Triangulation and Harvard Referencing

Triangulation

A number of authors have considered the value placed on creative craftsmen and women in a world which we have been bought up to believe that the best form of utilising creative practice would be to apply their skills to methods of advertising. Ken Garland (1964), Kalman (1998)and Adbusters (2000) have all commented on the fact that creative talents have always been undermined by corporate committees, as 'creative people are now working for the bottom line'. For instance the Adbusters in their 'First things first 2000 manifesto' describe how 'there are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills, unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. 
These statements are all completely valid, as we as creatives do not want to fall subject to the brainwashed, small minded culture that is consumerism. It's about time that more value was placed on creative practice and visual communicators so that we can use our skills to create more sustainable forms of communication for more worthwhile purposes.

Analysis

'Barcode trees' by Jane Hazlewood accurately illustrates todays global commercial culture. The roots of the tree formed by a barcode suggest that we place more value in reaping consumerism more than we do than the things that are more important, such as personality, talent, the environment and many other factors. The colour scheme portrays the very 'black and white' outlook on consumer culture and the mindless desire for more and more until one eventually wastes away, never satisfied.

Evaluation

Garland's manifesto (1964) laid out the initial foundations as to where creative practice should and shouldn't exist, and how creatives should not be exploited by advertising corporations. He sternly states that 'we do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: it is not feasible'. Then goes on to plead 'we hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes', which assists in outlining and emphasising the importance of our rights as creatives, and identifying areas of potential exploitation that could undermine the industry. 
His use of language could be seen as more of a 'soft' approach to the matter in comparison with the Adbusters (1998)who comment on the consequences of devoting efforts to advertising on a wider perspective. They comment on the fact that those individuals are 'supporting and implicitly endorsing a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think,feel,respond and interact', which outlines the severity of how the mind-numbing culture is undermining the creative industry, and how in a way that they are contradicting themselves by subjecting to this.

Paraphrase

Writing to highlight the negative implications of corporate power in 'Fuck Committees', Kalman (1998) claims that 'virtually all creative industries have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, and that creative people are now working for the bottom line'. Kalman also aims to demonstrate how important it is to 'find creative lunatics, treat them well and use their money to change the world', and he does this by bringing the fact that in our society 'creative people have their work reduced to content or intellectual property' to the readers attention.

Bibliography

Adbusters,2000)First things first 2000, Eye magazine, no.3, vol.8

Garland,K(1998)First things first manifesto, 13 Oakley Square, London

Hazelwood,J(2015) Barcode Trees [ONLINE]. Available at: https://society6.com/product/barcode-trees-illustration_framed-print#12=52&13=54 [Accessed 20 December 2015].

Kalman,T.(1998)Fuck Committees [online]. Available from:http://www.manifestoproject.it/fuck-committees/[Accessed 20 December 2015]

Subculture and the meaning of style lecture

'Subculture' is defined as a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of a larger culture. 
In the documentary 'Subculture, the meaning of style', it looks at symbolising subcultures to challenge the values of mainstream society. It also looks at incorporation and social order, how it sucks symbolic threat back into the midst and ends up being conventional.

• Youth culture started post war when there was no longer a need for regiments and uniform
• It has a lot to do with music, money and marketable goods; this creates subculture
• The 'teddy boys' was the first identifiable look that was 'divorced' from appearance. It was a bold and strong look.
• Youth culture was all about rejecting the culture around you and striving to be different
• For the lower classes, it was all about adopting a style and making their own in a more affordable manor.

• The 'Rockers' were a utilitarian, more muscular American culture based on bikes and leather, made British.
• It was the first movement to show that there was a generation gap.
• The media was fundamental- radio and TV.
• Fear was also fundamental; it was essential to have something that people didn't understand and were intimidated by.
• Each subculture has a sensation that the media leaps on, it starts as an elitist until the media jumps on it.
• In the fifties, when all of this started, all youths had was what they wore. That's what they stood for.

• 'Mod' comes from a period where people looking were looking forward as opposed to looking back
• Mod's rode vespa scooters, it gave teenagers independence and made them look cool
• It was a movement that was all defined by men
• Drugs became a big part of the subculture too, which created even more of a generation gap.
• There were three phases of mod; jazz, r&b and the who/small faces.
• This then broke off into the hippies and the skinheads.

• During the 'wind thrush', boats full of Caribbean citizens moved over to England. As a result of this, the 'rude boy' culture arose. It was edgy, dangerous and anti-mainstream.
• It was the emphasis of masculinity, bringing over mento and ska.

