http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

If you have 30 mins, watch this on the site, it will absolutly change the way you look at modern culture and some of the problems kids face.
Fascinating, indepth and deeply insightful.

Before I start watching this... can i watch it with a 8 year old in the room?

No. There's some bad language and stuff. It's really worth seeing, though.

I figured as much. I started to watch it but saw some a couple of pics that made me wait until I had the computer room to myself.

Any spoilers for the connection-challenged?

It's basically a documentary detailing the (sometimes questionable) tactics mega-corporations are using to market to teenagers.

Reminds me of a line from the South Park movie:


"MTV...we are so cool, we decide whats cool."

Never forget Big Brother IS watching.

I'd like to comment on the part about teen rebellion and how they showcased ICP.

First off, I don't think any juggalo (ICP fans) would call it "rage rock", and neither would ICP themselves. The true fans and most anyone from Detroit or Michigan know that ICP's music is really the "wicketshit". The wicketshit was created by none other than Esham the Unholy back in about 1990 and he was truly the biggest influence on almost EVERY rapper to come out of Detroit. Kid Rock and Esham worked together back in the early 90's. Esham helped ICP really get going in the early 90's and Violent J has been quoted as saying that Esham was THE motivating factor which pushed him to create ICP and try to succeed. Hell, even Eminem mentioned Esham on his first record (which incidentally led to tension between him and Esham and his other group Natas). Esham and Natas have something like 20 records out, several of them gold and platinum ceritfied and have done this by pretty much word of mouth advertising only. He had the first double-cd rap album ever (2 or 3 years before 2Pac released "All Eyez on Me", which got credit for the first). Esham has stayed very underground and influence a lot of that philosophy.

While juggalos DO want to remain underground, and ICP and Esham's record label remain underground (Esham is now part of Psychopathic Records--ICP's label--after his own label died after a series of failed distribution deals), BUT ICP is one of ther biggest fucking marketing machines there ever has been. These guys are up there with KISS almost. ICP has so much damn merchandise they sell to juggalos that it's ridiculous. Just check their online store at http://store.yahoo.com/psychopathic-records-store/products.html and see all the worthless shit you don't need. And speaking of wrestling, ICP had the 3rd largest pro wrestling league ever at one point with JCW. Anyone remember when they were on WCW all the time? I think now though they are just involved with a lot of low-level local wrestling with guys like Sabu. And what about all the Faygo pop (a really inexpensive Detroit made soda that doesn't get distributed too far out of Michigan) they hawk? These guys spray hundreds of bottles of Faygo at each concert and rap about in their songs all the time. Maybe they are still bucking the market trends by keeping all their merchandising in the juggalo community. Who knows?

I used to be TOTALLY into ICP back in the day. When I was like 15 years old, back when they were totally underground and no one out of Michigan had ever heard of them, like 1992-1993. We used to go to all their concerts, buy everything they had and we loved it. Eventually their was just too much to ever collect though and as I aged I steadily grew less of a juggalo and more of a casual listener. Yeah, I still like ICP but I am missing lots of their records and compilations now. I don't know a lot about their new stuff; I pretty much just listen to old ICP. So, since I'm now 26 and I'm not really "down with the clownz" does it mean that they too are just another machine to attract and then control the teenage mind? Yeah, I think so.

I think it's safe to say that almost everything these kids buy and do really is just predetermined and there really aren't many real trend-setters except the ones who don't do any of this. I dunno. I've done both, I guess. Started trends and copied them. A part of it is kind of sad, I suppose. This show was pretty eye-opening and fun to watch. Ultimately, even if these things are just created and teens follow them, I guess it's OK if they enjoy themselves and feel good about what they do. And, if they eventually feel used and manipulated by the media, good for them. Life is about experiencing things and using those learning experiences to form new decisions in the future.

That's my input, anyway. Was fun to reminisce about the high school days.