The Blue Suede Shoe Effect: How Elvis and Rock Music Shaped the Way Our Culture and Music is Today (277 Words)
This paper goes into the issue of rock music and how it has changed American society regarding class, race, and gender, starting with Elvis in the 1950’s. Since Elvis started making music in the 50’s, he has changed the way we see, create, and listen to music ourselves. Elvis started the musical revolution, and he also changed the way we see each other. Before Elvis, women were not seen, or thought of as sexual beings, but because of his concerts, and his unspeakable hip movements on stage, women came out to express themselves more and were able to act how they wanted. This paper will also discuss how Elvis was very much criticized for many different reasons. He was mostly criticized for him bringing sex into the public eye. Since sex was something that was not public at that point in time, him acting in that way was more than scandalous, and the older generations did not approve by any means. They thought that he was corrupting the youth of that time, and because of his actions, he caused a large change in American society, making it more relaxed and less conservative. The other main point of criticism of Elvis was the fact that he was blamed for “stealing” the music of the African American culture. Since African Americans did not have the means to produce their music, Elvis used that to make his, and because of his music, he has laid out the foundation for all preceding musicians. Without Elvis’ contribution to music, our society would not be what it is today, and many of the genres we listen to would most likely not exist either.
This sounds AWESOME! Maybe you can explain how women were thought of before Elvis? You mention this a little but if you could say what you thought of women or what was said about this, that could be good.
ReplyDeleteGreat abstract. It would help if you stated exactly what you're researching and why you chose this topic a little bit more boldly.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. Perhaps include a little more about your methodology?
ReplyDeleteGreat subject matter. The first part of your abstract lets me know that Elvis was influential because his hotness was so great that indirectly motivated women to rebel and proclaim their sexuality.
ReplyDeleteThen your second part tells me about how Elvis dishonest forms of stealing music was adapted by the music industry.
This are great topics and provide great historical context, but I wanna see how these two stories connect more.
I think you have an interesting topic. I think you should explain how his music encouraged women. Like what was his message. Maybe give an example of how he included sex in his performances.
ReplyDeleteI like it, I think you should've briefly mentioned your methods. I think you told more about your paper beyond the facts, like conclusions to some of your points that can be explained in your proposal.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work! Your provided a lot of historical context, which helps with people who may not be too familiar with Elvis. Although I am a little unsure about your stance on his stealing of Black music, do you think it was a good or bad?
ReplyDeletei think the influence of elvis on sexuality is especially interesting, i might choose just one of the topic to focus on because I'm sure theres plenty of research on each one. it may give you more specificity, but all of them are great thats just a suggestion
ReplyDeleteGood job. The only suggestion I have are to briefly explain the american studies methods you are going to use.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority of the comments before mine. I definitely think this is well thought out and can see where this abstract is going and what the proposal will be about. However, I'm not sure an outsider who hasn't known what you're researching would get the gist.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest having someone who hasn't heard of this research read it and tell you what they think the proposal will be about?
Also, the sentence "He was mostly criticized for him bringing sex into the public eye." comes off strange when I read it in my head and out loud, I'm not sure if that's just me though.
Very interesting, your topic shows how there is no black and white, elvis brought acceptance for rock and roll, but in some ways he built himself off the success of oppressed minorities.
ReplyDeleteGreat intro/preview to an extremely interesting topic! I can tell you are very passionate about this subject and you have done a lot of research, you seem well aware about everything that has gone into this proposal and I have no doubt that you will end up with something great.
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