KIds of South Park

The culture I chose to write about is the popular cartoon, TV show South Park. It is important to discuss because it is not your typical cartoon, where it is for kids to watch, it is a cartoon intended for mature viewers. It kind of broke away from those typical cartoons for kids and was one of the first and more popular cartoons for mature viewers. I think they are critiques to the dominant ideology of a typical eight year old because all of them are portrayed as bad, rebellious kids (for the most part), but in real life a lot of kids are not looked at that they.

South Park is just a cartoon that centers around the four main characters, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick. They all live in a fictional town named South Park that is supposed to be in the mountains of Colorado. Cartman is the obnoxious one that nobody likes; Kyle is the Jewish, red headed guy that gets made fun of by Cartman. Stan is the all around nice guy and Kyle best friend, and Kenny is the poor one that no one really acknowledges. They are all in the fourth grade and half of the time in the show the setting is at school. Every episode they go on or have an adventure that leads to some other bigger problem.

Almost every episode shows many examples of how they are rebellious against their teacher(s), parents, etc. An example of rebellion they show is in the episode named “The Jefferson’s.” They meet a man and go to his house and found out it is like a carnival and they just want to hang out there. There parents then find out and are really worried about them going to a strangers house. Against there parents command they all go back to his house and hang out there again. Another episode that Cartman shows rebellion is the episode named “Ginger Kids.” In this episode Cartman leads a rebellion against kids with red hair and freckles. But his ways soon change when he wakes up morning with red hair and freckles because of a prank his friend pulled on him. There are a lot more other examples in the show of rebellion and how they break away from the dominant ideology of typical elementary school kids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_park

Be Yourself and Be Proud.

Although Cher is from the past, her influences are still seen today. She is still making music and appearing in movies. When you talk about Cher, you can bring up many different ideologies since Cher is associated with many controversial ideas. Whether it’s her transsexual son, the fact that she is a gay icon, or her relationships with large age differences. I believe that she should be looked at as an icon for her contributions against the stereotype of female singers of her time.

Cher’s career started as a singer with her husband, Sonny Bono, in 1965. They produced many songs, for example their most famous hit “I Got You, Babe”, and had a television show called “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.” After Sonny and Cher had split up, Cher continued to make music. She became very famous as an independent singer, and an actress. In 2005, she had a farewell concert, but recently she has reappeared in movies and continues her music. She was in the movie Burlesque in 2010, which featured her newest song “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me.”

When Cher became famous all of the female icons had short blonde hair and a pretty face, for example Dusty Springfield was a very popular female singer at that time. Cher had long black hair, broad Cherokee Indian cheekbones, and a sultry deep voice. She also had ridiculous and revealing costumes, which were unheard of at this time. She helped shape today’s image for female singers, and fashion in general. If Cher hadn’t worn those crazy outfits, you would not see Lady Gaga in the things she wears today. Cher helped look beyond gender roles, and allowed women to be seen as the independent, beautiful people that they are, no matter how they are viewed by others.

Hip Hop changing (explicit Content)

Today I will discuss about the dominant ideology currently happening in hip hop , its not just about money, hoes and clothes , though it seems that way.In today's music industry Hip hop has been going in so many different directions. Artist old and new have been talking about things that contradict eachother. At first hip hop was more spiritual ,it showed self expression with just a mic and MC not to mention breakdancers, dj's and grafitti artist. Its definatley changed over time . Rap artist supposedly speak of the "truth" , but is the truth really about smoking blunts, J's, having hoes and exploiting the money they have obtained. I dont blame them for being on there grind chasing money anyway possible , but I do mind when there stated as artist with deep lyrics.

Luckily there are artist who are changing the way the game is. Musicians with raw talent, that express there thoughts in how hip hop is and what are the true diffuculties in life. To name a few musicains that have that talent and potential are J.cole, Kendrick lamar and Atmosphere. Most of thier songs have big messsages in life to qoute a few J.cole said Ain't no fathers don't take no scholarship to slang no dope Politicians hollerin' bout' problems but I ain't gon' vote.He talk bout change still we floatin' in the same ol' boat" when the word "he" is an acronym referring to president obama , even though the race of a presidents has changed ,people will still be in poverty unless they act upon it.

The main point in this statement is the way artist were five years ago has change in the course of time. They are breaking the dominant ideal trend and shedding light upon a new era of music. The way I see it is that it can only get better. Its nice to know that hip-hop has its ups and downs , but at the moment due to these bright and young artist it's staying consistent.

