schizophrenic ranting

Reflecting upon my blog posts I can’t help but notice how pessimistic and sarcastic I am. Sarcastic I am fine with; it’s by no means an adjective I would use to describe myself, but it comes as no surprise. I would choose witty over sarcastic. And humble. Pessimistic, however, is far from correct. I’m one of the most nauseatingly optimistic people I know. It can sometimes be a problem, especially when my significant other’s pessimism clashes with my sunny view of the world.  Writing is more fun when you’re bashing something, so I’ll forgive myself.

And pessimism, I believe, represents the basis of the problems society (or humankind) faces. In the same way the complaint/praise ratio of any business will be invariably skewed toward the negative, humans are far more interested in the bad than the good. How many of the essays in Discovering Popular Culture are centered on a negative aspect of our culture? I would venture the vast majority if not all of them. Why can’t we have essays praising some aspect of American culture? Are we really that hateful? Is there no one thing everybody can agree on?

Is there nothing in this world that is purely good?

Hip to be square

Mever in history has it been more socially acceptable to be different. There are a plethora of different subcultures and at this point in time just about any person with enough effort will find like-minded people through the miracle that is the internet. Never in history have there been as many separate subcultures as there are right now. One particular contemporary subculture that has really blown up in the past few years is that of the “hipsters”.  Hipsters can be labeled as “recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with interests in non-mainstream fashion and culture, particularly indie rock, independent film, magazines such as Vice and Clash, and websites like Pitchfork Media.”.¹ Prescott in particular has a large collaboration of these people, surprisingly so for a such a quaint city not immediate to a major metropolitan area, where they tend to congregate.

                Society’s view on the hipster subculture is often very conflicting: there are those who hold a deep and perhaps unwarranted hatred, those who love them, and in the center those who are hipsters but will never, ever admit to it no matter how obvious it is to those around them.  The staple of the hipster is the embrace, or rather clawing onto, ironic or passé fashion and fads. Cheesy, non-prescription eyeglasses, vintage fashion, superficial interest and pretension for art, and having a Tumblr.com account are a few of the many signs you may be dealing with one of these hipsters. The complete lack of individuality is the main problem those outside of the scene have. Hipsters borrow elements from what is  around them, a common example being ugly clothing procured from thrift stores worn ironically. One publication referred to Hipsters as “the end product of all prior countercultures … stripped of its subversion and originality.” ¹

1.     1.  http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

I hope I never have girls

The nature of the media and its effect on children is something that has changed very during the past decade or so.  With marketing now commonly targeted to children in the hopes of hooking life-long customers in the name of brand loyalty, children are now one of the top demographics for ad companies.  The targeting of adult-themed products to kids is a byproduct of these kinds of marketing strategies, and as a result I believe we are seeing some unfortunate consequences, especially in little girls.

            How many of the idols we see on television are good influences on our children? An unfortunate result of our worker-bee society is that children are educated by the media more than they probably should be. A parent’s duty should be to educate their children; to at least lead their kids in the right direction for the first dozen or more years of their life so they may make the right decisions later on. Instead we turn to television as a primary means of education. Our girls are barraged with images of their idol acting in ways I will only refer to as “unfortunate”.  Many of the most famous and idolized figures in the media are those who became famous by being marketed to children. Miley Cyrus, Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears are three great examples: children love them on stage, and in the real world these are the archetypes of the women I explicitly hope to avoid raising.  Their continued fame in large is a result of the media obsessively covering them and pushing them upon the public. Our children's major role models are the people we explicitly don’t want them to be.

