Individual Role in Creating and Consuming Popular Cultural Artifacts.
Popular cultural artifacts mostly rely on the practices and beliefs that are dominant and prevalent in society. Therefore, the evolution of views within a community consequently results in the progression of genres in popular cultural artifacts such as music, films, and TV shows. Filmmakers create styles that reflect familiar elements of traditional, classical, and contemporary beliefs of different audiences. Just recently, I discovered nunsploitation, a popular but controversial subgenre of exploitation film. Nunsploitation films involve Christian nuns living in isolated fortress-like convents. The central conflict of these films is that the nuns turn to perversity in same-sex relationships because of living in celibacy. Audiences receive nunsploitation films differently. Some welcome the movie, as different people have different beliefs and ways of life. However, most viewers heavily criticize the film as they contain content against religious practices of the Catholic Church.
The entertainment industry heavily relies on popular cultural artifacts for content. I believe that I am an active participant in popular culture through the consumption of different cultures. During my leisure time, I mostly play video games or watch movies through platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Home Box Office (HBO). I also listen to music as I go about different activities during the day, and read one book every month. However, if offered a platform to create a universal artifact, I would focus my message on sexual abuse and harassment. Sexual harassment through defilement, rape, and groping causes physical, mental, and emotional torture to the victim. Therefore, it is essential to teach the society the importance of sexual consent and the repercussions of overstepping the element of consent, resulting in sexual harassment. I would also ensure that my message covers harassment for both male and female, without leaning more on one gender since sexual violation happens to both men and women.