• The 'skinheads' were like working class mods; style and music bought black and white together in this subculture.
• The whole thing was over by 1970, when the media blew it out of proportion. 
• There was a reform in the mid 70's, but it was a minority.

• Soul power was all about dance, the 'winners' made themselves the centre of attention
• Wigan was the home of Northern Soul
• It was black music being enjoyed by lower class whites, and all about having a good dance!
• There were no bands to follow, it was all an underground movement; the music didn't come to you, you had to go to it.
• Southern soul was more or a jelly shoes, ear piercing white kid/black kid thing, but was ultimately about accepting people from other races.

• In the 1970's, Britain was dismal. So along came punk, just because people needed something to do.
• It was a post-modern idea, put together by Malcom McLaren. The commonalities made a context (so it was like a combination of all of the cultures).
• Nobody looked like each other
• Everything that you did had a meaning; 'do it your own way- it doesn't matter if you get it wrong'.
• Girls had more power; this was like the rise of feminism
• The sex pistols ended punk when Steve Jones swore live on television; punk then got completely blown up by the media and became a mockery 'pantomime'.

• Punk and reggae merged together to create 'two-tone'. It was a movement that wanted to change things.
• Britain was a mess at this time. The song 'ghost town' by the Specials suited this down to a tee.

• In the 'beaten generation', affluence started to kick in.
• 'Casual' was a movement that WASN'T lead by music...it was lead by football.
• Liverpool bought loads of designer sportswear over and it fuelled the football hooligans.
• Ecstasy killed it.

• Rave was a real 'grass-roots' movement; it was like a hippy-creative atmosphere
• It was big field sized stuff, it wasn't in clubs.
• Then again, the media became involved and rave became a national thing.

• After 1987, movements and subcultures died out and instead, musical genres over took.
• Brit pop was the last definable culture, it was a set of retro enthusiasm that was very backward looking.

• NOW; everyone as easily acquired musical tastes
• Everything can be done at the touch of a button- subcultures aren't needed
• In this generation, politics is more of a driving force now.
• With youths today, the only way to shock them is to be honest.

What I gained from this lecture

I didn't know anything much about subcultures before watching this documentary, but I am fascinated about how the power of style and music could influence and drive groups of people to become so passionate and dedicated to following and being a part of these movements. 

I feel slightly envious that I have grown up in such a disconnected era, where the generation thrives on attention, false statements of popularity and narcissism. There was something so inspiring and uplifting about being a part of a sub-culture and celebrating style and music that became a part of your identity. I find it interesting that this unique and  power could never exist and exceed today, and I question what would it take to drive a generation to be connected once more.

Group Crit

Task
I presented my ideas to the group today; we each had a discussion about our topics and fed back our ideas to each other.

Is this realistic for a 3000 word essay?

Yes, the topic is very important and fits in to todays issues within society.

Is the argument focussed or very general?

Might be a little too general, but valid. Good that I am relating to current affairs, it makes it more interesting and relevant to explore.

Does the question match the argument?

It does, there are lots of areas to discuss and write about with having an issue that is affected by so many external factors.

Do the sources and quotes match well?

They do, but more are needed to back up your points. Look into persuasive advertising more and health journals too.

Any suggestions? Sources to look at etc?

• Supersize vs superskinny (documentary)
• Books looking at weight loss
• Journals/articles about government spending
• Estudio

Feedback action plan

What feedback did I receive? What were the points?

• My argument is strong and has potential
• Good imagery to back up the points
• Look at more advertising sources
• The question matches my argument clearly
• Very good that it relates to current affairs

What are my priorities

• MORE RESEARCH!
• Spend an afternoon or a day just researching!

Plan of activities- Actions, resources, dates/weeks

• By December 13th: have all research and sources available. In this time, read as much as I can on the current government spending issues.
• By December 20th: have the first draft completed 
• By January 4th: do some sketchbook work

Further Research

Admittedly, COP for me has been sitting on the old back burner for a while...but I have had a few brain waves in between.

Struggles

I have been feeling like my title 'how are the obese victimised in society' is far too vague; I don't want to be in a similar situation to last year where my essay title is so open ended that I have no idea where on earth I am going with it.

