Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance, style and Zeitgeist. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called Zeitgeist ( pronounced) is a German language expression literally translated Zeit time; Geist spirit, meaning "the Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English

Overview

A timeline of cool, adapted from Dick Pountain and David Robins, Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude

While each generation feels that "real" cool is something pure and existential known only to them, that it was founded in their time by them, there is not one single concept because one of the main aspects of cool is its mutability—what is seen as cool will change from time to time, from place to place and from generation to generation. ^[1]

Nick Southgate writes that, although some notions of cool can be traced back to Aristotle, whose notion of cool is to be found in his ethical writings, most particularly the Nicomachean Ethics,^[2] it is not confined to one particular ethnic group or gender. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled "Nichomachean" or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on Virtue and Moral character which

The sum and substance of cool is a self-conscious aplomb in overall behavior, which entails a set of specific behavioral characteristics that is firmly anchored in symbology, a set of discernible bodily movements, postures, facial expressions and voice modulations that are acquired and take on strategic social value within the peer context. Self-consciousness is an acute sense of self-awareness It is a preoccupation with oneself as opposed to the philosophical state of Self-awareness, which is the awareness Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Also known as processual symbolic analysis, symbology was developed by Victor Turner in the mid-1970s to refer to the use of symbols within cultural contexts in Body language is a term for Communication using Body movements or Gestures instead of or in addition to sounds verbal language or other communication Posture or posturing may refer toIn humans Neutral spine or good posture Human position Abnormal posturing A facial expression results from one or more motions or positions of the Muscles of the Face. ^[3]

Cool was once an attitude fostered by rebels and underdogs, such as slaves, prisoners, bikers and political dissents, etc. , for whom open rebellion invited punishment, so it hid its defiance behind a wall of ironic detachment, distancing itself from the source of authority rather than directly confronting it.

Cool is also an attitude widely adopted by artists and intellectuals, who thereby aided its infiltration into popular culture. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the Culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance — Sought by product marketing firms, idealized by teenagers, a shield against racial oppression or political persecution and source of constant cultural innovation, cool has become a global phenomenon that has spread to every corner of the earth. ^[2] According to Dick Pountain and David Robins, concepts of cool have existed for centuries in several cultures. ^[1]

Cool has been used to describe a general state of well-being, a transcendent, internal peace and serenity. ^[4] It can also refer to an absence of conflict, a state of harmony and balance as in, "The land is cool," or as in a "cool [spiritual] heart. Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of Needs values and interests " Such meanings, according to Thompson, are African in origin. Cool is related in this sense to both social control and transcendental balance. ^[4]

While slang terms are usually comprised of short-lived coinages and figures of speech, cool is an especially ubiquitous slang word, most notably among young people. As well as being understood throughout the English-speaking world, the word has even entered the vocabulary of several languages other than English.

Cool can be used to describe composure and absence of excitement in a person, especially in times of stress, and can refer to something that is aesthetically appealing. It is also used to express agreement or assent. Cool is often used as a general positive epithet or interjection which has a range of related adjectival meanings. This article is about meaning as it is studied in the discipline of linguistics Among other things, it can mean calm, stoic, impressive, intriguing, or superlative.

Africa

Yoruba bronze head sculpture from the city of Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century A. D

Author Robert Farris Thompson, professor of art history at Yale University, suggests that Itutu, which he translates as 'mystic coolness,'^[5] is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the 15th century. Robert Farris Thompson (born 1932) is the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. The history of art usually refers to the History of the Visual arts, such as Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Itutu is the term for a religious feeling created at the Kingdom of Benin by the Yoruba in 15th Century Nigeria. ^[6] by Yoruba and Ibo civilizations of West Africa. The Yoruba (Yo•row•ba ( Yorùbá in Yoruba Orthography) are one of the largest ethno-linguistic or Ethnic groups in West Africa The Igbo [iɡɓo] ( Igbo: Igbo, sometimes Nd'Igbo) sometimes referred to (usually formerly as the Ibo, Eboe, Ebo Cool or Itutu contained meanings of conciliation and gentleness of character, the ability to defuse fights and disputes, of generosity and grace. It was also associated with physical beauty. Typical for Itutu is the reference to water because to the Yoruba coolness retained its physical connotation of temperature. ^[7] He cites a definition of cool from the Gola people of Liberia, who define it as the ability to be mentally calm or detached, in an other-worldly fashion, from one's circumstances, to be nonchalant in situations where emotionalism or eagerness would be natural and expected. Gola or Gula are a tribal people living in western Liberia. The Gola language is part of the Southern branch of the West Atlantic language family as of Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire ^[4] Joseph M. Murphy writes that "cool" is also closely associated with the deity Òsun of the Yoruba religion. (or Oshun) (ɔʃún in Yoruba mythology, is a spirit - Goddess ( Orisha) who reigns over love intimacy beauty wealth and diplomacy The Yoruba religion is the religious beliefs and practices of the Yoruba people both in Africa (chiefly in Nigeria and Benin Republic) ^[8]

