Научно-практическая работа

Муниципальное образовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа №5 г. Павлово Нижегородской области

Гуманитарное отделение

Секция: лингвистическая

Musical subcultures

Выполнил:

Беспалов Александр, 15 лет

Блатова Ирина, 14 лет

Ф.И.О. руководителя:

Банина Мария Александровна,

учитель английского языка

Павлово

2011

Plan

1. Introduction                                                                                          3
2. The first acquaintance with subcultures                                             4
3. Punks                                                                                                    6
4. Emo                                                                                                      8
5. Goths                                                                                                    9
6. Hip – hop                                                                                             11
7. The behavior of teenagers                                                                   13
8. Conclusion                                                                                           14
9. Список использованной литературы                                               15
10.  Приложения

1. Introduction

Today the life of many young people in Russia as well as in other countries of the world is influenced by popular culture. The young follow certain stereotypes that are imposed on them through TV, movies, and music. In their lifestyle they try to imitate the images of their idols. Other young people are sports and music fans. They frequent stadiums and huge concert halls. They follow their idols in their tours and support them. Unfortunately they are intolerant to those who don't share their view. It's a specific aspect of the youth subculture that can't be ignored. But many young people have other interests.

The development of the musical subcultures starts in the late 60's.

So, in our work we would like to speak about the topic of subcultures, focusing on musical subcultures. This topic is particularly relevant in our times, as in the modern world, many subcultures have developed and they have a significant influence on human society.

Moreover there are a lot of young people around who belongs to some of these subcultures or who have distinctive features of a subculture, that’s why it’s really interesting for us to write about this.

So the aim of our work is to investigate the influence of the musical subcultures on the life and behavior of young people around us.

We have put four tasks:

1. To ask a group of students about their preferences of the musical subcultures.
2. To discover some new information about types of the musical subcultures and to learn about the history of the musical subcultures.
3. To study the influence of the musical subcultures on the behavior of the youth.
4. To compare the appearance of people of different subcultures.

We used knowledge in the spheres of linguistics, psychology and ethics.

2. The first acquaintance with subcultures.

We like to communicate with friends and classmates. But becoming older we have noticed that some of them have a very peculiar outlook when they are out of school. Some of them have special clothes and make-up; others have pierced lips, nose or eyebrows. Moreover they listen to such music which nobody listens.

So, we were asking ourselves why they were behaving in such an interesting way. To find the answer for this question we decided to investigate their way of living and to discover more information about their interests.

First of all we interviewed friends and asked them about these changes in their lives. One girl says that she likes the black color and earrings. (Приложение №1). She enjoys listening to such music as «Sisters Of Mercy». It appears that there is a youth movement Goths. She took some their specific features to differ from other people.

In our opinion it is good because every person is unique and he should show it.

The story of another girl is interesting as well. She has a lot of friends. She likes to communicate with them very much. But there is a group of people with whom she has much in common. They are called emo, but actually they just have some identity – black and pink colors in clothes, make-up and hair-do. (Приложение №2).

When we learnt it we came to a conclusion that there are various subcultures having their specific features and listening to special music. We decided to ask a group of students about their preferences of the musical subcultures. (приложение №3).

There are such subcultures as musical subcultures, art subculture, internet community and internet culture, industrial and sporting subculture.

One of the brightest and most well-known subcultural communities is youth movements associated with certain genres of music. Image of musical subcultures formed largely in imitation of the scenic image of popular artists of various subcultures.

One of the first musical youth subcultures of our time was a hippie youth movement of pacifists and fans of rock music. Much of their image (in particular, the fashion of long hair) migrated to other subcultures. The subculture of beatniks is associated with the hippie. There was religious and musical movement Rastafari (Rastaman) in Jamaica, which, in addition to reggae music and a particular image has a certain ideology. In particular, the beliefs of rastamanov were pacifism and the legalization of marijuana.

In the 1970’s and 80’s after the new genres in rock music metal and punk formed. The first cultivated the personal freedom and independence. The latter had a pronounced political stance: the motto of punk rock was the idealized anarchy and remains it. With the development of goth-rock in the 1980’s there was the Gothic subculture. Characteristic features are a gloom, the cult of melancholy, the aesthetics of horror films and gothic novels. In New York, thanks to immigrants from Jamaica, hip-hop culture with its music, image and lifestyle came.

