POPULAR CULTURE

Popular culture has been defined as everything from common culture, to folk culture, to mass culture. While it has been all of these things at various points in history, in Post-War America, popular culture is undeniably associated with commercial culture and all its trappings: movies, television, radio, cyberspace, toys, many forms of art, photography, games, and even group experiences like collective comet-watching. Culture refers to the pattern of human activity and the symbols, which give significance to this activity. Culture is represented through the art, literature, costumes, customs and traditions of a community. Different cultures exist in different parts of the world. The natural environment greatly affects the lifestyle of the people of that region, thus shaping their culture.

Why is popular culture important? It is definitely because it gives an individual a unique identity. The culture of a community gives its people a character of their own. Culture shapes the personality of a community. The language that a community speaks, the art forms it hosts, its staple food, its customs, traditions and festivities comprise the community’s culture.




I consider "Garage sales"to be an example of a pop culture artifact.A garage sale, also known as a yard sale, rummage sale, tag sale, is an informal, irregularly scheduled event for the sale of used goods by private individuals, in which block sales are allowed, so that sellers are not required to obtain business licenses or collect sales tax. Buyers who arrive before the hours of the sale to review the items are known as Early Birds; they often are professional restorers or resellers. In some areas garage sales have taken on a special meaning to a community and have become events of special local significance. In these situations large areas of a community hold a communal garage sale involving dozens or hundreds of families at the same time.

The cultural phenomenon of garage and yard sales in the United States has been examined by several artists. The Thunderground Film production Zen and the Art of Yardsailing is a documentary film produced in 2004 that covered the aspects of finding bargains as well as the cutthroat practices of professional resellers and the previously noted "early birds."