Although, Thompson acknowledges similarities between African and European cool "Africa and Europe share notions of self-control and imperturbability, expressed under a metaphysical rubric of coolness, viz, notions of sang-froid and coolheadedness"^[7] Thompson finds the cultural value of cool in Africa which influenced the African diaspora to be different from that held by Europeans, who use the term primarily as the ability to remain calm under stress. The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world - predominantly to the Americas, then later to Europe, the According to Thompson, there is significant weight, meaning and spirituality attached to cool in traditional African cultures, something which, Thompson argues, is absent from the idea in a Western context.

"Control, stability, and composure under the African rubric of the cool seem to constitute elements of an all-embracing aesthetic attitude. " African cool, writes Thompson, is "more complicated and more variously expressed than Western notions of sang-froid (literally, "cold blood"), cooling off, or even icy determination. " (Thompson, African Arts)

The telling point is that the "mask" of coolness is worn not only in time of stress, but also of pleasure, in fields of expressive performance and the dance. Struck by the re-occurrence of this vital notion elsewhere in tropical Africa and in the Black Americas, I have come to term the attitude "an aesthetic of the cool" in the sense of a deeply and completely motivated, consciously artistic, interweaving of elements serious and pleasurable, of responsibility and play. ^[9]

The Americas

Abraham Lincoln

An early use for the word "cool" in such a context was Abraham Lincoln.

Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves justified to break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is, shall be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action? But you will not abide the election of a Republican president! In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!"

The words were delivered during his Cooper Union speech. ^[10]

African Americans

Ronald Perry writes that many words and expressions have passed from African American Vernacular English into Standard English slang including the contemporary meaning of the word "cool. African American Vernacular English ( AAVE) – also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, "^[11] The black jazz scene in the U. The term black people usually refers to a racial group of Humans with dark Skin color, but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse S. and among expatriate musicians in Paris, helped popularize notions of cool in the U. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city S. in the 1940s, giving birth to "Bohemian", or beatnik culture. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[2] Shortly thereafter, a style of jazz called cool jazz appeared on the music scene, emphasizing a restrained, laid-back solo style. Cool jazz is a Jazz style that emerged in the late 1940s in New York City. ^[12] Notions of cool as an expression of centeredness in a Taoist sense, equilibrium and self-possession, of an absence of conflict are commonly understood in both African and African American contexts well. Tao ( 道, Pinyin Dào) is a metaphysical concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy Expressions such as, "Don't let it blow your cool," later, chill out, and the use of chill as a characterization of inner contentment or restful repose all have their origins in African American Vernacular English. African American Vernacular English ( AAVE) – also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, ^[13]

When the air in the smoke-filled nightclubs of that era became unbreathable, windows and doors were opened to allow some "cool air" in from the outside to help clear away the suffocating air. By analogy, the slow and smooth jazz style that was typical for that late-night scene came to be called "cool". ^[14]

Marlene Kim Connor connects cool and the post-war African-American experience in her book What is Cool?: Understanding Black Manhood in America. Connor writes that cool is the silent and knowing rejection of racist oppression, a self-dignified expression of masculinity developed by black men denied mainstream expressions of manhood. She writes that mainstream perception of cool is narrow and distorted, with cool often perceived merely as style or arrogance, rather than a way to achieve respect. ^[15]

Designer Christian Lacroix has said that ". Christian Marie Marc Lacroix ( May 16 1951 in Trinquetaille, France) is a high-end French Fashion designer. . . the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture". African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of African ethnic groups to the culture of the United States either as part of or distinct from ^[16]

Cool pose

Malcolm X "embodied essential elements of cool". Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19 1925 February 21 1965 also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, was an African American

