How does cool relate to our attempt to live in relation to this emptiness?
Cool as evolved in the human society in a big way, for a very long time. People look at cool as a way to fill in that "emptiness" they feel inside themselves in order to feel like they are someone in the world. This can be looked at in different ways, whether it be positive or negative, or anything else.
Cool itself has been discovered as overated, or better yet, it has been discovered as being non-exsisting. Cool has many multiple definitions, so many that it can't easily be narrowed down to one meaning. However, if you look past that, everyone is able to live through life and have their own perceptions of the word "Cool". After trying to figure out what cool is or what is does for one's benefits; a fork has formed in that path. in other words, in this situation of people using cool to make something out of themselves in life has become suchn a huge topic to think about, that the questioning of the term has been put on the side for the time being.
Over the past few generations, people have been using cool to live their lives. That's right, as weird as it sounds (which that too is weird, since I live on "Cool" in at least one way), it has become true. In the episode, "Merchants of Cool" from the series "Frontline", the topic of cool is explored. More specifically, the show concentrates on corporations trying to get on their buyer's sides in order for them to keep making profits, or maybe in even increase those profits. However, what is also revealed is that corporations aren't selling too many actual products as a main sell anymore, their biggest profit maker is Cool itself.
Corporations know that the general public look up at pop culture as somewhat of an inspiration, so smartly to their benefit, they jumped on that idea and built it into empires. For example, Britney Spears. Britney is looked at as an inspiration, mostly to young, teen girls. Aside from the CDs, the clothes and perfumes, those girls are taking life advice from Britney Spears (which at the time, when she was normal, although it still is a bad ordeal). Girls have looked at Britney Spears as a role model, so when they see what she does and how she lives her life, her young fans follow her lead and copy her. Before Spears made it big, I'm pretty sure there was less attention to "being sexy" being given by people. But now that she's on top of the world, she is now a leader for thousands of followers, waiting for her next move.
Overall, people use pop culture and being cool as a way to push themselves to being someone in this world. This can be looked at as both positive and negative. Positive because more people are being inspired to go out and explore the world, to make an impact on many other people in the process. Negative because while they're doing all this positive stuff, it's based on someone elses actions (little girls being sexy because of Britney Spears' ways). I myself can even admit that me wanting to become a pro wrestler was because of the wrestlers I saw on the TV when I was a young boy who had no idea about going into the world by myslef. All this inspiration, is it nothing more but a joke? It's hard to say. I think this topic can be answered in many different ways, which that itself may be the real reason of this subject.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
HW 29 Merchants of Cool
What are ways that corporations sell their products? Is it wrong that they do it in the ways that they do?
In the video, there are multiple types or views of Cool. The goal of this video in my view was to show how corporations work in order to get in the minds of teenagers of this generation to know what they like and prefer in products such as clothes, games, digital devices, etc. Watching this, it rally got me thinking how corporations work.
Although we may not realize it at first, everything that we buy in today's society has a group of men wearing suits, sitting at a round table. The part where a representative of a company interviewed a handful of teens was an example on what corporations are willing to do to sell their products. The small amount of money that the corporations pay the teens are a small sacrifice to what they will eventually earn from teens including those they paid in the future, as it has already happened many times before.
There were many forms of tricking kids that were revealed in the video such as music, movies, regular TV, among other things have allowed corporations to be in the heads of kids almost all the time. Pop idols like Britney Spears have gone farther than to just sell CDs and some beauty products, she sold "being cool". Now before Britney Spears came along, I'm sure there was less exposure to sex. This is because people like Britney Spears were part of a new era in both the corporation world and eventually with some convincing, the youth into thinking this was the definition of cool. "Girls are taught to flaunt their sexuality even though they don't understand it yet." This is showing that corporations are now going farther than to just sell products, they are now selling ways to live.
This video may be able to open teenager's eyes in realizing what they have been sucked into for the most part of this generation. Corporations at times may being tricking youth int thinking they want to know something for one reason when really they'll just be scurrying back to their respective businesses with new information that's needed to have that business move forward.
In the video, there are multiple types or views of Cool. The goal of this video in my view was to show how corporations work in order to get in the minds of teenagers of this generation to know what they like and prefer in products such as clothes, games, digital devices, etc. Watching this, it rally got me thinking how corporations work.
