HW 28: Informal Research - Internet, Magazines, and TV Shows

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)
"...mainstream perception of cool is narrow and distorted, with cool often perceived merely as style or arrogance, rather than a way to achieve respect."

Wikipedia's article states that cool isn't subjected to a particular group and it differs from culture to culture. The idea also changes over time. It is mainly viewed through behavioral characteristics and state of being. Cool used to be heavily associate with rebellion and avoiding authority, much like it is now (as shown in our stories). It's also defined as someone who has achieved transcendental balance, and is calm during moments of chaos.

The article continues to talk about different cultures and their history of cool. One notable element was that during segregation blacks acted cool to attain a "sense of control, strength, confidence and stability and helps him deal with negative messages." Mona Lisa was also used as an example to "convey her grandeur, self-confidence and societal position." Her posture and expression exerts a sense of detachment and she succeeds in looking like she isn't trying hard look indifferent.

     Homer: So, I realized that being with my family is more important
  than being cool.
Bart: Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool.
Homer: You know what the song says: "It's hip to be square".
Lisa: That song is so lame.
Homer: So lame that it's... cool?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Am I cool, kids?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Good. I'm glad. And that's what makes me cool, not caring,
  right?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried
  everything here.
Homer: Wait, Marge. Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to
  be told you're cool.
Bart: Well, sure you do.
Lisa: How else would you know?

I also really liked this dialogue. Cool depends on bias judgment so much that it can really be anything you want it to be. In this case, all of them have different notions of being cool and different ways of acknowledging it (being told that you are or not being told). Therefore this whole idea of coolness is just resting on a pile of theories and different sources. It doesn't even deserve a definition.

http://www.whatiscool.org/

Entering this site, I thought it would be filled with meaningful stuff to read about. But it turned out to be written by a jerk or at least someone who was pretending to be a jerk. I think it was written purposely to make fun of the stereotypical way people interpret coolness. It was basically a compilation of What is cool, What isn't, How can I be cool etc. His approach to teaching us how to be cool was different from the other sites. Instead of actually giving us advice he believed in, he did the opposite to show that "cool" is b.s. although he doesn't explicitly say so. He attempts to convince us that the goal is to just forget about the importance of being cool and be whatever we want to be.

He pokes fun at how smoking is closely associated with the idea of coolness by telling us to go ahead and smoke but be careful of the diseases that came with it. His How To article also pointed out the stereotypical ways of becoming cool. He also said that coolness requires a lot of work and time to perfect. Overall, I think his point was to show us how absurd the idea of wanting to be cool is.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/
(video attached)

The article talks about how corporations have started to excessively commercialize music, social, and fashion trends directly to teens all in the name of profit. Nothing belongs to us anymore because they take any new fad and "blares it back at [us] relentlessly and everywhere." And after they do so, the trend is killed and now we have to search for a new trend and it just becomes a cycle. "By discovering cool, you've moved cool onto the next thing."

"Kids feel frustrated and lonely today because they are encouraged to feel that way," Miller tells FRONTLINE. "You know, advertising has always sold anxiety and it certainly sells anxiety to the young. It's always telling them that they are not thin enough, they're not pretty enough, they don't have the right friends, or they have no friends...they're losers unless they're cool. But I don't think anybody, deep down, really feels cool enough, ever."

The media is trying to categorize us and creating a group of identical adolescents that listen to the same music and wear the same clothes (like the Feed) and we're letting them. I'm beginning to wonder if I've already fell victim or rather a clone to their scheme of things and it's looks like I did. The article points out that Cool is no longer determined by us. It's determined by the media and what they choose to feed us.