It's all been done

I don’t think our teen generation does have its own subculture. I think what separates us (to an extent) is the blend of subcultures that we have, but that it’s all kind of already been done. I think a lot of kids today don’t really have one subculture that they fit into—they go into a lot of them. For example there are plenty of preppy kids who like rap, or grunge rock kids who like pop and peppier clothes. I don’t necessarily think our lack of our own subculture makes us less authentic, just less unique to an extent. I like being exposed to all these different subcultures and picking and choosing which ones I want to associate myself with. It’s fine if we don’t have one specific thing to call our own, and I think it would make it less authentic if we made something up. Besides, we do have new issues to deal with—mainly global warming. I was flipping through a catalogue I get, and there were a bunch of shirts that had stuff like “Green is the new black” and “More trees please” written on them, promoting planet conservation. I think that’s kind of a subculture—I mean every generation has its main issue, and global warming is kind of ours.

Listen to me! (Sorry this one's late too, Hjelmgren)

"It's a shame that the people who are listening to you the most are only interested in you because they want you and your peers to buy their product."

I guess that statement is kind of sad and true, but I never considered those ad companies people that I wanted to talk to. I don't think teens are running around so desperate to spread their message that they'll speak with a rep from some sort of ad agency only to find out that the only reason the rep listened was for the sake of being able to sell the product better. It'd matter more if they were the only people willing to listen, but I don't think that teens think of ad companies as a way to be heard, or that they even associate ad companies with it, so it isn't such a huge deal for teens. On a different level, it is sad that ad companies are the ones listening to teens the most--however I don't know that that's true. I think they try to listen, but ultimately they only listen until they find something marketable, so the listening only lasts as long as the product placement.

Get Happy (sorry this is so late, Hjelms!!!!)

My favorite Judy Garland song is "Get Happy." I didn't realize it until now because I'd never properly listened, but it's actually kind of a religious song. She repeatedly uses the word "hallelujah" and talks about going to the promise land. She's saying get happy because you're going to be saved, to an extent. Having actually payed attention to the lyrics, I find them a little odd--the song is so show tune-y, and I'm not big on the whole religious music thing. I still like the tune though. Originally I liked the song more for the tune and the main lyrics ("get happy"), that's what drew me to it. I guess the only idea I within the song that I relate to is the idea of getting happy, but otherwise I just think it sounds good. I know, that's way shallow.

http://www.lyrics007.com/Judy%20Garland%20Lyrics/Get%20Happy!%20Lyrics.html