Heroes and Celebrity

It is interesting how the two theories that we are discussing is heroes and celebrity.  This is interesting because in the story of Batman, he falls into both categories.  As the hero Batman, he fights for the safety of the people, fitting exactly into the definition of a hero.  As Bruce Wayne, he is the richest person in the city, and therefore is a celebrity.  He is constantly being followed by the media.  But there is another side, each of the personas also fit into the other category.  In several story arcs of the Batman, there are groups of people that follow the character closely and even try to emulate him, as if he’s a celebrity.  Likewise, as Bruce Wayne, he gives lots of money to various charities, in order to help people who are suffering.

Rituals and Stereotypes

What theories seem to apply to your pop culture topic?

In the Knightfall series, there are several examples of rituals.  One such example that is prominent throughout the series is the ritual of how the enemy is subdued.  Batman is notorious for his lack of lethal action, and this story line is no different.  In cases that his enemy is in a deadly situation, he will do his best to save the life of that person, even though that person was attempting to kill him not too long before this.  This could also maybe be a stereotype that has been placed upon Batman.  At one point, another person has to take over as Batman, and he allows someone to die.  This action, or lack thereof, leads people to believe that the Batman they see, is not the real Batman.

The Morals of Pop Culture

What theories seem to apply to your popular culture topic?
Taking a lesson from popular culture is important.  These lessons shape the way we live our lives, and how we interact with other people, whether we know they have influenced us in this way or not.  It seems like many people use icons from popular culture and shape themselves from this.  This can be seen by some people who tell a young girl who loves a particular princess “that’s not how a princess acts”, I have seen this many times, and often the little girl will show a desperate attempt to correct any misbehavior.

Three Pop Culture Icons

Here are three contemporary icons that I have chosen.    The first image is from the Avengers.  This movie began with several other movies staring each of the individual main characters in the movie, each hinting at a team up of all the heroes.  The Avengers were first found in a comic book in the 1960's, which is around the same time that the first story of Spiderman was released, which is the second picture.  There have been several TV shows and movies starring Spiderman, this is the logo from the most recent reboot of the franchise.  The third image is that of a logo from the the most recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.  The first issue of Batman came out in the 1930's, and has been in many iterations of the character including books, movies, TV shows, and video games, which was one of the highest rated video games in 2011, called Batman: Arkham City.  

Pop Culture Artifact

What is popular culture and what does it mean to you?

Pop culture is everything that makes up the current culture.  This mostly consists of art, like music, movies, paintings, any medium of art.  While it is mostly made up of art, pop culture can be made up of many different things.  Pop culture can also consist of a person, a brand name, even just a product, think of the iPhone.