BUSY BEES

This blog entry by Robert Dones
The story: "Why Leisure Matters in a Busy World"
The analysis:

The article parallels a few discussions as well as readings we had in class regarding leisure activities. Marci Alboher summarizes and addresses a handful of ways leisure time can be converted into either pros or cons. It distinguishes the boundaries between having satisfying and useful leisure time which can help alleviate stress and lead to a better, healthier lifestyle. It also portrayed leisure time which is unfulfilling and in turn, becomes nothing more than idle time which can eventually lead to delinquency and incarceration. While one of the main variables in the article was focused on "at-risk" populations, many of the ideas applied universally to addicts, delinquents or every day citizens. Alboher explained how there are those who are in prison and feel content having used their leisure time in a positive manner, while there are also people who function in society that feel "locked up". Another focal point of the article is the idea that one should not only be judged by their occupation or job, but by their leisure activities and hobbies respectively.

Readings such as that of Adorno and discussions such as the interest in sports amongst others all seem to relate heavily with this article. In our reading and discussions in class regarding Adorno, we articulated that it was plausible that popular music (as opposed to high art), which is a huge part of contemporary leisure time, was unsubstantial and just lulls us into a passive state of mind. In another class discussion regarding sports (another important aspect of leisure time for many), we saw how sports could be a good use of leisure time. Sports are a good way for people to stay healthy, connect with others who share their interest and create a sense of community.
This article creates concern for the content being distributed through our media. It seems as though we are highly susceptible to influence and manipulation by the media, and as one of our most pervasive forms of leisure time, it is imperative that we be conscious of what we view and listen to. It also puts what we do during our leisure time into perspective. Instead of rushing through life, it gives good insight and reasoning as far as attempting to slow things down and live a happier life by planning your leisure activities instead of spending your leisure time on spontaneous activities, something many of us fail to do.

THE YOUTH VOTE

This blog entry by Monqiue Serrato
The story: "Young Voters Help Start Political Phenomenon"
The analysis:

This article discusses this year's upcoming election and the ability for today's younger generation to start a political phenomenon through the use of the internet. Today's campaigns are reaching the masses, especially young adults and giving them a chance to put the power in their hands. Most of this so-called phenomenon comes from the technological advances of the 21st century, especially the internet. With the introduction and popularity of Myspace and Facebook, campaigns become more accessible, and campaign spokesmen no longer have to rely on word of mouth marketing, and can get their messages across through the internet and these popular websites. In these cases, campaigns become collaborative, "It's not one press secretary, it's hundreds or tens of thousands if you look at all the comments out there on blogs. It's a much more collaborative way to run a campaign."

It's collaborative in a way that looks increasingly familiar in today's pop culture environment of accessible and attainable celebrity culture. Candidates for presidency are often "created" by the public. Young people have increasingly become accustomed to holding new media celebrity making power in their hands. Candidates such as Barack Obama have begun groups to support him to run campaigns on Facebook, and elsewhere. The article gave an example of reality television where there are flashy competitions, where voters decide and have the ability who stays or goes. In essence, the presidential nominees adopt the characteristics of these shows, which becomes a popularity contest, and becomes one of the most high profile competitions of all time.

"There is a growing participatory element to contemporary popular culture. More and more, people feel like they have a role in creating celebrities, stars and leads," said Bob Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University. "People feel they have more of a right to create candidates instead of just vote for them."
I found this article very interesting because I never realized the impact pop culture has on the upcoming presidential elections. Never before has an election included campaigns on the internet, and promote the running nominees on such popular websites visited by young adults. Today's generation has the ability to "create" such a high profile nominee/celebrity and vote them into office. I myself have seen numerous campaign ads for candidates such as Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton on Myspace and YouTube, and have seen just how easy and accessible the messages of the running candidates are circulated throughout the internet, which in turn is helping young voters start a political phenomenon .

GRAND STANDING

This blog entry by Hugo Gomez
The story: "Rockstar sells 6 million units of GTA IV in 5 days"
The analysis:

Wondering how many units of Grand Theft Auto IV were sold, I googled an obvious query that led me to an article with confirmation by the game's publisher, Rockstar, saying that 6 million copies were sold around the world within 5 days. To say that GTA4 is a cultural phenomenon would be a massive understatement.
In a world where it's virtually impossible to set aside borders and prejudices in hopes of joining together for, well, any effort, it's somewhat comforting and at the same time really creepy to see that western culture has at least one common denominator: genocide for sport.

But whatever happened to really diluted, 2-buttoned/basic/almost-deemed- stupid gaming? Pacman, as primitive as it may be, is one of the most entertaining forms of self-inflicted anxiety, but it's fun, and its themes make absolutely no sense. GTA4 is loaded with guns and boobs and guns and boobs and enough suspense to employ Michael Douglas for a lifetime, and its massive complexity had me wondering why the advancement in gaming technology has only meant more games that mirror the complexity of our daily lives, and not happy yellow balls that eat smaller balls. Who run from ghosts.

In the same way that I often wonder if aged pop star Huey Lewis would ever have a career had he debuted in the 21st century, I wonder if Donkey Kong could ever make the same kind of social dent as a GTA4 had it come out today. It's safe to say that simplicity in gaming themes are obsolete, or that we as a people really like the simulation of beating up a hooker for a glowy wad of cash. One can only wonder what kind of games we'll be buying our children 20 years down the road. Maybe then would going retro actually be a good idea.

INKED UP

This blog entry by LIliana Garcia
The story: "The secrets behind Angelina's baby tattoos"
The analysis:

Tattoos are not longer a big taboo in our society that has become a part of our culture today. They have become a new trend that has become very popularized. They were once considered bad, deviant, evil, criminal and deviant but now it's considered a new fashion. It is considered a new trend and experience by popular culture. Today we see tattoos in the mainstream media of advertisements, celebrities, TV shows, movies, music videos and so on. Tattoos are no longer seen as just a form of deviant behavior where people were viewed as criminals, gangsters, rebels, delinquents but a new artist form of fashion that is attractive and hip. Such celebrities like Angelina Jolie, who is one of the most photographed women in the world according to Clemmie Moodie from the Daily Mail TV and Showbiz; are sporting tattoos and making them very fashionable.

