Ch. 9 Popular Culture

I am ashamed to admit that I kind of love pop culture. I soak it up like a sponge. I may not know much about U.S. history ( I probably can't even name all 50 states), but I can tell you all about Taylor Swift's dating history. I always sort of convinced myself that the database of pop cultural nonsense stored in my brain was just a product of the society around me. "Hey, it's not my fault there are a plethora of tabloids waiting for me at every supermarket checkout line!" But I realize that what may have started out as an innocent by-product of the media around me, is now for sure my own personal interest. When my sister, for example, did not know that Kristin Chenoweth was originally a huge Broadway star or that the Girls Next Door had been replaced by three younger blondes, I yelled at her, "What? Are you living under a rock??" It was at this point that I realized my sister was not living under a rock. There's no pop culture in the air we breathe, I am the one selectively choosing to read US Weekly at work, or watch InfoMania every weekend, or keep up with E!Online. I think this is part of what Hall is referring to in his encoding and decoding diagram. The writers of Entertainment Weekly can encode all they want into their magazine, but that does not necessarily determine what I decode. Individuals interpret meaning based on a multitude of cultural beliefs, histories, and values that cannot be perfectly determined. Meaning, when we're at the supermarket, my sister and I might both see the People magazine, but I'm the one who's storing the headline "Bikini Bod at 48" into the overflowing database in my mind.