About
“We are handfuls of dust, yet made of stars…” — Jyro Xhan
There was a time, years ago, when I hated pop culture. How could anyone devote so much time to something so frivolous? I was a snob as a kid. Some things never change.
It was only after years of studying entertainment that I began to understand: popular culture is important, not despite its frivolity, but because of it.
We all like to think we’re rational and level-headed, but in the end we’re just moths, drawn to pretty pictures and sounds. They tell us how to think, and what to think — whether intentionally or otherwise — and we listen. Not because it’s important, but because it’s not.
But what can we do, really? We’re just tiny masses of carbon molecules, hurtling through space on a big rock, until we crumble to dust. Insignifcant, to an infinite degree — and yet, still so important. Handfuls of dust, yet made of stars — our importance defined by our frivolity.
Unimportant people pondering unimportant things. It’s both crushing and freeing to know that I’m just one of them, and that whatever potential we have can only be achieved by questioning everything we’ve been taught to think. Come with me, and we’ll see what we can discover.
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I’m a freelance entertainment critic currently residing in Tulsa, OK. My work regularly appears in the Tulsa Today and at MovieZeal.com. Feel free to contact me at luke.t.harrington [at] gmail [dot] com.