Angelina is now one of the most tattooed female celebrities with about a dozen tattoos that not reflect her personality but also have meaning to her life. The article "The Secrets behind Angelina's baby Tattoos", by Clemmie Moodie, reports that in Angelinas left arm is tattooed with a map that coordinates for the birthplace of her children. From the top down and form left to right is the longitudinal and latitudinal location of Cambodia where her oldest son, Maddox was born according to Moodie. Then the following line maps Ethiopia where her second oldest daughter, Zahara was born. The third line is mapped with the longitudinal points and Latitudinal points of Namibia , where she gave birth to her biological daughter, Shiloh. The fourth points are for her adopted son, Pax Thien who is Vietnamese by origin.

People today are getting tattoos for meaningful purposes, or identity, self-expression and self-identification to define ones self. What was once considered to be low class and dangerous symbols are now considered hip, trendy, fashionable and glamorous. America media today has given tattoos a new meaning. American has made tattoos favorable and has popularized them into the mainstream culture of pop culture. Such as Angelina Jolie who has given meaning to her tattoos people are putting meaning to their tattoos. Shows such as Miami Ink and LA Ink are shows that have popularized tattoos by not only tattooing to the public but to celebrities as well. They have challenged cultural stereotypes of tattoos.
They given tattoos a deeper meaning of art that seems to be valued more today than before.

FOR TUESDAY

Hey folks,

I'm still working out what we'll cover on Tuesday so I'll leave out potential readings at this point. We might just have an all-discussion day covering current events.

--Prof. Wang

CELEBRITY CULTURE READINGS

The rise of contemporary celebrity culture. For Thursday, read:

1) David Samuels: Shooting Britney. From The Atlantic, April 2008.

2) Andrew Lavalee: The Rise of the 'Citizen Paparazzi'. From The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2008.

3) Rebecca Traister: Who the hell are Heidi and Spencer?. From Salon.com, March 20, 2008.

The impact on society. For next Tuesday, read:

TBA

RERUNS FOREVER

This blog entry by Patricia Reyes
The story: "Golden Years of Television Find New Life on the Web"
The analysis:

The way television is has been seen for years is now quickly changing, in the article it is said that now the television distributors are allowing the internet to display television programs online. Allowing the viewers to watch the television show called, The Twilight Zone will catch the attention of many viewers and are expecting to have higher rating. Also, the Warner Brothers are planning to give a rebirth to the WB channel, which existed a few years ago and they want to see if it will be a “hit” online, perhaps an experiment to see if it can be aired once again.

The illustrators say that this sort of new way of watching television shows that were aired years ago, is not making anyone rich, just yet. But if they do make any this method will allow people to get paid easier and somewhat more. That is not the only thing that the producers are looking forward to with great anticipation. They have already found out that television shows that were aired for a few years like, Arrested Development, was not very popular, had low rating and was removed from television. Researchers have found that shows like these have much more rating online, they are more popular, have been viewed much more frequently than when they were aired online. Shows like The A-Team, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Miami Vice and Star Trek are some of the shows that are becoming once again popular, but this time through the internet. The question is, once the producers see the results on popularity, will they begin to only air shows online? And will this give less variety to the people who only have access to watch television?

This new way of viewing shows, becomes a easy accessible because nowadays the majority of people in the have high speed internet, making their time enjoyable.

READING FOR SATC

For our discussion of SATC, I'm assigning this reading by Diane Negra: "Quality Postfeminism?" . Please have it read by class on Thursday.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE SPEEDO

This blog entry by Emanuel Parra
The story: "Germans to swim without high-tech suits"

The analysis:

This topic relates to our previous lecture about sports and the impact sports have on people. The Beijing Summer Olympics are just around the corner; in the swimsuit world Speedo LZR Racer was made a major impact in certain Olympic swimsuit trials. The Speedo LZR Racer is a new swimsuit that is has made controversy among national teams especially that of German swimmers.

German swimmers are concern about unstable performances during the Olympics by wearing the wrong swimsuit. During the Beijing Olympic swim trials the high -tech suit has shattered 22 world records. A lot of world swimmers are being upset because other sportswear companies are not able to fully compete with those that wear Speedo LZR Racer. FINA also known as the World Governing Swimming body was constantly mentioned that they would not ban the Speedo LZR Racer.

The issue of having and edge over an opponent or getting the appropriate sponsorship is constantly viewed as a negative and positive side of sports. For that reason German swimmers are disappointed they can't not use the Speedo LZR Racer. Do to sponsorships the German swim team is bound to wear Adidas. The German swim team federation can't and won't be able to end a 4-year contract with Adidas. The contract is worth over $6.2 million in which the company was a 2 year option to extend the use of their sports apparel within the German swim team.

Famous swimmers like the Italian swimmer Massimiliano Rosolino was made constant remarks towards the use of the Speedo LZR Racer. Rosolino is a World Champ swimmer that has won over 17 medals in the Olympics. The Italian swimmer believes that the high -tech suit is unfair towards other swimmers and will become a distortion within the Olympic competition.

There is so much controversy dealing with this new suit made by Speedo. It is amazing that this new high -tech suit is popular among nations and swimmers that will be allowed to use the suit in the Olympics, while it is less popular among nations that can't use it due to obligations with other sportswear sponsorships. The only way to see if this new Speedo swimsuit will become a hit, the general public like ourselves must see the summer Olympics.

FINAL PRESENTATION SCHEDULE

Tuesday, May 13th:
Tipping Habits (Osiecki, Touch)
Texting (Ortiz, Kwok, Dones, Garcia)
Video game addiction (Swinney, Estrella, Gutierrez, Para)
Motorcycle Club Culture (Sultan, Quintanilla, Duncan)

Thursday, May 15th:
Web 2.0 and Social Interaction (Carvalho, Untalan, Gomez, Chavez, McKnight)
Media and Gender Image (Serrato, Khloyian, Salazar)
Online Identity (Salazar, Reyes)

DATA UPGRADE

This blog entry by Paul Khloyian
The story: "The Wonders of the Internet"

The analysis:

Looking back at when I was in elementary school and comparing how things have changed over the span of 10 years the biggest technological change and advance that sticks out in my mind and the mind of many others I have questioned has to be the technological breakthrough of the internet.

