“Coolness”, What It Means And What Defines It
In the essays “What Happens When Black Loses Its Cool?” by Questlove and “Jennifer Lawrence And Being a ‘Cool Girl’” by Anne Helen Petersen, there are two different viewpoints on the idea of cool. In the essays, the authors show a common idea that ‘coolness’ is identified by certain traits. Questlove and Peterson both agree on the idea of coolness and what that means, but focus on different ideas of what makes coolness. In Questlove's’ essay she focuses on the idea of race defining coolness, while in Petersens it focuses primarily on gender.
In both Questlove’s and Petersens essays, both discuss the ideas of being cool, and what defines it. Both draw several comparisons into what the idea of coolness means to people, and how it affects the views people have on these individuals they call cool. The common ideas …show more content…
Peterson does not believe that the entirety of women's culture is cool, but that there are women who distinctly define what the ‘cool girl’ is. Petersen describes the character of reference for the entirety of her essay, Jennifer Lawrence, and states early on that she defines Jennifer as being cool, and compares her to that of another celebrity. Petersen uses Anne Hathaway as an example of someone who is expertly a “charm machine”, but draws a line of comparison at the idea that Jennifer acts like a person, not a machine. While Questlove’s idea of cool stretches beyond the entirety of the black culture as being something different, which makes it cool, Petersen views it a bit more narrowly. The idea that only distinct women can be cool comes from the ideas that there has to be almost a “strict criteria” that must be followed. This is evident by the almost two full pages of defining ways that these women must have to be cool. This is far different than that of the idea that the entirety of black culture is cool just for being
In the essays “What Happens When Black Loses Its Cool?” by Questlove and “Jennifer Lawrence And Being a ‘Cool Girl’” by Anne Helen Petersen, there are two different viewpoints on the idea of cool. In the essays, the authors show a common idea that ‘coolness’ is identified by certain traits. Questlove and Peterson both agree on the idea of coolness and what that means, but focus on different ideas of what makes coolness. In Questlove's’ essay she focuses on the idea of race defining coolness, while in Petersens it focuses primarily on gender.
In both Questlove’s and Petersens essays, both discuss the ideas of being cool, and what defines it. Both draw several comparisons into what the idea of coolness means to people, and how it affects the views people have on these individuals they call cool. The common ideas …show more content…
Peterson does not believe that the entirety of women's culture is cool, but that there are women who distinctly define what the ‘cool girl’ is. Petersen describes the character of reference for the entirety of her essay, Jennifer Lawrence, and states early on that she defines Jennifer as being cool, and compares her to that of another celebrity. Petersen uses Anne Hathaway as an example of someone who is expertly a “charm machine”, but draws a line of comparison at the idea that Jennifer acts like a person, not a machine. While Questlove’s idea of cool stretches beyond the entirety of the black culture as being something different, which makes it cool, Petersen views it a bit more narrowly. The idea that only distinct women can be cool comes from the ideas that there has to be almost a “strict criteria” that must be followed. This is evident by the almost two full pages of defining ways that these women must have to be cool. This is far different than that of the idea that the entirety of black culture is cool just for being