'Cool', though an amorphous quality--more mystique than material--is a pervasive element in urban black male culture. ^[17] Majors and Billson address what they term "cool pose" in their study and argue that it helps Black men counter stress caused by social oppression, rejection and racism. List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that They also contend that it furnishes the black male with a sense of control, strength, confidence and stability and helps him deal with the closed doors and negative messages of the "generalized other. " They also believe that attaining black manhood is filled with pitfalls of discrimination, negative self-image, guilt, shame and fear. ^[18]

"Cool pose" may be a factor in discrimination in education contributing to the achievement gaps in test scores. In a 2004 study, researchers found that teachers perceived students with African American culture-related movement styles, referred to as the "cool pose," as lower in achievement, higher in aggression, and more likely to need special education services than students with standard movement styles, irrespective of race or other academic indicators. ^[19] The issue of stereotyping and discrimination with respect to "cool pose" raises complex questions of assimilation and accommodation of different cultural values. A region or society where several different groups are spontaneously assimilated is sometimes referred to as a Melting pot. Jason W. Osborne identifies "cool pose" as one of the factors in black underachievement. ^[20] Robin D. G. Kelley criticizes calls for assimilation and sublimation of black culture, including "cool pose. Robin DG Kelley (born 1962 is a professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. " He argues that media and academics have unfairly demonized these aspects of black culture while, at the same time, through their sustained fascination with blacks as exotic others, appropriated aspects of "cool pose" into the broader popular culture. ^[21]

George Elliott Clarke writes that Malcolm X, like Miles Davis, embodies essential elements of cool. George Elliott Clarke (born February 12 1960) is a Canadian Poet and Playwright. Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19 1925 February 21 1965 also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, was an African American As an icon, Malcolm X inspires a complex mixture of both fear and fascination in broader American culture, much like "cool pose" itself. ^[17]

American pop-culture cool

Actress Audrey Hepburn popularized sunglasses as a fashion accessory; however, they gained their association with cool from African-American jazz musicians and the beatnik scene. Audrey Hepburn ( &ndash) was an English/Dutch Academy Award - Emmy Award - Tony Award - and Grammy Award -winning film and stage actress

East Asia

The ethic of the Samurai caste in Japan, warrior castes in India and East Asia all resemble cool. is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. ^[1]. The samurai-themed works of film director Akira Kurosawa are among the most praised of the genre, influencing many filmmakers across the world with his techniques and storytelling. Notable works of his include The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and The Hidden Fortress. is a 1954 Japanese film co-written edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa. is a 1961 Jidaigeki (period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa. is a 1958 film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune as General Rokurota Makabe and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki The latter was one of the primary inspirations for George Lucas's Star Wars, which also borrows a number of aspects from the samurai, for example the Jedi Knights of the series. George Walton Lucas Jr (born May 14, 1944) is an Academy Award -winning American Film director, producer, Screenwriter Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded The Jedi are members of a fictional monastic order in the ''Star Wars'' galaxy, created by George Samurai have been presented as cool in many modern Japanese movies such as Samurai Fiction,^[22] Kagemusha^[23] and Yojimbo,^[24] which was appropriated in American movies such as Ghost Dog^[25] and The Last Samurai^[26]

In The Art of War, a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC, general Sun Tzu, a member of the landless Chinese aristocracy, wrote in Chapter XII:

Profiting by their panic, we shall exterminate them completely; this will cool the King's courage and cover us with glory, besides ensuring the success of our mission. Samurai Fiction (aka SF Episode One) is the English language title for SF・サムライ・フィクション ( SF samurai is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title (which means "Shadow Warrior" in Japanese) is a term used for an Impersonator. Ghost Dog The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 samurai Action film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The Last Samurai is a 2003 Drama film / War film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the Screenplay based on The Art of War ( is a Chinese military Treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu ( ("Master Sun" also called Sun Wu ( is traditionally considered to be the author of The Art of War (also simply called the

Prof. Paul Waley considers Tokyo one of the world's "capitals of cool. "

Asian countries have developed a tradition on their own to explore types of modern 'cool' or 'ambiguous' aesthetics. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called

In a Time Asia article "The Birth of Cool" author Hannah Beech describes Asian cool as "a revolution in taste led by style gurus who are redefining Chinese craftsmanship in everything from architecture and film to clothing and cuisine" and as a modern aesthetic inspired both by a Ming-era minimalism and a strenuous attention to detail. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and ^[27]

