Bertolt Brecht stated: "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Art, which includes all the artefacts of popular culture, reflects the society that creates it and is itself an agent capable of changing social reality. Artifacts of popular culture, such as the Harry Potter series discussed in Nexon and Neumann's work, Harry Potter and International Relations, exert agency, or causal power, over the meaning and interpretation of cultural elements, influencing how whose ideas and values ​​are constructed in everyday life. This article will demonstrate that popular culture artifacts construct meaning and influence interpretations of reality. In Harry Potter in International Relations, Nexon and Neumann argue that “popular culture is a crucial domain in which social and political life is represented” but that “such representations are not simply passive mirrors; they also play a crucial role in the constitution of the social and political world”. Durkheim explains that social life is created through human action, made up of entities that, as Durkheim states, exist “as realities external to the individual” and “as a product of human action.” The production of these facts is not based on individual opinion but through collective understanding, manifested in popular culture. The artefacts of popular culture, therefore, presuppose the action of the individual in predetermining the interpretation to be accepted. Because popular culture is widely accessible, artifacts easily influence how humans perceive the world by shaping collective vision. Opinions and representations presented through popular culture artefacts are accepted by the collective and therefore become real as they inform members' underlying assumptions...... middle of paper ......or shape interpretations through the presentation of meaning and experience, it must be accepted that the artefacts of popular culture have an action that extends from the individual level to the level of international politics. Works Cited Durkheim, Emile. The elementary forms of religious life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.Goff, Patricia. Producing Harry Potter: because the medium is still the message. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.McLaughlin, Greg, and Stephen Baker. Peace propaganda. Bristol, UK: Intellect Ltd., 2010. Print.Neumann, Iver and Daniel Nexon, ed. Harry Potter and international relations. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.Swider, Ann. "Culture in action: symbols and strategies". American Sociological Review. 51.2 (1986): print.