Yes, the range is vast of course. I think popular culture is often treated as less important and valuable than the more sophisticated offerings partly because its materials are commonly less profound and (almost by definition) evanescent, but also just because they are less demanding - I think we naturally tend to value more highly those things which cost us time and energy. Of course it's also worth remembering that the division between 'popular' and 'high' culture is not at all sharp or clear, which is surely connected with the blurring of distinctions between social classes (and the educated/uneducated). I suspect that the distinction may come to be be based largely on literacy, which seems to be dying out, so that anything which requires sustained reading will no longer be part of 'popular' culture. I don't know where we are right now (e.g.where do the Harry Potter novels stand? or books by Roddy Doyle?). I can't think of a great deal to say about how to study it - I'm sceptical about the value of the internet in the study of almost anything, since it generally seems to offer little but bullet points and summaries (though it can be useful for references); however, probably I'm just showing my age... Good luck! G.