Paul Waley, professor of Human Geography at the University of Leeds, considers Tokyo along with New York, London and Paris to be one of the world's "capitals of cool"^[28] and the Washington Post called Tokyo "Japan's Empire of Cool" and Japan "the coolest nation on Earth". Paul Waley is a professor of Human Geography at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D

Analysts are marveling at the breadth of a recent explosion in cultural exports, and many argue that the international embrace of Japan's pop culture, film, food, style and arts is second only to that of the United States. Business leaders and government officials are now referring to Japan's "gross national cool" as a new engine for economic growth and societal buoyancy. ^[29]

The term "gross national cool" was coined by Journalist Douglas McGray. In a June/July 2002 article in Foreign Policy magazine,^[30] he argued that as Japan's economic juggernaut took a wrong turn into a ten-year slump, and with military power made impossible by a pacifist constitution, the nation had quietly emerged as a cultural powerhouse: "From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and food to art, Japan has far greater cultural influence now than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic superpower. Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American Magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P "^[31] The notion of Asian 'cool' applied to Asian consumer electronics is borrowed from the cultural media theorist Eric McLuhan who described 'cool' or 'cold' media as stimulating participants to complete auditive or visual media content, in sharp contrast to 'hot' media that degrades the viewer to a merely passive or non-interactive receiver. Consumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use Eric McLuhan is the son of well-known media theorist Marshall McLuhan and co-authored with him the book The Laws of Media.

Europe

Aristocratic and artistic cool

Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda (La Joconde), by Leonardo da Vinci

"Aristocratic cool", known as sprezzatura, has existed in Europe for centuries, particularly when relating to frank amorality and love or illicit pleasures behind closed doors;^[1] Raphael’s "Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione" and Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" are classic examples of sprezzatura. Sprezzatura is a term that originates from Castiglione 's The Book of the Courtier. Baldasare Castiglione, count of Novellata ( December 15, 1478 &ndash February 28, 1529) was an Italian Courtier, ^[32] The sprezzatura of the Mona Lisa is seen in both her smile and the positioning of her hands. Both the smile and hands are intended to convey her grandeur, self-confidence and societal position. ^[33] Sprezzatura means, literally, disdain and detachment. It is the art of refraining from the appearance of trying to present oneself in a particular way. In reality, of course, tremendous exertion went into pretending not to bother or care.

English poet and playwright William Shakespeare used cool in several of his works to describe composure and absence of emotion. William Shakespeare ( baptised ^[1] In A Midsummer Night's Dream, written sometime in the late-1500s, he contrasts the shaping fantasies of lovers and madmen with "cool reason",^[34] in Hamlet he wrote "O gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, sprinkle cool patience",^[35] and Othello's antagonist Iago is musing about "reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts". A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by " The Knight's Tale " from Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 ^[36][1]

European inter-war Cool

The Threepenny Opera, original German poster from Berlin, 1928.

The key themes of modern European cool were forged by avant-garde artists who achieved prominence in the aftermath of the First World War, most notably Dadaists, such as key Dada figures Arthur Cravan and Marcel Duchamp, and the left-wing milieu of the Weimar Republic. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Arthur Cravan (born May 22, 1887, Lausanne, Switzerland) was last seen at Salina Cruz, Mexico in 1918 and most likely Marcel Duchamp (maʀsɛl dyˈʃɑ̃ (28 July 1887 &ndash 2 October 1968 was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 The program of such groups was often self-consciously revolutionary, a determination to scandalize the bourgeoisie by mocking their culture, sexuality and political moderation. ^[1]

Berthold Brecht, both a committed Communist and a philandering cynic, stands as the archetype of this inter-war cool. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. Brecht projected his cool attitude to life onto his most famous character Macheath or "Mackie Messer" (Mack the knife), in The Threepenny Opera. The Threepenny Opera ( Die Dreigroschenoper) is a revolutionary work of Musical theatre, by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Mackie, the nonchalant, smooth-talking gangster, expert with the switchblade, personifies the bitter-sweet strain of cool; Puritanism and sentimentality are both anathema to the Cool character. ^[1]

