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Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance, style and Zeitgeist. 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. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. ... This article is about the German word. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of...

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] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 510 pixel Image in higher resolution (1593 × 1016 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) made by me, adapted from Dick Pountain and David Robins, Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude Permission is granted to copy, distribute and... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 510 pixel Image in higher resolution (1593 × 1016 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) made by me, adapted from Dick Pountain and David Robins, Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude Permission is granted to copy, distribute and...

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. For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Nicomachean Ethics Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled Nichomachean), or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on virtue and moral character which plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. ...

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.^[3] Self-consciousness is the knowledge of ones own presence. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The word “symbology” appears in several English dictionaries. ... For other uses, see Body language (disambiguation). ... While not moving, a human can be in one of the following main positions. ... Photographs from the 1862 book Mécanisme de la Physionomie Humaine by Guillaume Duchenne. ... The word voice can be used to refer to: Sound: The human voice. ...

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. 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] Popular culture, sometimes abbreviated to pop culture, consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ...

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." Such meanings, according to Thompson, are African in origin. Cool is related in this sense to both social control and transcendental balance.^[4] For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation) In political terms, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. ...

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. Among other things, it can mean calm, stoic, impressive, intriguing, or superlative. In linguistics, meaning is the content carried by the words or signs exchanged by people when communicating through language. ...

African cool

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

Author Robert Farris Thompson, Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, suggests that Itutu, which he translates as cool, is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the 15th century^[5] by Yoruba and Ibo civilizations of West Africa. 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.^[6] 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.^[4] Joseph M. Murphy writes that "cool" is also closely associated with the deity Òsun of the Yoruba religion.^[7] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Robert Farris Thompson (1932 — present) is the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. ... This article is an overview of the history of art worldwide. ... Yale redirects here. ... Itutu is the term for a religious feeling created at the Kingdom of Benin in 15th Century Nigeria. ... The Yoruba (Yorùbá in Yoruba orthography) are a large ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in Africa; the majority of them speak the Yoruba language (èdèe Yorùbá; èdè = language). ... The Igbo, sometimes (especially formerly) referred to as the Ibo/Ebo, are an ethnic group in West Africa numbering in the tens of millions. ... The Gola or Gula are a tribal people living in western Liberia and parts of eastern Sierra Leone. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ochun. ... Yoruba legends redirects here. ...

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"^[6] 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. 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. A poster of African Reparation, Reconciliation and Restoration Conference The dispersion of Africans during and after the trans-Atlantic slave trade and others enroute to India as slaves and source of labor. ...

"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.^[8]

The Americas

African Americans

CD reissue of Miles Davis's groundbreaking 1957 LP Birth of the Cool.

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."^[9] The black jazz scene in the U.S. and among expatriate musicians in Paris, helped popularize notions of cool in the U.S. in the 1940s, giving birth to "Bohemian", or beatnik culture.^[2] Shortly thereafter, a style of jazz called cool jazz appeared on the music scene, emphasizing a restrained, laid-back solo style.^[10] 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. Expressions such as, "Don't let it blow your cool," later, chill out, and the use of chill as an characterization of inner contentment or restful repose all have their origins in African American Vernacular English.^[11] Image File history File links Birth_of_the_Cool. ... Image File history File links Birth_of_the_Cool. ... Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz musician, widely considered to be one of the most influential of the 20th century. ... See also: 1956 in music, other events of 1957, 1958 in music and the list of years in music // January 5 - Renato Carosone and his band start their American tour in Cuba. ... Birth of the Cool is an album which collects the twelve sides recorded by the Miles Davis nonet (featuring Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and others) for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Though most indigenous Africans possess relatively dark skin, they exhibit much variation in physical appearance. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Beatnik is a media stereotype that borrowed the most superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s to present a distorted (and sometimes violent), cartoon-like misrepresentation of the real-life people and the spirituality found in Jack Kerouacs autobiographical fiction. ... CD reissue of Daviss 1957 LP Birth of the Cool, collecting much of his 1949 to 1950 work. ... This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

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".^[12]

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.^[13]

Designer Christian Lacroix has said that "...the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture".^[14] Christian Marie Marc Lacroix (May 16, 1951 in Arles, France) is a French fashion designer. ... African-Americans affiliate with subcultures of all kinds; race is not itself an absolute determinant of ones culture. ...

Cool pose

Malcolm X embodied essential elements of cool.

'Cool', though an amorphous quality--more mystique than material--is a pervasive element in urban black male culture.^[15] 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. 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.^[16] Malcolm X. Found at http://lcweb. ... Malcolm X. Found at http://lcweb. ... Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red and Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Omaha, Nebraska, May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965 in New York City) was a Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial...

"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.^[17] The issue of stereotyping and discrimination with respect to "cool pose" raises complex questions of assimilation and accommodation of different cultural values. Jason W. Osborne identifies "cool pose" as one of the factors in black underachievement.^[18] Robin D. G. Kelley criticizes calls for assimilation and sublimation of black culture, including "cool pose." 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.^[19] Cultural assimilation (often called merely assimilation) is an intense process of consistent integration whereby members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority groups, are absorbed into an established, generally larger community. ... Robin D.G. Kelley (b. ...

