Required Post #10

Q: How does reality television relate to and affect people who watch it?  What makes reality television shows so popular?  What is the largest archetype that you see being used in reality television shows?

A: I think people who watch reality shows are in some way already "related" to them, and that is why they watch it. Obviously shows like The Real World will attract people who are in the party scene, like to have fun, and possibly like to get naked all the time. But I can't speak for everyone who watches it. A lot of the people on reality shows (mainly on MTV) are younger, and that then attracts younger people to watch them. I think shows like The Real World have an effect on people in a way that if they see people partying in getting in a hott tub naked, most people would assume it's okay for them to do the same. Now I don't think shows like the Bachelor affects too many viewers. I don't think women expect a rose from a guy when he wants to take another step with her. A lot of the reason that reality t.v. shows are so popular is because of the drama. Drama drama drama. I can't think of one show where no one is arguing and everyone is civil with eachother. I almost see The Real World as a censored porno a lot of the time. If they aren't out clubbin' or on the phone, the camera is usually in a bedroom where people are doing 'things' or it's by the hottub. (This can also be directed towards Jersey Shore as well).

PCKCCDoyouknow: Teaching Children?

PCKCCDoyouknow: Teaching Children?: "I was working at a school with a child, we will call him Grant, with disabilities and in working with this child I have come to realize that..."

ABC channel or ABS(ex) channel??

ABC Channel released it's show lineup in Syndey, Australia for the year of 2011. My question is... why are all shows starting to focus on sex? If I was a parent I'm not sure I'd like my children being in control of the remote, unless Disney and Nickelodeon were the only channels we had. But even some shows on there can be a little too much for the ages the channel is "aiming" at. In the article I read there is a show called Top Of The Lake that is about a 12-year-old girl who is the daughter of a drug lord and happens to be pregnant. I don't know what these shows are trying to get it, but showing a pregnant pre-teen doesn't really send a good message to any age.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/tv/abc-television-gets-raunchy-with-2011-program-launch/story-e6freqj6-1225965339654

Required Post #9

Q: Select a popular culture artifact (company, celebrity, brand, sports team, etc.) that you can discuss in terms of "religification."  How has this artifact been "religified"?  How do people discuss this in reglious terms?  What people follow this particular "religion"?  Who are the people who directly oppose this popular culture "religion"?

A: Reading this question about religion and then trying to think of something to talk about was hard because there are many options. When I read the "(company, celebrity, brand, sports team, etc.)" part... 'sports team' stuck out to me. Not just because I am athletic or "sporty", but because one team came right to mind when thinking of sports and "religification". The New York Yankees...Enough said. I think the Yankees have been religified in a sense that every human either loves them or hates them. Or, loves to hate them/hates to love them. The fact that so many people love them could be because they have become a baseball dynasty, but then that also gets people to hate them. (Just because they are "good"). I find this quote about them pretty funny AND true, "Hating the New York Yankees is as American as apple pie". Unless you live on the east coast or like to jump on bandwagons, you could replace the word 'hating' with the word 'loving'. The people who oppose are probably just jealous because their team can't win against. This is not the case if you are a New York Mets fan or Boston Red Sox fan. You just hate them because they are your rival, right?? Wrong, I think the fact that the Yankees spend so much money on players could also have something to do with the hatred, along with a few other things. So, if you ever hear anyone say they stand neutral about the Yankees, they are lying. You can refer them to this blog post and maybe they will get things a little better :)

The 30 Freakiest Ads that are...Freaky.

I ran into this article through USA today and thought it was quite interesting. Adfreak.com has released "The 30 Freakiest Ads of 2010" and as I was going through them I really couldn't agree more. It is funny to me though what a company will go through to promote their product. One that stuck out to me was the Fruit Gusher commercial that is based on a boy with a gusher as an eyeball. Now how in any way do they expect that commercial to help their sales? Now it would be different if the kids did the grocery shopping, but then emergency rooms would be filled with children who poked their eyes out because they were trying to fit a gusher inside.

Bulldogs08: Popular Music 2010

Bulldogs08: Popular Music 2010: "Make a connection between popular music today and one of the other themes we've talked about this semester, such as women & sexiness or men/..."

Required Post #8

Q: Make a connection between popular music today and one of the other themes we've talked about this semester, such as women & sexiness or men/masculinity & violence.  Can you find examples of popular music either support the standard message of those themes or working against them?  How important do you think popular music has been in spreading these ideas?

