When I first heard about this piece I thought "fantastic, this'll be great!". Then I sat down to do it. It was a lot harder than I thought because I had to keep asking myself what is popular. I think a dictionary definition would go something along the lines of what is liked by a large number of people. But that answer gives me more questions then answers. Which people? How many people do I need to like something before it's considered popular? 5,50,500,5000? Young people are not a homogenous group; this was quite evident when talking to my cousins' in last week's interview (See Week 10 post for more details).
So I'm going to do this activity in two parts - the first I will show you a board I have created showing what popular culture is stereotypically popular with young people.
The second part is I am going to show you my personal Pinterest profile. Why? Because I am an example of how diverse young people are. I don't fit into any one particular category. I wear many different hats depending on my mood. Sometimes I like mainstream stuff and other times I want to run to the fringe and stay there. It is a combination of my past, what has influenced me and what I aspire to be. My profile is a representation of the funny, quirky, inquisitive, fangirling sides of me. You will never find anyone else who has exactly the same tastes as me.
I currently have about 3400 pins on 38 boards that make up who I am and what I think is popular.
Enjoy
Hannah your posts are always interesting and thought provoking....absolutely right to ask what is popular and who decides?? Your pinterest board show such a diverse range of interesting pop culture icons and your personal Pinterest board is a real eye opener for me. I also read your major essay and found it to be a fascinating insight into an area of online communities that I gad no idea about. The concept of shipping was totally foreign to me. I am so glad I have undertaken this course as I have learnt so much
ReplyDeleteFirstly thanks for reading my major essay (I was starting to think I posted it for nothing) I have a similar approach when looking at art - some of the abstract stuff I think is horrible is upheld as genius while clever cartoons and sculptures are written off as tasteless despite the craftsmanship. I put my own Pinterest boards up there to show how many different 'hats' a person can wear and each individual one is an aspect of their personality which makes them unique, rather than being seen as just part of a group (no matter how mainstream or fringe it is to outsiders)
DeleteI really liked this post. I also found it extremely difficult to decide what was popular; everyone is different. I had to stick with things that seemed to get the most attention in mainstream media. However I think this is such a limited approach.
ReplyDeleteI found it particularly interesting how you incorporated your own pinterest boards as it showed that even when looking at an individual person, their tastes are varied which further complicates the issue. Also I really liked looking through the Firefly board haha.