- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 12
-
Sparkle (1)
That news was shocking. Rocky Horror Picture Show seems like such an iconic piece of pop culture that I think I've assumed that most people of a certain age and demographic background have seen it at least once. If not dozens of times (ahem). Some virgins have rushed to see it before watching the Glee version, others couldn't care less--and of course countless others haven't ever seen Glee. Great Scott, it's astounding! (FYI, thatlast sentence is a joke that you only will understand if you have seen RHPS. And so it goes.)
Shared cultural experiences define a shared emotional and symbolic vocabulary, and are instrumental in both building and understanding community. Of course different demographics can greatly affect the pop culture reference points we acquire, because the music and media consumed by groups and subgroups can vary greatly across demographics of race, income and geography. Certainly we're defined by our generation, and the decades of our teen years are very influential in laying the skeleton for our pop culture experiences and reference points -- I can't see a red ball cap without thinking about Bruce Springsteen'sLevis, for example. It's just how it is.
Despite the limitations of demographics, some pop culture experiences seem to break through and become cross-cultural universals. I'm not a fan of non-Johnny Cash country music, but I've heard "Achy Breaky Heart." I'm not a mom of toddlers, but I've seen Dora boss Boots around. I've never tracked an entire season, but I've seen Paula Abdul act whacked on American Idol. Some pop culture just is there, somehow inside our brains and under our skin, like Kool-Aid or the Muzak version of "Escape/The Pina Colada Song."
Or not. Sometimes you think you can make those assumptions, just to find out someone has never seen Rocky Horror Picture Show. I guess I have a few "I've never" of my own.
- I've never danced the Macarena.
- I've never seen a Star Trek movie. I know.
- I've never seen Airplane.
- I've never seen Gilmore Girls or Battlestar Galactica.
- I've never done it while wearing a .... wait a minute, that's a different "I never" game.
What about you? Are there some popular media choices most people have experienced but you haven't? What have you never seen or heard?
BlogHer Contributing Editor Deb Rox wishes she had never seen Gilligan's Island, because those are hours she'll never get back. Kind of like the hours she spends on Twitter.
