Conflict Perspective Film Review:

The Merchants of Cool

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Film Summary
The film The Merchants of Cool takes a close look at the buying and selling of cool. The
consumers of cool are teenagers in America. In a given year, teenagers spend 100 billion
dollars of their own money and influence their parents to spend an additional 50 billion
dollars. The film studies this relationship between mass media, who often sales cool, and
teenagers. This relationship is discussed throughout the film. Some believe that media is
merely the wants and desires expressed by teens. However, others believe that the media
has created a market of cool in order to generate profits. The conclusion of the film states
that many believe teenagers and the media are in a feedback loop. This feedback loop is
believed to have blended real culture and teen culture into a single culture. One can no
longer determine which culture is being influenced. Conglomerates such as Walt Disney,
Viacom, News Corp, AOL Time Warner, and Vivendi Universal are the media giants that
own the products that are often sold to teenagers. Throughout the documentary, the
marketing methods of various companies from these conglomerates were researched and
studied. Sprite, MTV, and the WB were among these companies that provided an insight
into the world of teenagers.
Film Analysis: Conflict Perspective
Conflict perspectives believe that groups in society are constantly competing for control
of scarce resources. The film provides several examples of these groups. The media and
teenagers are in competition for control of cool. Teenagers often aspire to be trendsetters,
which enables them to be unique and act as leaders. Teens do not want to be owned by
the companies that sell the cool products. Sprite realized this concept and produced a
commercial with Grant Hill which created an advertisement that made it clear that the
consumers, not the companies, were in control. Teenagers want to control the idea of
cool. MTV created Total Request Live in response to the growing demand of teenagers
wanting to become trendsetters. In response to the growing importance of cool, two other
groups began competing for control of uniqueness. The in crowd is composed of teens
that want to be trendsetters and want to be followed. As one item is being established as
cool, another item is already being introduced as cool. This constant changing of cool
causes the in crowd and the outcasts to compete for control of uniqueness. The
outcasts are not concerned with cool. However, they are interested in control of
uniqueness. Outcasts feel that uniqueness distances them from the in crowd. For
example, the in crowd supported and followed Britney Spears. She produced
numerous hit songs that were constantly played on the radio. The outcasts responded
by supporting Insane Clown Posse. This group had many followers, but never had songs
that were played on the radio. Both the in crowd and the outcasts were in control of
uniqueness. However, due to differences in uniqueness, conflict arose between these two
groups. The idea of cool has created two other groups to compete. Since the definition
of cool is constantly changing, a large amount of money is required to maintain a cool
status. As stated earlier, 150 billion dollars is spent by teenagers each year. The middle
and upper classes are capable of spending money to purchase the cool products.
However, the lower and working classes have less money and are unable to establish a
cool status. Notice that the middle and upper classes benefit from cool being expensive.
The fact that social arrangements benefit some at the expense of others is a common

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concept in the conflict perspective. This is an example of the conflict that exists between
high culture and pop culture.
Cool Hunting
Cool hunting is the term that the film uses to describe the process of searching for cool.
The business of cool hunting involves people looking for examples of trendsetting
behavior. The people in high culture, such as athletes, musicians, and actors, often define
what is cool. Often the subordinate classes are excluded from this view of cool due to a
lack of monetary support. Therefore, cool hunting reflects cultural capital. This division
of cool, based on class, causes social conflict. The conflict between high culture and pop
culture is an example of the social conflict caused by cool hunting. The unequal division
of money between classes causes unequal access to scarce and desirable resources in
society. Therefore, cool hunting reflects cultural capital, social conflict, and unequal
access to scarce resources.
Feminist Perspective
The feminist perspective introduces womens experiences and gender as elements of
social structure. Feminists also believe that we live in a patriarch system in which men
dominate women. At the beginning of the film, a group of teenagers were interviewed in
order to determine what was cool. This group of teenagers only consisted of males.
Feminists would view this as unfair, and they would have interviewed a group of teens
that consisted of both males and females. The examples that were provided in the film
were mainly masculine. These examples include Limp Bizkit, professional wrestling,
mooks, and the relationship between Sprite and hip-hop. The feminist perspective would
have chosen examples that accurately included the viewpoints and experiences of
females. One of the only feminist ideas present in the film was the concept of mid-riffs.
The feminist perspective would have elaborated on this concept. They would have also
researched the struggle between males and females for control of cool.
Conflict vs. Functionalist
The functionalist perspective is based on the assumption that society is a stable system
that is organized in an orderly fashion. Functionalists believe that various parts of society
have functions that maintain the stability of society as a whole. They also believe that
social consensus is important and that rapid change causes problems for the stability of
society. The film The Merchants of Cool places an importance on the constant change of
cool and studies the conflict between the media and teenagers. The functionalist
perspective does not apply to change or conflict. The conflict perspective states that
change is good and that conflict is inevitable. Therefore, the conflict perspective allows
us to study the effects of change and conflict with respect to the idea of cool.
Ethnographic Research
The film states that MTV successfully applies ethnographic research by visiting a
teenagers home. MTV then conducts an interview with the teenager. The teenager
provides insight into what is cool. The purpose of this research is to provide an accurate
description of what teenagers want to see on MTV. The textbook describes ethnography
as a detailed study of the life and activities of a group of people by researchers who may

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live with that group over a period of years. The textbook places an importance on the
extended length of ethnographic research. Since the research conducted by MTV
occurred over a short period of time, the textbook would not define it as ethnographic.
The textbook would probably describe the research as being a combination of participant
observation and in-depth interview.
Alternate Research Methods
Since MTV did not accurately conduct ethnography, ethnographic research would
probably provide accurate data for the relationship between the media and teenagers.
This type of research allows the sociologist to enter the mind of the group being studied.
In addition to ethnography, both case studies and triangulation should also be used to
collect data on the subject. A case study would allow ethnography to be used with one
particular setting, group, or event. The triangulation method would allow the researcher
to combine ethnography with participant observation and in-depth interview. These
alternate research methods would provide a more accurate means of conducting
qualitative research.
Superiority of Conflict Perspective
As stated earlier, the conflict perspective is superior to the functionalist perspective
because the concept of cool deals with change and conflict. The symbolic interactionist
perspective states that society is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups.
The symbolic interactionist perspective is an example of microlevel analysis, which is
concerned with small groups and not large social structures. In contrast, the conflict
perspective focuses on macrolevel analysis. Since the relationship between the media
and teenagers is a large scale social structure, the conflict perspective is better equipped
to study the buying and selling of cool. Therefore, the conflict perspective is superior to
both the functionalists and the symbolic interactionists.