Rob's Taste and Cultural Politics Blog @rob4p34 - Tumblr Blog

Posts

"A more insecure person is going to post staged or sexualized photos, and they're going to do it so much that they become consumed by it and the comments they receive."

According to psychiatrists interviewed by TIME magazine and psychiatrist Dr. David Veal, selfies can be linked to degenerative mental health issues, excessive body image concerns, narcissistic qualities, and a disconnected intimacy in real life human relationships.

Our current digitally connected world enhances people's already sensitive self-image issues and they feel compelled to boost their social statuses by flooding people's feeds with appealing (manipulated and edited) photos of themselves.

Of course, modern day media doesn't help and encourages this trend and these behaviors. People want to post selfies of themselves everywhere they go somewhere which is deemed 'cool' in the media. Body image issues being encouraged in the media (glamorous actors on TV, photoshop in magazines, celebrity culture obsession) is nothing new. However, now photoshop is a part of everyday life. We are now encouraged to photoshop our own faces and bodies and people are more compelled than ever to digitally manipulate ourselves and distribute it through our social networks.

Disgust and Desire: Howard Stern

Earlier in the semester we read a publication by author Laura Kipnis about the battles Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt had with America and the court systems battling for his right to the first amendment of freedom of the press.

Flynt was viewed as a social villain during a much more socially reserved time in the 1970's when he launched Hustler - a pornographic magazine depicting graphic sexual images. Flynt spent an obscene amount of time and money throughout his career battling in the courts, many times to fight for the validity of his company and his right to print sexual images for those who desire such content. Much of society looked down on Flynt as a deviant trying to manipulate the court systems to conduct his illicit activities. He was even shot, leaving him permanently handicapped from the waist down outside of a courtroom in Georgia. The availability of pornographic content has been an accepted part of society for decades now and those who desire such material are free to go find it.

I definitely see some parallels from this article and Flynt's career with Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed, 'King of All Media,' as he came up through the radio broadcasting industry. Stern, attempting to 'cut down the barriers, strip down all the ego, and be totally honest," was looked down upon throughout North America because he would openly discuss controversial views on politics, religion, and anything he wanted to talk about. As stern continued to offend people by bashing religion, discussing an immense of toilet humor, or having strippers on the show as guests openly talking about their careers, he was fired numerous times and fined millions of dollars by the FCC. In 2010, Stern signed a massive $400 million dollar contract with the unregulated Sirius satellite radio company.

The successes of entrepreneurs like Larry Flynt and Howard Stern demonstrate that although highbrow enforcers of social and cultural content like the FCC or members of the church will always try to restrict controversial freedoms of speech; but as long as the content fits within the confines of the law, there is a demand for honest, open, unrestricted content in democracies such as Canada and the US.

Coachella. The hipster paradise which has become a wasteland polluted with mainstream cliches. This article by Vice's music platform Noisey perfectly encapsulates how the Coachella concert (which starts tomorrow) has become predictably annoying.

Appropriately named 'the Basic Bitches' Guide to Coachella 2014', the writer goes step by step through an educated prediction at what the itinerary of the average Coachella goer is going to look like.

Here are some highlights:

- You are super excited to see OutKast because they were insanely popular in the mainstream throughout the 2000's.

- Dancing to bands you've never really heard of just to prove that you are into music festivals.

- You are going to be wearing neon clothes and will be equipped with glow sticks (probably the biggest electro concert/music festival cliche).

- You will probably experiment with mood altering drugs (because every one else is doing it!)

- You are flooding your social media accounts with pictures and videos showing everyone you are totally at Coachella.

- 'Drunk!' 'Sun!' 'Instagram!' 'Pizza!'

- Once again you are hitting up the stages with all mainstream bands you have actually heard of (Foster the People, Pharrell, Lorde, etc.)

New Orleans based sludge punk band EYEHATEGOD bundles together existential, political, moral, and religious nihilism all in one depressing, hateful package.

