LDH2B BIG PAPER (Revised)

Introduction
People believe that having a good and meaningful life will make them a better person and that they will go to heaven when they die, but to be truly honest I don't think there will ever be a "right" or "wrong" way to live life. So, to the people that are trying to better their lives to be happier, "wake up to reality becuase whatever you do, your life will never be perfect". We usually get most of our ideas and beliefs from the larger subculture. The larger culture can be considered a combination of three major sources - corporate/commodified culture, folk culture, and big subcultures. I feel as if we should forget about the contradictory messages from our culture and make-up our own ways on how to live a good and meaningful life.


My ideas
My ideas on the good and meaningful life are to take risks in life that will help you become a better person and to overcome things you never thought you can do. Many would think of my ideas as rhetorical and childish but I really feel that working on yourself to be happier and successful will make you feel more of a better person not precisely give you a good and meaningful life but feeling right about yourself is key in my life. What I am trying to say is if you love to draw or write, go right ahead and do it but do something that is healthy for you and your life. In my point of view, an example of a meaningless life would be to be the person that sits on their ass and accomplishes nothing in their life. Someone who rather waste his or her life playing video games and watching t.v for hours and doesn't explore the world to try new things. One of the biggest dominant cultures is the corporate message from the media. The majority of of music videos, movies, and advertisements give us an insight on how to live a good and meaningful life. It's not so much of a positive advice we get but a more "in order to be cool or in order to be beautiful this is what you must do..." We always find ourselves in these situations and it's not one of the best because it's as if we're slaves to the society; whatever is told, we have to do it. For example, a teen in high school always feels pressured from worrying about his/her looks to his/her's way of living. You always want to belong to a group or else like it is told, "You'll be a geek or an outsider" as our society calls it.


Others Ideas
From my interviews with my family and friends, I noticed that they struggled with this question, which made me think that there will never be such an answer to sum up the meaning of life. It is just how you look at it. I asked three people who are very close to me these questions, “What do you think and believe the meaning of life is?” “How meaningful or meaningless is your life?”
First, I interviewed my father. He began off telling me family was the most important thing to him but as he continued to get more in depth he concluded, “having the freedom to say what you want and believe in what you believe right when you come out your mother’s wound is something that I find most important in my life because without that you wouldn’t be living the life you chose to live now.” I thought this answer was a little strange but when I thought about it I started to agree with it. We choose the lives we live but its only because we have the right to pick how we want to live it which makes our lives either meaningful or meaningless.
I also interviewed my mother. Her answer was more on the simple side. She said that the meaning of life was to be alive and to finally have the opportunity to be someone. I understood where she was coming from but I didn’t agree with this answer it just seemed too simple. Being alive is something people are happy with but not something people are thankful for on the regular basis, they are just glad that they’re alive while having people that will be helpful to you in your future and the goals you accomplished is something that is meaningful to many. It is also a part of the meaning of life to me. My mother quotes, “Personally, someone might not think my life is meaningful but the way I see it, it is. I am happy with my life and I have my children to prove it. I have a job and I have somewhere to live, I’m not just your average face I am somebody in life no matter how you see it.” This answer was very interesting to me and it made me think more deeply into what the meaning of life really is, but there are many answers, ideas, and thoughts, which questions me what is the meaning of life? How does someone know? The meaning of life is very tricky. People answer this question thinking, “What do I like to do? What do I love most? Who do I love most?” And so on…there is never one answer to this question.
The third person I interviewed was my close friend Yanet. As I asked her my questions she responded, “the meaning of life to me is accomplishing the goal you want to achieve and being someone important in life.” I would mostly likely have to disagree with her answer just because in my perspective I believe that someone can have all the education and money in the world and still may not be happy or feel like his/her life is meaningful; it might just be that they are doing this to feel batter and higher than everyone else or its just an expectation that someone who raised them expects from them.

Dominant messages
Corporate dominant messages bascially send messages that are going after young people who are naive to believe the things they say. In VH1, the international T.V show "Real Chance of Love," is about two brothers who are out in the world trying to find love. The massage that they give young people is that you need to have fame in life and you should do anything to get the person you love even if you have to embarrass yourself on national t.v. These women are exploiting themselves to some guys that they barely know and are willing to do the most dumb things to get them. If you watch this t.v show you see drama after drama with between all these young and beautiful women who are all after the same two guys.

Music Video
In our world we receive mixed messages about life in general. We are told how to live life. From having the good looks to being the richest person alive,I wanted to demonstrate how music videos influence us to live a certain way.The song Lip Gloss is basically giving out a message to all young people that you have to be cool in order to be accepted. As you can see in the video in order to be "cool" you have to have expensive products and materials, look a certain way to get attention from others especially the opposite sex. These messages are influencing young people that they have to act like someone that they're not to be accepted in a group. At the beginning of Lil Mama's video she is sitting in the care with her mother ready to go to school as shes about to get out she tells her mother she wants to be "part of the cool crowd" her mother gives her the lip gloss and as the video begins she quotes,
"They say my lip gloss is cool
My lip gloss be popping
I'm standing at my locker
And all the boys keep stopping
What you know 'bout me?"
In this quote she is saying that because her lip gloss is so "cool" guys are after her and girls are jealous of her. She wants to be the center of attention which is what a lot of young girls these days tend to accomplish. There is a part in the video that show a "geeky" boy with eyeglasses turns "cool" as Lil Mama blows some sparkles at him and automatically he drops his glasses and begins to dance ridiculously. You can see in the video that they are in a school dancing through the hallways, not even getting an education learning about important subjects but being educated on how to be cool. The video also shows a clip where there is a poster that has Lil Mama for class president. The meaning behind that is voting for her because she is "cool" and good looking, not because she will contribute to the school's education and intelligent. Most videos similar to these give mixed-messages to young people. Some may say its the way they express themselves as showing how much fun they're having as young people but they are really brainwashing people that there is a specific way to live a meaningful life which is to have all the glamor in the world. Pop culture has influenced young people so much that they truly believe that to be happy in life you need all the expensive products and materials, that you need to be good-looking and I feel that is when all the fixing you body up doing surgery, botox etc. comes in. People want to look like their favorite singer or celebrity and they will do whatever it takes to look and feel like them. People need to realize that being cool is not going to make your life more meaningful but its going to show how dim-witted you really are.

Films
In the film The Dark Knight, the movie is based on an 2008 American super hero. Batman who apparently is the hero of the film, is eager to set out and destroy organized crime in Gotham (which is where the setting takes place) for good. In the civilian's eyes Batman is a good person because he saves lives. He is expected to protect everyone else and be this great figure to the society in order to live a good and meaningful life. This is a an example of a dominant message.