Women Sports vs. Men Sports
Men vs. Women
Around the world, people get newspapers to stay up to date with what is occurring in our society. There is a national/local news section that informs us on what is going on around us and our community. But is this the most important section? Some would argue that it is not. So what is? The sports section of course! We open this section and see on the front page how many points LeBron James scored in a game or the list of teams that started out in the SEC Tournament and coverage of the Final Four. What we do not see is which NCAA Women’s team made it to the Final Four as well and if it is lucky enough to make it to the front page, it is barely noticeable. On television, we see that Tiger Woods has won yet another cup, but the story of up and coming female golfers gets left off of that report. These examples could be perceived as discrimination against women and the sports they play. Women sports are not as important or covered because the people simply do not find it as entertaining or exciting. So who’s to blame? Our own mentality or the society we live in?
Back to the beginning of time, women have been discriminated against. We had to fight to vote and we have to fight to be independent. So when it comes to women playing sports, they
are at times not accepted. According to some, women are supposed to take care of the house. They should not be doing the things we do these days. We have women ski-diving, playing soccer and have national softball and basketball leagues. Women have really proven that they can do some of the things that men do but why should we have to? Everyone was created equal and it is hard for women to achieve the same thing as men. When people see a female playing basketball, they assume that they are lesbians and are just simply trying too hard (Reilly &Cahn). Some people really do not take women seriously when they say they are playing sports just as men are. There are many wonderful female athletes that are known for playing their individual sports well but when you put them against the men such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony, they fall behind the scenes and the spotlight suddenly becomes on the guys. When we turn our television to ESPN’s Top Ten Plays of the Week, all we ever see is men’s plays. We never see a woman doing an outstanding play that stands out.
After speaking with students around campus, I learned that most of the people I talked to favor men sports over women sports. I asked them three questions: 1.) Which gender sport do they favor? 2.) Do they think the media plays a big part in the way we view sports? 3.) What can society do to boost women sports? Just about all my responses were the same. They all felt like men sports were better and more exciting. They also felt as though women sports are boring. The media does not have an effect on their opinion because it is just the way they feel regardless. And they said women sports would be better if there were more commercials and magazines with women athletes featured on them. One male also suggested that they have a WNBA All-
Star Weekend like the men have. After interviewing a female, she said that it depends on the sport that is being played. She feels like men sports take away from the fundamental principles
of the game. When you turn to a basketball game for instance, you will find that a man has to slam dunk and foul just to be known whereas a woman plays and you can tell that she is playing from the heart. The last person I interviewed was very offended by how women are mistreated when it comes to men. She says that women should continue to fight for what they believe in until they win it all.
When it comes to women sports, I would have to say that I agree with most Americans. I just cannot bring myself to watch female games. I’ve been to one college basketball game and I was forced to go. I am not against women sports because it is nice to see them stand on their own and play the sports but they are not that important to me personally as men sports. My favorite sport is basketball and if somebody was to ask me to name my favorite men’s team or player, I could do it in a heartbeat but if the same question was brought to me about a women’s team or player, I could not name one. Does that mean I am discriminating against my own kind? I just do not find women sports interesting. I think that everybody should be treated equally so if women want to play what the men play, then my hat goes off to them. But I cannot support them by watching their sports.
In today’s society, some feel like men are better than women at different sports. We cannot blame it on the media or anything else for that matter because that is just the way people think these days. There are so many different reasons that can be brought up about how people view things but when it comes down to it, focusing more on men than women is a form of
discrimination. Women can file suits and complain but in all actuality, there is nothing that can be done to change people’ opinions.
How the iPod Affects Appearance
Since the beginning of mankind music has created a way in which people can relate to one another. In America today there are thousands of musical artists that influence people to make decisions. These decisions have to do mainly with style. For many years American style has been determined largely by the music industry. This is because many Americans idolize their favorite musicians. As a matter of fact people are so obsessed with musical artists that a TV show called American Idol was made. This program allows Americans to vote weekly for their favorite up and coming amateur musical artist on the show. For years this show has captivated the hearts of Americans by allowing the viewer to relate to the contestant. People love music so much that they want to have it ringing in their ears at all times. A few years ago Apple Inc. introduced the first pocket sized mp3 music player called the iPod. This product quickly became an icon of American style.According to BusinessWeek.com as of April 2007 Apple had sold more than 100 million iPods. The amazing thing about the iPod is not just the fact that it can play any music the owner has put on it, but it is amazing because of the way the iPod adjust to the owner. For instance, the iPod now comes in many different colors, includes many memory options, and the new iTouchiPod has a heat censored touch screen. By examining a person’s iPod one can see that style is a reflection of music. Music reflects style through what a person wears, where they hang out, who their friends are, and their moral standards.
