I read this very interesting article by DJ Louie XIV, “Pop
Music in 2018 Was a Beautiful Transformative Mess” written in December 9, 2018
posted in Vanityfair web site. It is about how popular music had a
transformation in the year of 2018 and it was kind of beautiful and kind of
messy. The article mentions how this year was the beginning of something
exciting, interesting and fresh. IT explains how most of the hits have been
more targeted than in the past, included all kinds of genres, different types
of music and hits. The author states: “Indeed, the pop rule book was an open
document this year.” In the year of 2018, were some emerging new rules set for
pop such as Hip-Hop is Popular Music, even though for decades it has played an
outsize role in impacting the American pop-music; it mentions; Drake, Travis
Scott, Lil Wayne, Post Malone, Eminem and so on that have shown some fantastic
success.This is what I found the most
interesting, I haven’t noticed the transmission that somehow popular music had
experienced during the year of 2018 and it is great to find out more about
American Pop-Culture. I feel that after I read this I am starting to understand
and see how things had changed slightly related to pop music and mass media.
XIV, DJ Louie. VANITYFAIR."Pop Music in
2018 Was a Beautiful Transformative Mess" 6 December 2018. 2020./
Earlier this week I was looking through something to watch and I stumbled on the documentary "Uppity". Uppity tells the story of Willy T. Ribbs, a very talented African American race car driver in the 1970's and 1980's who faced a path to glory that was a million times more difficult than white drivers, because of the color of his skin. In the early days, he won Formula Ford in England (where a lot of pro racers get their start) and he blew the competition out of the water. However, he was one of the few who never got a single call for a sponsorship. Although he did not face much (if any) racism in England at the hands of the drivers and fans, companies were not on board with sponsoring an African American driver. Out of money, he returned to the USA, where he got into Trans Am racing. Willy absolutely dominated the Trans Am series, and became one of the best drivers the Trans Am series has ever seen to this day. However, similar to his earlier ventures, he could not find a big name sponsor. He got called to race in Nascar, but after receiving death threats, he had to pull out of the race, where the media then slammed him for "not being good enough". He also test drove a formula one car and shattered the goal time required to qualify, but the Italian car owners did not want to sponsor an African American man as a driver.
Ever since he was a kid, his ultimate goal was to race in the Indy 500, and no amount of racism was going to keep him from that goal. His mindset through it all was "If you hate me now, i'm going to give you even more reasons to hate me" which continued to feed his appetite for winning, and dominating. After years and years of struggling to make it, he got a call from Bill Cosby, who wanted to give Willy a chance to race in the Indy 500. He gave $350,000 towards the cause, and with that money, (a fraction of the millions needed to build a car and compete in the Indy 500) he flew in. After blowing several engines because they could not afford brand new ones, and using a re-built chassis, he became the first African American to qualify for the Indy 500 and race in the Indy 500. Although he never won, he accomplished his goal in the face of everyone who did not want to see him succeed because the color of his skin, and paved the way for current drivers of color like Bubba Walace to be successful.
Jimmy McGill better known as Saul Goodman is a fictional character played by Bob Odenkik in the hit television series Breaking bad as well as its prequel Better Call Saul. Jimmy McGill was not always the crooked lawyer who helped drug dealers, he was once a talented lawyer working at a well reprised law firm HHM, he then left eventually starting his own firm in the field of elderly law. Throughout the show Better Call Saul it shows the slow diminishment of his character from Jimmy, being a sweet and sympathetic guy who helped the elderly to a crook, Saul, who now bends the rules of the law to help drug dealers.
Saul Goodman is far from your typical lawyer. He is a conniving peddler of the law who takes whatever shortcut possible to help his low-life clients. He is a professional in the art of manipulation making sure his clients are viewed like angels and the prosecutors look like fools. He will rig trials making it impossible for his clients to lose, he even planted a cell phone battery on his own brother to win a case. Saul is a complex man living a double life between the law and the lawlessness.
The traits of Saul Goodman stray far from our typical view of lawyers in today's society. It has been stereotyped that a lawyer is usually a white male who shows characteristics of professionalism as well as the appreciation for the law. It relates to the topics of module 5 in many ways one way is the example of an alien invasion. “Aliens are the ultimate “Other” and because we are unhindered by a real-life example (that is, we have yet to encounter real aliens), we freely show these intelligent beings as barbaric as possible (yes, there are alien films that present positive examples, but they are largely outnumbered by hostile aliens)”(Eaton 5). It is automatically assumed that aliens will be hostile just like how lawyers are assumed to be good.
