CAPS #5- Carly Ficke

Popular Culture is described as "a new name for low culture, referring to those cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines" (Martin, Nakayama 2013). Pop culture is all around us. It is almost impossible to avoid these cultural texts in any given day. Whether it is the new hit single playing in the elevator or the magazines that peer up at you in the grocery store line, pop culture finds it's way into one's daily life and perceptions.
One of the cultural texts that I consume is the hit show "New Girl" featuring the ever-quirky Zooey Deschanel. The three concept examples I have found by watching this show are the use of stereotypes in pop culture, the inaccurate display of non-dominant cultures, and the idea of conflicting values.

Firstly, stereotypes in New Girl as undoubtedly one of the things that seems to make the show "funny". Either because the stereotypes are taken to dramatic lengths or because there are seemingly harmless comments and puns regarding the certain cultural stereotypes. For example, in the episode Cabin, one character, Schmidt, is worried that his black roommate (Winston) is not "being his blackest self". Schmidt then tries to involve Winston in all activities that are stereotypically "black", such as going to the "hood", playing basketball, and using certain jargon. While most consumers are expected to laugh, there is a real stereotype being played out. Winston is expected to act/be a certain way or belong to a certain color due to the nature of his skin color (tv.com).
Next, in the episode "Elaine's Big Day", the friends attend a traditional Indian wedding. They make a joke out of sabotaging the cultural traditions of the wedding. For example, they scare the horse that the groom is supposed to ride in on to meet his bride. They also make jokes about henna, saris, and the marital actions done in the ceremoney. In this way, they disgrace what is supposed to be sacred in the Indian culture, and also portray to non-Indians a misrepresentation of what the Indian people's customs and traditions are.
Lastly, the idea of values (especially sexual) is pretty much an unsaid yet common theme throughout the show. For example, the characters frequently mention the idea that you should sleep with as many people as you can.  They talk about one night stands being healthy. These "values" are meant to reflect the pop culture that we currently live in. However, we know that there are several people in the US whose values would conflict with these messages. In this way, we can see that pop culture's values may be a misrepresentation of many or even a majority of the population.

It is not always easy to resist these cultural texts. However, it really starts by knowing oneself and feeling secure in one's values. For example, if you are a black person and have no interest in basketball, you can resist these cultural texts by realizing that it is an unfair stereotype and in no way affects your identity as a black person. If you have strong values that go against one-night stands, you can resist this cultural text by reaffirming why you believe what you do and then deciding not to watch this sitcom. There are extreme and simple ways of resisting pop culture, but it really does come down to one's security in their belief systems and identity. And although one should remain open minding, knowing your values will make it easier to sort through the influx of cultural text that experience on a daily basis.

Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural communications in contexts (6^th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 
http://www.tv.com/news/new-girl-cabin-review-green-fairy-white-guilt-30366/