Kris Lake

Tupac Amaru Shakur

(June 16, 1971 - Sept. 13, 1996)

 



 Born in Harlem, NYC to a family of Black Panthers and hard core criminals left Tupac aka 2pac exposed to the problems of society; poverty, racism, violence, drugs, and doing what you had to in order to survive within it all.

 

 Growing up Tupac enjoyed reading and participating in school plays, he was popular for his raps & rhymes. He moved to California in 1988 with his drug addicted mother and continued his high school education, joined a poetry class which soon produced a concert where Tupac was approached to audition for Digital Underground which began his short lived but long lasting career.

The up rise of the1990's hip-hop from the critical approach reinforced social inequalities. Many argued that the controversial lyrics 2pac produced were harming society by encouraging troublemakers and creating violence. In reality, 2pac was remarkably smart and used his talent as a release of frustration through the form of music and poetry instead of violent acts, unless he had no other choice. "Just because your in the ghetto, doesn't mean you can't grow." 2pac used a central route to persuade his listeners to do better and believed that if he kept on talking about the problems, someone would eventually do something to make the necessary changes.

                    Almost 20 yrs. later 2pac is still considered one the greatest rap artists of all times. Not only did he rap about reality but he did it in such a way that it appealed to everyone in a struggle. His talent was an art, one could almost compare him to the solitary artist because whether he had gained fame, I believe he still would have created music for the good of all people and not for the money. 2pac defined the thug as someone who has nothing but still succeeds, opposite from the common stereotype of a criminal. #Thuglife This thug mentality created a symbolic relationship amongst all of those within a lower class who are trying to rise in mobility and reach their potential, either as an individual or as an entire community.

2pac kept it real, he is the definition of authenticity and no one can be compared. Artists continue to sample his work and amazingly he had tons left to share. Below is "Letter 2 My Unborn" released as a posthumous single from his 2001 album Until the End of Time. In the song Tupac speaks to his hypothetical unborn child, relating stories of his own life and advising the child to avoid the troubles that he himself has faced.

 

Tupac died from a drive by shooting and his murderer has yet to be discovered.

http://www.tasf.org/

This link will take you to the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation website to learn how more about how 2pac's mission to inspire and educate people lives on.

In the event of my Demise

In the event of my Demise
when my heart can beat no more
I Hope I Die For A Principle
or A Belief that I had Lived 4
I will die Before My Time
Because I feel the shadow's Depth
so much I wanted 2 accomplish
before I reached my Death
I have come 2 grips with the possibility
and wiped the last tear from My eyes
I Loved All who were Positive
In the event of my Demise

-Tupac

"The Rose that Grew from Concrete"

 

 

 

 

 

Dylan Smith

 

Pacific Rim - Giant Mecha/Monster Fiction in Popular Culture

 

Pacific Rim (2013) - Official Trailer

 

"Pacific Rim" is a 2013 action/science fiction film directed by Guillermo del Toro. In this film, Earth is under siege by giant alien monsters called "Kaiju" that invade through a space-time rift called "The Rift." In order to defeat the colossal Kaiju, humanity bands together to build massive robots called "Jaegers," the only weapons large enough and powerful enough to combat the Kaiju. This film was produced by the California based company Legendary Pictures, responsible for other films such as The Dark Knight Trilogy, the Hangover trilogy, and 300. It was distributed by Warner Brothers, one of the largest companies in American cinema. Pacific Rim is one of the first big breakthroughs of the Giant Mecha/Monster subgenre of science fiction in American film (There have been giant monster films such as "Godzilla" in 1997 and "Cloverfield" in 2008, but rarely has the American film industry made any successful attempts at Mecha.) In the development of Pacific Rim, Del Toro was heavily influenced by classic works of Giant Mecha/Monster films, especially those produced in Japan, and he pays a great amount of homage to these previous works throughout the film. Though this film is one of the first Giant Mecha/Moster films we have seen in the United States, such stories have been told in Japan for decades.

 

In my cultural analysis term paper, I intend on analyzing Pacific Rim and the other works and films that influenced it. Furthermore, I will elaborate on the genre of Giant Mecha/Monster in film. Lastly, I will trace the origin of this genre in Japan and analyze its social significance in Japanese society.

 

American Giant Monster films discussed above:

Godzilla (1998) - Trailer

Cloverfield (2008) - Trailer

 

Popular works of Giant Mecha/Monster in Japanese culture:
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

Godzilla (1954)

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)

 

 

Nico Ortiz

This is a trailer of the last movie made from the Godzilla franchize, called Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Godzilla is one of the most easily recognized symbols of Japanese popular culture. It had reached a level of global popularity at one point that the popular culture of other countries, such as ours, included movies, toys, commercials, and books from the Godzilla franchize. In my paper, I plan to discuss the significance that this franchize has had in the popular culture of Japan.