Movies to me are one of the ways that truly influence popular culture. The particular one that professor Eaton posted (See link below) is a good example of the emotional influence movies have. The "Rags to Riches" theme has numerous applications to every individual and lifestyle. The abundance of material you can view and dissect is enormous! Personally, I like the starting from the bottom type of movies that teach you that with a little work, comes success. Although, that's not always the case, it's still has the magic word "HOPE" in everything.
Hope is a powerful emotion, and how it relates to popular culture is in my opinion one of it's strong points to drive our engagement in movies and how that effect us. Having hopes and dreams are instilled in us at a young age. I can remember growing up wanting to be the next big lead guitarist of Ozzy Osbourne, and I worked five hours a day learning scales, modes, and music theory to attain that. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fulfill my dream, But it did open many doors to other musicians with the same mindset and the desire to play and often.
Rags to Riches in my mindset is one of the most wide ranged of popular culture parts that I have discovered so far in this course. Times change, technologies change, but what doesn't change are people and how we process things emotionally. Another example of the emotional aspect is shopping for products. I learned from a business man I used to work with, was to try and get your customers to purchase goods on the emotional high! Basically he was telling me that most people have that emotional rush first, then think about it. To get your customers to buy quickly before they have time to weigh in on whether it's good or bad is a smart tactic.
Understanding "Hope" and the emotional drive to better our lives is a powerful popular culture tool and the more I read and watch material, the more I see how this effects myself, but everyone around me.
"The Other Guys" is a movie that came out in 2010, ever since it came out, it has been one of my all time favorites. To give you a little summary, it is about two detectives, Gamble and Hoitz, in NYC who are considered the "losers" if you will. Nobody respects them as police officers, and they are always ragged on. They begin to catch on to this case, which nobody believes. Nobody wants them to continue with this case, but they do anyways. In the end, they crack the case and solve it. They become the hero's in the end, despite them being nobodies in beginning. Both Detectives were placed together because they both messed up on the job before. They have both made poor decisions and made themselves look like fools. They certainly do not help their own case. I was drawn to the movie because it had to do with law enforcement. There aren't too many comical LE movies out there. I just wish they would make a second one.
The movie has a lot to do with bullies in the beginning, in todays society everybody knows a bully, has been bullied or even is one. Its always nice to see the underdogs pull it off in the end, after all, it is the "American Dream" to make it in the end. To be the hero. As many people would look past the underlying message it is saying, the message is clear to those who pick up on it. The message is, to never underestimate the underdogs. The detectives just wanted to fit in, and be like the others. In the end, it makes them look even better due to the fact that nobody believed in them.
Over the years, movies and other forms of entertainment have mastered the effect of sending messages through the storyline. As I stated above, the message will go over most people heads as they watch the movie. Some people have an eagle eye for this, finding a message within the story line.
Ooooooh boy, where do I start?! I was looking for a critique of mass culture theory and I came across this video. This video is blaming pop culture for the end of society as we know it. He's touting it's all trash, hyper-sexualized, vulgar, immoral, and even the reason for the rise in teen suicide. While I do agree that television shows and music have become much more sexual and violent in nature over the last 20 years, I don't agree that anything that strays from that isn't or can't be popular. Reality TV isn't all bad. I am a BIG fan of Chopped. While most of us will never have to make a dinner using Cheetos, cinnamon candy, and tuna cheeks, it showcases critical thinking and ingenuity.
He states that "postmodernists want to annihilate the distinction between high culture and popular culture. They want to turn everything on its head." The goal in this, he says is to "completely undermine the foundation of Western civilization and leave us open for subversion and capitulation." I don't agree that the distinction should be annihilated, but nor should it be what it was. Our heritage and art should be available and accessible to anyone and not all modern art are bad.
A prime example is the Okuda installation in the Seaport district. It's an outside installation and therefore accessible to everyone. I think the pieces are cheerful and intriguing. This art is popular and encourages healthy activity, going for a walk.
