What is Pop Culture?

I believe pop culture is anything from the realm of movies, television, books, music, video games, or any other form of media.  The possibilities for what defines pop culture could be endless.  It could be a celebrity, a character they played, a movie, a song, a show, a game, a setting or any other iconic image/object.  Pop culture can range from years past to today.  It is basically an umbrella for everything mentioned above.  Just a few examples of pop culture based on my definition above are:

-Movies: The Dark Knight, Skyfall, Despicable Me, Fast & Furious, The Avengers, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future
-TV Shows: The Walking Dead, Family Guy, The Simpsons, NCIS, Tosh.0, South Park, 24
-Music: Pharrell Williams (Happy), Pitbull & Kesha (Timber), Bastille (Pompeii), Aerosmith (Walk This Way), Hey Jude (The Beatles)
-Books: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight
-Video Games: Grand Theft Auto, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Last of Us, Need For Speed
-Characters: Rick Grimes, Brian Griffin, The Minions, James Bond, Batman, Jack Bauer, Homer Simpson
-Celebrities: Mark Harmon, Kiefer Sutherland, Mila Kunis, Andrew Lincoln, Daniel Craig

While that can be quite the list, it is just a fraction of who and what represents pop culture.  Anything that is in or trendy at any given time in the entertainment world is what defines pop culture.

Pop culture is extremely relevant to me in a business environment because I am ultimately looking to pursue a career in marketing and advertising.  Knowing what is in at the moment and how to capitalize off that appropriately while appealing to the masses is a part of marketing.  Marketing can vary as much as pop culture does as well.  It can involve celebrities (including those mentioned above and more) to endorse a product (which again could be anything mentioned above and then some).  The possibilities are endless, but any way you look at it, marketing to an extent relies on pop culture, so the two go hand and hand.  For my career path, knowing what pop culture is and determining what is in can be crucial to my success.

My example of a pop culture artifact is one of my many signed wrestling figures of one of my all-time favorites, Daniel Bryan.  I am a fan of wrestling and I consider Daniel Bryan to definitely fall under the pop culture umbrella.  His popularity has skyrocketed within the past 12 months, and his signature "Yes!" chants have transcended the wrestling industry and have been done at plenty of other sporting events such as college basketball/football and baseball games.  Daniel Bryan and his chants are an example of what is in with current pop culture, and heading into Wrestlemania 30 this Sunday, it doesn't seem like his popularity will wane anytime soon for he has the opportunity to take his underdog story full circle by earning a title shot should he defeat Triple H.  At that point, should that happen, he will then go into the WWE title match later in the event where if he wins that, he will proverbially be "on top of the world."

On a side note, I have watched Daniel Bryan since his WWE debut and continue to do so.  I watched him start from the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak, and rise through the ranks winning multiple titles/participating in high profile and well-received matches.  Last year I had the privilege of meeting him twice, and I can say he is one of the best and humblest celebrities I have met.  He signed my entire figure collection of his between both meet and greets (approx. 8 figures) and even joked how his earlier ones look nothing like him now and that he did look like that at one point in his career.

So in closing, what is pop culture?  Anything in the entertainment industry that is or was trendy at some point in time.  Daniel Bryan and his "Yes!" chants are a fine example of what is in in pop culture as of the writing of this blog.