Cool Is What Makes The World Go Round

Introduction:
This unit we explored into the depths of coolness. We made assumptions, watched movies, interviewed people, and even looked into our own minds to see where this sense of cool comes from. My opinion is that coolness is a state of mind. There is no judge or committee to determine what is cool or what isn't. There is only what one believes in about themselves and others and what makes them cool. There is also no real you and individuality in the things we choose to do. It's all been done and said.


Argument 1:
So I think that individuality was just a concept made up to make people feel special in a world of so many people. We were programmed since little to believe that only we can be ourselves and that no one in the world is like us but in reality that's a lie. There are plentt of people out there who dress like us, talk like us, have the same view as us and yet we still believe that we alone are us.

In truth what is the real you? Is it the way you talk or act? Or the way you see things or do things? There can be no real you because everything your doing and saying has already been done by someone before you. And you can think all you want that it hasn't but it has. Someone before you thought of a tattoo on their ankle or a piercing on their hip.

Now you can say yea but I'm being me because I like those things that's why I do them but he truth is every thought and action in your life that you do is influenced by someone before you. With one word or action someone can change your life around and make you realize something you hadn't before and then your whole perspective on life changes and you say that it's you but it wasn't you until someone else made it you.


Argument 2:
Our interviews all kind of went the same. We talked about what kind of things make a person cool. I found that even if some ideas were alike there were others that were different. Either way it had a lot to do with confidence. The way one carries and presents themselves to others has a lot to do with whether people think they're cool or not. And when people think your cool then you begin to think yea I'm cool. And this is where this whole superficiality begins.

Now what we wanted to find out from these interviews were what qualities make cool. From my surveys I found that people like qualities such as down to earth and chill in the people they hang out with and of course these are typical amswers we expect to hear. But when it comes to fashion people's answers and styles were definitely different. For example while my friend Kayla likes more preppy American Eagle clothes, some guy we met on the street likes vintage, thrift shop clothing. I'm sure there styles wouldn't be cool to each other but that's the point. There is no one cool expert. Everyone is entitled to their own definition of cool because we all play different roles.

Now these roles that we play are what can make us cool or what can make us uncool. Depending on what role we choose to play or cuturally given role we are playing is whether we are cool or not. For example I know Andy used this example tirelessly but a black kid that lives in the projects buying Prada shoes would be cool because of his cultural map while a black kid who lives in the projects decides to stay in on Friday and Saturday nights to study is uncool because his cutural map says it is. An example of when we choose our own role would be a white kid who lives in Malibu trying to act like a thug is uncool to the people of Malibu (I think) vs. another white kid from Malibu who gets into Harvard would be cool and maybe also part of their cultural map.


Argument 3:
To see what we thought was cool we were told to write a story about someone or something that is cool. I found that a lot of stories were about heroes and good people in general. And the ones that were about assholes still ended up having some type of good quality in it. The differences in people's thoughts about cool were what really stood out. No one can say that anyone else's story was not about someone that's cool because that's ones own opinion. So here again we see the idea that cool is kind of like a personal thought. An idea you create in your head in which you form a cool identity which you then strive to be.

Identities are the way we try to make people see us. Our roles play into these identities because they contribute and tweek already made identities into our own. So like me being a social butterfly would be my role. My identity (the way I put myself out there) is that I can get along with anyone (here is where my role plays in) but I tweeked my social butterfly role into I get along with only those who I see are on the same level of interest as me. So I tweeked something to make it more me and to me that's cool. Because I know nothing I ever do will be original because there have been so many others before me who have done whatever I want to try and do but by changing something even just a little to make it more my own is cool to me.

Here is where someone's opinion might differ from mines. Some people (who shall not be named) think that everything they have has to be different from everyone else and in their heads they're being different by altering their bodies with tattoos and piercings because that's what sets them aside from others and makes them cool. This just makes them like all those other want to be rebels against society and cool. They're playing into it by not trying to play into it.

Alternative Point Of View
Now some people can say that cool is what the media sets out for us and we all judge cool similarly but those people can suck it because that's not true. We chose what to believe and like from the media. And if we judged it all the same then why isn't everyone be cool because we would all know the guidelines but there are still people out there who others don't see as cool. People will also try to say that you can be an indivual by adding your own style to everything but what is your styke? It's a style you saw somewhere or two outfits that you decided to put together and make your own. Those are already hundreds of other people's styles as well so that doesn't make you too unique.


Conclusion:
In the end this paper concludes this cool unit we have been working on. Thorugh all the blogs and interviews and discussions I still believe that cool is something that forms in your head and you keep in there to remind you of things you like. There's no new cool or old cool there's just what you believe and what you percieve of others. Cool can be thought of as attitude or fashion or even popularity but in the end it all comes down to the same thing. We all care about it even those who say they don't.


Sources
-My past blogs