Metafiction Song

Pop 101- Marianas Trench

 

Metafiction- occurs in fictional stories when the story examines the elements of fiction itself. In this case, the song Pop 101 illustrates exactly how a pop song is constructed.

 

         
         Marianas Trench's Josh Ramsey wrote this song wanting to list and explain many conventions that can be found in almost EVERY pop song there is modern pop culture. During an interview, he mentioned, “A little while back, I did an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit. I ended up getting a lot of hilarious flak about ‘Call Me Maybe,’ which inspired me to write a list of instructions on how to create a huge pop song. I basically went on to write lyrics that explain step by step exactly what’s happening in the music at that moment. It’s meant to illustrate how big artists do their thing, like a magician revealing his secrets to an audience. It definitely pokes a lot of fun but it’s also meant as a tip of the hat to those artists. Above all, it’s very me – clever, silly and sassy to the core.”

 

          And true to his word, all of this song's lyrics are exactly what you would find in almost any pop song. To view the lyrics to this song, click here. For example:
          “The bridge is The part where You bring in A rapper friend You simplify, and slow the beat Abbreviate "feature to feat." ”- This so called 'instruction' is exactly like what you would find in most songs these days, where a song group would bring in a rapper to rap where the bridge part of a song is and feature his/her name in the song.

         To view a website that breaks down Pop 101's lyrics further, click here.

          Writing lyrics like this add to the overall song piece because we as the audience have learned to like how this layout is used for most pop songs, and to write a step-by-step song explaining exactly how this method is used is amazing, and gives us a chance to make fun of the pop music industry. When I first listened to this song, I found it really interesting because Josh Ramsey really excelled in basically making a how-to song that was both funny and entertaining.

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:)

        



The Reality of Reality TV

CHOICE #4: Persuasive Argument

          Statement: Reality TV is a positive force in our modern day popular culture, and it reflects the best values and ideas in our society.

         I DISAGREE with this statement. I do not believe that reality TV is a positive force in the pop culture of today. Reality TV is only there for our enjoyment and for people to laugh and relate to. Think about what we laugh at on TV. Its usually because someone makes a fool of themselves right and we think it's funny right? Right. The following are examples of how reality TV is a negative force in modern pop culture.

Jersey Shore

          This is the show summary according to tv.com: "MTV takes you to the Jersey Shore to meet eight young adults living in a summer share in some of the most popular vacation spots. Angelina, Jenni "JWOWW," Mike "The Situation," Nicole "Snookie," DJ Pauly D, Ronnie, Sammi "Sweetheart," and Vinny live together for a summer in Seaside Heights and we watch them go through work, love, friendship, drama and hookups."
          I think that this TV show is a very negative force in our modern day pop culture because it focuses on everything that these young adults do wrong: getting drunk every night, going to clubs all the time, and having sex with way too many people. This show highlights all the negative drama that never seems to leave these people alone, from getting in car accidents to intense fighting within their house. 
          I don't believe that these people are the right role models for the young adults for today, as they make the impression that all young adults do all day is fool around and party, when the reality is they should be finishing up school or working at a job.

          That being said, I don't think that the cast of Jersey Shore are a positive force in our modern day pop culture,  because they seem to only do the negative things, and that reflects back on our society in a negative way.

          So really, do we want our next generation of young adults to sit around all day like this:

       

Or this:

This is a video about the best and worst moments on Jersey Shore.

Toddlers and Tiaras

           This is the summary of Toddlers and Tiaras according to TLC: "On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash.

           The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals, each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant, it's all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants to prove that their child is beautiful." 

          I used to love this show as a kid because I liked to see the transformation of what the kid usually looks like compared to when they are attending a pageant. I really think this show is a negative force in the pop culture of today because of what most of those kids have to go through in order to be considered "beautiful." From years of watching this show, I know that the parents will do almost anything to make their children win a pageant, such as spray tanning them or caking their faces with makeup. It's very obvious that most of the kids don't even want to do pageants, so as a result parents basically spoil their kids and give them whatever they want. As parents continue to do this throughout their kid's pageants, the kids will grow up expecting whatever they ask for, and the young children that watch this show may or may not expect the same thing, yet another reason why this show is a negative force in today's pop culture. 

