Assignment 1-4-6: Tea Phenomenon - Theories

Assignment 1-4-6

Tea Phenomenon: Theories

Julie Kemi

HUMN240 – F2WW

8/05/2012

Stephanie Bost - Chi

  

Tea Phenomenon Theories

            It is my belief that pop culture and the tea phenomenon relate in a number of different theories. The myth of mass culture, in part, influences the tea phenomenon. The theory of mass society associates crisis and weak traditions such as family and religion. While this theory does not support the traditional aspects of tea in British culture, it does support the growing support for tea drinkers in the United States. Mass media does not always require traditional support. Some individuals believe that mass media inevitably degrades higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline in society.

            The theory of culture industry supports media and mass marketing. This theory spouts the ideals that cultural products are commodities that share little or no meaning. The tea phenomenon applies this application to society in limited ways. The theory of culture industry focuses on media and mass marketing. Similar to the way Starbucks focuses on marketing Chi- Tea through its new "tea only" locations.

`     The most interesting part of my analysis took applications of theory and applied it in the marketing of products.  The use of society as a commercial prop in the retail and wholesale industries saddens me. It is very unsettling how influential leadership and growing industry can manipulate our individual thoughts and decisions.

I will undoubtedly make decisions based on my own personal value systems and needs. I think this pop culture topic has taught me to apply critical thinking to both sides of an argument. It has opened my eyes to different ideals about commercialization of products and commodities. I also believe that the theories in popular culture become essential to promote business in society. Understanding and manipulating the masses produce a trend that individuals and businesses can follow to keep order. As much as I loathe manipulation, I believe pop culture has a number of great advantages to us as individuals.

Assignment: 1-4-5 Tea Phenomenon: Formulas

Theories on Formulas:

Embedded in the tea phenomenon are formulas and theories that have been passed around for generations. Whether the formula is created in the brand or type of tea, or the marketing of the tea products, it is there to influence society. Generations of tea lovers have sipped the beverage as a medicinal source. Modern society utilizes the original formula for the tea and creates the persona that tea mixed with other plant life creates a healthier product.

In society, we utilize these formulas to create a cultural following. It is all just a method of marketing products to the masses using society and cultural habits. The discussions on formulas for films, movies, and tea have helped me realize how our society is manipulated into different beliefs because of habits. Formulas are used to captivate our own wants and desires.

I have gained insight into the tea phenomenon through these theories. I believe a great deal of this formula and theory is centered on product marketing. Society is utilized through wants and needs to adhere to products and trust them.

Tea for example is marketed heavily as a healthy drink and sold at most restaurants, fast food, c-stores, and grocery aisles. Starbucks has now come out with its own tea stores promoting every type of tea you can imagine. In addition to the health benefits, tea is now being promoted in the United States as a social drink. This follows the tradition of our British friends. Tea is becoming more than a medicinal drink in our culture. Starbucks has been one of the first to use the opportunity and promote tea through mass media as a social drink. The English have socialized using tea time for centuries but this tea phenomenon across the United States is relatively new. This phenomenon was brought here and implemented copying British Culture.

Assignment 1-4-4 Heroes and the Cult of Celebrity

The Tea Phenomenon: Heroes and the Cult of Celebrity

Queen Elizabeth Garden Party: sipping tea

Heroes and the Cult of Celebrity play a fascinating role in the tea phenomenon. For years, society has heard stories of the tea parties at Buckingham palace. Tea has been known as a royal drink for ages in the British culture. We see pictures of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles sipping tea and we chose to adapt those same royal habits (Wikepedia, 2012).

The Cult of Celebrity has been fascinated with the Royal family. The excitement that once surrounded Princess Diana ultimately contributed to her death. This is a great example of how our society’s fascination with the celebrity status has gone beyond the norm.

     Our society looks to the Royal Family as role models. For centuries, the royal family has sacrificed family members for their country. This leadership and sacrifice are heroic. This heroism and the wealth create the celebrity status associated with the royal family. We identify with the royal family for leadership. We emulate the basic choices that the Royal Family adapts. Tea, for example, is one of those choices. These choices are believed to be the finest choices in society.

    We hear the health impacts of tea from celebrity trainers, and we make choices based on those celebrity’s opinions. Our view of celebrity’s as heroes is society influences our choices. What happens when we incorrectly accept a celebrity as a hero and make bad choices?

    The insight I have gained while reviewing the Hero and Cult of Celebrity, is that society needs to identify with the realism of the choices they make on a personal level. Our civilization depends on our children in the generations to come. Society needs to be aware of the habits that our children are learning, and identify from who and where these habits are being formed. It is important for future generations to understand the difference between a choice that is made based on realistic expectations, and one that is made to conform to sociocultural pressures.

References

Wikepedia. (2012, May 9). History of Tea. Retrieved July 8, 2012, from wikipedia.com: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tea

Assignment 1-3-2 Building Characters: The Work of Celebrity Impersonators

Assignment 1-3-2

Building Characters: The Work of Celebrity Impersonators Analysis

Julie Kemi

HUMN240 – F2WW

7/26/2012

Stephanie Bost - Chi

Building Characters: The Work of Celebrity Impersonators Analysis

Building characters as a celebrity impersonator incorporates a great deal of discipline. A celebrity impersonator rehearses performance identity, data and methods, character and role work when getting into character.