Pop culture analysis: Parkway drive

Parkway drive is an Australian, straight-edge metal band who believe in equality among everyone. Many of their songs sing of freedom, democracy, and the rights of everyone. Its odd because everyone thinks of them as Evil and Bad and Satanic when they are the complete opposite of that. They are against stereotypes and believe everyone should have equal freedom. They are following in the american ideology of freedom and this one song which is one of my personal favorites and one that speaks to its audience is "The sirens song."

The name of the song is an important metaphor that has to do with freedom and equality. "The sirens song" is a metaphor that goes up against government making the decisions for us and not being a democracy and so on. There is a line in the song that says "...follow the sirens song...and you will lose all right..." Hearing that you may just think oh whatever that has nothing to do with me but in interviews Winston McCall, lead singer of parkway drive, has personally said that those lines mean if you follow the "siren" (the government) you will lose all right which means you will lose your freedom. This song is a great example of bands that metaphorically rise above all the problems in the world using their music.

Parkway drive is a great influence to live freely and be a democrat. They are involved in controversies with people who are republican and also christians. Christians think " hmm their growling and screaming...they must be singing about the devil..." creating a stereotype which goes against parkways whole message to he world. Even when your singing of other problems people judge to quickly. You can never judge a book by its cover...

http://www.lyricsmania.com/the_sirens_song_lyrics_parkway_drive.html !!!!EXPLICIT!!!!!!!

My work of Pop culture is the U.S. Army Motivational Video by Eric Horner. This video shows what we should all do and what we should fight for. The Ideal of this is its name itself which is the Army. It shows the Army values which basically spell out leadership and they are:
Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Self-less Service
Honer
Intrity
Personal Courage

The video shows each indiviual soldier no as a individual but as a group of soldiers. It shows the brotherhood that each of us could be in. It shows the disapline of each soldier and what each soldier wants to fight for. This video tells you to never give up until you cant fight no more. This gives you motivation on what your heart beats on, and what you should fight for in your life.

I like this video because of the way the video shows that we are not individuals and we fight for a good reason. This video shows that anybody can become anythig you want, if your really motivated for what you want. This video will give you motivation on your own dream, its about our heart beats that beats passion for things that we do. The best quote I think that Eric Horner says is " When it is your time, When it is your moment, go and take it!" This shows me that everyone has a moment of in their lives that they should take and not give up. Right when it comes you should take it right off the bat.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brG-4WvYz1Y

Desperate housewives

The tv show desperate housewives is about several women living in a suburban neighborhood where everyone around may think it seems perfect. But behind closed doors these ladies and their families have deep secrets that no ordinary person would imagine. the show first aired October 3, 2004 , and is now about to start the 8th and final season. the show follows the housewives in the eyes of their dead neighbor who committed suicide in the very first episode. this show resists the the dominant ideology of perfect housewives.Desperate housewives shows that although someone might seem perfect and under control on the outside,when you really take a look they are anything but perfect.

The show desperate housewives is about four women and their families who's stories are being told by their dead neighbor Mary Alice Young,who committed suicide because someone found out about her deepest secret. All the women on wisteria lane have some kind of secret that they'd like to keep hidden but unfortunately that isn't possible on the lane. the housewives secrets vary from infidelity, to murder. You never know what will happen next.

One of the characters that really resists the common ideology of a perfect housewife is Bree Van De Kamp who seems like this perfect woman with a perfect family really has anything but a perfect life. Although Bree made it seem like everything was perfect her secrets were starting to come out when her husband announced that he was about to file for divorce in the first season. This show may not be educational but it does teach you not to judge people because you don't know the whole truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_housewives

"How to Love"

Lil’ Wayne’s song “How to Love” is a part of the hip hop trend. Like many other artists his music talks about life and the struggles it brings him. His music speaks to everyone. It relates to everyone who has had problems in their life or is currently having problems. This songs message is basically about women how are having trouble loving a man. They don’t know how to love because they have low self-esteem.
“How to Love” is a very inspirational song. It speaks to many people who have low self-esteem. For people who haven’t heard of this song they would definitely like it. It mostly speaks to women and girls who don’t feel good about themselves, who have very low self-esteem. Lil’ Wayne’s music speaks to everybody. It talks about the struggles everyone goes through in life. His music helps many people see what problems everyone actually has.
His song “How to Love” talks about girls who don’t know how to love a man because of their low self-esteem. It helps girls see what a lot of other girls go through with men and relationships. The lyrics are straight forward and get to the point. It doesn’t beat around the bush.
http://www.elyrics.net/read/l/lil_-wayne-lyrics/how-to-love-lyrics.html