Accidental Racist

The song "Accidental Racist" created a lot of controversy and I can definitely understand why.   Like Brad Paisley says, "When I put on that t-shirt, the only thing I meant to say is I’m a Skynyrd fan."  The shirt was not picked out in response to a thought like, "Hmm.. I wonder how many people I can offend today." LL Cool J says, "Just because my pants are saggin’ doesn't mean I’m up to no good.  You should try to get to know me, I really wish you would."  I think Brad Paisley and LL Cool J are just talking about how easily someone can be offended.  The fact that they felt the need to compare the confederate flag to a do-rag caused a lot of problems, and it is a bit extreme and uncalled for in my opinion.

This song relates to both of our readings for this week.  A country song needs easy to understand lyrics, clear meaning, and southern themes.  When Brad Paisley sings, these features are there.  A hip-hop song needs materialism, violence, and mumbly speech.  When LL Cool J does his part these features are also there.

The Happiest Place on Earth

In class we talked about Walt Disney World and that it is a place you must go if you wish to be an effective American.  It has entertainment for people of all ages and its all included in that one location.  I think New York would be a place that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.  You would get to see Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and the 9/11 memorial.  All of these have a very important role in America.  The roles may be very different, but they are all three a place everyone should see.

Intertextuality

This is an example of intertextuality because it is combining two different ideas to create a new thing.  If you don't know what the game of Operation is and you have never seen Star Wars you would never understand this.  Instead of operating on a normal looking guy with brown hair, you are removing the defective droid parts from R2-D2.

This is an example of the Mona Lisa portrait combined with Lucy van Pelt from the Peanuts cartoon.  Lets say you have no idea what the Mona Lisa portrait is- you wouldn't know what this picture is.  You would be able to recognize Lucy, but nothing else.

Coolness

Klosterman and Quart both talk about the effects of coolness and teens, but they talk about it in very different ways.  Klosterman's view says teens don't focus on being cool, they only focus on being the uncool one.  Klosterman refers to cereal commercials to prove his point.  In the commercials, the fictional character that is chasing the cereal is uncool because he is not allowed to have the desirable product.

In the interview we read in class, Quart says teens focus on setting new trends and trying to be the cool one.  They try to stand out.  She says if teens really want to change a certain trend they certainly can.  Teens seem to be the focus for advertising because companies know that if they direct advertisements towards teenagers then they will create brand loyalty.  

Football High

In class we watched the video Football High and I will admit it was intense.  I totally understand being dedicated to sports and wanting to win; however these high school kids are pushed to the extreme.  When the coaches were being interviewed they said they don't cancel practice because they have to win.  I'm sorry, but if it 100 plus degrees outside those boys should not be out running back and forth with a full set of football pads on.

This video definitely relates to Klosterman's example of intimidation culture.  The teenage boys in the video were huge.  It had been drilled into their heads that if they did not lift and work hard to become big they wouldn't have a very strong chance at winning.  Intimidation culture is kind of a scary thing if you really think about it.  One of the coaches in the video said its kind of like a chain reaction.  If team A is full of tiny guys and team B is full of averaged sized guys then obviously team A is going to bulk up to be the size of team B.  Now lets say team C comes along and they are ginormous (like the teams in the video) teams A and B will work to become the size of team C otherwise there is no chance at beating team C.  It is going to continue to get worse and it will sadly lead to more concussions, heat stroke, and other related injuries.

Romance

One of the readings this week was "This is Emo" by Chuck Klosterman.  He talked about how no woman will never be able to satisfy him.  He also says that he will never be satisfied by a woman.  "Mass media makes it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy."  Klosterman talked about how he  created a prefect girlfriend in his head.  The girl was a friend of a friend who he hadn't even met yet.  In class we talked about how the expectations don't actually measure up with the reality of how things go in a real relationship.  In movies and TV shows we see fancy first dates, big beautiful weddings, and perfect children, but in reality we get a not so fancy first date, a wedding we can afford, and children who are exhausting and have temper tantrums.  When we don't get these perfect situations the stress of the relationship increases (some people even start having second thoughts and end it).

We want a relationship that is just as good and just as easy as the media portrays relationships to be, but that never happens.  In real life, relationships take time, work, and commitment.  It's not always a walk in the park.