After reading the article titles Wonders of the Internet posted by Carolyn I saw how the internet has changed lives of others and has come so far. The article talked about how before the internet, and before even the television, families would gather around the radio and that was there way of accessing the outside world. Soon after came the television and that was a totally huge change from the radio and it had a tremendous impact on society. But when the internet was introduced to the society it changed things and made the impossible possible.

The internet has brought out a lot of change throughout the world and has made so many things so much more convenient for everyone. Not only can individuals pay and manage there bank accounts all through the internet, they can obtain college degrees through on-line courses, date through the internet, chat with people across the world, obtain information on any topic imaginable, and so much more. The internet offers us access to the entire world with just one click.

Today accessing the internet can even be done through cell phones. I myself use the internet on a daily basis. I use it for work, school, entertainment, and as a means of communicating with my friends, even those who live in other countries. The internet has changed my life dramatically because I am able to manage all my bills, do my homework assignments, conduct research for school projects, chat, and get the latest news all through the internet. I really don't know what I would do without it.

PHONING AWAY POVERTY?

This blog entry by Elaine Touch
The story: "Can the Cell Phone Help End Global Poverty?"

The analysis:

"Can the cell phone end global poverty?" This is the question of intrigue for New York Times writer Sara Barett who writes of her experience in which she shadowed the travels of Jan Chipchase, a human- behavior researcher for telecommunications giant Nokia. Also sometimes referred to as a "user anthropologist", Chipchase has spent the last seven years traveling into developing countries like India, Vietnam, and even the African nation of Mubami, to "peer" into lives of natives from housewives to indentured servants, to small business farmers, and study their behaviors. This "data" is then relayed back to Nokia's design and marketing department, where the information is deconstructed to develop the most profitable strategies for turning these foreign natives into transnational consumers.

According to the article, "putting a Nokia in to the hands of people" who make $4 a day, has not been a hard sell at all. In fact, by the end of 2006, according to the International Telecommunications Union, 68% of the world's 3 billion cell phone subscriptions were from developing countries. Economic scholars and researchers of world poverty alike are discovering that more and more families are spending their limited income on cell phones and computers "before other basic needs". Among other things"[cell-phone] user anthropologists" are also finding that the world's working poor are realizing how cell phones can not only increase their productivity from an economic standpoint but improve their overall well being as well. For such people finding work is no longer the job in itself, but rather, because of the convenience of the cell phone, work now finds them. What's more the cell phone has also been shown to serve as a crucial item in times of crisis, such as separation and displacement in times of war. During such times, the cell phone (especially its text messaging capabilities) has not only allowed loved ones to remain connected, but it has also helped such people to stay alive by functioning as the sole means of getting information.

While Jan Chipchase, the "user anthropologist" for Nokia, attempted to make strong argument for the promising possibilities of universal cell-phone usage, I found his arguments and certain illustrations in the article somewhat ludicrous and even upsetting. While there were some positive aspects to the article's argument of cell phone usage such as those mentioned above, there were some things that I just did not agree with. In one illustration both the Times journalist and Chipchase run into a group of Mongolian monks, most of whom had cell phones and even Bluetooth devices! What's more, when asked about the questionable nature of this situation, Chipchase contends that the monks had become so reliant to their cell phones that they would even put up a fight for their phones if someone tried to take them away! Another jaw-dropper in the article was the mentioning of the development and construction of solar-powered cell phone towers in "remote areas" that didn't have any electricity! This just makes me shake my head in disbelief because in this very same area, people have yet to have access to system that provides them with clean water! Yes, many exclamation points indeed because this article disregards mentioning the living conditions of many of these people. The world press has been alerted----Jan Chipchase and Nokia have discovered the cure for global poverty and its side effects (TB, malaria, AIDS, war, etc...)---CELL PHONES!!! My critique may be melodramatic for some, but read the article; it is definitely not possible to finish it without feeling slightly offended.

TO WII OR NOT TO WII

This blog entry by Chris Estrella
The story: "A Wii Bit of a Workout"

The analysis:

This article sparked my interest because it talks about the subject of video games, which is the focus of me and my group's topic for our final group project. The article focuses on the Nintendo Wii and its rocketed sales during this last holiday season. From my personal experience, I remember when I got my first Nintendo console and how popular it was to have one. My first Nintendo console set the stage for my personal enjoyment for the years that followed. Unfortunately I don't have the Nintendo Wii or the Game cube, which are the two latest Nintendo video game consoles that are out today.

In focusing with the article, it explains how the Nintendo Wii's popularity has sky rocketed during this past holiday season. Also what the article points out, is the new interactive play that the Nintendo Wii has introduced to the gaming world. The new process in interactive play has raised questions as to the beneficial factors in regards to getting adequate exercise from it. According to the author, a small study was conducted at the Dalhousie University within 25 students. They did a comparative study with the boxing game versus a walk in the park and a "boxercise" video workout. They then measured the heart rates of the students after 30 minutes of play. The conclusion of their study was that the Nintendo Wii didn't show significant benefits for a cardiovascular workout, but it did show that it can help in maintaining and losing body weight.

The interesting factor about the article that raised some ideas in regards to the class and the final project is the new audience that the Nintendo Wii has targeted. In the beginning of the article, it explains how the Nintendo Wii can not only just be found in the house, but also in dorm rooms, retirement homes and even fitness centers. This new audience that has been introduced to the gaming world raises questions and ideas of the growing popularity of videogames, and the influences it has in our active or inactive lives. More and more, video game companies are creating new and innovative ways that make video gaming more beneficial to our lives rather than just a form of entertainment. For example, the article explains how kids are learning math, spelling, and language skills through computer games rather than actual text books. This new interactive way of teaching in the schools can even be further explained through our U.S Military, and their new ways of combat training using interactive video games as well.

