Contemporary Icons
The three contemporary icons I chose are the television show Survivor, cabbage patch kids, and the movie E.T. I chose these icons, because they are all specific things from my past that were popular, some more recent than others, and I can now enjoy them with my children.
The first one the television show, Survivor I chose because I believe it is one of the shows that sparked so many peoples interest in reality television. When the show first came on the air there were not as many reality shows and now there is one on at any given time of any given day if you have cable. There are reality shows that are for weight loss, being a model, winning a race, former child actors reunited, and even shows to find a person to marry. I find this phenomenon quite funny really, to think that so many people would rather watch someone else’s life than participate in their own. I admit I started watching Survivor the very first season and still try to catch it with my kids every once in awhile, but I hear people at work talking about a different show every day. I wish I had that much time to worry about other peoples lives.
The second icon I chose was cabbage patch kids. I chose this one because I can remember when I was a child my mom and my grandmother stood in line outside in the cold at Christmas time to get one of these dolls for me. They had dolls that were twins, sports players, with teeth, with a pacifier, preemies, and even ones with corn silk hair or glasses. I remember seeing these dolls in the store the summer before they became very popular and telling my mom they were the ugliest things I had ever seen. That Christmas I wanted one more than anything else that year. Everyone else had one and I had to have one too. I still think they are ugly but I think before I grew out of them I had about 15 of them. My niece even has one. They still make the ugliest doll I have ever seen. I almost think this has to be because of other women my age wanting to pass something from their past down to their own child. I think they are part of a bigger popular culture event also. Every year there are millions of parents in line somewhere in the cold to get the most popular toy for that year.
The third item I chose is the movie E.T. I chose this one because this is also something that I passed down to my children. I loved this movie as a child and my children love it as well. I don’t think I could think of a single person that has not seen the movie or does not know who E.T. is. When I think of things that I consider being pop culture icons, the theme always seems to be the same. They can be passed down from generation to generation and loved just the same as the generation before them loved them. It seems these items reappear, possibly in a slightly different appearance, but are then considered to be icons of a new generation.
3 comments:
I was looking at your 3 icon picks and I almost picked the cabbage patch as one of my icons. I purchased one of these dolls for my daughter when she was younger when they first came out and they were such a hot item at the time, it was hard to find one. We still have it, I kept it. It probably is a collector item, being the first ones that came out.
I agree with you on Survivor sparking the reality show popularity. That was one of my favorite shows the first couple seasons. The cabbage patch kids, what a great money maker. E.T. is a great movie, I have watched it many times. The E.T. ride at Universal is pretty cool also, you actually feel like your in a forest riding the bike.
I agree with you for all of your choices. Popular icons might not be popular to everyone but only to a majorty. E.T. is a great movie and is famous thought out the movie industry. One must remember that pop culture can waver and change and those that can survive that are truly icons.
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