Media literacy blogs.

There are some useful blogs for you to visit if you want to find out more about issues of the interaction of media and modern society.

Martin explored the increasing trend to incorporate images of sex into advertisement these days. Provoking and controversial images sell, that’s why we have them all over the place.

Linda wrote about controversial advertising in general with lots of good examples of how controversy draws desired attention to the companies.

Zhazira has a lot of interesting and useful information on media influencing young women and encouraging eating disorders.

Barabara wrote how desensetization occurs, as a primary effect of watching violence on media and why is it important.

And finally, Greg explored the advantages and disadvantages of media technology and how techonological advancements affect people.

Films about music.

There are so many movies about music, musicians and subcultures. I’m going to mention some of those that are worth watching.

‘American Hardcore’ – the history of American 80s punk rock. A decent documentary, however, it definitely misses out some important bands.

’24 Hour Party People’ and ‘Control’ – two feature movies based on real events. The story of Manchester rock scene, Tony Wilson and his record label. ‘Control’ is a biopic of Ian Curtis, a singer of Joy Division, who committed suicide at the age of 23.

‘SLC Punk’ – “To be an anarchist in Salt Lake City was certainly no easy task, especially in 1985. And having no money, no job, no plans for the future, the true anarchist position was in itself a strenuous job.”

‘I’m Not There’ – a Bob Dylan biopic. Six characters trying to show different aspects of his life.

‘The U.S. vs John Lennon’ – a documentary that shows another dimension of John Lennon’s life as an antiwar activist and how the U.S. government tried to silence him.

‘Party Monster’ – a true story of Michael Alig and the “Club Kids” subculture.

Links.

Your Scene Sucks. –

“wouldn’t it be more of an act of rebellion if you didn’t spend so much time buying blue hair dye and going out to get punky clothes? it seems so petty. stop me if I’m being offensive. you wanna be an individual, right? you look like you’re wearing a uniform. you look like a punk. that’s not rebellion. that’s fashion.”

– slc punk [a movie]

Fashion is inspired by music. Music has its own fashion. Everyone claims to be an individual while clearly being one of the sheep in the flock. This website offers a variety of “subculture” representatives that are basically a “uniform” look for people who listen to similar types of music. Unfortunately, it’s common these days to adopt certain style in order to fit into desired subculture without knowing anything about it.

Straight Edge. – It is one of the most interesting and self-beneficial subcultural hardcore movement for young people. No drinking, no smoking, no drugs, no meat, no casual sex. The whole subculture, its name and ideology emerged directly from a song called “Straight Edge” by Minor Threat.

I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don’t even think about speed
That’s something I just don’t need
I’VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
‘Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I’VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE

Sisterhood. – an online zine and community run by ladies of a straight edge movement. Hardcore scene has long kept a stage reserved for men primarily. These girls stand against violence, elitism, sexism, racism or discrimination in any form. Gender based sub development of a hardcore subculture.

Hipster Hunter. – according to this website, pretty much everyone is a hipster. It has numerous classifications and rants (including “Was Hitler a Closet Hipster?” and “Bird Nest Hairpiece”) See if you can be “labeled”.

Emu? Elmo? Emma? Emo.

There’s been much fuss about emo kids taking over the planet lately. I assume everyone already knows what is it if not, I recommend to visit this website to find out.

Emo is the example of how an underground subculture was completely eaten and distorted by a mainstream. Back in the day, it was just another name for the type of music, such as pop, electro or folk. Apparently, now it’s a mock word for most black-haired teenagers.

Commercial adaptation of a certain subculture is most feared by its members. From a small group of people subculture spreads out to larger groups and eventually might end up becoming a part of mainstream as it has happened with hip-hop subculture. With such assimilation the original ideology looses its meaning, and it all goes down to music and clothing style. As an example, punk was declared “dead” ever since it’s been commercialized and exploited by a mainstream culture. Some subcultures stress the point that it is important to hold on to ideology rather than rely on looks while being a part of certain subculture. Those who adopt music and clothing style without any knowledge of original roots and meaning of subcultures are usually labeled as “posers”.

These are the recent news reports on rapidly evolving emo/scene movement.

Notice how almost all reports begin with a warning to parents…

They have most  primary characteristics of a newsworthy event:

Personalization – all news stories are about local kids.

 Action – moms calling their kids to find out what is actually emo. Footage of concerts.

Novelty and deviance – a new subculutre that is considered to be dangerous for teenagers. 

Drama and conflict – missing teenagers, violence, self-harming and suicide.

Link to ongoing themes – troubled teens, parents should be warned. Link to a recent murder of a girl by two teenagers linked to  an emo subculture.

