Class Discussion 2/9/11

Today in class there was a discussion pertaining to Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson. Our class discussed how the character Levee prided himself on his style specifically his shoes and what his style meant to him. The class concluded that his shoes meant a level of status, the separation of urban culture with country culture and white individuals versus black individuals. However one particular meaning that I found most interesting was a system of identity and how an individuals style is a marker of both group and personal identity. Furthermore how musicians specifically tend to establish these trends and styles that are then adopted into popular culture. For example how in "gangster videos" some rap artists may be wearing colored bandannas, specific athletic jerseys and sometimes even gold platted teeth. Without much surprise the discussion touched upon on how these style may be adopted by "white hipsters" because they want to be seen as popular and in style, because this is what the media has portrayed. The majority of the time the teenagers who are sporting these styles don't understand or even know about the symbols that these clothing styles actually represent. Which in turn can act as an irritant to the people have created the styles with an actual purpose in mind, resulting in a greater racial difference. As I had mentioned previously I found this topic particularly interesting because I have seen young adults who are white sporting these same styles. I feel as though that since the majority of them see these styles on television and essentially everywhere they look. I think these kids believe they relate to this music artists in some way and they like the overall message and confidence that these people portray through their music. I understand how these people model their style similar to those artists because they look up to them. Additionally I feel that those artists who get irritated by their style being mocked need to understand that they have desired to be in the spotlight so they have to expect that people will latch on to their style, just like those artists probably did when they were younger. Overall I think that this is a topic that could have been made into a large discussion within class, but I am glad we had at least touched upon it since I find it very interesting and controversial.