The other day I was driving with one of my friends, and I was not exactly sure what kind of music he liked. I then looked at what kind of clothes he had on. He was wearing cowboy boots, jeans, a Razorback t-shirt, and a camo hat, so I assumed that he liked country music or some kind of Southern rock. I then grabbed my iPod and played a song by Nickelback. He turned to me and said, “yes sir!” I was right about what kind of music he like based on one assumption, that music influences what a person wears. Clothes say a lot about what kind of music a person listens to. Skate shoes, tight jeans, and small t-shirts are what most rockers wear. Rappers have a completely different wardrobe than rockers all together. They stick to big diamond chains, long white t-shirts, baggy Dickies, and Nike Air Force 1’s. Country boys and girls like to keep things very simple with a good ole’ pair of jeans, boots, a t-shirt, and a ball cap. Clothing styles are greatly influenced by musicians that wear them first. People tend to wear clothes that are similar to that which their favorite musical artists wear. People do this because it reflects who they are. For instance, a person that listens to country music generally does not wear the same clothes that a hip-hop listener does. This is because of the cultural difference between the two genres.
In addition to what a person wears, music also reflects where a person hangs out. For instance, say that Fall Out Boy is playing a concert at Hard Rock Café in Chicago. The majority of the people that will attend the concert will be those that like rock. This is because Fall Out Boy has a style of music that is more appealing to a rock-oriented crowd. Then lets say that T.I. is putting on a concert at a club in downtown Los Angeles. The people that will attend his concert will most generally be the people that like rap. Again, the reason that these kinds of people will attend T.I.’s is because his music style is similar to their own. In any event, music affects what kind of people hang out at a specific place. Almost every single business has some sort of music playing overhead. Nice and expensive restaurants play classical music or jazz, bars and grills tend to play rock and roll, and clubs usually stick to techno, hip-hop, and R&B. These businesses all play different types of music because each one of them is trying to attract a certain group of people. When I think of a bar or grill a mental image of a group of guys drinking beer and watching the game with loud classic rock playing in the background comes to mind. What is more interesting is to see how the business knows what style of music their customers like. Perhaps some businesses do customer surveys to see what kind of music people like, but I believe that these companies study their customers’ appearance and actions. By studying their customers appearance and actions thoroughly these companies can assume what style of music their customers like. An appealing environment is a major key to a successful business, and by playing the right music a business can more easily achieve the right environment.
Furthermore, the style of music that a person listens to reflects who their friends are. When I met my best friend in college, I remember spending a lot of time at first relating to each other’ s musical interest.It seemed everyday he would look a song up on iTunes that both of us knew by heart. Music allowed us to relate to each other enough to develop a good friendship.On the other hand music allows a person to be independent. When I was in 7th grade I moved to Memphis, Tennessee. I did not know a single person there when I moved. Making friends was something that I was not very good at back then. It was a time in my life when I was shy and insecure. As the school year went on I still did not have a whole lot a friends. I vividly remember coming home from school everyday and listening to my favorite songs at the time. The lyrics in those songs were what I related to, and at times I felt like music was all I could relate to. Music was what comforted me and helped me make it through that time in my life. When I could not make friends music became my friend, and all together it made me feel independent. Music gives a sense of individuality to our culture. In America today there are so many instances where people do not have room for individuality. For example, the person that works for a large corporation does not have much difference in his life than the majority. That person drives on the same interstate every morning that thousands of others do, pours coffee from the same pot at work as many others do, sits in the same sized cubical as the other employees, and works the same nine to five that everyone else does. However, when that person is listening to his or her favorite music. That person can have a sense of individuality because no one has the exact same songs on their iPod.
Lastly, music reflects a person’s style through moral standards. For example, there are many songs on the radio today that are considered controversial to some and not to others. The person that is against drugs will probably disagree with the message that Three Six Mafia portrays in many of their songs. However, a person that does not have an issue against drugs would disagree that Three Six Mafiais a controversial rap group. What is interesting about music is that morals are present in almost every single song. Many people tend to have differences in the artist they support because of differences in moral standards. As time progresses peoples’ moral standards begin to change. In the early days of rock and roll many adults saw this new type of music as rebellious, yet in today’s culture rock and roll is a genre that many adults love. Even though there are moral standards that will never be changed through time, people tend to accept a change in morals ever so often. This becomes especially evident through the effect music has had on Americans’ moral standards.
