In Cafe Society, there was a discussion about the terrible (but catchy) message in Soldier by Destiny’s Child. Another in a long line of songs about wanting bad boys
The topic got sidetracked onto how much influence these messages have in our society, especially with impressionable young girls. I couldn’t help thinking about the analysis of Lady and the Tramp in The Last Days of Disco
How much influence do these messages have? Certainly not even the most impressionable person makes life choices because of one movie or song. However, if the message comes up again and again, in a sort of unintentional propoganda, maybe they have a huge effect. Maybe more that we are comfortable admitting.
The two examples I chose pertain to the message of “Choose the exciting, bad boy over the nice guy”, but it doesn’t have to be restricted to that.
what came first, chicken or egg?
do girls get “brainwashed” into wanting bad boys because of the songs they hear, or are those songs expressing an emotion common to many girls, for all time?
basically its like hearing an artistic articulation of you own existing world views. while I don’t listen to music about getting bad boys, I have always sought out art and music that reflects me
and I think everbody does that, conciously or not
i guess it can reinforce world views, which is more of a political, brainy thing, or simple base emotions, which is more of a primal thing
but either way, i think that if music isn’t speaking to US (who we already are), we do not find it interesting
Pop culture’s attitudes towards racial bigotry and homosexuality have changed over the years. Yet, decades ago, it could be argued that those Bugs Bunny cartoons that caricature blacks or Japanese are reflecting “simple base emotions”.
So, I agree with the OP that there is some level of propaganda at work here. And it is quite pervasive… I caught moments of Disney’s Aladdin the other night.
The romantic lead is a thief and apparently has little regard for endangering the lives of policemen.
Certainly the chicken or egg metaphor works here but that does not mean that pop culture doesn’t have a real influence on people. In my view it is a feedback loop…each playing on the other. Pop culture is a reflection of what people want and people want what pop culture points them too (generally speaking…of course it does nto work that way for all people).
For instance, many women’s groups rail against the barrage of impossibly beautiful women (read airbrushed photos) splattered all over the place (pick your media). This then leads to women being unhappy with themselves (stress), objectification of women and in extreme cases actual psychological disorders (anorexia/bulimia for instance). But this begs the question of why we do not hear the same complaints about buff men in the media? This split shows where pop culture pushing society is instead itself pushed by society. In our culture pictures of pretty women plays better than pictures of handsome men so we see much more of the women than the men. Pop culture is just a reflection of what society is demanding. Round and round it goes.
This then leads us to what to do about it. I doubt you can expect to control what pop culture is showing/saying without draconian restrictions most democratic societies would not live under. Hopefully the young people are taught to be more comfortable with themselves and not feel the need to “follow the crowd”. Sadly most young people’s time is spent trying to follow the crowd (or be accepted) so they take their clue from the culture around them. Sadly there may well be some young women who listen to that song and think that “bad boys” are the “cool” way to go and so seek them out. I doubt it is so consciously done as in, “I heard that song, now I will go find bad boys” but it may well insert itself in some subconscious sense. Only if the youth in question are as prepared as they can be to think critically for themselves and imbued with the strength to chart their own course and not be a “follower” might they be unaffected by this (or at least mitigate the effect this all has).
Since “pop culture” includes television, I’d say that if there’s a message that “comes up again and again, in a sort of unintentional propoganda,” there, it’s commercials. The individual pitches may be for a thousand different products, but I’d argue that the cumulative effect is the propagandizing of consumerism.