WHAT'S UP, DUK?

This blog entry by Kristin McKnight
The story: "Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?"

The analysis:

This article argues that Long Duk Dong is one of the most offensive stereotypes in Hollywood. However, Long Duk Dong is just one of many offensive stereotypes present throughout Hollywood. Long Duk Dong is a character from the popular high school comedy Sixteen Candles. The same year there was the Asian-American character in Revenge of the Nerds. Even before them, there was Bruce Lee. More recently there was Harold from Harold and Kumar and Jackie Chan's character in Rush Hour. These Asian-American stereotypes aren't any different from the African-American, Mexican, or Borat's Kazakhstan character that are portrayed in Hollywood films. American comedy is widely based on stereotypes. It arises from early Minstrelsy that we discussed in class with Jim Crow and Zip Coon's representations of African American stereotypes and our fascination with the other.

If the actors themselves do not have an issue with portraying these stereotypes, then we shouldn't have a problem with laughing at them. Gedde Wantanabe, the actor that portrayed Long Duk Dong says, "I was making people laugh," he says. "I didn't realize how it was going to affect people." Not only has it affected the people watching, but it has affected other Asian-American actors. Their situation has improved a little since 1984 by more roles becoming available. But, they seek more roles that are simply American and not ethic. For the years to come, we will probably see more strong roles portrayed by Asian-American actors, but those stereotypes are always going to be present.
Other problems arise from these stereotypes being present in Hollywood throughout society. The article brings up how these stereotypes are imitated among high school students. Asian-American kids are bullied because of the characters portrayed in these films. Not only in film but television shows reinforce these stereotypes for laughs. This is partly responsible for why racism is still prevalent in our society. If we take these offensive portrayals of races and cultures so lightly racism is always going to exist.

PROGRESS REPORTS

To give your groups a little more time, I'm going to push the due date for the progress reports to the end of next week. They'll be due on April 18th instead.

The progress report has to show what progress you have made since our last meeting. This can include:

Summary of field work completed.

A sample survey.

Preliminary data gathered through surveys or other collection methods.

Your group must demonstrate progress. Your grade will reflect the degree of work completed thus far.

Email me with any questions between now and when we meet again.

Prof. Wang

MIDTERMS

The good news: I managed to get all the midterms graded (most of them, sitting on a plane, no less).

The bad news: Even though I got all the scores entered in this morning, I had to leave again out of town and don't have them with me. So while you can check your scores online, you won't be able to get feedback on them until next week.

The average score for the class was 15.7.

See you all next Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Prof. Wang

STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER CONTEST

The 32nd Annual Student Research Conference is coming up on May 2nd. All students are eligible to apply for it and it's a great way to share your work as well as compete for a cash award (deadline for that is April 21st). See here for more details. I encourage all interested students to consider participating.

APOLOGIZING FOR SCANDAL

This blog entry by Carmen Kwok
The story: "Twins star apologizes to her fans"

The analysis:

This article mentioned that the Cantopop duo Twins member Gillian Chung apologized for the recent publication of nude pictures purportedly of pop and movie stars. She admitted she was very naive and very silly in the past, but now she has grown up and will continue her work and face her life positively.

In fact, the main character of this story was Gillian's ex-boyfriend, singer and actor Edison Chen. According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vincent Wong, it was convinced very much that because of the assistant of Edison Chen taking his computer for repairs, others had via illegal means to take out the obscene information from the computer. As a result, the nude pictures purportedly of pop and movie stars spread speedily through internet. Police also said they had uncovered more than 1,300 pictures involving six women who purportedly Hong Kong pops and movie stars. Some pictures were seemingly taken during sexual intercourse. After the few days that nude pictures leaked online, Edison Chen released a video with his apology to the public. He urged internet users not to transfer the pictures anymore as it may hurt and affect the healing a number of people's lives. And Gillian Chung was the first women who purportedly involved in this pornography scandal to apologize in the public response.
There is no denying that this news shocks over the Hong Kong. Traditionally, girls should defend one's chastity. Pre-marriage sex is not socially acceptable for most Hong Kong people. However, recently hundred and hundred purportedly Hong Kong pops and movie stars' nude pictures spread through internet. Everyone discusses this news, although you are in the school, family, or workplace. Even, this news continuously has appeared on the front page of most newspapers for several days. Thus, it becomes a very controversial topic in Hong Kong.

Yet, the most I concern from this news is not the problem of pre-marriage sex. Instead, I would like to talk about the issue of apology by Gillian Chung and Edison Chen. In fact, comprehensive discussion was raised after the publication of Edison's apology video. Some criticized him as a coward as he did not apologize directly in front of the public. Some criticized his apology without any sincerity. Similarly, the apology of Gillian did not receive much positive response. Some argued that she was not serious enough in her response. And some urged her not to be so silly.

Personally, I appreciate them with their brave apology, as it is really difficult to face public with such pornography scandal. But I do think that the people who are more worthy to apologize to this issue are the original perpetrators and the public instead of the victims. Having sex originally is the privacy of two people. But the repairers of the computer company violated their professional ethics and illegally stole customer's personal information. Apart from that, they also issued the obscene pictures on internet. As a consequence, the privacy was eventually opened to the public without the approval of the victims. However, the repairers did not feel guilty and they continuously transferred the nude pictures files to the public even after they were arrested.

Besides, the public also bore a part of responsibilities. As the ban against publication of nude pictures to public carried out, the pictures were removed from the forum and website quickly. Yet, people transferred the files from one to one by e-mail and msn. I do believe that the curiosity of public helps to deteriorate this issue. If no one transfer the nude files to others, it might not come to be today's such sad plight. Thus, I think the public should bear partial responsibilities of this event.
Ironically, the victims were blamed at the end of this story rather than the ones who should really apologize for this event. I do think that everyone should be forgiven by others as long as he can repent and start anew. But the one who does not repent of his mistake should be blamed admittedly.

