Popular Culture- represents what is perceived to be popularly “accepted” among society

Gaming: – GTA IV SATIRE– makes fun of everything from politics to delivering social messaging.

TV Satire Lampoons today’s society

Popular TV Satire - Simpsons & South Park: Both make references to contemporary issues from mainstream culture and Lampoon society in general.

Steven Johnson’s, “Everything Bad is Good For You” references how TV shows such as Simpson’s, West Wing, 24 are more “mass” than Dickens was, even though Dickens had no mass media rivals.

TV shows such as these attract between 10 and 15 million viewers. (Steven Johnson)

The term ”Popular" in English during the 15th century (in law and politics), meant "low", "base", "vulgar", and "of the common people" until late 18th century when it began to mean "widespread" and gain in positive connotation. (Williams 1985)

Metaphor: a figure of speech – one thing used to represent another

TV Quotes:

“You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”-- Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, in Macworld Magazine, February 2004

"The media can wreak great harm on the family when it offers an inadequate or even distorted vision of life, of the family itself and of religion and morality."-- Pope John Paul II, May 2004

"Do you know we are ruled by TV?"-- from the poem An American Prayer by Jim Morrison

The total average time per household in 2005-06 was eight hours and 14 minutes per day. -- Reuters (September 22, 2006)

Did you ever think about life as a metaphor for television? TV is new reality – Reality TV

Philosophical impact of Television versus Print

Popular 2008 TV shows – Survivor, 24, West Wing, Apprentice, Simpsons and The Sopranos vs. Literary Canons – Heart of Darkness, Moby Dick, Bleak House

In Postman’s “Amusing ourselves to Death”, he examines what TV has done to our culture. TV has changed the way we think about everything. It changes our understanding, ideas, and epistemology - analyzing the study of knowledge. Has society “dumbed” down?

Canons - the books of the Bible officially recognized by the Church

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Classic and Popular

-Quake-Game-Age of Empires- Game-Apprentice-TV-Sega 2k3 Baseball –Game-Mork & Mindy- TV-Who’s the Boss- TV-The Daily Show- TV-South Park-TV

ELITIST -

-Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad-Bleak House by Charles Dickens-Moby Dick by Herman Melville-Survivor – TV-Finding Nemo– Disney Movie-24 –TV-West Wing – TV -The Simpsons – TV -The Sopranos- TV-Grand Theft Auto VI -Game-Doom -Game-Halo -Game

Elitist Characteristics – Exclusive, superior, personal abilities, intellect, wealthy, selectiveClassic and Popular Characteristics- traditional, typical, standard, trendy, in-style, well-liked, fashionable

Existentialism in MMORPGS- A digital Reality in today’s Popular Culture.

Click icon to add pictureBoth World of Warcraft and Age of Empires are good examples of MMORPGS that are well-suited to storytelling and can allow the player to explore existentialism.

Film and Literature have clearly proved to be a superb medium for epic storytelling.

TV, Books, and Movies are all forms of media available in our society which shape today’s thoughts in Popular Culture.

On a existential note, without free will what if we are mere characters in a video game playing out a predetermined role for us? What if the reality perceived by us is only an illusion of our free will? The answer TBD…

Existentialism - philosophy of thought which the individual is entirely free, and, therefore, ultimately responsible.Epic– larger-than-life, grand proportions, heroic

Bibliography:

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Popular Culture- represents what is perceived to be popularly “accepted” among society