...Popular Literature Ayana Thomas SOC/105 May 14, 2013 Luis Rangel-Ortiz Popular Literature Culture can become a huge part of someone’s everyday life and have a great impact on their well- being. Culture can describe someone’s personality, the way they dress, talk, or the types of foods can identify someone’s culture. Popular culture is something that changes with the times. The way popular culture is today, is very different from who it may have been portrayed many years ago. This paper will not only talk about popular culture in general, but it will analyze a certain piece of work that signifies popular culture. The popular fiction novel that I choose to critique is a very well known book called To Kill a Mockingbird, published by author Harper Lee in 1960. This novel takes place in a small segregated fictional town in the south, called Maycomb, Alabama. Harper based this novel on her life experience growing up in the south as a young child and what it was like to be separated between the whites and the blacks. To Kill a Mockingbird, is about five characters, with Scout, a six year old little girl, and her brother Jem a ten year old boy, their father Atticus, who was a defense attorney for the local courts, and their neighbor Boo Radley. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the era of the Great Depression, and where segregation was a big thing. The book displays what it was like in the 1960’s to defend a African American person and stand up for their rights...
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...French Culminating Music: Popular music entered an era of "all hits", as numerous artists released recordings, beginning in the 1950s, as 45-rpm "singles" (with another on the flip side), and radio stations tended to play only the most popular of the wide variety of records being made. Also, bands tended to record only the best of their songs as a chance to become a hit record. The taste of the American listeners expanded from the folksinger, doo-wop and saxophone sounds of the 1950s to the Motown sound, folk rock and the Invasion led by The Beatles in 1964. The Los Angeles and San Francisco Sound began in this period with many popular bands coming out of LA and the Haight-Ashbury district, well known for its hippie culture. The rise of the counterculture movement, particularly among the youth, created a market for rock, soul, pop, reggae and blues music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s#Music Clothing/Fashion: Mary Quant invented the mini-skirt which became one of the most popular rages in the late 1960s. Women's mainstream hairstyles ranged from beehive hairdos, the bird's nest hairstyle, and the chignon hairstyle in the early part of the decade, to very short styles popularized by Twiggy and Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby towards the latter half of the decade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s#Fashion The Beatles exerted an enormous influence on young men's fashions and hairstyles in the 1960s which included most notably the mop-top haircut, the Beatle boots...
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...economic recession from 1946 to 1947, the years following World War II saw the United States become the world super power that it is today. From 1940 to 1950 the American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 50% from $200,000 million to $300,000 million1 and by 1955 sixty percent of Americans identified as middle-class2. The exponential economic growth and social class shift during this period created several important changes to American culture. Many American families now possessed excess money; Money that was spent on single-family homes, entertainment, appliances, and cars, items that the general public could not afford before this period. The result of the influx of money not only changed the American family forever, but the marketing strategies used by companies as well. As Americans began to place a heavier value on entertainment, movie stars, actors, and other celebrities began to have a prominent influence on society. Post war-prosperity and the economic boom during the early cold war began the American, and eventually global culture of celebrity marketing. To understand the United States rise to a world superpower one must look at the aftermath of the widespread war of World War II. World War II was a global war that involved thirty nations and claimed the lives of over 50 million people3. However, the Second World War primarily took place in Asia and Europe allowing the United States to remain virtually unharmed throughout the war. At the conclusion of the war,...
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...Anna Munoz Dr. Jones DISC 1313 December 4, 2015 Music and The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s All forms of Black music, from jazz to rock and roll, played an important part in the Civil Rights Movement. The songs were sung for multiple purposes and played a critical role in inspiring, activating, and giving voice to the people involved. The evolution of music during the early 1950’s and 1960’s in the Black freedom struggle reflects the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement itself. The progressive thought of the 1950s nurtured new ideas and cultures including the Civil Rights Movement and the fast spread of rock and roll. One such cultural revival occurred after the end of World War II during a time of change, prosperity and restoration. The “Puritan dicta” outlined by Baldwin represents the American ideology before the Second World War. As the first settlers of this nation, the Puritans set the mold for many common American ideologies. In the Puritan view white represented good and black represented evil, including Africans and their culture. After the war, Baldwin states that the former puritanical views of whites will be challenged. Musicians such as Elvis Presley were the first to issue this challenge to white society. Early rockers like Elvis would pave the way for social commentary in music that would add much fire to the Civil Rights Movement. To fully understand the explosion of popularity of Black music in the years following World War II, one must understand...