Other sources: From `how bad' to `naive and silly'
Police act as more nude pictures of 'stars' appear
Edison Chen Apologizes After Nude Pictures Leak Online

THE ONLINE CONFESSIONAL

This blog entry by Jenna Osiecki
The story: " Forgive us, father; we'd rather go online"

The analysis:

The article "Forgive us, Father; we'd rather go online" discusses websites that are hosted by churches that are actually online confessionals. The sites are places where people can anonymously post their deepest secrets for others to see and to get the bad deeds off of their chests. Other people who go on the sites can also post comments back to the confessors in response to their confessions. While there is a range of both positive and negative responses it is important to note that there are no trained counselors to monitor the posts that are going up, however some of the churches post the names of pastors and phone numbers to reach them at.

I found it interesting how our society has become so consumed by technology, and in the case of this article, the internet; that people are actually going online to confess their sins. While concept of an online confession does seem awfully like just a normal blog, the churches involvement in the matter makes it even more interesting; that they are getting involved in the pop culture phenomena of the internet and blogging.
It is also interesting to think about the new audience that the churches are reaching because of the confession sites, and the benefits that it has for the church.

This article is related to popular culture because of the way that the now almost every part of American society is accessible via internet. I find myself torn by this, and especially when I think about it on a personal level, because while the thought of confessing my sins on the internet and not actually having to face someone in person does sound intriguing, it makes me think about the way that people in society seem to be losing touch with one another, and this is another step in that direction. Today when you walk down campus everyone is plugged into either an iPod or cell phone, it seems as though nobody ever has any face to face contact with anyone anymore. It used to be that people would go to church to socialize, and now people hardly ever have to leave their house. I see our culture becoming more and more advanced when it comes to technology but less and less involved with each other. I think that while it is important to be high tech it is also important to be social, and it seems as though the lines of which is more important are beginning to blur.

ETHNOGRAPHY AND SPORTS LECTURES

Here are the lecture notes for:
1) Ethnography

2) Sports

MIDTERM TOPICS GUIDE

The guide is available in PDF format here.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

This blog entry by Miguel Ortiz
The story: "The Look of Love: When she’s a beauty and he isn’t, it’s no fairy tale."

The analysis:

Since I consider myself as an evolutionist and see the world as one, I was particularly interested in what this article's ideas and reasons was on why attractive, smart women choose to marry wealthy, not-so attractive males. This article is focused on the reason why this trend happens and why people are attracted to it when politicians and stars do it.

I believe that the article nailed it when they asked evolutionary psychologist Kanazawa and proposed that it is driven by "supply and demand" (Niel). From an evolutionary perspective, most women do tend to look for high statues in men because it gives them a sense of security for the future. So one may ask how do wealthy women like Carla Bruni and others like Jennifer Lopez and Melania Knauss, fit into this theory, since they were already popular, wealthy women before marriage? Well according to David M. Buss through the theory of natural selection, women who are wealthy choose mates who are at their status or higher, they do not tend to seek below. I believe this is true. Was Bruni, Lopez and Knauss better established than their current husbands? The answer is no. Bruni's husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, has a bit better stable career as a politician and current French President. Mark Anthony has had a longer successful career than J.Lo's and then lastly, nobody really beats Mr. Trump.

So the idea of women being "gold diggers" like Kanye West refers to in his popular song, is true, but to an extent. I believe women, wealthy or not, unconsciously tend to prefer higher statuses in men as the process of natural selection. Therefore, this new trend turns out not being so new but a trend in life.

Buss D. (2008). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind (3rd Edition).

MOVING EAST

This blog entry by Norma Salazar-Ibarra
The story: "Wal-Mart tweaks store for Arab-Americans"

The analysis:

How many of us are consumers of Wal-Mart. I know I myself am a consumer of Wal-Mart. When I go to Wal-Mart I not only find everyday products that can be found at any store, but have also found food products that are needed to cook Mexican dishes. I can easily hit the Hispanic aisle and find some of the products that I might need. I can easily go into any chain food market and find products I might need. But how many of these nationally known retailers are selling products that are tailored for Arab- Americans?

As I researched news paper articles I found an article that discussed how a brand new Wal-Mart in Dearborn, Michigan would now be selling Middle- Eastern specialties. According to the article, the reason why this Wal- Mart will be selling these products is because this Michigan neighborhood is known as Arab American. The southern part of Michigan is home to an estimated 300,000 Middle-Eastern descendents.
The reason why I chose this topic is because this is an important change for nationally known retailers. For many years retailers have been selling specialties for other ethnicities, but only family owned business have been selling specialties for Middle-Eastern descendents. I belief that today here in the U.S. we see racism against Middle- Eastern descendents, this change is important here in the U.S. because it might help bring tolerance in our country towards Middle-Eastern descendents.

This topic is related to popular culture, because since 9/11 we have seen an increase of racism against Middle-Eastern descendents, but for a nationally known retail to begin selling these products this change can be interpreted by individuals as social acceptance towards this population. This addition of products that Wal-Mart has implemented not only will we begin seeing more of this population shopping at this business, but Wal- Mart will also be seeing an increase in sells. Wal-Mart not only sells everyday products but is also targeting all ethnicities into their store.

POP-Q

This blog entry by Juan Gutierrez
The story: "Brain Candy: Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?"

The analysis:

It has become apparent that individuals have been getting smarter as every year passes. This might be a contradiction to many people's feelings that individuals are getting dumber because of the infestation of popular culture in our society. According to an article written by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker it is apparent that there is an increase in I.Q. testing scores amongst people that had a privileged education and those that might have gone though a deteriorating public school system. This article seemed eye catching because of the increasing spread of word that today's music, television, videogames, and movies are taking people away from more productive activities.

The article explains that twenty years ago the political philosopher James Flynn noticed that the I.Q. scores where increasing by three points every decade. Apparently modern media is way more complex than it was 30 years ago. It involves more analytical material that we have to put together in contrast to shows that used to give us a direct storyline that follows a simple structure. Steven Johnson the former editor of Feed (online magazine) states that modern television makes the audience "fill in". This means that in order to really attain the message that is trying to be sent out we have to know historical pop culture in order create a link and therefore understand. I see this all the time in shows such as family guy, in witch I have to link pop culture or a previous episode in order to understand the joke. Lots of money is spent on these TV shows to develop ways that the audience is forced to view many episodes in order to truly understand what is going on.

