Then and Now

By: Andrew Hamilton

Intro

• I got the chance to interview a professor of mine about what things were popular when she was my age (18) The following is the interview.

• The following was the question asked to the interviewer:– I thought of you when I was assigned this assignment. I have to

ask an adult at least 10 years older than me a question. Could you Identify 5 forms of popular culture that were "in" during my age (18) This could range from movies, book, music, sports, tv, etc. Describe what made them forms of popular culture and how they might have been started. What was it like? Did you take part in them? I understand if you can't with your busy schedule but they can be short and to point, nothing fancy.

Concerts/ Music

• Examples: U2, REM, Sarah McLachlan, and Tori Amos

Movies

• Examples: Movies- Fried Green Tomatoes, Titanic, Dead Again, and Interview with a Vampire

Renting Movies

• Renting movies (VHS)- Watching concerts on VHS like Duran Duran

Buying/Selling/Trading CD’s

• The Wherehouse and Zia Records

Disposable Cameras

• taking pictures at weddings and of my brother’s babies then getting processed in an hour at Walgreens….major fun

Defining Your Pop Culture Ideas

• I’m a music fan so most of my “popular” culture revolved around music when I was 18. I loved going to concerts, raves, and buying, selling, or trading CDs. I think the excitement about seeing so many concerts was the freedom to do what I wanted because I worked and had my own car.

• The standout for your question would be popular culture revolving around the CD. The invention of the CD was a few years new and stores like the Wherehouse and Zia Records were HUGE in buying, selling, or trading music. I remember thinking being able to sell or trade CDs was AMAZING.

• Copying music off the radio or making pirated tapes was easy. This was no longer an option with CDs. I think the boom of the music stores of the late 80s-90s was based on the CD. I remember getting $50 from a selling a couple text books my freshman year (1992) at Glendale Community College and buying about 10 CDs. That was mind-blowing to me at the time.

My Five Pop Culture Examples

• Music: Lady gaga, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Green day, etc.

• Movies: Harry Potter, Transformers, Scream, Le Miserables.

• Accessories: Silly Bands, gauges, nose rings• Books: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, A series of

Unfortunate Events. • Technology: Ipod, Iphones, Facebook, Twitter.

Music

• The Popular Artists today are singing to the souls of my life and others. Times are more tuff for teenagers today then they ever were for any generation.

Movies

• The popular movies of today encompass a couple of interests of today’s people. Mystery, horror and emotion. When I look for a new movie to watch I look to see what I’m looking to watch and I’ve noticed with me and my friends those kinds of movies are most popular for young adolescent.

Accessories

• Never do these kind of popular trends last but somewhere along the lines people started buying silly bands, and wearing gauges. They saw them as cool and so they started to wear them. It’s why I bought the silly bands. However I gauges my ears in respect to my father. I never had much of a connection with my father, he gauges his and I wanted something to connect him with.

Books

• In the examples of books I suggested, most are fictional and contain some sort of magic myth, or strife. And I think with todays adolescents, struggling so much, it speaks more to them now, making those kind of genres of books more popular then others. I picked all of them up because I grew up with a quite tragic child hood and I always wanted to escape my reality and fall into another.

Technology

• People are now more able to communicate with one another in so many different kinds of mediums. Being able to connect with so many people so easily, makes one feel acknowledged versus being alone in reality. It’s why I choose to hang out in cyberland more then on earth. I can connect with people faster and easier.

Pop Culture in Different Eras

• During the time of Dr. Holmburg, Music was finally on the scene and a more accessible way. With tapes and Cd’s just being presented, music was now more accessible and available to the world.

• However, I believe in today’s age, with the growth of technology and evolution of society, life has become very difficult, even more so, then during her time. There are more pressures, and hardships one has to deal with so we seek to escape and reach within our selves so we find pieces that help us do that.