Cars

When we think of celebrities, we think of lavish lives of luxury and material items. Celebrities are well known to sport designer clothes and buy million dollar homes. One long standing celebrity obsession is with cars. MTV has produced TV shows around this obsession, like Pimp My Ride and Cribs. Shows like these are created to show consumers at home the world of commodities. These shows exaggerate many things, but manage to drive the audience crazy with attraction. After watching a Pimp My Ride episode where the highlight was making a fish tank out of the back seat, I did find myself craving with desire to be a part of the commercial intertext. We would forever live in bliss if we were not constantly made aware of what these individuals purchase on the daily, and what new, expensive material goods they flaunt. These shows drive our self worth down, and make us believe that in order to be happy and successful, we must all buy $200,000 cars and $5,000 purses. Credit card debt has become a major problem in the U.S.; people are spending thousands of dollars they don't have just to tell themselves that because they own the latest trends, they are worthy and they are happy. Shopping becomes an obsession to the Golden Arrow of Consumption as people need to feel a part of that world and it becomes a vicious cycle. As the marketing trends have transitioned to focus not on the product itself, but on the consumer, it has intensified the desire to belong to the world of commodities. Many brands use a "pull strategy" to increase demand for their products, and the advertising they do makes consumers froth at the mouth for a new fetish, whether it be shoes, toys or cars. This video is a clip from mTV's Cribs Cars Edition, where we have 3 famous rappers showcasing and bragging about their ridiculously made up vehicles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPC2MMba9Xk

Sex & Eroticism

A super obsession within the media is sexuality. Sex is blatantly expressed through many channels such as TV shows, movies, song lyrics, and music videos. Only a few decades ago sex was once a secretive topic that was inappropriate to discuss publicly; now there is no way to avoid it! I have specifically observed eroticism in today’s popular songs and music videos. There are a handful of artists out there that are known for their crude and explicit behavior. Nowadays, the majority of rap and hip hop songs that play on the radio are so vulgar, half of the words are bleeped out. Needless to say, I would never want to let my mom borrow my iPod. Rihanna’s 2011 song “S&M” was under so much fire from critics. The first time I head the song, I was very surprised it was playing on the radio. To quote some of her lines:

“Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it

Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But chains and whips excite me”.

Her music video is exactly what you would expect to see: people tied up with tape, blindfolds, and whips. The idea of S&M pretty much freaks me out, as it probably does to many people. However, this totally abject notion of sexual pleasure from pain seems so dark and internal, that it arouses some people. This deviant activity has never been a part of pop culture until now. Artists like Rihanna, Britney Spears, Adam Lambert, and of course Lady Gaga use whips, chains, and vulgarity in their music videos to attract attention and sexual excitement in their viewers. Is pop culture’s goal now to arouse the id in all of us? Is it encouraging our primal instincts to come out and express themselves? This does not seem like a healthy trend in our society. Encouraging aggressive sexuality and X-rated actions to the young viewers who are the primary viewers of mTV, VH1 and other pop culture TV channels seems like a risky thing to do. It makes that fundamental conflict between the id and ego, not so much of a struggle. It empowers the id to satisfy its desires, possibly at the expense of itself and other people.

This Lady Gaga video link below displays eroticism and S&M at the 4:00 minute mark. This exhibition may come off and freaky to some, and exciting to others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA&ob=av2e