Although we may not realize it at first, everything that we buy in today's society has a group of men wearing suits, sitting at a round table. The part where a representative of a company interviewed a handful of teens was an example on what corporations are willing to do to sell their products. The small amount of money that the corporations pay the teens are a small sacrifice to what they will eventually earn from teens including those they paid in the future, as it has already happened many times before.
There were many forms of tricking kids that were revealed in the video such as music, movies, regular TV, among other things have allowed corporations to be in the heads of kids almost all the time. Pop idols like Britney Spears have gone farther than to just sell CDs and some beauty products, she sold "being cool". Now before Britney Spears came along, I'm sure there was less exposure to sex. This is because people like Britney Spears were part of a new era in both the corporation world and eventually with some convincing, the youth into thinking this was the definition of cool. "Girls are taught to flaunt their sexuality even though they don't understand it yet." This is showing that corporations are now going farther than to just sell products, they are now selling ways to live.
This video may be able to open teenager's eyes in realizing what they have been sucked into for the most part of this generation. Corporations at times may being tricking youth int thinking they want to know something for one reason when really they'll just be scurrying back to their respective businesses with new information that's needed to have that business move forward.
Monday, December 7, 2009
HW 28- Informal Research- TV Shows, Internet and Magazines
http://ardictionary.com/Cool/11949
This page just simply listed the 20 plus definitions of cool. Although this may seem to lack any evidence as to what cool is, to me it does. Being that there is a lot more than one definition for the word "cool" makes me realize that there really isn't one, solid definition. Although I discussed my personal reasoning before, this further evaluates that there is indeed literally multiple definitions out there that vary from temperature to social status.
http://www.fenichel.com/Cool.shtml
This article interested me a lot. This article explained that being "cool" has influenced society's youth in situations that lead to peer pressure, self esteem and other youth situations. This article had me thinking on how "cool" could impact people so much, even when "cool" doesn't even have a real definition.
http://www.whatiscool.org/Cool%20%20Defined.html
This article had me laughing a bit, as it made fun of what people look at as being "cool". There is one line that can summarize this sarcasm. " Smoking's also pretty cool, and can make almost anyone look cooler. If you take this approach, you just have to remember not to think about the inevitable throat cancer looming on the horizon". This shows how a lot of people's perceptions of "cool" are just straight wrong.
This page just simply listed the 20 plus definitions of cool. Although this may seem to lack any evidence as to what cool is, to me it does. Being that there is a lot more than one definition for the word "cool" makes me realize that there really isn't one, solid definition. Although I discussed my personal reasoning before, this further evaluates that there is indeed literally multiple definitions out there that vary from temperature to social status.
http://www.fenichel.com/Cool.shtml
This article interested me a lot. This article explained that being "cool" has influenced society's youth in situations that lead to peer pressure, self esteem and other youth situations. This article had me thinking on how "cool" could impact people so much, even when "cool" doesn't even have a real definition.
http://www.whatiscool.org/Cool%20%20Defined.html
This article had me laughing a bit, as it made fun of what people look at as being "cool". There is one line that can summarize this sarcasm. " Smoking's also pretty cool, and can make almost anyone look cooler. If you take this approach, you just have to remember not to think about the inevitable throat cancer looming on the horizon". This shows how a lot of people's perceptions of "cool" are just straight wrong.
Monday, November 30, 2009
HW 27 Informal Research- Interviews and Surveys
The family member I chose looks at being cool the same basic way that I do. She looks at cool as being yourself, not pretending to live in a different way just to impress another person or a group of people. Being yourself makes you identify yourself to the world, to people who will end up being your friends because they like the real you. As I've realized, this family member said there is no real definition of cool. However, she said the idea of cool can be looked at in a different light, which would be the right way. In life, you should just worry about living your life the way YOU want to, to the best of YOUR ability. Although there is no real definition of cool, since society has picked up the term anyway, that is what "Cool" is.
Monday, November 23, 2009
HW 25 Story Comments and Analysis
PART 1
To Victor,
I liked your story and the message that it put out. Overall, from your story, the idea I got was that people allow fear to get out of the way of our minds and replace it with the thought of Cool. I like the story itself too. Good Job.
