Merchants of Cool

In Merchants of Cool, the examples gave evidence to Stuart Hall's definition of popular culture, which understands culture as a site of dialectical struggles over the meanings of culture. As explained by Hall, subcultures are constantly redefined and renegotiated by people/consumrs. This made me think of how people treat purse brands (e.g., Coach, Dooney and Bourke, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein) as time progresses. For instance, in my observations in the Filipino community, Coach branded purses used to be extremely popular until people started to favor Dooney and Bourke purses then Michael Kors. People gradually started to purchase the most expensive brands as they judged one brand more "high quality" over the other. The film specifically focuses on "youth culture" and looks at how items that are considered "cool/in-trend" only lasts for a certain time because large conglomerates and companies begin to shed light on the "new and cool" trends. It merely becomes a thing of the past until someone reintroduces the trend again. This relates to how underground music, not played on the radio, is considered "cool" until it becomes aired on the radio and eventually overplayed.