Hollywood Politics

Popular culture in this day and age usually means movies, music, celebrities, cell phones and other technological devices. But every four years, politics takes center stage in pop culture. All you have to do is go to a magazine stand and look at all the different tabloid magazines like US Weekly and People magazine, showcasing each political candidate and their families with photo-albums inside. Hollywood is also getting back into the political conversation with America’s favorite celebrities and musicians either coming out publically supporting a candidate or lead political causes like P. Diddy who just 4 years ago led the “Vote or Die” phenomenon. But Hollywood over the past few decades has been increasingly leaning towards the left and in the Democrats’ camp. Being conservative in tinsel town is considered a sin. It’s like wearing a Duke shirt around UNC’s campus.

Dozens of actors are known for their outspoken beliefs off screen as much as for their on-screen performances. Take for example Charlie Sheen, who believes that the Bush Administration masterminded the whole September 11^th terrorist attacks. Or Sean Penn, who goes to cuddle with foreign rogue dictators like Hugo Chavez and says “Chavez is much more positive for Venezuela then negative” while Chavez is on his way to creating a Cuba-style dictatorship where there is no private property, free speech or civil rights. But in recent years, it is no secret about the liberal Hollywood agenda. They have been hosting Democratic Party fundraisers, sponsoring anti-war rallies, organizing abortion rights events, backing environmental legislation or producing message movies that promote peace, love and understanding since the sixties. Most regular Americans though see right through the propaganda and that is why movies like Stop-loss fail in the box offices. We see these celebrities exposed as the hypocrites they are. Like Madonna who travels the world in her million dollar private jet spewing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air while at the same time making people aware about Global Warming telling us what cars we should drive and that we need to ride our bikes to work. Hollywood seems like they want to dictate, to average Americans, how their government should conduct their business. They undermine the war efforts of this country by propping up and cuddling with rogue dictators and publicly slandering the United States by denigrating our President while visiting other countries. While many of the top actors, and actresses, don’t even have a high school diploma, they know they are smarter than you and I because they can act like they are. It is time to shut up and act.

The Progression of Pop Culture

American culture has evolved a lot over the past half century. When you go back and listen to the music and watch the movies that our grandparents listened to and watched, you see it is completely different then what we see today. American culture has morphed a lot over the past years separating us from our grandparents. It seemed much more innocent back then. For example, if girls wore a skirt over their knees a certain length they were considered a whore. If a guy had an ear pierced they were labeled gay. You didn’t expect to see blood, gore, sex and drugs in the movies back then but today, it’s a common part of every movie above G rated. However, back then it was also much more intolerant. Today, the level of tolerance in America has dramatically improved. Whether it is Race Relations, gender gap, gay rights, and immigration, people are a lot more accepting in my generation then the generations of the past. We are the new great generation.

But with this era of new found tolerance and equality, comes negative parts of our culture that is reflected in what we see as pop culture. For example drug use, children born out of wedlock, and STD’s are way up from the 1950’s. We can see these problems mirrored in Hollywood and on MTV as we learn about celebrities being rushed into rehab and their kids being taken away from them like Britney Spears or in the movies where it seems like drug use and unprotected sex is celebrated in some ways. But would I trade these times for the past? No. We have come too far as a society that the gains we have made far overshadow the negative things that have resulted. From the Civil Rights acts of the 60’s, to the leveling out of economic differences between men and women, our society has advanced very far in 50 years. It is up to us to keep that going.

Cell Phones and Pop Culture

Everywhere you go now, you see people constantly using their cell phones. Whether it is texting their friends 60 words per minute, emailing their co-workers on their Black Berry’s, using them for navigational purposes, or listening to their entire music collection, cell phones are a huge part of human life in today’s world. If you don’t have a cell phone, it is very hard to be a part of today’s society. Cell phones have been in a huge technological boom over the past decade. They give people the opportunity to access information at lightning speed and anywhere they happen to be. Some people are even going as far as using their cell phone as their primary number. My dad, for example, no longer uses a land line at his house. He has all calls sent to his cell phone. When you buy items online, or fill out a legal form, there is now an option to put your cell phone number down instead of a land line. Cell phones also are now playing a role in campus security. At UNC-CH, you can register your phone with the University Alert System which will notify you via text message if anything bad is happening on campus. Cell phones are certainly a part of pop culture.

In the younger generations, cell phones can sometimes reflect the social status of the user. For example, the people usually carrying Black Berry’s are probably also involved in some sort of business where they need to email on the go. Nobody wants to be caught holding a cell phone that is more than two years old either. Everyone wants to have the latest and greatest and the sleekest models out there. Some phone companies use celebrities to advertise their phones. For example the new LG shine commercial features the kids from the MTV hit show, “The Hills”. So when kids see those spoiled Hollywood brats they recognize from MTV sporting that new LG Shine, they might be more inclined to purchase that brand of phone. Marketing is really an art.

Cell phones are a good example of how technology has affected the Pop Culture around us. We can now get our celebrity fix instantly, anywhere we are. We can download the TMZ clips directly on our phone and see which celebrity is doing drugs now and which one just got out of rehab. Cell phones are a way of life.

Immitating: Marcus - Baseball

Stepping up to the plate, the southpaw is throwing fire tonight. It's only the 5th inning, and he already has eight strikeouts. Your team has men on second and third, and is already trailing in the game. You need to center the ball so you can hit it up the middle and score two runs and get your team back in it. Would anyone be excited about any of this if not for the baseball boom in the late 90's to now? Would the game be dying or dead right now? Thanks to young, up and coming players like Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun, Dustin Pedrioa and Joba Chamberlain, the game has seen a big boost in excitement, and that leads to a huge boost in attendance. Clubs are making so much more money now a days not only with ticket sales, but by marketing these up and coming stars.

These players are also very important in promoting the post-steroid era in baseball. They represent a clean slate of new popular players that are as good as the steroid abusers were. Growing up in the 90's playing baseball, the role models and superstars I admired like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGuire all turned out to be doping steroid abusers. They let me down and probably a lot of other players my age at the time. But thanks to these new stars, gracing the cover of SI and ESPN the magazine, the sport is in a revitalization. Baseball is back.