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From the dawn of her conception, America has been in the business of creating mythic symbols for herself. Be it George Washington or George Michael, American popular culture takes seriously the obligation to create representative figures of the era. The question that remains concerning these societal icons, however, is whether they are mere reflections of society or themselves the active shaping forces of society. This is the great debate among popular culture theorists. In either case, the mythic symbols inherently created by pop culture, and necessarily the artists associated with such, represent us regardless of whether we created them or they created us. In all reality, it is probably a little of both, is not that how it generally works out anyway?

Popular culture is an immense factor in America and the world abroad, more so in other places because of the cutting edge dynamism that America itself stands for internationally. We can not get away from it, it is us. American Idol is us. Barack Obama, The Biggest Loser, Paris Hilton (ha ha, I just called Paris a loser!) it's all us. It's the idea of the mirror, the depiction of society to its truest most simple and comprehensible terms. And even though the symbols that currently represent us appear spiritless and somewhat hopeless, we remain hopeful in that always contradictorily, hopeful American fashion that Robert Kammen termed in "People of Paradox." Popular culture surrounds us so much that it creates a world indistinguishable from reality-perhaps there is no difference indeed.
Norman Rockwell is world renounced, and halfway hated, for his simple approach to depicting everyday life, which is necessarily popular culture. He took on a range of American mythic symbols and created a nearly complete anthological mirror of what the fifties and sixties consisted. Popular culture eats it up, and why not? Who does not enjoy looking in the mirror on his or her very best day? Rockwell painted the myth that epitomized American culture, not George Washington with some cherry tree, but the common man with an ice cream cone. The American symbol was not a myth in this era; it was the man, the woman, the neighbor, the family. It is no different today. It's the over sexualized, abused and childhoodless pop star (not mentioning names), the too big butt on a purportedly size two starlet (again, no names) and the out of control commercialization that dominate every aspect of every American's life. We see it everyday and we no longer need anyone to paint it for us. Popular culture is and always has been, in every decade, the mirror of what we really are.
For centuries of Renaissance, Baroque, and Impressionistic art periods, the art purported to depict reality. While this pop-style was acknowledged for its claim, the authenticity was lacking. A stiff portrait of a family in proper clothes and done up with their possessions and happy faces is not real; a nude model posing for a rendering of the female body for its physical beauty is not real. And yet it is. Ironically, whatever symbols we force into the mainstream media is what we are. The record will show for every century both what we are trying to be, and what we truly are. Each century will tell a story of what it values-be it prim and proper, casual and flippant, or slim and sexual. We can never escape the exposition of Popular Culture. It is there to expose us for what we really are deep down inside, whether we created it or it created us.
Let's face it; pop is in charge-hats off to artists who are willing to record that for future generations.

Learn more about this author, Ashley Burr.
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