A: Popular music today, I think, can relate to just about any of the topics listed above. Typically though, it's the same genre of music that talks about the same things. For example in today's popular hip-hop songs, you hear about violence along with some songs talking about women and their "sexiness". While an example of the "typical" country song today usually talks about a man catching a glimpse of a women and then live happily ever after. I think that popular music, especially rap music, has had an effect on people (or mostly on teens). I think that if they hear a singer bragging about how many guns they have or how many people they beat up they think it's okay for them to do all those things as well. Below are some lyrics from the the song "Steelworker" by Big Black:

The only good policeman is a dead one
The only good laws aren't enforced
I've never hung a darkie, even a big one
I've never seen an Indian on a horse
And I live like this 'cause I like it
And seen too much to pretend
You can't ignore the beauty in the things that you love
Like you can't stand the hatred and the lies
Have you always hunted with your hands?
Can you show me what you've done?
Have you always hunted with your hands?
If you catch it, can you kill it?
You don't understand, see you don't understand
See, I'm like a murderer, see, I'm like a murderer
And I could rip you limb from limb
And I could rip you limb from limb
Great big thing crawlin' all over me
Great big thing crawlin' all over me
See, I'm like a murderer, I kill what I eat.

Now to me, those lyrics are down right disturbing. But, maybe the country song "Farmer's Daughter" by Rodney Atkins makes up for it?? Probably not..

I was haulin hay, I was feedin the hogs
and that summer sun had me sweatin like a dog
So I cooled off in the creek
then it was back to work in the daggum heat
I was cussin' out loud, thinkin bout quitin'
Lookin' back now I'm sure glad I didn't
Cuz just when I thought it couldn't get no hotter
I caught glimpse of the farmer's daughter

She was just gettin' home from Panama city
she was all tanned up and my kinda pretty
When her eyes met mine
I was thinkin that I would sure love my job
as the days got shorter our talks got longer
the kisses got sweeter and the feelings got stronger
so we'd hop in the truck and get all tagled up
every chance we got
we were down by the river all night long
when the sun came up I was sneakin' her home
and draggin my butt to work
with the smell of her perfume on my shirt
I'd be on the tractor she'd be on my mind
with that sun beatin' down on this back of mine
Just when I thought it couldnt get no hotter
I fell in love with the farmer's daughter
we got married last spring
Woah and there ain't no better life for me

PCKCC paige: Religified

PCKCC paige: Religified: "Under armor and North Face are brands are things i consider to be religified. The reason for this being that most people really love these t..."

Required Post #7

Q: Look at readings for hip-hop AND country.  Where do you see similarities and/or connections between these two music genres?  What do they have in common?  Where are they fundamentally different?

A: Today when I think of music, the first two genres that come to mind is first hip-hop, and then country. To be honest, that is about the only thing the two genres have in common, is popularity. Hip-hop and the meaning of it has definitely switched direction from positive to negative. It seems as though rappers like to sing a lot about other rappers (insulting them), misogyny (women), materialism (such as money, cars, clothes), and murder (a lot of times, guns). In a lot of rap songs, you don't even realize what the rappers are saying until you READ the lyrics. Most of the time you can't even tell what they are saying. Country seems to be a lot different and is a lot easier to understand compared to hip-hop. The music is easy to understand, regular people can relate to the artists and what they are singing about. Also, the singers seem to sing "simplified and clear" lyrics that focus on present time, which also makes it more aunthentic.

Required Post #6

Q: Today we discussed how popular culture media might be making us smarter, stupider, nicer, meaner, healthier, unhealthier, gentler, and more aggressive.  In your blog post, address which of these changes to human behavior you believe to be the strongest in modern society as a result of popular culture media.  Make sure you explain your answer and include examples.

A: I think that popular culture media overall is making us nicer. I think it can really open up somebody if they are shy. (Via: facebook, skype, etc.) The argument with that though could be that it could open up people a little too much. For example violent video games, tv shows, and negative websites on the internet can lead to people thinking it is okay to mock what they are seeing.

pckccbecker: Culture Media

pckccbecker: Culture Media: "Popular culture media has become a large part of our lives in today's society. It has been discussed if popular culture media is making us ..."

