F2010 CMC100-2

Constructing the self.. Canadian identity

2010-12-03T13:16:00.001-08:00

In terms of the reading from week 2 " as Canadian as possible", we see that there is evidence and the construction of the Canadian identity, which is in turn expressing their unique place or role . The reading looks at the cross-culture between Canada and the USA and how Canada tries to detach itself from the assumption of being just like USA or being in the shadow of the United States. Looking at the construction of the self, we see that it is a destructive/constructive pleasure. Self theory is a method of critical thought that is created and used for the self. The main theme around it was national identity an d Canada's lack this of due to America’s influence on their culture. When i look in the media and see people like Jim Carrey and Justin Bieber, the fact that they are both Canadian shocks me. There is no sense of this Canadianism in either of them and i would never tell, maybe because I'm foreign myself but there is not distinguishing features about Canada. Maybe that is why they are trying so hard to build a Canadian identity.

Consumerism

2010-12-03T10:47:00.001-08:00

I would be lying if I didn't say that sometimes when I'm bored in class I'll look at clothes on the internet and sometimes even bags or shoes. Consumerism is everywhere in today's society, and according to Juliet Schor's essay The New Politics of Consumption, it's starting to cause a rift between Americans. "The new consumerism, with its growing aspirational gap, has begun to jeopardize the quality of American life." (Schor, 186) This also relates to the idea of symbolic violence, which is the idea that the capitalist system forces Americans into bankruptcy because we are constantly trying to compete with one another for the best and newest clothes, cars, houses, yachts...the list goes on. The image that I chose in the cover of Nirvana's album Everyday and shows a baby reaching out for a dollar bill, symbolizing that we are taught to appreciate and strive for money from the time we are born because consumerism is so ingrained into our way of life.

Portrayal of Current Events on South Park

2010-12-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

When I was younger, I was never interested in watching South Park, but as I got older I started watching the show more and more not only because it was funny but because of the way Trey Parker and Matt Stone addressed current events on the show. One of my all-time favorite episodes is Elementary School Musical (Season 12, Episode 13) because of the way it parodied the portrayal of high school in Disney's High School Musical franchise. Mostly recently, South Park has dedicated three episodes of its current season to mocking BP's response to the Gulf Oil Crisis. This clip relates back to our readings this week because without seeing the actual BP president's apology video, the parodied one is insignificant. As Ted says,
"they can call attention to and critique visual and auditory signifiers of power like the suits, impersonal terminology, 'breaking news,' and 'expert opinion' tropes of contemporary U.S. journalism, while also exposing those institutions for the biased and conservative forces they are. However, responsive tactics are also limited by that same methodology. Although they can certainly “speak truth to power,” to borrow Foucault’s terms, they cannot reinvent the structures of power themselves. In other words, they react rather than recreate." Although South Park has successfully altered its viewers as to how they feel about the apologies, they can only make fun of the apologies and not change the outcome of the events.

Coon 2: Hindsight
Tags: SOUTH
PARK Eric Cartman,more...

2010-12-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Like a few others have posted, I also never really watch South Park before this class. After watching episodes in class, and the latest readings by Ted, I feel that not only do I want to start watching, but that it may also be beneficial to my knowledge of current events.

Through the reading I found that the show is very allusive about its overall stance on politics, the economy, norms, pop culture, etc. After some research, I found that this allusiveness reflects on the views of the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Here are lines from an interview for their upcoming film in which they were asked about the term "South Park Republican":

Q: I don't know if you've heard about this, but there have been essays written about the concept of the "South Park Republican."

TREY: Yeah, we have seen that. What we're sick of—and it's getting even worse—is: you either like Michael Moore or you wanna fuckin' go overseas and shoot Iraqis. There can't be a middle ground. Basically, if you think Michael Moore's full of shit, then you are a super-Christian right-wing whatever. And we're both just pretty middle-ground guys. We find just as many things to rip on on the left as we do on the right. People on the far left and the far right are the same exact person to us.

In another exchange from the same interview:

Q: You seem to feel free to roast everybody equally.

TREY: Everybody needs a good roasting.

MATT: It's been pretty funny on both sides.

TREY: And it comes from an honest belief we have, which is... George Bush doesn't know what's going on. Michael Moore does not know what's going on. And Alec Baldwin definitely does not know what's going on. Basically, this shit is gigantically complicated.

I believe their middle-ground stance (along with the parodic, satiric, and ironic humor of course!) is what makes the show as interesting as it is . It's multiple allusive elements provides a critical ontology to help the viewer think outside of the box on current events, issues, and concerns that would often be displayed inarguably in news media. I say this because when I watch news stories, the convincing way in which they are presented almost always buy my sympathies as they are made to do so. South Park helps me think in new ways and to see things from different perspectives. This is due in part to the overall critique of conservative and liberal alike--as shown in the interview above, they dish it out to everyone. The disruptive ontology in South Park helps me recognize how ridiculous we American's can be sometimes.

Laughing At? Or Laughing With?

2010-12-02T05:02:00.000-08:00

Before this class, I

have never seen episodes of South Park or the Chappelle Show. I didn’t know too much about either, I just knew a basis for each of these comedy shows was to make fun of certain ethnicities, races, and

subcultures. I understand that both of these shows are very different in some respects, but a main similarity is that they both share a common audience. Whether that can be a good thing or not, is debatable. W

hile watching segments of each clip I started to realize what Ted was saying about why Dave Chappelle stopped his show; because he couldn’t tell if people were laughing at him and with the jokes, or laughing with him and at the jokes. After Ted said that I started to think about that a little more about comedy in general. When people, ethnicities, races, subcultures, etc. are being made fun of there is always a change that at least one person in the audience is laughing at the criticism of the stereotypes. Knowing this, are certain comics promoting racism? I just

thought it was funny to think that even after the strides people have made to overcome racism, it still strongly exists.

South park- not afraid to address taboo's

2010-12-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

South Park has never failed to make everyone crack up, there may be a moment of uncomfortable if you have never watched the show before but as it goes on and even to viewers, you can not help but laugh at the parodies that south park is know for.
After reviewing Ted's conclusion in his book, with the second paragraph i noticed the use of "convergence culture" i had no idea what this meant so googled.
the unity of old and new media. realistically the show uses profanity and thus can't be watched by everyone, it addresses issues that go on day to day to make fun of them and addresses even the taboo's that are in society. This may be why people feel uncomfortable sometimes, but with the shows ridiculous nature sometimes its hard to to find it hilarious. Overall i think it goes beyond just being a cartoon, and is an extremely clever show!

Watching South Park

2010-12-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

Before this class I had never seen a full episode of South Park. When I was younger my parents did not completely ban me from watching the show, they just let my brother and I know that they strongly disapproved. The reason for me never watching the show was not my parents’ discouragement though, it was the fact that I was never exposed to it and didn’t have the desire to really go out of my way to view it. Now that I have been exposed to it and know a little more what the show is all about, I find myself interested and motivated to seek out more episodes. I never realized that South Park critiqued our media culture intelligently and in a way that is fascinating, entertaining, and funny.

2010-11-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

South Park has always been one of my favorite shows since Season 2 when I started watching. Many of my friend’s parents would not let them watch South Park because they believed the show was outrageous, and it would teach their children bad morals. My parents on the other hand let me watch South Park. They saw the humor in it and realized that most of the episodes were really only making fun of the stupid things in the media and the present. I began to fall in love with South Park because “they react rather than recreate.” South Park always seems to make the serious things funny.

Disruptive

2010-11-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

In class we always compare the critical in postmodernism with The Daily Show and the ontological with the Colbert Report. The differentiating factor between critical and ontological is that the disruptive can inhabit what it is parodying. THe critical is merely reactive. Colbert embodies the stereotyped right wing nut and sometimes even takes it to a farther extent. One of my favorite segments he does is with his gun "sweetness." It is inhabiting paranoid gun owners. However the razor line that these ontological critique-ers must walk is marked by people thinking they are actually being serious. In this interview Colbert says that he says things he doesn't believe and that it is a character, but numerous group of conservatives mark him as a leader or important figure. It is a little ironic that they are putting something nonexistent on their pedestal.

2010-11-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

In reading Geoffery Baym’s article, I immediately felt like I could relate to the demographic that was being discussed. Although I hardly ever watch the daily show, it seems as if all of my knowledge that is directly related to ‘the news’ is retrieved from other sources of media (that is mostly looked down upon: reality TV shows, pop culture radio stations, celebrity magazines, etc.) sources that may not necessarily be viewed in a positive way. I can honestly say that I do not read the newspaper or watch the news, but I do watch reality TV and read the ‘trashy’ magazines. Surprisingly enough through my sources of media, I am still learning about current events occurring in our world. I had a similar reaction to Drew’s blog post because I realized that even though I am not necessarily watching the highest education of news I am still learning about what is going on in the world. As embarrassing as it is, in 2005 when I was in eighth grade I was obsessed with show Laguna Beach. Towards the end of the second season, there was an episode in which an epic landslide was discussed. Realistically if I didn’t watch this pathetic show I would have had no idea. I’m from Boston so at that point I could imagine what it would be like to have a landslide take out a huge number of people and ruin their lives. This is just one example that I felt related to the reading because that episode educated several of teenagers who most likely wouldn’t have heard about that natural disaster. (Fun Fact: because of this episode my eighth grade class raised a ton of money for this natural disaster)

The "Real" Daily Show

2010-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

The article by Geoffrey Baym discussed a lot of interesting points about the state of news media today. The transition the 18-24 demographic has made to relying on other media outlets for information makes a lot of sense to me. As Baym mentions, the comedic elements of shows like The Daily Show allow the audience to be more involved with the news, rather than just listening to events being listed off. Also, it allows the show to be self-deprecating, which actually legitimizes the content even more because it gives the impression of being unbiased. The whole article made me think of something that it failed to mention and I think people completely forget about (or never knew). I don't really watch The Daily Show as I avoid politics, but back in the old, old days of Comedy Central (like pre-South Park) I did watch The Daily Show...hosted by Craig Kilborn. It is interesting to think that Jon Stewart took over and the show almost immediately took off, but the subject matter also changed. Craig Kilborn's was much more of a "local news" style in which topics of all kinds would be talked about and there was not so much emphasis on politics. It was a lot less funny, too.

News and outsourcing

2010-11-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

This article reminded me of my internship with Saturday Night Live. At that point in my life I was extremely attentive to the actual news, not just getting my daily dose of information from South Park. One of my jobs every single morning was to lay out five different publications of news papers for the writers and cast members. The television sets around the office were always tuned to CNN. It was the most politically informed time of my life. It was important for my job to know what was going on. If I wanted to ne day work in the same office I had to be informed directly from the "real" source of the media because the parodies had to be created from that real. To quote Baym, "Any notion of fake depends on an equal conception of real." The news parody began with SNL's Weekend Update and from there spawned, The Daily Show/Colbert Report, ect. Packets of real headlines would be emailed to everyone in the office so you could write your own punch line to it. Again- these were real headlines that if you did not know the backstory you would not be able to successfully write a funny punch line. Since I returned to college and now do not run around getting coffee and news papers for NBC I find myself still informed but on the other end of the spectrum. Instead of being at the source of information aiding in creating these parodies I once again watch them to be informed.

This SNL weekend update was written solely by Amy Pohler during my internship and is a great example of media, comedy, and the fake/real news. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-palin-rap/773781

CNN: obsolete?

2010-11-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

This reading was coincidentally assigned at the perfect time. This morning in a religion class that I’m in, we started talking about Mormonism, which somehow led into a discussion about Scientology. As embarrassed as I am to say this, I was able to recite the basic histories and beliefs of both religions – because of South Park. In fact, I think a lot of the people in the class felt the same way. Later today when I started reading the article, I realized just how much Baym’s ideas relate to my method of getting news.

CNN is probably the TV channel I watch most; in my apartment it is almost always on in the background, or at least on mute. In spite of this, I honestly feel like I learn, understand, and retain information much better from shows like The Daily Show or South Park that take issues that are being discussed in the news and present them in a more entertaining way. For instance, when Scientology became popular among celebrities, South Park took that idea and used iconic figures such as Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and John Travolta to essentially report the same news story, but in a much more memorable way.

