The readings this week explored pop culture in a very effective manner. For myself, I began to realize that pop-culture is more than just popular people in culture. The first story we read talked more about icons such as the boys and girls signs in public bathrooms. As I looked at the pictures for this chapter, I realized perhaps a dozen of them were icons for public restrooms. This is something that is very unavoidable. Everyone will see icons for how they should act, dress, and to an extent, look like. I never thought that pop culture would include something like that, so it got my wheels turning. Many things that we see every day contribute to society’s perception of our reality, whether we realize it or not. I always figured that pop-icons were just people, but symbols and drawings contribute as well, perhaps more than anything else.
The pop icons I see have influenced the way that I assisted the kindergartners in the elementary school I used to work at. I would draw a girl on the white board, and to show that it was a girl, I always gave her a bow. I did this mainly because I am a bad artist, but it’s not until now that I realize how it affects the kids thinking. Kids soak up these things like a sponge, whether we realize it or not. How many girls did I ever actually see wearing a bow in their hair? Probably only a handful, yet that’s how I chose to portray girls in the classrooms. I don’t know the extent that something so simple really affected these kids, but it’s never just the one thing. It’s a combination of all the icons that we see every day that give us our perceptions (true or false) of how society functions every day.
I was very much interested in the same things you mentioned in the readings. It is very interesting of how the icons and symbols shape the reality we will live in. When you mentioned the frequent symbols of men and women on restroom doors it reminded me of a documentary I recently saw called "Helvetica". It has nothing to do with symbols on restrooms but it discussed how different fonts register certain reactions in our society. It was very interesting. But you are right, the pop-culture icons can be found in the minutest of details of the world we live in.
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