March Madness- The Title Says it All

        As we near the end of February my stomach turns to knots as I await the dreaded playoffs of college basketball. I know to many this may be an exciting time to root for your favorite university, but for me it means a non-existent husband and countless hours of listening to whistle blows. March Madness, as it is called, is just that, people gathered around the television completely consumed, game after game. The college basketball vie for the national champ status has turned into a reason for betting and consuming large amounts of alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a night out once in awhile with great food and even better conversations, but March Madness has gone awry. My husband has a friend that actually throws a party during the first Thursday that the games start and goes until Sunday. These men actually take off of work to spend the day, or several days, in front of the television just drinking and yelling. Really? My questions to those in attendance are these: Are you on the team? Do you go to the college? Are you a single 20 something year old? If you answered "no" to all of these questions then these games are no reason to try and relive the glory days and "party like a rock star". Am I saying that they shouldn't be allowed this indulgence? Absolutely not. Maybe your a sports fanatic, or in our case a Buckeye fanatic holding out hope for your beloved team. Enjoy your favorite sport during their highest point in the season, but please, don't do it at the expense of your job, your money, or your wife!

Icon Analysis, Assignment 2-2

          In order to be a contemporary icon in today’s society the object, or person, must be current, popular, and easily recognizable. Three popular icons that I have chosen for analysis in this communication are Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”), The Jonas Brothers (“Jonas L.A.”), and the musical group BTR (“Big Time Rush”). All three icons are famous for having a hit television series on either The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon along with a prominent music career.

            I chose these particular icons because I feel that they are “everywhere”, so to speak, whether it’s on television, the radio or being referenced to in the news.  I wanted an opportunity to explore the reasons behind this a little deeper, especially since I am the mother of a young child that watches Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel.

            Miley Cyrus has had a hit show for many years on Disney called “Hannah Montana”. Over that time they incorporated her actual self into the show as a music pop star. Her music career has exploded leaving Hannah Montana in the dust as they are currently airing the final season. 

The Jonas Brothers had a somewhat different start. They broke onto the scene as a musical act at first and being recognized for their likability and talent. After landing several guest appearances on Miley Cyrus’s television series they were given their very own short series (“Jonas Brothers”.2010). It was called “Jonas Brother’s: Living the Dream” and was a reality show that shared their life as budding pop stars (“Jonas Brothers”.2010). Since this start the group has released several albums and currently has a very popular show called “Jonas L.A.”.

Big Time Rush, also known as BTR, is still working on establishing themselves to a broader audience. If you were to ask a pre-teen, though, or those who view their show “Big Time Rush” on Nickelodeon, they have hit the “big time”. Their most recent accomplishment is a song called “Boyfriend” that they recorded with Snoop Doggy Dog, a very famous rap artist. Their show has exploded over the last year and if I were to foresee their future I would say that it will be comparable to Ms. Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

              

Assignment 1-4, Weekly Analysis

The current pop culture topic that I have chosen to write my weekly analysis on is the trend of reality TV. Reality television emerged in the late 90’s driven by the hit MTV series, The Real World (Petracca, Sorapure, 2007). From there, popular series such as Survivor and Fear Factor came to light. In an article written by Rebecca Gardyn, titled “The Tribe Has Spoken”, Gardyn presents several relevant tables with important demographic information. One of these tables illustrates the breakdown, by percentages, of top reasons why reality television viewers tune in each week. The top three reasons were; to guess who would win or be eliminated, to see real people face challenging situations, and to imagine how they themselves would react in a similar situation (Petracca, Sorapure, 2007). I believe that these were the most popular reasons to watch these shows because in the first decade of reality TV most were a competition of some sort.     

Today, with the emergence of non-competitive reality shows, I do not believe that the reasons for watching reality TV would be the same. Several television channels have surfaced in past years that now mostly air reality shows. These stations inlude E!, Bravo, WE, and TLC. E!’s popularity is booming with their hit series Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ and Bravo is following suit with their many The Real Housewives series.  On Gardyn’s poll, Reasons for Watching Reality TV, “Fights among contestants” ranked fifth with 37% stating that this was one reason that they tuned in (multiple answers were allowed in the poll) (Petracca, Sorapure, 2007). I believe that this percentage would definitely be higher if a current poll were taken considering the popularity of non-competitive reality shows that focus mainly on the drama between its cast mates whether they are family, friends or even neighbors!

Popular culture Blog, A1-2

Popular culture can engulf many aspects in today’s society. According to the book “Common Culture” popular culture is the shared knowledge and practices of a specific group at a specific time (Petracca, Sorapure, 2007). To the general audience, including myself, popular culture is simply the “it” items of today. This could be an artist, a toy, a high tech electronic or even a popular television show just to name a few. Some people reject pop culture, deeming it cliché’ and are under the opinion that if they follow suit they would be “following the masses”. I definitely know some rebellious souls that take this opinion, but the truth of the matter is that you cannot deny the true genius in a Harry Potter film, the true talent of Lady Gaga or the way you feel when Coach unveils its latest handbag. I know this is stereotypical, but I don’t believe that anyone is completely immune to every aspect of pop culture. We all have to have some secret indulgence!

            Understanding popular culture is relevant and important in a business environment for many reasons. It can help your company stay ahead of the competition in advertising, technological advances and even human resources. This definitely applies to my future career as I am hoping to acquire a job in a human resource department working specifically on training and development. Staying up to date on training trends, such as the current popular favorite of computer based training, is vital to offering the best in-house training possible.

            The popular culture artifact that I have chosen is Paris Hilton’s Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. This dog breed is known to be one of the smallest and in the past decade their popularity has exploded. A large part of their popularity can be attributed to Heiress Paris Hilton and her reality show The Simple Life. The show made her 2 pound Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, an instant hit. Today, breeders attempt to have each litter of puppies smaller and smaller, promising a maximum weight as they know that buyers are interested in the smallest dogs possible. This has gotten to extremes as breeders make unrealistic promises and ask unrealistic prices.