Cool, 2.0

Clearly a victim of the same elusive, fleeting nature of “cool” it attempted to pin down, The Merchants of Cool seemed to me, above all, dated. After almost ten years since it first aired, I’d go so far as to say it seemed “uncool,” as the kids like to say.

I say this respectfully, of course, with real appreciation for the fact that Frontline cared enough to give average viewers of public television (very much not YAs) a glimpse into the foreign, hyper-consumerist culture of which early-2000s teens were a part. In fact, the “TRL generation” the documentary sought to describe is very much my own: I can’t remember a day coming home from fourth through seventh grade without being greeted by Carson Daly, and, although I can remember all their lyrics, I still wonder what was so appealing about Limp Bizkit. (I suppose Merchants cleared some of that mystery up, since it appears even a rock with an effective-enough marketing campaign could find some measure of success!) MTV, Limp, Britney, Sprite -- all of these were big figures in my formative years, and, I would guess, helped shape me into the consumer I am today. Any adult unaware of how children lived in 2002 would surely have his eyes opened after a viewing.

Nonetheless, whether or not it’s a result of my familiarity with this culture, which extends far beyond what was portrayed onscreen, I found that much of what the documentary had to say broke no new ground. Adults are always a few steps behind the young, but with enough money, new techniques, and advertising outlets, their corporations can weasel their way into the psyche of many YAs. It used ubiquitous cultural figures (who hasn’t gossiped about Britney Spears?) to make this point, plus a tired symbol, MTV, to represent a phenomenon that actually spanned much further, into choice of stores, food, clothing, etc. It seemed, frankly, that the producers had only a vague, conceptual definition of "cool," as articulated by Malcolm Gladwell and big-name CEOs, without many cutting, groundbreaking examples of it at work.

But because I understand the need for a dissection of a youth culture that can seem so cloudy to outsiders, what I’d really appreciate is an updated Merchants of Cool. Britney has been talked to death, but the revival of Disney (High School Musical, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus) and the Twilight juggernaut are fresh, pervasive figures in today’s elementary/middle school culture -- so fresh that such investigative journalism has yet to lay into them. Further, since I’m not as directly involved in this movement, I’d be curious to know how the same ad execs have encouraged their popularity, and how current subject matter has run counter to the angry, crude, and over-sexualized adolescent idols of the late 90s.

In addition, the mention of cool being killed as soon as it reaches the mainstream begs the question of the indie music scene (and accompanying fashion trends), which relies on older YAs competing to discover obscure artists of increasingly innovative/strange (take your pick) genres. As someone who’s actively interested in learning about this music (I work for the campus radio station, the Impact), I know first hand the bittersweet feeling that comes when a favorite band is no longer “mine alone,” even if they are gaining the fame and recognition I know they deserve. I see this subculture as having an even touchier relationship with media and corporate advertising, so I’d be curious to learn how consumerist trends are propagated via blogs, magazines, television, in more subtle manners than MTV is capable of (maybe MTVu?).

Hopefully, then, the producers of Frontline will take it upon themselves to update this documentary someday soon. It will be to the enlightenment of both adults and aging YAs like me, who may need their own “cool hunters” to keep themselves in the know.