culture
is one of components that certainly needed by a society. As a matter of fact, a
culture will help people individually to show who they really are, in which the
culture itself is indeed an identity for society in giving a sense of
distinctiveness. In reality, people live on earth without culture is
unjustifiable because the culture itself will give the uniqueness to every
single person, who views that the sense of distinctiveness is truly important.
Come up with the idea that every person is different since they were born, both
different in genetic and different in perspective will automatically have an
effect on how they behave in life. This discussion is more of a vision rather
than a comparative discussion. In addition, living in this world with no rich
of identity will not help the people to have such a beautiful life as a culture
give an identity to the people in many ways. On the other hand, many people
agreed that following the stream of globalization era is a must, meaning to say
that many people already agreed that life must have under surveillance of
globalization which is important to remember that the globalization has been a
way of Americanism currently for the plain people.
Discussing
of Americanism, it is definitely has much more link to do with popular culture.
In this globalization era, the existence of the popular culture is indeed
undeniable true. Once popular culture contributes a deformation of pure culture
of the people, it is difficult for them to turn back in maintaining the originality
of their own culture. I suppose that popular culture has been a way to americanize the people in the whole world in all this time. Nowadays, film,
music, food, language and literature have been contributing in American popular
culture as well. “There is no single culture which is immune toward the
existence of the others” (as stated on the question). Since popular culture is
well liked by many people, one of the experts, as Storey noted that ‘popular
culture’ is simply culture that is widely favored or well liked by many people.
I consider the idea of ‘well like by many people’ makes popular culture is mass
produced for mass consumed, which is financial gain of those that designing the
popular culture is also involved.
Indonesia indeed has the same
experience of popular culture. I simply take one brief case in the university
level in order to see the popular culture’s experience around me, Ahmad Dahlan
University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a university in which I am now. This
university principally has as a base of religion’s rule which is requiring its
student to wear appropriate clothes and to behave in appropriate manners
according to Islam. In fact, most of students (not all students) seem too far out of the religion’s rule; what
they wear and how they behave either in the university’s atmosphere or even
outside of the university. Mostly, Female students wear jeans, which is one of
the popular culture’s form and popular culture’s contribution, some of them
wear tight jeans which is giving an impression as if they wanted to show their
body shape. On the contrary, the university requires its student to not wear
tight clothes, particularly for female student because it simply broke the Islam
law (Syariat). Meanwhile, the male students in this university behave as if
there is no rule that forbid the male student to have a date with girls in the
university’s atmosphere in fact I often find them on date, even friend of mine
in this university have an affairs with some other girls outside of the
university and more than that, they met each other in a place wherever they
thought it was comfortable for them to make love outside of the university’s
atmosphere. This is absolutely not right as long as the Islam do not allow its
followers to make sexual contact before the followers get married. Meaning to
say, what they do is a kind of popular culture’s contribute such as internet.
Through internet, porn could be easily accessed, though broke the Islam law
eventually.
The case is that one of the
fundamental characteristics of popular culture which will demolish the idea of
culture’s originality, such as “not
serious concept or idealism” has been a challenge for group of people to
maintain their own originality. Because, those that design the popular culture
is not going to see the further implication of what they did. It is need to be
understood that people simply have to be aware that the idea of ‘not serious
concept or idealism’ too have a big risk, which simply to say that popular
culture will knock down the cultural values that already existed with belief
and custom among those society. As it is stated above that culture is a way of
life which is also a path that becomes a belief to be followed by those plain
people in some ways. When this popular culture well liked by many people, they will
not concern to their ‘id’ which to maintain their own culture, otherwise ‘ego’
will be a major focus for people and the people will only consume the popular
culture constantly. Thus, there is a big possibility for those people to fail
to remember their own culture. This is when the popular culture became an
unpleasant icon for society and this is also when the society is going to lose
their identity as a distinctive society compared to the others.
Considering that the former culture
is easily vulnerability, people must have kind of Cultural Awareness and
Hybridity of Culture; In order to maintain the originality of their own culture,
people simply need to see that their own culture is also their own intellectual
richness so another group of people who have another culture need to be
considered that the culture itself is their own intellectual richness in order
to make an identity, in which the identity itself is sort of restriction to
show to another group of people that they are unique and different with their
own cultures. However, they have to be fair to view that other cultures are not
inconsequential to be learned
instead. People are required to be objective instead of being prejudiced to
take what is right and to get rid of what is not right on other cultures, and
with no doubt that these whole things can be solved with the idea of cultural
hybridity and cultural awareness. All in all, the popular culture will no
longer be a terrible icon as long as people have a cultural awareness and
hybridity of culture.
