Statements From The Merchants of Cool

I believed that altogether I have watched The Merchants of Cool at least three times. And each time I watch it, there are two statements that stick out in my mind more than anything. The first one comes from NYU Communications professor, Mark Crispin Miller.
Miller says:
"The MTV Machine doesn’t listen very carefully to children. When corporate revenues depend on being ahead of the curve, you have to listen. You have to know exactly what they want and exactly what they’re thinking so that you can give them what you want them to have. Now that’s an important distinction. The MTV Machine doesn’t listen to the young so it can make the young happier...The MTV Machine tunes in to it can pitch what Viacom has to sell"
I have listened this statement over and over. I've read it and re-read it. And you know something? I don't quite know what to make of it.
Even after watching the Merchants of Cool several times I have a hard time digesting this statement. I asked myself, "Is this true?" Can MTV gives us whatever they want as long as we think we're asking for it? It seems like that's what he just said. But the idea seemed rather absurd. But then when I see the scene of the teenagers partying on Spring Break it becomes evident to me that this must be true.
Spring Break partying on television = Spring Break partying in real life. Funny how that works.
The other statement that stuck out in my mind was from the thirteen year old girl, Barbra. Barbra said:
“I wanna be a model, I wanna be an actor...I want people to notice me and just be like, ‘Wow, she is pretty.’ I have to look good for people. I need to look good. Like if I don’t look good for people, I’ll be really upset and it’ll like ruin my day. Um, so whenever I go out with friends, like even just over to their house I need to look good.”
I think that when I was younger (maybe not quite so young as thirteen) I might have agreed with her. Looking good for people is important. I must look nice. I cannot leave the house without make up. I have to be pretty.
I'm not exactly sure when my mentality changed, but when I heard Barbra say this, my thought was, "Look good for what people?"
Why do girls have to look good? Who are they trying to impress? Are they trying to be appeal to boys?
I gave this some thought and reached deep down, way to the back of my mind to find the time when I thought the same way as Barbra. And then I remembered what people I wanted to look good for. All people.
I had to look good for everyone. I was always everywhere being seen by everyone all of the time, and I had to look good. I had to have make up on, my hair had to look nice. Some people could get by without make up, but not me. Why? Because my make up looked fabulous. And since I looked fabulous with the make up, I only looked worse without it. And worse was bad.
Why did I have to look good for everyone?
I don't know. I think I somehow adopted this notion from celebrities. You know, celebrities really do have to look good all of the time. They're constantly being followed around by cameras. And if they look too thick, too thin, or unkempt, their pictures will be plastered on the the front covers of all the magazines. And if a teenage girl shows up to school and doesn't look fabulous, everyone will notice. Maybe they'll talk about her.
People on TV are always pretty. I remember watching a girl cry in a movie once and thinking, "She sure is pretty when she cries."
So of course Barbara feels a need to look good for everyone all of the time. A lot of people feel that way. Hopefully it's nonsense that she has out-grown by now.

-EDIT-

At first I said there were two statements that stuck out in my mind. But I just not went back to watch part of it again, and I have another one. Let's compare the midriff to the mook.
“If the he is arrested in adolescence, she is pre-maturely adult. If he doesn’t care what people think of him, she is consumed by appearances. If his thing is crudeness, her’s is sex.”
Big difference between a glamourized male and a glamourized female.
I don't really have anything to say about that right now. I just wanted to throw that statement out there for you to read and re-read. Go back and re-read it.

~Nadia