"Secretariat"

As my cultural event, I went to see the film, “Secretariat” in the theater and I really enjoyed it. To give just a brief summary, a woman has a mother, and eventually her father as well, who dies and she goes back to her dad’s horse breeding ranch and begins to take over and run the operations rather than sell which was the original plan. She ends up winning this horse in a coin toss and trains the horse to race with the help of others and the horse ends up winning the Triple Crown and enough money to keep the ranch going. This woman doesn’t want to give up something she, and her parents, love and believe in. That is why she keeps racing this horse and in the end she is able to rise up to the top and achieve her dreams.

Above is Penny Cheney: actual owner of Secretariat

This film is based on a true event that occurred in the 1970s. It is a modern representation of the everlasting idea of the American Dream. This idea of the American Dream has been a part of our culture since our country began. It still has a strong hold on American culture today. Many Americans still believe that their dream is accessible and strive for it, even though many times reality has a way of disappointing us. For some in this country, the hope of achieving something more is far from reality. But, each person also has a different view of what the American Dream is for them. It often involves many aspects of life such as family, education, careers, homes, and just being able to provide for a family. For this woman in the film, her dream consisted of preserving something she loved and being successful for her family. For her it was more about doing something she believed in rather than getting enough to support her family. Her husband had a nice job and they were comfortable, but she wanted to preserve her father’s legacy and prove to the world, and to herself, that she was capable of great things and also that the horse was capable of doing something that others thought was impossible.

Although her story was inspiring and a noble cause, I felt many times in the film like she was neglecting other responsibilities she had in order to prove something that was less important. It was evident in the film that she struggle being away from her children and husband when they needed her, but she felt like she had to keep pursuing this dream of the horse winning and preserving the ranch. This decision put a strain on her family and her relationship with her husband. Then at the end it seemed that things had resolved all by themselves. I felt like that aspect of the film was artificial and unrealistic. It seemed like just because she was successful with the horse races, things magically worked out in every aspect of her life. Perhaps things did resolve relatively easily by the time she was able to keep the ranch, but I don’t feel like it was portrayed well in the film. Overall, this film was a good depiction of the view we, as Americans, have of the American Dream and how it is achieved.

Tribute to Country Music

Brad Paisley - This Is Country Music - CMA Awards 2010

Amy and I analyzed country music and it developed during the mid 1900s and on through today. Country developed from early folk or “hillbilly” roots. Early country was many times characterized as democratic with an ensemble which focused on authentic look and instrumentation. It was also characterized by long ballades of sorrowing tales. It often blamed hardships on one’s self and the outcome was not always positive. Hank Williams (shown below) is an example of this early country music.

As country music developed and changed through the 1940s, commercialization and standardization took over. This new sound and style that now dominated country music is known as the Nashville sound. Much of the popular music that we classify as country today is of this style and sound. Some of the characteristics of this style include simplification of the long ballades and a brighter and more positive message and outcome. Different genres were standardized to create a nostalgic sound. Many would consider this style of country a fake image and representation of its original roots. Record companies created a super-star system where they would get young singers with a certain look and give them music to sing just to make them popular and make money off of them. This was looked down on by many country musicians

In the 1960s there was a folk revival as a reaction to the popular commercialized music that was dominating the genre. Also the 1990s was a time of a roots revival in country music as a reaction to the mainstream. But, although country music has changed throughout the decades included several revivals, there are certain aspects of country music that have remained throughout the years. This was our emphasis in analyzing country music, and we used a song from Brad Paisley to demonstrate our point. His song titled, “This is Country Music” describes the sort of things the country has always been about, such as sad life events, mention of God and Jesus as answers, and things that go along with rural American life like trucks and tractors. In this way, the poetic nature of country has not changed much over the years. Even though the music has moved more to the conservative side since the beginning, it has been successful in America as a symbol that allowed the music to speak for and depict rural Americans among an ever increasing urban country. It has also been able to create a southern identity outside of the south. Country music is now popular all throughout the nation, not just in the south.

I chose this project because I wanted to learn more about country and its roots to figure out why it was such an important genre to people and how it became what it is today. I have studied mostly classical music in my previous academic studies and I have enjoyed studying other genres such as jazz and country, and especially how they fit into the American identity. I had never really been interested in country music just to listen to until just a few years ago, but I don’t listen to it often. I mostly judged the music by its musical structure, chords and progressions, because that was what I was trained in previously. I was not impressed with the simple harmonies and progressions and found it boring, but I like it more now because I see something more than just musical structure. I see more of the poetics, tradition, and American characteristics that make the music what it is. This project, and especially the class as a whole, has helped me have an open mind with music, art, and literature and to appreciate certain aspects of each and their importance in our American culture.