However, what they’ve achieved is to seed panic among parents. And again, someone’s not doing the research thoroughly. Half of the kids shown do not even fit the common description of emos. Bands featured are of completely different genre. And most of the material used is a mock-up parody of the subculture itself.

 And at last, this is something for your entertainment. : D

To mosh or not to mosh.

Man Dies After Concert Melee.

Not as current but quite widespread event. Doesn’t necessarily ends up lethally but happens on a daily basis, especially if you’re an avid concert-goer. Which I am.

Almost because of the same reason I had to go to the hospital to get stitches in my head after a punk rock show. Not talking about numerous bruises, the loss of a decent amount of hair (they had to cut it out to do the stitches) and fainting in public transportation, I had a lot of fun. And it was probably one of the greatest nights in my life. You ask, am I in my right mind? (Probably not, c’mon, I fell on my head…)

Moshing which is a common practice on hardcore/metal shows has been a reason for a lot of injuries. No wonder there’s always the whole crew of paramedics watching out for careless kids on almost every major concert.
Generally, moshing is just banging against one another, jumping around aggressively, stage diving and crowd surfing. There are numerous types of it.

Wall of death.

This has become a sort of “official” symbol of a hardcore subculture. But there are certainly two sides to it.
“It’s a thrill – a rush,” the 27-year-old from Richmond says. “It’s like one big, happy family out there.”

But it is not just a random fight with whoever you grab first. There’s a “moshing etuqette” (yes, that’s right, etiquette) It includes no heavy jewelry, no personal vendettas, if someone’s fallen, help them up and just be careful.

However, there’s much controversy to it. The article above is one of the examples. Things went seriously wrong. Other concerns had been raised about the presence of younger kids at the shows who have a higher risk of being injured as well.

Why do people do that, after all? Probably for the same reason they engage into extreme sports or any other dangerous activity. They need excitement, adrenalin and release of our negative feelings. Moshing is just one way of doing it. The question is, if it really needs to be that violent…

Music with laptops.

You can’t play any instrument? You’re completely deaf-toned and can’t sing for the life of you? Don’t worry; punk’s not the only option for you. Your laptop will do the magic.

With the development of technology there are more ways of making music these days. Some people are highly critical of such practices, they claim it doesn’t take much to stand behind a machine that does all the work for you; and that it doesn’t require any talents at all.

To me, it is just another way for an individual to be creative and combine both music and technology. High-tech and music’s collaboration is relatively new and therefore, hasn’t been taken over by mainstream. Yet?

“As long as this kind of thing remains underground and unplucked by the very popular media, it will live and grow forever,” Washington said. “It’s a personal thing for the artists, and it does not need to become about money.”

 

If you’re interested in that kind of music or just curious check the Sperm Festival that takes place every March in Prague and has a great variety of electronic artists.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a very interesting Prague-based musician called Noot in club 007 in October. Here are some pics I took. Too bad he doesn’t seem to be playing a lot lately. Here are some pictures I took.

Hop and Hip. B and R.

Does anyone else find it disturbing?

Well, maybe punk’s not dead but hip-hop is certainly going towards it. Or, in other words, it just sucks.

The sales are down mostly because of hip-hop’s content. And yes, what are the common lyrics of most songs these days? Humps, lumps, ambiguous candy shops, drugs, money, guns, sex and all that in one song, 3 minutes pressed delivering to kids like the one dancing in the video above.

Of course, all those themes somehow have been a part of hip-hop culture since it’s very beginning but take a look at this article, especially the part with comparison of CREAM” by The Wu-Tang Clan off of 1993’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Pretty Ricky’s “Push It Baby”.

Music creates a mindset for people and hip-hop as being one of the major music industries in the world is occasionally is sending out the wrong message. Young people learn about relationships from music they listen to. Even if you take out all the beep words out, the message is still there.

Or it is our society who’s gladly embracing it without questions.

They’re getting Grammy’s for this!

Now I don’t wanna hit no women when this chick’s got it coming
Someone better get this bitch before she gets kicked in the stomach
And she’s pregnant, but she’s egging me on, begging me to throw her
Off the steps on this porch, my only weapon is force

“Drips” by Eminem

 

So, what we have here… Can you see the purpose of making music behind these two videos? One of it addresses a problem, and another one … ????

 

versus

 

 

Dead? Alive and breathing.

 

 

picture by punkassphotos.

 

“A guy walks up to me and asks ‘What’s Punk?’. So I kick over a garbage can and say ‘That’s punk!’. So he kicks over the garbage can and says ‘That’s Punk?’, and I say ‘No that’s trendy!”

Urban Dictionary.