To Bryanna,
I liked your story. I think your deep message says a lot. Like Victor's paper, which I read before, in the story you interpret how fear of a person can trick others into thinking that feared person is cool. Great Job.
To Matt,
Although your story was read out loud, i decided to read it again. First off, it's an overall great story, with great interaction taking place between the characters. To me, your story shows how topics such as sex are today's "cool" topics. In your story, one character questions why the other character trying to be cool does the things she does. I think ALOT of people need that same reality check. Good Job.
Michelle,
Overall, your story describes what people would look at as being "cool". I thought a lot while reading your story. Long black hair, not seeming to care about class, leather jackets and skateboards, these things are things that are called cool in today's society. It's funny because the same people who call those things cool don't even know the meaning of the word "cool". Good Story.
Conor,
This is a good story. It demonstrates what people in society look at as being "cool". Reading your story, This Bobby character, just seems so familiar, but it may just be my imagination. Good story.
PART 2
After reading a couple of short stories, I sit back and just feel confused. All the stories are great. In fact, the stories paint a very accurate picture of what people look at as being cool today. However, 2 things are wrong with that picture. 1, there is really no definition of "cool", so how can we determine what cool is, and 2, if "cool" meant what society made it out to be, why are the things that people look at as "cool" even "cool"in the first place?
In 5 stories,i got the basic assumption that people looked at people who don't really care about anything other than themselves as being "cool" people. Not caring much about school, teasing others, these are our definitions of "cool"? That's pretty scary.
Although it has come to a conclusion that there is no such thing as "cool", it's too late to kick it out of our lives now. So with that being said, if we have to define "cool", can't we define it in the right way? Having a dream in life, doing all your homework, knowing about important devices such as computers, these are the things that really matter, these things should be looked at as being "cool".
Overall, I think all the students that went through this unit learned a lot about something that's been apart of their lives for almost their whole lives. Being "cool", has been explored and is probably now being looked at differently than a lot of people, who are probably thinking themselves how they can ever think what they thought was "cool" before, "cool" to them at one point. It just shows that it's not just the word ":cool",it's a lot more words and topics that haven't been explored yet that remain a mystery. Although civilization has existed for thousands of years, nobody has the right to say that a word has a definition, because there is no such thing as words or definitions that mean the same thing that we thing it means. Could it be that we are just living one very big lie? I think a lot more exploring needs to be done to conclude something that big.
To Victor,
I liked your story and the message that it put out. Overall, from your story, the idea I got was that people allow fear to get out of the way of our minds and replace it with the thought of Cool. I like the story itself too. Good Job.
To Bryanna,
I liked your story. I think your deep message says a lot. Like Victor's paper, which I read before, in the story you interpret how fear of a person can trick others into thinking that feared person is cool. Great Job.
To Matt,
Although your story was read out loud, i decided to read it again. First off, it's an overall great story, with great interaction taking place between the characters. To me, your story shows how topics such as sex are today's "cool" topics. In your story, one character questions why the other character trying to be cool does the things she does. I think ALOT of people need that same reality check. Good Job.
Michelle,
Overall, your story describes what people would look at as being "cool". I thought a lot while reading your story. Long black hair, not seeming to care about class, leather jackets and skateboards, these things are things that are called cool in today's society. It's funny because the same people who call those things cool don't even know the meaning of the word "cool". Good Story.
Conor,
This is a good story. It demonstrates what people in society look at as being "cool". Reading your story, This Bobby character, just seems so familiar, but it may just be my imagination. Good story.
PART 2
After reading a couple of short stories, I sit back and just feel confused. All the stories are great. In fact, the stories paint a very accurate picture of what people look at as being cool today. However, 2 things are wrong with that picture. 1, there is really no definition of "cool", so how can we determine what cool is, and 2, if "cool" meant what society made it out to be, why are the things that people look at as "cool" even "cool"in the first place?
In 5 stories,i got the basic assumption that people looked at people who don't really care about anything other than themselves as being "cool" people. Not caring much about school, teasing others, these are our definitions of "cool"? That's pretty scary.
