4th Hour Blog

What is the main argument the author is making?

The main argument that the author is making is that popular culture has an influence on politics and how it spreads and affects the people. Specifically, he focuses a lot on how political campaigners use different types of media and technology to reach people and provoke responses from them.

What support does he offer?

He describes how today media is and aspects from popular culture have been integrated into politics to make political issues more existent in people’s lives. Specifically, he discussed how the Donald Trump was used in an anti-Bush commercial in 2004. It was created to urge voters to disallow Bush from being re-elected. The author spins off on the Donald Trump point to discuss how politicians also use television to gain more support for their respective campaigns. He also talks about how different websites have also participated in spreading certain political messages by allowing their users to use Photoshop to recreate important political events and happenings to express their opinions and perspective. Most of these were satirical and had a comedic edge but were ultimately designed to make statements. Another interesting aspect he discussed was how Russell Simmons, MTV and Nickelodeon use their prominence in the entertainment realm to encourage young people to vote. This is an example of how popular culture has influenced the political world and more significantly advocate it.

Do you agree or disagree with the main argument?

I agree with the author. I think that fusing elements from popular culture and the entertainment world into politics is a great way to speak to younger generations and just anyone who does not normally follow politics. I remember how much popular culture and the media was included in the last election between Obama and McCain. During the election, both were on the covers of People, Us as well as other types of popular magazines today. Both also were guests on popular TV shows “The View” and “The Tyra Banks Show”—I thought it was a great idea because it reached more people for each of the candidates, whether in a positive or negative way. I think its also important especially today in peak of technology. So many people rely on the internet, TV and popular culture; it is a brilliant idea to invade this territory and change the ways politics function.

Is the author's support relevant and believable?
Yes, I think that the author’s support is both relevant and believable because he provides the names and URLs of the websites as well as discussing TV shows that are currently popular. All of the examples that he used help illustrate his points.

In what ways does this chapter relate to the 2008 presidential election? In what ways did the 2008 election seem different?

Just as I expressed above, the 2008 election received so much media attention and included so many elements of pop culture and for that reason, it relates to the chapter. The chapter discusses the ways that pop culture and today’s technology are connected to politics and the 2008 election demonstrated this completely; anywhere you went online, there were ads about the candidates or they were being featured for an article or story. Not to mention how many blogs and citizen journalism websites had a huge focus on the election, this is very significant considering how popular blogging is. Also, politics appeared in the entertainment world with all of the public endorsements by the celebrities, benefit concerts and the fact that Obama became a superstar before he was elected as president. All of this also shows how the 2008 election was different. There were not any other election that had so much online coverage as well importance in the media and entertainment world.

What is digital democracy?

Digital democracy is the result of politics and technology being brought together to bring everyday people closer to politics and get a better idea of how it works and the surrounding ideas about it.

Discuss your understanding of the term culture jamming.

Culture jamming is when a message, picture or piece of writing is changed and made into something comedic or satirical.

Discuss the connections between fan culture and politics.

Fan culture and politics can be connected if there were specific fan cultures made for a particular political figure or party just as there are fan cultures for things that a group of people commonly enjoy. Some of them have already been created like with the Sims game in the reading as well as things like Obama support groups on Facebook and other common websites that are popular. This would continue building the bridge between politics and pop culture, making them more familiar with each other as well as it would help reach more people and help them become more politically active.

How does the idea of "play(ing) with power on a microlevel" (p. 239) relate to the readings and discussion from last week?

This idea connects to the readings/discussions from last week because they both deal with people having the power to participate and live in a world that they are separate from in reality. Last week, it was the Harry Potter website where students could put themselves into the world of Harry Potter. This chapter talks about things like the Sims games where people are able to learn about politics and have the chance to govern over something themselves—they both are related to each other because they both discuss the ways that technology allows us access worlds and places that we cannot in reality and in the case of the Sims game, it also is making people more knowledgeable and aware of politics and how it works.