Memorex and Harry Potter
During my junior year at Clear Creek High School, I had an AP US History teacher named Ms. Cash. One of the vivid memories I have of that year is sitting in class one day while she lectured about some aspect of some event I no longer remember when she suddenly interjected with:
“I’m live not Memorex!” (or something like that)
I was the only one who snickered at the reference. Even Mrs. Cash seemed stunned, as she asked whether anyone knew what she was talking out. I was the only one who responded with a “yeah, it’s an old TV commercial”.
At this point, she launched into a mini-rant about how you needed to understand pop culture to understand Americans and current events. That message, that pop culture both defines and explains history, has stuck with me ever since.
In the newest Esquire, Chuck Klosterman states that Harry Potter is likely the main shared experience for the majority of teens (and 20-somethings as well, right), so he, a non-Harry Potter reader, will be clueless about culture in fifteen years as members of this age group becomes leaders in media.
Klosterman summarizes knowledge as belonging to one of three groups:
- Information that you know you know.
- Information that you know you don’t know.
- Information that you don’t know you don’t know.
That third point is why Mrs. Cash’s rant sticks with me – I hate the feeling of having no idea what people are talking about or referencing. That likely explains my reading, TV, and browsing habits.
- That isn’t the commercial I remember; it’s just the first one I could find on YouTube.