Rebellion in its essence, punk has been a major youth subculture throughout 70s up until about late 80s. With the mainstream trying to commercialize the best of it, punk tried to have its own ideology untouched and developing. The DIY (Do It Yourself) philosophy was the foundation of pretty much everything in punk industry. Minimalistic approach to writing and performing implied that anyone could start a band and make music. Punks were known to be against mainstream society, heavily critical of existing state of government, economic structures and popular culture; questioned social rules and relationships, rather emphasizing chaos and anarchy.

TIME.com: Jakarta: Where Punk Lives.

They say it’s been dead for over 30 years. But it might as well come back to life in some parts of the world. Indonesia puts a new twist on a somewhat old and dusty meaning of being a punk. “Punk is about freedom”, “Punk is better than religion to me”. It’s not about being angry, anymore, not about drugs or plain anti-everything. “Punk, to me, is addressing the things that are rotten in society. It tells us that we have the ability to be independent and take care of each other” says Mike, Marjinal’s lead singer. In Indonesia it’s a way to live and survive in a country where poverty is still a major problem.

Doesn’t it make us think of different reasons people engage into subcultures given different life conditions? In Western societies, punk has evolved as a rebellious movement that was openly against almost everything but didn’t propose any alternatives to the existing state of things. Chaos and anarchy do not count.

And there’s a reason why most punks are not punks anymore in their late 30s. Their life motto “do what you want” doesn’t go very well with modern consumerist society. And it’s all about adapting, after all. The thing that punk certainly might teach young adults is that they have to be skeptic about the world around and not take everything right as it’s given to them.

Maybe it’s been dead as an original subculture but it looks like it’s surely being re-invented in Indonesia.

What would you look like?

Can’t imagine what I’d look like if things worked just as in this Coca Cola commercial.

Defining Subculture.

Music and society are closely intertwined. It plays a huge role in young people’s lives; shapes and reflects changes and the present situation of society. The success of certain songs or artist can be easily explained in relation to prevailing set of values, norms and beliefs in a certain society. Cultural differences are the obstacles that the majority of artists face when trying to get through to the world music stage.

The collaboration of music and society has created a “subculture” – an alternative to mainstream. According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, a subculture is “a set of people with distinct behaviour and beliefs within a larger culture.” Generally, subculture redefines or completely refines the sets of norms, beliefs and opinions that are common among large masses of people. Thus, in Sociology, subculture is also a form of deviance from a mainstream culture. Subculture is a form of control and a source of social identity for young people; a way of expressing their opinions and views on certain issues. They are generally financially dependent on their parents and controlled by social institutions, thus being a member of a particular subculture gives them a sense of empowerment and control of their life; whether it’s a form of rebellion against things impelled on them by putting everything and everyone into categories and labels. In order to be a part of a youth subculture and be “accepted” into a group, a person is usually expected to adopt a certain ideology.

There are both positive and negative features that a subculture might offer to an individual. Since we are talking about young adolescents, usually negative factors get the most attention from the media. Suicide rates, self-harming, violence and drug use are the most reported. For instance, it was found that of those who considered themselves goths, 53% had self-harmed and 47% had tried to commit suicide. (Vince) Or ten percent of teens report that they have attended a rave, and ecstasy and other drugs were available at more than two-thirds of these raves. (Statistics)

When it was discovered that two guys who had carried out a Columbine high school shooting were great fans of Marilyn Manson, it was all over the news. Consequently, Manson’s music and lyrics were blamed not only for the majority of high school shootings but for violence among teenagers in general. The response from parents to most subcultures is negative partly due to its representations in the media, especially when it affects the way kids look, certain behaviors and incomprehensible music. Reporters are cautioning unenlightened parents about the dangers that their kid’s involvement into certain types of music can cause which creates even more tension between two generations. Take a look at this article. Not only it has an alarming headline, it’s full of superficial criticism of subcultures. Apparently the author didn’t even bother to do the research.

Same can be said about various news reports on recent widespread emo subculture. They constitute all things of a primary news report and carry mostly a negative message about the subculture not talking about the positive sides of it, assuming that it doesn’t have any. While the subculture is being “socially safe” and not controversial enough to cause a panic among parents, it is highly underreported on news and print media.

On the other hand same “violent and self-harming” subcultures are also known for protecting vulnerable kids. When belonging to certain subcultures, young adolescents are gaining important social skills and emotional support from their peers. For some people, it is a relief to find a community where their distress and problems are understood.

 

Works cited.

Vince, Gaia. “Goth Subculture May Protect Vulnerable Children.” New Scientist. 14 Apr 2006. 9 Jan 2008 <link>

“Statistics on Teenage Drug Use.” Teen Drug Abuse. 9 Jan 2008 <link>