From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry by Justin Pearson

The early 1960’s to mid 1970s was the start of the counterculture of youth culture. During the 1960’s, there were revolutions including a sexual revolution, a cultural/ racial revolution, a rights revolution, and student revolutions. In addition to revolutions, there also a focus on the transition to adulthood, popularity, consumption, anxiety, and the media. However the movie, American Graffiti, which was set in the 1962 (1960s)–before the peak of 1960’s counterculture–and released in 1973 (1970’s) displays an environment more focused on the anxiety of transitioning to adulthood, dating, and consumerism--music and cars. American Graffiti compared to the set and release dates share similarities with the counterculture, but are depicted in

Many of the things we do in life as humans are caused by a motivation that leads us into action. Whether it is an instinct or a psychological need or desire, something always keeps us going. In the movie “127 Hours”, there are four theories of motivation, which is displayed throughout the movie. These theories are the instinct theory; drive reduction theory, arousal theory, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory. This paper will examine each of these theories and see how it relates to the movie, which is based on a true story.

“We wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine. When we wheeled our parents whining station wagons out onto the street we left a patch of rubber half a block long. We drank gin and grape juice, Tango, Thunderbird, and Bali Hai. We were nineteen. We were bad. We read Andre Gide and struck elaborate poses to show that we didn’t give a shit about anything.” (Boyle 129)

“In a world where we are forced to conform to society, it is necessary to have personal chaos”, said Alan Armstrong. The movie Edward Scissorhands spotlights society’s structured rules and one man who refuses to be like the rest. Edward and I are comparable in the sense that we’ve both suffered conformity, been swallowed for our diversity and shocked by the intensity of love.

The peaceful life of the English society of the 1960s was struck by the clashes between the Mods and Rockers. Both Mods and Rockers were called “gangs”, which is a “structure sharing the same ideas, attachments and solidarity” [7]. Every gang usually has its own “interests, activities, membership, and status” [7]. Usually such groups appear spontaneously. Both gangs - Mods and Rockers - “represented opposite tastes with regard to a number of social conventions such as clothing, grooming, music, and so on” [7]. For example, the Mods (modernists) preferred to wear suits and pointed shoes, listen to Jazz and Rhythm & Blues style of music and ride scooters. In their

It is not an easy task to pin down where exactly this effeminate, homosexual, deviant and ambisexual posturing of glam rock comes from and neither it is this paper’s sole aim to fulfill such a meticulous job. Nevertheless, some thoughts on its genesis are worth mentioning. Mike Kelley links these postures to the anti-Vietnam War movement and to the resulting “full-scale empathic connection in white youth for "otherness" in general.” The greatest Other, he goes on to say, was women; “if America's problem was that it was militaristic, patriarchal, and male, then the antidote would be the embrace of the prototypically feminine. Radical culture of this period is dominated by displays of femininity as a sign of resistance —femininity, and male homosexuality

According to article “Graphic Incognito”, writer Mark Owens says that modernism exported to America through Bauhaus, which was a European movement that came around World War 2. The movement in America took shape in the 1980s with the influence of a new cultural era that was personified in different mediums, especially in music. He argues that certain modernist design tactics were adopted by suburban kids raised during the Reagan era in the early 1980s that were in the post- punk, hardcore, underground music scene. First of all, he begins his essay with a quote from Paul Rand about how “timeless principles” were the only hope to achieve a style of quality in one’s work.

In order to understand the topic that is to be discussed in this essay, one must first understand two seemingly unrelated topics. Those topics are feminism and punk rock. These two social movements spawned the love child that has come to be known as the riot grrrl movement. The history of the riot grrrl movement is deep and intensely intertwined with themes of monumental social change, musical evolution, and the previously unseen all-encompassing nature that is unique to third wave feminism.

