As I began exploring into the one direction fandom, I was a little doubtful on what I was getting myself into. I am the bystander, that sits and watches as the obsession of One Direction is blowing up all over my social media feed. The fans have a notorious reputation for being viewed on society to spend countless hours drooling over someone they’ll never have. My goal was to seek out the complexities of the peculiar phenomenon and how this obsession affects their lives. Adventures in my research led me to a new understanding on how a online obsession over a teen-boy band can affect the lives of many young girls. Being a part of the fandom online made me evident that my insight over the surrounding topic of girl’s obsession on band boys is incorrect. Through the online universe, people tend to have an emotional appeal that can be seen which allows us to further investigate in fictional aspects. As I explored into it further, it became evident that fans behave in a way to harness the love they all share for their idols. In order to understand, I put myself in different shoes to try and adapt to a lifestyle I was unfamiliar with. Fortunately for myself, my best friend Jessica was apart of this community and this allowed the adaptation to come much smoother. In the past, she would occasionally bring up One Direction, but due to my disinterest of them, she didn’t bring them up as much. When she found out that my research was going into this topic, she became extremely
I have chosen to write about one of my favorite alternative rock band, Red Hot Chili Peppers from Los Angeles, California. My decision was based upon two things; one being I like the band, while the other was to learn if some of their music is sending the wrong message to our young people. I personally would not consider myself music sappy; never have I really been given a chance to listen to music as I grew up, to find what I like. As of today, I don’t know who sings what song nor really know what the lyric’s mean. With today’s environment young people are given a chance to be inspired by different kinds of media; thus giving them the opportunity to actually find out what the artist is meaning behind the songs. After interviewing four participation;
“The Boys in the Band”, is a play about male homosexual relationships and the revealing truths of being gay in the 1960s. The play gives audiences a distinct perspective of homosexuality on the stage up until that time. The setting is in a New York City apartment that is owned by Michael. He and his gay friends are preparing a birthday party for Harold. Alan McCarthy, a former college roommate of Michael, also shows up at the party unexpectedly. In this paper, we will focus on Alan and Harold and their behaviors and impacts in the play.
Steven goes through the 5 Stages of Grief throughout the entirety of the novel, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. These feature Anger, Denial, Depression, Bargaining, and Acceptance.
Why do I care so much about the lives of celebrities? (Why do I ‘Keep Up With the Kardashians’?) Do I want to be like the celebrities I glorify? Is my desired profession for working in the film industry driven by popular culture eminence? How influential or ‘brainwashing’ has popular culture been a factor in my lifestyle? Is it a good or bad influence? Does popular culture have an effect on my self-esteem? Has popular culture prematurely exposed me to social vices? (Sex? Drugs? Violence?) Why do I identify with the hip-hop culture? What is the message that I am given when listening to hip hop music? What does my taste in music say about me? Am I defined by society due to popular culture stereotypes? Is my judgment or perception on beauty along with different races, gender, and sexualities skewed by popular culture standards and stereotypes? What benefit or significance do I receive from consuming popular culture news? Does popular culture offer me any more than just material to fill my time with frivolous talk and gossip? How much time am I consuming because of popular culture? Why do I feel ‘out the loop’ if I’m not immersed in the latest trends? How am I empowered of my knowledge about popular culture news? Do I get sense of shared identity, meaning and purpose through popular culture? Does popular culture sell me as a
This proves that half the demographics do not see the importance of sexual attraction or making themselves centre of attention while with the opposite sex. The girls that I surveyed were older teenagers between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and these people were all for Lily Allen’s campaign for slamming the sexualised music videos. This shows that the older girls realise, the ideology of being ‘perfect’ does not exist, and these women shown in these videos are not ‘realistic”.
The movie Mean Girls follows Cady Heron as she experiences high school for the first time in her life. As she is thrown into a new society, this film provides the opportunity to socially analyze high school. From figuring out her new culture and society that she is engrossed in to realizing how social status can both negatively and positively affect her values and beliefs, there are many concepts that Cady learns and is taught as she makes her way through her first year of public school.
This reference shows how music lays a foundation of teenage values beyond school or parental teaching. A musical artist can influence a young mind by the chosen lyrics with greater effectiveness than formal education. Music can control or enhance moods. A good mood can get better or a bad mood can be worked through with the choice of music. A bad mood can also be enhanced by lyrics about suicide or violent behavior. Teens can also use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity. (O'Toole, 1997)
I spent the first ten years of my life, roughly, homeschooled and constantly around both my parents. During this time, I had no choice but to listen to whatever music they enjoyed playing drying the day, whether it was Seal in the car or Melissa Etheridge on the home stereo. Once I had struck my preteens, and with the help of my then high-school aged sisters, I was introduced to punk rock and hard rock genres of music. This became a new addiction for me; it felt rebellious, cool, in style and new. Eventually, it felt very repetitive and it seemed as if everyone was trying to emulate the same sound. So, after a short time, I began searching for music on my own. I bought Coldplay and Vampire Weekend albums, and was on the lookout for music with a more sophisticated feeling than what I had been listening to previously. I was then hopelessly addicted to music that I was discovering, and was proud to say I found my own style of music to listen to. After I received Coldplay’s album, “A Rush of Blood to the Head” as a Christmas gift, I would play it daily to
Imagine that you were making a harmless meal , but in a turn of a page your life has completely changed not only for you, but everyone around you. In the novel Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie the main character Steven is a drummer that isn’t that popular. His little brother Jeffrey went to the hospital, and soon Steven finds out that Jeffrey has Leukemia. Steven takes it hard and changes as a person, therefore his relationships change. Annette, Renee, Dad, mom, and Jeffrey relationship with Steven changed from when he found out to the end to the novel.
