Final Project: Pop Music and the Culture of Cool

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojrv7eqxhgjuopr/Nile%27s%20Final%20Video%20Render.mp4


I couldn't get the video to embed correctly so I there is the link.

We felt that music and its effect on people and culture was underrepresented in this class so we went to the billboard charts and picked from the top songs to show how these songs shape the dress, attitude, and lives of the listeners.

*we don't claim any ownership of the music used in this video, it is used for educational purposes only. All music credit goes to the owners and copyright holders*

Nile Wright, Jenna Jessen, Raegan Werner, Michael Mathis, Nathan Maude

Honey Boo Boo

Here comes Honey Boo Boo is a show that i despise greatly. I myself think the show is absolutely ridiculous and why anyone would ever watch it is beyond me. I guess its a good thing i am not the director of this or i would be completely wrong. If you ask a random person on the street if they know what Honey Boo Boo is they will more than likely say yes with either a great happy expression or more than likely they will roll their eyes. Me, I am the one to roll my eyes. I think networks like Discovery, TLC, and A&E have taken the reality TV shows a little to far. They want to hook the audience in by showing you the extreme's of reality, from the New Jersey House Wives to the other spectrum of Honey Boo Boo. They take people that you would portray as trashy or redneck and turn them into what the general public would see them as and in return Honey Boo Boo's family makes millions of dollars off of it. When the mom of Honey Boo Boo went on a popular talk show they admittedly targeted her shoes she had on as comfortable and cheap but might be frowned upon if wore in public "or on a live talk show" for that matter. But when they started talking about what she has done with her money from the show and she goes into talking about her trips around the world with her kids so her kids can experience the world and open their minds. But she has also set aside money for their college and for when they move out of the house and start their lives, it shows some "responsibility" and shows the audience that she is not some trashy mom who enters her (below average) looking daughter in pageants. I hate the way networks are comping up with all these ridiculous shows and paying these people to act "Normal" but in reality they are being told what to say and how to act. In my opinion they reality TV shows have gone to far.

Wii Shall Overcome

In the article Wii Shall Overcome talks about the positives of the gaming world. Jane McGonigal is Americas next guru of gaming. McGonigal believes that video games can fix the planet's toughest problems. She even purposes the bold idea that kids spend an average of more than 10,000 hours fiddling with consoles and controllers before they turn 21, could wind up stopping climate change with their PlayStations! This might be a very bold statement but shes trying to get her point across that there is a lot to learn from video games and how it opens up the minds to new ideas and lets us as "gamer's" think differently. She also takes the aspect of "insisting that by giving us a sense of accomplishment, meaning, and productivity, games are creating a new breed of "super-empowered hopeful individuals, poised to transition from saving virtual worlds to saving the real one. From my aspect of this situation i think this idea is a little far fetched. Just because a 6 year old can drive a car in a video game does not mean they can drive a car in real life. People can "save the world" or "find a cure for cancer" in a video game but they cant in real life. Video games have it set up so you can achieve your task and get that "epic-win" therefore you don't get bored with the game. But real life does not care if you get bored or not. I understand her idea and the direction she is going with it but i am not buying her idea.

Mathew Shepard

Mathew Shepard was a 21 year old gay man lured from a bar and beaten to death while tied to a fence.  A biker found him the next day and Mathew soon died after 5 days in the hospital. This ordeal received a lot of attention in the media. But what I still do not understand is why people have to be so cruel in this world. I have zero problems with gays and the fact that people go out of their way just to hurt, abuse, and kill others because of their sexuality is beyond me. It’s now 2013 and believe it or not there are gay people in this world. I am not for gays nor against gays, I believe we as humans need to do what makes us happy and comfortable, because at the end of the day it is our lives and we only get one life to live so we better be happy doing it. The media was a big part in this case. If he would have just been shot in the head we would have never heard about it but because he was beaten and burned and laid in the hospital for 5 days we heard of it. There were candle lighting's and protest for gay rights but at the end of the day the prejudice and hate continued and no political change happened. I believe as days, months, and years go by people will get more use to people becoming gay or lesbian. It’s like in the early 1900’s and the African Americans, racism is something you are taught not born with. As time goes on I believe that gays will be more accepted in our culture and in time things like this will never happen again. 

Food movement and going against big business

Believe it or not in today’s world “Food” is becoming a major topic in our society. Food and advertising is absolutely everywhere we look and most of the time the advertising is marketing to us the next best thing for the cheapest price, along with their flashy billboard to catch our attention. This all started in the 70’s when the movement started to make food “affordable”. Making food affordable is neither the easiest nor the safest process. Big companies use chemicals to make their food grow faster, larger, and last longer. This is great for the “Big Business” because it is cash in their pockets, but this is not the best for the customers on the receiving end, putting these processed food and chemicals in our body. Because of these actions there has been a food movement taking place. The food movement is all about putting the big businesses out of business for many reasons. The big business is producing so much cheap bad food they’ll need more and more people working for them making minimum wage. In return more people’s incomes will not be the most stable, therefore they have no other option than to eat cheap fast food, simply because it is all that they can afford. This brings me to my next point, the food movement. The food movement is all about local farmers markets where you can buy food for cheap and chemically free, also a huge trend these days is to buy local. When you buy local your money does not go into the big business pockets and it goes into the pocket of your local farmer who isn't using mass production to grow his food. It’s the little things we can do to show our muscles to the big business. I believe buying local and local farmers markets will continue to grow across the country. You have to keep taking little steps in order to achieve your goal of the “food movement”, you can’t go for the home run all at once or it will not work out. But I believe the “food movement” is on the right track and will continue to pick up steam and become more popular in the days and years to come. 

Have you played the war on terror?

In today’s media popular culture and warfare seem to go hand in hand.  Stated in the article, “War” can be counted among the most fluid words in the English language, and its usage is largely tethered both to the state of technology and technologies of state.” Liked we talked about in class today; War seems to be a common thing in the United States media. We have been in 10 significant wars in the past 200 years.  The United States is looked at like the world police therefore we enter wars other countries would not. But most people that have this fascination with war often have not been. People who have not been in the military or in war get their fix or fascination with war through some movies but mostly video games. Call of Duty and other video games like it give the player a real life idea of war but played out through a video game, therefore you get the thrill without facing the consequences. War games like call of duty are also re-shaping the military in a couple different ways. Obviously people become fans of the game therefore think they can do it in real life or choose to pursue a career in the military, which is fine I just suggest they do their research of the military and what it entails before they enlist, not everyone is cut out for this job. The military has taken advantage of the aspect of video games and war. They have spent 13 million dollars on a virtual simulator in a mall in Philadelphia where people can come and experience 3-D real life simulations and get an idea of what it is like to be in war without actually being there. This has worked into the military’s favor by getting young adults in there store and experiencing what it’s like because the young adults want to learn and know more about the military. In return they have people in the store working that have served in the military and they are able to inform the customers and recruit those young adults for the military that day. I think this is smart for the military for two reasons. One they get to educate the young adults on what war is like but it also works in their favor and they are able to recruit for the military if people are interested. Last is the relationship between the gaming world and the real life ground war. The military is using remote controls these days to control high tech robots or even planes. Many people in the military today are familiar with war games and gaming controllers therefore when it comes to operating a remote control robot or airplane it will be an easier much faster learning process that they feel comfortable with. In conclusion I believe that what the military is doing to recruit is genius but also need to properly inform the recruits and it is also the recruit’s job to properly inform themselves. I am also all for making it easier for our military to train and operate their equipment and soldiers to gaming controls because that’s what our young adults going into the military are familiar with. In today’s world it’s all about adapting to your surroundings.