In the 1990 years of strong youth subcultures emo kiddy and cyberpunk developed. Emo subculture is one of the young; it promotes a sense of vivid and demonstrative behavior.

We want to stop on Punks, Emo, Goths and Hip – hop and discover the information about them. We are interested in them and we want to learn how they differ and what they have in common.

3. Punks

         The punk subculture emerged in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia in the mid-1970s. Exactly the region which originated punk has long been a major controversy within the movement. Two UK punks painted the hand-stenciled crass symbol on the coat of the man on the right in a train carriage in 1986.

Early punk had influences, and Jon Savage has described the subculture as a “bricolage” of almost every previous youth culture that existed in the West since the Second World War “stuck together with safety pins”. Various philosophical, political and artistic movements influenced the subculture. In particular, punk drew inspiration from several strains of modern art. Various writers, books and literary movements were important to the formation of the punk aesthetically. Punk rock has a variety of musical origins both within the rock and roll genre and beyond it.

The earliest form of punk rock, named protopunk in retrospect, started as a garage rock revival in the northeastern United States in the late 1960s. The first music scene that was assigned the punk label appeared in New York City between 1974 and 1976.  At about the same time a punk scene developed in London. Soon after, Los Angeles became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other scenes in a number of cities such as Brisbane and Boston.

Around 1977, the subculture began to merge with the proliferation of factions such as 2 Tone, Oi!, pop punk, New Wave, and No Wave. In the United States during the early 1980s, punk underwent a renaissance in the form of hardcore punk, which sought to do away with the frivolities introduced in the later years of the original movement, while at the same time Britain saw a parallel movement called street punk. Hardcore and street punk then spread to other regions just as the original subcultures. In the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in America, various underground scenes either directly evolved from punk or at least applied its attitudes to new styles, in the process produced the alternative rock and indie music scenes. A new movement in the United States became visible in the early and mid-1990s that sought to revive the punk movement, doing away with some of the trappings of hardcore.

And now we’d like to write about the music of punks. The punk subculture is centered on listening to recordings or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock, usually shortened to punk. While most punk rockers use the distorted guitars and noisy drumming that is derived from 1960s garage rock and 1970s pub rock, some punk bands incorporate elements from other subgenres, such as metal - mid-1980s Discharge - or folk rock - Billy Bragg.

Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock, although not every style of punk rock has its own subculture. Most punk rock songs are short, have simple and somewhat basic arrangements using relatively few chords, and they use lyrics that express punk values and ideologies ranging from the nihilism of the Sex Pistols’ “No Future” to the anti-drug message of Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge”.

Punk rock is usually played in small bands rather than by solo artists. Punk bands usually consist of a singer, one or two overdriven electric guitars, an electric bass player, and a drummer (the singer may be one of the musicians). In some bands, the band members may do backup vocals, but these typically consist of shouted slogans, choruses, or football style chants, rather than the arranged harmony vocals of pop bands.

Although punks are frequently categorized as having left-wing or progressive views, punk politics cover the entire political spectrum. Punk-related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Other notable trends in punk politics include nihilism, anarchism, socialism, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-nationalism, environmentalism, vegetarianism and animal rights. However, some individuals within the punk subculture hold right-wing views (such as those associated with the Conservative Punk website), neo-Nazi views (Nazi punk), or are apolitical (horror punk).

4. Emo

        The next musical subculture we want to talk about is Emo. Emo is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s from hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as “emotional hardcore” or “emocore” and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid 1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.

Emo broke into mainstream of the culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre “scream”. In recent years the term “emo” has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts and groups with disparate styles and sounds. In addition to music, “emo” is often used more generally to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture, and behavior.Expression of emotion is the main rule for emo-kidov. They are distinguished by self-expression, resistance to injustice, special, sensual disposition. Often, emo kid is vulnerable and depressed people.

