SUU Popular Culture & Communication

I really enjoyed this module and learning more about feminism.  Over the years women have faced many challenges and this module just scratched the surface.  There is still a long way to go if we are being completely honest, but the more we are aware of these challenges the more we are able to do something about them and make improvements moving forward.  A theme or topic that stood out to me during this module was how the media have portrayed women in the past and the awful things they’ve said on live television is astonishing, embarrassing, and wrong.     Although I haven’t heard as many downright terrible things in recent years myself personally, I couldn’t help to notice all the talk of Taylor Swift going to her boyfriend’s games, and the Super Bowl.  A lot of what I was hearing online and on social media about Taylor Swift was negative and how a lot of people are upset that she is getting so much attention.  The majority of the ...

          One of the themes that stuck out to me during this module was John Storey’s argument that, “all mass culture is identical, and predictable”.  This is actually based on the term ‘culture industry’ that was coined by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1979) where they claim a major part of the culture industry is homogenous, or essentially that all mass media is identical and or predictable.           Can you think back to some form of popular culture that you were watching, reading, etc. and you predicted the end or what was going to happen next?     Can you think back to a recent form of pop culture that you engaged with where you saw very similar themes or topics that aligned very closely with another show, movie, or text that you engaged with?                               I think one of the reasons why this...

              I feel that over the past few weeks and months I have been so insanely busy that I haven’t really had the opportunity or time to explore a lot of new pop culture.  Instead, I feel that I have been engaging with music, and particularly old music that I used to listen to a few years back.  One of those artists is Zach Bryan.  One of his songs that has stuck out to me a little more than usual, especially during this module of Marxism and Marxist Criticism is, “Damn Cold Vampires.”             I think the premise of this song is how there are entities or organizations that will try to take advantage of people and exploit them for money.  In particular, the song itself has heavy hints of critiques and criticism toward the music industry but I think it could be taken as corporate greed or also critiques of capitalism in the sense of its abus...

Pop culture is all around us whether we are aware or not.  Knowing what is going on in pop culture today gives us social capital, especially in social settings.  Whether we like it or not connections to pop culture are happening all around us all the time.  Some may see this as a negative thing like ads or pushing certain messaging onto us to cause us to believe or think in a different manner.  Others may enjoy the constant bombardment and message signaling that takes place.  For me personally, before this course and module I never really truly realized just how much pop culture messaging takes place.  That doesn’t mean that it was going happening or going on.  However, I feel that it is important to be aware and in the know instead of oblivious to what is going on around us. Deanna Sellnow states that our favorite movie, tv show, and songs can tell a lot about a person and how we see and interpret the world around us...

One of the reasons I like this program and especially this class is that I am exposed to different experiences I may never encounter. I never heard of Vampire Weekend. But having an eclectic collection (Jazz, Barbra Streisand, RB, Country) I am always open to listen. I listened to Capricorn and I was pleasantly surprised.  Although the lyrics are somewhat melancholy, the huge chord progressions makes the feelings stronger and the chord structures make the song sadder than the lyrics. This juxtaposition between music, lyrics, and feelings makes me wonder about Fiske’s three arguments for dismissal.

 My latest music obsession is Vampire Weekend's first two singles from their soon to be released album, Only God Was Above Us. Both of the singles, Capricorn and Gen-X Cops, have some elements of existentialism. In Gen-X Cops it says, "Each generation makes its own apology," at the end of the chorus. This line infers that every generation becomes self aware to some extent of the previous generation's wrongdoings. As each generation becomes aware of those sins they can look introspectively at the actions of their own generation leading to their subsequent apologies.  Furthermore, in Capricorn it talks about how they are too old to die young and too young to live alone. This seems to be talking about being middle aged or a younger adult. At some point you just are not as young anymore even if you still feel young mentally. On a personal level, this stage of life is in sight, but still has yet to begin. The format of being too young for A and too old for B can be used at...

