Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Parody and Satire in Popular Culture

I've recently become an afficianado of parody videos as seen predominantly on youtube.  As you can see on my blog site, I've placed the youtube bar right at the top.  It is amazing how deeply youtube has started to infiltrate our teaching and education.  Whether it is a dramatic or in depths TED talk, or a light moment of satire, youtube is a significant producer (and reproducer) of popular media.  I've attached some of the more entertaining, informative, and useful videos on youtube. 

Now the videos that I respond to as a 40 year old teacher are sometimes different from those of the average adolescent.  I don't find groin jokes to be nearly as funny for example.  However, the context of the modern family is incredibly entertaining to me as the following video the "parent rap" shows below.

When my partner teacher and I started our inquiry into the nature of character and identity, we came across the following TED talk that has the audience practice the application of empathy and understanding. 

It's hard to say where this is leading and whether or not there is a change developing in the conventions of popular entertainment, but it is interesting nonetheless.  As Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message."

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