In conclusion, music is the driving force for many things in life. Perhaps the main thing that music influences all together is style. In American culture, music has played a huge roll. It is played on TV commercials, in businesses, in elevators, and even more so on the many iPods that have been sold throughout the world. Music allows people to relate to each other. It allows some to feel independent, and to it gives a sense of individuality. Music affects the style of American culture through the ways people dress, where they hang out, who their friends are, and even their moral standards. Music is constantly changing for the modern day person, and is always present in the past so that people can see how things have changed.
Works Cited
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEnjAc0HEkQ
How American Culture feels about Domestic Violence
Many Men and women in the United States are victims of domestic violence everyday. Domestic violence is when a family member, partner, or ex-partner tries to physically or mentally harm someone. Many studies have shown that “one-in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime” (Domestic violence Resource center). Studies have also shown that “Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year and between 100,000 and 6 million men” (Domestic Violence Resource Center). An example of domestic violence would be the high profile case between Chris Brown and Rihanna. Rihanna, a pop singer from Jamaica, and Chris Brown an R&B singer from Virginia, meet about 3 years ago through a friend. When Rihanna and Chris Brown confirmed their relationship they became a target for the media. The media made the couple sound like they were perfect, and they were even talks of big endorsement deals but all of that changed on February 8th. In Touch magazine reported that Chris brown allegedly “Battered Rihanna bloody in a rented Lamborghini on the way home from a pre- Grammy party in LA” (In Touch). When many Americans found out what Chris Brown had done to Rihanna it was all over the news, his endorsement deals were pulled, and many people were concerned for Rihanna. A few weeks later, Rihanna was ready to reconcile with Chris, and many were outraged. In American Culture, domestic violence is considered a very serious issue that is unacceptable, but when Rihanna decided to reconcile with Chris Brown many Americans were concerned about her safety, thought she was setting a bad example for our youth, they thought it might hurt her career, and they forgot that she is the victim.Many Family members, friends, and fans are concerned about Rihanna’s safety if she stays with Chris. According to In Touch Magazine, one pal of Rihanna states that “Chris has gotten Violent with Rihanna, and many in her inner circle fear for her life” (In Touch). Many people close to her are really concerned about her well being and they want to help her; also, celebrities like Oprah are trying to reach out to her for some support. Oprah announced on one of her shows that she plans to do a domestic violence show that talks about what may have lead up to the incident between Rihanna and Chris Brown. Oprah wants Rihanna to know that love doesn’t hurt, and that he will hit her again if she stays with him (In Touch). This is an example of American society caring and trying to help someone, but it is up to the victim to want to get help. Not only are people concerned about her safety, but people are also believe that by getting back together with Chris Brown is setting a bad example for our youth.Many people believe that Rihanna is no longer a good role model to our youth because she has decided to work things out with Chris Brown. Many children, teenager, and young adults look up to Rihanna and Chris Brown both, and in American Society if a man abuses a women she is supposed to leave him, but that is not always the case. The media and parents want celebrities to act perfect and be good role models for there children, but they fail to realize that Celebrities are humans too, and that we all make mistakes and do things that other people might not approve of. CNN.com states that “Rihanna and Brown’s punch drunk love is sending a dangerous message to fans” (Mitchell, CNN.com). CNN also states that “Rihanna’s apparent quick forgiveness for alleged pummeling sends the worst possible signal-namely, that this sort of behavior is just par for the course when it comes to male-female relationships” (Mitchell, CNN.com). Many fans are watching and are learning things by what they see, but if parents educate there children better on domestic violence and violence in general, they wouldn’t have to worry about celebrities affect their child’s behavior because there biggest role models is who ever raises them. America society thinks she is setting a bad example, but they also think her taking him back might mess up her career.Many Americans believe that if Rihanna stays with Chris Brown that it might hurt her career. What happened with Chris Brown and Rihanna was a traumatic experience, and she is probably trying to move- on with her life and forget about it, but she can’t because of the media and people around her are still talking about it. In touch Magazine stated that “Rihanna has been advised that she might lose her endorsement deals with Covergirl, Gillette Venus razors, and other brands” (In Touch). This could possible hurt her career and cause the number of her records being sold to decline. I believe if she loses her endorsement deals those companies’s and society is forgetting that she is the victim.Many Americans have forgotten that Rihanna is the victim, and they are starting to