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Zander Kungel

Ronnie Haidar

GART-1510

April 8th , 2023

An Argument for Teaching Popular Tastes: How Studying Pop Culture in Academic

Environments Can Be Used as a Tool to Expose Its Deceitfulness

I, a university student, one who is filled with the flaming spark to continue growing and

learning to pave the way for a successful future, have something to admit: my life is consumed

by popular culture. In the simplest terms, I love it all. From memes to reality T.V., I am

constantly searching for the next dose of whatever everyone else talks about. If a celebrity feud

or scandal spawns into fruition, my eyes become glued to my phone screen for hours just reading

about what anyone has to say on any social media or news platform. However, unlike many

individuals who indulge in the world of popular media, I am aware of what popular culture

truthfully is at its core: a blood-sucking leach. It is a cultural device that mimics what we

perceive as reality; it is not reality but merely a sign of what everyone wants their lives and

lifestyles to revolve around. That is why I take an activist stance on the argument that popular

culture deserves academic study. Classrooms can be perfect environments where the truths and

lies about popular trends and media can be taught to students like me, who will ultimately be our

world's future. Popular culture should be studied in academic environments because it can help

reinforce awareness of the false constructions of reality forced upon viewers/listeners that are

created through prominent societal trends, including unrealistic expectations of relationships,

misled understandings of normalcy in lifestyles, and misconstrued beliefs on race, class, and

gender.
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Studying popular culture in academic environments can benefit students by exposing the

misconstrued perceptions of romantic relationships created through various "trendy" sources.

The biggest culprit of fictionalizing love while portraying it as reality is none other than "reality

dating shows," which Emily Yahr covers extensively in her article, "The Revealing and

Disturbing Story of America, Told through 20 Years of Reality Dating Shows." This article takes

a deep, extensive dive through the history of modern-era televised dating shows and contrasts

what they genuinely are versus their perceived image from audiences. For example, Yahr

suggests that the first example of a "reality dating show" was "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-

Millionaire?"; She emphasizes the importance of the show's finale, aired February 15th, 2000, in

which "a man in a tuxedo, bent down on one knee, proposing to a total stranger in a wedding

gown. She tearfully accepts while four other women, also wearing wedding dresses, shuffle off

the stage" (Yahr). This occurrence in televised history completely derailed any attempts at dating

shows mimicking reality in the future, as they began to alter what was "real" instead. You can

see how dangerous altering a perceived reality for audiences can be, considering "23 million

viewers" tuned in to watch this spectacle of romantical "reality" on Television. Overall, Yahr

suggests that the effects of shows like "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" has led to an

increase in "singles hooking up, couples breaking up," and a deterioration of traditional

monogamous relationships as a whole (Yahr). A separate study documented in Marissa T.

Cohen's "Reality Dating Shows" shows a correspondence between those who binge reality dating

shows and feelings of "a double standard when it comes to sex, and the belief that men are sex-

driven, and that appearance is important in dating" (Cohen). Overall, consuming reality dating

shows has adverse effects on each individual viewer and their culture, with these changes

notably being unhealthy for one's perceptions of romantic and sexual relationships. This is why
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popular culture belongs in the classroom: using reality dating shows as a topic of study can not

only help teach an impressionable audience of learning youths not to fall for its traps, but it can

also branch into other categories of popular culture that make attempts to deviate perceptions of

reality in their own ways.

Another benefit that could arise from studying popular culture in academic scenarios is

that it would help students become aware of how celebrities, influencers, and popular figures in

the media create a false sense of normalcy regarding lifestyles. I must make a confession: When

I was a little kid and saw swarms of people chasing after Tom Brady every time he won a

Sunday night football game, I thought crowds would do the same at my own minor league

tournaments. Additionally, when I used to watch my favourite YouTuber PewDiePie play video

games and bolster about how he makes millions of dollars just for gaming, I thought I could

probably do the same. Being swindled into thinking a particular aspect of life should exist

naturally (while actually being entirely unachievable) is an experience not exclusive to myself, as

an article published by Arya Sant goes further in detail regarding this phenomenon:

“Influencers on social media take the best parts of their lives and post it for the world to

see. Millions of their followers see perfection and assume that their life is flawless.

Viewers take that perfect lifestyle and question why their own life isn’t similar...

influencers make their lives seem more positive than reality” (Sant).

If I had millions to spend to make my own life seem perfect and film in a bunch of mansions and

sports cars, I would do the same. Nevertheless, the biggest problem with celebrities/influencers

taking advantage of normalizing unattainable lifestyles is how it affects where people choose to

put their trust. Instead of trusting those of great nobility, credentials, and experience, modern

popular culture has led many people to choose to trust the words of whoever has the fanciest
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cars, biggest houses, and, most importantly, “people are more likely to believe that one is more

trustworthy if he or she has more followers” (Sant). Consider Andrew Tate as a great example of

this fact in full swing: According to an article published by Shanti Das, as of August of 2022,

“videos of him [Andrew Tate] have been watched 11.6 billion times [on TikTok]” (Das). He

gains this high level of viewership despite being heavily associated with misogyny, toxic

masculinity, and even human trafficking. However, because he chooses to show off his lavish

lifestyle, fancy cars, and all the methods he has of getting richer, many people turn a blind eye to

the untrustworthiness of his character and instead idolize him. The popularization of Andrew

Tate is enough proof of why popular culture needs to be studied in classrooms. Without

education on the subject, there would be no guarantee that children, young adults, or any students

in general would have knowledgeable intellect on what is considered a far-fetched life. You do

not want the next generation to believe in every lifestyle that they see in the media and

consequently feel depressed that their own lives are not living up to unreachable standards.