Appreciative behavior for the characteristics of a celebrity is a key to being a skilled impersonator.  The understanding of the methods used in learning the character is key. An impersonator perfects getting into the character, being out of the character, and the character confusion that comes with this type of work.

Celebrity impersonators possess a unique career niche. They perform in roles that other performers are performing.  (p1191)  Impersonators may take on the perception that they are clowns in their profession. A misunderstood role, the impersonator feels marginalized within their occupation. Producers and industry executives may not find an impersonators work as serious as that of an actor (Ferris, 2011).

Celebrity impersonations require the replication and interpretation of the persona of a genuine individual. Impersonators need to practice special vocals and replicate them in order to replicate the character and integrate these areas into their act. This skill depicts to the audience and contributes to a convincing role (Ferris, 2011).

There is a great deal of talent that goes into impersonations. Understanding the social and situational identities of your character is imperative to the success of the act. The characters ideas, actions, vocals, and lifestyle have an essential influence on the impersonator (Ferris, 2011).

Building a character is critical to an impersonators act. Impersonators use their bodies as tools. They create a convincing presence to represent the characters identity. This presence includes the gender they represent, skin color, height, and weight. Creating this presence can be demanding and life changing for an impersonator.

Impersonators must create presence in their act. Using assumptions and information about the character, an impersonator can create the perception, that they are something that they are not.

Impersonators research their characters actions, vocals, walk, habits, nervous expressions, and various other physical attributes to make their character believable. Their interaction with the audience is also a key to building the character. The characters public image must be addressed and used as a part of the act.

The transformation into the character role can be demanding. After applying the knowledge about the character they have gained in their research, the impersonator then applies it to their own behavior.To become the character, an impersonator must practice behaviors, incorporate props, and utilize all of the learned acting skills. Sometimes, it can be a prop that triggers the attitude of the character in an impersonator.

Being out of character for some celebrity impersonators can be as easy as taking off your costume. Sometimes it is a little more stressful than that. Impersonators that spend a great deal of time in character relish the “physicalization” of being themselves again. Some impersonators enjoy the fact that they are unrecognizable by fans after they remove their costume. They can go about their daily business without be recognized (Ferris, 2011).

Character confusion is not an issue with impersonators; however some fans have trouble identifying with the impersonator as a normal person playing a part. Confusion about the character tends to occur more in the eyes of the children and sometimes fans.  (Ferris, 2011)

I fully support the article Kerry Ferris has written. The article articulates the intricate techniques involved in celebrity impersonations. The author describes the challenges a celebrity impersonator faces, along with the marginal rewards they receive from others in their profession. The article clearly articulates the path a celebrity impersonator must take to have a successful career and a captivated audience.

I believe this article is helpful for individuals that would like to research what being a celebrity impersonator entails.  It covers issues impersonators experience while preparing for a role. The article provides information to individuals and details about how others have accomplished impersonations. It describes the areas an impersonator must study and prepare for in order to be a successful celebrity impersonator.

Finally, the article covers the confusion that the audience and children can experience. The understanding is that the character is only a character. The individual is playing a part, and that part does not represent the actual individual’s personality or habits.

 

References

Ferris, K. O. (2011). Building Characters: The Work of Celebrity Impersonators. The Journal of Popular Culture, 44(6), 1191-1208.

Assignment 1-5 Cultural Interactions

1980-1989; MUSIC - Rock Bands of the 80's
 (push the arrow below to begin)

Rock of Ages Movie - Released July 2012

I  recently went to the new movie “Rock of Ages”. The movie was based on the musical that came out in 2008. The movie was a love story about a small town girl and a city boy finding love in their search for stardom. The movie had a second story. It portrayed the life of an ego centric rock  named "Staci Jax", trying to figure out his way to love amongst his rock n roll lifestyle. Stardom prevented this rock star from being able to determine who he could trust.

He was caught in the entertainment world. A world where most everything is make believe. Friendships are fake and celebrities are given whatever they want as long as well they are producing cash flow for the industry. Drugs and sex are thrown at rock stars to keep them happy and satisfy their needs. Industry executives don't want stars to develop real personal relationships that can jeopardize the group from traveling and the big exes from making the cash. Top executives allow the the star of the season to stay on top so they can get ahead. This recent film brought back the memories of the hair bands and power ballads that drove us to raise our lighter in the mellow arm wave (Gardner, 2009). 

Mullet Hairstyle

The 1980’s-1990 brought us the era of the mullet hairstyles, the big hair, and leggings under our skirts. This was a time when Madonna was queen, and Michael Jackson was King. Spandex was in and every girl wore lace. (Webster, 2008). The 80's rock and roll style was instrumental in the fashion of that era. Feathered hair, crimped hair, and ponytails on the side were all emulated from the likes of Debbie Gibson. Joan Jett had a significant style as one of the greatest woman rockers. I remember the days when my friends and I wore the thick blue eye shadow and heavy mascara to copy our rock and roll icons.

