Jack Black is very funny. He steals movies where he has supporting parts like High Fidelity, and his performance with Will Ferrell at the Oscars was the highlight of a very predictable awards show. Black’s persona is a fascinating paradox; I like the oxymoron that Entertainment Weekly recently created for him: the frenetic slacker. Black’s characters seem to be very passionate, but that energy is reserved for activities that seem to serve little “productive” value in our current economic order. Hence Barry, the part-time clerk who puts in full-time hours at Championship Vinyl in High Fidelity and berates customers whose tastes he finds offensive. Where the lead character Rob comes to the realization that emotionally he’s been living in an extended adolescent state and opts to grow up, Barry – and the Black persona more generally -- represents those dudes who, into their thirties, still behave like college sophomores.
Richard Linklater, whose breakthrough film, Slackers, depicted the life of twenty-somethings refusing to wholly buy into the workforce system, would seem an ideal choice to direct Black in School of Rock. Here Black plays Dewey Finn, a guitar player still dreaming of the big break, forgetting the Clash’s famous dictum, “if you’ve been trying for years, we already heard your song.” Dewey is threatened by his roommate Ned and Ned’s girlfriend with eviction if he doesn’t pay his share of the rent, but Dewey simply shrugs off the threat by believing his group will win this year’s battle of the bands. Dewey doesn’t even get along with his other bandmates: his solos are out of control, he mugs annoyingly to the crowd, and even does stupid frat boy stunts like diving into the crowd mid-song. For this, his band dumps him. Desperate, Dewey pretends to be Ned and gets a job at an exclusive private elementary school. Because the children are generally type A students, they expect to learn, while Dewey is mainly interested in his paycheck; he wants to give them recess until their injured teacher returns. But soon, Dewey learns that the children are learning music, and creates a “school project” – Rock Band – in order for him to create a group to compete in the battle of the bands.
School of Rock’s plot is not very original. The parents’ dislike of rock music resembles the grown-ups’ attitudes in countless early rock and roll film “classics” like Mi...
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...s main advertisement used the logo from Rolling Stone magazine, the dominant bi-weekly of the boomer culture which claimed rock music as its own, whose move from San Francisco to New York symbolized the shift from countercultural to mainstream media publication (for its twentieth anniversary issue, the magazine offered reprints of the first issue; when the first issue was published, buyers were treated to a free roach clip). Its soundtrack is for sale through Atlantic Records, once an important independent source of early R&B and soul records but for over thirty years part of the Warner Entertainment conglomerate today known as AOL Time Warner. It is without question the product of a culture industry that packages rebellion in a pleasant and entertaining manner. Rock and roll, even stick-it-to-the-man rock and roll, is just another commodity for youth to use to establish identity. Thirty years ago mainstream record labels were touting slogans like “The Man Can’t Bust Our Music” and “The Revolution is on CBS.” School of Rock, despite its obvious charm and great performances, is part of that same tradition. The Rock and Roll Rhetoric prevails again, hollow like an old bass drum.
“High School Confidential”, an article written by film critic David Denby for the New Yorker in 1999, accurately disputes and criticizes that high school related movies get their genre clichés from other high school movies that are out, as well as emotions of writers from their own high school years. Denby backs this claim up with multiple examples showing the stereotypes of high school movies, and explaining how those stereotypes are incorrect, such as the stereotypical princess in the school, the standard jock-antagonist, and the outsider/nerd character, and then he shows that all of these examples stem from the “Brian de Palma masterpiece Carrie”. David Denby’s purpose is to show readers how most high school movies are over-stereotyped
David Denby thoroughly explains the distinction between the reality of high school life to what is portrayed in movies in the article, “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies.” He argues that many of these movies are extremely predictable and all have the same story line. Denby gives numerous examples of the cliché teen movie, which entails the skinny, blonde popular girl and her jock boyfriend who, let’s face it, has his shining moments in life, in high school. Denby’s main objective throughout this article is to distinguish whether these films reflect reality, or just what we imagine to be reality. He also touches on the other side of the social spectrum which usually consists of a quiet, female outsider who is known to be smart and
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
"1991: The Year Punk Broke" is a documentary about the leading punk figures in the nineties such as Sonic Youth and Nirvana. In the continuation of the documentary, the viewer finds Thurstoon Moore of Sonic Youth asking young music enthusiats: “People see rock and roll as youth culture, and when youth culture becomes monopolized by big business, what are the youth to do?". In addition to the question, he states, "I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture by mass marketing and commercial behavior control and the first step to do is to destroy the record companies.” "The bogus capitalist process" that Moore talks about refers to the aggressive capitalist side of any market, but more
When the documentary was produced, media exposure was limited to private and expensive mediums such as television, movies and radio. These outlets were plagued with marketing agendas designed to sell products under the guise of authentic music and entertainment. Formerly non-existent cultural archetypes such as the boy band, pop diva, and gothic artist were created and promoted by corporations with the intent to profit from their fame. This systematic fabrication of teenage culture was achieved through the monopolization of popular media by people and companies with money. This created a narrow and one-dimensional mainstream cultural media, limiting the prefere...
The movie represents a change in all of culture, including rock and roll. The mother of William represents the traditional type of mentality as it relates to rock and roll. At one time, rock and roll was considered ‘the Devil’s music’. The culture shift in rock n roll itself can be shown through capitalism. The big record companies wanted to expand the artist’s skillset in order to profit from more revenue. The pressure of the group as a whole suffered in this process.
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.
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.
Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is an unhappy honors student who wishes he could be accepted as a person and not valued just as a brain. Upset over a poor grade in shop, Brian has contemplated suicide rather than live with the ire of his disappointed parents.
Most things have their beginnings in something small: a word, a breath, or idea; but not music. Music begins with a single vibration. It explodes and carries on, morphing worlds of unrelated personas. It lives rampantly in the mouths of millions of unruly and free-spirited teenagers, like a fever. The rock 'n roll trend that defiantly rose against the conformist ideology of the mid-twentieth century left remnants that commenced the start of a progressing society: a culture that redefined the rules of society and pushed social and moral limits while addressing social concerns.
Rock n’ Roll is a type of music that came about in the late 50’s. Before that, there was no music that resembled Rock n’ Roll; instead, folk and other genres dominated. Then the Korean War ended. Shortly thereafter, the Vietnam War began, and with it came a new type of music, featuring hateful songs and concerts. The introduction and evolution of rock and roll music from the late 50’s and 60’s made a generation more violent both physically and verbally.
Goldstein, Patrick. “Parents Warn: Take The Sex and Shock Out Of Rock And Roll.” Los Angeles
When Rock arrived on the music charts in the 1950's, a merging of African-American and White music, it made a huge impact on society. As a general rule I am not heavily into music, but I was drawn to Rock for some inexplicable reason. It is just the music I like. This genre will be difficult to write about because the origin of Rock is unclear; there are traces of Rock's style back into the 19th Century. It is also a very broad subject and I will have to compress a lot of information into as few pages as possible. Be that as it may, Rock is, in my opinion the best music genre on the charts.
With continued encouragement and motivation, Dewey starts to gain the trust of his skeptical and untrusting class. Throughout the movie you witness the transformation of each student as they learn to eliminate the “voice of criticism” and start believing in themselves. For example, Tomika, a shy and insecure girl who was afraid to sing in front of her peers because of fear she would be teased about her weight, blossoms into a courageous backup singer who rocks it out on stage at the Battle of the Bands concert. The nerdy keyboard player Lawrence, who Dewy calls “Mr. Cool”, also learns to emerge from his shell and find his inner groove.