William Gandia III The Color Run

 

So this past October I attended The Color Run and ran to my hearts content. This event is a 5K run in which there are several stations in which participants run while being shot with hands full of colored flour. It is so called the happiest 5K on earth, i guess because of the happy looking runners who are multicolor painted. How can this be remotely looked at sociologically you ask? Well there is a lot of advertisement, products, and talking about this event. Companies like Chevy sponsor this event which makes it go in to a totally different field then your average 5K run sponsored by a local business. Also, events like the one i attended here in happen all over the US at different times which means to things in my mind. Its bringing a group of people together that would not have anything in common besides the The Color Run and that people spend around $50 dollars depending on the day of registration to run and get hit with colored flour. That is already social uses of space, cohesion, conspicuous consumption, and many more. Here is 2 videos to further illustrate. First one from Augusta and second a generic one.

 

 

Britney Jordan

       JAZZ

 

       The music genre of Jazz dates back to the 20th century in which its roots branched from primarily African with some European backgrounds in the early 1920's. Quickly, jazz music became popular overtime even including its own twist to popular music that we know and love in today's society.  Once the music of jazz became widespread around the world, those that came from musical backgrounds began interpreting jazz into their own way which has now formed several branches of jazz such as soul jazz, punk jazz, jazz funk, and New Orleans jazz to name a few.  Overall, the sounds of jazz is one of the many distinct sounds in music that I feel serves its purpose to fulfill the enjoyment of its many listeners.

 

 

 

    On the sociological side of this popular cultural phenomenon, there a few concepts that would help give a better understanding about jazz.  The interactionist approach plays a role in reference to Charles Horton Cooley where he mentions that popular culture is a tool to help give us meaning through interacting with others.  For jazz, the music that is played is made to interact with its fellow listeners on an emotional level (relaxed, sad, spunky, etc).  The concept of the effects of in creased stylization will definitely play a part in jazz.  Being that the musicians who create the songs that they play, displays not only their talent, but also their art.  With art, the musician's focus relies on aesthetic skills to help deliver their creativity that they have as an individual, and in turn, draws attention to the viewers/ listeners who show a  sense of interest.

Kaley McElhannon--The Twilight Series

Twilight was a huge sensation most of my high school career. The books series seemed to connect with all age groups and truly started a vampire and werewolf craze that can still be seen in films and all major television networks, eight years after its original publication date. This book series paved the way for T.V. shows like Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf to be the success they are today. From the functionalist perspective, the classical love triangle resignated with readers and ultimately created a subculture of "twihards". Twihards much like Harry Potter fans were and still are the mega-fans. These are the fans that attended midnight books releases and then again stood in line for hours to see the films released at midnight as well. The books series was able to create such a strong group togetherness because the content of the book, though insinuated sexual prowess, was PG at nature and did emphasize strong morals such as saving yourself for marriage. There was just enough sex to keep the older readers attention and just enough innocence to be appropriate for the tween crowd.

  Twilight became huge in brand marketing and very much fed into conspicuous consumption. Not only did the main characters in the books continuously talk about their wealth but also the expensive things the owned. Edwards collected exotic cars. Alice had only the best brands in her closet and constantly pressured Bella to dress more high class. Even the patriarch of the family, who is supposedly the most humble and

modest of the family, bought his wife an island. Outside of the characters and focusing on the film series, that followed the books, made millions of dollars for various companies such as Hot Topic and Walmart. Companies would paste pictures of the characters on tee shirts, posters, cell phone covers, and binders and label them at ridiculous prices and fans would buy them. Twilight was a cultural phenomenon that I know most girls my age will be telling their grandchildren about one day.

A notebook meant to look like Edwards Journal

Cymone Mosley- History of Break Dancing (B-Boy and B-Girls)

 

Break dancing was a new craze that hit the scene during the 1960's and took the African American community by storm. There are several factors that constributed to the creation of break dancing. The most popular reason for the birth of break dancing was that is was the result of the gang wars brewing in New York. it was to be believed that the same muscles you use to fight are that of the same you use to break dance. The B-Boy with the best moves was thought to be the best fighter in the group. This in return made break dancing one of the most dangerous dances due to the fact B-Boys would try the most rickest moves if this meant saving a loss.