The Sex Pistols made nihilism in music famous in the 70's with their track 'God Save the Queen'. The song's themes preaching don't try too hard' because upper class societal establishments will just push you while your down' type attitudes resonated with disenfranchised and unemployed youth.

Sex Pistols definitely introduced traces of political and anti-societal nihilism into their music but EYEHATEGOD go to much deeper and darker places with the nihilism in their music. They make the Sex Pistols look like smiling school girls skipping rope at recess.

There is a famous story about EYEHATEGOD told throughout the sludge punk scene of New Orleans. While smashing a glass bottle of alcohol on the ground, band member Mike Williams severely cut open his hand. His band members reacted by smearing the words 'HELL' and 'Death to Pigs' in his blood.

Throughout the years, the catastrophic conditions of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and personal tragedies tied to members throughout the band, has influenced their music to get more tragically depressing and audibly thrashing.

EYEHATEGOD has been around for decades, providing a platform for fans to release the insufferable pain of living a pointless live in a damaged world. The band is getting ready to release their first LP in 14 years. This time, the album has something extra hateful pain behind it as their drummer Joey LaCaze died just last year.

Damn, life sucks.

THE ROOM - "The Citizen Kane of Bad Movies"

The Room (2004), soooooooo bad it is just so good. Entertainment Weekly describes this movie as 'the Citizen Kane of bad movies' and other notable film critic publications have put this on their list of the worst movies ever made.

However, a decade after this film's release in just a small number of California theatres, flocks of cult followers are still coming out to celebrate their love for this awful movie.

The Room famously suffers from a number of continuity errors and irrelevant plot lines and sub plots which are introduced and then abandoned.

From the sketchy operations which got the film funded in the first place (importing leather jackets from Korea), to the whacky characters - one which has been described as sounding like 'Borat trying to do an impression of Christopher Walken playing a mental patient', The Room has begun to be celebrated as a tribute to popular cinematic trash.

Cult followers still go out to theatres and carry out antics which are very Rocky Horror Picture Show-esque. They dress up in costumes, throw spoons and footballs (references to the movie) and have an enjoyable time by not taking this film too seriously...or seriously at all.

Cult fans love for the wackiness of this film and all the flaws it come with have not only resulted in this film being relevant a decade later, but have spawned a video game, book and theatre reinventions of the film as well.

Watch this trailer and notice how perfectly director Wes Anderson utilizes the concepts involved with creating American Smart Cinema.

Notice the sensationalist attempts to portray the Tenenbaums as an ultra-prestigious, 1% type, upper-class white family: the Pulitzer Price writing ninth grade daughter, the world's second ranked tennis playing son and the financial wiz and entrepreneurial other teenage son.

"They were brilliant, they were famous...they were unlucky enough to be children of a man named Royal Tenenbaum."

The movie contains an absurdist and ironic sense of dark humor throughout, using this sensationalized successful, upper-class family to portray a highly-dysfunctional family which is the Tenanbaum's.

Providing effective critiques using these ironic capabilities on upper-class, post-modern white suburia, the Royal Tenenbaum's are plagued by betrayal, family failure and disaster.

Where are all the smart films?

Not at your local Empire Theatre, that's for sure. After doing a presentation about American Smart Cinema and then looking up the movie listings at the Penn Centre - I was really discouraged to go see something.

The only choices right now are pretty much: Non-stop - another generic action film which occurs on a mid-flight airplane. Noah - don't feel like sitting through a three hour recreation of a fairy tale that never happened (nihilism!), Need For Speed? - like I said in class, just Fast and the Furious starring Jesse Pinkman.

So where are all the smart films? It has become very clear that Hollywood has only strengthened the trend which keeps controversial films which push moral boundaries out of the mainstream cinema. Mainstream blockbusters are pushed out on repeat while VHS tapes of challenging films like KIDS (1995) and Thirteen (2003) sit on basement bookshelves collecting dust.

We just have to face the facts. The theatre is a platform for consumer distraction and no longer a place for social and moral critique. However, we can take solace in knowing that we can utilize the online world to access previous smart films which have been made, and access new ones which will not get the mainstream attention they deserve!