blame her because she wants to be with her abuser. People magazine stated that “While Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves” (people magazine.com). Not only does Chris seem happy, but Rihanna seems happy to be back with Chris. Jane Mitchell from CNN.com states that As much as I sympathize with her, I think Rihanna herself may have to go to classes. Her reported reunion with Brown enables his allegedly abusive behavior and is in my opinion, a classic case of battered women’s syndrome. (Mitchell, CNN.com).This is an example of American society blaming the victim. Society needs to come together and figure out a way to help victims of domestic violence and how to stop domestic violence. In conclusion, many women and men are affected by domestic violence. Even though our society doesn’t tolerate violence, it is up to the victim to seek help. American society needs to start trying to help victims of domestic violence cope with it, and stop trying to blame them for decisions they might make that might be a result of the abuse. If anyone is a victim of domestic violence and wants help they can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800)799-SAFE or go to ndvh.org. Work CitedMitchell, Velez Jane. “Commentary: Brown-Rihanna case’s dangerous message”. CNN.Com. Ed. Mitchell, Velez Jane. 2009. 10 March. CNN. 2009. 14 April. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/03/10/Velez.mitchell.rihanna/“Domestic Violence Statistics”. Domestic Violence Resource Center. 2009. 6 April. http:WWW.dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resource/C61/“Rihanna’s Friend’s Warn: Chris Will Kill Her”. In Touch 23 March 2009:28.Leonard, Elizabeth. “Rihanna and Chris Brown are Back Together”. 27 February 2009.5.14 April 2009 http:WWW.People. com /people/article/0,,20262240,00.html
Porn Culture
Porn says a lot about American culture today. It says that we are more comfortable with sex, we idolize the body, we are materialistic, we are becoming more liberal, we desire fame, and that males have the most influence on culture. It is true that we are more comfortable with sex today, but the reason that it is being more widely accepted is the internet. “The depiction of sexual acts is as old as civilization, but the concept of pornography as understood today did not exist until the Victorian era” (Wikipedia). Porn existed in what my age group calls the “conservative period,” which is generally the 40s and 50s. Yes, it was not accepted as much because it was more conservative then, but the main reason was because it was not easily attainable. With the creation of the internet, porn is one click away and that has allowed easy access. This easy access has made it where porn is becoming normal because it is seen so much.
There are a lot of things in American culture that show we idolize the human body but nothing more than porn does. What I mean when I say idolize, is we have a culturally set idea of how someone should look, and we focus primarily on that.“Appearance has repeatedly been shown to have a potent and immediate effect on others in a wide range of circumstances” (Powell). People go through great lengths to attain this perfect body. “In the last decade, men have become an increasing percentage of aesthetic plastic surgery patients. While there are no reliable statistics on this trend, it is estimated that men now comprise between 10% and 20% of the average plastic surgery practice” (ISAPS). It dictates how you are viewed, where you get in life, and how easily you attain them. Porn shows the perfect male body which is tall, big muscles, and an attractive face.This photo is what I got when I searched for the perfect body. It shows the perfect female body which is thin, tone muscles and an attractive face as well. If you do not have a good body and attractive face, you do not generally get an attractive partner. If you dress in gothic styled clothes, then you probably will not get far in a prestigious career such as a politician. If you go by the culturally set look, you can attain these things. If you have an exceptional look, then you can attain wealth, power, and your desired partner more easily. Porn shows this because porn stars are paid a lot, some are famous, and some get attractive partners. The average salary of a female porn star ranges from $100,000 to $250,000 a year (Wikipedia). This is not just an understood concept because I see it and experience it every day. I myself workout, wear clothes that are in style, and I try to fit in. I also see the majority of my peers doing the same thing.
Porn shows that Americans are becoming more comfortable with the idea of sex, and we are becoming more liberal. One way this is shown is due to the progression of obscenity in porn. Porn in the forties was not as obscene as it is today. There was generally just soft core porn, which by definition is not showing penetration, in the forties. Now, a lot of porn is hardcore, which vividly shows penetration. There are also fetishes like gay, lesbian, and the list goes on. Another way this is shown is the amount of sexual undertones in American culture today. The phrase “sex sells” is pretty much the American motto in a way because everything is about sex. Songs, food, commercials, movies, and pretty much anything you can think of is about sex. An average ad in the forties was a lot more conservative compared to one today. “Forty-two percent of songs on ten top-selling CDs in 1999 contained sexual content” (Blazing Grace). This is also shown in the increase of porn. “As of July 2003, there were 260 million pages of porn online, an increase of 1800% since 1998” (Lighted Candle).
