One of the most troubling aspects of the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” is that the demographic that has fallen victim to this mass-marketed rebellion is the one that is most familiar. Just as its aim appears to be, the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” forces one to question many of the media icons that have been mainstays in our youth culture. In fact, whether they were favorites or not, most youth who grew up in the 1990s have an enormous amount of popular culture knowledge, but the dark side of this is the level of consumption pointed out in the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” as well as the level of deception present. Even more disturbing is the fact that many companies see teenagers not as people with real lives, problems, and issues, but as walking and talking dollar signs and even more disconcerting, as potential marketers of their products.

There are many disturbing, if not somewhat paranoid ideas presented in the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool”. For instance, the thought that people one sees that look hip or trendy are merely “plants” by companies to make their peers feel like they need to buy something to look like this person is incredibly frightening, especially since they could be anywhere. This aspect of the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” perpetuates not a sense of unity as youth should feel with one another, but a very strong sense of jealousy and even suspicion. While the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” is doubtlessly attempting to represent media and other companies in a negative light to expose these truths, the most perplexing question that remains is how true is all of this really?

Despite some of the questionable arguments put forth in the documentary film “The Merchants of Cool” one at least should be struck that this level of deception could be present and if nothing else, the film “Merchants of Cool” does get one thinking. With the evidence and argument presented, one cannot help but feel used simply as a result of being young. In fact, one could go so far as to say the biggest question that exists with this film is whether or not this entire sinister really exists to the extent portrayed. It would seem so and it is time for young people to wake up and snap out of the stupor they have been sold into.

This troubling question about the film The Merchants of Cool can easily be answered by turning on the television and now, after having the ideas from the film in mind, one can watch MTV and other popular culture youth programming with fresh eyes. The vulgarity is certainly present but it’s so omnipresent and presented as just an innocuous image of vulgarity (as opposed to what it truly is) that it has become almost completely acceptable. The problem is, for those not indoctrinated into this accepted level of vulgarity (i.e. parents and older folks) this is sheer porn and bad taste. Children, especially young girls who see a certain level of sexuality and “misbehaving” as something that is expected and even necessary are the most heavily affected by this because the information being presented is that it’s cool to be sexy and dirty and fun but there is no knowledge of the true issues surrounding sex or adulthood, thus it is, especially after watching MTV after this film, horribly creepy.

In other words, the question about whether or not this is an overly sinister representation of media and other companies marketing to the youth population might depend on who sees this film. On the one hand, those indoctrinated and unable to know better (very young people being fed these images and ideas) would declare that the film is silly and paranoid; something that parents dreamed up but as one moves into adulthood and then sees the film and watches MTV immediately sees that Docherty was merely skimming the surface.

Other essays and articles in the Arts Archives related to this topic include : Marriage and Family on Television : Parody, Sitcom and “The Simpsons” •  Film Review and Analysis of the Documentary “All About Sacramento”  •  Gender and Generation in the Film “The Graduate” (1967)