Post #1

Jake Gifford

Leroy Ashby’s “The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch” is a wonderful article that explores the ideas and changes of pop culture throughout the twentieth century. He discusses theater, opera, television and many others that shaped the society and created an eyeglass into the varying cultures throughout the 1900’s. One quote that stood out the most in my eyes was when he compared Mickey Mouse to Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression saying, “if we want to know how people experienced the world, FDR had his role but so did Mickey Mouse.” This reveals the power of media showing that even a child’s cartoon can be used to determine how people felt and acted decades ago. He also brings up another issue of which he quotes “Popular art confirms the experience of the majority.” The idea that what the majority enjoys can show what was of importance during their lives and that students, years later, can look back on that and learn much about the culture and society.