Thursday, November 20, 2014
Blog #5
this class has been very informative to me this semester. I have learned a lot about the different kinds of critiques to apply to topics. My most favorite part of the class is the open discussions that we had about the topics we read or watched. It was great to see all of the different ideas everyone had. The film about the food industry was very enlightening. It showed me how food companies can treat their employees and how the development from farmer to grocery store takes place. Also, the parts we discussed about the women in sports and politics was very interesting. It was very educational to learn how women are viewed by their looks than by the stories they tell. The parts on Disney films, to me, were greatly exaggerated. In my opinion, the writers already had personal biases and hatred for the Disney films. Why can't they just be fun and whimsical for children. If we were to force children to critique these films as adults, then they won't get to enjoy the childlike fantasy of the cartoons. My least favorite discussions were the race topics. Too much emphasis these days is put on race. Why? If we are such an advanced society, why do people keep doing this? It just propetuates hate and focuses on race, not the individual. So, to sum up, I had a blast in this class and learned a lot.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
final blog
This class to me has been very informative to me. It has giving me a better outlook of life; also I like how we have open and honest class discussion about each topic. This is a very good way for me to get other people perspectives on life and really broaden my views on things. The best discussion we have had in class was the feminism topic. I really enjoyed the debates on the pink phenomenon everyone had good point of views and opinions about it. I even took some of the things I learned from class and have installed in my young cousin lifestyle. I really wish we would have coverd the topic of race a little more. It's a lot of things that go on in todays society that I feel like is geared to different races. I think the gender issue is a very important topic, but I would have wanted to go into a little more deeper in race.
Final Blog
Looking back at the different units that we saw in class, I think that the one that I enjoyed learning about the most was the feminist theory. Feminism is a taboo word in today's society and a lot of people misinterpret it's purpose and what it means when someone says that they are a feminist. It means that you think that men and women deserve to be treated equally in a social, political and economic context. The texts for this unit were my favorite because they showed not only how society and the media make it hard for women to become successful being themselves but that men are also being oppressed. So it was a nice balance between articles like "Can Superheroes Hurt Boys' Mental Health" and others like "Frozen and the Eternal Lure of Princess Culture". I think that by analyzing texts that showed how both men and women are being oppressed, the class came together and supported each other.
In the end, what this class really taught me was that there are messages hidden in pop culture texts that can tell us a lot about society. There are things that are often overlooked in movies and TV shows that although on the surface look innocent (especially those aimed at a younger audience cough cough Disney), it reflects many of society's beliefs. Although sometimes people might think that noticing these things means that we are just overanalyzing, it is important because these pop culture texts are teaching society how to behave. This class has made me more aware and I will probably be analyzing the subliminal messages in movies that I'll watch from now on (and just to be clear this isn't a bad thing). Doing this won't ruin the experience, it will just make me see things that I wouldn't see before.
In the end, what this class really taught me was that there are messages hidden in pop culture texts that can tell us a lot about society. There are things that are often overlooked in movies and TV shows that although on the surface look innocent (especially those aimed at a younger audience cough cough Disney), it reflects many of society's beliefs. Although sometimes people might think that noticing these things means that we are just overanalyzing, it is important because these pop culture texts are teaching society how to behave. This class has made me more aware and I will probably be analyzing the subliminal messages in movies that I'll watch from now on (and just to be clear this isn't a bad thing). Doing this won't ruin the experience, it will just make me see things that I wouldn't see before.
Representation in Movies/TV
I may turn this into a series, but today's topic is the representation of men and women in various films and television shows. Last time in class, we spoke about how voices and appearances cause us to draw conclusions about characters to the point where we know exactly what a character will do within five minutes of seeing or hearing them. Stereotyping is the primary cause of this, but to leave it at simply that would be an insult to the meaning of this class, so we'll delve deeper into this by examining the different stereotypes that there are, and why exactly they are problematic.
The first voice is one that indicates some matter of shiftiness or shadiness, and that is your stereotypical black voice. I won't record audio or video on this blog, but everyone that reads this knows exactly which voice I am talking about. That voice never belongs to a police officer or a lawyer, that voice/character is always a gangbanger, someone that can help the protagonist because of his involvement with the city's seedy underbelly, or a low rank thug working for a rich kingpin/boss. This voice adds to the idea that the black male is one to be feared and tread carefully around as it adds this idea of violence and disregard for the law, which is a common stereotype that black men face today with disastrous results, like what occurred in Fergueson, Missouri.
