Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. Print
Thompson, Derek. "Toward a Universal Theory of Cool" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 May 2014. Web. 27 Nov, 2015.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Works Cited
Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. Print
Thompson, Derek. "Toward a Universal Theory of Cool" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 May 2014. Web. 27 Nov, 2015.
What Happens Now
Lastly, we have the current decade we are in now. Currently
in this decade social media, gaming, frat culture, as well hipster rap, and
indie rock are currently what is cool. This is mainly due to advancements in
technology, since live streaming is now possible. As well phones allow high quality
pictures, which led to increase popularity of things such as snapchat and Instagram.
These cool things are only possible with technology advancements, since these
are the newest things. Frat culture is becoming very cool and popular, due to
the fact that there has been many famous and influential people representing
this. Such as Ed Helms as well Ed Westwick. These people get others to want to
dress nice, so they can feel as important as them and to feel cool, since these
stars are perceived as cool. Lastly the last trend that is cool, which is hipster
rap and indie rock, which only occurred due to the emergence of new technology.
Since technology allows these musicians to reach a broader audience they have
become more known. These genres are considered cool because current society is
sick of a majority of what mass media produces. For example Rebecca Black was
rejected when the producers tried to force her music to the public, which lead
to people wanting to against it. In conclusion you can see that technology, world
events, and influential people have such a drastic effect on what society perceives
is cool as well what is trending.
2000 New World
In the 2000’s the things that had mainstream appeal were
gaming, social media, celebrity clothing, emo culture, and football. Gaming was
something that was still considered cool during this time period mainly due to
the creation of gaming competitions as well the rise of online games. These
advancements in technology that allowed games to be played online and with
other people was the only reason this occurred, Social media was also a massive
thing that became cool thanks to the likes of Myspace and Facebook. These
platforms allowed a plethora of people to share their thoughts and easily communicate
with friends, which was only possible, due to advancements in technology. In addition
to these trends, many clothing’s trends that became cool such as denim jeans
and bedazzled clothing was mainly due to celebrities. These influential people
basically dictated what was perceived as cool. If Justin Timberlake wore a specific
piece of clothing that piece clothing would now be perceived as cool. This is
how many fashion trends that were considered cool occurred during this decade,
some examples being denim jeans as well emo culture. One may argue emo culture
was due to counter culture, however I believe that is wrong. Klosterman states “they
hate it because it speaks to normal people in a tangible, rational manner”.
(67) Most people who support counter culture believe emo culture became a
thing, since it goes against the norm and how emo culture was mainly for
outsiders. However that is not the case. The catalyst of emo culture was a band
that promoted this type of behavior. The band Green Day was the catalyst of
this movement. People perceive emo culture to be cool due Green Day, since it
was a famous band rather than the fact that it went against the norm
90's
In the 1990’s the things perceived as cool were grunge, pop,
rap, street wear, cartoons, and video games. A majority of these things occurred
to technological advancements as well as many famous musicians that had a
worldwide appeal. Technological advancements allowed video game consoles to
become easily accessible for example the Nintendo 64 and Atari Jaguar. This
made video games very cool and popular, since it was easily accessible and they
were the newest piece of technology. In addition cartoons became popular due to
these advances in technology. This form of media was revived and many people
enjoyed these new action packed cartoons, or extremely profane and funny
cartoons. South Park a show that many people referenced and was very cool only
happened due to the fact that the advancements in technology made it cheaper
for the producers to create this show. Another piece of technology which was CD
player made numerous forms of music cool. Since music was constantly available
more people got to branch out making numerous, genres cool and have a
mainstream appeal. Some examples being Nirvana and Weezer for the grunge genre,
Tupac and Biggie for the rap genre, and N’SYNC and the Back Street Boys for pop.
