Hw - 37 Whatever You Do Don't Break Character

Intro: Screws fall out all the time, The World's an imperfect place.

To some extent we all care about being cool. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live or how much 'papah you get'. We have our definitions and our idols, we have our rap songs, our instrumental songs, our repetitive songs and of course our love songs. What's odd is that this idea of cool has got our backs against the wall. As Cage The Elephant says "The alters callin’/But my legs won’t seem to stand /Guess I'm a coward /Scared to face the man I am". We alter, we make up and tailor our idea's of cool to our pleasure.

Paragraph 1: What Are We Doing?

What the hell is cool?

There are so many possible cool answers to that question that its ridiculous. Why aren't we all cool? Are we? John Smith was cool. Its weird that if you fit in and look like everyone else you're cool, but if you stand out and rebel you're also cool... Which path do you choose? I love how the stereotypes play in here. When you're black its somehow cool to cut class and go to gym. When you're white its somehow cool to act black. But if you're black its uncool to act white... Results may vary.

Why do we even have to act? Good question.

You can't really tell if you is you or you is someone else. Given we can't really build ourselves without taking a peek at someone elses blueprints. How do we even know what we want? I think it has alot to do with desire. Its obvious that we all are not the same. We all possess different labels, and we 'roll with' different people, but why? Are some blueprints better than others? No one is original, but yet we call people 'biters'. Its weird that most of the time we don't even remember where our style came from. We build ourselves but we can't keep track. But 'God fahbid' we see someone wearing something that we have or saying something that we said. 'That's a fight on my block'.

Its weird how we think we have the freedom to jump around. When we really don't.

We think we do, but the minute someone steps out of their perforated edge box, there's going to be a problem. This is fact. That's somehow makes Person A a fake. Its like Person A didn't get his 'cool promotion'. In order to move up that ladder you have to be brought up by someone who's 'rep' is up there. Its tricky. But also a rags to riches story is often appreciated.

How can anyone be cool if all of our definitions vary? Everyone loves the star basketball player...I could care less.

Paragraph 2: Screw The Dictionary

How do we see ourselves? I think we like to see ourselves in our own definitions of cool so that we are infinitely cool. Take a topic like love. Something that most teens encounter, (some of us more than others). Everyone sees love in a different light. Its not cool if a guy doesn't 'wanna hang wid da fellahs' to be with his girl. But its soooooooo sweet when a girl remembers the first word she ever said to her crush.

What's with the double standards?

Lyrics like "this is the first day of my life /I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you /But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you /And I’d probably be happy" from Bright Eyes are sweet, this guy is cool. But Romeo who says: "See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!" is somehow 'whipped'. Is it how we play our roles that make us cool? or are some roles just eternally doomed? Its odd that we don't see this. Its like being cool requires us to step outside of ourselves, but no one really does that. Maybe none of us are cool. With the ever changing definitions of cool, soon it'll be pretty cool to not be cool.

Its like we don't fit cool. Cool fits us. Its almost like there is no universal cool.

Paragraph 3: Gah. Its Not Working!

Take this: "Armed with an eye for contradictions /She sees completely through me.... /Armed with a plethora of insecurities /we keep each other amused.." We try so hard to say 'this is who I am' but then why is it so easy to tear down someones entire image with a few words? We don't want to look fake or be called on our bluff. We don't want to go over 21. Is it even possible to be completely 'true'?

That would mean that we have to know ourselves.

But we all know that change is constant, we adapt and transform who we are in order to fit the quota of someone elses definition. I don't think that it happens on purpose. Like when you sit at a table with people, and one person takes a certain form, its as if by magic everyone else begins to take that form. Its true. (I can't remember who told me that, it was either Gavin, Esther, or Amanda.)

How odd is it to realise that you are acting like someone else? If that's true who is the person you're following acting like? When we figure this out what does that say about us? Maybe its because we don't want to admit that we are not original and that we in fact are just like someone else. We create the image of who we want to be and we go with that. We pretend that this figure, this figment of our imagination is us. Like Jack from fight club. "Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!"

"All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I f*** like you wanna f***, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."

As messed up as that sounds we are all a little like that. We create some better version of ourselves and we challenge ourselves to become what we wish we were. But if it shows that we are putting on a show then we are pursuers of cool have failed, and must start again.

This is where it comes in handy to be able to recreate what cool is. What happens when the person that we create becomes cool, but its not the 'you' that 'you' wanted to project?

Conclusion: What Mirror, Where?

So we've explored cool, what now? Nothing. We will continue to run to the stage when the audience screams encore. We love the roses that are thrown at our feet. We like to be on the stage while people look up to marvel our performances. But its not only up to the 'players' the audience too is stuck in their roles. The players have their understudies and there will always be a new audience.

We still want what we want. Even if we have to list it. "I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket /I want a girl who gets up early /I want a girl who stays up late /I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity /Who used a machete to cut through red tape /With fingernails that shine like justice /And a voice that is dark like tinted glass"

People can change. But we wont. We will still look up to this idea of cool no matter what angle we see it. Tomato, Toemahto. The thing about the theater is that there will always be new roles, hot new directors and someone looking to prove themselves.

Roll Call. Who do you want to be today?


Works Cited (Just the links, not MLA style)

http://classiclit.about.com/od/romeoandjuliet/a/aa_romeojulietq.htm

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/brighteyes/firstdayofmylife.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love

http://www.lyricsmania.com/back_against_the_wall_lyrics_cage_the_elephant.html

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/motioncitysoundtrack/makeoutkids.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cake/shortskirtlongjacket.html

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=biter