          As I said before, some of these pageant kids don't even WANT to do pageants, and the things these beauty-obsessed parents make their children go through could be considered child abuse. Below is a video illustrating what I'm talking about.
Do you consider this child abuse? Click here to view an article by foxnews.com regarding this topic.
          A lifestyle like this can often lead kids to think they're better than everyone else and they can become self obsessed and ignorant. In almost every episode of this show, there is at least one child that is an absolute jerk and acts like they're Queen of the Universe and all they care about is winning, as illustrated below:

           Here are some of the before and after pictures of the pageant contestants:

          While some kids love all the attention that the pageants give them, others just want to live normal lives. While looking for information on this topic, I found something that really disturbed me. Some of these pageant parents are actually telling their kids that they are too fat or that they shouldn't eat a calorie-filled food. We wonder why this world is full of people that are always concerned about their weight or what they wear, and I'm sure that at least lots of these kids will grow up to think the same things because of what they are being told at a young age. If parents telling their kids such things on TV isn't a negative force in pop culture, then I don't know what is.

This is a really good diagram I found that illustrates how fake these little kids are made to look. Excessive makeup, hair extensions and skimpy outfits are not what beauty looks like, ESPECIALLY ON A 5 YEAR OLD! This show is supposed to show how "beautiful" kids can get, and I bet it does feel good when you win, but what about the rest of the 100 kids that didn't win? They probably feel as if they aren't good enough or pretty enough and if these kids almost never win and eventually grow out of pageants, they might always feel like that and have low self-esteem. This is not what should be happening! All kids are beautiful and we shouldn't have to put on beauty pageants to prove it, especially when children are almost unrecognizable onstage. The only thing being critiqued on those pageant stages is what the makeup artists do, not the kids.
          To view an article by CNN titled 'Toddlers and Tiaras' and sexualizing 3-year-olds,' click here.
          In conclusion, I think that Toddlers and Tiaras is a negative force in todays pop  culture because of what some of those kids are put through in order to be considered "beautiful." All children are beautiful, and we shouldn't be critiquing their beauty at such a young age, because it's not what's outside, but what inside that really counts.

Honey Boo Boo

          The show's summary according to tv.com: "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" follows Alana Thompson, the outspoken 6-year-old beauty queen from TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras. Viewers can take an inside look at the family home in rural Georgia, where the Thompson clan indulges in their favorite pastimes, such as free-wheeling through mud pits and picking up road kill for grilling."

          I don't think that Honey Boo Boo is a positive force in modern pop culture because it not only follows a family that has an unhealthy lifestyle and emphasizes most of the redneck stereotypes out there, but it features a family that basically has no manners and where the kids can get away with anything.

          For example, one redneck stereotype is that rednecks take a meal wherever they can get it to save money. Honey Boo Boo and her family have really proved this stereotype to be true with their road kill meals. I honestly don't find anything wrong with this. I may not agree with it, but that's their decision and not mine. I just find it hard to believe that TLC actually agrees to put this in an episode. Information like this can reflect badly on the town that they're from, and can cause a lot of controversy as to how June is raining her family.

          I don't think that the Thompson family has a healthy lifestyle either.  I don't watch a lot of Honey Boo Boo, but when I do, at some point during the episode they either go to buy doughnuts in bulk or they are hitting up a fast food place. This is a negative force in pop culture because for the younger kids that might be watching as they may think that it's okay to do that because hey, a big TV star is doing it. But in reality, it is extremely unhealthy to do that as much the Thompson family does it. And for most of the episodes, the family is usually just sitting on the couch talking about their weight or "cup farts." when  people, especially young kids, watch episodes like these all the time, they might begin to think that this type of lifestyle is normal, when instead it is just plain lazy.

          Honey Boo Boo also disobeys her mother constantly, especially during interviews. It's understandable for someone that young to act the way Honey Boo Boo does because she's the center of attention, but this is a little too far. The scary thing is, it seems her mother has just accepted this, as she doesn't seem to be doing anything to try to fix her daughters behavior. This is definitely a negative force in pop culture because kids around Honey Boo Boo's age may see this behavior and think they are allowed to do it to, which may cause problems for parents.

