No matter what it is you are reading you are almost certain to find some sort of reference to modern day popular culture. It seems that at least now, people find it hard to think and write about something that is so different than the lives they live. Whether it celebrities, events, music or movies, 'pop' culture is all around us. And we don't always realise it either, if you were to read a book that contains two women shopping most people wouldn't think twice about this, yet even this can be considered 'pop' culture.
While it may seem normal to include notions of our every day life in pieces of literature, it is interesting at the least as to how easily they fit into almost any story. Even in totalitarian novels set in societies completely different from our own they seem to sneak in without our noticing. In one such novel; "The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood, a seemingly religious society called Gilead is in control of a post apocalyptic society through what is essentially a dictatorship. Even in this flipped world we get glimpses of some very common aspects of our real lives. Certain things we wouldn't think twice about like magazines and scrabble are prized by people who live a twisted life.
It is perfectly possible that some amount of time stories like these will make very little sense to people. That they'll have positively no clue about the significance of magazines and scrabble, of shopping and hotel rooms. That in the scenes where Offred and the Commander find emotional comfort in the simplest of priveleges, readers won't have the slightest clue what they're doing in the book.
Al tough, even if it puts a limit to what people can understand of the book, I suppose it makes a lot of sense to use 'pop' culture as a way of describing the characters. To us, or to me at least, most of the 'pop' culture used in Atwood's novel is strongly linked with females, which fits in with the rest of the book. Maybe magazines, shopping and hand lotion are in fact the best ways describe female characters because that is the clearest way we will understand. Maybe 'pop' culture is the most effective way of describing something to an audience because that is the easiest way to connect with an audience. Even if you aren't connecting with everyone.
The only problem is, not letting 'pop' culture lessen any significance and realism in the story you want to tell. Just because it is popular in our culture doesn't mean it always has or always will and should be treated on an individual basis.
While it may seem normal to include notions of our every day life in pieces of literature, it is interesting at the least as to how easily they fit into almost any story. Even in totalitarian novels set in societies completely different from our own they seem to sneak in without our noticing. In one such novel; "The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood, a seemingly religious society called Gilead is in control of a post apocalyptic society through what is essentially a dictatorship. Even in this flipped world we get glimpses of some very common aspects of our real lives. Certain things we wouldn't think twice about like magazines and scrabble are prized by people who live a twisted life.
It is perfectly possible that some amount of time stories like these will make very little sense to people. That they'll have positively no clue about the significance of magazines and scrabble, of shopping and hotel rooms. That in the scenes where Offred and the Commander find emotional comfort in the simplest of priveleges, readers won't have the slightest clue what they're doing in the book.
Al tough, even if it puts a limit to what people can understand of the book, I suppose it makes a lot of sense to use 'pop' culture as a way of describing the characters. To us, or to me at least, most of the 'pop' culture used in Atwood's novel is strongly linked with females, which fits in with the rest of the book. Maybe magazines, shopping and hand lotion are in fact the best ways describe female characters because that is the clearest way we will understand. Maybe 'pop' culture is the most effective way of describing something to an audience because that is the easiest way to connect with an audience. Even if you aren't connecting with everyone.
The only problem is, not letting 'pop' culture lessen any significance and realism in the story you want to tell. Just because it is popular in our culture doesn't mean it always has or always will and should be treated on an individual basis.
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