Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music summary Essay Example

Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music summary Essay Example Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music summary Paper Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music summary Paper In the article, â€Å"Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music†, Simon Frith tries to show the aesthetic value of poplar music in the sociological field, while most of the academic musicologists think popular music, submitted to social forces, is aesthetically worthless. There are two different sociological approaches to judge the value of music. First is technique and technology, as Frith states, â€Å"people produce and consume the music they are capable of producing and consuming. † (Firth 498) But he also admits that these similarities between sounds and social group remain unclear. Secondly, popular music has different functions, and the most important function is commercial, but Frith argues against this notion for â€Å"even if pop tastes are the effects of social conditioning and commercial manipulation, people still explain them to themselves in terms of value judgment. †(Frith 499) The rock aesthetic relies on authenticity, which guarantees rock music’s independence from commercial logic. But those standards are misleading, and the author thinks we should better study how music creates this impression of truth. Frith suggests a different approach to defining popular music and popular culture. As he said in the article, â€Å"The question we should be asking is not what does popular music reveal about ‘the people’ but how does it construct them. †(Frith 500) To support his argument, Frith explains four social functions of pop music. First, the music we listen to can represent our collective or various identities and society. Second, music can help us manage our relationships through public forms of private expression. We also get to know ourselves through the music. Third, music allows the listener to live within a moment. It can be a strong instrument to our remembrance of things past. Such power of music defines whole generations. Fourth, the fact is that music can be possessed. What Frith realizes is that people feel they own the music and build it into their sense of themselves. After explaining the sociological functions of music, the author digs into the question of popular music aesthetics. He questions what makes popular music able to satisfy these social functions. To answer this question, Frith gives four points of his answer and tries to give suggestion for future critical work. His first point is brief. Pop music is complex â€Å"intentionally†, defined by Andrew Chester, while as European art music is â€Å"extensionally†. Frith thinks that in the 20th century, popular music has absorbed from Afro-American music. In his second point, he states that popular music has a strong vocal strength, and we react to the singer’s voice whether we understand the lyrics or not. It directly communicates to us through narrative structures. According to Frith’s third point, there are two different ways to analyze and classify musical genres in which music uses narrative structures to produce patterns of self-identification and to express different emotions. He suggests classifying popular songs according to their ideological effects. The author’s last point is even serious music cannot escape from being associated to our lives and being under social forces. In the end, Frith concludes that music has â€Å"some sort of collective, disruptive cultural effect†. Understand that popular music has an individualizing effect is key to finding its aesthetic values. Work cited Simon Frith. â€Å"Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music† Writing in the Discipline: A Reader and Rhetoric for Academic writers, 7th edition. By Mary Kennedy and William Kennedy. Boston: Pearson, 2012. 497-509. Print.

What are the dansgers of stereotyping people Essay

What are the dansgers of stereotyping people - Essay Example Stereotyping infers a considerable amount of information about individuals beyond their apparent superficial qualities and generates expectations about their expected behavior in various situations. Stereotypes are frequently based around common aspects of a particular group including profession and occupation, sex, religious beliefs and practices, age, race and ethnicity, dressing, speech and body shape (Macrae, Stangor & Hewstone 8). There are dangers associated with stereotyping such as promoting discrimination and bias because stereotypes lack accuracy, applying stereotypes broadly such that individual characteristics are overlooked, making serious misjudgments about people and distorting the view of a particular group and consequently damaging relationships. One danger of stereotyping is that it takes on universal meaning, being applied to all members of a particular group. If this occurs with lack of accuracy, stereotyping not only becomes damaging, but also affects the way those who are thought to belong to the particular group being stereotyped are talked about and treated. It is apparent that how a group of people is seen influences in part how they are treated. Stereotypes may come to be the accepted way of thinking about members of a particular group, with no acknowledgement of diverse individual characteristics. Stereotyping can result in misunderstandings, which, if not challenged, can severely damage relationships among different groups. An example of this is the race riots and violence of 1980s (Brunsch 9).Stereotyping results in discrimination and persecution of the oppressed groups. For instance, the stereotyping of Asian Americans has led to denial of their civil rights and even homicide such as the killing of Chinese American Vincent Chin by individuals who thought he was a Japanese American (Brunsch 10). Moreover,

The Routines of Decision Making Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Routines of Decision Making - Math Problem Example 2. The maximum purchase price for the pair of bindings is $10.00, as this is the cost of production that differs between the alternatives. In case if the price is higher, the company will be realizing a loss. 3. If the production increases from 10.000 units to 12.500, the fixed costs that change between the alternatives allocated to a pair of skis would be the following: 10.000 / 12.500 = $0.8. The fixed cost of 100.000 should be considered when making the decision, as it does not differ between the alternatives. Since all the rest of the production costs remain unchanged, we can simply add the net change in fixed cost from the total cost of production that varies between the alternatives in order to receive the cost of production for a pair of bindings under the new circumstances: 10.00 + 0.8 = 10.80. When considering the long run (30,000 sales form by the end of the third year), the fixed overhead that varies between the alternatives per pair of bindings is only $0.33 (10.000/30.000). Under this sales volume the company should produce the bindings itself.

