Television as Popular Culture Media and Parental Attention and Their Correlation to the Students＇ Motivation to Choose Major

Television as one of the popular culture media plays an important role in the development of students＇ personality and knowledge because it provides countless information and entertainment that can enhance their knowledge as the viewers. This study was conducted to give an idea whether television viewing and parental attention can assist students to take a decision of choosing major at the senior high school. This study used descriptive method which analyzed the correlation among television viewing, parental attention, and the students＇ motivation to choose a major. The sample of this study consisted of 100 students of the state senior high school in Malang, East Java. The finding shows that there is no correlation among television viewing, parental attention, and the students＇ motivation to choose major at the senior high school. In other words, the possibility of choosing the major can be attributed to some other factors such as interest, talent, aspiration, and other expectation to achieve their goals

Application of Popular Media Culture in English Language Teaching

Huge development and rapid evolution has set new trend of language use and language study. Younger generations keen on popular media culture in daily life as well as language study. Language teachers keep up with the development to explore how to use popular media culture in classroom teaching. Comparing a dispute question of whether putting media culture in language education or not and then illustrating some relevant literatures of application of new media education to explain the necessity and tendency of this new education style. Recent researches find the links between popular culture and encouragement of young learners' motivation of English study. There are plenty of popular media culture materials while numerous teachers prefer to use video clips of animation or popular TV drama as a specific popular culture in English teaching especially to vocational college students.

Popular Culture Displayed on Ming Porcelain Ware

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Hyper-real Narratives： The Emergence of Contemporary Film Subgenres

The scope of this paper is to investigate a number of emerging contemporary popular subgenres, namely that of ＂mumblecore film＂, the ＂best-worst film＂ and ＂the gonzo documentary＂. Unlike historical cinematic movements, these subgenres are the result of our techocentric culture and commercialism. In this respect these subgenres are less motivated by a collective ideology, but rather a cultural phenomenon resulting from increased access to popular culture, hypermedia devices, social media, and new marketing techniques. This paper investigates the displacement of traditional models of temporality through the metamorphosis of today＇s audiovisual culture, outlining the subject＇s embodiment of voyeurism and exhibitionism, ushering in a hyper-real era of self-myth making and consumption.

A Survey of the Effect of Socioeconomics on the Evolution of Millinery Styles： A Case Study of the U.S. From 1900 Through the 1960s

This study explores the relationship between socioeconomics and millinery style through an analysis of statistical data from the United States Bureau of Statistics. It was very common for women to wear hats in the early 20th century. Most studies regarding millinery are limited to a discussion of style, while some focus on extended functions of millinery styles such as how they aid in social communication. In this study, we discuss the relationship between a woman＇s socioeconomic status and her hat-wearing behavior. This study covers the period from 1900 through the 1960s, when there was a sudden decline in hat-wearing behavior. We analyzed the changes in the number of people listed in various occupational categories in the U.S. Bureau of Statistics data for each decade. Careful observation of labor distribution statistics for the job market can yield valuable insights about women＇s hat-wearing behaviors. Fluctuations in the population of the lower class were significantly correlated with changes in millinery. We also identified time-sensitive periods in millinery style that coincided with the two World Wars.

I Celebrate Myself ＆ I Sing Myself： Romulus Bucur on Romulus Bucur＇s Ditties

The present paper, in spite of its quite scandalous title, is just a serious reflection, from the inside, on a certain part of the poetry of a contemporary Romanian poet （the author of the paper himself）, in the line of a tradition starting with Poe＇s Philosophy of Composition （1846）, passing through the avant-garde and ending, for the moment, in Andy Warhol＇s self-promotion. The analysis from the inside and the honest reflection of the interplay between poetry, music, and contemporary popular culture might lead to a better understanding of the poetry made at the end of the 20th century--beginning of the 21 st century. The corpus analyzed is a series of poems written between 1994 and the present day, under the generic title of ditty, published in several books （between which a bilingual pamphlet, Ditties/Cfntecelce）, 1998）, and the paper speaks about their genesis, their poetics, and hopes to help the process of their interpretation, as well as to bring a new interpretation of the poetry/music relationship