These iconic bands and people also made each respective genre cool because some
of these bands and people had a cult like followings. One could argue that
without Tupac or Eminem rap would have never been popular, since they were both
catalyst of rap music becoming cool. As one can see technology and influential
people have a drastic effect on what is perceived to be cool.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weezer |
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64 |
The 80's
In the 1980’s many things occurred the Cold War ended,
Basketball rose to fame, a cinematic Renaissance, and a plethora of other
things. This lead to neon clothing, Basketball, many movies such as star wars becoming
a cool trend. The first trend that occurred during the 1980’s was the emergence
of hockey and winter sports, which was due to the Olympics in 1980 where the
United States of America defeated the Soviet Union this lead to a lot of people
purchasing hockey gear in the northern areas of America as well more people
learning how to ski and snowboard. Also since the Cold War ended many people were
now upbeat and happy, which resulted in many clothing changes due to the
happiness. Many people started wearing neon in addition to many other bright
colors. During this decade a plethora fantasy movies were created and were
quite popular such as the last two Star Wars Movies, Friday the 13th,
Back to the Future, and the Terminator. Lastly the emergence of Basketball occurred,
due to the famous Basketball player Michael Jordan which also contributed of
the fashion trend of Jordan shoes. As you can world events and technology advancements
have a drastic effect without the technological advancement in filming Star
Wars and many other high production films would have not been created thus not
being cool. As well, without the Olympics hockey would not have been as
mainstream and popular, since before the Olympics it was not that popular. As one
can see world events and technological advancements are crucial to what people perceive
as cool. Without these factors, none of these things would be considered cool.
 |
| http://www.usahockey.com/miracle |
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| http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/feature/a674237/back-to-the-future-day-october-21-2015-a-definitive-guide-to-hoverboards-chicago-cubs-and-jaws-19/ |
The 70's
In the 1970’s things that were perceived as cool drastically
changed from what were perceived to be cool in the 1960’s. Gaming became very
popular in society with the release the famous game Pong as well the emergence
of punk culture came to society. Some other things that were perceived as cool
during this time were more genres of music such as disco, since the 8 track
came out as well the film franchise Star Wars. During this decade there were
many catalysts to allow these trends to become cool and have a lasting impact
on this decade. Thanks to the Vietnam War and the animosity towards Vietnam
from teenagers and college students punk culture emerged. It was now cool to go
against the man thus making punk culture insanely popular. During the latter
half of the 1970’s things did change though. The emergence of more colorful
clothes had a greater presence in society as well more artistic advances
happened. Being an artist was now considered cool, due to the likes of Roger
Brown and Al Held. As one can see world events and the emergence of new
technology had a massive factor of these things becoming cool and becoming mainstream.
Without the advancements of technology different genres of music such as disco
could have never become a massive trend in society, since the 8 track allowed
more music to be accessible. To further expand without technology the rise of
gaming could have not even occurred without it. Lastly without the Vietnam War punk culture
would have never came to play, since punk culture is about going against the
man. One could argue the Vietnam War was the catalyst of the rise of punk
culture, since the Vietnam War was something a lot of people could stand up
against.
Introduction and the 60's
Throughout the numerous decades in society the perception of
coolness has constantly been changing. This is evident through how certain
fashion trends, forms of media, and a plethora of many other things come and
go. I believe certain world events, influential people, as well the emergence
of new technology drastically affect one’s perception of what is cool and what
is trending. We will start off in the 60’s where the emergence of hippie
culture occurred. During the 1960’s The Cold War was happening and people were
very tense and scared due to the threat of nuclear warfare. This tension led to
people trying to relax and be less worried, which allowed hippie culture to rapidly
expand and become mainstream. The laid back nature of hippie culture allowed
people to find peace and solace during this time of stress. This led to
something many people wanted to be a part of. So you could argue hippie culture
becoming cool and the Cold War, which was a world event has a massive
correlation. One may argue that the reason hippie culture emerged was due to
Counter Culture a concept mentioned by Klosterman in his pop manifesto titled
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, however the logic behind it is quite flawed.
Maragaret C. Campbell states “Cool means departing from norms”. (The Atlantic)
this statement unfortunately lacks a lot of evidence and scientific backing,
since there is a lack of testing as well research. In addition to the previous
statements the trends that were projected to be cool in the 1960’s were also
very prevalent in the 1950’s thus making the argument invalid, since many of
these trends were considered the norm. The fad of Rock and Roll as well the fad
of more action packed movie were both present in the 50’s and 60’s making it
quite normal thus going against the claim of counter culture.
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| http://471665674241657755.weebly.com/blog/the-hippie-movement-of-the-1960s |
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| http://www.hungerresourcenetwork.org/annual-event-2015/ |
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