Written Analysis 5 - Week 6

Written Analysis 5

Meagan Morton

Popular Culture

Professor Omar Alomari

September 26, 2014

The popular culture topic that I chose to analyze for this course was Pinterest. I enjoy browsing Pinterest every day. I browse on my Kindle usually before I go to bed, and sometimes on my lunches. I find all kinds of ideas for my hobbies. I usually make my way to the humor section, right before I call it a night.

            I thought it would be easy to write 5 papers on Pinterest, but I really found myself fighting to find relevance to all the theories. Not that there was not any relevance, I was just not familiar with the study of popular culture. It was hard for me to connect the dots for the week of heroes and celebrities. But, when I read in the text book of the emotional attachment to heroes and celebrities, I knew that Pinterest completely catered to that. So, I focused on how Pinterest aids in the fascination of heroes and celebrities. I would have to say my favorite paper was on relating formulas to Pinterest. Pinterest is the ultimate formula creating tool, and in turn there are formulas in people’s lives that totally relate.

            Although I was able to relate in my mind the theories to Pinterest, I almost felt like I was writing the same thing every week, just with a different twist. But, my mind is definitely broadened with the research. I believe I learned most by reading others blogs and listening to their presentations. That really made things click in this class. At first, I thought we were to praise popular culture in this class. Wasn’t quite sure what I signed up for! But, once I found that other students were speaking their opinions and questioning the ethics of many popular culture topic, I was relieved. And listening to the teacher out take was great.

            Now, when I am on Pinterest, I have found myself browsing categories that I do not usually browse, outside of my hobbies. After taking this class, I have occasionally been curious about other popular culture items out there. I feel like I need to look just to keep myself educated on what’s going on outside of my world.

Written Analysis 4 - Week 5

Analysis 4 Paper

Meagan Morton

Popular Culture

Professor Omar Alomari

September 18, 2014

               Profiles of Popular Culture describes a formula as a road map, “It tells in general where one wants to go and what roads to take to make the journey”.  In reading on this topic, many formulas can relate to movies, books, and story lines.  A similar story with a similar ending. You can see this in westerns, love stories, action hero films, etc. Social media sites have formulas as well. There is technology in place to track what is popular, what people are looking at or watching, what people are following and liking, and essentially what becomes popular culture on the internet. The formula is to expect someone to post something and that post to receive any likes, comments, and shares, and watch it impact the world.

            Pinterest is a social media site that applies to these formulas. And idea or topic is posted, other can pin that item. Also, others can follow anything an individual pins. There for giving the pin and the pinner overall popularity. These in turn, describe and analyze these theories into Pinterest. This allows Pinterest to track what is trending and what people pin the most. They can populate trending designers, actors, creators, idealists, ideas, designs, etc. Just as groups go to the movies to watch a common story line, groups are formed on Pinterest to form a common interest. Then, these items are even popularized on television and websites, allowing the growth to expand outside of Pinterest. You can pin anything outside of Pinterest and bring it into the Pinterest world as well.

            I can gain insight in recognizing the formulas of social media and Pinterest, by targeting items that interest me. By participating in the pinning and the following, I have a world of my favorite things at my fingertips.  I can pinpoint what groups or posts are of interest to me and plug into the pinning and following formula. Then, I’m a part of the popular culture for those selected items.

References

Brownie, R.B. (2005). Profiles of Popular Culture. (pp. 102). The University of Wisconsin:                  Popular Press.

Written Analysis 3 - Week 4

Written Analysis 3

Meagan Morton

Popular Culture

Professor Omar Alomari

September 9, 2014

“Societies create and nurture the heroes that they need”. (Brownie, 2005) This is very noticeable in the Pinterest world. Pinterest has become a place of ‘all knowledge’ and sharing that knowledge. When in Pinterest, you can see categories of super heroes, quotes, reading material, workbooks, images, décor, art, etc. Pinterest has given the very extensive ability to nurture any kind of hero. Here things can be greatly analyzed as to what groups or people are studying different categories of heroism. Walls, boards, businesses, people, etc. are all brought into a continuous circle of flowing information to nurture heroism. All hero memorabilia, quotes, pictures, books, movies, and so forth, are created so people can gain access to the meaning of their heroes and apply that to their lives.

            “Cultures of the past that moved at a slower pace and were less media-driven and controlled than our own created and nurtured heroes and heroines who did not immediately flash as brightly as ours do and who survived longer.” (Brownie, 2005) Yet again, this greatly relates to Pinterest. In the past, people could only hope for glimpses of their heroes. They would have to wait in lines or travel far and wide to collect items or gain inspiration. Heroes were not as widely popular and were short lived. Often, they might resurface in literature or stories from elders. Pinterest makes everything live and accessible immediately. People can research how to live like their heroes, how to buy their items, how to use their quotes, memorize their images, watch their videos, and engulf themselves in anything they want to nurture. Therefore, today, it is easy to find a hero and follow any fascination associated with that hero. Our use of technology and sites such as Facebook and Pinterest have allowed us to stay up to date with almost everything. Also, to be able to save everything and categorize it as needed.

References

Brownie, R.B. (2005). Profiles of Popular Culture. (pp. 37). The University of Wisconsin:                  Popular Press.