Same is said about videogames because of their modern complexity and use of logic. I agree with this because I have seen the skills and abilities that modern kids have attained through playing video games. I often see 7 to 10 year olds playing videogames almost instinctively. They show great skills that people my age would have a hard time to accomplishing.

Ultimately today's modern entertainment in some ways help develop cognitive abilities to the next level. The fact that we are using our minds to create logic in television shows and video games is a great exercise for our minds and therefore it does not sound illogical that we are learning through pop culture.

SYLLABUS UPDATED!

I've updated the syllabus to reflect recent changes in our schedule.



By the way - students should remember when their blog entries are due. I've been missing a few this week and last.

ADVERTISING + DIFFUSION LECTURES

Women in Advertising

Diffusion of popular culture

OFFICE HOURS THIS WEEK

Apologies - my daughter was sick and I had to take her to the doctor's this morning.

Alternate office hours this week will be on:
Tuesday & Thursday, 12:30 - 1:30pm.

Contact me via email if you need to schedule time outside of those slots.

--Prof. Wang

EARLY CINEMA LECTURE

Early cinema lecture

MAKING A MATCH

This blog entry by Jacquelyn Salazar
The story: "Professionals pay matchmakers to be 'headhunters for the heart'"

The analysis:

Matchmakers have become a growing trend in the United States and our pop culture. Many web sites like Match.com, E-Harmony and Matchmaker.com have been established. In addition there have been many television shows that have the same premise for example there is The Millionaire Matchmaker and The Bachelor and confessions of a Matchmaker. All of these show have one goal in common and that is to find someone a perfect mate. I picked this article because I have seen some of these TV shows and web sites and it amazes me that we are become a culture that wants to cut out "dating" and just find our mate. I thought dating was supposed to be the fun part, which is where you can meet new people.

This article goes in to detail on how people are hiring these matchmakers to find them a mate, this is a growing industry and it explains that there are many people just calling themselves matchmakers to make money. Another issue the article addresses is the types of people matchmakers take as clients. They take mostly only men as clients to find a match. As state by Janis Spindel "The women were very needy, very high- maintenance, and they seemed to nag," (Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY)

I do not know how are society has changed to have this mind set, that a strange person is going to find that "perfect" someone for a person. I understand that the divorce in the United States is very high its actually "50% of all marriages get a divorce"(Divorce Rates.com) but it does not mean that the person this matchmaker matches you with is going to the "perfect one".

I did not like the fact that some of these personalized matchmakers do not take women as clients. I do not understand why, women need to find their match too. I do not believe that all women are "very needy, very high- maintenance, and they seemed to nag," (Janis Spindel, USA TODAY) but I I'm kind of partial cause I am a female.

Over all I think matchmaker televisions shows are a great source of entertainment, but I do not think that our society should relay on them for finding that perfect match. I believe that people need to date to find out what they really want in a mate, because only a person know what they really want, not some matchmaker who interviews a person.

STEPPIN' UP

This blog entry by Courtney Carvalho
The story: "Paris Launches Line of Boat-Sized Shoes"

The analysis:

I will not lie I buy into all the popular media websites such as perezhilton.com and tmz.com. I find myself logging onto these websites for pure entertainment purposes when I'm bored at work or procrastinating a paper, project or even blog entry. What really caught my eye this past time I found myself on tmz.com was the main article about Paris Hilton and her new shoe line.
The article talks about how Paris Hilton is teaming up with Antebi Footwear to create some "dainty" footwear. It added a source of enlightenment and amusement on this breaking news by poking fun of how Paris Hilton has such huge feet by depicting and analyzing a picture of her un manicured feet and her heinous toes hanging off an obviously too small pair of sandals. Usually I read the little articles and then move on to the next, but this little segment on Paris really got me thinking... How is a nobody like Paris Hilton creating her OWN shoe line?
It boggles my mind how individuals such as Paris Hilton have acquired so much fame strictly because of their name and the association brought with it. What do we as society find so attractive about Paris Hilton? Why do we buy into her handed down fame? Paris Hilton is covered on a plethora of tabloids, magazines and even the news whether for quite absurd reasons, whether it be because of her two DUI's, her sex tapes, jail time, nights out clubbing, or disturbing pictures of her bare butt because she didn't put on undies that night, she is photographed and given the unneeded publicity. She already has some sort of perfume line out and now shoes! Does Paris Hilton really have the drive, determination, creativity, not to mention brain power to design her own shoes or is Antebi handing an empire of shoe designs to Paris just to have her name on them for marketing purposes.
I find it very disgruntling that numerous people actually have what it takes to make a shoe line such as Paris is doing and strive all their lives to do so and most the time don't make it, yet Paris is making it big on nothing but her last name alone, HILTON. I'm still pondering why society feels as though Paris is such a big deal, and buying into this whole philosophy that if you're parents are famous than you have a free "shoe" in to fame and the benefits.

CRANK THAT

This blog entry by Jocelle Untalan Dunn

The story: "Methamphetamine gets discovered by Hollywood"

The analysis:

I chose this article around the time we were assigned our blog entries and it just so happened to be in the newspaper. The story by Jake Coyle is about Hollywood's sudden notice of methamphetamine and the lack of glamour portrayed in television and film. In addition, I chose this article because it raised many questions from me as to why Hollywood portrays cocaine, heroin and alcohol as a sexy thing to do that only the wealthy and famous can attain. Coyle states that a movie such as Scarface represented cocaine as part of "fast times and high living". Whereas meth can be seen as a low- class, trashy drug to be using. I personally do not know anyone who has or is using these drugs but after reading the article, I believe the emergence would be good for our society because not many people are aware of the dangers of this particular drug. To un-glamorize meth in movies and television would give another perspective of drug abuse. I fairly enjoyed the movie Scarface and it's glamorization of cocaine but I also already knew the dangers of what leads to the sell and use of the drug.