Bryson Taylor

Star Wars began as a three part movie series in the 1970's.  It captured the hearts of a youthful generation, while finding its way into social events, merchandise, and even internet sensations over a period of almost forty years.  People have found many ways to honer the series and emerge themselves in the culture.  Events such as comic-con and dragon-con allow fans to dress up as their favorite characters and mingle with other fans.  Some of these fans even go to the length of signing up as a group for light saber duals and choreographed staging of scenes from movies at these events. Attendees feel a sense of collective effervescence as they spend this time together, living in one of their favorite worlds that they ordinarily would not.  They acknowledge the symbols of the series such as the rebel logo on their t-shirts or tattoos of characters while conversing about some of their favorite topics such as the debate over. "who shot first? Han or Greedo?"  All of these feelings and interests are what create the collective identity of the fans.  

Another important aspect of this phenomena is the merchandise.  Since it's creation, Star Wars has branded items from lunchboxes to its extensive action figure production. The company makes an unbelievable profit from the collectors of Star Wars.  Many of these collectors have to have multiples of the action figures.  sometimes there may be an issue at the manufacturing plant and the same action figure that once had an open hand may be reproduced with an open hand so the hardcore collectors will have both of the same figure.  Whenever a movie is released they will collect everything from the popcorn tubs to the cardboard cut outs because of how important the items are to them, not because of price but in sentimental value.  The critical approach of pop culture would explain this portion of the phenomena as a way to reinforce the will and profit of the mass media industry.

More recently Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise and has plans to release three new films.  This in addition to the cartoon series that are reproduced for newer generations serves as an example of how Star Wars continues its legacy by throwing itself at society in heavily in spurts and consistently with smaller things.

Ashley Justice

Popular YouTube videos include animals dressed up

        Discovery Channel has hosted the show called Shark Week for one week out of the year dedicated to sharks. Being the longest-running cable television programming event in history, the show first broadcasted on July 17, 1987. Shark Week was originally developed to raise awareness and respect for the different types of sharks; and what the sharks are capable of. Shark Week is now broadcast in over 72 countries world wide and is heavily promoted through social networks including Twitter and Facebook. Among different communities who watch Shark Week, new and different ideas are coming about to represent the Shark Week phenomenon.

Silver Spring, MD Discovery Channel Building

        Different companies have taken advantage of this program to advertise their products. For example, Wendy's has come up with a new box for their hamburgers that looks like shark teeth to represent the popularity of Shark Week. Different bakery's around the country have made specialized products for the show; including cookies and cupcakes with sShark Week. Some companies have even made jokes about Shark Week but in the context of the show as well as advertising. Tide laundry detergent has a couple of advertisement campaigns released stating their detergent will get blood out of clothes as well. The Discovery Channel headquarter building in Silver Spring, MD is also included in the dressing up for the show. Every year around the time of the show, the building is transformed into a shark including side fins, a shark head, as well as a tail and top fin.

harks on them. The company TOMS has made a couple pair of their famous canvas shoes with sharks on them in alliance with
Different individuals who watch the show have even dressed up their own animals as sharks to celebrate the show every year. In different images included shows a cat, a dog, and even a turtle dressed up as sharks. Even people are wearing shark fins to represent the show. From ordinary individuals, to the Teddy Roosevelt mascot are fining up in excitement for the show. Shark Week has been apart of everyone's lives since 1987 and will continue to steal the hearts of many future animals who are dressed up as sharks.

 In making Shark Week into eyes of interaction approach, this popular culture event is very peer influenced. I myself did not start watching the show until a friend of mine invited me to a Shark Week "party"; where sharks were themed throughout the entire house, as well as the animals. Collective effervescence is experienced by all who attend the different parties to watch the show (or even those who watch alone) and social solidarity allows for the annual meeting and conversing of the audiences who watch the show; whether being in the same room, or conversing over social media. The show itself has grown with the public through word of mouth, as well as advertisements through the critical approach. Both approaches can strengthen the epidemic of Shark Week by the different advertisements as well as what the promoters from The Discovery Channel are willing to do to keep the audiences on their toes and watching the show.

Kevin Taylor

The social phenomenon of Doomsday, or the end of the world has been extremely popular in the past few years and was especially popular leading up to the speculated date of the world coming to an end on December 21, 2012. Most theories of the world coming to an end revolve around an asteroid or some type of object impacting earth and causing the end of civilization. There are also theories of the Zombie apocalypse ending civilization on the planet. Several films have been released over the years depicting these types of events. The film "2012" was based on the idea of the Mayan calendar coming to an end on 12/21/2012 and the earth's magnetic fields switching resulting in the cataclysmic destruction of earth. The film "I Am Legend" depicted the human race becoming sick with a virus that caused them to basically turn into zombies and they slowly took over the earth. Will Smith played a character who was searching for a cure to the disease and trying to find any other survivors like himself. Many film companies took this idea of the world ending and used it to make films, television series, and documentaries that would make them millions of dollars and also spread the fear of the possibility that the world would come to an end either on 12/21/2012 or sometime in the near future. Companies that produce gun ammunition, coolers, and even construction companies also profited off of this phenomenon by marketing to those who believed this idea and were fearful of the world ending. Some people even started companies that would build shelters for people who were fearful of the world ending that would help them survive. This demonstrates the critical approach to popular culture because it reflected and reinforced the economic and cultural power of the mass media industry. Social networks were also able to help in spreading the idea of doomsday due to the fact that people were able to share different websites, videos, and various other links that people shared with their friends and anyone else who might have been able to view it. Even though the speculated date of 12/21/2012 as the end of the world has passed, many people still fear an Armageddon-like ending to the world coming soon or even the zombie apocalypse coming. This continues to keep various forms of media focused on it and keeps television shows such as "The Walking Dead" to remain popular in today's world of popular culture.