  Music through the years has inspired many feuds . The classic “Bad Blood” Between Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, or the actual bloody feud between Tupac and Biggie Smalls made their mark on pop culture. One line in a song could cause years of back and forth between artists. Recently Megan Thee Stallion released her new track, “ Hiss ”, and it’s potentially chock-full of jabs at other artist’s . One artist in particular, Nicki Minaj, did not handle the situation well. Music can make us respond with strong emotions, and Nicki Minaj was furiou s. Days after the release Hiss, Minaj released her response track “ Big Foot ”. While audiences were in awe over Megan’s “Megan’s Law” line, they were appalled at Nicki’s disrespectfully lyrics referencing Megan getting shot in her foot. A major difference between the artist’s approach stands out. While Megan’s song has many individuals speculating about who she is referencing, Nicki’s diss track leaves no room for the imagination. Megan’s metho...

Iam Tongi went viral for his initial audition of the cover of "Monsters" and he won the hearts of many. With the story of his father's passing, and his smooth voice, Iam was able to gain a huge following and won American Idol. The Life Illusion Theory as it states in the module is the theory that music contains elements which represents feelings of the listeners. When Iam Tongi won the American Idol competition, some of the comments made by his own people, the Polynesians, pertaining to the win claimed it was not because his voice was anything special. It was because of the emotions he was able to convey in his songs which caused the audience to root for him. Knowing his life story caused people to listen to his songs with not just about the music but what his feelings represent. This made the audience root for him which led him to win. This was theorized by people and it caused some controversy with his supporters saying that this was not true and his win was on his tale...

In the original rendition of “Cruel Summer,” Taylor Swift’s powerful vocals and heartfelt storytelling create a profound connection among women who have experienced the pain of a love gone wrong. The combination of fast beats and an emotionally charged bridge allows listeners to immerse themselves in the lyrics, feeling every word as if it were their own. Sellnow describes this artistic technique as paralanguage. According to Sellnow, paralanguage is “the nonverbal cues that accompany words (e.g., pitch, volume, rate, pauses) to convey the emotional tone of a message.” (page 172) When the paralanguage is changed, it can completely transform the emotional tone of a song, convey a different message, and establish a whole new atmosphere for the song to exist in. However, in Kory Wheeler’s acoustic cover of Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” a slower tempo takes hold, accompanied by the intimate strumming of a single guitar. This transformative rendition of the song gives the song new life and...

"Can we please turn that off?" said my father-in-law one Christmas as I was playing Angels We Have Heard on High by Bayside. To me, this was just a different version of a classic song set to punk rock. Nothing too strange about it. However, my father-in-law heard something disrespectful to the original song. This wasn't about the lyrics as they were the same for both, nor was it about style preference as he has enjoyed hearing this particular group sing in the past. It was something more for him, it was as if the band was rebelling against his more conservative view of a classic song.  This is the first example that came to mind as Deanna Sellnow explained about nondiscursive symbols and nondiscursive rhetoric. That there is a realm of symbols that can't be seen with words or numbers. The study of these areas looks into how they persuade people when it comes to already-held beliefs. Understanding how music can be used as a rhetorical tool is just as important as film...

  Photo by genius.com Reflecting on the history of the Hip Hop genre, which traces back to the 1970s, it has consistently served as a platform to express societal injustices such as racial segregation and individual self-expression. It embodies empowerment, expressing absolute determination to overcome obstacles, and is centered around releasing emotions and feelings. Without forgetting that none of the music genres and elements can be reduced to an absolute fixed definition, can we attribute a large part of the Hip Hop music genre to release patterns? As Sellnow explains, release patterns represent feelings of relief from tension, while intensity denotes feelings of tension. For instance, in Eminem's "Superman" (2002), the artist releases his feelings of love by expressing his love and dominance to his lover. The lines 'They call me Superman' and 'I'm here to rescue' serve as perfect examples of how the artist expresses the feelings of release from...

