Popular Culture [Monday, January 15, 7th period]

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Rose was already in class, a steaming cup of tea on her desk.

There were photos of Galaxy Quest, James Bund, Space Battles, Barry Plodder, Mister What and Wendy the Werewolf Stalker on the blackboard.

As soon as the class was sitted, Rose began speaking:

"Last class we discussed each of your expectations in this class and most, if not, all of you agree that popular culture is one of the things you'll find necessary in this timeline particularly since you all come from different backgrounds and timelines yourselves.  I hope you all read the handouts I've given you but I'll gave you the basics-- pop culture is the music you're listening to, the clothes you're wearing and the language you're speaking.

It's quite literally, the culture of the people.

Today, we're going to discuss one element of pop culture and that's language as I spoke to Hermione she raised a very important point. Who, in the end, decides what is or isn't part of of this culture? And how does it become a part of the culture, so much so it creeps into the language we're speaking? Is it because a book, a movie is considered a 'hit' ? Or how the same things I mention shape the general outlook of a certain time period?"

Rose leaned against the blackboard, "Each of these pictures signify an important role in shaping people's perception of pop culture, they've infilitrated speech and consciousness of everyone who live in this time period. You can't talk about space travel in this period without thinking of Space Battles, Galaxy Quest and Mister What. You can't talk about magic without people remembering Barry Plodder, you can't pretend to be a spy without conjuring the image of James Bund.

But that's for later, we'll discuss them in detail in the following weeks the reason I featured them today is to emphasize a point -- almost anything can be considered part of pop culture. The only question is how? And in what ways do they become part of it. Believe me, this phenomenon is not restricted to this time alone, from the 1500s to the year 5 billion people will constantly find ways to include what they like into their conversations, their past times and into every facet of their daily life.

We're going to talk how each of these in the following weeks and how they 'become, by common consent, part of the language we speak and by the end of this semester we'll be cycling back to this topic, hopefully you  will all be verse in 'talking the talk' and understanding the 'talk'."

Rose paused.

"Here's the question, what do you think are the things in your century, in your time that becomes so popular it's become part of your language."

cheat sheet:

Galaxy Quest - Star Trek
Space Battles - Star Wars
James Bund - James Bond
Barry Plodder - Harry Potter
Mister What - Doctor Who
Wendy the Werewolf Stalker - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Comments

Sign-In

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Please collapse-y

Re: Sign-In

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry Jekyll

Re: Sign-In

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami Mizuno

What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

So popular that its infilitrated your language?

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry raised his hand.
"There's a very popular mystery series in London right now (...errrr, in my time, that is...), about a detective called Mycroft Watson. The character is remarkably intelligent, and able to divine personal facts about someone from a mere glance at their person. So people have taken to using his name as a synonym for genius."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

"That's a good example," Rose said, "Could you give me an example how you'd use it?"

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

"In Japan where i am from, popular music has caused Western phrases to enter the language. For example a very popular song is called C'est La Vie, and the phrases seems to be in every sentence everyone utters."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

"That's good, that's also a particular phrase that's crept in the English vocabulary." Rose tilted her head, "Could you also cite other examples of another phrase that's now in use in Japan?"

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders's player flailed a little, thanks to canon that tells us nothing about Colonial life before the Cylon war realized he couldn't really narrow it down to just one thing.

"Well," he said slowly, "it's not exactly modern in my time, but there is this ancient poet named Kataris who's still really popular. He was like, the original angsty emo-boy and kids I knew back home used to quote his stuff all the time because they thought it made them look smarter."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

"Alright, Anders," Rose said folded her arms, grinning. "Use *that* in a sentence."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Depends. Wendy the Werewolf Stalker is extremelly popular right now. And I just realized I can find out how season three ends without having to wait for next week's episode to air." Marco spent a moment in happy day-dream land. "Um...Tony Hawk's Pro Skater just came out also. Movie wise the first of the Galaxy Quest prequels came out and it wasn't half bad as long as you're ready to mock."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

"To mock is to love," Rose said, smiling, "Can you give any examples how Galaxy Quest or Pro Skater crept up in everyday conversations?"

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[smartestone]

Hermione is still a little pleased that she was mentioned in the lecture. Girl needs a life. "The Weird Sisters are a band that's pretty popular in the wizarding world," she says. "They're all right. People seem to like them, though."

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

"How would you say this band infilitrated the local language of the wizarding world?" Rose asked, curious.

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward thought on this for a bit. Then thought harder. Then he shrugged and sat back, because he honestly couldn't think of a single thing 'popular' at the moment. He never really paid attention to things like that.

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse tried to think of something. He really did. Except all that he managed to get was a completely blank expression.

Re: What is the most popular thing in your time?

[arumonii.livejournal.com]

Armony kind of frowned, pondering. She'd never left Hiessgart before now, and since it was so tiny, it didn't really count... She boggled, reached back and scratched the side of her head, then shrugged. "...I really can't think of anything," she said, stumped.

Discussions/Note taking/ Chatting

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Talk to your mates, throw paper planes. Be wacky. To a point.

Re: Discussions/Note taking/ Chatting

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry wrote down every show, book or movie on the board, along with its genre. He intended to find fans later to get more information on them.

Re: Discussions/Note taking/ Chatting

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward was completely not covering the inside of a new notebook cover with random chemistry equations. Or half-drawn arrays. Or small stick figures that looked like they were lit on fire.

Ask Rose questions

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

She loves questions!

Talk to Rose after class

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Rose is taking notes of her own.

Re: Talk to Rose after class

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami came up to the teachers desk, with a note from the office in hand.

"Professor? I am sorry to say that i will not be here next Monday, due to being off the island. Um, i have this (http://fh-office.livejournal.com/66968.html?thread=546968#t546968) note from the office. If you let me know what the lecture will be on and if there will be any homework, i will make sure to send it to you before i leave..." Ami handed over the note for Rose to look at.

OOC

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

For all your OOC needs!

Re: OOC

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

but... Galaxy quest is already a spoof of Star Trek. can we use it if it is a real movie?