I had a thought about what I am actually interested in and what I want to find out more about. As a nation, we all depend on the NHS providing us with the best quality care and treatment when we are unwell. Without this some of us would not be able to afford the services that they provide, which in some cases could be life threatening. Therefore I have decided to flip the question on its head a little and try to focus more on how the NHS can survive in the current financial climate with the help of the attitude and behaviour of the nation contributing in a more positive way.

I have decided to alter my title to(no doubt this will change again) 'would the NHS be more cost efficient if the government were to subsidise more valuable health education?'

This way I feel like I have a question to answer rather than just pushing some opinions on a very open ended statement about the obese.

Things I want to discuss in my essay

• Child educational development, as children grow up they need to know what is good and bad for you. If they learn fundamental information at a young age they will develop as values for the rest of their lives
• How this generation has been so affected by the development of technology, how this has lead to some poor lifestyle factors
• SUGAR (inspired by 'Jamie's sugar rush')How much money is spent on treating type two diabetes
• Cuts in the NHS, how they will be affect people in different ways

References (so far)

ADVERTISING

• 'Critics portray advertising as a socially pointless attempt to capture market share through psychological manipulation' (Stegeman,M (1991)Advertising in competitive markets, the American Economic Review vol.81, No.1 p210-223)

BEHAVIOUR 

• 'Like many risk factors for disease, obesity results from behaviour and shows a social gradient. Especially among women, obesity is more common among lower income individuals, less education and some ethnic/racial minorities' (Alder,N,Stewart,J (2009)The Milbank Quarterly vol.87, No.1 p47-70)
• 'The number of obese or overweight people in developing countries rose from 250 million to almost one billion in under three decades, and these rates are rising significantly faster than in rich nations'

I definitely need some more, but I am struggling to find them as this is such a current issue only specific to the UK. I will speak to my tutor in the next session to gain some advice on where to look for some effective academic references.

ESSAY PLAN

Introduction

• How much our nation depends upon the NHS-emphasise health and wellbeing importance
• Outline current issues of spending, debt and any other external government issues
• What I want to ultimately find out; is there enough evidence there to prove that improving education will have a more positive impact on our lifestyle choices and therefore health.
• How much danger the younger generation is in today being surrounded by all of these corruptions

Paragraph One: Government spending cuts, how has this affected the NHS so far? (outlining the current position of the NHS)

• The whole country is in debt, constantly trying to cut back which means it is inevitable that certain groups of people will be affected not just in terms of health (this is the route of the problem)

Paragraph Two: How problems in society are not contributing to our wellbeing

• Society has become extremely lazy, narcissistic and isolated since the development of technology and social media. Evidence suggests that level of wellbeing has declined ever since with the rise of cyber bullying etc.
• People are in a competition to be the best CONSTANTLY- vulnerable and insecure
• We need to make ourselves aware of these consequences, this could work through shock tactics e.g. calculating the time spend using our phone on a large scale=time wasted 

Paragraph Three: Food industry and big companies power

• Manipulation of the vulnerable through advertising
• Placing of products in stores
• Food labelling
• We need to be properly educated about nutritional values in food, maybe one good thing is that the younger generation will be familiar with the traffic light system and vaguely familiar with balanced diets, but different types of fats etc and how damaging they are.
• Talk about domestic sciences being scrapped, how this has had a negative impact on our life skills, need to be taught how to cook!!

Paragraph Four: Avoidable health conditions 

• Leading on to obesity and related health conditions; heart disease and diabetes
• How much the NHS spends on diabetes; where else could this money go?
• What is being done already- talk about tax on sugary drinks
• Also how much the NHS spends on tooth extraction
• Smoking cessation  
• If more emphasis was put on how serious the consequences are for making these life choices then people may choose to make alternative choices.
• Exercise should be emphasised in schools, especially with further education e.g. compulsory sports classes on Wednesdays being scrapped 

Conclusion

• Not enough importance is being put on our individual wellbeing which is creating a viscous cycle with current pressures in society, including too much pressure being put on NHS staff with having to over work for less pay due to government cuts.
• If more money was put into educating todays younger generation about the negative consequences that making poor lifestyle choices can have both individually and on society then the changes in NHS spending on ‘avoidable’ conditions will become evident
• Money can be spent in more valuable areas elsewhere 

RESEARCH TO DO (ASAP)

• More academic references
• Government spending on education
• Government cuts on the NHS
• NHS spending on inadequate areas
• How care has suffered due to lack of resources
• How much obesity has risen in the last few decades
• What are the biggest health concerns in the UK right now