Pop ular Music Hits Explained MUSICAL AESTHETICS V.S. MUSIC COMMUNICATION Author Deanna D. Sellnow discusses the difference between "musical aesthetics" and "music as communication".  Based on my understanding of what I have read I interpreted "musical aesthetics" as appreciating the art of music objectively by genres, patterns, instruments, and tempo. Examples of this can be seen in something like the Opera of Classical Music. "musical aesthetics can also be someone that listens to music just because they enjoy it but do not analyze it in any way.  While "music as communication" is the basis of how most people listen to music, objectively connecting a type of emotional meaning to the art.  These are my interpretations of the two definitions. However, I believe these two definitions can be a hybrid or dynamic of some sort. For example, someone can critically analyze a song and it could be great but they have a deep connection to the art and ...

What do Superman , Schindler’s List , Home Alone , and NBC News have in common? They all have a score or theme song composed by the legendary John Williams. Williams is famous for his iconic film scores, so much so that they have become just as identifiable and popular as the films themselves in the pop culture lexicon. It is difficult to hear the iconic notes of Harry Potter’s “Hedwig’s Theme” or the Star Wars “Main Title” and not immediately identify them as John Williams’ work. The style of his compositions evoke emotion and convey meaning, typically without the use of lyrics. Although Sellnow’s explanation of the illusion of life theory argues that music and lyrics work together to convey messages of conceptual and emotional content, I contend that John Williams’ music is unique in its ability to successfully convey conceptual and emotional content without words. (It should be noted that a few of John Williams’ orchestrations do have lyrics, though he is not typically the writer). ...

Sometimes, the best way to communicate thoughts and feelings is through song. While many people would believe that music can’t be a way to communicate, Sellnow (2018) argues that music can have attached meanings and that “Music as communication refers to the individual and unique meanings each of us might attach to a musical work” (p. 170). The author recommends that thoughts and meanings can be spread through song through “musical rhetoric,” where arguments are conveyed persuasively through song (p. 171).  The first band that came to mind upon reading this was Metallica. In the band's early years, they were highly political and wanted to spread their message through music. They were great at this and developed a deep cult following.  Some of their most famous songs, such as Master of Puppets, Leper Messiah, and One, all have meanings the band wants to convey an argument to their audience. For instance, Master of Puppets, which many consider the best song written by the band, ...

"Let the Music Speak for Me" 🎜🎜🎜♬♬🎝🎝♫  Sometimes I find myself free-falling without ground in sight. During my descent, I begin to forget about what I fell off of and I wish a branch of reason could slow my pace. It's crazy, in my own head I could hardly explain the depths of my feelings through words.  Good or bad our emotions define us and guide our bodies through life as we know it.   Tom Petty's song "Free Fallin" exemplifies the experience of a wake-up call.  Susanne Langer, an American philosopher who specialized in art and music, believed that music was capable of expressing emotions in a way that words could not. Renowned Scholar Bronwyn Davies described Langer's theory on how music was able to articulate complicated emotions by way of a non-discursive, symbolic conduit redescribed as an illusion of life that sounds the way feelings feel (Sellnow, 2010).      For some, finding the reason our tastes in music differ so much could be a c...

  Born In the U.S.A.   Module 5 centers around Pop Culture and music.   The 1984 hit “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen described a Vietnam War veteran who returns home to desperate circumstances and few options.   “I had a brother at Khe Sanh, Fighting off the Viet Cong. They’re still there, and he’s all gone. He had a woman he loved in Saigon; I got a picture of him in her arms.”   Springsteen’s lyrics emphasize that being born in the U.S.A. does not guarantee a fair life.   It may seem like he is celebrating being born in the U.S.A. — when really, he is singing about being left in the U.S.A. and deserving better.  In her writing, Sellnow describes individual and unique meanings, not necessarily shared by others that we attach to a musical work, which is congruity.   Incongruity is not in harmony or keeping up with the surroundings or other aspects of something (Sellnow, 2010). None of these are rhetoric.  “Bor...