Punk is a subculture that has changed over time and continues to change today. It emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s and evolved into a variety of different types during this time. These four types of punk include hardcore, straightedge, Riot Grrrl, and emo. Each of them is very different from one another and brings many different characteristics to the punk community in general. When looking at information in the book Goths, Gamers, and Grrrls, the film Between Resistance and Community, and prior knowledge from class, there are several different aspects to be compared within the punk subculture. Evaluating these three things help to bring about a better understanding of what values are demonstrated in the film, the evolution of punk,

Widdicombe and Wooffitt address the different subculture forms of the Teds, mods, rockers, skinheads and punks. The New Subculture Theory was created as an explanation for these distinctive subculture groups. New subculture theory sees subculture standing out, being different and showing distinction from the crowd. The style in which they produce is very visible, showing resistance to the ‘ordinary’ way amongst society. Individuality is not seen as much as conformity amongst style overcomes to indicate they are a member of this certain subculture. Widdicombe and Wooffitt relate language use, social identity and social action to be interlinked. (Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1995)

Thesis: The punk rock culture is something that you all have probably been exposed to, but may not know much about.

The origins of Punk Rock have been stated as unknown. However, true “punk” has long lived in the hearts of the youthful subcultures in America, the United Kingdom, and Australia, since the late 1960’s and early 70’s. During this time, Punk Rock, which was influenced by Rock and Roll, offered its upbeat compositions and in-your-face lyrics, which brought some intelligence to the get drunk, get laid mentality that prevailed. Much like a shot of adrenaline to a dying heart, Punk Rock regenerated the “danger” in Rock and Roll that had become salable and overemotional. As a NBC reporter stated in 1977, “This is punk rock and its purpose is to promote violence, sex and destruction, in that order." Yet, it was rapidly becoming the voice of

Michael Wood in the article was trying to explain his point of view about US punk rock bands. He is certain that they were more famous than punk bands of the UK because US punk lyrics were based on their own experiences and their atmosphere differed from others. I argue that UK and US bands may look similar, but actually, they are surprisingly different. I have chosen two US punk bands: “Ramones” & “Fall Out Boy” and two UK punk bands: “The Clash” & “Amebix” to show big differences, although they have similarities in music and styles.

After stating how he’d flown to England to see the world’s most notorious rock band, Young remarks about the working class kids bashing into each other outside a club. The punk show he sees is dirty, industrial, and violent with kids hopping up and down, running into each other, and beating each other up in the name of fun. The punk movement is more in your face in England than it is in America, and the music is simply a vessel for the message. The kids at the club as well as the Sex Pistols have disdain towards the media and how the movement is portrayed. Journalism resulted in a notion that punks were more violent that they are. The Pistols are stated to have set punk off in Britain, and were receiving vast amounts of backlash only after three singles. They like the music they make more than they like kids sticking safety pins in their faces. They hated the industry of rock singers from the decade before. Despite their popularity, they did not want to become the “next big thing” because they thought it would suck out their integrity. The Sex Pistols are explicit, gritty, energetic, spiteful, and

Daniel Johnston is an artist and songwriter famously known for igniting the emergence of the “Lo-FI” music genre in the 1980’s. Born in Sacramento, California in 1961, Daniel lived passionately through his art and music, and is considered an indie music genius by his distinguished following of fans. Growing up in West Virginia, Daniel was the youngest of five children in a conservative family. Johnston’s parents and siblings were creative and intellectual people, making his home environment a suitable place to flourish as a well-rounded individual. Daniel began to demonstrate a remarkable enthusiasm to his artistic abilities at an early age with countless pencil drawn illustrations, home-recorded short films and collections of original alternative rock albums. However, his strong fixation towards his artwork lead him to become socially withdrawn from his family and surrounding community, and as time progressed, his once endearing personality and artistic expression drove Daniel to become a “problem” at home. The dawning of a delusional mindset became apparent, in the sense that Daniel viewed his family and peers as subjects for his art, as opposed to actual significant characters in his life. He was later diagnosed with manic depression, and was in and out of mental institutes over the course of his career. Nonetheless, Daniel’s raw and unfiltered performances brought him eminent success within the music industry, and his impact in the rise of underground music remains