He references one of my favorite movies "Ideocracy" in his rant. While I used to agree that we were heading down that road, and the current world situation seems to support it, there are rays of light everywhere. I don't agree that if we do end up there, that popular culture will be the cause of it. More information is available to anyone at any time of day than at any time in history. Of course, turning on a screen and jumping on the internet immediately immerses you in pop culture. Designs, colors, ads, and paid search results are all there to try to influence your thinking but it's not a guarantee that they will.
Paul attempts to make the case that counter culture doesn't exist anymore, that teens are depressed because they have no outlet for their angst. I don't find this to be true. In music, alternative music is huge, and one of my favorite genres. Skater culture and grunge are still very much alive. Rock and roll is still alive.
There is so much in this video, I could write for hours analyzing every minute of it. Perhaps I'll come back to it again in another post.
When it comes to the 2015 movie Straight Out Of Compton we see three men that are struggling with the issue of poverty and living areas that were known for being rugged and violent. These three men Dr.Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube are slowly building themselves so then they are able to build up to a life of wealth and popularity through their music. They started as drug dealers people making money by being DJs and others that started being rappers from be beginning. As they grew with their first single “Boyz-n-the-Hood” at first it was rejected but was later found to be a local popular track. This caused the boys to form their group known as N.W.A. But of course, they were known for being attacked by the police due to their race and appearance thus makes them create one of their most popular songs “Fuck tha Police”. With them releasing as much music as they did at the time they were able to get big and slowly make a large amount of money from doing this and are known for being some of the best rappers. Starting out as boys that were living in low-end homes and having to live day by day in areas that caused more harm to them than they did to it. But as they grew they were able to afford areas to live that were safer and could afford all these nice luxuries that they wanted. Now, of course, they went through multiple hardships due to the fact that they were young and black and at the time they went through a lot of racism. But they were able to overcome these issues and were able to make the money they needed so they could be seen as people that came from rags to riches.
They were never reaching for this goal they just wanted to talk about the issues that were happening in their area with police brutality and racism and they did this through music. When it comes to the music blowing up of course from the messages that are being played there was good feedback from the people but bad feedback from the police condemning them as gangsters and the music they make as “gangster rap”. The messages that were shown told of the rough paths that the group had to go through to get to where they were and become the men that we know today.
When reading through the materials and thinking about rags to riches narratives, I had to explore this one. The film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) is certainly a tale of rags to riches, and also a narrative, perhaps a warning, of the evils of excess.
This story centers around Charlie Bucket, a boy who lives at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. He is being raised by a single mother, his home is falling apart, they are food insecure, and they have elders in the home to care for. Charlie walks by the Wonka factory every day, dreaming about what must be going on inside.
Wonka creates a massive demand for his bars by hiding 5 golden tickets in bars around the world. The promise is an experience and prize beyond their wildest dreams if they are the lucky winner. Winning would mean fame and a rise in status. The first 4 winners do so from the efforts of their parents who want them to win. They are upper-middle and upper-class families who have the income to support the purchase of a massive amount of candy. Their children are coddled, spoiled, gluttonous, and disrespectful...and yet they still go to great lengths to make them happy under the premise of wanting them to have a better life than they did.
Charlie's story is only different in where he comes from. His mother still wants the best for him. In this song for him, she's using powerful imagery surrounding the American Dream. She states "the world is still your toy" and "look up Charlie, you'll see a star. Just follow it and keep your dream in view." Charlie has a newspaper route to help his family. He works hard and yearns for the life he sees that others have around him. This is evident in the scene where he walks by the candy shop and watches all the other kids having fun inside.
Once at the factory, Mr. Wonka sets out to find the person he deems worthy to win his ultimate prize. The kids are eliminated one by one due to their greed. Though Charlie and Grandpa Joe breaks the rules, they can find a solution and help themselves. (Ingenuity leads to success). Mr. Wonka starts to throw them out even though Charlie is the last child left. After an argument, Charlie makes the decision to be honest and return the "everlasting gobstopper" instead of giving it to the competition. This honesty changes Mr. Wonka's heart and he gives Charlie the factory (Honesty and being a good person leads to success.)
Beyond being a rag to riches story, this film highlights morality. In the time of sex. drugs, and rock&roll this movie shows the dangers of "sin". Clearly depicted in the winning children are sloth, greed, gluttony, and pride. Though it is portrayed comedically, the "how to be a better person" lesson is there. The Oompa Loompa songs articulate the lessons.
