Ever wondered what your theoretical approach to popular culture is but not wanted to read 1000s of pages of history? Never fear! See which cluster of Oscar related statements relate to you and the answer will be yours.
- Why would anyone watch this crap?
- I’ve got better things to do and I’m going to announce that to people on social media so they recognize my moral superiority.
- These movies suck. Nothing good ever gets nominated for an Oscar.
- Hey, look at all the millionaires congratulating themselves in a four hour commercial!
You're A Member of the Frankfurt School!
You think popular culture is bland, dumbed down, and full of stupid. You also
think there are non-subjective, clearly defined standards of what makes
something quality and worth spending time on. People who enjoy pop culture may
as well be zombies, and you’d wipe the drool from their mouths if you weren’t
so busy with your far superior hip and cool pursuits. Pop culture is just a
giant tool of the capitalist overlords and you’re not going to play along . . .
unless it’s something you like. That’s totally different.
Go read some Adorno and Horkheimer
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- Really? That movie won? Funny how different people can get different things from different movies.
- That was the first black man to win for directing a Best Picture. That was only the seventh black woman to win an Oscar at all. That’s sad.
- Wow, that was a real sausage fest in the “Heroes” montage. Hollywood really doesn’t consider women to be heroes at all.
- I’m watching the Oscars but only to study it so I can “know the enemy,” if you will.
You're A Member of the Birmingham School!
Congratulations, you realize that people are capable of finding their
own meanings and uses for pop culture and don’t just follow trends like
lemmings going off a cliff. You think people have brains and can use them to
interpret pop culture texts in a myriad of ways. Despite this, you recognize
that there are culturally dominant and often dangerous messages that rise to
the top. You’re a champion for equality and hate oppression. Unfortunately, you
might be part of the reason the great Lawrence Grossberg once said Cultural Studies
has gotten so “fucking boring.” You look for oppression exactly where anyone
would expect to find it and are likely too reliant on the notion that simply
noticing/writing about it will make positive social change. The idea that
people might enjoy pop culture despite its often problematic aspects? Let’s not
go there, please.
Go read some Stuart Hall.
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- “Let it Go” is such an interesting song. It’s fascinating how it can be embraced by so many different types of people. I want to know why.
- I’m going to write some Benedict Cumberbatch/Jennifer Lawrence slash fic right now.
- Yeah, this is kinda silly but I love how it brings people together—either in Oscar parties or to play “who can be the snarkiest” on Twitter.
- I can’t wait to see all the John Travolta memes tomorrow which deservedly will mock him mercilessly.
You're With Fandom Studies & Participatory Culture!
You are a champion of aesthetic pluralism. You recognize that taste is
incredibly subjective and statements about quality are always based in socially
constructed values. Therefore, you see little need to go analyze pop culture
texts with the razor sharp precision usually reserved for literature (you
recognize pop culture technically can be studied this way but it seems about as
pointless as John Travolta trying to read a teleprompter). You realize that
people are not passive sheep and actually actively participate with pop culture
in a million different, interesting ways. In short, you’re much more interested
in what people do with pop culture versus what it may or may not be. Too bad
you mainly focus on cool, indie, cult texts and often ignore texts that are
massively popular in the sense of millions of people consuming them. Maybe you
have more in common with the Frankfurts than you’re comfortable admitting.
Go read some Henry Jenkins.
_______________
- What is it about the Oscars that gets people so intensely worked up—either with love, hate, or meh?
- Bette Midler just sang “Wind Beneath My Wings” as part of the In Memorium. A bit on the nose, but it’s interesting how that song draws its meanings from so many different personal/social contexts.
- I feel compelled to watch this show but I doubt that the reasoning is consciously accessible to me, so I’m just going to roll with it and not be a jerk about it.
- If I don’t know what happened on the show, I’ll miss out on so many references and miss an opportunity to participate in a social moment.
You're With Affect and Psychoanalytic Studies!
Like the fandom studies people, you see little reason in looking at the
actual content of pop culture texts and are much more interested in the social
function of those texts, people, and ideas. You recognize that pleasure, hate,
and dis-taste are super complicated states of being that resonate with
different intensity across the complex contexts where people experience pop
culture in their lives. You’re also not convinced that looking at what people
do with pop culture (or even asking them why they like something) is fruitful
because the subconscious aspects of taste are likely the most telling aspects
of popularity as a concept. Your interests lie in how people are connected to
(or disconnected from) other people based on how they encounter, talk about,
and form fluid identities around pop culture. Too bad all this talk of
intensities and subconsciousness leads to a methodology of assumptions and
hypotheses that the publishing world isn’t always thrilled about (trust me, I
know).
Go read some Lawrence Grossberg.
