Jack+B.-+Comparison+Essay

Home Comparison Essay Assignment Comparison Essay-Student Posts Works Cited Exemplar Internal Citation Exemplar Civil Society Defined Great Man Continuum

There were great influences in the 1920s and the 1980s but it has always been debated on which party was more influential, great persons or civil society. In both eras great persons and civil society have made great impacts but i believe that overall society as a whole has made a greater impact. I will be analyzing and ranking MTV, Warmedy (sitcoms), and cult of celebrities from the 80s, I will also analyze and rank modern dance, the blues, and realism from the 20s. These are just a few of the events from civil society that have helped shaped our world so that it is what it is today, and I have concluded that civil society has had a bigger influence in America throughout our history.

Modern Dance was a big phase in the 20s, the music was changing so the dancing changed with it. Many young people encouraged the change and they were the ones that invented the new dances, many older people thought that the new style of dancing was to sexual and didn't endorse the dancing. Martha Graham started the era of modern dance and it took the nation by storm, "Modern dance represented a new frontier and reflected the thoughts and opinions of people in the 1920s. Along with everything else in the 20s, modern dance was about exploration, freedom and new frontiers" (Reyna's wiki). Graham had started one of the biggest fads in the 1920s.

Another big fad in the 20s was the blues. The blues were started by African-Americans but quickly spread and became popular in white society, "the blues allowed the blacks to eventually "[break] into the white publication" (John M.'s wiki). Robert Johnson was one of the biggest stars during the era of the blues and he "transformed the blues genre in no way anybody had ever done before." People believed that he had made a deal with the devil and that was the reason he could play so wellM. Blues was very popular in the 20s because the war had just ended and people had a sadness to them, this came up in their music which lead to the blues being created.

The final fad from the 1920s that I am analyzing is realism art. Realism art became popular in the 20s because it showed what America was really like, there was no embellishment of any kind. The style became popular through artists like Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Leon Kroll, these artist just painted what they saw whether it be a house or a baseball game, they didn't add anything to the art they just painted what they saw. "Realism was hard and cold, and had a honest, direct, earthy quality. These paintings captured scenes of American life that many people could relate to" (Shea's wiki).

When MTV hit television in the United States it effected and influenced peoples lives in every way. MTV started airing music videos which became a new art for musicians and live performers, they now had to make videos that illustrated their music. Today we take music videos like there just another song that has come out but in 1981 music videos were almost unheard of so it was a new experience for everyone, and everyone liked it. "Record companies saw exposure as a new form of advertisement and artist saw exposure as their one chance to be known" (Becca's wiki), so artist thought that if they came up with a cool music video it would be their ticket into fame. Artists like Madonna became famous for getting their hits on MTV's top 40 list, MTV influenced people everyday and as the videos, artist, and music progressed so did perspective on mainstream trends. MTV still has an influence today but not nearly as big of an influence as it did 30 years ago.

Warmedy had its biggest explosion with American viewers in 1980. Warmedy or warm family comedy or sitcoms were shows that focus on a family setting where the family would go through different problems and situations, in 1980 thirty out of forty-five shows were sitcoms. There are many examples of sitcoms, some included The Office, Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, and Community. Unfortunately in the 80s "shows didn't last long, and most lasted but only weeks or one season" (Arat's wiki). Between 1984 and 1985 The Cosby Show was the only sitcom that showed that sitcoms hadn't died. The Cosby show lasted from 1984 to 1992, one of the longest running sitcoms, and if you compare that to todays show it is incredible because it kept the comedy for most of the seasons while today most shows can't keep the comedy.

