Subcultures In Tomorrowland Summary

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In “Goths in Tomorrowland”, Thomas Hine explores teenage subcultures and how they are impacted by commercialism---which is the attitude or actions of people who are influenced too strongly by the desire to earn money or buy goods rather than by other values (Merriam-Webster). Hine argues that, “Young people are caught in a paradox”. As teenagers attempt to avoid being classified; they also attempt to fit into one of the many subcultures where companies exploit them (Hine 281). On the other hand, in Michael Omi’s essay, “In Living Color”, he depicts how minorities are often discriminated against through media markets. Omi believes that popular culture plays an important role in creating racial ideologies and continuing to give these ideologies…show more content…
Hine’s depiction of popular culture is that of Nike and MTV, which fragment their advertising and products to micro-markets and profit off of them (Hine 279-280). Teenagers fall into this consumption cycle and are chewed up and spit out, and back into a different cycle, as they grow older, most Americans fall into the cycles of consumption, and continue to represent companies that stereotype to appeal to an audience. Omi has a much darker view of popular culture; he believes the media profits off of the minorities being stereotyped, as they sell their movie or television show back to them as a target audience (Omi 121). The corporate machine creates micro-markets of minorities, and then the minorities buy from the same media that misrepresents their race. Comparing the two issues presented by these authors, the issue of race is a far bigger concern for America as a whole. Teenagers will grow out of their subcultures and escape the micro-markets and stereotypes, but minorities cannot escape the racism media brings upon

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