The Merchants of Cool An undeniable paradox: “coolness” for teens coincides with the culture of media and is extremely difficult to separate. Frontline was able to open a window into the teenage world through their documentary The Merchants of Cool to attempt to decode this mystery; however, news correspondent, Douglas Rushkoff, found himself coming to the understanding that teenagers and media are chasing after each other in order to discover what “cool” really is. The popular culture formula and “Funhouse Mirror” images both grasp a hold of this concept. The pop culture formula states that something will be more popular if it reflects the society’s zeitgeist, or spirit of the era. In this film, for example, when MTV emerged onto the television scene it was popular.
Kevin Clavey Ms. Pruter English 101 Dec 3rd 2010 Teens, the 1960’s Peace, love, and happiness was the motto to teenage life in 60’s. The sixties was a huge decade for teens, the baby boom following World War II led to about 41% of the U.S.’s population being teenagers (Hurley 115). Many teens described this era as a whole new way of life. It was a time of freedom and peace for teens of the sixties. Teens were looking for change in the sixties; they used new ways of thinking, changed the way they dressed, turned to drugs for inspiration, and listened to music that promoted all of these changes.
1. Why has it been important for Perry Ellis International to give freedom to a new venture team in order to relaunch Original Penguin? It is important for Perry Ellis International to give freedom to new venture in order to relaunch Original Penguin because although Original Penguin has its glamour run in the 1950s, the consumer interest in the brand itself soon faded. Chris Kolbe ideas to revive the fledging brands proved to be extremely successful as the new products did managed to sell out almost immediately. It is due to the fact the Kolbe recognizing the fact even in the fashion industry, there must be continual innovation to order to survive the competition.
During the 1960’s most of the airtime on the family household was devoted to music and rock & roll was the most popular genre. The Beatles, Elvis, Smokey Robinson and Jimi Hendrix were taking over the radio’s and the Aussies couldn’t get enough of these rock stars. This type of music was aimed at teenagers and young adults and opened the eyes of many teenagers around Australia. When the Barbie doll was released in America and was going to be brought over here they said in the add on TV about how many people are buying them in America making them an instant hit because the Americans like it. The same thing happened with slot cars once Australia kids heard that Americans like them they were a hit here too.
The media likes to capture rock musicians using drugs at wild parties and acting irresponsible to get attention from people and increase magazine sales and ratings. I consider musicians to be artists who use music as a form of expression. The majority of their actions are to uphold certain image expectations from their fan base. Rock stars are expected to act wild and crazy always engaging in scandals to keep their fans wanting more. While a majority of these people are addicts with psychological issues who usually die from overdoses of illicit drugs many actually have families and are regular normal people when they are not in the spotlight.
This change of morality in the general music industry combined with the increasing influence of media could easily interfere with our moldable youths’ development. In this paper, I hope to study why this trend of decreasing morality exist in music and how this would affect our younger generations in terms of mental health. Music videos and lyrics are both tools that musicians can use to communicate with our society but whether the content is appropriate for our youth is the exigency of this issue. According to a research conducted by the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, teenagers ranging from 8-18 year olds are exposed to different kinds of media whether it is video games, movies, television or music for more than 7.5 hours per day (Rideout). The only activity that consumes more time than media in a teenager’s day is sleep.
People from younger generations are so drawn that they would rather skip school and chase after fame and money so that they can also appear to the world as celebrities. Celebrity culture through the help of the media is forced down the throats of our teenagers and young people from the younger generation now lose their grip on the culture and are ‘westernized’ However, it’s not like nothing good can come out of celebrity culture, They encourage teenagers to follow their dreams and work towards what they feel is the right path for them. Celebrity culture shows that you should as much as possible give to those who are in need and support various
Ahmed 1 Sami Ahmed Professor Grannis English 112 7 December 2008 The Medias Affect on Teenagers The rise of violence and sexual activity in teenagers has placed the entertainment industry under scrutiny. Parents blame the industry for exposing their children to inappropriate content at a tender age. The industry has argued that the rating system at place should give the parents control over the content viewed by their children. Now let us find out whether the content of the media has an affect on teenagers? Or if it is the parent’s responsibility to regulate what teens watch?
It depends how the teen react to the music. The negative effect that music can have on teens is that it encourages sexual activity. In the article “Degrading Lyrics Linked to Earlier Sex”, Daniel DeNoon talks about music with sexual lyrics and he says, "The more teens listened to degrading sexual music content, the more likely they were to subsequently initiate intercourse and progress in other, noncoital activity"(DeNoon). What DeNoon was talking about in this quote was how music teens listen has an effect on their actions. The lyrics with sexual content made the teens partake in sexual activities.
Although it also was very famous in Europe, it had its best results in the America. Over the 1960s a fundamental group that was named “Hippies” shocked the U.S. with their competing worldviews and beliefs. An important impact on the standpoints of American society in the 60s was made by the hippie subculture. This movement influenced American outlooks in such aspects as attitudes, usage of drugs and politic and traditional thoughts. They produced movements and a lot of social conflicts, contradicting with sociologists and sociological perspectives.