Film Analysis: Merchants Of Cool

In conclusion, MTV has signified change in the pop culture around us, because it has helped shape the world around us. MTV has drastically changed youth culture around the world, defining popular culture and speaking on behalf of young adults everywhere. MTV has transported its powerful advertising to millions of youths and is often criticized for promoting American culture to the rest of the world. Many intellectuals slam the network for destroying traditions and imposing American values and beliefs thereby forcing a homogenization of world youth culture (Williams 200-215). However, even with all of this critical disapproval, MTV continues to expand globally.

In Rushkoff’s film, The Merchants of Cool, he rhetorically questions if “teenagers even have a culture to call distinctly their own.” In the late 1990’s when the documentary was made, the implication was that they do not. However, with the internet’s advancements and the accessibility of communication with massive amounts of people, teenagers today can form authentic cultures that are not contaminated by the corporate media.

In this world people put lots of stress on celebrities to be perfect all the time. Celebrities are worldwide. Celebrates cannot walk down the street without being bombarded by paparazzi. All of that comes with a reason. Kids look up to them, so celebrities have to be media train. Like with rappers, most of their characters portray a life full of crime and enjoyment. Children see that and they think its real life. Kids are on the internet doing ridiculous things to get frame. In this day and age with no free thinkers pop culture is effecting the youth.

The book “The Hot Zone” and the movie “Contagion” are both about pandemics, with one a possible pandemic and the other global. They are different because of how the media reacts to the prospect of a pandemic, as well as how they contain or treat the potential outbreak. Both works showed how panic can impact and contribute to the spread of the virus.

In later years, the children/teenagers will become subject to issues of conformity that are modeled on mainstream media icons.

Osgood: "You must be quit the girl" Daphne: "Wanna bet?" (Some Like It Hot). This line becomes comical as it easily describes the entire plot of the film. The film, Some Like It Hot, cast in 1959 and directed by Billy Wilder has become a classic film to many because of the comical story it tells. From the plot to the acting, this film is a must see!

In the article, “What Is Popular Culture and Why Study It,” Deanna Sellnow describes to one the importance of pop culture in our world today, how it shapes people’s identities, and the reasons they should be aware of our culture today. Whether people realize it or not, Sellnow says that pop culture screams at them from every angle of their lives. Although pop culture can be the things seen and heard in one’s surroundings, it is most prevalent through media. Movies, magazines, and music are all examples of mediated popular culture that is cheap entertainment for the enjoyment of the mass population. Many people are influenced when they tune in to the messages these things are sending. Some of these messages may challenge

Casablanca is a classic World War II movie set in December and in the year of 1941 in Casablanca, Morocco, which was the location for people seeking to find an exit port to depart to the United States in order to escape the terrible conditions of the war in Europe as well as the Nazi concentration camps. This movie was set before the involvement of the United States in World War II and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The movie depicted the urban society with people belonging to the different ranges from low, middle and upper classes. There were also government officials such as Major Strasser, Captain Louis and the Czech nationalist Victor Laszlo. The characters are fictional, but they symbolize the different factors of World War II

What are the negative effects of social media on young teens and the future generations? Elise White, the author of “Does the Media Negatively Affect Teenagers?”, explains the negative effects of media on teenagers, and she includes Sex, Violence, Money, and Body Image, as the major factors. She also says, “If a Teenager is responsible for a violent act, society is convinced that media/Video games is the main cause.” (Elise White 1). Out of all these negative factors, society believes that Body Image is the one that effects the most. An average fashion model is thinner than ninety eight percent of women. Advertisements only work to publicize their brand/products, such as; toothpastes, makeup, clothes, and so on. Young teens are exposed to such unrealistic image and are encouraged to place more importance on their appearance than a healthy life. This advertising pays for all forms of media, including movies, magazines, websites and phone applications. These advertisements lead to low self esteem and insecurity among teenagers. It can also lead to emotional and mental issues like depression if they do not achieve so called “Perfect bodies”. In today’s society, owning something that everyone has or is trending like, makeup, branded clothes, and fancy gadgets is considered to be “Cool” and socially acceptable. Violence and Sex are the other important negative factors, as teenagers are influenced by the movies and video games they watch and play. Music videos these days portray a very violent and sexual image and meaning, which impacts the way many teenagers

In the Frontline documentary The Merchants of Cool, the relationship between major media conglomerates and their hedonistic teenage customers is examined through exploring the different tactics industries use to discover and market the next “cool” thing. Industries maintain what the documentary refers to as a “feedback loop” with their customers, which is a cyclic, supply-and-demand relationship that blurs the line between fiction and reality. It has become impossible to tell which side is imitating the other: who do the products and trends that define popular youth culture belong to? What's more, are the sexual and aggressive hormone-fueled behaviors on television and in music intrinsic in adolescents or are they artificial ideas? If these

With new technologies created everyday, this problem will only get worse. Although there are activist trying to fix this misconception in teenagers, none are succeeding. More risks need to be taken and without them I don’t think the media’s influence will stop. As a teen myself, I see this dilemma everyday. Many people are losing their potential to achieve something great and losing who they are just to fit the mold that the media and society has created. Our once diverse community will become one full of dolls who are all alike, but doesn’t that take away America’s identity as the melting pot as well?

I remember watching this film for the first time back in 2001 when it was released and having not watched it in over a decade, I feel I can say that this film is still solid. The Others holds up so well due to the film relying on storytelling, atmosphere and sense of impending doom to create its tension. The Others is one of the rare big budget, well cast horror films that seem to pop up every couple of years and I love it when they do. I feel horror often gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Hollywood.

The result is punk kids who no longer care because if they already are being treated like nothing, why would they go out of their way to prove society wrong? In September 2013, Ben Congrove wrote an article for Time on the “Invention of Teenagers:” explaining, “some 6 million teenage girls live in a world of their own: a lovely, gay, enthusiastic, funny and blissful society,” (Cosgrove). Claiming teenger’s live in their own world makes them seem ignorant to the problems of society. However, teenagers are very immersed in the culture nowadays, with the recent election, it’s been college and high school students protesting and trying to do something to resolve the seemed injustice to the country. Moreover, in Gregory’s Article “Why do Adults Hold Children in Such Low Esteem,” William Turner, an associate professor of family studies states, that “TV and social media are now showing more violent behavior than before” (Gregory).This helps the image that teenagers are violent, because the news of a latch-key child strangling his mother is now more widespread. In spite of this, adolescentes are not necessarily more violent, it’s just the news of the few oddballs that’s more widely

In the film, a company called "The Cool Hunters," searchers for trendsetters. They find teens that "look outside their backyard for inspiration" according to Dee Dee Gordon who is a Teen Market Researcher. These people go out, take pictures of trendsetting teens, and interview them while posting publicly their findings. In result, more and more teen's spot what is on these sites, almost mimicking what they see is cool. Once that happens, these trends no longer are considered genuine. Due to the trends posted publicly, teens are receiving a less than authentic experience. This type of researching and advertising corresponds with Douglas Rushkoff's argument on how teen market and media are fixed into a "giant feedback loop." The researchers

Cool Runnings is a inspirational film. I have to say that this movie is the best one although the style is a bit outdated because as we all know that this film opens across America on October 1, 1993. I believe that this is a movie that has been almost can’t be found. But as the old saying goes “ All is not gold that glitters. But gold will glitter forever.” And I find this gold because it gives me gives me a lot of inspirations and teaches me a lot of truths.