Lastly, studying popular culture within academic environments would be fantastic

because it can help students realize the misconstrued ideas of race, class, and gender that

sometimes spawn through what is popular in society. When I wake up in the morning, one of the

first things I do is probably similar to many other people's routines: I turn on my phone and read

whatever is "brand new" in the world of news. However, did you know that many news outlets

(who ultimately dictate the information cycling around in the realm of popular culture) can be

highly biased toward certain groups of people? Jennifer Chmielewski takes a deep dive into this

controversy in her article "Constructing risk and responsibility: a gender, race, and class analysis

of news representations of adolescent sexuality." Chmielewski compiled a sample of 204 online

news articles discussing teen sexuality, and her overall findings can be summarized as
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interesting, to say the least. In her own words, her research suggests that adolescent sexuality is

often "portrayed as pervasive yet dangerous," and many articles focused on girls pertaining to

"pregnancy, STIs, and sexual victimization" (Chmielewski). However, her main conclusion is

this: in terms of media coverage on teen sex, the focus is to "attribute blame and responsibility

only to girls, concealing the gender, race, and class systems of oppression that impinge upon

girls' access to their own desires and sexual choices" (Chmielewski). Consider one of her critical

findings as an example: "Black and Latina girls (and boys) were invisible across our sample

except in terms of pregnancy and STIs" in articles that were informative pieces (Chmielewski).

However, "Out of fifty-five articles on teen pregnancy, 22 percent were reports on pregnancy

that specifically discussed girls of colour as at risk of becoming teen mothers" (Chmielewski).

So, teens of colour only received media representation as "vectors of trouble" rather than being

included in pieces targeted for spreading informational awareness on sexual subjects. After

reading this, it is evident to me that the media only uses non-white adolescents to represent

negative scenarios regarding teen sex. In general, many articles did not seem to like women at

all. They generalized them on Westernized and "old-fashioned" sexualized stereotypes: "Stories

of girls falling victim to boys' objectification and sexual conniving prevailed despite research

suggesting that 10–24 percent of adolescent girls have ever sent a sexually explicit image"

(Chmielewski). Wealth was also not left out of the discriminatory picture, as most sampled

articles on sexual attractions portrayed higher levels of sexualized "desire for working-class girls

of colour compared to white working- and middle-class girls" (Chmielewski). These exact biases

existent in our own media exemplify the need for popular culture to be studied in the classroom.

Neglecting such topics in a scholarly environment could mean a whole generational wave of
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students who fall victim to these same discriminant features of the media that facilitate popular

beliefs and trends.

Overall, studying popular culture in depth within academic environments should be put

into fruition as it would spread more awareness of the unrealistic expectations of relationships,

misled understandings of normalcy in lifestyles, and misconstrued beliefs on race, class, and

gender created through what is of great popularity in a society. It is especially important to have

the academic study of this because targeting a demographic of learners with such an important

topic will give the best chances for continuing this awareness for generations to come. Although

you have just read everything wrong with the current state of popular culture, I’m sure you will

still be obliged to feast amongst it, and you are not wrong for this. I, after all, am perfectly fine

with staying glued to my phone. I just think it would be much better if I could have learned of

these dangers through a proper lecture or course rather than staying glued to my phone screen yet

again, continuously reading away.

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Works Cited

Chmielewski, Jennifer, et al. “Constructing Risk and Responsibility: A Gender, Race, and Class

Analysis of News Representations of Adolescent Sexuality.” Feminist Media Studies,

vol. 17, no. 3, June 2017, pp. 412–425., https://journals-scholarsportal-

info.ledproxy2.uwindsor.ca/pdf/14680777/v17i0003/412_craragonroas.xml_en.

Cohen, Marissa T. “Reality Dating Shows.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 16 Apr.

2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/finding-love-the-scientific-

take/202204/reality-dating-shows.

Das, Shanti. “Inside the Violent, Misogynistic World of Tiktok's New Star, Andrew Tate.” The

Guardian, 6 Aug. 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-

tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star.

Sant, Arya. “Influencers Set Unrealistic Expectations.” Twice-Told Tale, 18 Mar. 2022,

https://twicetoldtale.org/925/entertainment/influencers-set-unrealistic-expectations/.

Yahr, Emily. “The Revealing and Disturbing Story of America, Told through 20 Years of Reality

Dating Shows.” The Washington Post, 5 Aug. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-

entertainment/2020/08/05/reality-tv-dating-shows-history/.