This blog is essentially a class assignment for a course that I'm doing in University (Classic American Prose Fiction). My task is to create a journal that addresses the topic of American Popular Culture and a symbol of American power.
What you have to do is enter the
fiction of America, enter America as
fiction. It is, indeed, on this fictive basis that it dominates the world. Jean Baudrillard, Hyper Realism
This is the closing to my blog. Think about that above quote. I cannot escape the fact in many ways, America is an influential place and it's culture aids in bringing it's ideas to the rest of the world. In some cases, we take American's act of fictionalization to a new level. However, I suppose it's one of the consequences when you set yourself up as a nation that does away with the past and claims that the now and the future is what truly matters to begin new life for new people. When we take this idea and apply it to our own lives, you'll see that America is no joke in bringing different people of the world to their shores or even in this case, to a whole new virtual world. Think about how American culture has influenced or even transformed your life and the way you carry out your daily routines.
In other news, thanks for all who have read my blog and thanks Mr. D. W for giving me the opportunity to share some interesting suggestions on American Popular Culture. I could probably continue doing this. In the mean time, peace out and enjoy the things that you listen or watch. You might even get your epiphanies from closely observing American media. Have fun!
Regardless of what you might think, I am a lover of rap music. There are lots of good rap artistes who sometimes travel mainstream but when they decide to put out real lyrics, they put it down GOOD. I have for you there the songs American Dreamin' by Jay Z, All Falls Down by Kanye West and Around My Way (Freedom ain't free) by Lupe Fiasco. American popular culture as I've mentioned other times in my blog series is useful way to say to the American people that there are some American notions that are flawed like the perception of happiness and freedom and how do we attain such. I think these songs help to reevaluate ourselves as a people and as a nation.They prove that music is similar to a normal speech that challenges even the very so-called sacrosanct ways that rule our life. I urge you to listen to melodious poetry and find yourselves in the discourse of the constitution of the American dream.
Hey there! So, if you don't know what YOLO is, the acronym-cum-word means You Only Live Once. It is an American revolutionized version of saying "Carpe diem - seize the day". It's really just substituting one term for another (something I think America is also good at). But I realize in today's world that YOLO seems to be catching on with the younger crowd in our midst. YOLO to teenagers nowadays means partying, drinking, sexing and every other taboo or law breaking/ body-banging thing there is to do out there. It's seen mainly in today's music especially in mainstream pop and rap where almost every song nowadays is about living it up for the night until you pass out. Hence the music video I posted above, We are Young by Funnft. Janelle Monae - it's about the act of living YOLO, but I think it slightly mocks the idea or at least gives us less idyllic or idealized notion of YOLO.
I notice that today's music (whether rubbish or not) has made major influences in the way teenagers decide to live their lives nowadays. Teens believe that they're having hard times with 'all that they have to go through as teenagers'. I do agree that teenagers in this world have many more distractions and a lot of issues to work through; (it's hard life for us with so many paths to choose and we just don't know where to go). Music it seems, is for us a good method to cool down and recollect any sense of peace we have with ourselves. However, I won't discount that today's music is much more than ever influential and I cannot deny that many of the things posted in videos, teens do or try out at home. Living the YOLO life is one of them. For today's teen populace, it may be the sure-fire method of letting out steam. On the other hand, the interpretation of carpe diem by today's musicians might be a little over the top but they sure appeal to teens more than anything else they see. Teens believe that since they're young, they should have as much fun as they can before they get older or before anything happens to them or just for the sake of enjoying life. Yet they disregard the consequences and only see the effects the next morning when they find out they can't remember the night before - (the hangovers, the vomiting, the nakedness is what they find when day breaks).
So, watch the video. It's a truthful and still fresh perspective of what exactly goes on when teens decide to try the YOLO experience. You get crazy trying to liberate yourself but then you realize you're only wasting yourself. The video is quite correct in portraying a fight in a bar scene - it happens all the time. One person gets utterly drunk and the silliest things trigger unnecessary violence. Soon, everybody partakes in the mob-like frenzy and then it becomes a 'REAL' party. (It's not a real party without breaking some bottles.)
Now, for all the parents out there, think about what your teenagers say when they claim they're trying to live YOLO. Teens, think about your life clearly when you state that YOLO is your life now (unless you have made the commitment to Die Young like Kesha says in one of her latest songs).
