Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Keep it Classy

The further along in my major I get, the smaller my classes become. The smaller my classes become, the more talkative and involved I am (which, considering how much I like to talk regardless of class size, means that I comment about every 5 minutes). The class I had yesterday is such a class. There are roughly 30 students, and I've had the professor before. Needless to say, I am talking all. the. time. 

So yesterday we were talking about the culture industry as critiqued by Theodore Adorno. (I highly recommend researching it- it is fascinating.) The gist of the "culture industry" is that producers of media and other mass consumption goods are pacifying and influencing us in anyway that will make money, hence the emphasis on loose morals and lenient attitudes. After about an hour or so of discussing this and its horrible effects (many consider the culture industry a large factor leading up to the Holocaust, for one), my professor gets on YouTube to show us just a fun example of a pop song. It was Sam Tsui covering King of Anything by Sara Bareilles. What a fun, clean, appropriate song to show us how ideas permeate. Perhaps in an effort to please the class, he asked if we'd like to watch another.

I apparently couldn't help myself and said, "Ooh! I love this guy- we should watch his Summer 2011 medley! It's SOOOO good!"

Professor, "Is it appropriate?"

Me, "Well, I think so- yeah, I'm pretty sure!"

Now, keep in mind how we had been discussing the morally degrading effects of media, and listen to these songs you used to love. 


After about 5 seconds, I was blushing and gasped, "Oh no! I'm SO sorry!" The class was in uproar- most probably, like me, shocked at how inappropriate and persuasive popular music is, and also laughing at our professor's shock. He paused it and I apologized a few times and said we didn't have to finish it. The funny part? The rest of the class was like, "No!! We like it- it's good!" So my professor continued the video, and that, my friends, is the culture industry, right here at our very own BYU.

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