5/25 "Merchants of Cool"

The Frontline documentary “Merchants of Cool” exemplifies Stuart Hall’s definition of popular culture and Antonio Gramsci’s notion of common sense. Corporations study their largest audience, teenagers, to figure out their youth culture, advertise on a similar level that they will be fond of, and ultimately attract more sales. The hardest part for these markets is that their demographic audience steer away from traditional ways and move towards what is deemed “cool” in their eyes. Researchers even go as far as “cool-hunting” to look for the kids, or trendsetters, that are ahead of the pack and influence the mass. Corporations have a great dependence on staying up to date with the youth’s popular culture, especially taking into consideration that a certain paradox exists where the more corporate America discovers these trends, the faster the original trendsetters will want to move on to the next big thing. This demonstrates Hall’s notion that popular culture will always be in a flux of change since what is being validated today could be considered old news tomorrow. The companies that are responsible for selling youth culture believe in a certain common sense that what these trendsetters are putting out can be assumed to be morally correct and what everyone should be following. Of course, this can give rise to a few issues, depending on the types of things they are publicizing. For example, their idea of a “midriff,” is a type of character that companies pitch at teenage girls. However, this makes it seem that they should all act as extremely sexualized, revealing, and flirty girls. This cannot be morally correct for everyone, and not all will have this same way of thinking to always be conscious of their looks and get involved in romantic relationships/sex.
Overall, this film was really interesting for me to watch. It was first aired in 2001, so throughout the movie I would compare between the trends then and now. The clothes have changed, the popular celebrity icons have changed, and the music and TV shows have changed. The changing definitions of "cool" is still a common theme today, and I think will always be for us. There are so many teenagers that like to reinvent old styles or experiment with new things. The things that us teenagers find interesting is always very interesting to keep up to date with. 

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