Abstract
In recent years, it has been observed in the reception of digital media content that consumption is becoming “information” (in contrast to being the “material”). However, in popular culture, the reception of forms, which is called “material things/objects,” is still observed. The issue of “the activity of people in relation to things/objects in popular culture” lies hidden here. The purpose of this study is to find the logic of these activities in line with people's actual daily feelings from various perspectives. I develop a model for trends in character goods, action figures, plastic models, and artifacts pertaining to popular culture. After having defined this phenomenon as the theory of “popular culture as material things,” I try to derive an understanding from the theoretical viewpoints.
One noted feature from the theory of consumer society is things as “signs,” which is a conventional view. Another feature is extracting “the material feeling of specific things” from material culture theory, in particular, “thing theory.” Yet another feature is the aspect of existence from a certain frame, which is called “recalling memory from the material environment” in collective memory theory. The underlying logic of this activity in relation to “popular culture as material things” cannot be reduced to signs/materiality/memory. This activity is a multilayered entirety in perception that involves both time and space.