 

 

A popular face associted with break dancing is James Brown. During the time of James Brown popular hit "Get on the Good Foot",  people were beginning to pick up on his high enery way of dancing. soon the Good Foot adopted the name B-boy, then Breakdaning, or just Breaking.

 

In my paper I plan to show how break dancing relates to the Functionalist and Interactionalist approach. 

Brittany Burke "The Walking Dead"

"The Walking Dead" is one of the biggest things on television right now.  It was adapted from the comic book by Robert Kirkman and has become television's most-watched prime-time drama. The recent season four's premiere attracted almost 16.1 million viewers.  This series has also been renewed for a fifth season as stated by Charlie Collier, AMC president.  He also stated that "The Walking Dead" is expanding a base of passionate fans and has grown every season. 

In my paper I will sociologically relate this series to capitalism.  Theses zombies heartlessly eat human beings, without knowing what they are doing, just like in capitalism when things are pursued for profit for ones won benefit.  These zombies obtain food by eating the other human beings.  The zombies have taken over Atlanta, and other areas ranging from cities to farmland to the middle of no where.  This also shows a sense of capitalism because in need to expand, people are being exploited to sustain.  This is just an overview of what  I will discuss in my paper, through further research.

                                           

Paul Perry-Steampunk

Steampunk is a culture and aesthetic movement which was born out of science fiction. It began as a science fiction sub-genre. Most science fiction explores a potential future but Steampunk explores a future which could have been. Steampunk is essentially a type of alternative history where technological development diverged from our history. Stories typically feature advanced technologies powered by steam and the setting takes place in the Victorian era or the American Wild West. Wild West based stories are sometimes referred to as Cattle Punk. The term "punk" comes from an earlier sub-genre called Cyberpunk. It has nothing to do with punk rock music, The genre was inspired by the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. It is debateable whether their stories would be considered Steampunk because the term was not coined until the 1980s. Modern Steam Punk writers include Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville. The genre has also spread to film. Examples are Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Steampunk has moved out of the realms of literary fiction and has now become its own subculture. Fan conventions have been organized internationally thanks to the internet. Many fans create their own character and role play them at conventions. The convention scene has also lead to the rise of Steampunk fashion. DragonCon has featured a Steampunk fashion show. Other Steampunk fans modify household objects such as computers and change them into Victorian style objects. Musicians have also embraced Steampunk trappings by wearing the clothing style and writing lyrics with Steampunk themes.

Steampunk relates to many different sociological concepts. One of the most obvious is the triumph of style. Many examples of Steampunk art are modifications of objects found in everyday life. The objects are altered into a more stylized and aesthetically interesting form. Steampunk musicians also dress the part when they perform. The current Steampunk subculture was built through the internet so the effects of social networking and scenes can be explored. Functionalist ideas always a role in various sub cultures. Steampunk fans show a collective consciousness because they are brought together by shared values.My goal is to relate sociological concepts from the different perspectives we have discussed in class to the many aspects of Steampunk. I will also bring in new information that I find in scholarly sources.

Steampunk Art

Steampunk Books

Steampunk Gameboy

Steampunk Characters demonstrating the fashion

Steampunk Music

Christiana Tejeda-- Harry Potter

Harry Potter

JK Rowling’s well known book series, Harry Potter, has been a pop culture phenomenon for many reasons. Most of us have grown up reading the books and watching the movies at the midnight premiere. From a functionalist approach, the book series and movies have generated a shared sense of social solidarity and social cohesion within the fans. Harry Potter had such a high demand that Universal Studies added the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” to their park in 2010. Apart from the Harry Potter fandom, the actual content of the book holds many of the sociological terms we have discussed in class. Each book illustrates the social uses of space, division of social class, conspicuous consumption, institutions, deviance, and the list goes on…

The video connected is actually in three parts, but I thought the one I provided could possibly trigger some sociological thoughts that could explain why the movies differentiate from the books and our understanding of the Harry Potter series. 1:18 Harry Potter video