Blog Entry #1

I think the most prevalent elements of pop culture in my life at this point in time (and since I can remember) would definitely be the entertainment mediums of film and television. When I was very young, many of my friends and family began to refer to me as “a film geek”-and not without reason. I am always eager to substitute a film or television episode for an actual book because these specific fields of pop culture speak to me in a way that no piece of purely written literature ever has or probably ever will. Steven Spielberg’s E.T. was the first film I ever fell in love with. My passion and genuine appreciation for Spielberg’s work at such a young age was startling to others and I still have an E.T. doll sitting in my room. It is important to me that my admiration of good film and television goes beyond simple enjoyment or entertainment value. I believe film and television visually and auditorally convey complex and untouched ideas, growing controversies, and ultimately attempt to present some verdict (often times a moral one) they hope their audience will buy. I can connect to film and television because I always find an avenue to relate the ideas presented on screen to my own life in an almost therapeutic sense. Film is not just film to me.

In the future, I hope to become an entertainment lawyer. Film, television, and most likely music will all influence my occupation. Pop culture of the time will determine what types of contracts I will be negotiating and what kinds of people I may be prosecuting or defending. A drastic change in pop culture will affect the entertainment industry and vice versa.

I wouldn’t say that I have learned anything new today by listing film and television as the most highlighted elements in my personal pop culture world because this is no revelation to me. What I have been reminded of, through the reading, is how much of an impact pop culture has consistently had on my life because of my personal interest in film and television. I am excited that by learning to affectively study pop culture and its impacts on our society, I will be furthering my own study of film and television in a way that may now be considered academic!