There aren't any clips of these episodes on YouTube that I can embed, but here are the links to both of the full episodes: Trapped in the Closet & All About the Mormons.

Jon Stewart's Influence

2010-11-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of the Daily Show. I'll watch the show even if it's just a typical unhyped episode.
That said whenever there is a new Jon Stewart interview with either right-wing politicians, or political commentators, I will sit myself down and watch the entire thing, most likely more than once. There aren't as many of these instances are I would like, because with each one I watch I find myself more and more engaged in the rhetoric with which Jon openly criticizes and debates his opponents. I have 2 examples below, neither actually taking place on his show. The first is a famous appearance Jon made on CNN's crossfire, that was cancelled in response to his epic beat down of the pundits and the show's premise. The second is an interview from the 2004 election time period in which Bill O'Reilly questions the legitimacy of the Daily Show as a news operation. While reading Geoffrey Baym's essay on the show I instantly recognized all of his point on the significance of the show as a critical media satirical news show. No matter who Jon is speaking to, or debating, or arguing with he constantly hides behind the "fake" news banner. Which as a viewer I understand, because it is true, but also feel doesn't give the show enough credit.

The Best Show Ever: Whale Wars

2010-11-16T17:48:00.000-08:00

Reading Geoffrey Baym’s article made me think about myself, how much I watch the news, and if I really even like it at all. I thought about it, and I realized that I rarely watch the news or read the newspaper, but for some reason I always know what is going on in the world or on reality television. Baym’s article made me realize that I get my information from all the other television shows I watch, such as the Daily Show, Jay Leno, South Park, and other shows like them who make fun of and tell the news in a funnier and more enjoyable way. South Park has always been one of my favorite television shows to watch and over the past few years they have been getting ideas from what is happening presently in the world. Now, not all of it is always true, but I can get just enough information from it that either is enough for me, or it will make me go look it up on the Internet. Here is a video of one of the South Park episodes that is a parody of the show Whale Wars. It not only informed me about the actually television show, but it also informed me about people killing whales.

Humor vs. Monotone

2010-11-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

While reading the article about The Daily Show by Geoffrey Baym it became apparent that young audiences in this day of age are no longer affected by “serious” media. Often something may be important, but if not introduced in an interesting way it will be overlooked. This made me think of a related example that many young adults have experienced being “preached” to in school and health class surrounding the importance of having safe sex. Usually it was the authoritative manner in which it was presented and the seriousness that caused these talks to go in one ear and out the other. However, for example, in this condom commercial young people are more apt to listen to important information if it is introduced through the use of humor, as is true with The Daily Show. This aspect of humor keeps the audience interested and able to reflect upon the actual information instead of letting the overall message be swept away in a haze of monotone speeches.

Political Figures and "Fake" News

2010-11-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

In Geoffrey Baym's essay, he forges a connection between young people getting their news from "late-night talk shows such as NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CBS's Late Show with David Letterman" (Baym, 260) and also Saturday Night Live. He further proves this connection by pointing out John Edwards chose to announce his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination on The Daily Show. The clip I attached below is an excerpt from Barack Obama's appearance on The Daily Show in which he addresses current political issues such as the healthcare reforms. This relates to Baym's essay because political figures are trying to reach out to a younger demographic through appearing on media outlets that appeal to this younger audience.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Barack Obama Pt. 3

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

The Daily Show on Facebook

"Fake News" shows

2010-11-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

The article by Geoffrey Baym focused on the comedic “fake news” show, The Daily Show with John Stewart. Although the article discussed many aspects of the show and it’s relation to political journalism, one point in particular really stood out to me. In the first pages Baym gave statistics illustrating audiences of real news shows vs. audiences of comedy news shows. The figures supported the idea that more people watch shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Late Show with David Lettermen. It then went on to discuss The Daily show in more detail. I find myself to fit in among these statistics. I am semi ashamed to say that I tune to SNL, Leno, and lettermen more then I tune into the major news stations. My reasoning was not really mentioned in the article though. I do this simply because of entertainment. Sometimes I feel as if real news shows don’t really teach me anything I don’t already know of. Either that or it’s hard to voluntarily watch something boring in the hopes that something of value might be mentioned. So I choose to watch shows I find enjoyable and slightly informative. Sure these might be “Fake News” shows, but I find the content to usually relate to important issues of the time. I have attached a link to a video of clips of Amy Poehler in SNL’s Weekend Update. Weekend Update is real “Fake News” created for comedy, though there is sometimes a bit of truth to the stories. I feel like it is a lighthearted clip that relates to this readings message. There is a link because the Embedding was disabled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cJ2cfTEkT0

Is it News or "News?"

2010-11-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

Geoffry Baym discusses in his article “The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism," the modes of discourse presented in "fake" newscasts like the Daily Show. Baym says, “This is not simply the move toward “infotainment,” although the fundamental blurring of news and entertainment- a conflation that cuts both ways- certainly is a constituent element. Rather, it is a more profound phenomenon of discursive integration, a way of speaking about, understanding, and acting within the world defined by the permeability of form and the fluidity of content. Discourses of news, politics, entertainment, and marketing have grown deeply inseparable: the languages and practices of each have lost their distinctiveness and are being melded into previously unimagined combinations." This can be clearly seen in the video above. In the very opening scene we see a title reading "The Daily Show" that is very similar to that which you would see on a news cast. It then cuts to Jon Stewart at his desk, talking to his audience like it is a talk show. These are two forms of the discourse of which Baym discusses. Baym also says, “Drawing on live broadcast coverage of public statements and government proceedings, the content of The Daily Show resembles much of the mainstream news media. Empowered by the title of “fake news,” however, The Daily Show routinely violates journalistic conventions in important ways. For one, while it covers the same raw material as does the mainstream news, its choices of sound bites turn contemporary conventions on their head.” (264) This is a technique that is often used by both the "real" news and the "fake" news. This is the process by which audio clips are manipulated to make the same argument as the rest of the news clip.

Reality, Symbols, and Society

2010-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Baudrilliad makes a strong argument that the real is not real- it is an abstraction of a created reality. This concept has been popular in the media for about ten years. When the Matrix came out it was the newest and most radical idea of reality being an "un-reality". Simulacara is a philosophy of the relationship between reality, symbols, and society. This article reminded me of the very beginning of the semester when we discussed symbols and sounds and the affect they have on the human psyche, stop sign/bathroom signs ect. While watching the most recent episode of Family Guy I saw a perfect example of Baudrilliads quote, " No more mirrors of being and appearances, of the real and its concepts; no more imaginary coextensively: rather genetic miniaturization is the dimension of simulation."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy1kfJDvjSQ&feature=related

What is real?

2010-11-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

In Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulations, he presents the concept that map is not territory, that "it is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own" (145). He asserts that the world we live in has essentially been replaced by a copy of its former self; when both the real and the representation cease to exist, they leave only the hyperreal in their place. The idea of hyperreality is seamlessly integrated into The Matrix, which portrays a false world created only by perception. When Neo awakens into the real reality – the "construct" – Morpheus says "welcome to the desert of the real." Neo's appearance is now "residual self-image, the mental projection of [his] digital self." The version of hyperreality feels like a dream, providing artificial stimulation and creating an ideal place to detach from consciousness. It asks: what is real? And is what is real even still real?

Stepford Wives

2010-11-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of Thomas Franks article, “Why Johnny Can’t Dissent” he discusses the system of conformity and what it means to descend for example in the 1950’s. I immediately pictured the movie Stepford Wives where a suburban neighborhood is filled with women who creepily conform to being a “housewife”. They completely go about their lives cleaning, doing laundry and cooking gourmet meals until we eventually realize that the real women have been replaced with robots. Franks indicates that, “The Establishment demands homogeneity; we revolt by embracing diverse, individual lifestyles.” To revolt against this rigidness in the 1950’s was much easier to do then than today, all you had to do at that time is listen to rock n’ roll and break rules. Present day is less conformed so to revolt is to attempt to go against everything that society is made up of, it’s more extreme as it’s difficult not to get caught up in some form of consumerism or another. This is why I find the Stepford Wives as a good metaphor for dissent because they are the depiction of “conformity” yet they are in actuality robots and a level of “perfection” that is impossible to achieve.

2010-11-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

This article was about the abstraction of a base idea. It reminded me a lot of a movie we watched in my film class. The movie was titled the Andalusian Dog. It was a paradigm of the Surrealist movement. Surrealism, like the article, was about obscuring meaning. the article referenced obscuring the original meaning. In the case of the map, it becomes so detailed that it conceals the original intention or meaning. Surrealism was all about obscuring any and all meaning and leaving it open to the viewer. Surrealism and the map are puzzles of narratives.

The Desert of the Real Itself

2010-11-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

One of the big concepts that I got from Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulations is the idea that map is not territory. It's funny to think that on a map the lines are so distinct, though in real life there is no actual line at all. Wars break out over who own what because there are no actual "lines." One example would be the Sino-Indian war and another example would be the redistricting of countries in Africa.

Putting a modern twist on this concept that there is no "black and white" in the real, I thought of the division of person items after divorce. When someone gets half of everything, what is half? You have to negotiate the terms, which is similar to when countries negotiate the borders of countries.

In regards to the quote "The desert of the real itself," I asked myself "What exactly is real?" Zizek comments on this exact quote. He discusses the fact that because media allows us to imagine tragedy, we cannot fully grasp tragedy when it actually happens. The example he used was the terrible event of 9/11. He explains that because there are so many similar images on film of building collapsing and people panicking, that we can't fully grasp the gravity of the situation.

Internet and Globalization

2010-11-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

Kahn and Kellner’s article talks about the Internet as a part of globalization and the politics concerning it. The article discusses how the Internet has played an important role in globalization and will continue to and it will start involving more politics. Obviously there can be many positive, negative, and unsure views on this topic because there already are concerning if globalization is even a good thing or not. Personally, I believe that the Internet as a part of globalization is awesome. Yes, it has caused many problems up until today and Kahn and Kellner clearly stress on the internet as a part of globalization as being an issue, but I feel like sometimes we forget that bad things can come from any part of communication. Meaning that so what if the internet as a part of globalization has caused problems? I believe that even if it was not a part of globalization, the problems that have occurred would naturally arise.

Oppositional Politics and the Internet: A Critical/Reconstructive Approach Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner

2010-11-10T07:38:00.001-08:00

The article for this week focused on the growth and global influence of the internet, with an accentuation on it's involvement in globalization. Internet politics are predicted to be widespread and promote revolution of every day life. To me, the internet is such a necessity, and I know it is in schools, in businesses, when sometimes work logs are documented online, or homework is posted, such as the wiki. Kahn and Kellner's essay addresses the withstanding issue that the internet is a form of globalization and today's internet activism that is a growing domain of current political issues. During a time of terrorism and war, the central worldwide pro-peace/anti-war and social justice movement is thus reinforced in this argument, becoming a more democratic medium. New creative forms of web design and creative websites, like wikis, blogs, facebook, myspace, etc, are groundbreaking developments of the internet's hypertextual architecture. This video is very appropriate, relevant, and i think you will enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAycYsxgmMw

The Role of the Internet in Globalization

2010-11-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

I feel as though sometimes we don't really count the internet as a means of globalization, and Kahn and Kellner's essay brings this issue to the forefront. Although their essay focuses on Internet politics and the effect that the Internet has on increase in political involvement, to be honest I really couldn't get past the fact that the underlying message Kahn and Kellner were trying to get across was the undeniable effect the Internet has had on globalization. Below is a clip from the movie The Social Network, based on a true series of events surrounding the formation of the extremely popular website facebook.com. Facebook has about 500 million viewers worldwide, which results to about 1 in 14 people on Earth has a Facebook page. To say that Facebook has impacted globalization is definetly an understatement.