George Elliott Clarke writes that Malcolm X, like Miles Davis, embodies essential elements of cool. As an icon, Malcolm X inspires a complex mixture of both fear and fascination in broader American culture, much like "cool pose" itself.^[15] George Elliott Clarke (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet and playwright. ... Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red and Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Omaha, Nebraska, May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965 in New York City) was a Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ...

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.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 469 pixelsFull resolution (3500 × 2050 pixel, file size: 724 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 469 pixelsFull resolution (3500 × 2050 pixel, file size: 724 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Audrey Hepburn (4 May 1929 - 20 January 1993) was an Academy Award and Tony Award winning Anglo-Dutch actress of film and theatre, Broadway stage performer, ballerina, fashion model, and humanitarian. ... Beatnik is a media stereotype that borrowed the most superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s to present a distorted (and sometimes violent), cartoon-like misrepresentation of the real-life people and the spirituality found in Jack Kerouacs autobiographical fiction. ...

East Asia

The ethic of the Samurai caste in Japan, warrior castes in India and East Asia all resemble cool.^[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. 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. Samurai have been presented as cool in many modern Japanese movies such as Samurai Fiction,^[20] Kagemusha^[21] and Yojimbo,^[22] which was appropriated in American movies such as Ghost Dog^[23] and The Last Samurai^[24] For other uses, see Samurai (disambiguation). ... Kurosawa redirects here. ... For other uses, see Seven Samurai (disambiguation). ... Yōjimbō 用心棒 is a 1961 film by Akira Kurosawa, in which a ronin, portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, arrives at a small town with competing crime lords making their money from gambling, and convinces each crime lord to hire him as protection from the other. ... The Hidden Fortress (Japanese: 隠し砦の三悪人, Kakushi toride no san akunin) is a 1958 film by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune as General Rokurota Makabe and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki. ... George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... This article is about the series. ... Jedi Knights and Jedi Knight redirect here. ... Samurai Fiction, also known as SF: Episode One, is not a typical samurai movie. ... Kagemusha ) is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. ... In Japanese, Yojimbo (用心棒; Yōjinbō) is a bodyguard, security person or sometimes assassin. ... Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 film directed by Jim Jarmusch. ... The Last Samurai is an action/drama film written by John Logan and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz based on a story by Logan. ...

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: For other uses, see The Art of War (disambiguation). ... Sun Tzu (孫子 also commonly written in pinyin: Sūn Zǐ) was the author of The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy (for the most part not dealing directly with tactics). ...

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.

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. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x768, 470 KB) Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan Photo taken summer 2003 by user en:user:Willswe. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x768, 470 KB) Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan Photo taken summer 2003 by user en:user:Willswe. ... The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ...

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.^[25] Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ...

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"^[26] and the Washington Post called Tokyo "Japan's Empire of Cool" and Japan "the coolest nation on Earth". There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ...

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.^[27]

The term "gross national cool" was coined by Journalist Douglas McGray. In a June/July 2002 article in Foreign Policy magazine,^[28] 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."^[29] 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. A countrys foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how that particular country will interact with other countries of the world and, to a lesser extent, non-state actors. ... Consumer electronics is a term used to describe the category of electronic equipment intended for everyday use by people, the consumers. ... 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.^[30] 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.^[31] 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (560x864, 45 KB) MONA LISA 1509 Subject: The Mona Lisa Source: [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Painting Mona Lisa Talk:Mona Lisa Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 22 Talk:August 22 Wikipedia:Selected... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (560x864, 45 KB) MONA LISA 1509 Subject: The Mona Lisa Source: [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Painting Mona Lisa Talk:Mona Lisa Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 22 Talk:August 22 Wikipedia:Selected... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... i love orange pekoe tea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...

English poet and playwright William Shakespeare used cool in several of his works to describe composure and absence of emotion.^[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",^[32] in Hamlet he wrote "O gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, sprinkle cool patience",^[33] and Othello's antagonist Iago is musing about "reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts".^[34][1] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see A Midsummer Nights Dream (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Othello (disambiguation). ...

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. 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] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (500x636, 55 KB) Summary Die Dreigroschenoper - German poster from 1928. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (500x636, 55 KB) Summary Die Dreigroschenoper - German poster from 1928. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Arthur Cravan ( born May 22, 1887, Lausanne, last seen at Salina Cruz, Mexico in 1918 and most likely drowned in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico in November 1918), pugilist and poet, was a larger-than-life character, and an idol of the Dada and Surrealism movements. ... Marcel Duchamp (pronounced ) (July 28, 1887 – October 2, 1968) was a French artist (he became an American citizen in 1955) whose work and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post-World War II Western art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the... Anthem Das Lied der Deutschen Germany during the Weimar period, with the Free State of Prussia (in blue) as the largest state Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1918-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann(first)  - 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (last) Legislature...