 

This is a video demonstrating how Honey Boo Boo does not listen to her mother.
          As a side note, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" has recently been cancelled because June Thompson is dating a child molester that has been released from jail a short time ago. To view an article on this subject, click here.

 

In conclusion, I think Honey Boo Boo is a negative force in the pop culture of today because of how the many wrongdoings on the show can influence younger kids and even young adults to take on this kind of lifestyle, which may not always be the best as it contains a lot of disobedience and unhealthy choices.

Wrap It  Up

          I disagree with the statement that "Reality TV is a positive force in our modern day popular culture, and it reflects the best values and ideas in our society" because the majority of reality TV is not positive, but rather negative in the way that it shows life at its worst. Programs such as Jersey Shore, Toddler's and Tiaras and Honey Boo Boo all demonstrate how low in life people can get, and it also shows us how easily we are amused by such things. The attitude and actions that can be found on these shows are not what anyone would expect or want in their daily lives. They are not there for anyone to role model after, they are just there for the laughs.

Media In My Life

Media Is Everywhere

It can be found anywhere we look. It can be in many different forms, showed in many different ways, anything to get people's attention. Ads, music, T.V., pictures, websites, social media, movies, billboards, books, video games, mail, blogs, the list could go on forever! It shows us what to buy, what to listen to, what to watch, or where to eat. This blog is about  how the media affects my life, and how it has, in a way, made me the person I am today.

     I believe that media is very important in my life. I use media all the time, ranging from social media to newspapers to ads. I rely on the media to update me on events happening around the world, when a new song or movie is released, or to help me find information on a subject I need for school.

   
           There are a lot of media subjects that I feel passionate about, but there are some that stand out more than others: Books, social media and music are the top three media forms that I use on a daily basis. 

          ~I love books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bookworm, but when I find a good book that really intrigues me, I can't put it down. Do you ever get those moments where you feel like you've been pulled into the book you're reading, and you forget everything else in your life? I love those moments, and that's why I read. I think that books are very important in a persons' life because of the knowledge they give us. They enhance our reading and give us a sense of imagination, and I think that's very important, especially for people around my age who work all the time and are starting to pay their own expenses and bills. I think that they need that break from the real world sometimes.

          ~Social media is huge in this day and age. The main social media sites I use are Facebook and Instagram. I love Facebook because it connects people from all around the world, and that's important to me because I have friends and family that live far away, and Facebook is a way of keeping us connected. Instagram is cool in the way that people can share their photos with the world, giving it the sense of a photography site. I love using Instagram to look at photos of places I'll never get to visit, things I'll never get to see, or just really amazing photos that classify as professional.

           ~I listen to music all the time. Kind of like books, it gives me an escape from reality. It's so amazing how artists can still create a unique sound for their songs, when there are so many already out there. People ask me all the time "what's your favourite artist?" and honestly, I don't know how some people choose just one person. There are so many artists with so many different styles, and that's what I love about music, that feeling that I'll never run out of songs that I like because there are millions out there.

     My thoughts on modern pop culture vary depending on the subject matter. I think it's amazing how people are coming up with different ways to keep the world connected via social media, but that can also pose a problem, because that's what everyone spends all their time on. For example, people can spend hours just watching random funny videos on You Tube, or just scrolling through their newsfeed on Facebook. The truth is, media is controlling our lives, taking time away from us. I'm not saying that I never use the media, because I constantly do. I just think that we should spend less time on media and more time on our lives. 

          I use the media mostly for entertainment, going on social media and watching videos. But I also use it to find information on events that are happening around the world, listening to the latest on a certain issue, and reading the newspaper to see what's happening in Brantford. I use the media to get information for homework I may have, sometimes even referencing to other blogs.

          I don't think that teenagers are portrayed positively in the media. Whenever you see a movie that revolves around a teenager's life, it's usually about the negative aspects, involving drinking, drugs, and partying on the weekend, a popular group of people that "rule the school" or a teen that is bullied in school. In movies, it seems so real, and we believe it and take it as normal because that's what we are used to, how movies have been made for so many years. 

