Themes in Popular Culture - Essay Example

Themes in Popular Culture Popular culture is also called as pop culture. Popular culture is a combination of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images and other phenomena that are dominant in a given culture. For example, Western culture can be categorizes as popular culture in the world due to its vast following around the globe. The popular culture we see these days has passed through different ups and downs. Previously it was only famous in lower classes but with passage of time upper and educated classes widely adopted popular cultural norms. This essay aims at identifying the use of themes of George Orwell’s Animal Farm book in an artifact of popular culture such as film, TV, other works of literature, news, drama, language, fashion, music. So now we are going to introduce the readings selected for this essay. 2. Selected Readings There are numerous literary works that became the base for the evolution of the popular culture. In the start of the popular culture, it was the culture of uneducated people and lower class people because many groups negated the style of living expressed by popular culture. In the start, religion was the main force that negated the adaptation of popular culture but people kept adopting the traits of popular culture and writers kept writing about the popular culture. To identify the use of themes of different readings in an artifact of popular culture, we have selected George Orwell’s Animal Farm that was portrayed in many traits of popular culture for decades. George Orwell was a famous English poet of the 20th century. He authored many masterpieces of writings in English language. Animal Farm is his most famous book that is often followed in the traits of popular cultures. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945. This book is a political satire. It portrays the political struggle with the help of animals. 3. Summary in Animal Farm It is an allegorical and dystopian novel by the famous author George Orwell. This book starts with the Russian Civil War of Russian Revolution of 1917. This book also goes up to the era of Russian leader Joseph Stalin. George Orwell who is a famous author of his time was a democratic socialist and he was a critic of the era of Joseph Stalin. In his views, Russia was pursuing a dictatorship. He spent two years to write this important piece of work: 1943 to 1945. Initially this book was not successful due to war alliance with Russia and Joseph Stalin but late in the ear of Cold War, people really liked this book. This book starts with Old Major who is the old boar at the manor farm. He summons all animals living on the farm for a meeting. He pronounces human beings as parasite. He then sings a revolutionary song “Beasts of England”. After the death of this major, two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon and they prepare for a rebellion. They revolt and rename the farm as “Animal Farm” and they assume 7 commandments among which “all animals are equal” was one commandment. In this tale, Snowball is used to teach other animals about how to read and write, while Napoleon is used to educate young puppies about principles of animalism. Due to these services of pigs, they become leaders of other animals. Both Snowball and Napoleon who are pigs, struggle for preeminence and in the absences of Snowball, Napoleon declares himself the leader of the Animal Farm. Then Napoleon tries to change the rules and regulations of the farm thereby replacing the group of pigs who were used to be committee to make rules and take decisions. When a storm destroys the windmill made by Snowball, Snowball tries to make other animals realize that Napoleon is behind this destruction of the windmill which was going to be a great help for the animals. Napoleon changes the anthem of the Farm from “Beasts of England” to an anthem praising him. Mr. Frederick who is one of the neighbors of the Animal Farm assails Animal Farm with the help of blast powder. Animals won the battle but they suffered a lot resources and animals, especially a loyal horse of Boxer kind. In the end of the book writer wrote that after years, these animals started to look like human beings. They these animals try to look like civilized people. They leave the 7 commandments and adapt only one commandment which is, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” One of the main themes of this writing is the portrayal of political satire. Another important theme is the portrayal of communist and Marxist beliefs. The followers of communism, Leninism and Marxism are shown as animals. The writer has also discussed the different levels of government of Joseph Stalin. The writer shows that these humans like animals are selfish and they just work for their own interests. 4. Animal Farm’s Themes Manifested in Popular Culture Animal Farm is a very famous masterpiece of literature. The themes of Animal Farm have been portrayed in a many artifacts of popular culture. Many writers, directors and producers used the themes of Animal Farm after modifications. Following is the detail of the portrayal of the themes of Animal Farm in artifacts of popular culture: (George Orwell, Animal Form) Film: Many feature films have portrayed the themes of our selected readings. On the other hand, many short films and documentaries have also portrayed the main concepts of the readings we have selected for analysis. Cartoons are often made on the same pattern. Plenty of films adopted the themes of this literary work. Works of Literature: Many literature works have portrayed the themes of our selected readings. Many famous writers have also used the themes of this piece of writings. Music: Many feature films have portrayed the themes of our selected readings. The history of pop music is full of the themes discussed in Animal Farm. People around the world, especially Roman Catholic Christians have used many themes of this writing. TV: Many TV shows and series also adapted the concepts of this book. Some examples include, The Daleks Master Plan, X-Men Season 3, Oz, Johnny Bravo Season 2, and Lost. 5. Comparison Despite a lot of similarities, there are much dissimilarity of the themes of Animal Farm and the artifacts of popular culture. Most of the artifacts of the popular culture do not follow the themes of Animal Farm. This is due to the reason that in this book Russian leaders and their rule is shown in a bad way. On the other hand, the information provided by Animal Farm is somehow offensive and hatred what is why people do not like to use it. Due to this reason, people do not think this information is reliable and they are reluctant to use such kind of life political satire. On the other hand, many writers have used the concepts of Animal Farm in different sense. Mean to say, these writers use the concepts of Animal Farm after modifying them. Similarly many films have been made after modifying the concepts discussed in Animal Farm. 6. Conclusion At the end of this essay we must summarize the important points of this essay. This essay aimed at identifying the use of themes of different readings in an artifact of popular culture such as film, TV, other works of literature, news, drama, language, fashion, music. For the purpose of this analysis, we have selected George Orwell’s Animal Farm that was portrayed in many traits of popular culture for decades now. Despite the widespread use of the themes of Animal Farm for decades now, the use of the manifestations described in Animal Farm has decreased due to various reasons. Over the period of many centuries, the themes of Animal Farm have been used in films, literary works, and other mediums. But the concepts discussed in this masterpiece are not being used today like they have been used in the past. On the other hand, this book is included in the syllabus of English around the world. Works Cited Hofstede, Geert. "Culture and organizations." International Studies of Management & Organization (1980): 15-41. RMIT University. “Course Title: Understanding Philosophy: Themes from Popular Culture.” RMIT University, 2015. n.d. Web. 22 April 2015. . Tim Delaney. “Pop Culture: An Overview.” Philosophy Now, 2015. n.d. Web. 22 April 2015. . Read More