There has always been a cult of celebrities in the United States since we gained our independence, but who these people were and what they did changed over time. The first person that anyone really saw as a "celebrity" was probably George Washington and because he was so popular he had a great influence on our society. This trend continued, and it still exists today and is probably more influential then ever, as the "celebrity" ring grew from presidents to singers, movie and tv stars, and today even big business owners. In the 80s two of the biggest celebrities were John Lennon and Princess Diana, these two had great influences on society. Diana's wedding "was not only televised and watched by millions of people but she soon became the most photographed women in the world" (Alex's wiki). Her influence was incredible, and even after she wasn't princess anymore everyone still was influenced by her. John Lennon is a name that everyone in America should know, his influence was great with all music he produced with the Beatles and as a solo artist. When he was killed in 1980 over 400,000 people attended. Their influence on society was great and it affected many peoples lives.

Out of the three topics from the 20s (modern dance, the blues, and realism), I believe the blues had the greatest impact on society because it brought together both black and white cultures so they had one thing that everyone enjoyed, it also lowered the society barrier. The modern dance of the 20s closely follows the blues in its influence, modern dance gave young people a way to express themselves that wasn't anything bad or harmful to their health, it just let them do something a little differently, which in a way they were being rebels. Realism had the least amount of influence in the 20s because it was a very different style and many people connected to it, but not always in a good way, it sometimes reminded them of a bad time in their life or a time they didnt want to remember.

In the 80s I believe all three topics had a great influence on society but MTV had the greatest influence because it was a game changer in the world of music, artist now had a new way to get big and famous and people could see what the new styles in clothes or dancing or etc. and they were influenced by that, greatly influenced, so it spread quickly and as the trends of the celebrities changed so did the trends of the people. MTV's influence is followed by the influence of the cult of celebities, people like John Lennon and Princess Diana had a huge influence on American people, and celebrities today have the same if not bigger influence, and whatever they wore is what people wore, whatever they wanted, so did the people and celebrities then had a huge influence on peoples lives. Warmedy had the least amount of influence in my opinion because there were only a few that everyone really knew and they didn't have a big influence on peoples lives, yes they were funny but they didn't have an influence, they were just funny.

Between the 20s and the 80s, I believe that the 80s had more influence on society as a whole because there influence was on a wider range of people and the influences lasted much longer then that of the 20s. MTV started in 1981 and still runs today and continues to influence people to this day but MTV no longer shows only. Along with MTV, the cult of celebrities continues to influence people to this day, the "cult" has increased greatly in the past 30 years, and continues to grow today. Today if you are rich and have a few sisters and don't really do anything but shop and whine about anything they can(Kardashians) you can still be famous and have your own t.v. show. There have been many sitcoms between the 80s and now, some have stuck and become very famous like the Cosby Show and others haven't been so lucky but today you can find sitcoms on almost any channel and they are still popular today, they are one of the most predominant kind of shows on t.v. today.

__Works Cited__

Kern, Alex. "The Cult of Celebrities: Princess Diana & John Lennon." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

Jaskot, Becca. "MTV, Madonna, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

Infante, Arat. "Warmedy and The Cosby Show." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

Masters, John. "The Blues (music), Robert Johnson." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

Lusson, Reyna. "Martha Graham/ Modern Dance." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

Stiebler, Shea. "Realism-Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Leon Kroll." Wikispaces. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. 

RUBRIC

A quality comparison essay will

•Use the __four__ criteria of Great Man Continuum to analyze the significance of three 1920’s topics and three 1980s topics. general reference, thin analysis

•Analyze of each of the 6 topics with evidence taken from the 1920s and 1980s wikis, Discussed not always analyzed

•Develop a thoughtful and thorough conclusions on all 6 topics, on some topics

•Rank the three topics for each decade and explain why one topic is more influential than the other two, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">yes

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">•Answer the essay question with a clear, well reasoned argument, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">yes

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">•Explain why the __second__ choice fell short compared to the __first__ choice but is more just than the __third__ choice, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">yes

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">•Organize ideas in extended power paragraphs, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;"> sometimes

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">•Identify the source and establish its credibility with an appositive phrase, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">not done

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">•Cite evidence with internal citations and in a Works Cited. Click links for exemplars. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">Minor Errors