Don't you just love a good fight scene in a movie or a juicy scandal in a TV series? Don't you just crave for something exciting and interesting to happen in a show or video game? Sometimes you like to be in control of what's happening too in the game. I bet you sometimes wish you were actually in the action. *Sigh I'm sure we've all been dying to watch the latest horror movie or action film. But do you ever realize what's the effect it may have on you? Now honestly, we may think that our talking to the TV is a harmless feat and we may think that what's in the film, we will never do in real life (no matter how much we shout advice to the characters from the living room). However, I believe that some of these things, seemingly harmless, may actually have some effect on us. You realize that after watching these things everyday, all we think about is the next move that characters will or can make. Whether it's "Kill Him!" (from watching Spartacus) or "Sleep with the girl, she's worth it!" (no mind the fact that that specific character may already be in a relationship - from Scandal). We have, along with the movie producers, followed the line of commemorating the acts of the absurd, egged on the acts of sick and twisted things. Probably in our subconscious we think of these things and in some situations wish that it could happen in real life. Is this the type of behaviour we want to be around all the time or is this the type of thinking we want to revel in? (It's kinda fun though). Think on these things.
This blog post is inspired by a very sad story I read and I realized it's a pretty important message. Whether this is a true story or not, I'm sure there are many real stories like this. (By the way, if you're squeamish, don't read the story. It may be a little offensive because it is extremely graphic. However, I believe that there are some things that need to be told.)
My name is chinwe, I am 26 years old, I never graduated for university, simply coz I was stupid and careless. On my 24th birthday, I received a nice gift. It was a blackberry phone. I always wanted one, it was like a right of passage. My ex-boyfriend got it for me. He was a student like me, didn’t have a job, and I really never cared to ask as he could afford it. My concern at that point was, yes I had finally arrived. Other girls in my hostel had blackberries and I would always get pissed when I heard sounds of pings and messages coming into their phones at all hours and I would stare at my nokia phone and wish I could throw it away. But half bread they say is better than none, so I hoped and even fasted to get a blackberry phone. Looking back now, if I had the opportunity, I’d have a landline with no internet activity what so ever. Anyway I got the blackberry phone and even got free BIS subscription.
At that moment my life was complete, no more going to the cyber cafes to check my emails, my face-book or twitter. I had it all at my finger tips, life indeed was complete, or so I thought. Anyway, I became addicted to my blackberry and also my social media applications, and since I had constant access, I quickly gained enough followers, and especially guys, mostly because I had a lot of erotic pictures on my timeline. I was popular, finally I felt I was the main girl, everyone wanted to follow me. I didn’t care if it was virtual, it felt good, checking out my profile and having well over 8,000 followers, more than half of which were guys. But one particular guy caught my attention, till this day I don’t know what made him stand out, but we got chatty. He sent me direct messages and I replied. He was quite a gentleman, and I can’t remember him ever asking for a nude picture unlike the rest of them, so this made me comfortable with him. His name was Tobi. He said he was a doctor. I didn’t have any cause to doubt him. He had extensive knowledge and even gave me some medical advice from time to time. We eventually moved from twitter to blackberry chat. We chatted all the time, I got so comfortable with him. I gave him my number, and that would come to be the biggest mistake I ever made.
Tobi called me every day. Some days he called more than once. At night he would call and I would lay on my bed and have phone sex with him. His voice was so soothing. He made me do things I never thought possible. He had gained so much access into my head. I realized later I had done some very sick and twisted things just to please him. I would take nude pictures of myself. I would send him videos of me touching myself in private, and send him voice notes of me making moaning sounds and simulating orgasms; and all this while we had not met, not face to face at least. Eventually I played into his hands. I began pestering to meet him in person. At this point I had lost my mind. I assumed I was in-love with him, and when my boyfriend at the time broke up with me, I really welcomed it, for me it meant no more sneaking around.
Tobi eventually agreed to come to lagos to meet me. All this while he had made me to believe he was in calabar, and would take time off work to spend a weekend with me in lagos. When I heard this I was excited, he told me to book a reservation for him, stating he would pay me back as soon as he arrived and also he said it would make him more committed to the visit and would convince him of my seriousness. I bought it all. He was smart, he was cunning, and I was stupid, oh how stupid I was. The funny thing was I had sent him tons of pictures, and all I had was just one picture of him, and whenever I asked he would claim he wanted to be sure I loved him for him, and not for his looks; Sheepishly I would try to convince him of my undying love, and would try to appease him with nude pictures of my body.