Powerful Poetry Essay Example for Free

Powerful Poetry Essay â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. † This line is from sonnet 18 and it is one of the best known of William Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. William Shakespeare is the man who created beautiful poetry and he influenced people to create their own. In today’s modern day society, whether it’s widely read or not, poetry has the ability to be considerably moving and to truly touch people. Poetry is relevant and interesting in today’s society because it expresses a great array and depth of people’s feelings, it makes the reader connect with the poem, and it has a unique value. Also poetry is second-hand in music because in most hip-hop songs the words rhyme and create a rhyming couplet. Pursuing this further, poetry is a very powerful thing and it should be included in today’s up-to-date society. Unquestionably, all poems express feelings and emotions that the writer has dealt with throughout their life. Poetry expresses emotion in a form that delights the reader in one field and a feeling of sorrow in another. No other type of writing has the power or capability to arouse that much emotion other than poetry. Every living creature has feelings, but everything has its own way to express it. One way humans express their deepest feelings is through using their language to write and compose poetry. Reading poetry can help see through the eyes of the writer and see what they are experiencing. â€Å"This power rises from within, like the color of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed† (Shelley). This quote says that people have the ability to express themselves and that is very important in life. Poetry can make it easier to step into the shoes of someone else and learn about their personality. Without poetry, people would not be able to express their feelings and emotions and show people their real personality. Also poetry can help people by using it to release tension or stress that they need to get rid of. After a rough day at school, reading some poetry is a good way to get rid of the tension that is caused from problems such as taking a hard test or getting a lot of homework. Poetry helps soothe the mind and gives the mind a respite. Poetry uses the five senses to create a peaceful and pristine image using just words. One example that uses the five senses is, â€Å"All overgrown with azure moss and flowers/ So sweet, the sense faints picturing them† (Shelley). This quote uses the sense of sight because the image is so beautiful that your sense of sight faints. This style of writing can be very calming and comforting when read in a quite environment. Poetry is just like a car wash for the mind and soul; it freshens the soul and gives the mind a brand new start. Without poetry, there is one less way to get rid of stress and release tension. In addition to being used as a stress reliever, poetry is used to compose music. Just as in poetry, music also shares a basic element known as rhythm. In poetry there can be many different kinds of rhythm at the same time. Individual lines include unstressed and stressed syllables which is called a meter. There is also a rhythm between lines when metric patterns are repeated. In music, cadence is the beat of the music and the beats give the music its regular pattern. Poetry and music also display emotion and expression in their amazing works of art. Rap is made up of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and many other poetic attributes. It is the most alike to poetry, however it is still music. Music without words is poetry, but not in the general state. Without poetry there would be no music because they are very similar and one can’t live without the other. Another reason why poetry is relevant is because it is much more entertaining to read compared to reading a book. Furthermore, poems are much more interesting to read instead of reading a long, boring book. Book plots and characters can be remembered for a limited period of time but poetry is one of the only forms of literary language that can be memorized. In the world of poetry, all of the rules that are applied to writing books are ignored and a piece of art is created that is completely unique. Poetry is such a short form of writing that the reader can think about the poem for hours without having their nose buried in a book. Poetry uses three ideas that are important to the text; mindful imagery, emotions, and language. Without these three things, poems would not have descriptions that use the five senses to create an image and people would lose interest in reading it. On the other hand, some people believe that poetry is irrelevant and this is why they are wrong. Some people might say that poetry is irrelevant and it is a waste of time. They might say that poetry is irrelevant because they believe it is boring to read and there is more people writing poetry than there is appreciating it. Poetry is relevant because it is much shorter and easier to read compared to reading a book. Poetry is very exciting to read because it expresses the feelings of the writer and puts the reader in the writer’s shoes. Poetry is enjoyable to read if you can understand and comprehend what is happening in the poem. Reading poetry is a surrogate form of reading and it is read by many people. Therefore, poetry is relevant and important in today’s society and should be respected more. In short, poetry is very relevant in today’s fast-paced, technological society for many reasons. Poetry is a way to let people express their emotions and show what their personality is like. Reading poetry is a salutary method to reduce stress and can relax the brain when it is overloaded with too many problems. Also poetry is a way to create a rhythm and there would be no music without poetry. Lastly poetry is much more entertaining to read compared to reading a long, boring book. Poetry is an aberration because it is much better than the standard. If poetry was never taught again in schools we would most importantly lose a vital language from our past. Poetry is only as relevant as the message of the poem, depending on how well it has been written. Works Cited Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Ode to the West Wind. Mcdougal Littell Literature. Evanston: Mcdougal Littell, 2008. 850-52. Print. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. A Defense of Poetry. Mcdougal Littell Literature. Evanston: Mcdougal Littell, 2008. 857. Print.

