A Marvelously Dire Addiction:

4 Pages 890 Words

From television to movies to music to the internet, pop culture is everywhere and causes a craze amongst young adults across the country. So why do many people look at pop culture with a negative connotation? Is it because it constantly surrounds us and we are consumed by it? Or does popular culture act as the necessary evil to balance things out in our lives? The lyrics from the song “Capitalism Stole My Virginity” by The International Noise Conspiracy come to mind: “Robbed out of our bleeding hearts, smashed our illusions, tore them all apart, now we are unsentimental, unafraid, to destroy this culture that we hate.” As the author of “Bitch on Heels: Confessions of a Pop Culture Junkie”, Lisa Miya-Jervis discusses the reasons she can not stop indulging herself in the wonderfully appalling world of American popular culture.
Her first and foremost argument is that popular culture is inescapable. No matter where you go or what you do, advertisements are everywhere, continually providing the unnecessary desire for someone or something. It is almost impossible to shelter yourself from these things. Miya-Jervis explains, “The mass media are collectively compelling, repulsive, horrifying, and maybe the best fucking thing about being sentient. They hold an inescapable power over me that makes them all the more seductive” (Miya-Jervis 283). She is placing the blame on the media because they are the ones instigating every fashionable thing that is put at our fingertips. The media targets everyone in one way or another, and once as we are engaged, eventually we succumb to all of the materialistic things that they are marketing. There really is not a way to avoid all of the advertisements that are laid before your every step.
Throughout her work Miya-Jervis hints at how feminism is portrayed in popular culture. It is the stereotypical female character that she focuses her attention. She describes their role wi...