Free Custom «Pop Culture across Cultures» Essay Paper

Gangnam Style is a Korean neology mainly associated with glamorous fashion and abundant lifestyle connected to trendsetters in the wealthiest parts of Seoul’s Gangnam district. In English colloquial usage, it is equivalent to “swag” or “yolo.” In Korean gangnam means “south (nam) of the river(gang).” In Psy’s’ song, he refers to the Han River that penetrates South Korea capital. Gangnam has been the picture for swift economic progress mainly in 1970s and 1980s of the South Korea. This area is the richest area in the whole of South Korea. It is regarded as a place where everything is cool, with rich people and pretty girls. In his song, he sings that he is looking for a refined woman who knows when to get hot and wild.

Spy a South Korean pop star is grabbing the world attention. He released his song on15th July 2012 together with its video. This got international attention when it went viral on you tube with an average of 9 million viewers per day in two months. It was the most liked with more than 1.6 million likes. He even got the attention of the one UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon meets with spy in a celebration; he confesses that he is no longer the most famous in the South Korean as Spy has caught the attention of the majority.

 

Type of service

Type of assignment

Title of your paper *

Academic level

Pages

Timeframe

Spacing

Currency

  Order now

Gangnam style has daring dance moves that are somehow weird. He dances “the horse-riding”   which is a combination of a shuffle dance and hand movement, which resembles someone riding a horse. On watching the video, it delights you as it is very colourful and spy and the dancers are in very colourful and lively outfits. Most viewers in you tube, has stated that it is hard to resist the urge to watch it repeatedly. Psy has made the dance so cool and easy to copy. This interests people and those interested in practicing dances. The satirical video clip creates an international sensation that interests viewers from different parts of the world. The sexual suggestive images and meaning of the song may have been also a contributing factor to its fame. He is famous as he makes fun out of himself unlike other Korean pop star that have solely focused on production from perfectly made pop dolls who are dominating the industry and are somewhat boring.

An artefact becomes popular it catches the attention of many people (Fedorak, 2009). This popular artefact culture may cross to other cultures if highly recognized and frequently used by people. Spy Gangnam style is said to be popular since it was viewed and liked by millions of people. It also caught the attention and liking of Barrack Obama, the U.S president who revealed that he would learn it so that he may perform it before his wife Michelle in secret. The London mayor said in his speech that he and the British prime minister had danced the gangnam style.

Pop culture entails the facet of social life that most people are actively involved. The relations of people in the daily activities determine a culture (Fedorak, 2009). The culture is fast changing due to the current technology feature actively involving people. In this case, Spy gangnam style song dominates the pop culture. It is not only a song, but also popular in entertainment. This song has grown to be a pop culture for the people as it is has become very popular. An artifact would cross over to other cultures either due to interests in others culture or in search of fame and be able to reach the majority. We also have shared artifacts in diverse countries depending on people’s interest and the modern skill, which makes it easy for access. This artefact would also be a source of joy and societal bonding. People are attracted by highly competitive cultures. In this case, Spy’s’ Gangnam style song is a type of pop culture. Different countries have different beliefs, behavioural norms, and values. People would prefer some cultures to others due to interests in learning other people culture and habits.

Stay Connected

Live Chat Order now

An artefact becomes popular if for example it is highly rated positively by many people, accessible and cheap to use (Danesi, 2012). Artifacts mostly draw some People from certain countries because of admiration of people culture and the manner of doing things. They may be particularly interested by their dances, the way they wear, fashionable trends, the new technology hence easier access, distinctive rhythms and from their hero countries.

A cultural artifact can become popular if it is highly used to communicate on diverse public issues that happen daily and attracts mass participation. This can be a source of knowledge on technology, has images, character, or contains interesting subject that interest people. Others may be trivial and degrading the audience intellectually. These cultural artefacts may bring about negative expressions for instance, if they contain violence that may trigger violence among the people, if they contain sexual materials, drug abuse and display faulty beliefs.

The Rock Music Article

According to  A.P., popular culture was known as folk culture in the 19^th century. The folk culture consisted of folktales, local drinking, and street festivals. This was far much different from the elite culture as this was made up of literature, fine art, and classical music. Many countries culture has become diverse due to great interaction in the media. Pop culture artifacts influence our daily living; these are movies, books, food, religion, and music.

Rock music is a type of popular music and based on 1940s and 1950s Rock and Roll music. Since 1960s, Rock music has developed to different styles. This music is centred on an electric guitar and the rock group uses drums and base guitar. This music addresses social and political issues but mainly addresses romantic love. Rock music has a worldwide popularity meaning that it has major manipulation on fashion, culture, and social attitudes (AP, 2012). Different types of rock music have been adopted and they have given identity to many sub-cultures. Rock has developed internationally and has taken the place of cinema, which manipulated fashion trends. It is paradoxical, since rock music followers mistrust the fashion world, which is seen to be above substance. Rock fashion is a combination of different cultures, periods, and has diverse views on gender and sexuality.

Since early 1960s, Rock has been associated with drug use, facilitation of greater sexual freedom, in the songs cannabis, heroin and cocaine has been eulogised. Rock has opened up African-American culture and at the same time, accused of fitting and exploiting the culture. Rock has cultural imperialism; it has absorbed numerous influences and initiated western audiences to various musical traditions.

Rock music has been linked to rebellion against political and social norms, which is evident as they rejected adult-dominated culture, consumerism and conformity counter culture and social convection (Danesi, 2012). On the other side, it is seen as a way of idea exploitation and averting the youth from political action. Rock music has a great impact on people’s life as it influences the way of thinking, changes mood and how people react on issues. Despite the fact that rock has been greatly associated with sex and drugs, it has gained a lot of popularity and acceptance.