Although it has come to a conclusion that there is no such thing as "cool", it's too late to kick it out of our lives now. So with that being said, if we have to define "cool", can't we define it in the right way? Having a dream in life, doing all your homework, knowing about important devices such as computers, these are the things that really matter, these things should be looked at as being "cool".
Overall, I think all the students that went through this unit learned a lot about something that's been apart of their lives for almost their whole lives. Being "cool", has been explored and is probably now being looked at differently than a lot of people, who are probably thinking themselves how they can ever think what they thought was "cool" before, "cool" to them at one point. It just shows that it's not just the word ":cool",it's a lot more words and topics that haven't been explored yet that remain a mystery. Although civilization has existed for thousands of years, nobody has the right to say that a word has a definition, because there is no such thing as words or definitions that mean the same thing that we thing it means. Could it be that we are just living one very big lie? I think a lot more exploring needs to be done to conclude something that big.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
HW 24 Short Story 1
Eric walked to school the next morning feeling confident in his newly purchased clothes. He was practically 100% sure that these clothes would help him in his mission in getting the attention of the "cool" kids. As he got closer to his school, he remembered the hour long training session of "cool talk" he went through the night before, which brought a smile to his face. He was ready.
As he entered the building, all he could think was to not look anywhere other than straight in front of him. he had to pretend that he didn't care what other kids were thinking of his new transformation. After all, he was "cool" now. He arrived to class and took a seat in the back. He had trouble sitting down with the amount of excitment building up inside of him. " This is what I worked for", he thought. His plan was running smoothly, nothing could stop him. As he kept pondering what his next "cool" move would be, that's when THEY walked in. The people who Eric desperatly wanted to be accepted by, the people who were the celebrities of the school. He stared at them and envied their pride and glory. He wanted it, he craved it.
After class, he rushed out of class to catch up with the "cool" kids, hoping to say something, anything to them. As long as it was "cool". But Eric stopped running, and his expression changed. he still saw the popular kids, but he now saw them picking on two kids. These kids, who looked like midgets, stood there and took the verbal assault that the cool kids were handing out to them. Eric, who started to get disgusted, wondered just how these kids could be such A-holes and how he didn't realize it. Once he heard the thud of one of the bullied kids getting pushed into the lockers, that was the final straw. He rushed up and went staright for the leader of the former school Gods.
"If you want to pick on someone, pick on me", said Eric.
The cool kids, looking at Eric with confusion, backed off like the cowards they really were and continued down the hall.
Later that night, Eric took a long, deep stare into his mirror, wondering what had happened to him over the past couple of days. After droping the last piece of his new clothing into the big bin, he topped it off with the lid and put it in his closet. he then took a look at his old clothes. He then started to go through them, figuring out which shirt he would wear the next day. Rather than concentrate on what he would do to try and impress someone else, he was now concentrating on which shirt he should wear to impress himself.
As he entered the building, all he could think was to not look anywhere other than straight in front of him. he had to pretend that he didn't care what other kids were thinking of his new transformation. After all, he was "cool" now. He arrived to class and took a seat in the back. He had trouble sitting down with the amount of excitment building up inside of him. " This is what I worked for", he thought. His plan was running smoothly, nothing could stop him. As he kept pondering what his next "cool" move would be, that's when THEY walked in. The people who Eric desperatly wanted to be accepted by, the people who were the celebrities of the school. He stared at them and envied their pride and glory. He wanted it, he craved it.
After class, he rushed out of class to catch up with the "cool" kids, hoping to say something, anything to them. As long as it was "cool". But Eric stopped running, and his expression changed. he still saw the popular kids, but he now saw them picking on two kids. These kids, who looked like midgets, stood there and took the verbal assault that the cool kids were handing out to them. Eric, who started to get disgusted, wondered just how these kids could be such A-holes and how he didn't realize it. Once he heard the thud of one of the bullied kids getting pushed into the lockers, that was the final straw. He rushed up and went staright for the leader of the former school Gods.
"If you want to pick on someone, pick on me", said Eric.
The cool kids, looking at Eric with confusion, backed off like the cowards they really were and continued down the hall.
