3 Pop Culture Icons    (Crowley)

Storytelling Meets Myths: Television Shapes Viewers’ Attitudes

Popular Culture: HUMN240, E1WW – Fall 2014

Professor Harlan Schottenstein

Due: Oct. 9, 2014

Submitted: Oct. 12, 2014

John J. “Jack” Crowley

   Facebook, the iPhone and Jeep Wranglers are popular-culture icons that are relevant to me. I use Facebook to keep track of my friends all over the world. I use the iPhone as my tool to do that, plus use the web and send text messages. And I like Jeep Wranglers because I drive one, and it’s been around since the advent of World War II.

    Facebook may or may not be a good idea from a privacy standpoint. I don’t care. It’s convenient to befriend people, track their life events, and tell them what I am up to. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’s everywhere.

    The iPhone is the smartphone of choice for me. It’s easy to use, it’s literally blast-resistant if you get a special case, and there are very many helpful navigation and other applications I use every day. That includes text messaging, email, a camera and even a flashlight.

   My 1999 Jeep Wrangler is an icon that dates to 1941 in its design. Willy’s, the original manufacturer, made a military General Purpose vehicle. It became known as GP or a Jeep. Their four-wheel drive, simply design and ease of maintenance made them a hit in both theaters of operations during WW II. I like mine because it has a 4.0-liter in-line 6-cylinder that doesn’t leak even though I offroad with my Wrangler due to high ground clearance. 

References:

“The Cultural Influences of Television: Society’s Storyteller: How TV Creates the Myths by Which We Live (Gerbner, G.) 1993

Common Culture: Reading and Writing about American Popular Culture

   (Petracca, M., Sorapure, M.) 2012 University of California at Santa Barbara

         Seventh Edition, Pearson