Stephen King And Gloria Steinem – The Prominent Representatives Of Pop Culture

Pop culture is a collection of mass media and cultural customs that reflect the interests of many people. Examples of pop culture include comic books, music, sports, movies, and many more. Pop culture has played a major role in American life since its beginning and is still influential today. Many people have impacted pop culture and its development over time. Two of the most prominent figures in pop culture are Gloria Steinem and Stephen King, both of whom experienced pop culture from a young age. Gloria Steinem, a feminist writer and author of Wonder Woman, helped reinstate the Wonder Woman character to her traditional self when she was similar to male superheroes. Stephen King, a horror writer and author of My Creature from the Black Lagoon, realized that adults fail to enjoy horror and fantasy like kids do because of their disbelief. Steinem and King’s careers are similar as both authors’ experiences with pop culture as children affected them as adults.

For example, Gloria Steinem hoped for more female recognition in comics as a child, and as a result, she helped promote female superheroes. Also, after watching Creature from the Black Lagoon, both as a child and an adult, Stephen King was fascinated and wrote many horror books that aimed to frighten adults, regardless of any disbelief they may have. However, King did not look to change anything important and only stated his observations about horror and fantasy. In contrast, Steinem aimed to gain more recognition and respect in terms of females in comic books and society as well. While both Steinem and King first enjoyed pop culture as children, Steinem’s beliefs and actions as an adult have had a more significant impact on pop culture and society over time. Promoting pop culture towards children affects them in many ways.

Children generally use pop culture for entertainment purposes, but they can be affected both positively and negatively by various factors. For example, a violent movie could encourage a child to attempt dangerous activities, but a peaceful movie could encourage a child to promote positivity. For Gloria Steinem, she was affected by pop culture in a unique way. She noticed men were the prominent figures in comic books and hoped for more female acknowledgement. Eventually, in the comic Wonder Woman, Steinem was relieved to discover a female superhero with similar attributes to male heroes, which is expressed when she stated she “was rescued from this dependent fate at the age of seven or so; rescued (Great Hera!) by a woman” (266). Steinem also enjoyed Wonder Woman’s peacefulness and criticized the violent and sadistic nature of boys' comic books, but she most enjoyed that she could “stop pretending to enjoy the ridicule, bossing-around, and constant endangering of female characters” (Steinem 267). For Stephen King, his experience with horror affected him differently than Steinem.

As a child, King watched the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon and was instantly frightened, particularly by the creature he saw in the movie. While watching the movie, King essentially believed everything he saw and was thinking about nothing else except for what the creature might do to him. He was frightened by the creature and feared it would give him nightmares, even though the movie was fictional (King 102). As he described, King’s reaction to the movie was “perfect” as he was “pretty much undiluted by any real thinking process” because of his “total emotional involvement” (102). This reaction is what horror writers and directors hope for, but as King eventually learns, it is typically only a reaction shown by children. Although pop culture may be aimed at younger audiences, it still influences many adults. Unlike most children, adults are more likely to comprehend any information and understand its significance. Also, they will generally have stronger opinions about a subject based on their beliefs and experiences and may advocate for change. Gloria Steinem fits these descriptions as she wasn’t happy that the Wonder Woman character became more submissive and violent since the character was first created by William Marston (271). She decided to help rescue the character herself by publishing feminist magazines with the original versions of Wonder Woman inside (Steinem 271). This effort worked well as Steinem saw Wonder Woman on newsstands again and realized that there were “many nostalgic grown-ups and heroine-starved readers of all ages” (271). Eventually, with the help of Wonder Woman’s first female writer, Wonder Woman "returned to her original Amazon status”: less flashy and more heroic (271). With this change, not only was there greater female recognition in comic books but also in all of pop culture and society. After the changes to Wonder Woman, more people began to respect female superheroes, and as a result, Wonder Woman is now one of the most popular heroes in comics. As Steinem stated, Wonder Woman’s message is that it is “an adult’s need for a lost balance between women and men” (273).

While they may be designed for entertainment purposes, Steinem used comic books to help others understand the necessary balance between men and women. As a result, more people began to respect this balance in their daily lives, not just in comic books. For Stephen King, he was affected by pop culture as an adult because from his childhood experiences, he realized how disbelief prevents adults from enjoying horror like kids do. He stated that children “lift the weight of unbelief with ease” and said “almost everything” can scare a young child (103). Also, he said children are essentially powerless and rely on adults for everything (King 105). In contrast, King understood that most adults fail to suspend their disbelief when viewing horror as they know everything is fake (105). Many years after watching Creature from the Black Lagoon as a child, King watched it again as an adult but noticed the “suspension of disbelief, that mental clean-and-jerk, had become a lot harder to accomplish” (107). He also knew that the creature that scared him many years ago was just someone wearing a costume (King 107). However, he was eventually able to balance the disbelief in his mind and partially relive the experience he had as a child (108).

As a result of his experiences with horror as a child and an adult, King wrote various horror novels aimed to scare adults by suspending their disbelief. Although he impacted horror books and films in pop culture, King did not have as much of an impact as Gloria Steinem in terms of societal improvement. Steinem’s actions helped many people understand the roles of women in society, while also promoting a form of entertainment, but King’s actions only impacted the entertainment aspect of pop culture. Pop culture’s substantial development over time has played a major role in American life. Since it began, pop culture has offered its consumers various forms of entertainment and increased enjoyment during leisure time. Although they already existed, movies, television shows, comic books, and other leisure activities have all developed into forms of pop culture. Also, various individuals have helped develop pop culture, including writers Gloria Steinem and Stephen King. Similar to Steinem, King’s experience with pop culture from a young age affected him as an adult and helped shape his career. However, Steinem’s impact on both pop culture and society has been more significant. Not only did Steinem help promote female acknowledgement in comic books, but she also did the same in real life through her feminist beliefs. While Steinem and King had different careers, both have impacted pop culture throughout their lifetime, even though their impact may not have been the same.