Fast Foward

I thought that Lauren Greenfield's project was very interesting. However, it does not come as shocking to me. I do believe that teenagers grow up faster in L.A. because of Hollywood's close influence, however, I believe that teenagers across America grow up too fast in general. I went to a public school in Connecticut, within five minutes from Mohegan Sun Casino and Foxwoods Casino. I grew up in a middle-class family in a quiet neighborhood. My school had a gang made up of kids who lived on the reservation. I went to a party once, and they broke in with pipes and crowbars and beats kids faces in. Groups of friends would get pregnant together. Kids smoked weed in the bathroom, came to lunch tripping on acid. One of my best friends was given a 2009 BMW for her birthday, and has four houses. My other best friend grew up with a single mom, in a tiny house, and spent a good portion of high school living with me because she was always being kicked out. We would tag bridges. I've had a friend get a breast reduction, while another is getting a boob job for graduation. A girl came up to my table at lunch one day and showed us her new damage to her arms. I eventually was able to get her help, however. I worked 30 hours a week. I've heard girls puking in the bathroom. None of Greenfield's work seems new to me. Yes, these are solely negative aspects of high school. I was also on the high honor roll all throughout high school, captain of my cross country team, and was active in volunteering. I feel as if many teenagers live a double life. Who they are with their friends is not who they are at home or in class. Maybe I was just involved in the "wrong crowd", but if I never went through everything, I don't think I'd be who I am today. I think that society focuses on the negative aspects of being a teenager. We hardly get rewarded for doing good things, but get constantly talked down on for acting out. I think it is sad that girls feel the pressure to be thin and beautiful. I also think it is sad that boys feel the need to be macho and thugs. However, most people outgrow these stages. They make them into stronger people. I also think that gang violence needs to be addressed as it takes too many young lives. I didn't understand what the 1992 riots were, and a few L.A. related things were in Greenfield's article. I wish I had more than a week to capture teenagers in my town, because this seems to be a fun project.

Glee

This television series made me SO angry. I have heard so many reviews on it, and everyone has said it was a great show. I am not one for musicals however, so I did not care to see it. After seeing it, I do not understand how ignorant people can be to enjoy watching stereotype after stereotype. To start my rant, the gay community is poorly represented in Glee. The only gay guy on the show is overtly flamboyant with his Marc Jacobs, while the lesbian girl is gothic. What does this say for the gay community? It says that these are the stereotypes, making viewers believe that these stereotypes are indeed true. New York Times called Glee "blissfully unoriginal". Of course the only person in a wheel chair is dorky, almost as if he is mentally challenged. Of course every old, white man is mean; while the young, attractive guy is charming and nice. Of course the chubby guy is riding a cart, next to the skinny guy who is running. The straight guys harrass other straight guys for being a part of the Glee club, aren't all straight guys jerks? At least, this is what this show is teaching its audience. The part that enfuriated me the most was when the Glee teacher sabotaged his student for having weed and said "this is the blackest moment I have ever had". No wonder the majority of prisons are filled with people of color, the media never gives them a chance, reenforcing our negative judgements on them as a society. The only black girl on the show is loud, angry and refers to a student as "white boy". The woman who is married to the teacher of Glee has a shopping addiction and only cares about the money her husband makes, while her husband is having a fling with another woman. The Christian girl had to pray before making out.

There are so many problems with this show, I could rant for hours. Every stereotype I could possibly think of was shown in this series. What ever happened to breaking barriers? This is a horrible depiction of teenagers, and ever American culture in general. It is nothing more than a straight romance. As the teacher of the Glee club said, "being an adult, you have to give up on the things you love". As in no adult is ever happy? As in being a teenager is a joke? I did not understand why this television show would ever be allowed to air, and why so many people follow it. All it is doing is constricting every person in America to their own stereotype, enabling those in power to keep their power. This ties into every aspect we have learned in class, especially that youth is a culturally constructed category.

Hip-Hop

Jared Ball's articles were very hard for me to read. However, I understood a few concepts that he was trying to point out. The first being that mainstream hip-hop is not what it had originally intended to be. Original hip-hop was intended for "black America" to vent about problems with society and the struggle of being a person of color. "Hip-hop is often taken out of the existing context of political struggle, repression, or the primacy of a domestic/neo-colonialism in the service of which mass media play a (the?) leading role. Media, often incorrectly defined by their technologies, are the primary conduits of ideology or worldview and must be seen as such" (Ball). He says that the media has portrayed hip-hop to be this highly sexual musical style of "thugs" and "hoes". His second article is discussing how major music labels often tell their artists what they can and what they cannot sing or rap about, inhibiting true hip-hop to be produced. "At times called the petit-bourgeoisie, or even the Black bourgeoisie, they are simply that group which, as administrators, administer to society that which limits or confounds ranges of thought so as to keep people from stepping – intellectually or literally – beyond acceptable parameters" (Ball).

I agree with Ball's articles. Hip-hop has swung from Tupac being the most popular hip-hop artist talking about the positive changes he wanted to see in the world, to Lil Wayne, the most popular hip-hop artist today singing about the objectification of women, and how he wants to objectify him. It is disgusting to see the hip-hop industry be what it is today. I believe that this is directly connected with SCWAMP. Tupac rapped about how black people were not treated equally, and how people of color filled the prisons. This shows the racism and racial problems in society, and show that white men are truly the privileged ones. In addition, with Lil Wayne singing about women as purely sexual objects, it can account for one of the many reasons why women are not treated equally. With artists such as Lil Wayne becoming popular, more people listen to what they have to say, and the women's movement goes nowhere. What happened to intelligent rappers? I would like to see the hip-hop movement be back where it used to be.

Tupac- "I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races"

Lil Wayne-"Open up her legs then filet Mignon that pussy
Ima get in and on that pussy"

This looks like a big change to me...