Internet activism

2010-11-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

The article by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner discusses the Internet and the politics surrounding it. I found the article to be informative, although it was slightly confusing at some points and I was turned off by the obvious presence of bias. When discussing Internet Activism the authors seemed to make it an opportunity to use democratic ideals as positive examples. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with using the Internet in democratic politics, In Fact I think it has done a lot of good, but I would have liked to see some points from the other side of the political spectrum. There was also a lot of “Bush Hate” going on in the article. I’m not saying that I like Bush (I don’t, by the way), I just think that they could have left some of their resentful opinions out and still be able to criticize the Bush administration in a more credible way, But that’s just my opinion about the article. On a lighter note, I found the authors’ arguments about Internet Activism to be refreshing. I agree that the Internet has provided the opportunity, for those who have not been able to in the past, to get involved with issues. I found a video clip that illustrates Internet activism. It is one of those Google search stories. It tells the store about how one person can get involved with politics through the Internet.

Pride or Dissent?

2010-11-08T18:23:00.000-08:00

After the reading "Why Johnny can't Dissent," there where several instances that came to mind about dissent that goes on today within society. From the fight against conformity, anti- corporate power, oppression.. the list goes on.
One instance that stuck out for me is the use of the Confederate flag is seen as dissent. Although to many in the south it is used of a symbol of southern pride, for many African American's this same symbol can be a shameful reminder of slavery and segregation. The Confederate battle flag has also been appropriated by the Ku Klux Klan and other racist hate groups. For this reason the use of the confederate flag is very often frowned upon. An example of this is in North Carolina and the fact that they still fly the flag proudly, no matter how many NCAA games don't get played there! The NCAA continues to enforce its boycott of the entire Palmetto State due to their adorable insistence on flying the Confederate flag on the grounds of the state capitol.That raises the question as to whether those who wish to fly the flag are now the ones that are oppressed in not being able to show their supposed southern pride, as this is one of the main reasons why people carry out dissent.

I Think of Them as Friends

2010-11-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

I found "I Think of Them as Friends"- Interpersonal Relationships in the Online Community by Nancy Baym to be a very interesting article on a couple different levels. This article discusses the people on R.A.T.S. (a soap opera discussion and opinion site) and how they interact with each other. So, you would think that a website filled with cat loving (it says it in the text!), soap opera watching women talking about their opinions of the show would be full of opposition, but it is surprisingly not so. They call oppositional language "flaming," and it is looked down upon in the R.A.T.S. community. Instead of resorting to "flaming," these women avoid confrontation. The do this by qualifying their opinions (like "I may be wrong but...), apologizing for disagreeing, and by framing their argument as non-offensive (as in "I think it's funny that..." or "No offense but..."). They also build interpersonal relationships online to avoid confrontation. They use each others names, partially agreeing with differing opinions, acknowledging other perspectives, and elaborating on their opinions to avoid confusion. But what I'm asking is "who cares?" My view is that you're never going to meet these people.

The weird thing is...they do meet each other. They send each other gifts and lend each other their cars when members from out of state are in town. Some of them consider each other their best friends! I find this so interesting that they initiated their entire relationship on the fact that they like the same soap opera. I can't imagine not seeing a person more than once a year and considering them your "best friend." I mean, I haven't seen my friends from high school and our friendships have already lessened. Maybe I'm just a skeptic, but I don't really believe in online dating or any of that nonsense. Maybe this is just a giant conglomeration of non-confrontational people, and that is why they get along so well.

Nerdiest Blog Post Ever

2010-11-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

When reading Thomas Frank’s article about consumerism, the nerd in me kind of came out. I immediately correlated Storm Troopers to “It is a stiff, militaristic order that seeks to suppress instinct, to forbid sex and pleasure, to deny basic human impulses and individuality, to enforce through a rigid uniformity a meaningless plastic consumerism.” The only thing I felt like was different was that Storm Troopers live to serve Galatic Empire, while Frank’s drones serve the empire of the monopolized media-based consumerism. When Frank said “The Establishment demands homogeneity; we revolt by embracing diverse, individual lifestyles,” I immediately thought “Jedi.” The Jedi were people that chose to use the forces of good instead of evil for the sake of the “free world” or the New Republic. Storm Troopers and the rest of the Galactic Alliance cannot love. An example would be how Padme dies after Anakin Skywalker becomes evil.

Ultimately, it turns out that this article had nothing to do with Star Wars because Frank says “As existential rebellion has become a more or less official style of Information Age capitalism, so has the counterculture notion of a static, repressive Establishment grown hopelessly obsolete. Princess Leia sent a message saying “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope,” showing that there was no way to embrace the surrounding culture and turn it into a counterculture full of options.

2010-11-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

The very end of the article is what struck me most as ironic and unfortunate. Even though as a social group one may be trying to revolt, there is still big business cheering you on. THey have to because if they are cheering you on they they are obviously not "big business." However once they start supporting, the movement becomes null an void. It doesn't matter what you do, big business is backing you and that makes you fight yourself. It is a lot like the "More" video by MArk Osbourne. Once the main character invents his googles to make everything better, to get out of his big business environment where he churns out products at a mundane job, he becomes what he was fighting. All of his inner light is gone.

2010-11-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

I read "Why Johnny Can't Dissent" by Thomas Frank right after I finished my paper on masculinity in advertisements. I found that what Thomas Frank wrote about was very similar to some of the point I make in my paper (using masculinity to promote a product). My first paper was on the Viagra ad above. I argued that this ad persuaded a man who had Erectile Dysfunction that he had lost his masculinity, and Viagra was his only answer to restoring his masculinity. This would make a man feel like he has also regained his power and dominance, putting him in a different category from the men who have not restored their masculinity. This is very similar to some of Thomas Franks’ arguments. An ad that tells people to “break the rules” or “resist the usual” can make them feel powerful and better than everyone else; therefore they are going to be the ones leading the new conformist group. I believe that there are conformist waves. People see the newest and greatest product and buy it because they will be “cool” and “different,” and they will lead the new conformist wave. As soon as a new product comes out though, it is a race to see who can be the new “first.”

Globalization effects..

2010-10-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

When we look at cultural studies, we see that culture is the pattern of social groups or human activity. Culture draws widely in what people wear, the food they eat and the morals and beliefs they hold and how they carry them out. With Globalization we are joining different cultures together and blending them together. Cultural boundaries are broken down through Globalization and traits that are usually well known within one specific country are slowly making their way accessible worldwide. The internet helps to break down cultural boundaries, through interaction and information. Although Globalization is fantastic in the way it is connecting cultures and integrating global networks some also feel that there are negative effects as culture is being imported and directly exported into different countries. This leads a concern that bigger and more powerful countries like the US and England for example may overrun smaller countries with their ways and brands. This refers to process’ that are known as Americanization and McDonalization.

Globalization Versus Cultural Imperialism

2010-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Globalization and Cultural Imperialism are two sides of the same coin. Globalization is usually the way the culture spreading looks at it and Cultural Imperialism is how the culture being hegemonized. Globalization is making citizens more aware of other countries, ideas, and ways of life. Cultural Imperialism is the intense and bad version of globalization. In class on Monday, I made the argument that if citizens weren't patrons of the imperialized cultures businesses then they wouldn't be there. After thinking of this picture, I thought that it might be nearly impossible to avoid. Even in our own lives as AMericans, how easy is it to frequent only mom and pop businesses in all aspects? This Cultural Imperialism is overwhelming. It is inescapable. Once the first store or idea is planted, it spreads like a virus. It infects everything until it is hard to pick when the change actually happened. Cultural Imperialism is Globalization, it just depends on which side your on.

Race, Society and Comedic Relief

2010-10-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

This episode of Chappelle Show, titled, "I know black people" is a game show parody about knowing "Black People". Chappelle uses cliche stereotypes as his questions. After watching all the African American sitcoms in class- such as Good Times, it triggered this episode. One of the questions was reciting the lyrics to the Good Times theme song. This sheds light on the globalization of black culture and its impact on different communities. Some contestants were well versed in black "street" culture while others stared blankly into the fake game show hosts face. It is so funny but also an insightful on black culture and stereotyping.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?title=i-know-black-people-pt--1&videoId=219443

Things Have Changed

2010-10-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

The article by Ghosh was very interesting in its analysis of advertising trends surrounding Indian culture and society. One thing that stood out for me, though, was the fact that, at least from what I have seen, the portrayals have significantly changed since whenever this article was written. The first example that popped into my head was that of the stern patriarch who establishes strict rules for the family and high expectations for the son/s. Ghosh did not mention this now common stereotype that I think reigns supreme over most others, nowadays.

I also thought of this MetroPCS advertisement, however, because every time I see it on TV I can only think of how blatantly racist it is. I feel that the developers of the ad would contend that they are actually breaking away from the common stereotypes (strict doctors or turban-wearing cab drivers [I found that, at least in Chicago, most cab drivers were from Africa]) by featuring the eccentricities of these two men. This doesn't work for me for a few reasons.
1. They have extremely thick Indian accents: This is one area of Indian culture that media definitely plays up as a humorous object (listen to their accents! they're so goofy!)
2. They have facial hair and the sort of stiff look that are often presented as Indian traits
3. They are advertising TECH: This just fills in the newer stereotype of Indian workers as people who are inherently good with technology (outsourcing)

At the end of her argument, Ghosh asks for a change in media that recognizes the "poly-religious, polyglot amalgamation of principalities." I feel that, due to political and world events, this change actually has come, but it has simply changed to a new form of racism that fits more along with the black, asian, and hispanic portrayals in media. By that I mean, the media recognizes a demand/need to represent Indian culture physically, so new stereotypes have been adopted.

It Could Happen

2010-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

As in the duel absence-presence of Indian culture, there is also that sense for gay and lesbian culture. There is no great voice or unifying figure for gay culture as there isn't for Indians. Until recently gays were not portrayed in mass media. Indians still don't really have any representation, voice, or figure. In the absence of a gay example or representation, other groups have been able to misconstrue what gay people support or want in greater society. This parody of a republican ad is an extreme of that misrepresentation. Although outrageous, after watching the "Fox attacks" series, I can see it happening. The unfortunate thing is that people would worry about it.

Ground Zero Mosque & Gay Wedding

- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

Henna Tattoos or Ritualistic Adornments?

2010-10-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

While reading the article “Con-Fusing” Exotica” I realized how much of Indian culture is actually present in American society. Many aspects of Indian culture have been dissociated from their race and have been sold as “American” products. One idea that has been Americanized is henna tattoos. These tattoos were originally seen in Indian culture and they were actually viewed as ritualistic adornments called bindis and mehndi. By marketing these designs as something else, and not informing the consumer, one is taking away any form of identity or presence Indian culture has in America. “It is a kind of an apolitical exoticism and uniformed ethnic chic that is both calculated and successful-after all, what better way of stripping people of their histories and their art …transforming them into a First World consumer good.” (278). I find it interesting that on many occasions American society has been incorrectly informed of the influence India has on our world, creating an unrealistic picture of their race as a whole. They are not represented or acknowledged for much of their work that is eventually marketed as an “American” product. Is it so hard to get a henna tattoo and call it by its actual name instead of marketing it as something new and unheard of? I’m not quite sure what America would lose by giving the Indian culture the respect of claiming their products as their own, rather than covering it up as an American product.

Stereotypes in Media

2010-10-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

I fully agree with Sanjukta Ghosh’s “Con-Fusing” Exotica Producing India in U.S. Advertising” article. Like Michelle, I also believe that Ghosh was very biased in many of her arguments. Ghosh argues that there is lack of Asian Indians in the media, but there is a lot of “robbed” culture that companies use to advertise their products because it is something that is usually beautiful and not normally seen in the media. One of my favorite points made by Ghosh is when she argued that “absence makes it possible for media empires to achieve a racially cleaned visual environment that reinforces the notion of who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them,’ who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’” News and media agencies are able to form these stereotypes shown in the video above by keeping these races and cultures out of American media. I believe this is plausible because when someone does not know anything about a culture or race they will believe the first thing they read or hear, and as we have already seen in previous studies, the media is very good at persuading what they want their viewers to believe.

