Defining My Generation

I feel that any Harry Potter film could define my generation. The very first movie came out in 2001 and it's the first movie that I remember going to the theater for, I may have been to others but I just don't remember. Even though I was only 8 years old I was very excited to see this movie and so was my friend that went with me. After we saw the movie we wanted to see it again and to be honest we really thought that we were going to receive a letter to attend this school because we saw the movies, haha but we ended up being disappointed. But anyway, after we saw this movie we couldn't stop talking about it and we would even pick up sticks or pencils and pretend that they were wands and pretend to be wizards. Everyone in school wanted to see this movie and once they did we had a big pretend wizard act on the playground. I remember it being so much fun and though we didn't really read the books because at the time we thought they were really big we would try and guess what would happen in the movies to come.

I feel that this movie series could define my generation because a lot of people grew up with these movies and these books, and as the characters changed I feel that we did too. We went from "wand battles" to actually trying to figure things out like Harry had too. Everyone had their favorite characters and everyone tried to be a certain character. The characters were easy to relate to, for example Harry shows us that we need to be courageous and to face our fears head on. Hermione shows us that it's okay to be a little nerdy but mainly that being smart and studying helps you to know things in time of need. Ron shows that even though you have fears, you can try and put those aside and stand up to your enemies. But the main thing that I liked that these characters showed, and not just these three but mostly all of them, friendship is possible between anyone even if your in a different "house." This movie has changed a lot of lives and has shown a lot of people different messages. I just can't believe how many people around the world have fallen in love with this series, book and movie, and how crazy of a fanbase it actually has. I also feel like it defines our generation because of how many people were said when the series was over, I know I was. I've seen this picture all over and I thought that it really helps with why I think this movie could define our generation.

Reality Television

The idea of post modernity is that we are constantly developing new technology which is a good thing but developing these technologies doesn't mean that it is making us better. This concept comes from modernism which is the idea of we are improving and progressing forward. The present is better than the past and the future will be better than both. Modernism was a good concept up until war, but ever since then we haven't been actually getting better so this has led to post modernity. With post modernity more of a grey area is formed in a lot of aspects of life but especially in reality television. Reality television calls itself real but it's the complete opposite and people even know that it's not real but still parts of us still believe or get emotionally invested/attached. So to put it shortly, we accept fake and real at the same time which we do all of the time in a post modern world. So for example, Teen Mom may look real but it's scripted and you only see what they want you too or one aspect of a person. We know that being a teen mom isn't really how it is as it's portrayed in the show but yet we watch and see if Farrah, for example, gets a boyfriend or if other couples work out their issues. We get emotionally attached and we feel sorry for them when we know their lives aren't as they are portrayed on screen. I mean come on they're on TV, they have nice phones, but yet they don't have any money. I mean when you look at it like that it's hard to believe that you are a fan of the show, but you just can't help accepting both the fake and the reality.

Hip Hop and Country...Then vs Now

I feel like hip hop used to talk about everything and anything while now there's a lot of gang talk, race, money, drugs, and sex. I'm not saying hip hop is bad because I personally like hip hop music, certain songs anyway. But in terms of where it is today, I feel like standards and expectations for songs have been lowered because they're not really talking about anything and everything anymore it only focuses on a couple of aspects. To me this makes listeners think that these aspects are okay and supposed to be in your everyday life a lot. I do like the quote that Staples used that said that people think murder and shootings are normal and that spending life in prison is normal too. But as for this music making people violent, I don't believe that to be true necessarily. People choose to listen to this for entertainment, behaviors (sagging of pants, etc) and styles may be replicated but every person who listens isn't running out to join a gang or going out and shooting up places. The video below definitely shows the differences between 80's, 90's and current hip hop music.(ignore the comments made by the maker of the video, I don't agree with what they say)

I feel like country music used to focus a lot on love, which it still does, and about anything. Now a days country has progressed and become more popular and it talks about incorporating romance into any type of situation. It also talks about people having affairs. I think the likable that country incorporates is that it's easy on the ears and that the artists can basically sing about anything and be able to relate to many different types of people. So from the past to now, the same basic aspects are talked about with the same messages, but as it's evolved artists have incorporated more diverse things that people can relate to. The lyrics, as Chuck says, are simple which makes it easier for the listeners to hear and understand the words and get the message that's coming across. Even if you can't relate to the whole song there are bits and pieces that you can. The video below shows how country music songs have evolved. I feel like in every song there's a sense of emotion always present. You can hear the different styles, and if you were to listen to each song in full you could probably relate in some way or another. I'm a fan of country music as well so I know that I'm able to relate to some of these.

Playfulness

In "Bootleg Culture" the issue of play is addressed by the different mash ups that are frequently made these days. This involves taking someones instrumental music and adding someones vocals to it usually completely opposite genres; ex. the Rick Astley vs. Nirvana Never Gonna Give/Smells Like Teen Spirit we saw in class. It's not always a song but it can also be a video with different audio. Play is also addressed when artists use pastiche and kitsch. Pastiche being an imitation of work previously done by a different artist mixed with other factors and made into something new. Kitsch being a low quality work thrown together. The power of bootleg comes about when people begin to use recordings of audio or video that hasn't been legally released by artists or any other authority. So the power of play here is a threat to the legal and economic side of the world because if enough people steal music there's no need to buy it and the artists don't make money. Also people violate copyright when they use people's music/products in mash ups with out permission.

In "Billy Sim" the issue of play is addressed when Chuck talks about how the Sims is a game where you can do what you do in everyday life. Kids play this and while it makes them grow up faster and educates them, it also makes them think like a computer. Computers and video games are limited in the way they operate, they have fixed rules so what is, is and we accept it as that. The power of the Sims shows that buying stuff for the character makes them happy, they're materialistic and say that's how it is in life too. It was said in the Jane Mcgonigal video that humans are happier working hard then relaxing which is what happens in video games with all of the various journeys, etc. Power in video games has a heavy influence on people these days and sometimes people even lose touch with reality.