VHS 2 Restricted Red Band Trailer. On demand June 6 & In theaters July 12, 2013. "A nearly unbroken series of VISCERAL SHOCKS" - Indiewire Searching for a mi...

Paracinema – an academic term referring to a wide variety of films which appear outside of the confines of the easily consumable mainstream genres of film. Films which fall under the category of Paracinema are usually indie art house films, science fiction and horror.

A relatively new series of horror films which have been released over the last couple of years perfectly demonstrate an auxiliary form of paracinema – splatterpunk. Splatterpunk specifically refers to a movement within the horror genre. Splatterpunk films are characterized by their graphic scenes and explicitly violent and gory depictions.

Instead of following the traditional guidelines of mainstream horror film, with played out plot lines and lazy attempts to infiltrate conventions of human fear (ghosts slamming doors, the killer who doesn’t run to chase his victims), splatterpunk really digs deep into the human psyche and preys on very real horrors and societal fears.

I recently watched two horror films entitled V/H/S and V/H/S 2. They were probably the best horror films I have ever seen. A collection of short stories bundled into two films; the V/H/S series will terrify even experienced horror enthusiasts and make the average movie-goer throw up in their bowl of popcorn.

Consisting of unique storylines which speak volumes about real societal fears and consequences, VHS perfectly embodies the concepts of new-age Splatterpunk. Frat boys violating a drunk girl inside a hotel room, a doctor who exploits patients and girlfriends via webcam, a group of delinquents who run a reality pornography operation and a satanic immigrant cult are just a handful of the horrors presented to viewers in this deadly series.

I highly suggest horror enthusiasts check these movies out if you haven’t already.

According to online celebrity gossip source Radar, the celebrity who broke Taylor Swift’s heart and made her see RED was Hollywood A-Lister Jake Gyllenhaal.

The story claims that when Swift was 20, she was so infatuated with Gyllenhaal, that she ‘gave herself’ up to him. When he didn’t show up to her 21st birthday party, apparently Swift ‘locked herself in the bathroom in her party dress all night’.

Swift is always on the receiving end of memes, jokes, and endless commentary because of her ‘heartbreak’ and ‘teenage love is so devastating’ themed lyrics in nearly every song.

When it comes to mainstream music, Swift is as schmaltzy as it gets.

If Celine Dion is the representative of the ‘Oprah Winfrey for the consumerist soul’ then Swift is the representative for every young girl who has had been hurt by a boy growing up. While this was most likely a devastating moment in the young artists life, it is frustrating to hear her wailing about common troubles every girl in life has ever had to be faced with through the radio song after song.

Swift is extremely talented, so it is especially frustrating to hear dumbed-down, generic lyrics such as ‘We are never, ever, ever getting back together’ and ‘You should have came. You should have burst through the door’.

The industry has clearly gotten a hold of her talent and transformed her into a ‘schmaltz-bot’ of generic teenage love songs marketable to any young girl who has ever had a boy break her heart.

Taylor, your too talented for this cheesy nonsense. Say F the industry and write about something else – not only will people still listen to you, they will like you more.

navarrocomm

This is so funny. The article for today touches a lot on the fact that trash reality television, constantly showing us the matter and metaphor of dirty, creates audience anxiety, causing us to want to look away and stop watching. However with shows such as What not to Wear and How clean is your house, you are captivated by the first scene and therefore you just HAVE to watch until the end to see the final transformed product.

carlyandcomm

I find myself in this situation all the time - watching television shows that I actually have no interest in yet I end up dedicating a full hour to seeing how it ends or where it will lead. This is especially relevant for the MTV Network; their endless array of reality shows is mind-numbingly captivating that all of my roommates are guilty of watching such “trash television” every week. In the end, I think such shows will always exist and be popularized regardless of their quality and taste; they are so bad they’re good.

rob4p34

I am definitely an out-spoken hater of reality TV, but I feel like everyone can agree to this, myself included. I've definitely walked into a room more than once where a laughably bad reality TV show is on and I find myself hanging around longer than expected. So true!