Slumdog Millionaire: A British film adopted by America

2010-10-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

While reading Ghosh's "Con-fusing Exotica: Producing India in U.S. Advertising" and the absence of Indian culture within American culture, I immediately thought of Slumdog Millionaire. "Indians...have been systematically written out, silenced, and marginalized in any mainstream picture of America." (Ghosh, 275) Slumdog is a British film, but won the coveted Best Picture slot at the American Academy Awards. In the trailer for the movie, the song featured is by the Ting-Tings, a popular British group. This movie represents Ghosh's argument because although it was praised by American critics and audiences alike, it was not an American movie. Whereas Indians are the United Kingdom's largest nonwhite ethnic group (www.statistics.gov.uk), there are about 1.7 million Indians in the United States (www.garamchai.com/statistics.htm).

Exotica

2010-10-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

In the article by Sanjukta Ghosh, “Con-Fusing Exotica”, Ghosh expresses the frustrations about the presence (or lack there of) of Indians in the US media. I was slightly confused by the article and had to read it more then once. I found Ghosh’s argument about the media’s portrayal of Indians to be slightly contradicting. At first he states that there is an “absence” of Indians and Indian culture in US media. Later he states that there is a large presence of Indian culture in the media, but it is “robbed”. There were some interesting points and examples in this piece, but I found myself a little turned off by the obvious bias present in the writing. That’s not to say I don’t believe what the author is saying isn’t true. I just think I might get a clearer idea of the situation from a more objective article. Other then that I found the points about the US incorporating Indian fashion as their own quite interesting. I was able to find a Vogue fashion spread that seemed to praise Indian culture and Fashion in a way. It displayed fashion trends reflecting Indian culture, yet it gave credit to that culture.

Nike

2010-10-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

Although I like to think of Nike as being a ‘morally good’ company, this article has proved me wrong. Nike like most other companies tries to appeal to the consumer by giving them what they want. Nike cares about ‘looking good’ for their middle class consumers by publicly showing that they participate in charity events, support different causes, and by giving away apparel; however, this is all a disguise to cover the manual labor they put people through in sweatshops to make all of the apparel.

When I read this article I began to realize, how Nike (like every other advertisement) tries to show the consumer what they want. The other day I saw this Nike advertisement about some curvy woman with a big butt. The advertisement continues to put emphasis on how though this woman might not be a size 0, she has a great body and loves herself for it. I can honestly say that I fell right into the typical consumer reaction and loved the ad, because I guess I felt I could relate. This is just an example of how Nike is trying to appeal to their consumers and covering up the horrible work they are putting people through.

Lightening of Skin

2010-10-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

I thought it was interesting that black sitcoms such as The Cosby Show have been a way to overcome racial discrimination and bridge the gap. Through comedy this occurs but it has also been prevalent that many of the black actresses and actors in this show were depicted as having lighter skin than they actually have. “In these comedies, Black children are rescued from their dysfunctional families or communities by whites” (83). This issue with race and the fact that white is usually perceived as “better” in some way made me think of another prominent star who too changed his skin, conforming more to whiter audiences. Obviously Michael Jackson’s changing and lightening of his skin has been attributed to an illness but however it does beg to question if his race was an internal issue for him throughout his career. It makes me wonder the affect the media has on what is perceived as “better” and if these influences had an effect on the lightening of his skin.

True Nike

2010-10-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

"My shoulders aren't dainty or proportional to my hips, some say they are like a man's. I say, leave men out of it. They are mine. I made them in a swimming pool. Then I went to Yoga and made my arms. Just do it."

A few weeks ago I walked into a crowded Nike outlet store in Orlando and was surprised at how diverse the crowd was. I saw men and women of all ages and a number of different ethnic groups. I find it hard that anyone can deny that Nike has succeeded in attracting most every demographic at least in its more recent years. By reading Stabile's article Nike, Social Responsibility, and the Hidden Abode of Production, I got a look at how they deceive us into directing our attention towards what we want to see. It is crazy to think that they draw middle class family consumers in by endorsing good values and icons when the company itself is putting people in other countries to work in sweatshops for minimum wage. It makes me wonder what other nonsense Nike is putting into our heads with their advertisements and other media.

As an athlete and a woman, Nike's ad campaigns give me a sense of empowerment and equality in ability compared with male athletes. But knowing what I know now do they really feel this way too? The article has made me realize that at the end of the day Nike is all about doing what it takes to get me to buy the shoe. Their slogan "Just do it", no longer seems like an encouragement to challenge my abilities and go the extra mile on my next run. Now it seems like a demand to "Just do it... buy the shoe!". The ad above is very crafty. As an athlete, I have always been self conscious about losing my sense of femininity by having "man" shoulders and larger biceps. While this is a social construction in itself, the ad still empowers those women who choose to be athletes and put their strength to the test. I can not deny that Nike has succeeded in showing me what I want to see even if they don't feel the same way about women in truth.

The War is Not Over Yet

2010-10-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

I found “Nike, Social Responsibility, and the Hidden Abode” to be very interesting, especially considering the statement “compare the $130 million dollars Nike spent on advertising during the sneaker wars with the corporation’s paltry donation of $100,000 to Chicago schools.” Though I understand that much has changed since the early 1990’s, but I also feel that it is fairly obvious that many of the problems presented in this article are still relevant today. In the 2003 movie Honey, there is a scene where Bow Wow as a young boy steals sneakers from a kid on a subway to try to belong to a group of gang-oriented kids. Seven years later, here in 2010, we see Nike’s ever popular t-shirt line (seen above) sporting lines like “Welcome Haters” and “Size Matters: My Check is Bigger than Yours.” So it seems as if the idea of “sneaker wars” that Stabile mentions in her article didn’t just disappear. This is a perfect example of what Bordieu was talking about when he said that “cultural capital leads to violence in the community. There should be no surprise that there is a social hierarchy created and challenged when there’s text saying so on the shirts of the “socially blessed.”

Vans.. skate shoes?.

2010-10-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

In realtion to the "Nike, social responsibility and the hidden abode", there is a similar case with the brand Vans. With it's promotion toward African American's and Caucasian skaters.
"Nike has been diversifying it's product line for some time"(199). While Vans is a relatively newer company in relation to Nike, there is still this forming of ideology in who wears the brand that has been evident. This is through the fact that the typical consumer and original targeted consumer of the Vans brand is the indie kid who wears skinny jeans (a few more stereotypes of this person) long sweeping hair and skateboard possibly in hand.. you get the picture.

Recently rappers like Lil Wayne, (who is a huge figure in today's hip hop culture) has projected his love for the shoes in a number of his songs, a popular phrase being "Skinny pants and some Vans". Hip hops artists of today are showing that the skater look is the new hip hop look and presenting a previously predominantly Caucasian style of shoes and clothing to the African American culture. I find this extremely ironic as there had been previous criticism in America that many Caucasian teens where "stealing" the African American bangy style of clothing in the 90's. The two pictures shown above emphasis the similarities between the two examples and the effects of popular culture.

You Could Call it an Extension: Women's Hair Color

2010-10-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.color-chart.org/loreal-clairol-wella-hair.php

I too wondered about this chocolate-caramel distinction with Liz F in her post. But additionally, I wonder if this glamorized and sensual depiction of African American skin through its comparison to food could also be applied to women’s hair color. As can be seen by the hair color chart that I posted above, hair color is also compared to food (like chocolate, strawberry blonde, caramel, honey, etc.) I guess, answering my own question, that the answer is that mostly yes, it can be compared provisionally. This can be seen in many stereotypical American pop-culture movies like Sixteen Candles (1984), where the main character not only envies the attention given to soon-to-be-wed, very blonde sister, but also her very popular, blonde classmate for which she envies for the attention she receives from the boys at her school. The wealthy, popular, and desirable women are often depicted as blonde.

From Chocolate to Caramel

2010-10-13T12:19:00.001-07:00

While reading "Black Sitcom Portrayals" by Robin R. Means Coleman, I thought the section on lighter-skinned African Americans vs. darker-skinned African Americans was really interesting. "...Hollywood's preference for lighter skinned African-Americans... [is] a new twist on 'White is Right'..." (Coleman, 84) Immediately I thought of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when Daphne Maxwell-Reid, a lighter-skinned (referred to as caramel) African American woman was brought in to replace the mother character of Vivan Banks, who was previously played by Janet Hubert-Whitten after three seasons (1990-1993), a darker skinned (referred to as chocolate) African American. I think this replacement definetly is proof of Hollywood's preference for lighter-skinned African Americans and further generates the idea that 'white is right'. As the image shows, Janet Hubert-Witten is on the left and is clearly much darker than Daphne Maxwell-Reid, who was her replacement.

Black Sitcom Portrayals

2010-10-13T08:58:00.001-07:00

“Black Sitcom Portrayals was an article that featured the portrayal of the African American family on television and economic achievement within that community. I remember watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that was set in Philly, and I’m from Philly, so I loved it I would watch it all the time. I could relate to the family values and leadership that the father had. He was always in control, he was the “head man.” I still watch re-runs today. It is a funny, warm loving show suitable for everyone. On page 83 J.C.B quotes that “There’s always that one sister that can’t find a man. And if she does find a man, he is the good looking suave guy who is so screwed up.” In Fresh Prince, that character is definitely was Hilary Banks, played by Karyn Parsons. The Cosby Show was another one of my favorites growing up. I still enjoy watching that show. Mr. Cosby is so open hearted and wise with his words and fair to his children. There is nothing about him that makes you want to change the channel. I was hooked on that show, along with millions of other viewers.

Cosby Shows

2010-10-12T21:45:00.001-07:00

The article about the popularity of the Cosby Show examined the reasons behind the international success and analyzed the relations this type of show had to race and culture. The article discussed how the show was widely successful in many international countries. What the article got me thinking about was the comparison of the Cosby Show to today’s sitcoms. As I think about it, I can already recognize several modern day shows that are presently on TV that resemble the structure of the Cosby Show. I feel that these shows are common enough now a days that I feel most people are used to these shows and don’t even note the racial aspect unless it is directly mentioned in the show. Some other shows that mirror the Cosby setup are Everybody Hates Chris, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smart Guy, Sister,Sister, and My Wife and Kids. I personally see the show My Wife and Kids as something that is strikingly similar to the Cosby Show. They share a similar middle class black family setup. The images I have found illustrate the “family portraits” that represent some of these shows.

2010-10-12T20:32:00.001-07:00

While reading Robin R. Means Coleman's "Black Sitcom Portrayals," I could not help but to think about a video game that came out about three years ago. It is called Resident Evil 5 and I remember reading about it on multiple video game blogs. People were blogging about how they found the video game trailer very racist towards the black community. The trailer shows a black community as the bad guys, and it shows how they turn into zombies. On the other hand, the white people in the video game trailer are portrayed as the good army guys who are going to kill all the black people because they are bad zombies. This is not the first time people have been outraged about a video game. It is almost always on the same subject though…black people are being portrayed as the bad guys. It goes along with many stereotypes that are not only incorrect, but are also morally wrong.

Does it Matter the Race?

2010-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

After the success of The Cosby Show, there have been several other Black sitcoms to successfully internationally play on television. The article we read for class showed how successful The Cosby show has been internationally and how this middle-class African American family is portrayed. If you think about it, this is not what one would normally assume a ‘Black Show” to be like. There aren’t any stereotypes that are strongly played out in the show and the show is similar to several other sitcoms with white families. If you take race out of the picture, there are so many sitcoms that can directly relate. For example, Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step, Sister Sister (more modern), etc. These sitcoms all have the exact same basis to their shows, disregarding race.

House of Payne

2010-10-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Although stereotypes of blacks in tv sitcoms are played out everyday, there is an upside. As Tyler Perry says in the interview, they are tools. When you think about a lot of his movies and about the sitcoms this article talked about, they tackled very large social issues. Racial identity, religion, parental relations, abuse, and many other tough subjects are brought to the for front in an Oprah show-esq way. At the end of the article Coleman mentioned that black women feel like they are strengthened by their portrayal on tv. These stereotypes may and probably are false in many ways. However if thought of as a tool, like faith, to get through tough times with advise from trusted friends have they served their purpose? It may be bad for society to see these stereotypes played out, but if the shows are speaking to their audience and delivering an effective message, could it be a good thing?

