The Pop Culture Files

Philosophy is most powerful when it resolves into story. But story is amplified in power by the presence of philosophy.

Ben Okri, Birds of Heaven

Scroll down for the files.

Introduction

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of attitudes, ideas, images, perspectives, and other phenomena within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid-20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, television, games), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang. Popular culture has a way of influencing an individual's attitudes towards certain topics.

People like popular culture; it is the common mythology of our time (just take The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc.). The intention with the Pop Culture Files is to bring the reader from pop culture to my concept of The Matrix Conspiracy. And since philosophy is such an important aspect of my teaching, the intention is also to bring pop culture to philosophy. Willie Sutton was a criminal mastermind, a genius of sorts. Once asked, “Willie, why do you rob banks?” he replied straightforwardly, “Because that´s where the money is.” Why write about pop culture? Because that´s where the people are.

In The Pop Culture Files, I do therefore not in every instance attempt or purport to convey the intended meaning of the writers and artists responsible for one or the other of the pop culture topics I will be writing about. Rather, I will highlight the philosophical significance of them, seen in relation to my Philosophical Counseling practice.

The Pop Culture Files are inspired by The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, where the books also function as source (click here).

In the files you´ll also find some of the weird stories from my life as a vagabond (see my article: My Life as a Vagabond).

Finally, in order to avoid misunderstandings of the style of the articles, please read the introduction to my cultural criticism.