 

Film poster for the movie "2012"

AMC's "The Walking Dead"

Hornady's "Zombie Max" ammo

Will Smith in "I Am Legend"

Lindsey Hudson

Photos of an angry looking cat dubbed "Grumpy Cat" have become an online sensation over the past year. The cat, actually named Tartar Sauce, was introduced on a website called Reddit by its owner's brother on September 23, 2012. From that website, photo shopped parodies and images surfaced from viewers and the original post reached 25,300 views in just the first 24 hours. It has continued to be replicated and photo shopped on other websites. Grumpy Cat now has its own website, Twitter account, and Facebook page. As of August 2013, the Facebook page had over 1.1 million likes. I know personally that I have seen numerous images of Grumpy Cat on my social media. With such a rise in popularity, we also see corporations taking the image and using it for profit. A t-shirt line snagged the image of Grumpy Cat to use for t-shirts and big companies such as Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic jumped on the band wagon to sell shirts with the image as well. Even stuffed animals and Halloween costumes have been made in honor of Grumpy Cat. September 13, 2013, Friskies (the cat food company) announced their plans to use Grumpy Cat's image to promote their products.

Grumpy Cat is a good example of popular culture because it is well liked (especially seen with the number of Facebook likes it has), well known (many people have an idea of what Grumpy Cat is), targets mass culture (it is available on Google, etc. and can be seen by a large audience), and it belongs to the people (it's for everyone, but also belongs to everyone; many people have taken the image and photo shopped it to make it their own). I would also say that the Functionalist theory can be applied to Grumpy Cat because it creates social solidarity for those that see it, thus creating unity in a sense for those that participate, contribute, and add to the phenomenon. It also reinforces collective conscience as viewers of Grumpy Cat develop shared values and thoughts in regards to it (finding it funny, liking it, etc.). For example, someone could post a picture of Grumpy Cat on Facebook, and other people could like it/comment it on it and thus it could bring the people together in their agreement on the image. The cat in reality is not actually grumpy (it's a cat..), but the appearance of it being this way is seen as funny to many people, and their reactions to it create social solidarity. It is also important to note that social networks can help us understand how popular culture actually becomes popular. Gladwell suggests that those individuals known as "connectors" are able to spread fads and trends due to them knowing a lot of people, but also

by knowing a variety of people. By knowing a wide audience, as well as different kinds of audiences, they are able to spread popular culture. This could definitely be seen with Grumpy Cat, as connectors shared the image and it was viewed by a large, diverse audience. These audiences could then develop ideas and feelings about the image and also contribute to the growing of the trend by sharing it with their groups of friends.

 

 

 

 

 

The Original image of Grumpy Cat

 

 

 

 

 

A Photo shopped version of the Grumpy Cat image

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image used of Grumpy Cat for Friskies

 

 

 

 

 

Want to see more of Grumpy Cat? Check out:

http://www.grumpycats.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficialGrumpyCat

https://twitter.com/RealGrumpyCat

 

 

This blog was made possible with the help of the "Mix it Up" textbook and http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat

 

 

Jenna V. Sevigny

Comic-Con is a sociological-related annual comic book convention that originated in 1970. The city that hosts this event is San Diego, California. Both the Interactionist and Functionalist Approach are reflected through the symbolic and aesthetic nature of this event. Through cosplay, attendees of the event are able to express and dress as their favorite comic book characters, while simultaneously allowing the liminoid to take over. As collective effervescence is experienced by all who attend this event, social solidarity allows for the annual uniting of dedicated comic book fans at this extravagant convention. Attached is a link to the Comic-Con website; I encourage you to browse through and learn more about the event itself as well as its history. In addition to that link, I have provided a video of the Game of Thrones 2013 Comic-Con panel for you to gain a better understanding of how this event is structured and how the panel sessions are set up. Enjoy!

http://www.comic-con.org/about


In my cultural analysis term paper, I plan to incorporate previous sociological research and information specifically involving Comic-Con. I ordered a book titled, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture that will ultimately provide me with in-depth information regarding the sociological phenomenon of Comic-Con. Below is a picture of this book in case any of you are interested in learning more or potentially attending Comic-Con.