Low and High Culture Merging

One of my favorite shows to watch is The Office. For those of you who follow this show, you may know that last week was the big event, Pam and Jim's wedding. At least for me this was the episode I was waiting for a long time ago (I should mention I am really obsessed with Jim Halpert). What I was amazed by is the fact that the wedding entrance resembled exactly the one many of us have seen in YouTube, with the dance to the "Forever" song by Chris Brown. At first I thought it was the funniest thing I have ever seen, but then I started thinking about all the implications this had on the current state of the media. First of all, I started to wonder how the show got permission to use these people's idea on their script. Whether they got a compensation and what the process was to use this as a part of the show are interesting aspects of this example. Also, it shows the merging of marginal and popular culture we have talked so much about in class. The original video first aired on YouTube as an idea from a suburban couple just getting married. The originality of this video made it receive a lot of attention from the media, it appeared in the Today Shoe, People magazine, and has over 28 million views. Now with the use of this idea in The Office the argument that technology is bringing low and high culture together can be enforced. Something made by low culture made its way to some of the most popular shows in network television.
After this appeared in The Office I took it upon myself to research a little bit more about the original idea and the background of the people that recorded the original video. What I found was a website created by the couple that got married where they explain the reason behind it. But something I also found out is the fact that they have used the fame acquired by this video to raise money for charity. The couple chose a charity that raises awareness against domestic violence as the one that is going to receive the funds raised. They explain that they chose this foundation specifically because of the controversy behind the song they were dancing to (Forever by Chris Brown, who is charged with aggression against Rihanna) which I found interesting because it shows how the media and the sign that is now Chris Brown has a influence on what these people decide to do with their fund-raising money.
In conclusion, as we have read many times in class, marginal and popular culture lines are getting blurrier by the day. With the help of technology and websites like YouTube the degrees of separation between celebrities and normal people are going to continue to shrink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LAuhUp8Uh8