Korean Wave： Towards Regional Cultural Diffusion？

The aim of this paper is firstly to determine if the Korean television drama Winter Sonata and its spinoffs are contributing to contemporary cross-cultural diffusion in Japan. Secondly, if cross-cultural diffusion is occurring, is it contributing to a loss of local identity？ Winter Sonata is a small but significant part of the Korean Wave and in the vanguard of Korean television drama content viewed in Japan. There have been macro political changes in East Asia, largely driven by Korea, resulting in an easing of restrictions on cross-border media trade. These in turn have progressively created a new dynamic in content and volume. The methodology used for the study is triangulation including document analysis, audience analysis, and commercial outcomes. The convergent validation derived from the three parameters advances the proposition that Winter Sonata has contributed to cultural diffusion from a Japanese perspective but not to a loss of local identity. Arguably, the process is an enriching one in East Asia reinforced by multi-lateral media trade.

The Way of Onitsha Market Literature： A Case for Proper Archiving of Nollywood Video Films

In contemporary times, many Nigerians, and indeed Africans, go through huddles to behold some of their most cherished artifacts in foreign lands. Such artifacts were taken away by the colonial masters during their various conquests of ancient African kingdoms. In the modern days as well, such trips are made to other countries by Nigerians and Africans to research into some popular arts and amusements lost as a result of neglect. One of such lost is the popular form of literature that once existed in the eastern part of Nigeria--the Onitsha Market Literature. Using evidences from secondary research materials, this paper discusses the re-occurrence of this silly history of neglecting the production and consumption of popular culture in Nigerian and indeed Africa. Using the Nigerian video film industry, Nollywood, as a case study, a case is here made for the proper archiving of these video films for future generations. It is observed that just few decades of video film production in Nigeria, virtually all the pioneer films cannot be found anywhere in the country. Such films must be needed in future for research purposes as the foundations upon which other great films of the future will base. The work therefore concludes with the obvious recommendation that genuine efforts, will, and finances be committed to proper archiving of legally approved Nollywood films. This will engender the sentiment central to film archiving and drastically reduce the problems that may confront the future generation as regards research in the Nigeria video film culture, Nollywood.

＂Blurred Lines＂： Robin Thicke and Madonna Ciccone between Madonna and Whore

Robin Thicke＇s song ＂Blurred Lines＂ rekindled the debate about women who must choose an existence as Madonna or as whore. Biblical archetypes, such as Eve and Mary, are normative role models for women, even within secular societies. This study follows a pre-Fall Eve, who experiences shameless sexual pleasures, to a post-Fall shamed Eve, to the Virgin Mary, who is mother but virgin. Robin Thicke＇s video ＂Blurred Lines,＂ and Madonna Ciccone＇s various videos reclaim sexual pleasures for womert outside of sin. Close readings of several visual texts will show that how meaning is redistributed among signifieds by deconstructing and redefining conventional signifiers, such as virgin and whore.

Stardom in Multiple Perspectives： What Reality TV Stars Mean for the Star System

This paper attempts to offer a brief review of studies on stardom in recent years. The paper argues that the struggles between ordinariness and extraordinariness, distance and intimacy, active audience and disempowered audience, are all themes of studies on stardom, and the current media context, particularly that of Reality TV, raises new questions on stars from Reality TV. The implications and possible influence of these stars are discussed as well.

Audience Power in the Production of Talent-Show Stars： China as an Example

In China, all types of stars coexist in the country＇s star system： party stars, commercialized stars, and talent-show stars, which influence diverse type audience and have diverse implications. Based on Couldry＇s framework （2000） of media power, through in-depth interviews with media professionals, this study compares the creation of party stars, commercial stars, and talent-show stars as represented by Li Yuchun. Data show that there was few audience power involved into the production of party stars and commercialized stars. Rather, there was media power involved into the production of party stars and commercialized stars. Meanwhile, this study argues that there was audience-power influence on Li Yuchun＇s rise to stardom, and it provides some details about the manipulations of media institutions that were involved in the creation of this pop star. However, it is difficult to prove that audience power is the main influence on Li＇s stardom. The implications of her stardom and this production process on China＇s star system and China＇s state power are also discussed in this study.

