminism and racism are presented in popular culture may not be realized fully in case we do not understand the relationship that exists between them and the relationship which they share with different cultural mechanisms that facilitates how they are showcased. Most importantly, it must be recognized that their presence in pop culture has been influenced by the media, based on how they are shaped. There have been little efforts made with the bid to discuss how the popular culture has led to the production of different racial imagery particularly those that are witnessed today (Sellen, 2005). It is thus notable that the degree to which post-feminist and racism are represented in pop culture can only be realized by looking at the following questions. The first question is based on how racism has been made popular. The other issue is on the kind of infrastructure that exists and aid in the racist transmission ideas and their associated points of origin. The other question touches primarily on the post-feminist ideas and how they are depicted in pop culture. Their point of origin and whether their expression is positive or negative. It is these questions that will assist especially in further research and studies in answering the question about the degree to which the two topical issues of discussion are represented in pop culture.

I believe that the presentation of post-feminism and racism in post culture is high than expected because of the improper use of social media and other digital platforms. The youths are mostly affected because they spend the better part of their time on these social media platforms where radical reactions and views are given on the absence or the contradictions that couples feminism (Springer, 2007). It is also in the media where different racial comments are easily shared amongst the youths. The degree about popular culture can thus be equated with the advancement or the level of technology.

Conclusion

In summary, following the discussion noted herein, pop culture can be construed to have a massive impact on post-feminism and post-racism, especially amongst the youths. Its discussion has been noted based on various dimensions with some including objects, and beliefs that are transmitted through mass media. Media can range from print, advertising, music, or newspapers. Pop culture is equally present in both post-feminism and post-racism through the male gaze, power, prejudice, empowerment, and independence, objectification of women etc. The paper, therefore, advances our understanding of how pop culture influences the society both positively and negatively based on how it has been discussed in both the post-feminism and post-racism dimensions.

References

Dubrofsky, E. R., & Wood, M. M. (2014). Posting Racism and Sexism: Authenticity, Agency, and Self-reflexivity in Social Media.Joseph, R. L. (2009). "Tyra Banks is fat": Reading (post-) racism and (post-) feminism in the new millennium. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26(3), 237-254.

Lotz, A. D. (2003). Communicating third-wave feminism and new social movements: Challenges for the next century of feminist endeavor. Women and language, 26(1), 2-9.

Sellen, E. (2005). Missy Misdemeanor' Elliott: Rapping on the Frontiers of Female Identity.

Springer, K. (2007). Divas, evil black bitches, and bitter black women: African-American women in postfeminist and post-civil rights popular culture. Feminist television criticism: A reader, 72-92.