Inventing the Cosmo Girl

2010-10-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

This article analyzes a former secretary's advice to the "working girl" in economic and sexual roles. She teaches readers how to present themselves in a desirable fashion and constructs an idealized subjectivity with sexual imagery and emphasizes girl power. Her vision of the American Girl Dream meant presenting yourself as a creative product that capitalizes on consumerism and flirting techniques. She encourages women to update their status in order to capture the heart of a successful man, they need to possess upper class traits and ideals. She highlights the benefits of being a secretary and that is why i have chosen this clip from Mad Men to include in my blog post. It works well with this article because men do look at women as objects and there will always be gender inequalities in the work place,but there are definitely some perks about being a barbie doll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcS8Q_Q0u4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Codgu5w_7PE

Esquire and its Construction of Gender

2010-10-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

In Kenon Breazeale’s article “In Spite of Women” discusses the construction of the male consumer while simultaneously being critical of Esquire Magazine’s construction of the female consumer. I found this image relatable to the text because I found that it’s presence in the text was substantial. It can be seen by not only Breazeale’s statement that “Many periodicals disdained any connection with alcoholic beverages, so Esquire’s willingness to tout beer, wine, and liquor as adjuncts to the good life made those industries important early advertisers in its pages,” but also through the construction of woman through this advertisement, as supported by Breazeale. First of all, Breazeale discussed how, for a men’s magazine, how it was really about women, specifically the “exploitation and denial of the feminine.” This advertisement would imply that men don’t think about how they dress or what they drink, they just know what they like and are straight to the point. This is a blatant and one-sided comparison between male and female thought process that strictly makes the same argument that I believe Esquire would be trying to make. In the article it says, “In home décor women were also accused of overvaluing appearance, this time at the expense of comfort.” This attacks the not only the actions of women, but their thoughts behind their actions, depicting them as shallow and dim-witted. This advertisement’s copy of “Thank God you’re a man” also depicts this sense of hierarchy, that somehow being a man is so much better, directly correlates to the statement that “Esquire gave advice to counter the looming rhetorical prop of a woman who is doing all things wrong.” Basically, what I believe the advertisement to be saying is “drink our beer, and you won’t be a woman and this won’t be wrong.”

How To Be A Man

2010-10-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

The construction of the male consumer, as discussed in Kenon Brezeale’s article, is an interesting concept that is said to have begun with the production of Esquire magazine. Supposedly the Depression diminished the “image” of the male and this magazine was built as a source to counteract this problem. What I found interesting about this idea is that the magazine established gender roles, and always presented the heightened image of the masculine male. It reinstated the idea that women were supposed to stay at home with the children and of course never hold a job at a higher status than the male. This magazine is supposed to empower males to feel better about themselves however I think it’s extremely interesting that by doing so they are also brainwashing them. “…a new kind of magazine-one that will answer the question of What to do? What to eat, what to drink, what to wear, how to play…” (231). This magazine, like many others, is now just a form of media telling its consumers how to think. This cover of Esquire magazine states, “How To Be A Man” with the ultimate icon staring back at you: George Clooney. Esquire’s goal was to create a following of men that will consume just as much as women, not to empower men and their individual qualities.

2010-10-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

While reading "In Spite of Women" by Kenon Breazeale, I could not help but think about the male gaze. To successfully advertise male products, advertising agencies need women, but not just any women. They need very beautiful and sexy women as seen in all of the Esquire magazines. Esquire has sections that solely talk about sexy women. They use this to draw in the male consumer. A few months ago I remember seeing this picture in a magazine and it drew me in because it was a picture of Marisa Miller, who is only like the hottest girl ever. I finally found this ad on the Internet and saw that it had been in an Esquire magazine. It was Marisa Miller that made me look at the ad, not the motorcycle. If Harley Davidson had used a male to advertise their bike, I probably would of never looked at it. Like in Breazeale’s argument, advertisers for male products need women.

Esquire Created These Mad Men

2010-10-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

While reading Breazeale's essay on Esquire's creation and aim I continually related the male imagined community it created to the men of Mad Men. Breazeale argues in order for the creation of the male consumer, Esquire needed women. The magazine continually distanced itself from femininity in order to sell men on the idea of the male consumer. The men of Mad Men are the result of this sale. They look down on all the women they work with, but are very aware of fashion, drink, home decor, gardening, etiquette, and the like. The show, about high powered ad agency men in 1950s New York, depicts the kind of men who would have grown up in a world with Esquire and the male consumer. Not only that but since the men are in the ad agency subjects of consumer identity are brought up in almost every episode. The following commercial for the show that plays like an infomercial accurately depicts the identity of women in the workplace and the men who look down on them.

Cosmo Hasn't Changed

2010-10-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

One thing that struck me about Ouelette's article was that, despite her best efforts to try and make a case for the positive results from Brown's "creation", Brown still came across with a negative image. Quotes like, "Poor girls are not sexy!" are too general and straight-forward for any meaning other than the one presented to be pulled from the statement. It was interesting then, when it was mentioned that Brown, along with the times, eventually changed her "credo" (which, according to Ouelette, she has tons of) to include the idea that women can be sexual objects/symbols and high-level businesswomen. I find this interesting because, from my most recent glancings through Cosmo, I have noticed that articles like the above are still the dominant subject of each issue. Also, I feel that the magazine has shifted to a younger audience because of the increased awareness and discussion of sex at a young age. Because of this, it seems that Cosmo has either gone back to its original platform, or it never really changed, and the idea of women in the workplace is just not brought up often in the magazine. Unfortunately, I don't read Cosmo on the reg(ular) so I can not fully assert this claim, but maybe others have more insight.

The Original Cosmo Girl

2010-10-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

After reading Inventing the Cosmo girl by Oulellette, the first thought or person who popped to mind was Samantha from Sex in the City. She is the perfect example of an independent women, who is stunning, stylish and centered on sex. She may not be the typical 25 year old model, but she has the attitude that Cosmo is trying to build into their readers. She has the perfect pink collar job being a PR, she is not too concerned about committing to a man and she spends a great deal of her life talking about sex with men she has/ is yet to be involved in. Brown promoted "a girl style American Dream that promised transcedence from class roles as well as sexual ones" (117). Sam is a high class female who has clearly made her way through her pink collar job, and maybe through the way she is so sexualized in her everyday life, but the main point to address is that she maintains this vibe without coming across as trashy.
Samantha is definitely an example of a women "who may no longer have recognized her place in male orientated American Dream mythology"(120).

2010-10-05T13:00:00.001-07:00

While reading "Inventing the Cosmo Girl" by Laurie Ouelette, I came to the conclusion that the former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Helen Gurley Brown, had in fact created a subculture in itself with the invention of the Cosmo Girl. "...Cosmopolitan was the first consumer magazine to target single 'girls with jobs' with feature articles, advice columns, budget fashions and advertisements for mainly 'feminine' consumer items..." (Ouellette 119) Cosmopolitan was the first magazine, with Brown at the helm, to target a specific audience that was just emerging with the changing social tides and shape them to whatever she wanted them to be. Cosmopolitan magazine placed an emphasis on female sexuality, and this is what sets it apart from the other female-targeted magazines of the era. "Features on female orgasm, birth control, masturbation, casual sex and sexual experimentation appeared under Brown's editorship, while quizzes with names like 'How Sexy Are You?' " (Ouelette, 123) This direct focus on the working girl was intoxicating and something that had not been done before, which is a direct link to the magazine's overall success. This image is from an issue of Cosmopolitan, and it heralds "The Naughtiest Sex Position".

Cosmo Girl

2010-10-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

The article “Inventing the Cosmo Girl” by Laurie Ouellette, analyzes the effects of the advice given to women by Cosmopolitan Magazine and its construction of the “Cosmo Girl”. I am not dedicated reader of Cosmopolitan, but I have been known to skim through an issue or two. I have always been fascinated by the construction of the seemingly “ideal” women the magazine continues to build issue after issue. Ever since Helen Gurley Brown structured the magazine to do this, there has been hardly a single issue that is without advice for women that leads them to be more like the “Cosmo Girl”. Before even reading the article, I could construct the characteristics of the “Cosmo Girl” from just the experience of reading a few issues of the magazine. The “Cosmo Girl” is fashion forward, a “pink-collar” worker, well educated in the art of seduction, Healthy with good diet and exercise habits, confident, involved politically or with “good” causes, and most of all centered on sex. Sex is a major part of Cosmopolitan’s advice and constructions. It was its attention to Sex for women that stirred so much controversy and criticism in its early years of publication. Even now some critics of the publication claim it is to focus on sex. I have attached images of past and present covers of the magazine. The covers usually feature and actress or celebrity that captures some of the essence of the constructed “Cosmo Girl.” Even in the images from the 1970’s the covers were extremely sexualized.

2010-10-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Upon reading this journal, the first ad that came to mind was this Disel ad. The woman pictured is the Cosmo Girl. A lot of women complain about femininity in advertising or portray it as bad and misrepresentative. I agree whole heartedly that it is. However it is through EFFECTIVE ad campaigns such as this one that this stereotype is perpetuated. In terms of the consumption article, if this shit would not work, I highly doubt advertisers would do it. In terms of the Cosmo girl, this is it. This is striving to "catch" your boss. An overarching theme in the Cosmo Girl article was that not only are brains a bad thing in an unattractive sense, but that they are hard. That being smart takes so much more time than faking it. It really does take more time. However, which is more self serving? Which is better in the long run? At the beginning of the article I thought that Brown was empowering women through sexuality, but really she is reaffirming the house wife of the 50's, of her time. I believe she was suggesting not to actually strive for anything concrete, but to merely look like you were striving. Not to actually read books, but carry them around to make yourself look smarter. She was border lining on saying be ambitious in all aspects of life that really do not matter at all. Be ambitious about trying to snag a "great catch" without seeming to be. The most troubling thing about this article was that the Cosmo Girl had no true identity. She was a shape shifter of sorts that conforms to whatever a "successful" male needed or wanted her to be. This ad perpetuates that sentiment. Be stupid. Be what your boss "really" wants. Lose yourself in hopes of being picked up by him. Do not be you be what he wants you to be. This ties to the eharmony ad a little too. If you are defining yourself through someone else's expectations, perceptions, and most importantly definition of happiness then what kind of person re you? How do you define self? Who are you and what do you want? Whatever your boss says.

bright colors and attractive females sell..

2010-10-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Whilst reading the Cosemtics- A Clinique case study reading, by Kirkham & Weller. I came to the conclusion that there were trying to address the gendering of toiletries for male and females. The difference in the colors that are used for both genders in their different products, and the information that is used to sell the product. With males the information is literally more about the product as most males are pretty clueless. Whereas females almost rehearse using different beauty products while through there youth and teenage years, so when this becomes a reality they pretty much already know what they need. The advertisement that came to mind was Rhianna CoverGirl Ad (“cover girls,” fashion models who appear on the front cover of ladies' magazines, wear their products). This one in particular was featuring the singer Rhianna, she self promotes a song title whilst promoting the lip gloss. One of her lines is "want to know what i have under my umbrella, even if it's raining your lips will have a lasting fruity shine". This has limited information on the product but was so popular for the pure fact that the advertisement had hot pink and girl colors, was acted out BY Rhianna and the song Umbrella was playing in the background.