A 27-Year-Old American Medical Student is Auctioning Off Her Virginity

What’s dirtier than auctioning off a highly sacred, memorable moment of your life, such as losing your virginity, to a complete stranger for a heap of money?

Sounds like a reality show doesn’t it? Well, for 27-year-old alleged American medical student Elizabeth Raine (alias), it is very real.

On her blog, http://musingsofavirginwhore.com (very classy!), Ms. Raine, says she is ‘financially independent’ and is not doing this as a cash grab or for publicity. She labels this as a ‘free-spirited’ decision she has decided to make in order to provide a statement which proves that women are dominant of their sexuality and in control of their bodies.

I am not sure how selling yourself off to a wealthy male for his own sexual satisfaction proves that you are in control of your body. Most females who are in control of their bodies and sexuality demonstrate this by making a voluntary decision to share this special moment with someone they have feelings for, trust, and have a special bond with.

Her bullsh*t reasoning reminds me of the fake values surrounding ‘love’ and ‘romance’ which are spit out to consumers on the reality TV show The Bachelor. The dirt we love about reality television is packaged in this show (catty females willing to backstab each other for the love of The Bachelor) around these fake values of love and romance. I feel like they do this so that you don’t feel bad about getting high off this dirt because there will be a ‘fall in love and walk off into the sunset’ heart-warming moment at the end.

We all know the relationships in this show never work out, and they were never real to begin with. At the end of it all, both parties have received an immense amount of publicity, and the show creators cash in off the ratings. It is all a sham.

It appears as if Ms. Raine has taken a page out of The Bachelor playbook because this is exactly what she is doing. The Bachelor attempts to ‘class’ up the dirt of reality TV by packaging the drama and trashiness associated with their genre by promoting fake values, when at the end of the day publicity and money are the only things that matter. She is classing up her decision to become a prostitute by packaging this harsh reality around concepts of ‘pride’, ‘independence’. She is not trashy because she is a ‘financially independent’ high-class medical student. The act itself is not disgusting because she is actually a ‘virgin.’

Who knows if she is actually a virgin? Or a med student? Or even real at all?

All I know is that the mainstream loves dirt and the fact that my news feeds were plastered with this story tells me that media outlets put something which actually brings societal value on the backburner in order to talk about the auctioning off of some mystery girl’s virginity.

Now that’s dirty.

For some laughs hit up Elizabeth Raine's 'Virginity Auction' website here: http://www.elizabeth-raine.com/index.html

navarrocomm

Jersey Shore came to mind while reading today’s article on reality television and dirt. Although I am a big fan of Jersey Shore (sadly), it is a reality television show that capitalizes on audience’s low-brow taste. Amy West touches upon the idea that audiences sit watching these shows and although they want to, they find it very difficult to look away and avoid. The actual matter of dirty within this show is present in the way these people live, they are more concerned with their physical appearance than the way they live, dirty kitchen, dirty room and everything everywhere. Lastly, the actual metaphor of dirt is present in that the show is recognized as trashy and low class taste, and yet I am willing to watch it. Amy waste would say, I become trashy by watching trash television. Do you agree?

thedistinctionoftaste-blog

I don’t want to think that we become “trashy” but I agree with you that there is a certain embarrassment that goes along with watching the show. I mean, I don’t think people of high class sit around and watch it, but who knows

cassiesculture-blog

You raised a very interesting point saying that you don’t think people of high class sit around and watch this show. I could not agree more with this, I may not be the biggest fan of Jersey Shore but I am way too involved in Keeping Up With the Kardashians for my liking. I know its trash and is just following a family who got famous of Kim’s sex tape but I love it and can’t get enough of it. That being said I know it has been noted that a lot of celebrities or wealthier status people claim to not know the family or want to be associated with the show. I recently read that Jay-Z had to turn down Kanye West’s best man offer due to the reality shows cameras being present and Beyonce, Himself and Blue (all waaaaay classier than Kim Kardashian) do not want any kind of association with the “trash reality show”.

