Cool (aesthetic)
Coolness, or being cool, is the aesthetic quality of something being compatible with currently admirable social norms of society or a group of people. Because of the varied and changing interpretation of what is considered cool, as well as its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. For most, coolness is associated with exemplifying composure and self-control. When used in conversation, it is often as an expression of admiration or approval, and can be used when referencing both people and items of interest. Although commonly regarded as slang, cool is widely used among disparate social groups and has endured in usage for generations.
Definition
Below are some concise definitions that try to capture its different usages:- "If status is about standing, cool is about standing free." – Grant McCracken
- "Cool is a knowledge, a way of life." – Lewis MacAdams
- "Cool is an age-specific phenomenon, defined as the central behavioural trait of teenagerhood."
- "Coolness is the proper way you represent yourself to a human being." – 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.'"
- In the novel Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, the "Monks of Cool" are mentioned. 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.
- "Coolness is a subjective and dynamic, socially constructed positive trait attributed to cultural objects inferred to appropriately autonomous."
Base meaning
In another sense, cool is used as a general positive epithet or interjection, which can have a range of related adjectival meanings.
While slang terms are usually 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 outside English, and several languages have their own words for the concept.
Additional elements
Autonomous behavioral characteristic
The sum and substance of coolness is a self-conscious confidence 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 certain contexts.Cool was once an attitude fostered by rebels and underdogs—such as slaves, prisoners, bikers, political dissidents, etc.—for whom open rebellion invited punishment, so they hid defiance behind a wall of ironic detachment, distancing that defiance from the source of authority rather than directly confronting it.
In general, coolness is a trait based on the inference that a cultural object is autonomous; that is, the person or brand is not constrained by certain existing "unnecessary" rules, expectations, or beliefs.
A cultural ideal has emerged from this characteristic which is a socially admired way of being that combines self-control, apparent effortlessness and emotional restraint. It is often shaped by artists, intellectuals and other tastemakers, then spread through popular media and youth culture as a marker of identity and distinction. The ideal is associated with autonomy, distance from authority and the conversion of marginal or oppositional positions into style and prestige. Commercial industries draw on ideas of cool in branding and advertising, while marginalized communities have also used them as forms of protection or symbolic resistance.
Peaceful state of being
Cool is also used for describing a general state of calmness and well-being, or similarly, a transcendent, internal state of peace and serenity. 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 heart." Such meanings, according to Thompson, are African in origin. Cool is related in this sense to both social control and transcendental balance.Cool can similarly be used to describe composure and an absence of excitement or agitation in a person, especially in times of stress.
The word can also express agreement or consent, as in the phrase, "I'm cool with that."
Social theories and aspects
Subjectiveness
According to this theory, coolness is a subjective, dynamic, socially-constructed trait, such that it is subjective. People perceive things to be cool based on an inference of "autonomy". That is, something is perceived to be cool when it follows its own motivations. However, this theory proposes that the level of autonomy that leads to coolness is constrained. An inappropriate level of autonomy that opposes a legitimate norm does not lead to perceptions of coolness. The level of autonomy considered appropriate is influenced by different variables for each individual. For example, people who think that societal institutions and authority are unjust or repressive equate coolness with higher levels of autonomy than those who are less critical of social norms and authority.Social distinctiveness
According to this theory, coolness is a relative concept. In other words, cool exists only in comparison with things considered less cool. For example, 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.Elusiveness
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. In the New Yorker article, "The Coolhunt", 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".
- " can only be observed by those who are themselves cool".
Regional differences
Africa and the African diaspora
Author Robert Farris Thompson, professor of art history at Yale University, suggests that Itutu, which he translates as "mystic coolness", is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the 15th century by the Yoruba and Igbo civilizations of West Africa. Cool, or Itutu, contained meanings of conciliation and gentleness of character, generosity, grace, and the ability to defuse fights and disputes. It was also associated with physical beauty. In Yoruba culture, Itutu is connected to water. This also gives it a connotation related to temperature. Thompson also 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 otherworldly fashion, from one's circumstances, to be nonchalant in situations where emotionalism or eagerness would be natural and expected. Joseph M. Murphy writes that cool is also closely associated with the deity Òsun of the Yoruba religion.Thompson acknowledges similarities between African and European cool in shared notions of self-control and imperturbability. However, he 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 coolness in traditional African cultures, something which Thompson argues is absent from coolness in the Western context:
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 Pan-American African Diaspora, 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.
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. The definition, meaning "something fashionable", is said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young. This predominantly black jazz scene in the U.S., as well as expatriate musicians in Paris, helped popularize notions of cool in the U.S. in the 1940s, giving birth to "Bohemian" or beatnik culture. Shortly thereafter, a style of jazz called cool jazz appeared on the music scene, emphasizing a restrained, laid-back solo style. Notions of cool as an expression of inner self in a Taoist sense, equilibrium, self-possession, and an absence of conflict are commonly understood in African-American contexts well. Expressions such as "Don't blow your cool", or later, "chill out", and the use of "chill" as a general characterization of inner contentment or restful repose, all have their origins in African-American Vernacular English. As Ted Gioia wrote in A History of Cool Jazz in 100 Tracks: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."
He continued, "The goal was always the same: to lower the temperature of the music and bring out different qualities in jazz."
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 that were denied mainstream expressions of manhood. She writes that mainstream perception of cool is narrow and distorted, with coolness often perceived merely as style or arrogance rather than a way to achieve respect.
Designer Christian Lacroix has said that "the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture".
Among black men in America, coolness, which may have its roots in slavery as an ironic submission and concealed subversion, is enacted at times to create a powerful appearance, a type of performance frequently maintained for the sake of a social audience.