The next voice I'll be discussing is what I like to refer to as the "Foxy Brown." That voice is always associated with black women and comes with attitude, allure, and even more attitude. The negative implications of this voice/character paint black women to be exotic with just enough allure to make someone feel that they want to "tame" her. This isn't a character that settles down, this character sleeps around and gives her opponents all types of "jive." Note, that there is nothing wrong with free love and the like, but to have it consistently associated with black women makes them appear "easy" to a lot of people who can't really handle it when it turns out to not be true. The strength of that voice also takes away the black woman's ability to be feminine unless expressing herself sexually. That voice never has some emotional disposition about any problems it just kicks ass, gets laid, and fulfills male power fantasies all over the United States.
Because I am strapped for time, I will cut this post off at three, but the last voice I will cover is the "Lazy Mexican." That voice always has a very heavy accent, pronounces its words always comically slow or ludicrously fast, and is never associated with "high" society. This character/voice is always a day laborer or someone just trying to make ends meet. They may have even joined up with the aforementioned gangbanger. This voice is harmful because it's never just attributed to a single entity, that voice/character gets copy and pasted to the entire Spanish speaking community regardless of their country of origin or bearings in life. If it isn't negative, it's just neutral, a character/voice that isn't really doing anything of value to the story, its characters, or society in general, which makes it very easy for an unassuming populous to attribute that to every person that "isn't quite black, but has an accent."
The first voice is one that indicates some matter of shiftiness or shadiness, and that is your stereotypical black voice. I won't record audio or video on this blog, but everyone that reads this knows exactly which voice I am talking about. That voice never belongs to a police officer or a lawyer, that voice/character is always a gangbanger, someone that can help the protagonist because of his involvement with the city's seedy underbelly, or a low rank thug working for a rich kingpin/boss. This voice adds to the idea that the black male is one to be feared and tread carefully around as it adds this idea of violence and disregard for the law, which is a common stereotype that black men face today with disastrous results, like what occurred in Fergueson, Missouri.
The next voice I'll be discussing is what I like to refer to as the "Foxy Brown." That voice is always associated with black women and comes with attitude, allure, and even more attitude. The negative implications of this voice/character paint black women to be exotic with just enough allure to make someone feel that they want to "tame" her. This isn't a character that settles down, this character sleeps around and gives her opponents all types of "jive." Note, that there is nothing wrong with free love and the like, but to have it consistently associated with black women makes them appear "easy" to a lot of people who can't really handle it when it turns out to not be true. The strength of that voice also takes away the black woman's ability to be feminine unless expressing herself sexually. That voice never has some emotional disposition about any problems it just kicks ass, gets laid, and fulfills male power fantasies all over the United States.
Because I am strapped for time, I will cut this post off at three, but the last voice I will cover is the "Lazy Mexican." That voice always has a very heavy accent, pronounces its words always comically slow or ludicrously fast, and is never associated with "high" society. This character/voice is always a day laborer or someone just trying to make ends meet. They may have even joined up with the aforementioned gangbanger. This voice is harmful because it's never just attributed to a single entity, that voice/character gets copy and pasted to the entire Spanish speaking community regardless of their country of origin or bearings in life. If it isn't negative, it's just neutral, a character/voice that isn't really doing anything of value to the story, its characters, or society in general, which makes it very easy for an unassuming populous to attribute that to every person that "isn't quite black, but has an accent."
A new vision of pop culture
After 3 months of course, here's the day of reckoning. This course has given me a lot, both on theoretical approach and on text analysis methods.
If I had to pick two things from this course, it would be the unit on narrative perspective and the unit on neo-marxist perspective.
I loved the part about the narrative perspective because it allows me to have a new vision on the elements of pop culture, especially the elements of fiction. Indeed, the fact to analyze, for example, motivations and intentions of a person based solely on these actions. Because of this course, I would never see a text in the same way! I will need to find what is the "hidden meaning" in any element of pop culture.
I also liked the section on neo-marxist perspective because it has a very interesting angle. Indeed, I found really relevant the notions of hegemony and ideology and the fact to analyze it in a text just make it more interesting.
I think the neo-marxist perspective can be considered the most "negative" because it will show things that will not please everyone, but I think it's also the truest.
Our society is primarily a society in which an ideology has taken over others. Therefore, this ideology is also transmitted in the cultural elements of this society, and even more pop. culture. So I feel that analyzing a text in terms neo-marxist, it is primarily analyze the ideological power of the society.
To conclude, I would say that this course has been very constructive on my way to see the elements of pop. Culture. Whenever I would look at a series or a movie, I could not help but think about this course and theories that we saw!