He eventually made it to lagos, I met him at the hotel. He was tall, handsome and had a wonderful smile, he made love to me over and over, and convinced me to spend the night with him. I told him I couldn’t, because I had a test the next morning. Now at this point I don’t know what triggered his anger, don’t know if it was because I couldn’t spend the night, or maybe I said something else I can’t remember saying, but whatever it was, brought out a very ugly side of him. He called me foul names, and kept going on and on about how he always knew I was cheap, and he knew I was sleeping with other men. The same man whom had swept me away, slammed me on the floor, he told me of how he had shown his friends all my nude pictures and how they had watched the videos and listened to the voice notes. He told me he had made a bet with his friends, that I would actually pay for him to have sex with me, just to prove how stupid I was. Well you can imagine how I felt - I was confused and shocked, but I attempted to regain any little dignity I had left. So I tried to mouth off at him. Suddenly he punched me in the face, and I tripped over, and hit my head on a stool. The next thing I remember was waking up on the bed, I was tied up, and he was staring at me, his eyes were dark and he had a sinister smile on his lips. He stood up and walked towards me. I tried to scream and realized my mouth was taped, my head was racing. The unfortunate part was that no one knew where I was. He turned me over, and told me he was going to teach me a lesson. At this point I was naked, he raped me from behind, and I mean my anus. The pain was mind blowing. I struggled, and he hit me, when he was done he brought out a small blade, and he looked at me for a minute and said, this scare is going to always serve as a reminder, for girls like you always trying to be more than you are, for stupid fools like you. He put the blade to my nipple and cut it off, and anytime I think of it, I still feel the pain. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. He was calm, like he had done it a million times. I could feel the warm blood dripping down my mutilated breast; tears of fear and pain running down my face, and suddenly he turned around again, this time all I saw was a flash.
I don’t know how I survived it, but I woke up in a hospital days after. well I was awake, but my eyes were swollen shut. It took a couple of days for me to open my one good eye, and realized the damage he had done. he had plucked out my eye, and cut my face. He had cut my breasts up real bad, they had to it out, like I had cancer or something. There was no record of who I was, coz he had taken everything. He had taken my bag, containing everything I had. I was able to tell the nurses about what I could remember, and also give them my mum’s phone number. The hospital felt so much pity, they actually treated me for free - hard to believe right? Anyway I was taken home after weeks at the hospital to recuperate, it was tough. I was blind in one eye. I had one breast and a hideous scar of my face, talk about your sinage. He did a number on me, how dumb was I? sometimes I wish he had killed me, but there are fates worse than death, and I guess this is one of them. He was gone without a trace. The receipt from the hotel was in my name, so yes he had played me from the start. I didn’t dare go back to school. I was sure everyone would have heard, and I was not going to become a statistic. So I decided to stay home, and mind my business, besides what do I need an education for? I’d rather stay home, because there is no rising from this.
There is no happy ending to this story. This is the simple ending. I was a victim if a sexual predator, and I let him into my life period, and I take full responsibility for that. I was driven by greed and lack of morals, I allowed myself fall into an abyss. But well saying all this doesn’t change anything. It’s a memory I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Well, not a memory, because I look at myself in the mirror everyday. Who would want to see a nude picture of a woman with one breast, one eye, and a stub? I have decided to publish my story, because with the rise of social media atrocities being committed. Every story can go a long way in saving a life, so while you read, SHARE and help someone back to the right path. These internet predators are real.
May Almighty God Help us all. "Amen"
The internet especially has unlocked unbelievable channels of open and free communication. It has also been given over to 'internet abusers' who post themselves as one person online and in reality are total opposites or at least not what we think they are. It has given people the control to recreate themselves for the public and we (the public) become fools to believe everything we see online, disregarding our sense of control and common sense to know what is true or not. It has absolutely blurred the lines between the virtual world and reality. The story is an extreme example of what can happen when you open up your true self to the world of the fakes. A person can cheat her/(him)self by giving himself away for the rest of the world who prey on susceptible people like these. We should also take responsibility because we are the ones putting ourselves in vulnerable positions - celebrating and performing the most absurd things for everyone else to see us (no longer behind the curtains, but in full front and centre of the video camera). We don't truly know who's the person behind the computer screen but for some reason we put all faith and trust in them. There are some people who are the real deal but many of them make today's communication a real shame. There's this new show on MTV called Catfish which reminded me of this story. It's really cool - it helps persons from online relationships meet their online loves for the first time. There are some that work out but the majority bring lots of surprises (which aren't exactly so happy). Check out the trailer below and watch an episode some time.
