In the 1940s, a group of exiled neo-Marxist intellectuals called the Frankfurt School denounced popular culture as a means for politically disempowering the working class. They considered pop culture to be generic products lacking in artistic and social merit. That may be the case for many works, but we at Balance Edutainment challenge this pessimistic, in toto rejection of Pop Culture. Rather we choose to create and celebrate popular works that raise awareness of critical issues and encourage actions that make the world a better place. In short, our mission is to #Occupy Pop Culture.
Last year’s benefit concert for the earthquake in Haiti - Hope for Haiti Now - is a case in point. The concert reminds us that music has unparalleled power to rally support, spread awareness and heal trauma. At the same time, we hope that it won’t always take natural disasters to unite us. Wouldn’t it be amazing if our art and music could be the clarion call for us to come together and offer helping hands to people in need? They raised $61 million. Benefit concerts have become popular ever since 1985′s Live Aid, which raised $245 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Most Pop Culture is like Junk Food
Unfortunately, most pop culture is like junk food; it may “taste” great, but it really isn’t good for us. By showcasing pop culture that is both nutritious and delicious, we hope to inspire artists to create and perform meaningful works to uplift and encourage people, especially youth, to make healthy choices and to actively engage with social causes that impact all of us. We are reaching out on Twitter to compile and promote nutritious pop culture.
For example, in the video below, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Mary J. Blige and many more perform the hit song “Just Stand Up” for Stand Up 2 Cancer whose mission is:
Stand Up To Cancer is a new initiative created to accelerate groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C’s goal is to bring together the best and the brightest in the cancer community, encouraging collaboration instead of competition. By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C creates awareness and builds broad public support for this effort.
This is where the end of cancer begins.
Let’s Change Pop Culture by Tweeting What’s Nutritious
You can get involved by tweeting out (and retweeting) your favorite nutritious pop culture songs in this format:
#nutritiouspopculture “[name of media]” [link to video] by [twitter handle if exists or artist name] http://bit.ly/x5byIp
It’s super easy! Like this:
#nutritiouspopculture “Who Says” http://bit.ly/oO5Kx9 by @selenagomez http://bit.ly/x5byIp
Check out contemporary songs that uplifting and/or socially conscious!
Of course, we can tweet films as well!
Older Songs: A Foundation for Nutritious Popular Culture
Whitney Houston: “The Greatest Love of All”
Bob Dylan: “The Times Are A-Changin’,” “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Pete Seeger: “If I Had a Hammer” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”
Michael Jackson: “Man in the Mirror” and “Heal the World”
Jackson 5: “I’ll Be There”
USA For Africa: “We Are The World”
Simon and Garfunkel: “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Boxer”
John Lennon, “Imagine”
Sam Cooke (Noteworthy Covers by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding), “A Change is Gonna Come”
Aretha Franklin, “Think”, “Respect”
Nina Simone, “Images” and “Four Women”
Billie Holliday, “Strange Fruit”
Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land”
Bob Marley, “Get Up, Stand Up” and “War”
Marvin Gaye, “What’s Goin’ On” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Mercy Mercy Me”
Aerosmith, “Dream On” and “Nobody’s Fault”
Fannie Lou Hamer, “This Little Light of Mine” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”
Lynrd Skynyrd, “All I Can Do Is Write About It”
Links for Nutritious Pop Culture
Check out this blogger’s top 5 choices for the best socially conscious songs.
This slideshow highlights the top ten socially conscious songs of 2010.
This website details the best socially conscious songs of this past century.
Here’s also a survey of the best environmental pop songs. Do you agree?
Of course, here’s a long list of songs about the environment on Wikipedia.
HelpingHaven.com is a music-driven philanthropy platform that creates socially conscious, inspirational music to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes such as homelessness, domestic violence, disaster relief, child education, and environmental issues.
We know that you have lots of ideas in mind! Tweet’em with the #nutritiouspopculture tag, and we’ll retweet them. Let’s shake things up on the online community until Nutritious Pop Culture becomes the norm.
We’re so pumped to see what on your mind! We can help make Pop culture both fun and meaningful if we choose to support #nutritiouspopculture with our dollars and our tweets.
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