1980's Spandex Pants Era

This Rock and Roll era was instrumental to music, because it brought about some of the best music of the twentieth century. Rock bands like Journey, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith were on top of the charts. The power ballads brought both men and women to tears. These bands played a huge part in the music culture of the 80s.

Def Leppard 1987

Bon Jovi 1987

This era impacted pop culture hairstyles, clothing, and music. The long big hair, mowhawks and mullet cuts were signature hairstyles of this era. Tight brightly colored spandex pants, leather jackets, and chains were inspired by our Rock legends. Leggings, lace, short shirts, mini skirts, exercise wear and leg warmers were inspired by Madonna and Debbie Gibson. Madonna was instrumental for a number of popular clothing choices. The world became addicted to the power ballads and the lighter wave.

Companies like Ocean Pacific, Esprit, Guess, Keds, Izod and Jordache captured the rock heroes styles and marketed the items to the public. Every concert was a rolling billboard to these fashion industry giants. Music videos were hot, and a good source of advertisement for the fashion industry. Kids rushed to the stores to purchase styles that emulated their music legends. This was a time when these brands made millions.

The 80's was a fascinating time of my life. I too conformed to the styles of my favorite rock artists. I had a deep appreciation for the music and the dream.This was a great time in my life and now this era's music  sparks so many memories of my teenage years.

 References

Gardner, E. (2009). 'Rock of Ages' makes it hard to hold on to the feeling. USA Today, 4d.

Webster, A. (2008). Never Mind The Mullet; It's the Tunes. . New York Times, 2.

Assignment 1-4-3: The Tea Phenomenon: Rituals and Stereo Types

The Tea Phenomenon: Rituals and Stereotypes

The tea craze triggered modern rituals of purchasing and consuming the beverage. Whether tea is hot or cold, it is consumed by the masses. Starbucks in opening Chi tea stores to keep up with this craze. Health conscious stereotypes worldwide have been drinking tea for centuries.

Theories about the origin of tea are often religious or royal in nature. Tea has been known to be a customary drink of the Asian culture for eras. The drink has been a curative and status symbol is Asia. Emperors are said to have used tea as an antidote for many illnesses (Wikepedia, 2012).

Tea was introduced to the Japanese by Buddhist Monks in the sixth century. Tea became the drink of the religious classes in Japan. The Tea Ceremony of Japan was introduced from China by Buddhists as a semi-religious social custom. The modern tea ceremony developed further over the following generations (Japanese Tea Ceremony, 2011).

The religious theories surrounding tea have sparked rituals in countries all over the world. These rituals describe an iconic drink with therapeutic and intangible effects. Early tea drinkers were thought to obtain spiritual essence from tea (Japanese Tea Ceremony, 2011).

The United Kingdom was the first to commercialize tea as a commodity. Tea was initially promoted as a medicinal beverage or tonic. By 1750, tea had become known as the countries national drink.  Tea became a trading commodity to the United Kingdom for fabrics that were sold in India and China. China and India would trade tea to Britain in exchange for fabric and tapestry.  This act was eventually stopped by China. China decided to trade tea only for silver bullion (Wikepedia, 2012).

The theories of tea as a medicinal and spiritual drink have been spoken for centuries in Asian communities. Today, modern research has proven the tea theory and studies agree with the numerous health benefits (Wikepedia, 2012).

Tea has been used in commerce for generations. The United Kingdom began exploiting tea as a commodity. The importing and selling of tea as a commodity removed the religious theory and motivated the commerce theory of tea (Wikepedia, 2012).

I have gained an understanding of how tea has become a phenomenon through its rituals and stereo types. Tea started with a spiritual and medicinal following. This was later exploited and commercialized by the British.

In modern society, tea is returning to its medicinal roots. Research has shown tea to have many health benefits. The renewal of interest in the medicinal properties of tea has helped bring this drink back to its long time iconic standing.

Assignment 2.1

Pop Culture Icons

Three contemporary icons of this era are Superman, Def Leppard, and Coca Cola.  Superman represents the hero of the 20^th Century. Def Leppard contributed to the international music culture for three decades. Finally, coca cola is the all-time favorite drink throughout the globe.

I chose the icons because as a child Superman represented the idea that there was someone out there battling the evil in our world. He was responsible for Halloween costumes, birthday party decorations, and various other products commercialization by the entertainment industry.  The rock band Def Leppard has been a family and friend favorite for over 30 years. This band’s music inspires to return me to some of the best memories of my life. Coca Cola has contributed to hundreds of commercials, parties, dinners, and various other events of our generation. Everywhere you go you will see a coca cola sign.

All three of these products have been a very important part of my life. I have purchased products representing these brands, as well as use them to spark memories of my past. We grow up with a great deal of changes; it is nice to see that some things, even though they change, always to some extend manage to stay part of our lives.