Being "Cool" seems to have become a trend and competition for teenagers, we strive to be popular, being considered "cool" by most seems to be the key. Why has the idea of achieving maximum "coolness" become dangerous? what won't a teenager to do to gain that title...
Cultural maps, and how the people who are closest to us effect out perspective on life, what is considered to be "cool" and who we surround our self with. Our cultural map leads us to make choices that allows to create new cultural maps. The idea of what is "cool" has seemed to change over time, its almost alarming how much of a competition being considered "cool" has become. There seems be very specific idea (stereotype) of what is normal and "cool" based on peoples race, class and gender. It seems that the ones who are already wealthy don't feel they have to be as obvious about it but the middle/lower class people go out of there way to buy to most expensive brand name stuff to prove a point. A rich white women who lives in a penthouse apartment on the upper west side might have a closet pull of designer top label clothes, but rather than having the designer name printed all over her dress or shoes the label is discreetly hidden in the back, the only way anyone would know would be by looking at the tag. Whereas your average black boy living in a small apartment with his family goes the extra mile to spend 300 on a Gucci belt (that is very obviously Gucci) or ridiculously expensive sneakers that have the brand name on them, the same goes for every other article of clothing they own (coats, jeans, tee-shirts ect.) logic would have it be the opposite way but it seems the people who are not as fortunate seem to have a point to prove. Its "cool" to have expensive stuff.
First impression seems to be all that counts, teenagers especially are judged on what they look like on the outside more than what is behind the mask. As we explored earlier tattoos and piercings have become much more widely acceptable so more people or all gender and race are marking up and putting holes in there bodies. For most races there are things considered "cool" and "not cool" but there seems to be less and less of a distinction between how different races represent them self, it all seems to be blending in with each other. Its still a question i wonder how has this idea or cool vs. uncool was created....
Everyone wants to be cool, I remember for a past HW assignment i ran across an article that said the ultimate compliment or title a teenager looks for is to be called "cool" or considered "cool" by others. Being cool seems to come hand and hand with popularity, when you have a lot of friends you "cool" but u have a lot of friends because your "cool". I think it ultimately is a chase for power, in many cases we take advantage of the people considered to be under us! Where do the ones who don't care about being "cool" and popularity come in? Why is do divided, why do some care and others don't? what is different about that ones who do care vs. the ones who could care less? I think confidence has a lot to do with it, the ones who are confident in the person they are (brains behind beauty) don't feel they need to fit the stereotypes, however the ones who try so hard (beauty before brains) are not as confident and hide behind what makes them appear cool. It would be very interesting to see how different life would be if the roles reversed
I think that advertising to young people (specifically teenagers) is a very smart and tricky trap that we all fall into. Companies and corporations make most of there money from people like us. We just worry about being cool so we will buy what we see being marketed as "the newest and coolest thing". Advertising is what seems to bring markets the most money, but i think it could be very harmful and destructive as well. At a young age we see things we want and we all become consumers at a disturbingly Young age whether we know it or not. If its not your money being spent its your parents (they buy for you what you tell them you like, you only know about it because its being advertised on one way or another).
Especially for our generation is it getting harder and harder (almost near impossible) to avoid advertisements. Because our society is taught to judge more on appearance/class and status the most we desire what we see out there that is "cool". Any teenage would rather go to school everyday sporting the latest name brand clothes than handy me downs. Advertising agency's make money off the dumbed down and ruthless consumers which is the majority of American population. Growing up children don't learn from there parents any better because it seems to be that they are just as sucked in as there kids. If you don't ever have someone telling you "no" don't do something you will never learn that its wrong.
Some advertising is more harmful than others, the tobacco industry is a major one that comes to mind. They spend so much money on sending out the message that smoking is "cool" they endorse movie stars, organize ad campaigns and commercials that all make it look like a positive thing. Now you know they must spend a lot of money to try and make smoking look "cool".
I believe uninvolved parents are part of the reason why children see so many advertisements, from personal experience I never really remember my parents putting a limit to my television or computer time. I know they tired and talked about cutting it down probably about 20 times, it would be enforced for a day then the old routine would start up again. I can only imagine how many other American family's household was similar to mine. Although i think that parents have the ability to monitor the amount of advertisements their children see at home, i think it is almost completely out of there hand when they walk the busy streets of the outside world. Kinda makes me think if teenagers from an urban (city) style life see more advertising outside than ones from the suburbs? Are our values the same?
I wondered myself even though i am on of the many teenagers that morph their bodies to try and prove a point... but what is the point? People who have tattoos and piercings; at one point, thought it would make them different because the next person wouldn't have that same "exact" tattoo or they discovered some new part on their body to put a hole in that no one else would have. Speaking from personal experience i am one of the many that follow the trend, with my many percings, tattoos are soon to come!
Our culture seems to be completely divided in half between people who feel tattooing and piercing your body up is fine and acceptable and others that are strongly against it. As fanning mentioned in class today, tattoo specifically has become a lot more acceptable. When he started adding to his collection of tattoos it was very "taboo" only the convicts, sailors and punk rockers had them. Fanning seemed to be very straight up and honest as far as i could tell when he was put on the spot to answer out questions. He had meaning for some of his tattoos but a lot of them were on his arm because he wanted to fill the the blank spaces. His first tattoo when he was 17 years old was simply a way of rebelling from everyone else growing up in the small town in main where he grew up, growing up he seemed to have find a love for the talent and it took for there works of art to be created. Many of his tattoos are done in a traditional Japanese style different from how artists in the states tackle them. I found that to be very interesting, in many cases i feel that tattoos are a form of art work, he has some really beautiful work! I was suprised to hear that he did not regret getting any of them, i could tell in his case it was more of a practice he did for himself rather than to be "cool" because most of the time the are hidden.
My fascination for tattoos started when i was pretty young. My dad had been a college professor, when my dad was teaching his summer film course in London my mother and I would always move with him. I remember my first ever babysitter was one of his students, her name was Hansey, she was covered in tattoos from neck to toe. when your a young kid (6) surrounded by college students and your the professor's daughter people make a big deal about you, you feel special and everybody seems "cool". I felt like she was the "coolest" person i had even seen, at that age i had not seen very many people quite like her. I clearly remember hanging out in her dorm and along with every tattoo on her body came with its own story. We would talk for hours about what all of them meant to her. From then one i always wanted to be just like her and i knew that i wanted tattoos as well.
I have always watched probably too much TV but about 3 years ago i got hooked on a reality show called Miami Ink that i came across one day on TLC. A camera crew basically filmed inside of their shop and told followed the artists life stories, one of the artists (the only women in the shop) named Kat Von D automatically caught my attention. I think she is the only true beauty that can pull of the amazing amount of work she has on her body including her face, which is covered in stars). She was the bad-ass that just that that something about her, she became an almost role model to me. After she left the show she quickly her own spin off called LA Ink, i made sure to watch it religiously, when i was in LA i made it a priority to visit her tattoo shop and when her book came out i skipped half a day to meet her at the barns and noble near my house when she was having a book signing. I was so happily surprised to see that she was so down to earth and a complete sweet heart which made me even more obsessed. It seems to just take one person to make some look good for everyone else to follow along, she has a huge fan base and is now one of the top leading tattoo artist in the world. To me the appeal is that she plays a very strong female role, she has overcome many obstacles which makes her much more relatable. She exudes confidence which also adds to the appeal.
