Essay: Popular Culture Studies

Describe a topic, idea, or concept that you find so engaging it makes you lose all track of time.

● Why does it captivate you?

● What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more about it?

(Word Limit: 350 words)

Popular culture studies is one of those topics that has impacted the way I perceive the world around me. What draws me towards the field is the way it extends beyond academia and becomes a pertinent part of our everyday lives. From the rise in movie adaptations to our depleting attention spans (thanks to short-form content), from the newest micro-trend to our brainrot-afflicted parlance, from political theory memes to Nepal’s Discord election poll—everything weaves into the larger space of the mass culture. Engaging with pop culture studies, academically and personally, has made me realise that it is not a topic that can be confined to the four walls of a classroom. Rather, it is a lens through which we can analyse the everyday world around us.

Having studied theorists like Adorno, Horkheimer, de Certeau, and Williams, I have learnt that no matter how unassuming and fleeting, the latest pop culture trends often mirror our social realities. In recent years, I have seen this play out most vividly in the digital sphere. I have found this space to be immensely useful in exploring ideas and concepts that are yet to be taken up by scholars. Be it podcasts on the cult of BookTok, Substack newsletters on the new hot genre of popfic, or YouTube video essays talking about the TikTokification of something. These newer avenues of information have made me more observant and critical of the emerging cultural changes, and ask what they mean for our society. Even if these observations happen with friends over matcha lattes, as opposed to academic conferences, they hold immense importance, for it all becomes a part of the larger discourse.

Being engaged in pop culture studies has made me realise that true knowledge cannot be limited to books and classrooms. At its core, pop culture studies demands that you take into account the everyday lives of everyday people and their experiences. It trickles down into every aspect of our daily lives. Pop culture is not a topic to be placed in neat boxes, but rather, a force to be reckoned with. This is exactly what I find the most intriguing about such topics—they challenge your worldview from the core, making you critical towards every aspect of your life.