If I had to pick two things from this course, it would be the unit on narrative perspective and the unit on neo-marxist perspective.
I loved the part about the narrative perspective because it allows me to have a new vision on the elements of pop culture, especially the elements of fiction. Indeed, the fact to analyze, for example, motivations and intentions of a person based solely on these actions. Because of this course, I would never see a text in the same way! I will need to find what is the "hidden meaning" in any element of pop culture.
I also liked the section on neo-marxist perspective because it has a very interesting angle. Indeed, I found really relevant the notions of hegemony and ideology and the fact to analyze it in a text just make it more interesting.
I think the neo-marxist perspective can be considered the most "negative" because it will show things that will not please everyone, but I think it's also the truest.
Our society is primarily a society in which an ideology has taken over others. Therefore, this ideology is also transmitted in the cultural elements of this society, and even more pop. culture. So I feel that analyzing a text in terms neo-marxist, it is primarily analyze the ideological power of the society.
To conclude, I would say that this course has been very constructive on my way to see the elements of pop. Culture. Whenever I would look at a series or a movie, I could not help but think about this course and theories that we saw!
My Favorite Class of Fall '14
I have learned a lot in this class. From the lectures to the readings, I got something out of it. Each chapter of the class gave me a better understanding of the way pop culture is viewed. This has changed my views on a lot of things about social media. My favorite chapter of the semester would probably have to be the feminist perspective in pop culture. MissRepresentation was a great documentary and I think everyone should take the time to watch it. Being an women, I love to talk about how we are portrayed in any social aspect. As the semester went along, my morals and views on things changed and some became stronger. I totally look at Disney movies different and will think twice when my kids turn the channel when I have some of my own. I think one big thin I got out of the class is that all of these pop culture artifacts try to oppose the status quo, but you're always going to be facing society. Society tells us to be ourselves and don't let anyone tell you "you can't" but once you do, they reject you and talk about you.
Every night I come home to my roommates and tell them what we discussed in my Rhetoric and Pop Culture class. We would have a conversation about it and I'm always flattered that they say they want to take the class and when they always ask "what did you guys talk about today?" This class has not only changed my personal views but also the ones I'm around. I hope that everyone got something positive out of this class and that what they thought before about something is either stronger or different from what they use to think about Pop Culture.
Every night I come home to my roommates and tell them what we discussed in my Rhetoric and Pop Culture class. We would have a conversation about it and I'm always flattered that they say they want to take the class and when they always ask "what did you guys talk about today?" This class has not only changed my personal views but also the ones I'm around. I hope that everyone got something positive out of this class and that what they thought before about something is either stronger or different from what they use to think about Pop Culture.
Blog Five: Farewell
I have to say this was a great class. I learned a lot that I hadn't known before and also now whenever I watch TV or read an article I pick up on certain things I hadn't before which I think is awesome! I love how in our class there were many different opinions that came about. One of my favorite discussions that we had was about race. Race has become one of the central points at least once in most of my classes this semester and every time there have been different opinions stated.
I would have to say that my biggest take away from this class would be the way I now view things. I see things differently than I had before. Before the feminist criticism I viewed feminist as just these women would wanted equal rights as men. But once learning about it a lot more I learned that it is so much more than just that. My favorite article we read was about Brittney Griner. She is such an awesome person from what we see that just wants to be treated as a human being. It sucks that in our society we label the way that we do. Also I loved reading about the American Bro. I never really thought about how men also have to face criticism like us women do (but in my opinion not as much).
I would have to say my favorite unit was the critical race theory. Its funny in our society how we aren't really supposed to talk about things like race but I loved how in the class we were able to have a healthy discussion and be able to voice our opinions and laugh together at the clips that were shown.
Overall I think that this was a great class with great interaction among us students and hope everyone has a great rest of the semester!
-Kelly
I would have to say that my biggest take away from this class would be the way I now view things. I see things differently than I had before. Before the feminist criticism I viewed feminist as just these women would wanted equal rights as men. But once learning about it a lot more I learned that it is so much more than just that. My favorite article we read was about Brittney Griner. She is such an awesome person from what we see that just wants to be treated as a human being. It sucks that in our society we label the way that we do. Also I loved reading about the American Bro. I never really thought about how men also have to face criticism like us women do (but in my opinion not as much).
I would have to say my favorite unit was the critical race theory. Its funny in our society how we aren't really supposed to talk about things like race but I loved how in the class we were able to have a healthy discussion and be able to voice our opinions and laugh together at the clips that were shown.
Overall I think that this was a great class with great interaction among us students and hope everyone has a great rest of the semester!
-Kelly
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