ESSAYS

Pop culture is a product of its own time. The creative energy that produces the music and movies of an era is shaped and molded by the popularly perceived essence of the time itself. In other words, every time has its own mood. Although moods change over time and many moods make up the whole, one mood is historically predominate over an era.

The classics of the 20’s and 30’s and 40’s were not reproduced in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s because the times had radically changed. The dreamy optimism that created the public mood in the first half of the 20th century was replaced with the painful reality of a much more uncertain present. This was reflected in the music and the new pop culture.

The third quarter of the 20th century was molded in a revolutionary fervor and a deep concern for issues that transcended national borders.

The fourth quarter of the 20th century slipped into an era of personal satisfaction. The politics of the era and the mood of the time just wanted bypass the complications of an interdependent future. The mood of the world was to do fabulously well in the present. MATERIAL GIRL and GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN were anthems for the self-absorbed 80’s and 90’s.

So far, the pop culture new century has become been overrun by corporate image makers who try to control what we hear and what we see. Not that the big labels and film companies did not do the same in the past: they certainly did. Independent music is readily available, but we are so overloaded with it that it is difficult for artist to be heard or seen today. In the past, the screening of talent was done by the labels and the film producers. That filter has become obsolete. The artists now have to promote themselves and most have chosen social media as a way to do that. Perhaps this will be a blessing in the future. Only time will tell.