Blog #5 - Journalism, Music, and How I Met Your Mother

As I have previously mentioned as a photojournalist, I have had the opportunity to travel to three different countries in the past year and a half and will be venturing to Ethiopia in May! These experiences come with great responsibility as I enter each new country I define part of their image through my lens and the story I choose to tell. As a journalist it is crucial to be as accurate as possible and to get the facts right and portray people in a fair manner.

People are widely concerned with their own image and the image that their culture is depicted through. While our photojournalism projects mainly deal with people in great need, we have received heavy criticism prior to our multimedia presentations from migrants from those countries because they are worried we will make them look bad. Then once they see the show they realize that we are simply sharing the truth and showing dignity amidst great human struggle and trying to help people. The point I am trying to make is that image is very important within culture and because not everyone is lucky enough to travel and see different cultures firsthand, so representation of the news, media, and advertisements is extremely important.

Another thing I take away from these trips is comparing how other cultures see American culture, which is primarily through popular culture. American music is everywhere. Initially this shocked me. My first experience with this was on New Year’s Eve of 2011. I was ridding in a van with this group of college students to an orphanage a few hours outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to deliver Christmas presents, and even though only a few spoke English, our main connection was through music. They would go through their phones and play me different songs and ask if I knew them and liked them. A lot of the time they didn’t even know what the songs meant. It was also a way for them to try and learn English, which in part probably has some influence on why American music dominates the globe. If the dream is to come to the United States, which it is for the majority of the people I have encountered, why not listen to American music and try to understand the language.  

With Americans watching on average more than 40 hours a week, TV shows are another important form of pop culture (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 362). I decided to look at one of my favorites, How I Met Your Mother. The three things I focused on are portrayed in this video. On a sociology level, relationships are also shaped through popular culture and the idea that you have to have a best friend that is better than all the rest is a prime example. In How I Met Your Mother this is a consistent theme. Ted and Marshall have been best friends since college and Barney has always wanted to be Ted’s best friend but has felt left out and continually tries to work his way in between them to claim the title.

Through popular culture the value of sexual relationships and respect for women has basically been diminished. In How I Met Your Mother they even have a song about it. This teaches a person that hooking up is a common and completely acceptable occurrence and also depicts American culture as trashy.

Another stereotype is that slapping is a common and acceptable occurrence. Perhaps I just don’t get out enough, but I don’t think this trend of slapping friends or strangers across the face has caught on. Violence makes for good drama, which increases viewership. But this fake violence, granted this is a very mild example, has the potential to inspire real violence. Therefore, I believe popular culture needs to be particularly careful in this realm.

Overall much of how we view ourselves and how others view us is defined by popular culture. It is the stepping-stone and teaches the younger generations, which may not always be good. Therefore, the gatekeepers, the people who put this image out there, need to be increasingly careful. 

Works Cited

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6f9j7gAdY - How I Met Your Mother S05 E17 bang bang song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQTCUU4N7DU - How I Met Your Mother Barney's Top Phrases