F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research papers

Wealth, Love, and the American Dream It has been said that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about the pursuit of the American dream. It has also been said that the novel is about love, ambition, and obsession. Perhaps both are true. Combined, these themes may be understood in their most basic forms among the relationships within the novel. After all, each character’s reason for belonging to a relationship speaks very strongly of what really makes him tick; each character’s manifestation of his own desires is found within his lover. Throughout the novel, what universally unites each character beyond anything else is the love of a dream or position and involvement in relationships for the success of that dream. Jay Gatsby has loved Daisy Buchanan since their romance of his youth. Beautiful, rich, and refined, Daisy serves as a symbol of Gatsby’s wealth- she represents what 17-year-old James Gatz invented himself to be. The product of years of unfulfilled waited and longing by Gatsby, she becomes a sort of trophy dream. "Her voice is full of money", Gatsby says (Fitzgerald 127). This delightful figure of speech shows precisely what Gatsby desires. The poor boy from the mid-west hoped to be a great man; Daisy has become the manifestation of this desire. Thus, he believes that by impressing her and being accepted by her he can fully posses that dream. After all, Gatsby believes that with his fabulous wealth he can buy anything he wants, especially Daisy. Longing for the love of his youth, he shapes his whole life around this objective of becoming worthy of her. "He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he coul d ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger’s garden" (Fitzgerald 83). Daisy had become the be-all and end-all of his mad ambition, and yet, his approach is passive and wasteful. Instead of actively seeking Daisy, he throws lavish parties, hoping she will stumble in. He finally resorts to a poorly planned meeting, using Nick as an accomplice and stumbling through a reunion that he had planned for all the years she had been away. Unfortunately for Gatsby, Daisy has married in his absence the hulking, brutish Tom Buchanan, the sort of man one would have expected her to marry all along. Tom represents old money, Ame... ...re within Myrtle to make public her new station in life. Unfortunately, there is not much structure within the apartment or the relationship itself. Neither can support the goals and ambitions brought into the relationship. Just as their apartment seems cramped due to more furniture than the building allows, their relationship is crowded and messy without any real feeling or structure. What is common in these relationships is the desire for the attainment of one’s dream through the use of one’s lover. Gatsby loves Daisy because she represents wealth and success, Daisy loves Tom because he holds the promise of a continued place as a member of American aristocracy, and Myrtle loves Tom because she believes that her relationship with him will grant her a place in high society. Although these relationships may exhibit pure ambition they do not exhibit pure love. Perhaps the novel is making a statement about the nature of ambition itself. When intertwined and mistaken with love, ambition causes hurt, disillusionment, and tragedy. And thus, perhaps Fitzgerald is saying that when the American dream is one based on money and mistaken for love, tragedy occurs.

