For the past couple of weeks, I have been exploring what it means to be a Lolita. I already had an interest in learning more about the subculture, and it was not until I did some background research that I found the Lolita subculture to have many similarities to the Punk. These similarities sparked my interest in learning more about what type of people join the subculture, and why. This lead to my research question, “To what extent does Punk and Visual Kei play a role in creating the Lolita subculture?” The Lolita subculture is not very known in the United States despite its similarities to the popular Punk subculture. I sought to find out the border between the two subcultures, and through the results of my research I hope to let others know the meaning behind the Lolita subculture.
Before starting my research, I only knew the Lolita subculture was a fashion subculture that originated in Japan. Despite not knowing much about the Lolita subculture, I already knew so much about Japanese culture. Having seen Lolitas at Japanese cultural events, and anime conventions, their Victorian clothing
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I was able find several academic journals that not only defined the subculture, but gave me information on its origins, and information from various perspectives. One of my sources Urban Princesses: Performance and “Women's Language” in Japan's Gothic/Lolita Subculture is academic journal written by Gagné, Isaac goes in depth about the history of Lolitas and looking at the origins of the Lolita subculture I learned that not only did the Lolita subculture emerge in the same way as the Punk subculture, but the source Visual Kei Otaku Identity—An Intercultural Analysis. Intercultural //Communication Studies XVI: 1 explained how Japan was creating their own Punk music called Visual Kei in which was influenced by the western Punk subculture. This is when everything started to tie
In modern day society, popular culture has gained equal status to world issues and politics. Music, movies, and literature have started cultural revolutions and challenged the straight-forward thinking many individuals have accepted in the past. But while popular culture can advance new ideas and create movements, it also has the ability to challenge advancements society has made. Imani Perry’s essay, The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, focuses on hip hop and its negative impact on women and body image.
When examining subcultures such as the Goth culture it is evident that many serve not only as a means of identifying one’s self by membership in that subculture, but to defy the culturally dominant set of ideas, norms and iden...
American pop culture recently received flak for cultural appropriation. Artists such as Katy Perry and Selena Gomez were criticized for superficially incorporating Asian images into their music. However, cultural appropriation and cultural tourism – and its consequences – are commonly seen in relation to traditional culture; this lack of attention towards visual representation of modern Asian subcultures – in relation to Asian Americans – dismisses the potential impact of these images. A visual analysis of Avril Lavinge’s “Hello Kitty” and Gwen Stefani’s appearances with the Harajuku Girls reveals that the use of Japan’s Harajuku subculture in American pop culture perpetuates Asian American stereotypes. Specifically, these acts contain characteristics of the submissive “lotus blossom” stereotype and the invisibility that comes from this stereotype. These characteristics result in an insidious formation of race; Avril Lavinge and Gwen Stefani’s cultural tourism constructs the concept of an American that excludes the Asian body through contrasts between themselves and the background Asian body. This racial formation relies on the idea that the two artists have become part of the Harajuku culture, yet they are clearly distinguishable from the homogenized Asian body.
The 1960s counterculture was a cultural sensation which first began to take shape in the United States and from there on it spread throughout the rest of the west. It spread sometime in the early sixties to early seventies. The counterculture sensation began to catch on quickly and it eventually went on to become groundbreaking. Several components contributed in making the counterculture of the 1960s a unique era from the other opposition movements of the previous eras. The post-war baby boom created an unexceptional amount of youngsters who were an integral part of making the counterculture movement. As the 1960s continued worldwide tensions began to develop in societies in which people followed the same strategies as their elders used to regarding the war in Vietnam, race relations, human sexuality, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychoactive drugs, and differing interpretations of the American Dream. Several new cultural forms arose which included the Beatles and parallel to it was the growth of the hippie culture. This led to the fast development of the youth culture in which change and experimentation were mainly highlighted. Many songwriters, singers and musical groups from the US and around the world made a major impact on the counterculture movement which included the likes of the Beatles. Basically, the 1960s counterculture grew from a convergence of events and issues which served as the main substances for the remarkable speedy change during the decade.
The Punk Rock movement of the 1980’s was an explosion of hybrid and eccentric beats and lyrics that caught everyone’s attention, especially the young adolescents of the time period. The movement of Punk Rock took a major role in shaping the culture in the 80’s. The template for the 1980’s Punk Rock emerged from its preceptor of the 70’s Punk Rock which emerged from London. It’s loud and reckless tunes, to some sounded like noise, but to others it imposed many political standings and raised discussions of controversial topics in its lyrics. From this movements figurative and literal expressions through its bold fashion and uncensored lyrics, it definitely made a stance in the history of music and the 20th century.