Despite the fact that emo-core emerged and developed as a subspecies of punk rock, the value orientation of these subcultures is quite different. In contrast to the classic punk rock, emo distinguishes romanticism and emphasis on the sublime love. Emo increasingly draw attention to the deep personal experience of social events.  Emo is often compared to the Gothic subculture, which usually causes the protest to emo, though some agree that there is certain kinship among these subcultures.  Some researchers have suggested that emo has even greater risk of suicide than the Goths.

5. Goths

The Goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene; it was an offshoot of the Post-punk genre. The Goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era. Its image and culture indicate influences of the 19th century Gothic literature along with horror films.

The Goth subculture has associated tastes in music, aesthetics, and fashion. Gothic music includes a number of different styles such as Gothic rock, Darkwave, Ethereal, Neo-Medieval and Neoclassical. Styles of dressing within the subculture range from death rock, punk, Victorian, some Renaissance and Medieval style, or they are combinations of the above, most often with dark color, makeup and hair.

To define an explicit ideology of the gothic subculture is difficult for several reasons. First there is the overwhelming importance of mood and aesthetic attitude for those who are involved. This is, in part, inspired by romanticism and neoromanticism. The love of dark, mysterious, and morbid imagery and mood lies in the same tradition of Romanticism’s gothic novel. During the late 18th and 19th century, feelings of horror and supernatural things were widespread motifs in popular literature; the process continues in the modern horror films.

Balancing this emphasis on mood and aesthetics, another central element of the gothic is a deliberate sense of camp theatricality and self-dramatization, present both in gothic literature as well as in the gothic subculture itself.

Goths, in terms of their membership in the subculture, are usually not supportive of violence, but they are tolerant to alternative lifestyles. Many in the media have incorrectly associated the Goth subculture with violence, hatred of minorities, and other acts of hate. However, violence and hate do not form elements of Goth ideology; rather, the ideology is formed in part by recognition, identification, and grief over societal and personal evils that the mainstream culture wishes to ignore or forget. These are the prevalent themes in Goth music.

Goths have generally apolitical nature. While individual challenge of social norms was socially risky in the 19th century, today it is far less socially radical. Thus, the significance of Goth’s subcultural rebellion is limited, and it draws on imagery at the heart of Western culture. Unlike the hippie or punk movements, the Goth subculture has no pronounced political messages or cries for social activism. The subculture is marked by its emphasis on individualism, tolerance for diversity, a strong emphasis on creativity, tendency toward intellectualism, and a mild tendency towards cynicism, but even these ideas are not universal to all Goths. Goth ideology is based far more on aesthetics and simplified ethics than politics.

Unlike punk, there are few clashes between political affiliation and being a Goth. Similarly, there is no common religious tie that binds together the Goth movement, though spiritual, supernatural, and religious imagery has played a part in gothic fashion, song lyrics and visual art. In particular, aesthetic elements from Catholicism often appear in Goth culture. Reasons for this image range from expression of religious affiliation to satire or simply decorative effect. Regardless, there is a general tolerance for religious beliefs, and everyone including strict Catholics, atheists, and polytheists are accepted.

While involvement with the subculture can be fulfilling, it also can be risky depending on where the Goth lives, especially for the young, because of the negative attention due to public misconceptions of Goth subculture. The value that young people find in the movement is evinced by its continuing existence after other subcultures of the eighties (such as the New Romantics) have died out.

6. Hip – Hop

Hip – hop is the cultural area, which originated in the working class of New York on November 12, 1974. DJ Afrika Bambaataa first identified the five pillars of hip-hop culture: Mcing, Djing, breaking, graffiti, and knowledge. Other elements include beatboxing, hip-hop fashion and slang.

Originating in the South Bronx in the 1980’s hip-hop has become a part of the youth culture in many countries around the world. Since the late 1990’s from the street underground, with a sharp social thrust, hip-hop has slowly become a part of the music industry, and by the middle of the first decade of this century subculture has become “fashionable”, “mainstream”. However, despite this, within the hip-hop a lot of activists are still in its “base line” – a protest against inequality and injustice, opposition to the powers that be.

Creation of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap. It is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words “hip/hop/hip/hop” in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers. Cowboy later worked the “hip hop” cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly used by other artists such as The Sugarhill Gang in “Rapper’s Delight”.

Universal Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture in which the music belonged; although it is also suggested that it was a derogatory term to describe the type of music. The first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop.

