Essay Example on Popular Culture: Artifacts of Meaning, Value & Relaxation

Introduction

Popular culture refers to the values, language, and customs followed by the masses and typical people (Vigo). A majority of popular cultural artifacts pose meaning and value, and they play significant roles in society. For instance, objects such as entertainment, sports, social media, among others, are critical in ensuring that after a long day of work, Americans can relax and ease their mind from the busy activities during the day (Vigo). Several artifacts are in conjunction as it can be observed in the contemporary world, and they influence each other to bring about an extremely fervent experience to the audience. For example, this paper will shed light on advertisement and entertainment artifacts, and how the two complement each other to ensure that the latter is spread and known globally.

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Entertainment and Advertisements

For the longest time in America, people believe in the mantra that one should "work hard and play even harder." As a result, the entertainment industry is one that experiences intense growth over the years as its audience base grows, incorporating adults, adolescents, and children. The development of video games has been a significant improvement in the entertainment industry. However, some video games are based and founded on violence, and their consumption has been somewhat catastrophic to the audience that plays these games. A conducted research declared that approximately ninety-seven percent of children between the ages of 13-18 years were extensively playing video games (Penttila). In light of this, violence present in the games has been observed in the physical world, which has even caused shootings to occur in schools and the streets perpetrated by children.

In video games, there is the punishment-reward system, which has been known to increase aggression among the key players. The new popular cultural artifact rewards violent actions, which in turn increases the aggressive behavior and thinking. On the other hand, punishing violent acts made the players emotionally hurt and hostile towards their neighbors and fellow players, likely leading to physical violence (Vigo). Besides, the force from video games has been spread rapidly to people in different countries across the globe who do not speak the same language. As a result, advertising on various social media platforms and television has been the main cause of the spread of these violent video games.

For example, research from the Luxemburg University simulated a game called Ad Racer to get the response of how in-game advertising influenced violence (Schrock). In the game, a female player gets points from the game by driving around and hitting targets. After the simulated game was offered to different players and their ability to recalling the activities and hitting that had occurred in the game, it was tested. To the test players, two versions of the game were offered, a violent one (which drivers ran over pedestrians) and the regular version (Schrock). The players who were playing the violent version showed a great understanding and remembrance of the in-game advertisements that the players enjoyed the regular version (Schrock). The latter scenario made it clear on the impact video games have on the players than the regular versions. Social media use and television sets have been advertising these video games as a form of entertainment means. Still, in a real sense, the adverts have been invoking negative emotions to the players targeted by the promotions.

As previously mentioned, artifacts have meaning and a significant impact on the societal way of life. Focusing on the violent video games that are taking the world by surprise through their intense spread, numerous deaths and injuries have been reported to be caused by children. According to Barron, for instance, Chris Mercer, a young kid, is known for the death of ten people and injuring seven others (Barron). The kid finally took his own life, probably to evade the wrath that the rule of law could have imposed on him. Observers and near friends gave insight into the case when they declared how the Mercer kid was obsessed with violent games. The violence and aggressive character present in the movie were slowly getting into the boy's thoughts and behavior involuntary, which later erupted and made him behave the way he did. A second case describing the effect of violent games was the Sandy Hook massacre (Barron). Just like in video games, pedestrians were killed in the Ad Racer simulation, Adam Lanza killed both children and teachers in open gunfire, a characteristic of many video games. Further consultation later showed that it was indeed true the serial killer had been addicted to violent video games.

The effect of the media and advertisements have been felt globally today. The artifacts have been known even to influence the way people speak to each other in society by dictating the language they use in conversations. Furthermore, the accent that different people and cultures adopt have been influenced through the adverts or rather shows that they set their eyes on most of their free time (Penttila). As such, children who are always glued to social media, television sets, and advertisement sites are usually affected significantly by the content they watch, which controls their language, behavior, communication, social skills, among others. As such, the adoption of violent games has been strongly connected to the advertisement, both in-game and out game advertisements. The spread of violence as a result of news spreading through the internet influence other violent kids to exercise what they play behind their screens, leading to catastrophic ramifications that are punishable by death in a court of law.

The General aggression model can explain the influence that the video games artifact has on people who exercise it. In the latter model, both personal and situational factors define the extent to which a game can influence the behavior of a player in terms of emotions and thoughts (Allen). According to this theory, the more violent games that a person subjects themselves to, the more they attain the violent behavior which has been discussed throughout the paper. The use of guns and dangerous objects, as seen in a game, form a strong association with the memory of a person, which might make them easily accessible and usable when the need arises. All it requires for a person to resort to violence is a trigger of the emotions evoked by the game in a player's mind.

Conclusion

It is indeed true the influence that popular cultural artifacts have on the societal way of life is intense. Language is taught through the media in a majority of nations when it comes to accents. However, advertisements have made a large number of artifacts known to the world, even though a language barrier exists between these nations. Furthermore, wrong behaviors could be adopted from these artifacts, and spread globally, a factor which should be mitigated. The latter is shown throughout this essay, where violence has been spread through the increasing consumption of video games by the potential base. The games are played by children and spread through social media. Even though the games are aimed at relaxing the brain of an average working American, control should be enhanced to ensure that violent games are inaccessible to people likely to be affected by the violence portrayed in the games.

Works Cited

Allen, Johnie J, et al. "The General Aggression Model." Current Opinion in Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29279227.

Barron, James. "Nation Reels After Gunman Massacres 20 Children at School in Connecticut." The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Dec. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school.html.

Penttila, Nicky. "Do Violent Video Games Lead to Violence?" Dana Foundation, Dana Foundation, 30 Oct. 2019, dana.org/article/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-violence/.

Schrock, Andrew. "An Advert for In-Game Violence." MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 2 Apr. 2020, www.technologyreview.com/2009/09/02/210155/an-advert-for-in-game-violence/.

Vigo, Julian. "How Does Advertising Affect Culture?" Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Feb. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/julianvigo/2019/02/05/how-does-advertising-affect-culture/#615a976620f2.