Pop Culture Essays - Fashion, Body Art, Earring, Body Piercing

Pop Culture Pop Culture For thousands of years, men and women around the world have gone to redundant lengths to change their natural appearance of their bodies in an attempt to make themselves feel more attractive, to get attention, to conform to new customs of their particular cultural group, to attract a mate or sex partner, to show of their wealth or social status, or to just make an outgoing statement about themselves. Is body art really a pop culture? Our dissatisfaction with the human body and its covering is expressed in endless change. This results in the desire and adoption of a trend, these trends are shown through ways such as piercing, body painting, and tattoos, Body piercing has grown in popularity over the past five years especially among American teenagers who pierce just about anything that can be pierced: ears, noses, tongues, and navels. The most conventional form of piercing in the United States today is ear piercing, and it has become more mainstream for both sexes than it once was. Ear piercing can range from single hole in one or both ears to holes along the entire rim of the ear, but why has piercing become so popular? Given the name as Generation X youth today are known for being unable to follow a Normal Persons life and so express, and exaggerate their body until they feel comfortable, but being comfortable has become a bizarre competition, to see who can stretch their ear lobes the longest, or who has the most earrings too who has the craziest piercing, thus creating a mass trend in body piercing throught the worlds youth. Ear piercing struck America during the punk era, as a way of rebelling against parental figures and their ideas of good kids. And now during the 90s ear piercing has yet again became a popular culture, due to the influence of show business and their perspectives of beauty. Tattooing is probably the most popular form of body art in America today. The reason behind tattoos in society is to exaggerate the human body e.g. Intricate tribal armbands attract attention to mens biceps, and simple small designs attract attention to various parts of the female body especially on the lower part of the back and around the navel. The designs can be small and discreet or large and obvious. Many people prefer discreet designs that can be concealed for certain occasions. The reason for tattoos becoming such a pop culture is due largely to Hollywood films and TV celebrities. The professional wrestlers of the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) have not only become coarse, they have become body art fashion statements for our youth. Tattooed armbands, and Chinese lettering are seen so commonly that one would think that they are birthmarks. Although tattoos have become todays pop culture, tattooing has actually been practiced since the time of the ancient Egyptians. H.G Wells stated, In all ages, far back into prehistory, we find human beings have painted and adorned themselves In some cultures tattoos are considered a sign of maturity, or nobility. In the American culture tattoos are a sign of individualism and fashion. When most people think of body painting, the image that come to mind is more likely that of a Massai worrier. Yet we all paint our bodies for reasons of identification, ritual or beauty. Pop culture comes into body painting when we talk about cosmetics. A daily ritual for most women, consisting of early morning applying, afternoon touch ups and nighttime removal has become a necessity and addiction for most women today. Wearing cosmetics is undoubtedly the most prevalent type of body painting in the world. Its a multi-billion dollar industry, with an increasing male market as well. On the top level, makeup is used to cover up zits, scars or pimples. But on a deeper level, there are other reasons for using makeup. Some would argue makeup mania in American society is a product of the media, and that American men, women, and children are constantly presented with attractive images of models, movie stars, and musicians and desperately want to imitate the way they look. Taking in all the evidence past and present on body art, from an anthropological view point what

Free Essays on Thought Paper

Do Genetics, Society, Family Upbringing or We Ourselves Determine Who We Are? Genetics are responsible for a range of things from how we look to the amount of time we will spend on this earth, but they do not determine who we are. Our society plays a role in who we grow up to be because we are highly conditioned by it. Our family upbringing will give us the values and character that will make up who we are. Finally there is ourselves, which is the final product of all of these factors. Since each of these factors play a key role in how we turn out, each decision that we make is not really our own but rather it’s the best decision we can make based on society and our upbringings. Genetics are the blue prints for our physical body. They determine what color hair we will have, the color of our eyes and even what diseases we may acquire later on in life. I do believe that genetics determine our brain capacity, which may gear us toward certain personality traits, but they will not determine who we are. As opposed to genetics, our society plays a huge role in who we are. From the time we can process what we take in from society we are being shaped and conditioned into what society wants us to be. The media portray one or a few sides of the society we live in. These portrayals are taken in by the viewer and either assimilated into themselves or discarded (but not without its influence). Society affects who we find attractive. In the early part of the 20th century for an example, full figured women were seen as very attractive. As time has passed society has now put a monumental emphasis on women being skinny. This is an example of the fact that as society changes so do our views opinions and perceptions. Other things conditioned or effected by our society are who we trust, what we where, what we eat, and even our hobbies. We are conditioned by society to conform and surrender to the role that it wants us to play. The remarkable thing ... Free Essays on Thought Paper Free Essays on Thought Paper Do Genetics, Society, Family Upbringing or We Ourselves Determine Who We Are? Genetics are responsible for a range of things from how we look to the amount of time we will spend on this earth, but they do not determine who we are. Our society plays a role in who we grow up to be because we are highly conditioned by it. Our family upbringing will give us the values and character that will make up who we are. Finally there is ourselves, which is the final product of all of these factors. Since each of these factors play a key role in how we turn out, each decision that we make is not really our own but rather it’s the best decision we can make based on society and our upbringings. Genetics are the blue prints for our physical body. They determine what color hair we will have, the color of our eyes and even what diseases we may acquire later on in life. I do believe that genetics determine our brain capacity, which may gear us toward certain personality traits, but they will not determine who we are. As opposed to genetics, our society plays a huge role in who we are. From the time we can process what we take in from society we are being shaped and conditioned into what society wants us to be. The media portray one or a few sides of the society we live in. These portrayals are taken in by the viewer and either assimilated into themselves or discarded (but not without its influence). Society affects who we find attractive. In the early part of the 20th century for an example, full figured women were seen as very attractive. As time has passed society has now put a monumental emphasis on women being skinny. This is an example of the fact that as society changes so do our views opinions and perceptions. Other things conditioned or effected by our society are who we trust, what we where, what we eat, and even our hobbies. We are conditioned by society to conform and surrender to the role that it wants us to play. The remarkable thing ...