Article writing isn't exempt from being labelled procrastination, Peach.

This is an interesting read, but I usually get themes from life experiences—pop themes can be excruciatingly black and white at times.

Pop culture might make it easier to define your own themes, though, or explore the techniques commonly used to demonstrate them so you can do it differently. For example, greed is often represented by the rich old geezer, so put a little girl in that big office chair instead. Her father could have been the most generous and nice man, who ended up leaving his fortune to an ambitious, cut-throat girl. Then make it complicated! His way of running the company was putting it in the ground, and the girl's harsh new policies are actually making the profit line black again. I got a little carried away there, but the theme is still greed at its core. The protagonist will still have to find a balance. The fact that there are some positive benefits on either spectrum will make that a bigger challenge for her.

Yeah I got to agree with Okon. You want to write from the heart, so obviously your themes will be from yourself and your own life, not pop culture.

Me, Procrastinate? -
While I agree with both your views - Cause most of my themes do come from my life - I do multi-theme. And sometimes I'm inspired by something I've watched, read or heard. But it could be just me. Movies are in a way a part of whom I am. I've been watching classics since I was 11 and studying film books the following year.

I find it odd that people seem to think looking for themes in pop culture would mean not writing themes that are "from yourself" - surely the themes that resonate with you within pop culture are themes that are important to you, that makes up a part of your beliefs and moral compass? It's just sometimes we need some inspiration, sometimes we don't realise there's something interestin there to write. It's the same thing as getting inspiration for your stories by reading other people's books or looking at other artists' pictures.

Anyway, very insightful, Peach. Loved the idea. Esp loved your mention of culture shock - culture clash is a theme I've always wanted to write about but hadn't a clue how actually. Something interesting to mull on... (and until just now, I didn't know it was mull. First I wrote "mule", then I thought maybe it's "maul". Hahahahaha "maul on")

Exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't find the words -
Thanks!

This was a great article about keeping yourself open to positive footholds for ideas to take root in; flashes of things which you like but would do differently. Most of what I find myself doing is filling the gaps and allowing myself to be inspired by the negative spaces I perceive in pop culture. It would be worth a try, analyzing what I like about something and playing with that.

I always felt that pop-culture of today is sort of an extension of the old oral traditions - a shared, communal repository of narratives, ideas and themes. It serves almost the same purpose and it also generates the same kind of energy. Think of all the pop concerts, all the movie-going frenzy, sci-fi conventions, comic-book sharing etc. So I guess it's not only that we are going to seek out and use themes from pop-cultural artifacts, but we are going to do it, unwillingly, whether we like it or not, just from the fact we share a common (pop) culture

Just listened to audio book version of Gaye's biography. There is quite a story behind Sexual Healing. Also Gaye's could inspire a lot of stories.

Very interesting idea. I guess it all depends on your perspective of pop culture. Being influenced by great works can change the way you look at even the trashiest movies, so you are able to find unique themes even watching cartoons like The Flintstones.
I think there are always good themes in great cartoons. Some of them might be quite cheesy, but others have quite deep underlying messages.
The thing is only to switch on your "keen eye mode" while leisurely watching a movie or a cartoon.

Loved this article. You really are an attractive personality, @peachalulu - and this article gives me a clue as to why. You aren't the least bit angsty or self-absorbed. Instead, you're always looking around you, always thinking about what you see and how things fit together, or could fit together if certain things were a teeny bit different.

I think you have what it takes, at the core, to not only be a great writer, but also a very memorable one. You're certainly not treading the usual paths, even though it can look that way, because you are so firmly grounded in the here and now, and are very aware of the culture that surrounds you. But your article give us the inspiration to dig into what we see, instead of just taking a superficial swipe at it.

Thanks, Jannert! I hope so.

I was hoping this it what the article implied. It was probably just a little too movie heavy - maybe if I would've mentioned more books or something.
I like to push myself and others, if they want to be pushed, into taking familiar things and making it truly their own. Not being held by genre but redefining it.

Great article! Just yesterday I realized that the lyrics to a song I really like could be a great basis for a short story, so I've started brainstorming some ideas around it. I'll be looking a bit harder at pop culture from now on to find more ideas and themes.

Many music videos in the pop or rock genre could have underlying stories waiting to be told. I've used a few as inspiration in writing.

I probably do this too much; my current project is littered with references to metal bands (not all of them are exactly "popular" culture, but whatever). I have another project which is an ambitious heptalogy of novels set in a post-nuclear holocaust America. I'm beating myself up in my head to shake off references to the Fallout games.

That could make your story become niche if the reference is too obvious, however as long as it is written so well the references could become injokes for yourself. Hidden rather like Easter eggs. I know Nabokov really embedded Lolita with a lot of pop culture which can get lost on a lot of people nowadays. He named a town after Fanny Brice - Briceland, than also referenced her radio show Baby Snooks by having Humbert refer to himself as Dadums, he also hinted at Frank Sintra and a score of other singers, several road trip movies, film noir, Bill Tilden, Marlene Dietrich well the list could go on and on.

Thank you for giving me something to do the next time I watch a movie or television show. I have been subconsciously analyzing themes in pop culture and utilizing them in my own stories and ideas however, I never really knew what I was doing until now. I especially liked your mention of the 1993 film (The Crush). It allowed me to look at a film I had never watched before and take note of the themes it incorporates. Great Article!

Sure, why shouldn't you take things from popular culture? Every kind of inspiration helps and is perfectly valid, if you develop it well in your work. The idea of the author as an island who isn't influenced by others and who's thoughts are entirely dependent on only his own mind is a myth. In reality, every author or poet borrows his idea from his experience, which can both be from popular culture, the arts, or his personal experience. I mean, it's not as though you're just copying and pasting a story - only some of the themes and ideas. And I think that is a perfectly legitimate thing to do.

Inspiration can be found in every day things but also in the pop culture, because as it says it is implemented in our souls and our minds, we are confronted by it and using it for me is always a yes - thumbs up!