Later that night, Eric took a long, deep stare into his mirror, wondering what had happened to him over the past couple of days. After droping the last piece of his new clothing into the big bin, he topped it off with the lid and put it in his closet. he then took a look at his old clothes. He then started to go through them, figuring out which shirt he would wear the next day. Rather than concentrate on what he would do to try and impress someone else, he was now concentrating on which shirt he should wear to impress himself.
Monday, November 16, 2009
HW 23 First Constructivist Exploration of Cool
I don't think there is only one kind of Cool, no matter what people's perceptions of the definition are. In other words, what's cool in one social circle doesn't have to be cool in other social circles. I don't think there's one kind of cool for everyone living, which is why I say that there isn't a definite definition.
When it comes to the actual concept of Cool, I think cool is the process of being accepted either by people who are onlookers to the person, or being accepted into social groups based on the person him/her self. This connects back to my earlier idea of there not being one definition of cool. Whoever you hang out with socially, you obviously accepted them socially, showing that you think they are cool, and vice versa. This can absolutely be seen in different ways in different groups. For example, in one group, the newest Jordan sneakers that came out could be looked at as a cool topic, while in another group, that is just irrelevant. This kind of situation happens everyday. I'll give an example right now.
One situation could be that some people may think one kid is cooler than another kid because the first kid is more athletic, while the second kid is more into computers. Both those kids are definitely cool in their own ways, one is not cooler than the other. Sure, the first kid is more athletic than the second kid, what does that mean? Why is he cool? I bet if there was an actual situation like this ( which there is, and it happens everyday) and I walked up to the people who think the athletic kid is cool and asked them "Why is he cool? Better yet, what is Cool?", they'd have a hard time to have an accurate answer. I'll gladly admit that before I got down to thinking what cool is, I would've been in the same predicament where I didn't know what cool actually meant. Now that I was able to think about it, i know now that there is no such definition for Cool.
Without really deeply thinking about the term Cool, people may just assume that society is divided into the Cool people and the not so Cool people. Now that I had a chance to really think, as well as have it as a topic of discussion in class, I disagree with that assumption. To me, there is no exact definition of Cool, and it could be interpreted in many ways. To me, Cool is a process in which people accept and/or like People or Things. They look at them/it as being enjoyable or fun to be around. They give their respect to that person or object and want to be around them/it whenever they can. That is only part of my idea to what cool is. All I know is Cool isn't something that can be defined, just something that can be interpreted in may different ways by us.
When it comes to the actual concept of Cool, I think cool is the process of being accepted either by people who are onlookers to the person, or being accepted into social groups based on the person him/her self. This connects back to my earlier idea of there not being one definition of cool. Whoever you hang out with socially, you obviously accepted them socially, showing that you think they are cool, and vice versa. This can absolutely be seen in different ways in different groups. For example, in one group, the newest Jordan sneakers that came out could be looked at as a cool topic, while in another group, that is just irrelevant. This kind of situation happens everyday. I'll give an example right now.
One situation could be that some people may think one kid is cooler than another kid because the first kid is more athletic, while the second kid is more into computers. Both those kids are definitely cool in their own ways, one is not cooler than the other. Sure, the first kid is more athletic than the second kid, what does that mean? Why is he cool? I bet if there was an actual situation like this ( which there is, and it happens everyday) and I walked up to the people who think the athletic kid is cool and asked them "Why is he cool? Better yet, what is Cool?", they'd have a hard time to have an accurate answer. I'll gladly admit that before I got down to thinking what cool is, I would've been in the same predicament where I didn't know what cool actually meant. Now that I was able to think about it, i know now that there is no such definition for Cool.
Without really deeply thinking about the term Cool, people may just assume that society is divided into the Cool people and the not so Cool people. Now that I had a chance to really think, as well as have it as a topic of discussion in class, I disagree with that assumption. To me, there is no exact definition of Cool, and it could be interpreted in many ways. To me, Cool is a process in which people accept and/or like People or Things. They look at them/it as being enjoyable or fun to be around. They give their respect to that person or object and want to be around them/it whenever they can. That is only part of my idea to what cool is. All I know is Cool isn't something that can be defined, just something that can be interpreted in may different ways by us.
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