During the turbulent inter-war years, cool was a privilege reserved for bohemian milieus like Brecht's. Cool irony and hedonism remained the province of cabaret artistes, ostentatious gangsters and rich socialites, those decadents depicted in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, tracing the outlines of a new cool. Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh (ˈiːvlɪn ˈwɔː (28 October 1903 &ndash 10 April 1966 was an English Writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Brideshead Revisited The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a Novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945 Christopher Isherwood ( August 26, 1904 &ndash January 4, 1986) was an Anglo-American Novelist. Goodbye to Berlin is a short novel by Christopher Isherwood. It is often published together with Mr Peter Stearns, professor of history at George Mason University, suggests that in effect the seeds of a cool outlook had been sown among this inter-war generation. Peter Stearns is a professor of history at George Mason University, where he is currently provost (since January 1 2000 with almost 40 years of experience as a teacher and administrator George Mason University (also referred to as GMU or Mason) is a large Public university in the United States. ^[37]

Postwar Cool

The Second World War brought the populations of Britain, Germany and France into intimate contact with Americans and American culture. The war brought hundreds of thousands of GIs whose relaxed, easy-going manner was seen by young people of the time as the very embodiment of liberation; and with them came Lucky Strikes, nylons, swing and jazz - the American Cool.

To be cool or hip meant hanging out, pursuing sexual liaisons, displaying the appropriate attitude of narcissistic self-absorption, and expressing a desire to escape the mental straightjacket of all ideological causes. From the late 1940s onward, this popular culture influenced young people all over the world, to the great dismay of the paternalistic elites who still ruled the official culture. The French intelligentsia were outraged, while the British educated classes displayed a haughty indifference that smacked of an older aristocratic cool. ^[38]

This new cool rejected all kinds of overt sentimentality, which included publicly agonizing over the lot of the poor, or being sympathetic toward social activism. Indeed, the antagonism between street-cool and social activism became a cliché of certain movies and novels of the time - from On the Waterfront and the Blackboard Jungle all the way to West Side Story, which is based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet",^[39] where the stereotypical big-hearted teacher/priest/social worker tries to inculcate social responsibility into street-wise cool kids, whose response may be paraphased as "only suckers care". On the Waterfront is a American Drama film about mob violence and corruption among longshoremen. Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 Social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school West Side Story is a musical by Arthur Laurents (book Leonard Bernstein (music and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics ^[40]

Stay loose, boy! Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it. Turn off the juice, boy! Go man, go, But not like a yo-yo schoolboy. Just play it cool, boy. Real cool! (West Side Story, "Cool")

The Polish Cool

The new attitude found a special resonance behind the Iron Curtain, where it offered relief from the earnestness of socialist propaganda and socialist realism in art. In the Polish industrial city Łódź, jazz, "the forbidden music", served Polish youth of the 1950s much as it had served its black-American creators, both as personal diversion and subterranean resistance to what they saw as a stultifying official culture. Łódź is Poland 's third largest city with population of 753192 in 2007 (lost its second rank to Krakow in 2007 Some clubs featured live jazz performances, and their smoky, sexually charged atmosphere carried a message for which the Puritanical values and monumental art of Marxist officialdom were an ideal foil. ^[41]

Arriving in Poland via France, America and England, Polish cool stimulated the film talents of a generation of artists, including Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, and other graduates of the National Film School in Łódź, as well as the novelist Jerzy Kosinski, in whose clinical prose cool tends towards the sadistic. Andrzej Wajda (born 6 March 1926 in Suwałki) is an award-winning Polish Film director. The Leon Schiller 's National Higher School of Film Television and Theatre in Łódź ( Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa Telewizyjna i Teatralna im Jerzy Kosinski ( June 14, 1933 &ndash May 3, 1991) was a Polish-American Novelist, best known for the novels ^[1]

In Prague, the capital of Bohemia, cool flourished in the faded Art Deco splendor of the Cafe Slavia. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial Significantly, following the crushing of the Prague Spring by Soviet tanks in 1968, part of the dissident underground called itself the "Jazz Section". The Prague Spring ( Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during ^[1]

The Middle East

The cool "Anatolian smile" of Turkey is used to mask emotions. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches A similar "mask" of coolness is worn in both times of stress and pleasure in American and African communities. ^[1]

Theories of cool

Cool as social distinction

According to this theory, cool is a zero sum game, in which cool exists only in comparison with things considered less cool. In Game theory and Economic theory, zero-sum describes a situation in which a participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other Illustrated in the book The Rebel Sell, cool is created out of a need for status and distinction. The Rebel Sell Why the culture can't be jammed (US release Nation of Rebels Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture) is a popular Non-fiction This creates a situation analogous to an arms race, in which cool is perpetuated by a collective action problem in society. The term arms race, in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy Collective action is the pursuit of a goal or set of goals by more than one person ^[42]