Happy chatting and remember, be careful who you communicate with online! You never know - people aren't always who they seem to be, especially behind a screen.
I've also been in love with Santigold for a long time. I didn't know she had a new album out from last year and I'm realizing she has some pretty good songs on it as usual. This one is one of my favourites from her. I personally like this though for the video and my purposes for this post is to try to convert Santigold's video into an analysis of the American landscape - one fraught with illusions and a dream gone sour. I'm also going to compare this video to one of my favourite books The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West. The video i think is a stark representation of some of the scenes painted in the text. So look at that video very carefully (but i assure you it's an entertaining video).
To make it a little easier, I'm just going to point out some scenes from the video and juxtapose them with some from the book:
The Keepers - The spoiled, toxic, glowing food The Day of the Locust - “The SunGold Market into which he turned was a
large, brilliantly lit place... Colored spotlights played on the
showcases and counters, heightening the natural hues of the different foods.
The oranges were bathed in red, the lemons in yellow, the fish in pale green,
the steaks in rose and the eggs in ivory.” (pg. 63)
The Keepers - The mother turning, showcasing (I'm assuming her newly bought body...*smh) The Day of the Locust - “Mrs. Schwartzen was a big girl with large hands
and feet and square, bony shoulders. She a had a pretty, eighteen-year-old face
and thirty-five-year-old neck that was veined and sinewy. Her deep sunburn,
ruby colored with a slight blue tint, kept the contrast between her face and
neck from being too startling”. (pg. 37) – This
may not be an exact description but it’s the closest I could get to make you
see oddness of the characters.
The Keepers - The burning house
The Day of the Locust - “…he was able to think clearly about his picture, “The
Burning of Los Angeles.”
…modeling the tongues of fire so that the licked even
more avidly at a corinthian column…” (pg. 200-201)
I'm not sure if the two texts are related in regards to whether the video was intentionally inspired by the book or not but i will not deny that the two situations are highly analogous and present the same/similar idea(s).
The Day of the Locust is centred in the setting of Hollywood, California, considered as the promise land, the nexus of dreams, pleasure and hedonism. It is the land of eternal summer and perpetual youth - people go there to lose themselves and free to do anything, be anything or anyone. The city evokes mass production of fantasy and vision. But the downside to this life is that the city is in a perpetual state of readiness for impending disaster. The Keepers however is more encompassing of America on a whole. Similar to West's book, the people in music video are self centred, living in an illusion. The family - an "All-American" family is satirized to display almost an automated, corrupt civilization. The American perfection symbolized the family is illusory - the innocent domestic space is invaded by the grotesque (gross images of food and the exploitation of youthful dreams exemplified by the plastic woman with her enormous butt and fake shape). In fact, the very things that America tried to package as perfect has now been overturned to show that the country has gone too far in making things 'better', 'easier', 'more appealing/entertaining'. Instead, these 'improvements' have much more dire consequences than benefits. Also, the processes that America uses are actually toxic for the environment and the people. The large lips/fake butt (plastic surgery); chicken with growth hormones (explains why some teenagers look like 20s - jailbait); contaminated seafood (recycled water); tv (idiot box - turns children into zombies - addicted to popular entertainment); the boy taking a picture of the dead man (instead of helping the situation, we stand back and take pictures almost celebrating the morbid through popular networks). The house then signifies the country burning down, it is done.
It's like someone told me one day - Instead of taking people forward, technology takes us two steps backwards. American popular culture, the advent of technology, mass production of fantasy again has again achieved the power to their own destruction.
For years, I've been in love with Lady Gaga's song The Fame. I find it ridiculously truthful to the world of Hollywood and she sings it with such a fun passion dedicated to a life of glitz and glamour. Below are the lyrics. Read carefully and possibly sing along if you feel so inclined towards your artistic sense.
