School of Rock

The viewing of the School of Rock video was an entertaining and enlightening text that provided an in depth view of pop culture and pop music. Mr. S (Jack Black) used the teaching of Rock and Roll to challenge the student’s ways of thinking about school. He presented himself as a nontraditional teacher and frowned on the use of merits and grades in schools. Although Jack did not relate music to the main academic subject areas, the music provided students with agency to ideas not focused on in the traditional curriculum. Jack told Tamika, the student having the insecurities about her weight that she could be who ever she wanted with rock and roll. Jack also said that the purpose of rock and roll was to “stick it to da (the) man”. Another critical moment in the movie is when the school’s principal has a meltdown in the van after going out for coffee with Mr.S.

These mentioned points above represent an overall definition of rock and roll and pop music in general. Music allows individuals to form any identity that they desire. The composer of the music is able to express the whole self and not just the physical part while the listener identifies with relatable aspects of the music. I enjoyed how rock and roll was described as “sticking it the man”. The man can be thought of as anyone who suppresses the expression of pop music, pop culture, and any other expression. Many musicians have used music to speak out against social and political injustices. For example, the Dixie Chicks used their song Travelin’ Solider to reveal the truths about war and later to publically denounce President Bush. Natalie Maines, the group’s lead singer said she was embarrassed that the President was from Texas and hence, the cause of soldiers not returning home from war. Another pop music artist that uses his music and lyrics to speak out against social and political injustices is social conscious rapper Common also known as Common Sense. Common discusses topics that range from discrimination in the song “U black Maybe” all the way to the topic abortion discussed in his newest song “Retrospect”. Both the Dixie Chicks and Common have used their music via freedom of speech to “stick it to da man” by talking about topics that others are reluctant to discuss. The School of Rock video also made me think about how the school’s principal had become entrenched into the life of academia and how she adopted a new identity as described in the University of Chicago Clouding Issues article. The principal assumed that if she did not facilitate an uptight school (depiction of herself) that students would not learn. Students were allowed to listen and play classical musical or the safe arts, but were not allowed to entertain rock and roll music that would not align with the values of their bourgeois parents.

Pop music and culture provides freedom for its participants, while mainstreamed doesn’t mean that it is highly favored by all. Like rock and roll in the School of Rock, music is more than a tool of entertainment, but a tool for expressing a variety of opinions. If schools understood this form of expression, they could be more responsive to the students who are influenced by this pop culture. Schools in their traditional forms of teaching mandate students to learn and think in a linear manner without offering the option to reject or question what is being learned. Children of today do not live in these ways, but live in the world of pop culture that allows them to form their own identity and ways of thinking.

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Entertainment/Grammy_Awards_Play_Politics_With_Dixie_Chicks__2796.asp


http://rap.about.com/od/genresstyles/p/ConsciousRap.htm