Cultural Icons

* Think of three cultural objects of interest. Freewrite about why you think it is good of bad (or the epitome of mediocrity). What does it mean to you? Why are you interested in it? What are people saying about it. How have people reacted to it. Where has it been taken up and used or repeated? Where has it made the most impact? How and why?


Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music is relatively new in the music industry. It involves making as much noise, and having the least amount of sensible lyrics possible. Thankfully enough, heavy metal seems to be going out of fashion, but a few years ago, it was played really loudly in a lot of places. To me, heavy metal is as much crap as Lady Gaga's videos. It's just noise, and the quality of the sound makes it hard to hear people after you've been listening to it for a few minutes. Generally speaking, most heavy metal groups were American, although I have heard quite a bit of German heavy metal as well. (And the change in language didn't help this styles of music's cause at all) I think lately there has been a lot less interest in this industry, probably because there are better and quieter things to listen to. 


Star trek
Star trek was a great series of films, especially considering the budget/resources they had to create them at the time. I've watched most of the series, and then I watched the new one when it came out. Although they altered a lot of things, the producers of the new movie were pretty faithful to the story of the original star trek series, though with a lot of cooler effects. Unfortunately, Star trek is going out of style with the newer generations. Although the plots were amazing, our generation won't watch anything that doesn't have good graphics these days. I believe Star trek inspired a lot of the Star Wars films who are a bit more popular with the younger generations because of the newer three films, the last of which only came out a few years ago. 


Hummers
Hummers are the bane of the environment, and people's wallets. These heavy vehicles were originally designed for the army, and were so heavily plated that they consumed as much as a small tank. However, even without all the anti rocket armor plating, these vehicles, adapted to the civilian sector, still weigh more than other comparatively same sized vehicles. They became extremely popular for a short while, (though this popularity never left the U.S) but soon their bad environmental reputation outweighed the all american feeling of "Bigger is better." Another reason why Hummers may have fallen out of the spotlight is their mileage. Hummers have to be constantly refilled, although for most people who own hummers that may not be an issue.