According to Theodore W. Adorno’s critical theory, culture, in its purest form, is protest. However, in his 1975 selection, “The Culture Industry Reconsidered,” Adorno discusses the dangers of commercialism being allowed to dictate culture and insists that if commercialism were to gain control, and he believes that it has, then society would obediently and unquestioningly conform to the standards and expectations set by those in charge, regardless of the situation. Both of these things can be seen in protest art today. For instance, in music, one of the most well-known protest albums of the 21st century is American Idiot by the punk rock band, Green Day. Before the early 2000’s, Green Day’s music tended to be less politically charged and …show more content…
In “Holiday” it was clear that the band disliked Bush, but “American Idiot” is a direct slight towards Bush’s presidential re-election campaign. One of the biggest critiques from Bush’s opposition was that they believed that he was perpetuating and even mongering the fear that followed 9/11. Subsequently, the lines “Don’t want nation under the new media and can you hear the sounds of hysteria?” and “Information age of hysteria, it’s calling out to idiot America,” as well as others, are directly correlated to those concerns. The band members have also admitted unabashedly on numerous occasions that the “American idiots” were Bush and his supporters. The song also lists the “Age of paranoia,” which is a reference to the government spying on its own people (under Bush’s jurisdiction). In addition to the anti-Bush message the song also has an anti-media message. The whole hook of the song discusses the media’s need to paint the world as a terrifying place in order to continue to turn a profit, so as a result they perpetuate stereotypes and create unnecessary hysteria, which many Americans found especially offensive when they fed off the fear and uneasiness following the events of
In Justin Pearson's memoir, From the Graveyard of the arousal Industry, he recounts the events that occured from his early years of adolesence to the latter years of his adulthood telling the story of his unforgiving and candid life. Set in the late 1970s "Punk" rock era, From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry offers a valuable perspective about the role culture takes in our lives, how we interact with it and how it differs from ideology.
Many Americans believe that children are the future and deserve a high quality education. According to Michael Moore’s “Idiot Nation", they are oblivious to the lack of education that actually takes place in schools. Moore begins to build his credibility by using personal anecdotes and humor, citing statistics and facts, and using emotional appeals.
American Idiot, arguably Green Day’s most famous album, is one of the best example of and the most well-known musical protest of George W Bush. The album marked a milestone for Green Day, the benchmark where they became a political band. In the earlier albums, Armstrong wrote about anxiety, relationships, panic attacks, etc., looking inwards as a muse. However, in American Idiot, Armstrong does a complete 180, writing about politics and the “alienation and anger he felt during the presidency of George W Bush” (Orange). The album was meant to be provocative, to incite a response out of the public. Armstrong states that by being so political, it felt like we “tapped into the culture a bit” (purple). Before American Idiot, Green Day’s “social
Springsteen wrote “Devils & Dust” during the Iraq War. He has been openly against the war and has been quoted saying to Rolling Stone, “As the saying goes, "The first casualty of war is truth." I felt that the Bush doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous foreign policy. I don't think it has made America safer.” The song itself could be interpreted as a soldier’s point of view about the war but overall it stands as a critique on our society betraying its own principles. The first couple of verses in the song already evoke the image of a soldier stuck in a war. “I got my finger on the trigger / But I don’t know who to trust” could be understood as a soldier’s experience in war but it could also have a deeper meaning. It could also signify that our society has to make these important choices that will end up affecting people’s lives but it is all too ambiguous, there just isn’t any certainty. We are left with the desperate feeling of not knowing what to do, not knowing wh...
Pathos: The emotions that are really being played on the most are anger. People have so much anger when they can not understand the world or what is going on in it. The audience becomes furious to all the killing and death in the world and they need someone there to sympathize with them. Anti-Flag gets the listener angry by exposing the faults of the world. The listener appreciates this because Anti-Flag will not sell into the wrongs of the world. It uses the emotion of finding comfort in that there is someone else out there that has the same views as the listener does. The band uses punk rock music as a common ground with the listeners and expresses their views through their songs. This relates back to the author because this is a great way to protest through music.
The first verse of the song begins by comparing the generals of the United States Army to a group of witches who have "evil minds that plot destruction" and act as a "sorcerer of Death's construction." The songwriters are saying that the generals and politicians meet with each other and think of new ways to cause destruction and chaos for nothing but their own amusement. The last part of the first verse says that they only have hatred for mankind and are trying to brainwash citizens of the United States to think that the war is a good cause so there will not be much protesting and opposition.