The Idea Cosmetics Sell

2010-10-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

A lot of the literary and textual devices that Kirkham and Weller described in their case study of cosmetic advertisements perfectly connected with my memory of the ads I have seen in the past. One that came to mind was this Neutrogena commercial starring Vannessa Hudgens. Kirkham and Weller describe how these ads are not only "mere depiction of a... thing" (271). Cultural constructions aid in giving further meaning to the product, especially for women. In the end, the company is not just selling a product but a feeling, emotion, and femininity as well. The Neutrogena commercial is all abut cleanliness and purity. For instance, the wash is a soft pastel pink and grapefruit can be considered a fresh and feminine scent. The splash of water is a device that the writers say symbolizes the "fresh cleanliness the product promises" and sensual purification of the woman.
I also couldn't help but think what the company was hoping Vanessa Hudgens herself would symbolize for the viewer. Around the time of this commercial, she was a star in the Disney original TV movie High School Musical, aimed towards an audience of teen age and under with its G-rated portrayal of Hudgen's (Gabriella's) relationship with Zac Efron's character Troy. They are shown as a very innocent couple: the most they do is flirt and hold hands. Vanessa in real life is also shown through Disney as an innocent girly-girl. Before the whole naked picture scandal that ruined this guise of purity, she was the soft spoken epitome of innocence. Neutrogena most likely took this into consideration. With their purifying face wash they were also selling the beautiful, girly-girl, innocence that a well known celebrity like Vanessa would provoke in the minds of those who know her. Cultural construction has caused us to buy not just the product but the feeling their use promises to give. Furthermore, which teenager wouldn't want to use the same facial cleanser as a celebrity like Vanessa Hudgens who gets to date Zac Efron. Neutrogena has made this aspect of beauty, cleanliness, and purity attainable to anyone who can afford drugstore price facial cleanser.

Stereotyping Cosmetics

2010-10-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

Stereotypes play such a significant role in our society, so much that almost everyone and everything (whether it’s a sport, product, car etc.) has a stereotype. In Kirkham and Weller’s article “Cosmetics” the gendering of cosmetic products is closely analyzed and portrays the differences in advertising male and female cosmetics. On the bottom of page 271, the male advertisement of a soap ad suggests that it is a masculine ad because of the “male hand and hairy wrist.” This article clearly shows that advertisements are easily identified based of the gender stereotype that is targeted. In this Old Spice Bodywash ad I posted, there is no one in the ad but it is immediately implied it is for a male because of the background music, scene of the shower, and by the soap (with hair on it). This video is directly related to Kirkham and Weller’s argument about gendering a male’s cosmetic product.

Consumerism and Values

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

In the article The New Politics of Consumption, Schor puts and emphasis on finding out what drives consumers to look upward and compete with their social reference group for luxury. In the movie Click, with Adam Sandler, we see an example of a father dealing with the social pressures of providing his two kids with the best life possible. He tries to convince himself that his family can be content with their modest living and tries not to let the the snobby little boy next door bragging about his dads new sports car bother him. However, the father gets his values confused. We get a flash forward image of a wealthy yet workaholic father who has barely been in his children's lives in order to get them what they want. This turned out to be worse for the families well being- the kids have all the status, fashionable clothes, and things they want yet there is no longer any sense of a caring family . The presence of the father and family in the children's lives ended up being the best solution to their well-being. I realized from this movie, that continued pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle is a life of stress with a loss of family time and community. The family next door will always be raising the bar and price with the latest technology. This also has to do with the old Levittown "keeping up with the Joneses" concept Schor mentions. We just can't let these social pressures bother us into believing that social standing comes from what we consume. Of course its easier said than done.

Targeting Gays, but in a Good Way.

2010-09-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

In Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity, Fejes explores the connection between gay rights in society and gay rights in consumerism. Fejes recognizes how the gay male community has been identified as valuable consumers “because of their more attractive income profile.” I have personally noticed a deficiency in advertisements projected towards lesbian, but I could actually think of a substantial amount of ads directed at gay males. In this Levi’s jeans commercial, the viewer is basically to understand that if you put on a pair of their jeans, you will instantly attract or obtain a man. This is done through helping the targeted consumer, a gay male, relate to the man pulling on the pair of Levi’s. What I found to be so interesting about this commercial is that not only is it marketing to gay men, but it also has another version where the man putting on the jeans is straight, therefore attracting a woman instead. Because the same advertising campaign has two different versions, one to attract gay males and one to attract straight males, Levi’s clearly recognizes the gay male community as an equal market. However, they also acknowledge that it is indeed a completely separate market as well by catering to their specific interests.

Homosexuality in Advertising

2010-09-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Similar to other classmates, in reading “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity” I had specific advertisements and television shows immediate pop in my head. Will & Grace, a show that had been filmed from 1998-2006 (and still plays on lifetime) is one of the most famous shows for advertising stereotypical gay men. Ironically, while this show was in its peak, the strongest debates about gay/lesbian marriage was occurring in our country, but the show was still receiving good reviews. This show accurately supports Feje’s argument about how it seems gay men contribute to our economy more than lesbians. This specific show stresses on only one side of homosexuality and in doing this, portrays the gay men in this show mainly being obsessed with fashion and having money to spend it on.

Another instance that popped in my head related to Feje’s article again, but related to the lesbian side of homosexuality. Gay advertisements and instances on tv

are much more common to think of when hearing homosexual advertisement, but in on particular episode of Sex and the City, a “lesbian group” of friends (a group of 6 lesbians who are extremely successful) are portrayed as an intimidating group of women "powerful lesbians" who play a significant role in the economy. These women are portrayed as loving the most expensive art and classy, subtle designer suits and footwear. I thought this was an important episode to relate back to the article, because in most instances in our society, lesbians are not portrayed as successful sophisticated women-and this is one instance that relates to a small portion of the lesbian statistic of playing a role in our economy.

From the G word to the L word.

2010-09-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

In "Advertising and the political economy of lesbian/gay identity," Fejes points out that some years back- many corporations were extremely reluctant to be associated with anything that was seen as being homosexual. Whereas today there are many open media advertisements or shows promote homosexuality, sort of like a brand.
Showtime, broadcasted a very popular series called "The L Word(2004-2009)," it portrays the lifes of a group of Lesbian and their lives, families and lovers in a trendy LA area in Hollywood. The opening credits celebrate these lesbians , an example of the lyrics-"Women who long, love, lust.. Women who give. This is the way It’s the way that we live." Many people (not just lesbians) watched this series through interest to learn how lesbians supposedly "live". To be gay has almost become a trend, as Fejes identifies, "as a group they were seen as more cutting edge" (216). Another close link to this point is the song I kissed a girl"-Katy Perry, it almost justifies that it's trendy and fun to be Gay, which totally blows aware previous beliefs.

2010-09-28T18:57:00.001-07:00

After reading “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity” by Fred Fejes I immediately had a flash back to a Pepsi television ad that was only aired for a few days. It was not only promoting Pepsi, but also it was also promoting homosexuality as a bad thing. In the television commercial, after talking over the plan to pick up what the men thought was going to be a woman at the bar, the man in the middle walked past a few women straight to the end of the bar to a homosexual man. Both of his friends were very surprised because they obviously did not know he was gay. They had a look on their face as if it was a bad thing that their friend was gay. This goes completely against what Fejes was writing about. This ad uses homosexuality but in a negative way. This ad would probably be offensive to the homosexual community. The ads Fejes wrote about on the other hand, showed a homosexual male or female like in the Pepsi ad, but in those ads the men and women were portrayed ad as sexy models.

Extreme Home Consumerism

2010-09-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

The entire time I was reading The New Politics of Consumption I drew very strong parallels between her argument about the current state of consumerism to the show Extreme Home Makeover. The show advertising itself as a humanitarian project that takes people out of awful living conditions and gives them beautiful new homes. In reality the show is pretty sickening. It supports an unattainable lifestyle for the impoverished and downtrodden. It sells this lifestyle to every person who watches the show for the tears and smiles. The whole time it sells a basically unattainable home to the viewership as the only thing that will make people happy. Juliet Schor would argue that in order to get people to move away from this hyper consumerism would be to change the social parameters of consumerism.

Advertising and Homosexuality

2010-09-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

The reading Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity, by Fred Fejes, brought to attention some connections between consumerism and gay rights. I had never really made the connection between the influence gay men had in the consumer market and their progress towards equality. It makes complete sense to me now. When advertisers realized large the potential market of gay men in regards to things like the fashion industry and travel industry, they began to optimize on the possible money maker. By advertising and creating a market for gay demographics, the image of homosexuality began to change. Through advertisements and marketing opinions and views of homosexuality began to be seen in a more positive light. I find it ironic how the progression of gay equality moved faster through their role as consumers and as a large advertising target (pg. 213). I found an Image I feel relates to the issue brought to attention by this article. When the fashion industry began to realize the potential profit of marketing to gays, a few designers got around the early social problems by utilizing "gay window advertising" (214). I feel this image is filled with gay subtext.

Homosexuality Sells?

2010-09-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

While reading "Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity" I kept going back to the same thought that although gays and lesbians aren't legally allowed to get married in most states in the U.S., their culture has been targeted by advertisements in the media for about twenty years. " It seemed so wrong to me and yet so American all at the same time...corporations just want money from the gays because "...they are now being portrayed as young, healthy, fun to be with, and having a lot of disposable income." (Fejes 217) Basically, corporations and the media equate gay men with large dollar signs. "As a group they were seen as far more 'cutting edge', more likely to spend money on new products." (Fejes 216) I found this advertisement for Abercrombie and Fitch, which is so obviously targeted to the male gay community. His positioning, body language and his nudity all appeal to gay men. I thought that it was interesting that a company would so blatantly advertise to the gay community.

Gay and Lesbian Utopia

2010-09-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

The beginning of this ad for Blackberry Messenger shows two gay men who own a trendy furniture store. This is the Gay Utopia that Fejes talks about in his conclusion. The two males look to be very fashionable and successful. They are the advertising stereotype of the better than average income, white, highly educated gay male. It was interesting how Fejes brought up studies of how Ga and Lesbian people were not necessarily richer, but that they had more disposable income. In the state of Florida you can have a foster child and be a gay couple. However you cannot adopt kids. This is an odd paradox. It also points out that most homosexual couples or people do not have or cannot have families. Thereby giving them the extra income to be able to go on trips and spend money on high brand liquor and fashionable clothes. The reality of it all is that, as Fejes states, this stereotype i really a Utopia. Most gay and lesbian people live in a world of misunderstanding and hatred. Gay liberties and rights as a social class argument is the defining fight of our generation. There is only a closet to come out of because we have built one.

the new politics of consumption/gay lesbian

2010-09-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

The first piece of work by Juliet Schor was about consumer culture and the public sphere of consumption and "the new consumerism," which is the extent to which people base their perceptions and purchasing patterns off of. If income is the key to well being, and an estimated 15% of people are satisfied with leading a middle class comfortable life. This is also a contributer of why the savings rate has dramatically decreased within the last twenty to thirty years. This is all due to structural changes including the decline of the economy, the increasing role of mass media and etc, which pressures and penalizes people who cannot meet the standard expectations. I have attached an image from MTV Cribs, a television show that is very popular and it is something that everyone wants, yet very few will ever actually achieve their status. The picture is actually from TEEN cribs, an even longer shot, which is so unrealistic, and half of these kids blow their money by the time they reach their mid twenties, just because of lack of money management and investing. I learned about the decompression zone in this add, which is the section at the entrance of a store where the store owners market their best work and most desirable material because people are 30% more likely to flock to those. Another thing is that a person's well being is all relative to the standard norm, or the well-being of their peers. All things said and done, consumption practices are the rout of maintaining the levels of power and inequality that make our world the way it is, which the author calls her "positional treadmill."