The Chronicle of Western Fashion: From Ancient times to the Present Day.
When the word “hippie” comes to mind, images of men with long hair and colorful clothing, women with peace-sign necklaces and fringed vests, vans with “flower power” and rainbows arrive with it. For many people, colorful clothing and peace-signs were the legacy of the hippies. In fact, the definition of a hippie is a person from the 1960s with an unconventional appearance. However, the real legacy of the “hippie movement” is forgotten completely. As Timothy Miller writes, “There is at least some ongoing impact in the three most renowned centers of the hip revolution: "sex, dope, and rock and roll” (Miller 133). The actual legacy of the movement had very little to do with appearance and fashion. Instead, the legacy has more to do with rebellion and challenging societal norms - the acceptance of, dope, premarital sex, and rock and roll.
Throughout the 1960’s, the counterculture era emerged from American society. Drug culture, hippies, sexual revolution, literature, and music all greatly contributed to influencing the attitudes and ideals of the late twentieth century. Each aspect of the counterculture influenced people’s ideologies and lifestyles. They developed a new sense of creativity which was never found in previous years in the United States. People experimented beyond their comfort levels and developed a ideals which contradicted the restricting ones prior to the movement. Counterculture left an everlasting impact. The emphasis on hippies and drugs and the other aspects of the society during the 60's has diminished, but towards the end of that century, long hair and colorful clothes became a trend, and the overuse of drugs led to overdose and addictions, including many Vietnam War veterans.
The late seventies and early eighties saw the beginning emergence of the Goth subculture: a group of social misfits that appear to always find themselves on the outskirts of mainstream pop culture. It is a complex subculture with great depth and beauty where many of its citizens share a profound connection with the darker aesthetic, are predisposed to depression, and are often willing to explore interpersonal and sexual relationships with little inhibition or regard for societal norms.
A Single Youth Culture Youth culture and youth subcultures have been a subject of research since the early 1930s. It is most certainly true today that there is not one singular youth culture but a variety of different youth subcultures. The 90's can not be described as the same as the 60's or 70's or even the 80's. There are many reasons put forward by sociologists for this such as there are more styles available today, media influences us more and there is a higher disposable income per household to spend on fashions. This paper will explore the reasons behind the existence of youth cultures in previous years and why the same format has not occured in the 1990's.
The purpose of this report is to introduce emo subculture and the different aspects about it. It includes the history , fashion, lifestyle, values and attitude of this particular subculture. But before anything else, what does the word subculture mean? This word will be often use later on this report and therefore its important for us to know the meaning of it. Subculture is a group of people having the same/common interest which differentiates them from a larger culture to where they belong. Subcultures can be identified by age, ethnicity, class, location and gender of the members. Different subcultures have their own styles which differentiates them from the other.
...th can be seen walking around in some of the most bizarre looking clothing. I once saw a young girl wearing a swan dress not unlike the one worn by Bjork. I have seen some of the worst “fashion faux-pas,” with severely conflicting colors, completely mismatching styles of the top, bottom, and shoes, makeup seemingly done by a five-year-old. As one might like to hope that these styles were mistakenly created by the individual, it is clear that they are intended, whether for shock value or for personal satisfaction. It seems as though in places such as Harajuku, the more “unique,” the better. While Miyake seemed to have far reaching consequences for Japanese identity on the international level, Kawakubo’s constant questioning of societal norms helped foster individual deviations, thereby creating a new identity which, ironically enough, is not limited to or by itself.
1924’s Aelita, directed by Yakov Protazanov is a silent science-fiction film made during the rise of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution and the civil war. The film focuses around an engineer named Los who becomes obsessed with building a rocket to travel to Mars after receiving a strange message no one can decipher. As he works for the government, his wife Natasha is taking care of refugees from the civil war that had recently ended. There we are introduced to a recovering soldier named Gusev, a nurse named Masha, and a former member of the bourgeoisie named Viktor. Various events happen throughout the first half of the film that involve Gusev and Masha falling in love, as well as Viktor tries to woo Natasha while he and his wife try to scam other tenants of their appartment. Los sees Viktor with Natasha several times and becomes more and more convinced that she is having an affair.
Lolita events while most of the time they would engage with taking photos and socializing within the Otaku societies. Other than performing inside Japan, cosplay has also expanded its culture into the West and South East Asia such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, the societies would put on cosplay events every year and create internet platforms, for people around the world who are interested in cosplay culture could communicate in a more convenience way, on the other hand Lolita has focused more in the West by expanding their culture and the Lolita fashion brands to places such as America, Ireland, Germany, Australia and so on. Additionally the manga and the film industry have also created a big impact in expanding the Lolita subculture to the