          Take Mean Girls for example. It's typical that the three popular girls run the school and how they "find" the new girl and try to befriend her, only to get backstabbed by her in the end. First of all, I've never heard of two or three popular kids that "rule" a school, which proves that teens are not portrayed correctly in this matter. Also, bullying this serious is very rare and doesn't happen very often without being unnoticed, so that's unrealistic as well. This movie is so popular because it's not what a regular teen's life is about. If someone made a realistic movie about a teenager's life, no one would watch it because it would be boring.  

          Music doesn't portray teens correctly either. Almost all of the songs we listen to today involve drugs or sex or partying, leading others to believe that's all teens do. Yes, there are some teenagers who do that kind of stuff, but definitely not all of them. The music we listen to would be very boring if it was about an average teenage life, so the media reflects on the negative aspects to make it more interesting to the listener.
          I believe the newspaper is another good example of how teens are seen in the media. I know that there are always some good articles about teens, like awards or sports and such, but usually it's negative. Think back to the last time you read an article somehow involving teens. I know the last one I read was a few hours ago and it involved a shooting at a club, where 15 adults and teenagers as young as 11 were injured. To view the article, click here. Newspaper companies tend to write articles on the negative stories because that's what people are interested in reading.

          To view another website concerning how teens are portrayed in the media, click here(Teenagers In The Media).

          To view a website looking at both sides of this argument, click here (Does The Media Portray Youths In A Negative Way?).
         

This is YouTube video showing how teens are portrayed in the media and all of the negative news articles that have been published about them.



I find this YouTube video very realistic when it comes to how the media portrays teenagers.



This video talks about how popular culture plays a role in out lives and how pop culture can become "popular."

Analysing A Music Video

 "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore.

To start off, here is the official music video done by Paramore.

I don’t think that this is a very realistic view of the world because people don’t often complete unusual world records. Most people haven’t even seen a normal world record being completed, so it’s very unlikely anyone has ever seen the ones similar to those in the music video. I believe that this music video is supposed to be unrealistic though, because music videos are supposed to entertain its viewers and be unusual and clever, which this music video definitely is.

Reality would be portrayed like this for this song because the bands want their music video to stand out from others, so more people will want to watch it. I think that reality would be portrayed in this way for the band to give them a sense of originality and even a bit of craziness, showing the viewers that the band likes to have fun. I don't know a whole lot about Paramore, but by the looks of them, this video is exactly what they are about, having fun while working, if you could call this working.

 I think the value statements that this video is expressing is that it's understandable to be serious "in the real world," but that having fun and fooling around are encouraged. Another value statement that is expressed  is that band members need to get along in order to create music and music videos, which could be said about any band.

When I think of lifestyle choices that are being made in this music video, I think of being care-free and free living. They obviously aren't worried about what they're going to have for dinner that night, or even how they're going to get home, they're just living in the moment, making the best of life. 

Groups that are being portrayed in this video and in the song are the different gender groups. in the band Paramore, there are mainly 4 males and 1 female (Taylor York, Jeremy Davis, Josh Farro, Zac Farro and Hayley Williams). Gender equality is shown here, as the female has the lead singer role.

I believe this is a very effective way to sell the song because it creates a unique vibe through the music video this makes it interesting and makes the viewer curious as to what other records the band completed in the video, so they end up watching the whole music video as opposed to only half of it. And if the viewer likes that music video, they are most likely going to look at other music videos done by them.

I think the target audience is teenagers just because Paramore tends to be more of a teen band. I think that it does appeal to the target audience because the music video shows the band fooling around and having fun, just like what teenagers do. It also gives the sense that you can do anything you put your mind to, because that’s exactly what the band members are doing when they do the world records.

To me, the video doesn’t exactly fit the song, but it was a clever thing to do. I think the song is more about “living in the real world” as is says in the lyrics, but the video is more like how you can do absolutely anything you want, not exactly something you can do in the real world. That being said, the video and the song are the complete opposite in a sense.

I really like this music video and think that it is a very unique and fun idea. I like how the world records aren’t what someone would expect, because they are completely ridiculous but super achievable at the same time. I enjoyed this music video a lot the first time I saw it and I would definitely watch it again.

To visit the official Paramore website click here.