Lyrics;
Verse 1 I can't help myself I'm addicted to a life of material It's some kind of joke, I'm obsessively opposed to the typical All we care about is, runway models, cadillacs and liquor bottles Give me something I wanna be, retro glamour, Hollywood yes we live for the
Chorus Fame Doin' it for the Fame Cuz we wanna live the life of the rich and famous Fame Doin' it for the Fame Cuz we gotta taste for champagne and endless fortune
Fame fame baby The fame fame We live for the fame fame baby The fame fame Isn't it a shame shame baby A shame shame In it for the fame fame baby The fame fame
Verse 1 I can see myself in the movies with my picture in the city lights Photograph my mind and whatever else you'd like to shoot you decide All we care about is, pornographic girls on film and body plastic Give me something, I wanna see television and hot blondes in odd positions
Chorus
Bridge Don't ask me how or why But I'm gonna make it happen this time My teenage dream tonight Yeah I'm gonna make it happen this time
Chorus (2x)
I think the song is pretty explanatory so I don't think I need to say so much. But I'd just like to point out that honestly, Lady Gaga is right; either we as consumers/watchers of the Hollywood life or actual celebrities completely consumed by the life, this is what we live for (at least some of us, if you personally want to exclude yourself from this lifestyle). The life of the rich and famous is exhilarating and exciting. Fountains of liquor, hangars of cars and other objects of excessive wealth; Even the porn is what we live for. We stare at our TV or computer screens each day watching the daily routines and scandals of big-shot Hollywood names. No matter how decadent the life seems to be, exemplified by the E-news, deep down, we sometimes wish we had some of that excitement in our lives - that we can travel the world (despite getting drunk and hungover in every country or meet a new guy in every city). I especially like the line that says: "I'm obsessively opposed to the typical" - Being normal is boring but having your name in city lights and living the life of a carefree wild girl might not be the wisest decision in life, but it sure sounds very amazing.
Hollywood and American popular culture definitely glamourizes life so much that the lives on the TV screen and reality are blurred. Celebrities live their fantasies everyday, something I'm sure we as 'normal people' once dreamt of. I think Hollywood has succeeded in prostrating humans at the edge of scene stages. Hollywood holds our dreams and beckons us to catch them at the beginning of their banks of fake representations and re-presentations of life. It whipped us into a mob of salivating fools for the lives portrayed on the big-screen and we rush to make it a reality. Isn't it a shame?...
LOL how absurd ^^^
The above picture is part of a Black History Month advertisement, a clip from the show Kim Possible (a show which used to be aired on Disney Channel - when Disney was still good). The boy in the top right hand corner mouthing "That's Racist" of course isn't apart of the ad but I just found out hilarious, hehe.
The picture should speak for itself. I'm just going to mention a few words. I'm not sure if that picture is meant to be intentional and I will not accuse Disney Channel for putting that intentionally in their ad. Disney Channel is by no means racist but truth be told, that picture is provocative with her looking like a hungry Cavewoman. I wonder why they didn't change the ad (assuming that they saw the final product). I figure they didn't take it as seriously as some persons would. Either way, I'll just make an important point and say that American media in popular culture has a way of reworking images to make things seem a little different from what they are and is sometimes seemed as deceptive...ya think? It's an art to manipulate images to show to a wide audience. hmm
I followed up on the war themes and recognized the extent of American infiltration. One of the best visually aesthetic films Avatar (2009) written, edited, produced and directed by James Cameron (whom also directed the iconic Titanic movie) is as some critics would say mind-blowing. It is a science fiction film set in the mid-22nd Century when humans are mining a precious mineral called Unobtanium on Pandora (a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system). Humans have severely depleted the earth's resources and are now threatening the continued existence of a local tribe Na'vi - a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with a remotely located human and is used to interact with the natives of Pandora. The avatar must aid in research of Pandora's biosphere by interacting with the natives. He becomes friends with natives and has an affair with one of them but they soon recognize his facade after he disables a bulldozer which threatened to destroy a sacred Na'vi site. Of course, the two cultures clash (America and the Na'vi) and it becomes complicated when the avatar becomes too close too the culture he's supposed to be fighting against. He makes an epiphany about his own role and realizes that his civilization is probably doing more harm than good. Cameron notes that the film is also an implicit reference to America's role in the Iraq war. He states that "we may know how to throw missiles but we may not know what it feels like to have it land on our home soil, America". He continues to say that the film is not Anti-American but he feels it is being patriotic to question a system that needs to be coralled. (Well said Cameron, well said!). The same institution that has the capacity for good also has the capacity to do wrong; "...parts of our selves that are trashing our world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim future".