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...Do what you wanna do! “It’s your thing, do what you want to do! It is Crazy how this quote could truly describe the 1965-1975 era in so many ways. Around this time many things were happening like African American trying to earn true inequality in civil rights movements, free spirited hippie era and the closing of the Vietnam War. Many of those events that happened in that decade has been prolific in are day in age now and the strides in development in our country today. The cultural arts in this time period were creative but also very powerful. The way they dressed, and music that was listened to reflects to who they were and what they represent and allowed them to express themselves. . The 1960’s was a major part of American history in so...
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...values. Symbols and signs of these shifting values creep into every aspect of the American people’s lives. The entertainment industry provides an example by depicting the powerful influence animated heroines have on cultural trends. In animation, the heroine archetype has come to mean the “ideal person”: a symbol of the qualities, attitudes, popular trends, and those socially acceptable norms which are the most desirable. Has the public brought this upon themselves by buying into the movie-madness scheme, which dictates how one should think, feel, and, in part, be? This introduces another interesting question: Does the shift in societal values affect the nature and content of animation, or do the values portrayed in animation and public’s willingness to be overpowered create these changes in American beliefs? Regardless of which comes first, analyzing a character is synonymous with analyzing the culture from which the character is spawned. These symbols in animation, unfortunately, don’t always depict America’s best values and more often than not are targeted at children. Truly, the influential impact of animation on children is most perfectly depicted in the famed Walt Disney Heroines. These Disney girls have come to reflect America’s ever-changing values and the evolution of its popular culture. Despite the public’s initial skepticism, Walt Disney chose to create the world’s first feature-length animated film on December 21, 1937. Snow White hit theaters, ironically...
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...would have no meaning to the people playing it. For instance, a young jazz musician playing Charles Mingus' song "Fables of Faubus" (which was about the wrong doings of governor Faubus) would have no meaning to the musician because he/she never lived that era. As for new, recent music, the artist plays what he/she feels in respect to the present. For instance, Herbie Hancock's new album came out about a month ago called "Possibilities". This album was called his "all-star project" (Downbeat; Pg 38) because it featured new artists like John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, and Paul Simon. The album depicts a movement of music in how a new form of jazz, soul, and pop our recent era has developed. The decade of the 1960’s, also known as "The Sixties", are known for it’s popular culture and revolution in social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, formalities and schooling. Conservatives refer to...
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...Influence of Music Paper The different types of music genres have helped shape American culture and society and its social behavior of Americans. As time moves on and cultures change, so does the music and what it stands for. Music may sound and be different around the world, but its most common purpose it’s to bring individuals together. It seems that music, more than anything else, ties people together and tears them apart. Each culture around the world has caused music in general to evolve uniquely to each society. As society changes and grows, so will our music and what we believe in. Music has given American culture its values, the way that jazz, blues, and R&B created rock & roll, music created American culture that naturally has an influence on other cultures. It is an argument of whether music affects society or if society is reflected through music towards social behavior. It can also be said that any one type of music can influence society. For instance, a society can become more modernized such as individuals expanding their methods of playing musical instruments. Or as technology becomes more advanced with the digital era, individuals can listen to music on MP3 players, Ipads, cell phones or radio’s anywhere and anytime becoming more convenient. In today’s society, people have the right to choose what they want to listen to. This includes wide variety of styles or to even focus on one genre, depending on the musical qualities that appeal to them. Media, such as radio...
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...music and culture of the time period I have picked. The time period that I am going to focus of is 1970’s. The first cartorige I am going to talk about is Black pop. Black pop mostly came from 1960’s. That means that Black pop to grow form 1960’s Most of white listeners that listened to Black pop did not know who was singing. There were also white folks involved with Black pop. There are white fans,...
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...Entertainment Media and Culture Julian B. Rosemond III HUM186 8/13/2013 Bernard Asubonteng Entertainment Media and Culture Entertainment media has always been a big influence on American culture and the rest of the world. It has shaped the way we dress, what kind of music we listen to and to some degree how we speak and act. There are even entire television shows in which are strictly dedicated to talking about celebrities and what is going on in his or hers life at the moment. This paper will go in depth as far as how entertainment media has impacted our culture. In the 1950’s television was known to shy away from the current political and other current events going on at the time and seemed to focus more on the standard American living lifestyle (University of Phoenix, 2012). These shows portrayed how a American should be and act, which in turn would inspire every day families in America to act the same way and live by the same values. Television in the 1960’s took a dramatic turn. In this decade politics were introduced and a lot more serious world events going on at that time. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. were just a few of the major events that were televised at that time. The Vietnam War depicted on the television the horrors of the war of children suffering and people being gunned down in the streets (2012). This in turn sparked the generation of “hippies” in...