rob4p34

We do become trashy by watching trash television. Society in general becomes trashier simply because masses of people are consuming trash television. These figures get so much media attention that their antics, personalities, and tastes start to wear off on the mainstream and they affect how the masses start to behave as well. When Jersey Shore was in the height of it's popularity we saw a massive increase in trends influenced directly from the show. I'm sure we all saw hordes of people 'fist-pumping' at the clubs, wearing 'guido' and 'guidette' like clothing, starting saying BRO more and getting there 'GTL' on daily. I'm sure most of us can say we were guilty of doing at least one of these things ourselves. When something becomes popular, it is only natural that the masses will want to mimic it - despite how stupid it may be looking back on.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson doesn't like considering himself as a high-brow 'better than you' member of society, just because of his prestigious resume and notorious global reputation as one of the world's best astro-physicists.

Even as he sits here in this interview, looking like quite the dandy in his tailored suit, beautiful black sweater, while he swirls his red wine around his nose before taking a sip; he discusses how his knowledge and views on the universe aren't mean to bash other beliefs and and make people feel stupid.

Science, in it's very essence, is extremely high-brow. DeGrasse Tyson states that he doesn't want his show to bash other people's beliefs and make them feel stupid, his intentions is to use it simply for people to open up their minds.

He is extremely passionate about his work, science and the universe, and I believe him when he says he simply just wants to educate people. However, upon watching Cosmo's, his new TV show which explores the universe and possible theories of human origins, I realized it is the most unintentionally high-brow show I have ever seen.

The show makes you as a single human being feel so small, by the time the episode was over, I have never felt like my life was so irrelevant before. Religious folk and creationists are in an uproar over this show, as it uses scientifically based information and findings to discredit everything they have ever believed in, working to place them lower and lower on the richter scale of social importance. The show even delves into the everyday habits of humans, almost as to laugh at us by showing our everyday stresses are so irrelevant to the big picture of humanity and our overall place in the endless universe. By the end of the first episode, I felt like I was subtly trying to be shamed for falling into the societal trap of placing excessive importance on money, and fake consumer goods, when there is an endless universe with answers to our very existence out there waiting to be explored.

Science - way more important than your life!

We asked twenty strangers to kiss for the first time.... Film presented by WREN http://wrenstudio.com/ Music by Soko "We Might be Dead Tomorrow" http://smart...

One of the latest videos to go viral is essentially a sample of reality television, disguised as a natural social experiment. The video First Kiss by director Tatia Pilieva depicts groups of two strangers meeting each other for the first time, where they then have to make out and share a 'beautiful' kiss on the spot.

The video has blown up since its upload date 4 days ago, and has already generated nearly 50 million views. It has received loads of positive support for it's 'natural romanticism' and 'encouraging views on human relationships'.

However, as is typically the case with reality-TV, there is much more going on behind the scenes than what we see at face value. Further research into the creation of the video shows that the participants in this video have been strategically selected (just like reality-TV). It has been revealed that every participant is either a model, musician, or actor. These are people who excel in social environments and are not awkward in uncomfortable situations. It is not very difficult to watch two models kiss each other either.

While this is not what we would typically consider 'reality TV', this video has the same scripted feel and expresses the same ideologies we see over and over again in reality-TV shows. It tried to promote values of 'self-worth' and 'exploration of human relationships and curiosity', but because of the video's narratives which have pre-determined outcomes, the video just results in the promotion of an alternate, false reality.

This is not real life. If you truly took the first two random people you saw and made them kiss, the results would be much more awkward, unnatural, and borderline disgusting. To watch the REAListic version of how this experiment would actually play out and not the reality-TV manipulated version seen here, click here (highly recommended):

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/shorties/we-got-twenty-british-strangers-who-arent-models-to-kiss-each-other

Celfie!

Sincerely Jules, an influential online fashion blogger who has become a trendsetter in her own right, has recently come out with a new tee which is blowing up online.