Required Post #5

Q: Reflect on what we've discussed in class and what you've heard in the video and in the reading about violence in our media, particularly as it relates to masculinity.  Is the relationship between violence & masculinity something to be concerned about?


A: I think that some male children (mainly teens) believe being violent or being a bully to peers makes them look tough. I do also think that violence in media influences them as well, along with peer pressure. I think the media is getting worse and worse when it comes down to how much violence is shown and how detailed it is. I think video games are the worst because not only is the player seeing the violence occur, but they are taking part in it in away. If children see that on t.v. or in a video game they think that it's okay everywhere else.

Required Post #4

Q: Look at the results from Tuesday's survey on the traits of masculinity, which I also showed in class.  How important are the top two responses, muscles and athletics/sports, for establishing masculinity?  Should we be working to take into account other characteristics?

A: Personally when someone mentions the word masculine an image of a big buff guy with "athletic" clothes and a baseball cap on his head immediately pops into my head. I think I speak for a lot of people because not too many people these days really like to be creative when creating stereotypes for a person. To me it was no surprise seeing those characteristics as the top two, but I do think we should broaden our horizons more when "labeling" somebody. I think there was a good point made in class that even if you don't have muscles or aren't the athletic type, you could still be labeled masculine if for example; you serve as a person's protector or are a handyman.

Paris Hilton's Simple Life...

So I came across this article about Paris Hilton's arrest following a cocaine possession and the treatment she recieved in jail. Needless to say...I am not surprised. In this article they claim that after she was arrested, her stay in jail was anywhere from 5-21 hours shorter than that of someone else who is booked  for the same offense. To me this is simply not fair. If anything, I think she should have stayed 5-21 hours LONGER. The girl hasn't had a taste of the "real world" since the day she was born, and her reality show "The Simple Life" does not count... I don't think it is fair for someone to be treated differently just by their name or their celebrity "status". I'd like to see a show where a celebrity volunteers to have a makeunder and then goes into a jail acting as someone else, I bet the results would be much different than if they had went to jail as themselves.

Required Post #3

Q: Now that we have read six articles for Popular Culture, look back on those six articles (from Aug. 31-Sep. 14) and explain which of these six articles provides the most provocative and interesting information for the reader.  Why is this information interesting?  Is this information also something that is important for the reader to know or think about?  Why or why not?

A: Personally, I found the "Only Two Percent of Women Describe Themselves as Beautiful" article to be the most interesting. Most times when you see a woman walking down the street nicely dressed, hair done, and face full of make up you think to yourself "Oh, she seems pretty confident." Well after reading this article it kind of surprised me to know that such a small percent of women actually consider themselves beautiful. I think that the media has a had a very big effect on this. Women believe that the media has "upgraded" the definition of beautiful to a point where most of them think the status is impossible to attain. This can then lead to self-esteem issues because they no longer have all of that confidence they may have had before. I think the media needs to learn from Dove's new campaign and not pick such "flawless" women, or not make them look so flawless by using a computer. If the media picks the more "flawaless" women and labes them beautiful, then the women with maybe the slightest flaws don't feel beautiful.

Required Post #2

Q: What is the proper rold of pornography in American society?  Who benefits from pornography?  Who is harmed?  Explain your answers.

A: I think that the proper role of pornography in American society is simply to obviously benefit the porn industry, give "models/actors" something to do, and most obvious, pleasure the human being watching it. The ones who benefit from it are obviously the companies making profit from the purchases of the magazines or movies that they make; or I suppose you could say the person watching/looking benefits too. I think that the person watching it can be harmed in many ways. Number one, porn can become an addiction. Two, if you are in a relationship/married your partner may feel as though you enjoy porn more than you do them. Three, increases crime rate because you could be surfing the net, click into the wrong page (that may involve exposed children) and you could be in deep trouble.

Required Post #1

Q: How do you respond to the arguments that have been made in this week's reading?  Is our popular culture healthy in regards to beauty?  Do we focus on physical appearance too much?

A: I, along with most of you, agree that a lot of people's perception of the word beautiful has changed due to the poor representation by the media. I think that with the way some things are adversited (for ex: lingerie and makeup), it gives a poor example of what people are really trying to say beauty is. I don't believe popular culture is healthy, I think that we need to broaden are views and not always look for the flaws in people physically. I think that in some way, shape, or form there can be beauty in everyone. Some people know how to show it, while others don't.