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...Kurt Cobain was the singer and and face of Nirvana. He was born in Aberdeen, Washington on February 20, 1967 (Rolling Stone). One of the influences of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain was that Kurt’s parents divorced when he was eight years old, leaving him emotionally scarred. Some bands that influenced Nirvana were Kiss, Black Sabbath, The Sex Pistols, and The Beatles. Some setbacks Nirvana faced was that they had a very new and unique sound that most people in the music industry felt would be unmarketable. Another issue was that the band was using drugs, such as heroin. A break for the band when when their first album, Bleach, sold 35,000 copies, which was impressive for a small indie band. The major break was when they signed to a record label for $287,000 and knocked major artists such as Garth Brooks and U2 off the charts (Raz). One impact that Nirvana had on America was that they showed that non-commercial bands could be successful. They started the grunge movement and inspired a generation of teens (and practically every generation there after) to rebel. Sadly, Nirvana also brought drug culture to the forefront of America. The band had always used drugs, including heroin, but the issue was brought to light when Kurt Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love admitted to using heroin during her pregnancy. This caused the public to scrutinize their drug use, but it was...
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...Introduction The 1960s Counterculture was an agitation for better governance and a restoration of the dreams of the founding fathers of democracy. It was a movement that was both political and social as the people that found it appealing were disgusted by the hypocrisy of the ruling class and social challenges such as racism and poverty. The 1960s counterculture appealed to many young people, who were also its primary proponents. This essay examines why the younger generation took the lead in demanding for political and social changes during this era. “The Port Huron Statement” The “Port Huron Statement” was made by the Students for a Democratic Society movement in 1962. The statement was made by the students’ group to express the dissatisfaction...
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... THE ROLES OF CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ON THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT ——————————————————— Patience Madigan TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………….. 4 THE ROLES OF CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT 1.1 OVERVIEW ……………………………………………………………… 4 1.2 OBJECTIVE ……………………………………………………………… 4 2. DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………………… 5 2.1 TECHNOLOGICAL FORCES ON ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY … 5 2.1.1 1950’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.1.2 1960’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.1.3 1970’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.1.4 1980’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.1.5 1990’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.1.6 2000’s ……………………………………………………………… 5 2.2 CULTURAL FORCES ON ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY …………. 5 2.2.1 1950’s Mass Culture ……………………………………………….. 6 2.2.2 1960’s Counter Culture …………………………………………….. 6 2.2.3 1970’s Punk Culture ………………………………………………... 6 2.2.4 1980’s Heavy Metal and Rap Culture ……………………………… 6 2.2.5 1990’s Grunge and Rave Culture ………………………………...… 6...
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...planned rock and roll, and it took over a great deal of American culture and revolutionized popular music. Rock and roll was influenced by African American music as well as white American styles. Since the introduction of minstrel shows in America in 1840, people have created and developed many other kinds of music. Mostly originated from African Americans, swing, blues, and jazz music was an early beginning to rock music. Many musical qualities were brought with African slaves into America. Some of the qualities include improvisation, “call and response” singing, and a dynamic rhythm. They created spiritual music and blues, which later evolved into what we know today as gospel music and “rhythm and blues.” White American music is based on of folk-style songs, mostly ballads in small bands of musical instruments. At the start of the 20th century, these folk style songs became referred to as hillbilly music. The transition to country-western music began with singers like Jimmie Rodgers and Gene Autry. After World War II, soldiers returning home wanted to feel at home again. This started the era of playing music on the radio, with programs such as Grand Ole Opry, which still runs today. This genre of music used guitars, Hawaiian guitar and drums on occasion to create a new image for country-western music. People realized they can make a living from producing music, and so the music market had emerged. In the early 1950’s rock and roll dominated the radio on the home front and abroad...
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...English 123 II – 2.2 Final Project Milestone One: Annotation Bibliography By Vincent Berry WHAT IS YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION? Are record labels racism and political in the music industry? What impact does racism and politics have on the artist and fan base? SUMMORIZE SOURCE INFORMATION FOR EACH ANNOTATION Suisman, David. "Co Workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Black Swan Records and the Political Economy of African American Music." Teaching the Journal of American History Vol. 90, No. 4.March 2004 (2004): 1295-1324. Web. 1 Mar. 2004. African American owned Record Company, which produced records for African American consumers, was faced with attempts by a large record corporation to force them into bankruptcy. Why would a large company do this for such a small African American owned company? How would it merit attention from African American people in this medium when you have more important subjects like voting rights and lynching? Moreover, why would it merit any attention at all, not to mention, selling records to black consumers. This article answers these questions and investigates the rise and fall of the small record company and explores the political economy in which it operated. Black Swan Records created by Henry H. Pace, who saw a way to respond to a hostile environment that African American people faced with, both in the entertainment industry and in American society. The protégé of W.E.B Du Bois, also saw that African Americans were not equally even when they...
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