The High Cost of Cool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The High Cost of Cool - Essay Example It is explained in the video that what the popular culture industry does is doing â€Å"whatever works †¦ with most people† (â€Å"The MTV Machine†). The â€Å"prematurely adult† nature of both the â€Å"mook† and the â€Å"midriff† is a way of giving shape to a consumer at a youngest possible age (â€Å"The Midriff†). And on the other hand, the â€Å"mook† and â€Å"midriff† become the ultimate images of youth (â€Å"The Midriff†). These two terminologies have been explained in the below-given description: The â€Å"mook† is a hopelessly immature male whose grotesque and inappropriate antics are elebrated for their transgressions, whereas the â€Å"midriff† is a female sexualized beyond her years whose emotional immaturity makes her ripe for inclusion of fantasies for sexual exploration (Ladousa, 51). This self-images propagated among the youth have an influence of their own on the young people but youth culture is too complex a matter to be controlled merely by specific media-promoted self-images. But still the young people are prone to such stereotyped imagery, to an extent. Natoli has called attention to the fact that the present generation in the US has been called the â€Å"Mook and Midriff Generation† (93). Especially, the â€Å"mook† and â€Å"midriff† culture has a patriarchal message that tells a girl that â€Å"your body is your best asset† (â€Å"Midriff†). The threat that these images pose to the youth in terms of stereotyping is that â€Å"your son or daughter, and grandson or granddaughter is getting hammered with the pressure to be a mook or a midriff† (Pratt, 28). It can be seen that though the â€Å"mook† and â€Å"midriff† images are time bound, they are going to have an impact on the teenagers and the chil dren who grow up every moment exposed to the media images of