Media and Culture

Two distinct words form the basis for the most powerful influence on the lives of many people.  We live in a unique culture---free to develop opinions, open to new artforms and expressions---and, yet the pervasive reach of both mass and individual media encapsulate our culture and oftern redefine it.  Mass culture, especially the American kind, has thrived because mass media both promotes and restores it.  Media and culture.  They are difficult to separate in any 21st century conversation.

Look at language and try to associate any new phrase that you learned that did not spring from your observance of a media type.  Words echo from new generations or cultures and are mass communicated via movies, music or You Tube videos.  Try this experiment.  Create a new word or phrase and post on a blog, like this one, or via a Twitter or You Tube transmission.  The odds are that someone will see or hear this phrase and adopt it.  The phrase then becomes part of the new cool of the culture, for even our original slang use of the word cool was elevated by the media of music and radio.