Popular Culture In The 1920s

Popular Culture “Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century.”(“Popular Culture.” Def. Wikipedia ) Today, people of all ages are consumers of popular culture. Popular culture is often misunderstood as “pop culture” or “low culture.” However, I believe that popular culture is a set of symbols of expression that gains popularity among the masses, which may or may not appeal to its audience, which is now synonymous to commercial culture. It is a culture which originates from the people. Popular culture
Right from its advent, popular culture has denoted entertainment and trends of the lower class of people. It has always struggled to make a positive impact in the society. Popular culture is mostly created by media, schools, art, and law. Media is the most powerful weapon in the creation of popular culture in the society. All forms of entertainment such as films, music, television shows, etc. have contributed greatly towards popular culture.
The concept of popular culture is not new. Jazz music gained popularity in the 1920s. Music lovers turned to jazz for a new sound. Various artists, influenced by jazz music, changed their styles and genres in order to produce music which was consumed by majority of the listeners. Fashion trends have been around for ages, but these trends grew rapidly with the invention of films and television shows. These forms of mass media act as a window for viewing the latest products in the
Critics believe that popular culture has cheapened public life. “Popular culture has transformed us into cultural dupes with the promise of its products,” stated one of the critics. They argue that because of this mass consumed low culture; more refined culture struggles to find an audience. We have lost our discriminating taste for a finer fare. However, I strongly disagree to the statements made by critics. The notion that popular culture cheapens public is false. Plays written by Shakespeare in the 1600s gained a lot of public attention and eventually became popular. As the plays written by Shakespeare were a part of the popular culture in the 1600s, does it imply that they were low culture? Franchise food points like McDonalds do not cheapen public life either. Being an Indian student, I miss Indian delicacies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I wish Murfreesboro had some traditional Indian food points with the same recipes as that in India in order to serve the same