The second reading, "Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity, was short and covered topics and statistics that I was already aware of. It basically just said that gay men contribute to the economy more than lesbians in their fashion spending and are considered more equal because of their more attractive income profile. Gay men really care about their appearance and will spend more money on expensive designer clothes, opposed to lesbians who generally spend less on their looks and go for the more ragged, dirty, boyish look and spend less money on their hair by chopping it off or constantly gelling it. Laumann breaks down homosexuality into three categories: desire, identity, and behavior. I have included an image that is very self explanitory and appropriate for this article. It represents the stereotypical gay man and targets them as readers in these magazines where they publish their adds, such as in GQ, a magazine for men, not necessarily gay men, but in the reading they mention the use of "Gay window advertising" in mainstream men's fashion magazines which is an approach of constructing ads that will be of taste to a gay man but will be gone unnoticed by a straight reader.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2010-09-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

While reading “The New Politics of Consumption” I immediately thought of the stereotypical consumer; one who buys in excess without the need for the actual products themselves. As a society we tend to evade the idea that we shop to fill a void. Many people shop to gain a short-lived high until this wears off, and one begins to want the next “new” item. This idea and continuing cycle is well represented in the film “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. The film goes along the path of a young woman who clearly has an unhealthy obsession with buying. They have even named her as being someone with a “shopaholic” issue, likening this problem to that of alcoholism or drugs. Social critics in this article however suggest that “the good life…could be achieved by attaining comfortable, middle-class standard of living.” (184). This idea is implemented throughout society as to be successful one should simply be happy, however the path of consumers may suggest otherwise. Our society as a whole creates a world filled with the idea that without the “newest” product we cannot obtain happiness. This relates to the numerous issues surrounding the effects of media and advertisement messages, both obvious and subliminal, that are accepted by consumers. If we are constantly “told” that we will not be accepted if we do not fulfill our material wants, then maybe this issue isn’t shopping too much, but rather why we consume. The reasoning behind it is much more psychological than anything else, a disease where we are cycled into thinking how society wants us to, rather than for ourselves. The main character of “Confessions of a Shopaholic” realizes this truth as she accepts that her need to consume isn’t a product of her own thoughts but rather the ideas our culture has created.

The New Politics of Consumption and Banksy

2010-09-27T02:18:00.000-07:00

Banksy is a graffiti artist in the United Kingdom that takes stabs at things like war, political agenda, and consumerism. I felt that the following image adequately embodies the principles discussed by Juliet Schor in The New Politics of Consumerism.

I related this picture to the quote “Income (the solution) leads to the consumption practices that exacerbate and reproduce class and social inequalities, resulting in – and perhaps even worsening – an unequal distribution of income. (Page 184)” Here we can see an obvious example of poor distribution of wealth, when a young boy is working to make money by becoming personal transportation for the obviously gluttonous wealthy. These fat and happy people are enjoying being above everyday human practices like walking, at the expense of the poor. These people in the rickshaw represent the tiny percentage of people that own the majority of the country’s wealth. This couple that represent said people, thrive off of the consumerist nature of the poor, who are trying to “keep up with the Smiths.” Just like Schor mentions that more and more housewives are entering the workforce to have the income available, this child represents the element of family that is lost to consumerism.

Shark-Like Domination

2010-09-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

“Since the mid-1980’s, major media companies had been engaged in a feeding frenzy, swallowing up other media firms to form ever-larger conglomerates."

Croteau and Hoynes use this imagery in the very beginning of their text. Immediately I thought of a media-food chain, where it was “natural” for a bigger company to consume a smaller one. I found the large media giants to be like sharks, considering that sharks are at the top of the aquatic food chain. In nature, there isn’t a controlling force that mediates who can eat whom, much like the how the media giants had little restriction on which companies they may absorb after the elimination of financial interest and syndication laws and the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Additionally, sharks have a symbiotic relationship with remora fish, as the two become a team. Remora fish eat the bacteria off of sharks, providing food for the remora and a healthy clean exterior for the shark. There is a comparison easily made between the remora-shark relationship and the synergism between the small companies and the media giants. Croteau and Hoynes say, “Synergy refers to the dynamic where components of a company work together to produce benefits that would be impossible for a single, separately operated unit of the company.”

Media Giants in the Form of Twins

2010-09-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

This week’s topic, specifically Croteau and Hoyne’s “The New Media Giants”, explores the fact that many large companies wish to expand and buy more to have greater power in the industry. This made me think of an example of expanding power through advertizing that revolves around the infamous Olsen twins. Love them or hate them they both have marketed themselves from birth, resulting in their multi-million dollar corporations. They have milked their image for everything its worth, from dolls, movies, television, CD’s, Dualstar Pictures, Clothing Lines, Perfume, and even play station games. They have worked hard to preserve their image in front of the screen and even now most of the revenue they make is from behind the scenes. They have begun designing clothes that are affordable and usually appear in stores like JC Penny or Macys. By marketing themselves at such young age they have enabled themselves and their companies to grow astronomically over time. This reminded me of other mass companies that buy out smaller companies to gain more power in the industry but the only difference here is that one is a company and the other is the image of two young girls. I would think that this business world would take a large toll on the lives of these twins because everything they do is watched closely. We also mentioned in class how each company isn’t linked to a specific person so it is a different process to sue, the Olsen twins however are directly linked to their companies and all the blame goes directly to them if they are to be sued. Overall, I find it disturbing to think that these girls have been used for profit from birth.

video for giants blog

2010-09-15T20:45:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41hiuvKfxOs

this is the video to my blog- it didn't post before for some reason.

The New Media Giants

2010-09-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

This video is appropriate for the first reading "The New Media Giants", because Comcast Cable is the largest cable corperation in the United States and I especially like this one because my dad is the former CFO and EVP of Comcast. He started working for Comcast in 1991 when he was the president of Storer Cable in Miami, (where he met my mom.) The owners and CEO of Comcast kept wanting him to go up to Philly to work at the headquarters and he didn't want to move because he liked Miami and it was cold up North. He tells me they offered him so much money for him at the time it was silly for him to say no. He has been in retirement since January 2006, and I have enjoyed spending time with him it is nice to have him around the house back home. The article reflects on Viacom and CBS's record-setting mergance worth 38 million dollars, which was done with the intent to maximize sales and put their company in the right place to outdue their competitors by making production more efficient. It mentions other trades and purchases such as when General Electric bought the company of the owners of NBC, and when Microsoft started to invest money in Comcast and other media companies. Every Christmas when i was younger, Fox Family Channel would send me and my brothers gifts with their logo such as CD Players, gameboys, etc. I remember about 10 years ago when my dad still worked for Comcast, he told me about this deal that his company was thinking about buying Disney. It never ended up happening, but in the years before he left, Comcast bought At&t and has owned them ever since. They now own lots of companies and venues such as the Wachovia center in Philly where the Flyers and Eagles play and I love going to games there :) I learned about synergy which is when different parts of the company work together to form a larger entity, and that National Amusements bought Viacom for 3.4 billion, but continued to call their company Viacom. I didn't really think about the power of Media Giants before this class, but now i can analyze things from a different perspective. There are two types of integration- vertical, and horizontal, and the difference is that horizontal involves sharing and dealing with different types of media products and vertical integration only deals with distribuiting, exhibiting, and selling a single kind of product. Before this article, i didn't realize that MTV had the most viewers out of all networks in the world, and that Nickelodeon provides programming to over 100 countries, in different languages-- wow, that's a lot!

Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes

2010-09-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

While reading The New Media Giants by Croteau and Hoynes, I was surprised to learn that major media companies have been buying out smaller companies to form larger conglomerates since the 1980s. (page 21) It's scary to think that most TV channels, magazines, newspapers and movie studios are all owned by the same five corporations, and that we really don't have much say in what is broadcasted to us. It's even scarier to think that we play a role in keeping these businesses afloat by tuning into specific TV channels, buying from certain stores or listening to particular radio stations. This line of thinking relates to an episode of South Park from season 8 called "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes". In the episode, a Wall-Mart opens in South Park, creating jobs for everyone, one-stop shopping and best of all, bargain prices on items store-wide. But soon enough the citizens of South Park are addicted to shopping at Wall-Mart, and all of the local-owned stores in the town are closing because everyone is shopping at Wall-Mart. Stan, Kenny, Cartman and Kyle travel to Wall-Mart headquarters to figure out how to destroy the Wall-Mart, which they successfully do, but the end scene from the episode implies that the cycle of growing conglomerates buying out smaller companies is never-ending.

Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes
Tags: SOUTH
PARK more...

Now that's trendy..

2010-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Grossberg pays a lot of attention to the argument Cultural Studies and Political Economy are "interrelated".
When reading this article I also saw "self production of culture- the practices by which people come..to represent themselves". We're not all one person cloned, we're individuals with idea's so spit on the current trend and act like individuals. Whether that be in a political sense with who we vote for or whether that be only wearing Crocs because they're in fashion. We're forever pretty much lied to into thinking that one idea is right and when someone sells you an idea, you too sell it to others and that's the way these trends start, thus the throwing of the true phrase "Cultural Dupes". Hopefully one day we'll get past all this.

2010-09-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

This ad is on of many for a phone company that was trying to break into the big phone market. Alltel had a creative and slightly funny ad campaign. The interesting thing about this ad in particular and the series of ads collectively, is that as they were airing Cingular was being bought by AT&T. It was in the news for a few days, but went relatively unnoticed in regular everyday life. The article in the textbook talks about how this happens. Big business will buy and sell and trade their smaller parts or whole companies. Al of tis process goes relatively unnoticed. In this ad, the guy who is representing Cingular has an AT&T patch under his Cingular patch. A small sign that the company is changing hands.

Fordism

2010-09-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

This quote came from Henry Ford. Ford was the famed designer of the assembly line. It churned out cars at an amazingly fast rate for the time. Grossberg's article talks about how cultural studies may pay too much attention to consumption and not as much on production. Any economics professor will tell you that supply and demand go hand in hand. Grossberg might have had a point that cultural studies might want to look at production as well. Ford's opinion was largely driven solely on production, but he was a successful business man to say the least. Now we know that production shapes consumption while consumption shapes production. It might lead to the question of which came first?

A Media Giant

2010-09-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

The article titled "The New Media Giants- Changing Media Structure", by Croteau and Hoynes, discusses the media industry. It discusses Viacom's merger with CBS as an example of how a few Media companies have come to control the majority of the industry. The article explains how the deregulation of the Media industry, has led to monopolies and domination of the media by huge companies. It is also mentioned how television is dominated by 4 major companies (36). One of these companies is Disney. I find Disney to be a great example of Media domination. Although it is not the largest Media giant, It's size is something I have noticed. When I hear the brand Disney I think of animated movies and child/tween programs. Some of the Disney owned brands seem surprising to me, such as ESPN. It wasn't until I found this video on youtube that I understood the sheer size of the Disney corporation. This video portrays how large a media compony can be. It is a good example of how a large percentage of the industry can be monopolized and controlled by a single entity. Not only does this "Media Giant" control a large portion of the television industry, but they have also expanded to other markets. Some examples include fashion, electronics, toy, and gaming manufacturing.

2010-09-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings after reading Lawrence Grossberg's "Cultural Studies Vs. Political Economy: Is Anybody else Bored with this Debate?" Grossberg thinks that the debate between Cultural Studies and Political Economy is boring. I can agree with him on that after reading his article because I thought the article was boring with the facts he was writing about. The first thing I thought about after reading this article was the Presidential election between Obama and McCain. My thought is that no one is right. Their views may be different on such topics, but in the end it will all work out. In this Mini Clip game the winner is determined by who has the best people for persuading a population in a certain part of the country. This is how a political candidate wins in the real world, by bullshitting them into thinking that the other candidate is wrong or stupid. It feels never ending and it has gotten to the point where it too is boring.

McCain Vs Obama

Risk it all and use superior tactics to win the Presidential Election

Play this free game now!!

A Glimmer Of Hope

2010-09-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

The article by Croteau and Hoynes very good and spot on, in my opinion. Their discussion of Viacom was particularly interesting to me, however, because of my love for a "channel" called Adult Swim.

Adult Swim comes on after Cartoon Network from 10 pm to 6 am Eastern time. It only airs at these times due to the safe harbor laws, but mainly because it is a very new station (started in 2001 [same year this article was written]) and is trying to work its way up to get its own channel. Most people know of Adult Swim primarily for showing Family Guy, which is its highest rated show. Adult Swim factors into this article in two very big ways. Croteau and Hoynes focus mostly on Viacom in the piece and Viacom is a sort of rival of Adult Swim (a Time Warner based company). A perfect example is found in the show Futurama. Adult Swim had the rights to Futurama and managed to inspire a "comeback" in popularity of the show. Unfortunately, the newfound popularity of the show also caught the attention of Viacom and in 2009, the rights to Futurama went up for sale. Viacom outbid Adult Swim on their second highest rated show and now Futurama can be found on Comedy Central. This loss greatly hurt Adult Swim.

