Cultures View on Living a Good Life -- Draft

Many times we ask ourselves "what makes my life meaningful?" and "what actually is a meaningful life?" After asking myself these questions i realised that evryone has their own meaning and understanding of what a good and meaningful life is, it is different for us all. A meaningful life In order to know what makes my life meaningful i ask myself, "what do i care about?" "what is very important to me?" The answer to these questions make my life meaningful. Things such as friends and family are very meaningful. They help us, watch us during good and bad time, their there for us nomatter what. These people are aroun dus constantly, which makes it easier for them to mean something to us, we relate to them. A meaningful life doesnt mean you have to have materialistic things, that is the leats important thing that makes our life meaningful. It is only a way to show people we are there, and we want them to know that. A meaningfull ife should contain things that make you happy , not things that people, t.v or movies make you belive will make you happy, even though this is hard to follor. The things around us affect our views of a meaningful and happy life in a very big way.

Comments on Assigment 4

Gavin - I think the connection you made between kanye sayin "good life" and then mentioning urban areas such as Atlanta, L.A etc. was very interesting. The idea of all of them having these places in commen makes it interesting to see what parts and how the culture makes them reatble to one another.

Ellen - What i liked about your analysis is the fact that you brought up the idea about it being like commercials . You made me notice that her lyrics seemed to be different versions of the slogans for the lipgloss. I also really liked the that you analyze deeply into lil mama having a "confused look on her face as in telling us "how unrealistic it is that a lip gloss will change your life."

Rachel - I thin you did a good job at analyzing the videos message. The fact that its saying materialistic things arent important, unlike the other two videos. You showed us that the artist doesnt hide what the true meaning is. They te us straight up "All you need is love."

What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life? Paraphrase the main idea
The song i chose Lipgloss by Lil Mama basically says that in order to live a good life you need to be popular. In order to become popular though, it says you need money, good looks and expensive things. Getting praised by not only your classmates but also your authorities makes your life good as well. The video stresses that materialistic things are the way to go. They make people envy you and want to be just like you. The more praise of this sort that you get ,the better your life is.

What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.

"I just I want to be apart of the cool crowd, I just feel like I don't have what it takes" Lil mama starts of the video with this line. She is talking about not having the look to be in the popular crowd. She also says "Mac Lorial yep cuz I'm worth it " shows us that she is saying i get these expensive name bands because I'm worth it, i have the money to buy it so i will. "... the girls don't speak Rollin they eyes They lip gloss cheap " also shows us the idea of money being very important, it also brings up the ideas of having attention from the opposite sex. The attention from guys makes her hated, so she is being talked about and that makes her popular.

How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics?

The video most of the time proves the idea of materialistic being important. Every time someone transformed popular it was symbolized by brighter clothes, better looks such as no glasses, hair pulled down by the dean, things of that sort.

What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared

I noticed that at the end of the video her mom contradicts the whole video by saying ' it was you all along" i found this interesting because that was not the message sent throughout the video but then it appears at the end and all Lil mama says is " i know but...wow" I also found interesting how Lil mama doesn't really show us anything interesting about herself except that she has expensive materialistic things.

Meaning of Life Interviews

I interviewed my mother, father, sister and three strangers on how they live their lives meaningfully, what makes them meaningful ,what they thought wisdom is, and if they considered themselves wise. My parents pretty much agreed on all things except how wise they were. My mom and dad thought family was one of the most meaningful aspects of their lives. My dad said" Family makes us who we are, they support us and help us" my mom added "We care for each other ,we expect love from each other. Family is close, and its something to cherish. We see them everyday and they know us better than anyone else does." My eleven-year-old sister stated that family were people who she can trust more than anyothers. All the strangers agreed that family was meaningful aswell, one of them saying "My family will always be there for me, i know that, without them i dont know if i coud have made it in life."

The three stangers all agreed that friends as almost as important as family. One said "if you cant trust famiy, you always have friends, they fill up the space the other leaves empty." Another did say though that even though friends are meaningful they have their bad sides. She said that friends can break you with the jelousy and rumors they bring to your life, and that was unnecessary. When i brought that up to other people they agreed. They all stated that rumors are unmeaningful and a waste in their lives. My little sister and parents all agreed as well. My sister said " Rumors can hurt you, alot, people dont see that and they dont realize how wasteful it is" My mom added " People obsessed with what others say about them live meaninglessly, they probably just rely on the material aswell."
When asked about wisdom and its definitions all the people agreed that widom is the knowledge you have, and the experience. The younger peope all stated " the older you are the wiser you are believed to be." One erson said "older people have seen more, been through so much more, that maes them wiser. The younger people also said they didnt belive they were wise just yet and that they still gad a long way to go. My dad said he believed he was wise, not ver wise, but wise enough. He said" Im a 7 maybe even and 8" when asked why he went back to what others said " ive seen alot, been through alot as well." On the other hand my mom didnt thin she was very wise, though other believe her to be. She said " wisdom is knowledge and i still have much to learn."