Hip-hop has become the first music that most fully and originally embodied the ideology of the modern African-American culture. This ideology was based on the antagonism between the American white Anglo-Saxon cultures. Over the past decade have also established their own fashion, radically different from the traditional fashion of the white population, its slang and its cultivated manner of pronunciation, dance styles, their graphic art – graffiti (images and inscriptions on the walls, made aerosol containers or special markers with paint) and more recently a movie (not sure about the rappers, but the plot taking themes from Negro environment, watch the films “Hair,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Boys Next Door,” “Do not Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the quarter”; rappers are also increasingly beginning to become film actors). Thus, a clear boundary between the actual hip-hop and contemporary African-American subculture is becoming difficult.

Despite changing every year, fashion of hip-hop, in general, has some special features. Clothes are usually free, sport style: sneakers and baseball caps (usually with straight roofs) of well-known brands (eg. KIX, New Era, Joker, Tribal, Reebok, Roca Wear, FUBU, Wu-Wear, Sean John, AKADEMIKS, ECKO, Nike, Adidas), t-shirts and basketball jerseys, jackets and sweatshirts with hoods, baggy pants. Hairstyles short, although it is also popular short dreadlocks. Rappers are popular by massive jewelry (chains, medallions, key rings), but wearing jewelers is more related to African Americans.

To sum all information up we’d like to compare outlooks of four subcultures. (Приложение №4). The hairdo of Goths and punks are the most shocking. People of hip – hop have neutral and simple haircut. As for their make-up we can see that emo and Goths have explicitly expressed make-up.

So, we may conclude that every subculture have its own features clearly seen or not. Some of them are for showing a rebellion against standards; others are for differing from other people. But everything has its right to exist.

7. The behavior of teenagers.

There is a widely accepted opinion that teenagers who prefer one of the musical subcultures have unstable behavior. They don’t conform to society standards. They reject everything. Is it true or is it false?

Our school psychologist helped us to make a survey. He offered five teenagers having preferences of any musical subculture and five teenagers of no subculture to do a test. (Приложение №5). According to the results we may make a conclusion that the preferences of some musical subcultures do not influence people’s behavior in the sphere of its being aggressive. (Приложение №6). All ten teenagers show the middle level of aggression.

We think that they just want everybody to see their individuality and to respect their interests.

8.Conclusion

Well, while writing the work “Musical subcultures”, firstly we could investigate that young people take just some features of subcultures because they want to differ from others or they like the way of dressing, or they want to communicate. They are not the fans of the musical subcultures. To learn their preferences we interviewed a group of pupils. Then we came to a conclusion that these people are not more aggressive than people who don’t have any preferences of subcultures.

Secondly we studied the history of the development of such subcultures as punks, emo, hip-hop and goths. We distinguished the specific features of each subculture and compared them

Moreover, having studied these musical subcultures we found out that they took some traits from each other. For example emo originated in the mid-1980s from hardcore punk movement of Washington; and Goths were an offshoot of the Post-punk genre in England during the early 1980s. The Goth subculture is one of the oldest subcultures influenced by the 19th century Gothic literature.

Thus, the topic of musical subcultures is one of the most interesting topics covered in cultural studies. It is broad. It is vital and every day. Subcultures are not static, they change.

We personally are not members of any musical subculture, because we believe that everyone should be themselves. As for the music we prefer to listen to different music ranging from pop music to melodic metal core, power metal.

Our work may be used on the lessons of English when the topics «Music», «The youth movements» are studied.

9. Список использованной литературы

1. Бэл, Роберт. Англия. Журнал о сегодняшней жизни Великобритании. № 124: Роберт Бэл; Р.О.Box Лондон, 1992, 67 – 70 с.
2. Ощепкова, В.В. О Британии вкратце. Книга для чтения на английском языке: В.В.Ощепкова, Москва, 1999, 224 с.
3. Ракитин, Р.Н. 100 экзаменационных тем на английском языке, Москва, 2007, 289 с.
4. James O’Driscoll. Britain. Oxford University Press, 2005, 386 с.
5. Материал интернета:

http://ru.wikipedia.org

http://www.darkside.ru/

http://images.yandex.ru

http://www.subcult.ru/