Michael Jackson for the first class.ppt

American Pop Culture Question 1 When you think of American culture, what first comes to your mind? When you think of American culture, what first comes to your mind? Mc Donald’s ? Coca-Cola? Disneyland? Michael Jordan? Julia Roberts? Many people imagine American culture is a collection of 很多，大量的popular symbols like these. Actually, these symbols are only one small part of American culture — “pop culture”. Question 2 What does pop culture refer to? What kind of people does pop culture influence most? What is pop culture? Well, pop is short for popular. Pop culture refers to popular movies, television shows, music stars and sports figures. Pop culture is also promoted by business and advertising. The most common examples of American pop culture appear among high school and college students. Trends set by famous figures quickly become part of young people’s lifestyles. Question3 Why is American Pop Culture popular all over the world? American pop culture has spread around the world. One major reason for its popularity is that English is a universal language. English is the language of diplomacy（外交）, international business and transportation. Since language and culture go together, learning English means becoming aware of English-speaking cultures. Also, America is a world leader in movies, music and magazines. The kind of American culture communicated in those media is pop culture. Finally, pop culture is easy to package and to export. For that reason, it is easy to “sell” to the world. Dialogue (at a cafe in Paris, France)Q: Why do we need to know another culture? Pierre: I just saw an advertisement for that recent American movie “The Pelican Brief”. 《塘鹅报告》 Sounds interesting. Want to go see it with me? Jean: I don’t think so. I‘ve got too much to do. Besides, all of this American influence really bothers me. Everybody’s going to see American movies, listening to American rock music and eating American fast food. Pierre: Oh, come on. Don‘t be such a grouch