The other key connection between AS and the article has to do with the creative loss found in these major companies. Although Adult Swim is a part of Turner (TBS, TNT, etc.), it is one of the only television networks that puts out completely original, fresh shows. I feel that if Croteau and Hoynes had written this article yesterday, they would have mentioned AS as a glimmer of hope that creativity is not dead within television. As an example, I included this clip from the end of an episode of Moral Orel. The show only lasted three seasons, but the third season (which this clip is from) was one of the most thought-provoking, psychological pieces of work I have ever found on TV. I highly, highly recommend that everyone in the class check out the Adult Swim original shows. There is something for everybody.

Women Read Romance-week 3

2010-09-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Article "Women Read The Romance" by Janice A. Radway, discusses the role of romance novels and the reasons women read them. One of the main points made in the article is the use of romance novels as an escape for women. Many of the women interviewed in the text describe these stories as an outlet to escape from the reality of their lives. The article mentions how romance novels can cause women to have unrealistic expectations. After reading the same happy endings time after time, fantasy might translate into a women's sense of reality.These fantasies have been translated across movie screens as well. Happy endings and true love are present in countless films. It also seems that stereotypical "love scenes" repeat throughout many movies. For example, there are countless movies were lovers "kiss in the rain". This can be one aspect of that romantic moment portrayed in romance novels and dreamed about by numerous women. That romantic moment is usually when a big gesture is done, by a man, to prove his love to the leading lady. After this gesture they promptly ride off into the sunset to enjoy their happily ever after. In the movie "A Cinderella Story" this unrealistic moment occurs. Although I feel most women know the line between fantasy and reality, watching scenes like this leads them to hold onto hope that something that "magical" might happen in their lives. Here is a youtube video of the kiss scene in "A Cinderella Story".

What About Funny Guys and Assholes?

2010-09-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

I found a glaring disparity in Janice Radway's article about what the Smithton women envisioned as the perfect man from romance novels. On online polls and articles about women's taste in men, the overwhelmingly most important thing women look for is a sense of humor. This is just an example, and I know it's not at the top but sense of humor is always a major player in women's desire in a man, and I thought it was interesting these romance novels don't consider it a huge element. Not only sense of humor, but what about women who love assholes? Do romance novels cater to a certain group of women who don't seek assholes? Here is an extreme internet version of an asshole:

Yes this video is meant to make you laugh, but the many stereotypes highlighted in this farce are extreme descriptions of real attitudes that can land a man a women. It could just be the age demographics, or some other variable, but do you disagree women like assholes and funny guys?

The Four Agreements: The Dream

2010-09-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

As I read through Janice A. Radway's "Women Read the Romance", her section on page 69 stating reasons as to why women read romance novels, struck me with a memory of a friend involving a book he once told me of. The book is called 'The Four Agreements,' written by Don Miguel Ruiz. The statements on page 69, talk about women reading these novels to "escape" the reality of their lives or "dream" that it is their life. To quote Don Miguel Ruiz, "Every human has his or her personal dream, and just like the society dream, it is often ruled by fear. The same fears manifest in different ways for each person. All of humanity is searching for truth, justice, and beauty. We don’t see the truth because we are blind. What blinds us are all those false beliefs we have in our mind. We have the need to be right and to make others wrong. Our beliefs set us up for suffering. We create an image of how we should be in order to be accepted by everybody. We create this image, but this image is not real. We are never going to be perfect from this point of view. Not being perfect, we reject ourselves. We are not good enough for ourselves because we don’t fit with our own image of perfection. We feel false, frustrated, and dishonest. The result is that we feel unauthentic and wear social masks to keep others from noticing this. We are so afraid that somebody else will notice that we
are not what we pretend to be. We judge others according tour image of perfection as well, and they naturally fall short of our expectations."
Don Miguel Ruiz is so concise with his wording, it was hard to not copy the whole book here. Alas, he takes the act of living in a reality and jots it down turning it into romance novel. This shows how there are steps further to the aspect of our lives current state. Retreating to a false reality we set up in own minds is no safer than that of a the points in the short story expressed inside the book.

Week 3

2010-09-08T07:35:00.001-07:00

Women Read the Romance is a short article about an interview the writer had with a bookstore employee who advertises romance novels. Women asked why they read these kind of books and they all said something along the lines of because it helps them escape, because it gives them hope, and so on. Unsurprisingly, 65% of the romance market is under the age of 40. That is basically all, in a nutshell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3G3fILPQAU
This is a trailor of the movie "The Notebook" and i think it is relevant and appropriate in this connection because it is pure fantasy and stuff like that doesn't happen in real life, atleast not my life.

Cathartic Confessions or Emancipatory Texts is a piece of writing on the public sphere of rape and discussions on the Oprah show. The audience is mostly women and together they give voice to their pain and experiences that for some of them is the first time they discuss their problems in public. Oprah Winfrey was highest paid entertainer in the United States, in 1996 and she helps people solve their problems and feel better about them selves by having her guests identify their problem, confront their inconsistencies, and then solve the problem at hand with her experts who are mainly women, as thoroughly as possible, while getting the audience involved. Oprah has a method of making private matters socially pertinent and she reaches out and helps her guests on the show. She makes a point that a big reason for rape is a lack of communication or misunderstanding.
I posted this picture of the robots because I thought it was cute and it is supposed to be a psychiatrist and it's patient.

here is my image- i tried 18 times to upload it and even watched your tutorial and it would not work.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.toonpool.com/user/997/files/robots_programmer_psychiatrist_285645.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/ROBOTS%2520PROGRAMMER%2520PSYCHIATRIST_28564&usg=__l1OKI3mePijk_5yXqhD-yKtxIm8=&h=357&w=500&sz=34&hl=en&start=0&sig2=9vkAhLe0jW79Sh5ZaFvAJA&zoom=1&tbnid=IDkY9Rxz5cDAfM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=175&ei=VaGHTKD3F4P98AaFi_lb&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpsychiatrist%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D843%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=400&oei=VaGHTKD3F4P98AaFi_lb&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=48&ved=1t:429,r:29,s:0&tx=48&ty=56

Word count: 221

2010-09-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

In todays society all we think about is "getting away." We love to let go of whatever is going on in life and escape reality for the time being. In Radway's writing she states that women read romances to shortly escape from their lives and from reality. This is seen when she states, "When asked why they read romances, the Smithton women are overwhelmingly cite escape or relaxation as their goal." (68) With our society today people are always rushing around and always busy making it difficult to escape from our everyday lives.

I feel like this picture expresses the American lifestyle. So busy and challenging that sometimes you need to just run away from everything. The line at the bottom "Its always good to escape those pesky random battles," somewhat explains life. Not always can you get away from troubles in life but when you have time alone to "forget the rest," its a big weight off your shoulders. The "pesky random battles," are similar to the obstacles we face in life everyday. Escaping reality weather it be reading a romance, watching tv, playing a sport, or going the the gym, for that short period of time during the day there is that freedom feeling, to escape everything bad in your life, is indescribable.

Escape, He's Just Not That Into You.

2010-09-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

In "Women Read the Romance" by Janice A. Radway, a lady in her group points out "We read books so we won't cry". In romances these women seem to not only escape from the daily routines of their lives but find an ideal man who gives the love and attention that they have learned not to expect.
In the movie, "He's just not into you" Nine ladies look to attain their romantic ideals, usually troubled by the differing ideals and desires of their chosen partner. This movie ties in very well to Radways idea's and findings as these women are searching for their perfect man. Like the men admired by Radway's group the male stereotypes shown are strong, independent, and intelligent. Some of these guys pay little attention to the women but they still chase, longing to be loved back. How does that work? The fact is women long for security and romantic story love in a partner as we see in this clip. So they escape through their books to find this.

Escape to Fairy Tale

2010-09-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

In the Radway reading, the Smithton interview group is demographically similar the the 25-44 age group of romance novel readers. These readers admit that the books they read are "little more than fantasies or fairy tales that always end happily"(Radway 69). They serve as an escape to the pressures of daily life and to fill the lack of nurture. Although the perspective audience for Taylor Swift video's are preteens and teens, I can't help but notice how many moms were present at the Taylor Swift concert I want to last June. Looking at this, it is easier to recognize that the Smithton group would enjoy the occasional romance novel; even if it does serve as an escape to a world the recognize as fairy tale.

This doesn't go to say that Taylor's typical audience of preteen age girls don't have their own issues to escape from. Lets not forget middle school awkward stages, braces, the pressure's of fitting in, and stressing out over whether Jimmy will ask you to dance in the upcoming spring fling. All girls can use a fairy tale once in awhile for a little hope or happiness. When you look at Taylor's music video, Love Story, you see the textbook fairy tale scenes of forbidden love and walking through forests at night and holding hands with a handsome and masculine, yet nurturing, young man. Every woman's and preteen girls dream right? Lets not forget that in this technological age, romance movies and music videos are taking the place of the classic romance novel.

Expectations vs. Reality

2010-09-08T04:29:00.001-07:00

In this modern day of age the notions of “true love” and “happy endings” are prevalent. Even at a young age we are introduced to Disney’s Cinderella, where the conflicts are always resolved by a generally handsome prince in some form or another. Aside from the rare cases such as “Shrek”, the beast usually turns into an attractive man who ultimately saves the damsel in distress. This idea of chivalrous strong men and weak dainty woman has been played out through the ages as the “normal” fairytale and desire. At a young age we have been programmed with the idea that woman are to be saved and should therefore always be waiting for her prince charming to arrive. Janice Radway explains that this patriarchal idea is something that has been assumed about the woman reading romance novels. The statistics look at the fact that the subject surrounds this patriarchal idea, rather than representing what women are actually taking away from reading these novels. By the time we as a society are reading romance novels we have gained a lot more experience with reality and the world past our original “happy ending” time warp. This idea of reality is better represented in the film “500 Days of Summer” where the main character is introduced to the reality or lack of fairytale endings in his relationships. Women know that in life prince charming rarely arrives in the same manner and perfection as romance novels and by reading them we are not clouded into thinking so. Radway states that many believe that literary readings are the result of a complex; however I believe that the complex doesn’t revolve around the fact that fairytales aren’t true, but rather that from birth society has programmed us to think otherwise. That’s one reason why I found “500 Days of Summer” extremely refreshing because it represents a modern take on romance, and most often the disappointment of failed expectations. This YouTube video gives an overall view of the film and emphasizes how the romantic novel’s stereotypical roles are opposite; instead the man chases the woman.

Shedding the burqa

2010-09-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Many American women feel that Iraqi women feel this way about burqas. That they just want to shed the image and be in the light. Maybe through the social exchange of an Oprah-esq show would help them "come out". American culture sees it as a prison that we should save them from. As in the romance novels, they need to escape to see the outside world, to escape from their reality and see a place where women are treated better. We would like to give them a vehicle to see what is "better" not in the sense of being loved, but in being treated in general. This image speaks to an inferred silent protest, that American women especially, seem to be seeing and hearing.

Radway and Unforgivable

2010-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

I believe that this youtube video embodies, with comedy, stereotype, and exaggeration, many of the main points of Radway’s “Women Read the Romance.”

We see in this video a man in a singular relationship with a woman. We see this man rely on his girlfriend (wife as related to the text) by staying at her house. The women in the house are watching “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” a romance film in which two of the main characters, Junnah and Adele, fall in love before WW1 and then rekindle their romance long after the war. By watching this film, these women can escape into a virtual reality where “the people do not resemble the people and occurrences they must deal with in their daily lives,” and the men are respectful, contrasting their “reality” of man in this video. This video is an obvious (and exaggerated) portrayal of the stereotypical view of male sexuality, which was implied to the males of the “real world” that Radway describes as the husbands of these romance readers. With the male’s obvious lack of appreciation for his girlfriend in the video, we can see where she would feel the same lack of appreciation as Dot does when she describes her husband’s questioning of her day in Radway’s book. Finally, with a stretch of comparability, we can see Radways point “If she is depleted by her efforts to care for others, she is nonetheless expected to restore and sustain herself well,” through the male video character’s almost expectation that his girlfriend wouldn’t bleed when hit over the head with a gun.