The American rock band Nirvana impacted American culture and society by paving the way for the punk rock subculture into mainstream corporate America. Punk rock music stems from the rock genre but has its own agenda. The crux of punk rock is that it is a movement of the counterculture against the norms of society. Punk rock in itself is made up of a subculture of people who rejected the tameness of rock and roll music during the 1970s. (Masar, 2006, p. 8). The music stresses anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian ideas in its lyrics as well as scorns political idealism in American society. Before Nirvana unintentionally made punk rock a multi-million dollar commercialized genre of music, underground rock paved the way for the punk rock genre by creating core values that punk rockers drew upon.
The strongest part of the song is where it says, “I keep my toes on the party line/ There is nothing wrong dear, don’t think twice”. In conclusion, the concept that propaganda is a brainwash becomes clear. The government changes the way that reality looks by altering the past, using pure power and propaganda.
The Song “American Idiot” by Green Day uses techniques to engage the audience to interoperate the issues. Green day through their style of music convey issues such as the medias over powering effect on society, greed and the division of the United States of American over political issues. Green Day’s negative stance on the issues through these techniques conveys the audience to agree with the main issues being focused.
Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer were two renowned Jewish representatives of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory; they were particularly dominant during the early 20th century, approximately around the time of the 1920’s to 1960s. They took refuge in America after Adolf Hitler’s rise in Germany. These to philosophers developed the ‘Culture Industry Theory’ in the 1940s, in light of the disturbed society they had seen during this time. They witnessed how Nazi Fascism used mass media such as films, radio and newspapers to brainwash millions into partaking in this ideology. Similarly they saw the rise of Capitalism in America, which also used mass media such as Hollywood films and advertising to disseminate the masses into the capitalist Ideology. This essay will evaluate how the ‘culture industry’ had profound social impacts in society and examine weather it is valid in contemporary society.
Jurgen Habermas: The Entwinement of Myth and Enlightenment: Re-reading Dialectic of Enlightenment, in Jay Bernstein (ed.): The Frankfurt School: Critical Assessments vol.3 (Routledge: London, 1994).
Al Yankovic’s song, Canadian Idiot, fits well with the postmodernist movement as it makes use of several postmodern elements, themes, and techniques. Pastiche is a technique used in postmodern works that imitates another work, artist, or period, essentially a parody. Canadian Idiot imitates Green Day’s American Idiot in the sense that it mocks and ridicules the way Americans create farcical stereotypes pertaining to Canada. The essence of identity and patriotism is disregarded and is treated with irony and dark humor. The song also makes use of paranoia and aggression through the lyrics “It's gotta mean they're all up to something
Ideology is “a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that world.” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). According to Sturken (2001), the system of meaning is based on the use of language and images or representation. Therefore, media texts come along and select what is “normal” and what is “deviant” to the extent that this hegemony of constructed meanings in the viewer’s head becomes “common-sense” (Gramsci in Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). From this standpoint, what America claims to be pop culture which is omnipresent in media internationally, is a representation, through “politics of signification” of what is right or wrong (Kooijman, 2008). An example of America’s cultural ‘manifestation’ is Mean Girls,
You can interpret this song in more than one way. The song was mainly written about Billie Joel Armstrong’s father who passed away in September. He left his father’s funeral early and his mother tried talking to him about his father. But he kept responding with “Wake Me up When September Ends.” The song is also a military tribute to those who were serving in Iraq, and about those who lost their lives in 9/11. The music video for the song is about a couple. The girl finds out her boyfriend got drafted to serve in Iraq, and it shows the man fighting in Iraq, that is where the military and 9/11 tribute come into play. Even though these songs are completely opposite they have a few similarities and
Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change” (John Podhoretz). It encompasses the advertisements we see on T.V, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, and it’s the reason Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar yet. It defines and dictates the desires and fears of the mainstream members of society and it is so ingrained into our lives that it has become as natural as breathing. Moreover, adults never even bat an eyelash at all the pop culture and advertising that surrounds them since it has become just another part of everyday life. Pop culture is still somewhat seen as entertainment enjoyed by the lower class members of society but pop culture standards change over time.