The Portrayal Analysis Of Super Rich Kids By Frank Ocean

Every kid wants to be cool, and advertisers know that. This is the main idea explored by Juliet Schor in her article “Selling to Children: The Marketing of Cool”. This article originally appeared in Schor’s 2004 book Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer. The author is an expert on the topic of behavior in humans and the economy, as she has taught sociology and economics at multiple universities. In her article, Schor explains to the reader how companies market to children, specifically through the lens of cool. Marketers achieve “cool” by various means, three of which are examined by Schor. In her article, Schor examines the ideas of street-culture, an anti-adult bias, and age compression and how they are perceived as cool in the world of advertising to children.

Kanye West produced the popular song “All Falls Down” in 2004. He is well known for creating many wonderful tunes but this one stands out above the rest. While his other songs contain bass-heavy instrumentals and contain lyrics about money and women, this one is strays away from the previous structures. “All Falls Down” catches the attention of youth, with its mellow melody, to send a strong message concerning the overemphasis on money and education and how it can be harmful through the lyrics. The issues contained in the message are highly focused on the idea that money and education will not always be there

Modern culture promotes having fun and doing what feels good in the moment. Connie has poor communication with her family, shown by her rebellious behavior and lack of respect for her parents. She chooses to distance herself from her family which results in them not being there when she needs them the most. Parents are supposed to be protectors and leaders in their children’s lives and when these key aspects are not present, a window is opened for the victimization of youth. The consequences of such situations result in a predicament like Connie’s and becomes an immense concern for the effects that modern culture has on

Ocean once more talks about the trouble with love he experienced as a teen, in his song “White Ferrari”. This song begins with him stating that he was 16 and didn’t know that his actions had consequences that could lead to

Today many people feel compelled to buy anything or everything with an expensive price tag. This includes Expensive designer clothes, latest gadgets, expensive vehicles and many other similar things. This form of consumerism has embedded itself in today’s society; where it's encouraged to invest in such materialistic possessions. Kanye West is an African-American rapper, producer, and entrepreneur, who articulates his struggle with consumerism and the struggle for those around him in his song “All Falls Down.” West, utilizes puns, rhyme, and juxtaposition to highlight the issues surrounding materialism that can be interpreted differently by different listeners such as African Americans and White Americans.

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)

The feel-good essence of a lot of commercial pop music has the outcome of concealing the reality of structural where a people may not be treated as equals around the world (McKay, 2000, p.2). Therefore, commercial pop music has the triple socialising effect of having listeners forget the environment that they live in, having them believe there is validity in commercial power, and of muting people by mass-producing blaring, fused type of pop music while censoring others. This is concerning since the increasing variety of media controlled by the same corporations. An argument to this is that this feel-good aspect can help consumers feel, that they have escaped the conditions they live in. (McKay, 2000,

Alistair Macleod writes of a person who is unable to make a coherent decision of his career path due to the pressures placed on him by his parents in the story, "The Boat". Being the eldest child as well as coming from a family with a history of academic success, the pressures that I face often stem from high standards set in place by my parents with regards to my performance in school. In the story, it is evident that the narrator's father cares deeply about their children. This can be seen when the father says to his son, " 'That is no way to make a decision,' he said, 'and if you are satisfied I am not. It is best that you go back' “(188). He understands the situation that his son is in and wishes for what is he believes to be the best for him; to go to school instead of remaining in his hometown as a fisher. Similarly, I believe that the same case can be made for the source of the expectations set by my parents. Despite my father’s scholastic achievements, due to

In the opening of this documentary, the first shots are of the beautiful buildings, expensive cars, and even white-gloved doorman standing outside, all of the materialistic things. This is the life that most wish to live. The media even will try to persuade people that this is the “dream”, the life that everyone works towards and wants to live. In reality though, can most people even consider this goal attainable? This is the question that director Alex Gibney visits and revisits multiple times within this documentary. Light is shed on the gap between the rich and the poor and how the gap has been widened by the political manipulations of the country’s wealthiest citizens. 740

In Robert Putnam’s “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis”, we are introduced to stories that give us glimpses into the lives of youth across America. The stories represent and act as examples of the two very different groups of youth living in our nation today: children born to parents who are educated, and children born to those who likely only graduated high-school and are struggling to stay afloat economically. There are the rich kids and the poor kids, and, as his book and his research illustrate, the gap between the two continues to grow. National trends regarding rising income inequality, the disappearance of the working-class family, and growing class segregation show that the lives and experiences of rich kids and poor kids are drastically different and continue to veer further and further apart. The subject of his book is the “nationwide increase in class inequality- how the class-based opportunity gap among young people has widened in recent decades” (p. 19) and his thesis is that instead of simply talking about inequality of income among adults, we have to focus on this opportunity gap and work to begin closing it.

Music is part of everyday life and serves as the center of many cultures across the world. Music brings out the best parts of a movie, a car ride, or even a special event. The purpose of music varies from artist to artist and different cultures. Every piece of music carries a unique message, but a song, in particular, carries meaning. “Runaway Love” by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige, exploits the struggles of young girls by using rhetorical techniques, such as pathos, ethos, logos, tone, and visual rhetoric throughout the music video to raise national awareness about youth runaways.

Our second essay is a response to the readings from the Chapter “Is Pop Culture Actually Good For You?” and should include specific references to the text when appropriate. You may also develop the essays with examples from your own lives or other courses you may have taken that covered similar themes. In other words, personal experience is o.k. to use as evidence in your essay, but keep in mind that this essay is primarily a response to a text. You must use at least one of the texts as the “they say” to your “I say.”

According to researchers Christenson and Roberts, “American adolescents spend…between four and five hours a day listening to music…[which is] at least as much time as they spend watching standard television fare and more than they spend with their friends outside of school” (8). Music media influences the lives of adolescents in a number of ways. It “…alters and intensifies their moods, furnishes much of their slang [and] provides models for how they act…” (Christenson and Roberts 8). Music plays an important role in the lives of adolescents. They spend as much time, if not more, listening to music as they spend watching television, and therefore, music deserves additional scholarly attention.

In today’s society, is the media mirroring our behavior, or are we mirroring the media’s portrayal of us? That question was posed in the documentary “The Merchants of Cool”, narrated by Douglas Rushkoff. This program examined the teenage culture and how the media is used to manipulate and portray our generation. With examples from Sprite, MTV, WB, and other massive media outlets, evidence is shown that our media-teenager relationship is tainted with sex, music, rebellion and a broad image of what it is to be “cool”. Most of the images portrayed of teenagers aren’t the best. With TV shows such as “MTV Spring Cruise”, teenagers are shown as sex-driven, reckless kids. TV corruption is just one of many examples of the blurred line between reality and perception in media and advertising.

Let's take rap. Some kids who like rap talk like rappers, dress like rappers, eat like rappers, and treat women like rappers treat women. Is it because they're influenced by what they see on TV or hear on their favourite rap artist's album?” Glen Chiacchieri makes it clear that there are many aspects of culture that are dependent on Music, and that music has been, and that the way people lived there lives are affected by music and popular culture.