In relation to pop culture, drugs have long been a fixture in the Hollywood circle. Magazine articles feature film and television stars, in particular teenaged stars going to rehab for their drug problem. The constant exposure of drugs is beyond movies and television in my opinion. I am sure the average viewer knows the consequences of the abuse of the drug just from watching a film like Scarface or Miami Vice. I think Hollywood's fascination with drugs in general will not go away. Stories about drug users and/ or drug dealers make for good storylines but then again the aftermath does not always end well..

RECENT LECTURES

Lecture on Minstrelsy
Lecture on Social Scripts
Lecture on Adorno

TWO NEW READINGS: ONE FOR CLASS, ONE OPTIONAL

1) For week 12, the reading assigned is Everett Rogers' "Elements of Diffusion."

2) That reading on changing malls is here.

SAMPLE PAPERS

As a resource, I have made three sample papers (of the Cultural/Content Analysis assignment) from last semester available: Sample Papers.

These papers should NOT be used as a fixed template for how to write your own paper - depending on your topic, your approach will differ. They can be used, however, to get a sense of what you want to think and write about and perhaps give you better ideas for how to approach your own paper.

GETTING WORK DONE

This blog entry by Angela Duncan

The story: "Plastic Surgery"

The analysis:

I chose this article because it discusses the issue of plastic surgery and teens. I know that plastic surgery is a big part of popular culture. I always hear news stories about how celebrities have some sort of procedure done. Plastic surgery is very popular in Hollywood ands Show Business and I feel that it has a lot to do with why ordinary people have it done. Plastic surgery is everywhere in the media. What drew me to this article is the fact that it talks specifically about teens having plastic surgery done. I think it is interesting because I never really realized how many teens had plastic surgery before the age of eighteen. I always thought that plastic surgery was for adults over the age of twenty.
I feel that this article sheds a very positive light on plastic surgery. It does not talk about how teens should not do it because it can be harmful to their health or self esteem. I usually find articles that point out negative opinions about plastic surgery. This article talks about why certain teens want to go through with plastic surgery to begin with. It says that teens usually want to have plastic surgery in order to be apart of the group, unlike adults who mainly want plastic surgery in order to be different.
I think that teens’ reasons for having plastic surgery are important to mention when it comes to talking about popular culture. Some of these teens have plastic surgery because they want to fit in and look like the popular kids in school. They may feel that their own look is not the “right” look, so they want to alter it. A lot of youth look up to celebrities as their role models because they are so visible in the media. When some teens see that celebrities are having plastic surgery more than ever, it makes them want to do the same thing.
I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with teens and plastic surgery, but I believe that this practice conveys a very powerful message about our society. It says that our society is too wrapped up into physical appearance. Even if a teen has plastic surgery to get rid of a scar, it is still about appearance. People want to look a certain way and they see that plastic surgery is popular so that’s the method they use to look that ways.

RAMPAGE SHOOTINGS

This blog entry by Mahmood Sultan

The story: "Availability of Guns Doesn't Explain Why so Many Individuals Use Them Today to Kill Random Strangers"

The analysis:

This story by Bob Peters explains that the availability of guns doesn’t explain why so many individuals use them today to kill random strangers. This article interested me because of the recent shooting and violence in pop culture. The article focuses on what derives people to use guns to kill others. Bob Peters explains that it is not the availability of guns that are responsible for the killing that have occurred but it is the violence that children are exposed to through television and music.
He explains that television is not clear in explaining who the good guy and the bad guy is and children are exposed to graphic violence in movies, video games and music. He claims that this is the cause of violence. Since children are continuously exposed to this they start to fantasize about killing people and use the means that are portrayed by popular culture. Bob Peters states that popular culture acclimatizes kids to the thought of killing anyone whether they are good or bad and video games are used as training.
One of the main issues that this brings up is the fact that guns still cause the violence. Although the point he makes about popular culture portraying violence as everyday life makes sense, the fact that without access to guns the murders would only be a fantasy and would not take place still exist. It is still the easy access to guns that make the mass murders possible.
A counter argument to this is that “those that want guns will find a way to acquire them” but then analyzing this particular incident and those like this one, it is safe to say that because guns are available to anyone anywhere the planning is the difficult part, not the means of accomplishing the plan. Obtaining the weapon to go through with the fantasy is the easy part.

OFFICE HOURS: PRESIDENT'S DAY

Apologies - I'm suffering from a case of food poisoning and am unable to make it down to campus today. I'll be holding office hours on Wed instead, from 9:30 to 12:30pm.

My best,

Prof. Wang

SYLLABUS CHANGES

I've made some small changes to the syllabus. Namely, I moved up the "Introduction to Social Scripts" to this Thursday instead of two weeks down the line given that you'll need a basic awareness of social scripts for your Cultural Analysis Papers. Everything else on the syllabus is the same.

--Prof. Wang

WEEK 1 LECTURE

Week 1: Intro to the Sociology Study of Popular Culture

Minstrelsy lecture to be posted after Tuesday.

STUDENT BLOG SCHEDULE

The following are the due dates that people need to upload their blog entries to Beachboard (look under "Assignments"). For format, please see here.

Feb. 17: Mahmood, Angela

Feb. 24th: Courtney, Jocelle

Mar. 2: Jacquelyn, Jocelyn

Mar. 9 Juan, Miguel

Mar. 16: Norma, Jenna

Mar. 23: Carmen, Dean

Apr. 6: Kristin, Chris

Apr. 13: Paul, Elaine

Apr. 20: Andrea, Emanuel

Apr. 27: Patricia, Barrett

May 4: Hugo, Liliana

May 11: Monique, Robert

FIRST WEEK RESOURCES

1) For the syllabus, click here.

2) For Thursday, please read the following:

Cullen: Introduction to Popular Culture

Harrington and Bielby: Constructing the Popular

3) Please remember that all students wishing to take this course need to fill out, print and turn in the Academic Honesty Contract.

CULTURAL ANALYSIS PAPER

Purpose: The main idea behind this assignment is for students to demonstrate their critical thinking and writing skills by examining and analyzing underlying ideological scripts present in some form of popular culture/mass media of their choosing. Students are expected to not only identify ideological influences but connect them with larger social and/or historical forces that feed into and out of those social scripts.