I think Cameron highlighted a number of important issues here:
1. He notes the importance of popular culture and media to make important and sometimes overlooked statements on the nature of our existence. He recognizes that there are times when media has the power to say something that is greater than ourselves and the excessive pride we sometimes have as a country. Media has a responsibility for critiquing even the big-shot nation that prides itself on doing good and being moral. Popular culture essentially has the equivalent gravity as other mediums in critiquing the society.
2. He specifically places America in the context of imperialism and implicitly shows that America has the propensity for colonialism. In fact, America is a driving force for the act of taking-over (and you can see it in the movie definitely - hinted in the description).
3. He also suggests that America's power also falls into the territory of devastation. The nation isn't perfect but sometimes you wonder if they're really striving for something other than the upright and respectable. Maybe in all the wars, there is no final resolution of restoring balance but all that is left is rubble, ruin and damaged lives which can never be returned. Is their cause really worth the fight? Is it okay to ruin to other lives just for revenge? Sometimes American power is simply destructive.
How else do you think American civilization is portrayed through popular culture?
Think on these things.
For more information on the movie, check it out >>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_%282009_film%29#Themes_and_inspirations
America has an excellent gift of documenting themselves and their history. Call them conceited but it's true. They will inject their influence in everything, especially in media. Yet, presenting self may be argued as an obvious feat to learned when founding a new nation. Setting themselves apart from the old ways of the world and accommodating the capacity for building a place where the past does not exist but where creation and re-creation can thrive is an exhilarating activity. How exciting it is to become new and improved; to know that you can change your life through transformation. I will give America an applause for the knowledge of and their agency in progression. They always know how to think forward.
So I'll use this thought as a point of departure for the notion of America as a super power (literally). Apart from it's economic hold on the rest of the world (American dollars are getting more and more valuable and expensive where I come from), America exhibits itself as a legitimate war power, and yet also prides itself in conforming to the dreams of "World Peace". (Kinda makes you wonder if the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden is truly symbolic of a new type of peace, or just to showcase American militia power orrrrr just to settle the unrest from the (now stale) 9/11 event. Killing to create peace; Is it a case of bad things happen for good reasons? Who knows, but that's a different story.
So before I go on an even bigger tangent, I'd like to express how we use these "peace and power" tropes to ignite American creativity and sense of self. If anybody likes American media, you must take into account it's procession into popular culture through magazines, specifically, Comic books which have also been made into film adaptations through TV shows and movies. I personally love the adventures of American Superheroes. Their fun and action-packed. But I hadn't fully realized that such Superheroes really have a place in American history. So i embarked on a little research and found out about the origins of Captain America. I remembered the not-too-recent movie trailer but I couldn't understand why anyone would give a superhero such a corny name. I figured it must have had something to do about the ultimate man saving the nation and keeping the nation immune from the extra-territorial evil powers (obviously).
So Captain America was published by Marvel Comics and written by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby during the 1940s. Captain America is the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a feeble young man whose body was enhanced to human perfection by an experimental serum. He was then used as an agent to help the US Government in efforts to win World War II. His costume bears the American flag and is used as a shield motif for all attacks made against him. He is armed with an indestructible boomerang-like shield which can be used both as a weapon and a defense against other weapons. He is usually depicted fighting enemies such as the AXIS powers (Germany-Italy-Japan). I even looked at other superheroes and found out that Iron Man is also an agent used to test progressions in American Technology in the fight against Communist influence. Other Superheroes are either simply born American or were placed in the context of the American landscape. Their purposes are to save humanity, protect against social injustice, terrorism, tyranny and other social ills. Heroes literally fighting for their lives and others reserving the peace of American society and possibly the wider world. The inherent paradox - creating world peace through war; One must fight through the chaos to find victory and of course one has to move through the damages of battle and to finally restoring harmonic balance and freedom for the nation. These superheroes reaallly took some lessons from the American anthem (if i may say so myself).