Advertising

This week we watched the video "Killing Us Softly."  Jill Kilbourne showed some advertisements that were bothersome to her.  I would have to agree with what Kilbourne said.  Girls are made to look super young and vulnerable in most ads we see.  This Calvin Klein ad is for a pair of jeans.  When I first saw this ad, I'll be honest I barley noticed the jeans.  The fact that she looks as if she is a defenseless twelve year old, half naked, and an unbelievably thin (notice her spine protruding from her back) girl is what Kilbourne talked about a lot in her video.  Why do women have to be so ungodly thin and look so vulnerable in advertising?  Just as Kilbourne said men advertisements are no better.  The men have to be macho looking and most of the time they are shirtless.  Why have companies decided that this is the way they want to display their products?

Today's Sex Symbol

If I had to pick a sex symbol of today I would pick Kim Kardashian.  She is certainly not the same level of "sex" symbol as Marilyn Monroe or Pamela Anderson are, but she is still a popular icon.  She is a perfect example of how people in America are thinking and functioning in our country today.  Americans today are very in to the reality TV.  We watch these shows feeding off of the possibility of a mistake or melt down.  We can not look away from a train wreck no matter how hard we try.  A perfect example of this kind of melt down would be Kim's 72 day marriage to Kris Humphries.  It was pretty obvious that the marriage was never going to make it.  A more recent example would be the relationship between Kim and Kanye.  Let's be honest for a moment... nobody wants them to work out.  We are all secretly waiting for Kanye to destroy Kim.  Or vice versa.  In a way, I suppose Kim could be a new way to identify sexy.  She is not twig thin but she still takes part in photo shoots.  I would like to think that our society accepts models who are not stick thin.

If we were to look at the flip side, we could look at Angelina Jolie.  Again, she is not a big sex icon, but she is the kind of person who uses her fame and money to make people focus on what she thinks needs to be focused on.  She has been named the Goodwill Ambassador at the headquarters in Geneva.  People do not watch her waiting for a melt down.  They watch her to see what good she will do.

The Internet

The Internet can be a very helpful tool.  It is making us smarter because anything and everything is available at the click of a button.  If we want to learn how the pyramids were built, to cook your favorite dish, how to tie a tie you can simply do it by typing in a few words into a search engine. You can also use the search engines as a reliable tool for research projects such as who came up with the idea of NASA, or who came up with the idea of evolution.  If you want to learn the little details about people, places, and things that you would normally have to go to the library for, you can now do it from your home with the Internet.

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites can make it difficult for individuals to accomplish certain tasks.  Everyday things that need to be done such as homework or paperwork for your job gets put off to the side because we are so caught up with these social media sites.  Posting statuses and tweets help keep us connected and sadly we have let that become more important than the essential tasks we need to get done for day to day life. 

The Millennial Generation

The Millennial generation is one of its own.  We are not like any of the previous generations. A positive trait of the Millennials is being tech savvy.  Technology was never something we had to learn or become familiar with because we grew up with it.  We always want to buy the newest thing. First, it was a flat screen TV and now everyone is wanting the new smart TV.  Another example would be cell phones.  As soon as there is a new version or model of whatever phone we upgrade. The Millennials have all sorts of electronic gadgets around their home (TV, cell phone, iPod, laptop, tablet, gaming system, etc.)

A bad trait would be poor communication.  Because of all these gadgets we tend to ignore face to face connections.  We are constantly texting on our phones, listening to our iPods, or playing a game on our tablet.  We use these gadgets to pass the time and we don't even realize that we are passing up valuable human interactions.

Happiness

After reading the two articles it was clear that one of the common arguments was that as humans, we have needs to be happy.  There are different things that make us happy.  In the Billy Sim reading, the Sim character is only happy if you buy him new stuff. Buying this character new or better things is a more permanent fix for being happy than it is in real life.  In the game, the only way the character makes any friends is if he buys things for his friends.  In The Futile Pursuit if Happiness it is talked about that we think we know what will make us happy.  We think we know what we want, but after we get whatever that thing may be, we keep going.  We say the next step, the bigger thing, or the newer thing (etc.) will make us happy.

What we think will make us happy is stuff that we actually buy.  From the second reading I believe it is a little more clear that buying stuff is a temporary moment of happiness.