Topics: The object of your analysis needs to be drawn from the world of either popular culture or mass media. There is a great deal of latitude to what would fit into this category – it can include movies, television, music, sports, toys/games, advertising, the news, etc. However, your topic should be recognizable as a form of popular culture/mass media to any reasonable person. For example, studying gang violence is not an appropriate topic. However, studying representations of gang violence in video games would be appropriate.

When in doubt, please discuss your topic with the instructor.

Format: All your papers should follow the same basic format. Deviation from the format can result in points deducted, as per class policy (see syllabus).

Include the subject headings in bold, since this will help organize your paper and make it easier to read through.

Statement of purpose: (1 paragraph)

What is your topic? What example(s) from popular culture/mass media will you be analyzing? What will you be looking for, in terms of ideological scripts? What sociohistorical forces are you drawing upon?

This should not be longer than a paragraph. It’s basically a front-end summary of your paper as a whole.

Example (using recent comedy films): “This paper is a study of Judd Apatow’s directed/produced male “buddy” comedies of the last several years. I will be discussing the construction of masculinity and sexuality in these films and its relationship to changing gender relations and sexual mores in American society.”

Example (using a NASCAR event): “This paper analyzes my experience attending a NASCAR event in Southern California. I will be discussing the role that class identities play in both the attendance of the event as well as the media’s coverage/discussion of it on television. I suggest that the media portrays NASCAR as largely a blue collar attraction, representing an idealized portrait of “Middle America” but my experience at the actual event found that…”

Background: (2-3 paragraphs)

You’ve just explained what your topic is – this section is meant to explain why you’ve chosen it. Why is the topic important to you? Why do you think it’s important to others?

Pretend you’re explaining this topic to someone who knows nothing about it at all – what would you say to convince them that your topic is worth studying?

You should draw from at least two outside sources here.

Methodology: (3+ paragraphs)

This section explains, in more detail, what you will be analyzing. You should be very specific in regards to names, dates, titles, etc. (depending on what your actual topic is).

You should also briefly remind the reader what it is you’ll be looking for in examining these objects/events.

Findings: (3+ paragraphs)

This describes, objectively, what you discovered through the course of your research. What did you find?

The section is not meant to be analytical (that’s the next section) but rather, clearly and objectively explains what it is you found/observed through the research process.

Analysis: (4+ paragraphs)

This sections breaks down what conclusions you have reached based on your research and what your initial hypothesis was. More specifically, in meeting with the assignment’s mission, you should address the following at the very least:

What kind of ideological scripts do you think are operating?
What relationship do you think these scripts have to larger social tensions/anxieties/fantasies, etc? How might we explain these specific scripts by examining social trends?

You should be using at least two outside sources in this section to help bolster your argument/discussions, especially in discussing “larger social trends.”

Conclusion: (2+ paragraphs)

Sum up what you learned and where, if given more time, you might want to take this research in the future.

Note: Spelling and grammar count. Make sure you thoroughly proof-read your writing or try to ask someone else to proof-read for you. Incorrect spelling, use of punctuation or grammatical structure weakens the effectiveness of your writing.

Citations can be in either MLA or Chicago format. You may use footnotes/endnotes or a bibliography but do not need both. Remember: failure to properly cite other works is a form of plagiarism and penalties have been outlined in the Academic Honesty contract.

When finished, upload your essay to Beachboard. Look under “Assignments” for Cultural Analysis Paper.”

PAPERS MUST BE UPLOADED BY THE END OF MARCH 6th.

PUBLIC OBSERVATION PAPER

During the second week of class, on Feb. 5th, there will be no class. You are expected to use this time to spend at least an hour in public, observing what you see as the connection between popular culture and society.

Pretend you're an alien to our society - whether from out of country or outer space - and you want to learn about American (or Los Angeles/Long Beach) society using popular culture as your primary examples. You can choose to focus on things such as race, class, gender, family, youth/age, sexuality, physical fitness, etc. The range of what you can talk about is purposefully broad.

1) Take yourself to a public space, i.e. anywhere that different people congregate, move in and out of, etc.

2) Quietly observe what is going on around you and pay attention to the uses of or existence of popular culture in that setting. Examples: people listening to iPods, movie billboards, a sports game being televised in a bar, people reading a gossip magazine, people working on their myspace/Facebook page, etc.

The important thing to consider, both in your observations and for the paper, is: what does this example of popular culture teach us about our society and the people in it? Again, imagine this as if you were observing these things for the very first time. What kind of impressions would you come away with?

3) The paper should be structured as followed. Please include the sub-headings as described:

A) Introduction: Where did you go? Why did you choose that space?

B) Observations: In terms of basic description (no analysis yet), what did you observe in relation to popular culture? In other words, what example did you end up focusing on?

C) Analysis: What does this example teach us about society? Elaborate as much as you can as to what you think popular culture has to say about our society. This should be the longest part of your paper - at least 1.5 pages.

Total paper: 3 pages or more.

Finished papers should be uploaded to Beachboard, under "Public Observation Paper."

This assignment is worth 5 pts.

CLASS BLOG

Each week, 2-3 students will be asked to research a topic related to popular culture and society and make it available in the form of a blog entry. The schedule for when students need to submit is here.

The instructor will handle the formatting and posting but students are responsible for:

1) Finding a topic by looking through news and media sources.

2) Copying a URL to an appropriate story or article.

3) Writing a brief (300-400 words) response that describes why they chose this story and what issues and/or ideas it raises for them, especially in relation to the themes of the course.

Blog entries need to be uploaded to Beachboard (Look under Assignments for "Blog Entry") by the Sunday night before the week you are assigned.

Students should upload their blog entries as a word processing document. Inside that document should be the URL of the story they are linking to, plus the written response.

Because of the weekly turnover in blog postings, timely entries are imperative. Therefore, late assignments will not be accepted without an excused absence.

Students are encourage to respond to the blog postings in their respective comments sections.

This assignment is worth 5 points.