In our world today, there are many different types of cultures. In America especially, there is so much diversity within culture that it's what makes America what it is today. What is culture you may ask? Culture is basically a human’s way of living life through values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects. In the well-known movie, Mean Girls, there are a lot of different types and aspects of culture throughout the movie. The movie Mean Girls is about a girl named Cady Heron who lived in Africa and was homeschooled for most of her life, has to attend a public high school called North Shore. She is clueless at first and after a while she makes friends with a group of popular girls known as the Plastics. She fits in quickly and tries to adapt through high school. There are different types of cultures and subcultures at North Shore such as the Plastics, the Jocks, the Nerds, the Cool African Americans, the Cool Asians, the Foreigners, and the Losers. Everyone at North Shore high wants to be like the Plastics so some of the girls like to copy everything the Plastics do such as the way they speak and dress. In addition to that all the students are desperate to fit in so in order for them to do that they have to value sex, drinking, partying, makeup, and other typical teenage stuff. Mean Girls did in fact have a lot of different types of cultural aspects to it and there are strong examples to prove this.
Commonly referred to as a classic by millennials, Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters in 2004, allows an interesting critique of racism when viewed through a sociological lens. The story follows Cady Herron, a normal teenager- except for the fact that she grew up in Africa, homeschooled by her scientist parents- as she is forced to integrate into the public-school system in Illinois. Never having been in an institution like a public school, Cady quickly learns what not to do and who to hang out with. Through trial and error, Cady assimilates and becomes a ‘normal’ American teenager who is part of the ‘popular’ crowd, befriending “The Plastics”; Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners, and their leader, Regina George. The story of Mean Girls is not as superficial as it seems. This film illustrates the perils of not only teenage life, but current life in America, and accurately depicts the struggles that minorities face. Looking at this movie through Functionalist theory, the racial aggressions present are part of a larger institution of the public school system; insinuating that the micro and macro-aggressions directed towards minorities are part of developing the future generation and teaching them to perpetuate racial inequality in America, allowing white people to remain the majority race and to reap the benefits that come with it. The complexity of the movie lies within an interesting discourse that examines the effects and functions behind the racist
Palmer tells stories about her art of asking. She uses twitter to send out tweets and her fans will respond, giving her band a place to stay, eat, or just hang out. Palmer continues to grab the audience’s attention with perplexity. It’s not often you’ll hear of someone couch surfing and crowd surfing. These personal stories give Palmer strong credibility because she went through these experiences first hand. Testimony is used as a support material when Palmer tells the story of pulling up to a poor neighborhood in Miami and finding out the 18-year-old girl they were supposed to stay with lived with the rest of her family, all undocumented immigrants from Honduras. The mother says, "Your music has helped my daughter so much. Thank you for staying here. We 're all so grateful." This quote proves Palmer’s point that they all give and receive so much from each other. When people genuinely see each other, they want to help each other. This goes back to Palmer’s thesis of artists being directly supported by fans.
MTV, formally known as Music Television, is one of the most viewed networks on television today. Roughly thirty-three years old, it has changed the American culture drastically in more than just one way. Specifically targeting teens and young adults, the MTV network provides all of the most up to date gossip on celebrities, highlights the latest fashion trends, promotes versified lifestyles, and defines the music industry of our generation. However, this so-called “idolized network” has not always been this way. The American culture has been affected by MTV through the creation of the network, the transformation from simply just music television to inappropriate reality shows, and the promotion of inappropriate content.
Now a days, we are used to shocking lyrics and eye catching looks. It seems that every artist now is fighting to be so different that everyone is drawn to them. It was not always like this. In the late nineties and early two-thousands, most artists tried to fit in with the other blonde, processed pop stars that the industry was spitting out. When there was an artist who was not always happy and did sing about PG rated topics, they were blamed for what was wrong with the world, especially teenagers. In his article ‘I’d Sell You Suicide: Pop Music and Moral Panic in the Age of Marilyn Manson”, Robert Wright delves into and debunks claims that rock music, especially that of Marilyn Manson, is a main cause for teenage suicide.
Picture this. The year is 1966. A 17 year old girl is huddled closely to the radio in her room, waiting desperately for the new Beatles song to play. She exhales with excitement at the anticipation of buying the new album when is comes, and prays that their tour concert will be in her area this time. Her best friend is sitting next to her, gushing about the events the fanclub they’re part of plans on celebrating this event with. Now fast forward 50 years, to 2016. We now see a 17 year old girl huddled closely to her computer, headphones on and waiting for Monsta X to release their new music video. She switches tabs in her browser and tweets to her friends and followers about supporting “the boys”. Already she has so many ideas for fanfics and