What I found increasingly astounding however is how America can use Benjamin Franklin's platform of autobiography to reshape American history and more importantly, the average American man into the ultimate omnipotent figure. (Such a huge ego boost). These heroes are completely patriotic. It's a fascinating institution - the world of youthful entertainment literature can capture the theme of 'America The Great' in one single character. It's amazing the impact on future generations too. Young people would like to look up to the figure of Captain America and say: "When I grow up, I wanna be just like Captain America and protect my country and the world!". America has gone through many transformations but I believe this is one of the most intriguing. America has literally refashioned and chronicled themselves into a totally new symbol of power and prowess - a figure of the wholly moral, indestructible, super-strengthened, ultra-cool (decked out with gadgets), and perfectly good-looking. He is the definitive of the American man. He is the American pride and joy. He is the American soul. *queue Superhero themed music and image of superhero overlooking the vast landscape of America*
(#stolen - but giving props to the person that said this. Thoughtful words.)
"Facebook is such an unhealthy instrument which has
somehow become a necessity for daily contact and expression. All it does is
nurture lust, greed, gluttony, pride, envy, wrath and chronic procrastination.
I spend so much time generating envy based on a
friend's exciting timeline that I don't see or appreciate the same or more
blessings bestowed on me each day.
Take some time to consider this fact. Whether you are
religious, spiritual or not, this is a generalized fact."
- *Jenna (Name changed for confidentiality)
I hinted in my introduction that the internet is a big deal for this modern platform we live in. I cannot stress enough how much we use it every single day. This virtual world we consider to be truly either the mirror to our real lives or alter egos; the performance stage, our promenade to prance our lifestyles and the itsy-bitsy details (even the most irrelevant of information). Oh what a day in the future when for once, I don't have to know what time you bathed or looked at a picture of what you had for breakfast this morning. But what can I say, sometimes I kinda like the 'reality shows' that appear on my Facebook timeline.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whatever other social network site that allows such free self-expression has opened up shared information to new heights. In fact, I believe that the internet and these sites have utterly reshaped the notion: "It's a free country, I can do whatever I want!". It opened up for other countries too, favouring even my small island. I believe these sites are wonderful mediums for sharing useful information and things which can improve our thinking. I will not knock the power of social networking for providing great benefits; (heck some people get jobs from these things). Yet I really am disappointed about we treat these channels. The most trivial of things like: "What am i going to do tomorrow afternoon?" reign on our glass screens instead of "What book will i read next" or "What kind of inventive creation can I think up that can save humanity?" (exaggeration, but you get the point).
This expansive freedom may have dumbed us down a little bit. It blurred the lines of privacy and public information. The things we post are never sacred again but subject to all manner of public conversation, whether positive or negative. Most persons seem to have held its power dear to their heart while clutching their phones to their breast awaiting the ping of a new "like" or comment. The most absurd point of it all is that we enjoy the attention these social public realms produce. We take pleasure in seeing people waste their time on forums not realizing that we too are addicted to the same type of chronic procrastination and attention-seeking ways. The internet and its partner-in-crime websites have allowed us to take a small piece of independence which we obviously have blown out of control many times. Yes, I believe it has succeeded in watching how stupidly obsessed we've become and how we have surpassed even the basic rules of authentic communication. (I think sometimes the makers of networking sites laugh at us and the things we post. I suppose however, they knew the consequences of giving us the power to lose ourselves and boy, did we give that power a 360 degree turn). I'll use T.S Eliot's notion and say that some of us at least are beyond redemption in this Wasteland.
So because this thing does not allow me to put it in the top slot for the description (how rude to tell me only 500 max characters smh*), I'm placing these words in first post. My trial and error for the day - I'm new to this blog world. I decided to go a different route and turn out my usual pen
and paper for a more encompassing medium: the internet. It's great! plus it's
useful for the things i'd like to reveal and use in this blog in my analysis of
the subject. This gives me a little freedom to do what I wish and it's
different from the assignment norm. The internet itself is an expression of their authority of culture in the Western world. When you place this instrument for the world and call it a global village and everyone feels they are entitled to show their faces on surface of the world for everyone to see - they have opened up a totally new realm of life for us to live; (but this is another story, so moving on)
Sooo I hope this allows me to be interesting and
provide some chatter about the excitement of American culture. I'll explore American power through it's popular culture by pointing references to it's use of media and show how in the everyday uses of it's entertainment, America has either influenced or simply set some newly infectious ideas for the rest of the world to latch on. America's power is then defined by the force of it's concepts and visions, how it portrays itself as the mecca, the creator of novel beliefs and how it maintains itself as leader of the western world. But let's see how great America really is. I have to say though, that America does have a knack for keeping themselves as "The GREAT".