German Popular Music Studies as Part of （International） Media Cultural Studies

This paper begins by explaining current developments in popular music research, mainly in connection with approaches used in international media and Cultural Studies. It then provides an overview of German-language research methods and discourses on popular music. In addition to the traditional reflections from musicology and music education, nine perspectives will be described, primarily from the media, communications, culture and social sciences. These nine contemporary perspectives are distributed along lines of thematic focus, moving beyond disciplines or fields per se. This paper will close with a list of suggestions for popular music research and education in the German cultural sphere, insisting above all on a clear connection/link, in the sense of a mixing/incorporation/integration, with （current） international discourses. Finally, the paper synthesizes German research, not only to systematize it but also to illustrate its diversity and multiperspectivity.

Is the Shanzhai Style of Parodying Popular Culture Innovation or Piracy?

What started off as a term to describe copies of electronic brand products has now moved along the evolutionary road of duplication.

Constructing the Family in Republican China： Shandong, 1944

Abstract This research is based on a short hand-written genealogy （shou chaoben 手抄本） of the kind that are appearing in flea markets in China these days. I surmise it was written in Shandong in 1944. Although its entries are brief, an analysis reveals much about the family, including female family members （often omitted from family genealogies）, inter-family marriages practiced over hundreds of years, status markers used by the family such as the taking of second wives, the prevalence of patriarchal views. in 1944 plays a role in my analysis of how The Japanese occupation of Shandong this manuscript was compiled.

＂All Happy Families＇： The Sopranos and Television Culture in the Twenty-First Century

Since the 1980s, Cultural Studies have analyzed television in the context of the present. They have asked how soap operas and TV series contribute to the circulation of meanings and pleasures in everyday contexts. John Fiskes coined the concept television culturein his very successful book with the same title Taking The Sopranos as an example, this article shows that quality TV is an outstanding contribution to television culture. The show is more complex, more layered and more intertextual than the shows of the 1980s that Fiske interpreted. The Sopranos is a postmodern cultural phenomenon that appeals to different groups of viewers. It is no longer only about the addicted fans, but also about critical viewers who want to better understand themselves and their lives, and also about connoisseurs and art enthusiasts to whom serial reception becomes a distinctive feature. This article comes to the conclusion that popular culture in the sense of Cultural Studies is still of important political significance in the twenty-first century.

Rescuing Love from the Nation： Love, Nation, and Self in Xu Xu＇s Alternative Wartime Fiction and Drama

This essay explores the wartime fiction and drama of Xu Xu （徐訏, 1908-80）, one of China＇s most widely read authors of the Republican-period （1912-49）. By placing Xu Xu＇s popular spy fiction into the context of literary production during the war years, the essay illustrates that Xu Xu＇s oeuvre protested against an ideology of moral collectivism in which the individual had to submit self to a higher political authority that professed to represent the will of the nation. Through a literary aesthetic that largely defied the demands for a literature of resistance that subjugated the individual self to the national collective, Xu＇s ostensibly autobiographical I-novels brought comfort to urban readers whose personal salvation was rarely addressed in official wartime narratives depicting the nation in peril and calling for collective sacrifice. At the same time, Xu＇s confident cosmopolitan heroes satisfied urban readers＇ desire for political agency in the raging international conflict. Furthermore, this paper explores Xu Xu＇s wartime drama through which Xu attempted to piece together a quasi-existentialist vision of the individual and human experience that was revealed only under the extreme condition of war.

Theme Park Metatexts:An Aesthetics of Inclusion and Exclusion

This article uses the examples of guide maps,so-called autothemed rides,and apps to examine the aesthetics of theme park metatexts,that is,medial representations of theme parks or parts thereof that are produced by the parks themselves and that serve as a medial interface between the park landscape and its visitors.Such theme park metatexts have frequently been employed as sources in theme park research,but have only very rarely been figured as objects of research themselves.Based on Lukas’s description of theme parks’representational strategies as a“politics of inclusion/exclusion,”the essay argues that theme park metatexts stress certain aspects of the park while deemphasizing others,and thus have a major impact on the way visitors anticipate,experience,and remember the park.This applies to more“traditional”forms of metatexts such as printed guide maps,which are handed out for free to theme park visitors,to“autothemed”rides,in which the theme park represents itself in the medium of the theme park ride,but especially to theme park apps,which not only further intensify the“politics of exclusion”of,for example,guide maps,but also involve the visitor in their selection processes.