On her blog she states "here is the new tee we just launched over the weekend! A play on the Celine craze! Celfie! I mean, cuz we all like to take pictures of ourselves right?"

Combining the cultural interest and recognition of who Celine Dion is, with the new societal craze of taking 'selfies' which originated online through platforms like Instagram, to sell an online product is simple but subtly brilliant.

Sincerely Jules is truly trying to set her own fashion trend by utilizing a societal trend which has become a common, everyday practice for people online.

Ladies who love their selfies, here is the link if you want to go check out the hot new tee. Celfie! http://sincerelyjules.com/tag/celfie

Celebrity Ashley Tisdale rockin' her own Celfie! shirt

thedistinctionoftaste-blog

There is no doubt that her habit is disgusting… but why can’t I change the channel? I don’t know why. Once you get a few minutes into the episode, you always want to watch more… I supposed they play off the fact that we as an audience generally want to see some sort of resolution before we change the channel.

I found a list of “Healthy Reasons” to watch Reality TV shows….(heres a few)

They take us out of our comfort zone (Fear Factor)

We observe advice that is often from a professional (What Not to Wear, Hoarders)

They teach us lessons in socialization (Big Brother)

Get inspired to work out (The Biggest Loser)

Are these actually legit reasons? Care to add any others?

alex4p34-blog

A lot of these “reasons” come from a desire to reinforce a hegemonic ideology in the viewers. We can’t have people dressing however they want, so we have to tell them how to dress to be acceptable. We can’t have people being addicted to mothballs, so we must trot them out on a global stage to be analysed and criticized. I find most of these “trash” TV shows (which, by the way, I love) are in many ways akin to circus-sideshow freak-gawking entertainment made convenient and private in one’s own home. Whether someone watches Honey Boo Boo because they are horrified by the family or because they relate to them is irrelevant (in this discussion) because either way, they serve the sole purpose of being a spectacle in a voyeuristic society.

rob4p34

Rob4p34: I actually find it pretty fascinating that you took the time to think of potential benefits of watching reality television. I never thought to take the time to think of reasons - I never really thought there were any other than sheer entertainment! These reasons you state could certainly be viewed as positives, but upon further analysis you make a great point; this voyeuristic spectacle that happens when reality TV is mass-consumed reinforces hegemonic ideologies: Don't dress like a nerd, don't be a hoarding slob, lose weight, use other people's dysfunctional lives to feel better about your own.

beyoncegifs

cosmopolitanmagazine

😂😂😂

navarrocomm

Someone in class mentioned Katy Perry as being kitsch. Although I do understand that she provides a different form of entertainment, these costumes that she uses are part of what she is trying to provide. Unlike lady gaga, Katy Perry dresses particularly normal in terms of mainstream but when it comes to her performance, she does use cupcake bras, etc. I do not think she is kitsch but maybe that’s just my opinion. She is caught in the middle of fitting in mainstream media and at the same time, trying to go against it.

amyfishy

I agree with you on this and just want to add, as I have mentioned in another post, that with artists, especially pop artists in this day in age, to be kitschy is seen as a good thing rather then a negative thing. No one pays insane amounts of money to go see an artist in concert just standing there with a mic and nothing else. No people want to be entertained when they go to a show, that is the whole purpose of the show to make it interactive, fun and a total experience. While pop stars such as Katie Perry may be very kitschy in her shows and music videos, this is what we want to see and is part of her job. However Katie Perry herself is not kitschy on a daily basis so I think its unfair if people call her kitschy.

rob4p34

Rob4p34: I agree with Amy about Katy Perry not being kitschy in her daily life. In my opinion, these outlandish artists are certainly being kitsch with their unique on-stage appearances and behaviours, however, the intentional effort to be kitsch defeats the purpose. Kitsch in my mind should be a natural expression of separating yourself from the mainstream. They are intentionally taking on this persona for industry purposes; because they know it will sell. To me, kitsch should be an unintentional and natural expression!

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Rob's Taste and Cultural Politics Blog