Berthold Brecht, both a committed Communist and a philandering cynic, stands as the archetype of this inter-war cool. Brecht projected his cool attitude to life onto his most famous character Macheath or "Mackie Messer" (Mack the knife), in The Threepenny Opera. 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] Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was an influential German socialist dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century. ... Die Dreigroschenoper, original German poster from Berlin, 1928. ...

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. 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.^[35] Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... 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 (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Goodbye to Berlin is a short novel by Christopher Isherwood. ... Peter Stearns is a professor of history at George Mason University, where he is currently provost. ... George Mason University, also known as GMU or simply Mason, is a public university in the United States. ...

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.^[36]

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",^[37] where the stereotypical big-hearted teacher/priest/social worker tries to inculcate social responsibility into street-wise cool kids, whose response maybe paraphased as "only suckers care".^[38] For other uses, see On the Waterfront (disambiguation). ... Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. ... This article is about the musical. ...

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. 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.^[39] Motto: Ex navicula navis (From a boat, a ship) Coordinates: , Country Poland Voivodeship Łódź Powiat city county Gmina Łódź City Rights 1423 Government  - Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki Area  - City 293. ...

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.^[1] Andrzej Wajda, Warsaw (Poland), May 2006 Andrzej Wajda (born March 6, 1926 in SuwaÅ‚ki) is a Polish film director. ... Roman PolaÅ„ski (born August 18, 1933) is an Academy Award-winning film director, writer, actor, and producer. ... The Leon Schillers National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź is the most notable academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and TV staff in Poland. ... Jerzy Kosinski (orig. ...

In Prague, the capital of Bohemia, cool flourished in the faded Art Deco splendor of the Cafe Slavia. Significantly, following the crushing of the Prague Spring by Soviet tanks in 1968, part of the dissident underground called itself the "Jazz Section".^[1] For other uses, see Prague (disambiguation). ... Asheville City Hall. ... SK Slavia Praha (en:Slavia Prague) is a Czech football club founded 1892 in Prague. ... People in a café watch Soviet tanks roll past The Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar, Russian: пражская весна) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia starting January 5, 1968 when Alexander Dubček came to power, and running until August 20 of that year when the...

The Middle East

The cool "Anatolian smile" of Turkey is used to mask emotions. 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. Illustrated in the book The Rebel Sell, cool is created out of a need for status and distinction. This creates a situation analogous to an arms race, in which cool is perpetuated by a collective action problem in society.^[40] Zero-sum describes a situation in which a participants gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participant(s). ... one of several front covers The Rebel Sell: Why the culture cant be jammed is the name of a popular non-fiction book written by Canadian authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in 2004. ... The term arms race in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. ... The economic theory of collective action is concerned with the provision of public goods (and other collective consumption) through the collaboration of two or more individuals, and the impact of externalities on group behavior. ...

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"^[41], cool is given three characteristics: For other uses, see New Yorker. ...

• "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".

A piece of Simpsons dialogue embodies this dilemma: The Simpsons. ...

 Homer: So, I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool. 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.) Fore! is the fourth album by American rock band Huey Lewis & the News, released in 1986 (see 1986 in music). ... ...

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".^[42] 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".^[40] Supporters of this theory avoid the pursuit of cool. Top-down and Bottom-up are approaches to the software development process, and by extension to other procedures, mostly involving software. ...

The concept of cool was used in this way to market menthol cigarettes to African Americans in the 1960s. 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.^[44] According to Fast Company some large companies have started 'outsourcing cool.' 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.^[45] A menthol cigarette is a cigarette flavored with the compound menthol, a substance which triggers the cold-sensitive nerves in the skin without actually providing a drop in temperature. ... Fast Company is a full-color monthly business magazine that reports on innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design and social responsibility. ... Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s and refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation. ...

Cool defined

• "Cool is a knowledge, a way of life."^[46] -- Lewis Macadams
• "Cool is an age-specific phenomenon, defined as the central behavioural trait of teenagerhood."^[47]
• "Coolness is the proper way you represent yourself to a human being."^[48] -- Robert Farris Thompson
• On April 18, 2007, Darby Conley in his comic strip Get Fuzzy coined the term "Charlie Watts" as the unit of measurement of coolness.
• In the television show Futurama, the base unit of coolness is the Fonzie, as in "Good Lord, I'm getting a reading of over forty Megafonzies!"

Darby Conley is an American cartoonist best known for the popular comic strip Get Fuzzy. ... Get Fuzzy is an American daily comic strip written and drawn by Darby Conley. ... Charles Robert Charlie Watts (born 2 June 1941) is the drummer of The Rolling Stones. ... This article is about the television series. ... Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli (also known as The Fonz or simply Fonzie) is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984). ...

See also

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

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Cool Britannia is a media term that was used in the late 1990s to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. ... CD reissue of Daviss 1957 LP Birth of the Cool, collecting much of his 1949 to 1950 work. ... Itutu is the term for a religious feeling created at the Kingdom of Benin in 15th Century Nigeria. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The term square, in referring to a person, originally meant someone who was honest, traditional, and loyal. ...

References