John Proctor a tragic hero? Essay

A tragic hero is a character whose flaw or mistake ultimately leads to their downfall. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the small town of Salem is immersed in a crisis due to the accusations of witchcraft. One of the accused is John Proctor, a strong and moral farmer. John Proctor meets the definition of a tragic hero because of his fatal flaws, the affair with Abigail and his pride, but redemption at the end of the play saves his morals. S One of John Proctors flaws is his affair with Abigail. The affair with Abigail is his downfall because it provokes the witch trials. Abigail doesn’t want to believe that the affair is over between her and John and tries to kill Elizabeth Proctor by preforming witchcraft with other girls in the town. When Parris discovers them and the town begins to ostracize the girls, they call out the names of others they have supposedly seen with the Devil in order to save their reputations and possibly their lives. Therefore, the affair between John and Abigail is the spark of all the hysteria surrounding the witch trials. The affair also caused Elizabeth Proctor to distrust her husband, John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. He tells her â€Å"†¦ I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you†¦ I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies†¦ â€Å"(52). This illustrates John’s determination in attempting to redeem himself for his sin. Because John cannot control his desire and resist temptation, his life is being destroyed by the jealousy and need for revenge of Abigail, indicating the beginning of his downfall and road to becoming a tragic hero. W John Proctors major flaw was his pride. John’s honor and good name is what kept him from confessing to adultery, which would have most likely, halted the witch trials. Elizabeth asked him to go into the court and tell them that Abigail is fraud, but he refused. He said, â€Å"I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it! â€Å"(51). Nonetheless, when Elizabeth is arrested, John has to choose between his pride and his wife. He tries to fix it by bringing Mary Warren into the court to confess to lies and pretense. This fails when Mary Warren turns on him and he has to admit to being an adulterer, reserving his dignity in order to rescue his wife. Unfortunately, he too is arrested after Elizabeth is questioned about his confession by Danforth. She denies his unfaithfulness in an attempt to protect John’s name, causing his arrest for perjury and witchcraft. This proves that John is trying to do good, yet his misfortunes keep coming, which is another quality that makes John Proctor the tragic hero of the play. T As the play comes to a conclusion, Proctor for a second time has to make a decision concerning his pride. The court gives him with an ultimatum with which he can plead guilty and live or be hanged with the others who didn’t confess. After speaking with Elizabeth, John decides that he wants to live and surrenders to a confession. After he signs the confession, he tears it up after learning that Danforth means to hang his confession on the church doors. As Reverend Parris and Hale are about to object, John pronounces â€Å"†¦ for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor†¦ â€Å"(133), referring to his honesty. He would rather die for the greater good, then ruin his name and the names of the other prisoners. Elizabeth doesn’t try to stop him either knowing that he needed to do this, tearfully saying to Hale â€Å"He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! â€Å"(134). Proctor preserves his pride and dignity, dying as a man with flaws yet a good man, becoming the tragic hero of The Crucible. As the play develops we see that John Proctor is the tragic hero of The Crucible. His flaws destroy him but at the end of the play he preserves his pride and dies a good man. Arthur Miller uses John Proctor to show us how someone can overcome mistakes in life and safeguard ones dignity.

How 3 Former PayPal Employees Created YouTube

What in the world did we do before YouTube was created? Or, rather,  know how to do? Everything from how to put on false eyelashes to the proper way to skin a deer to the chord progressions for your favorite rock songs is now just a click away, thanks to this video-sharing invention by a trio of former PayPal employees. It was February 2005 when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karin, working out of a garage in Menlo Park, California, debuted their invention. In November 2006, the investors became millionaires when they sold YouTube for $1.65 billion to the search engine Google.   A Virtual Encyclopedia According to Jawed Karim, the inspiration for YouTube came from the halftime faux pas committed by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, when Janet’s breast was  accidentally  exposed to millions of viewers on live television. Karim could not find the video clip anywhere online, so the idea to found a destination to watch and share videos on the World Wide Web was born. Today, YouTube users can create, upload, and share video clips on the site, www.YouTube.com, and also embed them for further sharing on any number of non-YouTube pages, including  Facebook  and  Twitter. Not only that, users can access millions of other videos, both amateur and professional, including music videos, how-tos, product reviews, and political rants—even entire movies and television programs. YouTube even has a satellite television station. And its all mostly free, although there is a subscription component that allows you to customize your use. While almost anything goes on YouTube, there are a few things that dont. Content that is sexually explicit, hateful, violent, or that is threatening or bullying will be removed. Likewise, YouTube does not permit spam, scams, or misleading metadata, and they have strict rules against copyright infringement as well. Users are fully able to flag anything they see as inappropriate, and it will be brought to YouTubes attention immediately. About the Founders Co-founder Steve Chen was born in 1978 in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States when he was 15. He was educated at the University of Illinois and after graduation found employment at PayPal, where he met his fellow YouTube co-inventors and co-founders Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. In August 2013, he and Chad Hurley also launched MixBit, a smartphone video editing company. Currently, Chen is with GV (formerly Google Ventures), a venture capital firm that focuses on technology companies. Born in 1977, Chad Hurley received a bachelors degree in fine art from the University of Pennsylvania and was later employed by eBay’s PayPal division (Hurley designed PayPals trademark logo). In addition to founding MixBit with Steve Chen in 2013, Hurley is also an investor in several major sports teams. Jawed Karim (born in 1979) also worked at Paypal, where he met his future YouTube founders. Karim also pursued an advanced degree at Stanford University and is considered the most elusive member of the threesome. He was the first person ever to post a video on YouTube, a 19-second video of his visit to the elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. As of this writing, the video has had over 72 million views.