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.

Extra Credit

I wanted to touch on the discussion we had Monday night about white privilege. I've never heard of the term until I came to college and it makes perfect sense. Since we are on the segment of critical race theory, I have found an article about an incident where the ide of white privilege might have been a case. In Gretna, Florida, a mother, Juanita Donald, calls the police because he needs help giving her 24 year old son, Kaldrick Donald, his medication. She says that she has called plenty of times and they never hesitate to help her. She also says that they usually take him to the Apalachee Center. But this night was a different. Sergeant Charles Brown shows up to the Donald's' house. She says once he entered, he took Kaldrick into the bathroom and shot him multiple times, killing him. Now the only reason I believe that "whiteness" takes place in this situation is because one, this has not blown up on the news like it should nor has the sergeant been charged. I think this is an example of white privilege. The article says that the sergeant is one "administrative leave" or paid vacation. And since the story isn't big, he probably won't get any charges against him. This idea just adds on to the white privilege. Most police officers are white. Police officer are authority figures and work within the government. This is a small symbol of whites having power even if its not has big as the power of a CEO of a company, the president, or a US Senator. But they do have the power of a weapon. I'm pretty sure that Sergeant Brown was only given the opportunity to protect the community because of his skin tone. Which also can fall under the "whiteness" idea of location. This part of Florida is probably mostly whites and just like the Key and Peale video we watched in class, Kaldrick Donald was probably seen as a threat to Brown.

I hope that this article blows up and that justice is served. The police brutality is a touchy subject since they are suppose to protect us and the community. How could we trust them if they are acting out of their duty? Its especially hard to respect officers now because of this and since all of the incidents has been white on black cases. Some say its an act to "get rid of all the blacks" or to get rid of all the lower class but using the blacks as an example. What ever the case is, it is a plain example of white privilege. Its said to admit but, I  do not think we will ever over come white privilege in this country since it was build by whites for whites. The minorities of the country will always be the "minority". They set it up for the minorities to be in a lower class to make them feel they will always be beneath the rich.

Princess Culture

I do think that the arguments about princess culture are valid but not all in a negative way. Yes, they create sort of fantasy for kids and give them an ideal of how "life" should be. But I think, it's two sides of the story. Although, I believe that Disney kind of made "Princesses" a movie genre which is okay to an extent. I think is okay for children to have the chance to "imagine" about that lifestyle. Some of those princess give a off a role model, type figure to children. I think Disney should have limited the princess movies so that there wouldn't be any conflict with the reality of these character roles. Which definitely makes these arguments about princess culture very valid. I bet if there wasn't a lot of princess movies and it wasn't a trend, there wouldn't be any pageants for little girls. Its kind of the result to actually bring that "princess" life to reality which causes a domino effect.

MissReprsentation

I totally agree with this documentary. Not only is it a serious issue that needs to be taken care of, but it needs to be brought up. Everyone knows that women in the media are treated as objects or toys to make this product look better or make this company have sales through the roof. Me being a film major, I definitely want to be able to uplift women in the media and I definitely want to raise the percentage in the media industry of women to have certain jobs that men usually have.

 I also love the article that we read in class from Roxanne Gay. She totally hit the nail on the head about celebrity feminism. I agree that it is a good thing that celebrities are claiming this title and let the problem be known, but just because they have the word "Feminist" behind them does not mean they are the face. With being in the celebrity spotlight, they can target a wide variety of people, or even children.

I honestly do not think that women and men will ever have the same rights only because it has been this way for so long. We can make progress by starting in the media and with certain jobs, but I do not think that it will be full equality between the sexes. Society will always divide females and males. They will always be stereotyped and thought of has a certain characteristic.

LJ's Pop Culture Addiction

According to my age, I think I have been through alot of pop culture addiction that were "in" at the time. I can say that I have indulged in every addiction that pop culture has thrown at me. From the time that I could navigate a remote control, I was totally obsessed with SpongeBob Squarepants. And to this day, I can quote anything from an episode. Also to this day, I continue to faithfully watch the always hilarious, re-runs. And now advanced to the future, I thought that I wouldn't really have an addiction, but this class has made me realize that I actually do. YouTube and Netflix. The Gods of the Social Internet. YouTube has taken over too much of my time. I would be on the site for hours and hours and hours. I would go from watching popular viral vidoes of the time to aspiring, underground rap cyphers in the DMV, to conspiricies about 911. Now, its a whole new story. I would strictly watch videos about hair, makeup, DIYs, and other girly stuff. Freshmen year of college, I would watch YouTube before I would start my homework! But besides that YouTube will always be loyal to me when I need a distraction. Speaking of distration, besides YouTube, nothing could distract me from Netflix. Once I sign in, the day is full. I love how all of the previous seasons to any show is available and you're set for the day. My top three shows that I will watch over and over are, Orange is the New Black, Freaky Eaters and My Strange Addiction. Those shows will never get too old for me!