Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Stereotyping Country Listeners
In class we were given a list of random adjectives of what we think listeners of country music are like; then given the same list to describe what we thought others would list country listeners as. In fact some of the choices were very high listed in both being patriotic or humble. We discussed how you can't describe a person by what they listen to. Sure there are certain looks people associate with the "country look" but when we were asked to describe it wasn't by looks at all, it was personality traits.
The reason though that I believe people do not fit into their stereotypes is, there are so many different genres and different subgroups inside of them to label a person as a type. The reason certain music is labelled aggressive and another seen as patriotic is all about how you reference yourself to the music. Does one make you think of gangs&young or the other unintelligent&flags. Yes certain types of music can be associated with other things. But the main thing is you can not identify a person that enjoys a music genre by certain stereotypical ideas that go along with the music.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It is interesting isn't it? Some music though IS aggressive. Look at Cannibal Corpse with their hit single "I Cum Blood" or Rage Against the Machine with "Killing in the Name Of" (and the ensuing minute of Zack de la Rocha screaming 'fuck you I won't do what you tell me'). What's of interest to note is how many different subcultures with different music are often confused with one another; goth can be easily confused with emo can be easily confuse with punk can be easily confused with grunge.
ReplyDeletePeople stereotype because it is human nature, and while it would be nice to have people get to know every person they meet before they pass judgement it just isn't a realistic expectation.