Pop Culture Artifacts: Meaning Production & Vulgarity - Essay Sample

Introduction

Pop culture artifacts can assume different definitions depending on what a person considers popular. Conventionally, it is noted to give descriptions to music, art, lyrics, news clip, concert, and poster, to mention but a few. The kind of cultural artifacts also connote a particular era and as such an important part of the construction of a particular happening, meaning, or event. In some cases, it may also get descried as vulgar, particularly by a group of individuals of the time. Progressively, it loses flavor following the growth of a new generation. The new generation comes to learn about it hence its reemergence though from a softer dimension. The paper is, therefore, premised on the discussion of pop culture artifact with the primary issue getting based on a sports film and its view of sexuality. Other issues that will surface are based on how the chosen artifact is significant, notable, and exemplary and how it transgresses the cultural constructs to mention but a few.

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General Analysis of Pop Culture Film to the Specificity of the Film Murderball

Films can fall under the category of pop culture artifacts because they image occurrences or events that have significance in history. An exemplary team sporting film is made up of springboards and setbacks. Some are coupled with moments of high suspense and drama. The significance of choosing the documentary Murderball by one Dana Shapiro and Henry Rubin is based on how it portrays the successes of athletes not because of their disabilities but because of its presentation of different degrees of stereotypes. The film artistically presents the lives of quadriplegic whose participation in a sport not known to be played by the disabled and allows them to assume normalcy (Markotic & Mcruer, N. Y). The kind of sport is on rugby, and it is played by them while in the wheelchair. The aggressiveness of the sport goes against the norm and breaks stereotypes that engulfed the lives of the main characters from different backgrounds. The breaking of the stereotypes claims a sense of control in their systems and normalcy. The documentary may also be viewed as a celebration of life-based on how it presents the stories of the protagonists. Any reader would find it inspirational based on how the men follow their dreams while engaging in the Paralympics in Greece. The protagonists make every effort of attempting to adjust to their new physique hence providing the readers with the opportunity of following their struggles, successes, love, and dreams for years. The readers also get to understand how sport can be used as a therapy (Markotic & Mcruer, N. Y). The tone of Murderball is equally graphic; the same is noted on the language used and its approach to sexuality. It openly tackles the subjects and issues of those living with disability.

The Importance of the Chosen Film as a Pop Culture Artifact

The importance is first drawn from the qualification of the film within the pop culture discourse. It received immense acclaim from the academic community as well as the pop-culture media. Its importance is drawn based on how it presented the disabled community from a specific dimension. It, therefore, occurred as a creative, inspiring, and entertainment discourse. Therefore, when delving on the importance of the film, it is notable to consider the impact which is created. It allowed the disabled community to show their strength through a game known to be for the "perfectly abled people," thereby breaking the stereotypic norms that the disable go through (Markotic & Mcruer, N.Y).

How the Chosen Pop Culture Artifact (Film) Transgress Cultural Constructs

Cultural constructs may get construed as the idea about the characteristics in which people relate to social order. The social order may include the status of women in society, illnesses, and even the status of the disabled. Transgressing refers to going past or against such norms. The transgression comes in where the disable breaks the norm in the society to acquire unexpected successes. It portrays that everything is possible based on how the athletes survived various conditions. It also presents the disabled as people who are not supposed to be sympathized with but rather provided with opportunities where they can showcase their abilities. The stereotyped prejudice for the disabled is also defied based on the aggression that the film showcases (Markotic & Mcruer, N.Y). The aggression is primarily on the dimension of masculinity for the disabled.

The Relation of the Chosen Pop Artifact With Gender, Sexuality, Race, Ability, Class, and Embodiment Within Pop Culture

Razack Sherene in Gender and Disposability portrays an act of sexual brutalization while offering a case study of one Cindy Gladue (Razack, 2016). The event dates back to 2011 when the woman in question was thirty-six years old. She tracked for a sexual exchange with one Bradley Barton, who was a White and worked in a truck. Cindy was found dead in the hotel; the two were believed to have spent the night, she bled to death, and as such, Barton was charged with murder. The event was argued to portray an act of sexualized violence with the discussion getting drawn from various fronts. The issue of racism surfaced since the deceased was a Cree woman, and there were also cases of 1,200 indigenous women who went missing mysteriously. As such, the death of Cindy showed a form of cultural, historical, and collective injuries against the indigenous women. The relationship between Razack's work and that of the chosen artifact is based on the fact that they are both concerned with the marginalized in society. For example, the film is centered on the disabled community; people believed to be limited in different ways. On the part of Gender and Disposability, the indigenous woman is portrayed as a weak being who gets abused to death hence the murder case against Barton (Razack, 2016). Both the case of Cindy and that presented in the pop culture artifact act as a reminder that all human beings are essential and must be respected regardless of their physique or place of birth.

The advancement of this discussion is echoed in, "The Shifting Terrain of Sex and Power," by Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill. Their work explores the question of media, gender, sexuality, and intimacy. The focus is laid on how social media has progressed to become a primary focus with works on the feminists and other queer digital activisms. The activisms have in-turned opened new discussions about practices of critique coupled with new solidarity and useful ties (Orgad & Gill, 2018). As such, people have come together to fight for their space, an issue that directly relates to the chosen film on the grounds of pop culture artifacts. The paper presents a scenario where the disadvantaged are using every opportunity to prove their abilities.

The same line of argument is advanced in Eating the Others: Desire and Resistance where the media has revolutionized the view of sexuality. The question of White Supremacy and the view of other races as "others" is equally getting erased based on the progress of mass culture (Bell Books, 1992). The discussion on Representation, Meaning, and Language further the relationship within the section of Saussure's legacy (Chapter 15, N.Y). The illustration is noted through the relationship between the signified, and the signifier is the result that characterizes a system of different conventions. While this may be true, the meaning and relationship of words also change with time both from the cultural and historical dimensions. It is the change that has been noted in the film where the protagonist has turned the disability concept to successes and achievements. Rentschler also argued about Rape Culture and the Feminist Politics in Social Media, a discussion that connoted the manner on which young feminists have taken it upon themselves to deal with matters rape when the mandated authorities have shown laxity (Rentschler, N.Y).

Conclusion

In summary, the works or articles by different authors are, therefore, related because they are concerned with the marginalized or those perceived to be inferior in society. The film has focused on disability to bring out different degrees of stereotypes and how those with disabilities have defeated different prejudices. The other articles have voiced concerns with the focus on women who fall in the same category with the disabled in championing for conducive space for all.

References

Bell Books (1992). Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance.

Chapter 15 (N.Y). Representation, Meaning, and Language.

Markotic, N, & Mcruer (N.Y). Leading With Your Head. The Borders of Disability, Sexuality, and the Nation.

Orgad, S. & Gill, R. (2018). The shifting terrain of sex and power: From the 'sexualization of culture' to #MeToo.

Razack, H. S. (2016). Gender and Disposability.

Rentschler, A. C. (N.Y). Rape, Culture, and the Feminist Politics of Social Media.