Cool as an elusive essence

According to this theory, cool is a real, but unknowable property. Cool, like "good", is a property that exists, but can only be sought after. ^[2] In the New Yorker article, "The Coolhunt"^[43], cool is given three characteristics:

• "The act of discovering what's cool is what causes cool to move on"
• "Cool cannot be manufactured, only observed"
• "[Cool] can only be observed by those who are themselves cool". The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry

A piece of Simpsons dialogue (from the episode Homerpalooza) embodies this dilemma:

     Homer: So, I realized that being with my family is more important
            than being cool. " Homerpalooza " is the twenty-fourth episode of The Simpsons ' seventh season and originally aired on May 19 1996 as part of the 
      Bart: Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool. 
     Homer: You know what the song says: "It's hip to be square". 
      Lisa: That song is so lame. 
     Homer: So lame that it's. . .  cool?
 Bart+Lisa: No. 
     Marge: Am I cool, kids?
 Bart+Lisa: No. 
     Marge: Good.  I'm glad.  And that's what makes me cool, not caring,
            right?
 Bart+Lisa: No. 
     Marge: Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried
            everything here. 
     Homer: Wait, Marge.  Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to
            be told you're cool. 
      Bart: Well, sure you do. 
      Lisa: How else would you know?

(The song referred to is Hip To Be Square by Huey Lewis and The News. " Hip to Be Square " is a 1986 single by Huey Lewis and the News written by Bill Gibson Sean Hopper and Huey Lewis. )

Cool as a marketing device

See also: Planned obsolescence

See also: Cultural appropriation

According to this theory, cool can be exploited as a manufactured and empty idea imposed on the culture at large through a top-down process by the "Merchants of Cool". Kalle Lasn (born 1942 Tallinn Estonia) is the founder of Adbusters magazine and author of the books Culture Jam and Design Anarchy ^[44] An artificial cycle of "cooling" and "uncooling" creates false needs in consumers, and stimulates the economy. "Cool has become the central ideology of consumer capitalism". ^[42] Supporters of this theory avoid the pursuit of cool.

The concept of cool was used in this way to market menthol cigarettes to African Americans in the 1960s. Christian Marie Marc Lacroix ( May 16 1951 in Trinquetaille, France) is a high-end French Fashion designer. A menthol cigarette is a Cigarette flavored with the compound Menthol, a substance which triggers the cold-sensitive nerves in the Skin without actually In 2004 over 70% of African American smokers preferred menthol cigarettes, compared with 30% of white smokers. This unique social phenomenon was principally occasioned by the tobacco industry's manipulation of the burgeoning black, urban, segregated, consumer market in cities at that time. ^[46] According to Fast Company some large companies have started 'outsourcing cool. Fast Company is a full-color not-quite-monthly (10 issues per year business magazine that reports on innovation digital media technology Change management Outsourcing is Subcontracting a process such as product design or Manufacturing, to a Third-party company ' They are paying other "smaller, more-limber, closer-to-the-ground outsider" companies to help them keep up with customers' rapidly changing tastes and demands. ^[47]

Cool defined

• "Cool is a knowledge, a way of life. "^[48] -- Lewis Macadams
• "Cool is an age-specific phenomenon, defined as the central behavioural trait of teenagerhood. "^[49]
• "Coolness is the proper way you represent yourself to a human being. "^[50] -- Robert Farris Thompson
• In the novel Spook Country by William Gibson one character equates cool with a sense of exclusivity: "Secrets," said the Bigend beside her, "are the very root of cool. Spook Country is a 2007 Novel by William Gibson. Gibson announced the book on October 6, 2006 on his blog where fragments of William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Hubertus Bigend is a fictional character appearing in the later novels of cyberpunk science fiction and literary author William Gibson. "^[51]
• In the novel Lords and Ladies (novel) by Terry Pratchett the Monks of Cool are mentioned. Lords and Ladies is the fourteenth Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. In their passing-out test a novice must select the coolest garment from a room full of clothes. The correct answer is "Hey, whatever I select", suggesting that cool is primarily an attitude of self-assurance.

See also

• African aesthetic
• Avant-garde
• Cool Britannia
• Cool jazz
• Itutu
• Sprezzatura
• Square (slang)

References