            And this only takes into account media targeted toward children. Let’s look at entertainment for the in-between crowd: ages 15-25. Some of the hottest shows right now include Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives but there are a slew of shows at the moment with this basic theme of the ritzy, glamorous lives of upper-class adults who act like retarded children. Many of us watch these and laugh at these fools; there is a morbid curiosity that comes along and they can be thoroughly entertaining. This is great for those who know what they’re seeing, however, there is a generation of kids who watch these programs and actually look up to characters such as Snookie. A culture of materialism, promiscuity and asinine behavior and most scarily of all, the pride many have for holding these character traits has developed as a result. There are a large group of children who don’t understand the merit in developing virtuous character because of the repeated drilling of the warped idea of womanhood into fragile young minds. The most frightening thing to me is the fact that even through good parenting one might still lose the mind of a child to this drivel. For my own children, I will do my best to equip them with tools and mental capacity to understood and willingly dissent from the mass brainwashing the media will throw at them their entire lives, and you should do the same.

The Apocalypse in Popular Culture

The concept of the apocalypse, or end of the world for those who prefer to free the idea from ties to any religious ties, is a pop-culture phenomenon we’ve seen make a big return in the last several years. Interest has been regained largely as a result of the Mayan apocalypse theory based around the Mayan calendar ending on December 21^st, 2012.  The end of everything is a powerful image and one that nearly everybody has some vested interested in, including those who believe the theory is a bunch of hooey.

A large amount of hype has surrounded this (proposed) momentous day, and the media in large has taken advantage of it. A number of films involving apocalyptic theme such as 2012, The Road, The Book of Eli have garnered strong box-office numbers. While there has been a long history of films investigating these scenarios since the beginning of cinema, there has been a marked increase as of recent. The zombie general is one notable example: the genre has been revitalized and we have seen several films such as Shaun of the Dead, Grindhouse, I am Legend and Zombieland gain pop culture claim along with a slew of others. A few memorable video game franchises have also been created in Left4Dead and Call of Duty’s Nazi Zombies game mode. Even in literature, the greatest of the arts, zombies have reared their heads. The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Zombies have all been very successful as a result of this culturaal trend.

Regardless of whether this prophecy comes to fruition, the Mayan Prophecy has had a huge impact on the culture of the world.  Just  as the Y2K scare in which many believed something catastrophic would happen at the stroke of the year 2000, ended up being nothing, more than likely the same thing will happen here. Every few years a new theory gains popular support and as a result the media takes hold, perpetuating the improbable for its own profit. Since the dawn of cinema we have had a recurrence of the apocalyptic theme, and within the next several years a new generation of these films will come out to the welcoming masses.

To Love and To Be Loved

Musings on popular culture, specifically unhappiness with the status quo are a common theme in music, but few artists express their distaste as poignantly as Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. His ten minute, all-encompassing masterpiece "To Love and To Be Loved" is a great example, showcasing not only his social awareness, but also the passion and excellent songwriting he brings to the table. 

Over the course of ten minutes, Mr. Oberst touches on a plethora of varying ideas not limited to: consumerism, education and politics, leaving no uncertainty as to his views on each issue. Conor's passion on these issues echoes the sentiments of a large portion of our country who, during the time of the song (2002), were unhappy, with the Bush administration. Public criticism of Bush became fashionable during this time, with bands such as Green Day catapulting to even greater fame by taking advantage of the current political climate. Conor, however, has never let this passion leave him. Bright Eyes' most recent release, The People's Key (2011), also touches on these topics, though in a different light.

The  intro begins with a monologue of an unnamed man speaking about the Bible, Aliens, Reptilians and other such conspiracy theory related things. While Conor Oberst has always had predispositions to talk such as this (in his 2004 release he speaks of revolt and the world "waking up") he never devoted time to it to this degree. Whether the sections of the albums touching on the subject-matter of the Illuminati are farce or ideas he holds, he is bringing the ideas to light in a big way. Talk of the world leaders being of the "reptilian" race has been around for quite a long time, far before Oberst, and there has even been talk of pop icons such as Lady GaGa being a tool of these very same overlords. Whether or not these ideas turn out to be fact or fiction, Conor Oberst brings an interesting angle to the age-old act of criticism government.