Another thing that porn shows about American culture is that we are materialistic. Porn shows that we are materialistic because it shows the new “American dream”. It used to be something of substance like a job, a family, a house, and money to support your family. Now, it is mainly materialistic like cars, money, houses, and other prestigious items. The actors in the porn videos are wearing nice clothes and jewelry. They are driving nice cars, and the scenes are usually filmed in nice homes. Our sense of what is important in life has dropped dramatically over time. “In 1966, when college freshmen were surveyed about what they were going to do with their lives, 44 percent said it was important or essential to become well off financially, but by 1996 that had risen to 73 percent. Conversely, back in 1966 a full 83 percent said it was important to develop a philosophy of life, but by1996 that had dropped to 42 percent” (Edney).
Porn shows that American culture is focused about fame and prestige. Americans are consumed with celebrities and with the thought of becoming famous themselves. The notoriety and perks that come with being famous is what American culture is focused on. Americans want to be known by everyone. They want the money and perks like getting into VIP parties. This is shown by all of the media coverage in things like shows, magazines, news, internet, and so on. It is also shown by how many people use celebrities as examples for what type of plastic surgery they want done. “Over 20,000 plastic surgeons in 84 countries were surveyed to find out which celebrities were the most talked about and asked about during the patient consultation” (Bio-Medicine). Porn shows this because porn actors are given the title of “porn star,” they get the fame when thousands of fans come to see them in person at a porn convention, and they get all the perks like VIP access.
Porn also shows that males are the overwhelming majority who influence American culture. A majority of things in the U.S. are more appealing to men than women. “Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year – more than 20 times the mainstream movie production” (Blazing Grace). When it comes to choosing a partner, men are more interested in physical attraction than females are. This would explain why the culturally set perfect appearance exists. Also, if girls want to become famous, a lot of them turn to doing something appealing to the male audience. They might sing about sexual things, wear skimpy clothes, or do a nude scene in a movie. When a female singer sings about sex, it is not as appealing to girls as it is to guys. Sports are a huge thing and they are mainly seen as a male activity. This is shown because most of the 2009 Super Bowl commercials were focused at men (Myers). Males are also seen as the bigger eaters and drinkers, so most food and alcohol ads are focused at men.
Porn probably says more about American culture than any other one thing. It shows that our culture is a fairly shallow one. We are slowly moving away from our positive religious background to a darker worldly way of life. American culture today is focused on physical appearances, materialism, fame, and it is largely influenced by men. That is not to say that there are not positive things to our culture. We just need to not lose sight of what is important in life, which are the relationships we make. Porn is a tricky subject because there are positive things to it, but most are negative. I see a women’s body as a beautiful thing; therefore, soft-core porn is a positive thing in American culture. However, hardcore porn is just a destruction of what sex should mean to people, and it degrades women. Sex, regardless of your religion, should be a thing that you do with someone you love, and porn is influencing American culture negatively to view sex as something meaningless.
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Fashionably Irate
Fashion in America is ever- changing; some reflecting styles seen across the country, others directly in the United States. Designers and the companies housing many different styles of course want to make the largest profit possible; despite some brands of clothing being extremely expensive, knowing what people want and who to promote the clothing toward is one of the main factors. Following up on, but not limited to, women’s fashion- a certain race, social class, and age, are all used in advertisements to market towards people designers and companies feel will most- likely purchase their brand or style of clothing.
Gianni Bini, Nicole Miller, Nina, Jessica Simpson, and Antonio Melani, are a few of my favorite brand of shoes. Many of the shoes I own are of those brands mentioned above. One would think, with people of my type, black, of a low social class, and a young adult, buying these shoe brands that models such as that would be displayed in the advertisements. This is not the case however; each article I pulled up on these shoe brands all had women who were white, of young age, who looked to be between the ages of 20 and 23, somewhat seductive- looking, and well-groomed, seeming as though they are of a high social class. The women all have long hair that is either nicely cut or styled to perfection- no hair out of place. The two women portrayed in the Nina Shoes advertisement are extremely pale and sitting on the floor with their legs propped up, and they both have on short dresses. What does this say about Nina Shoes? They want to promote to young, white, women.
Patrick Robinson was an African- American man who helped to promote Giorgio Armani; he was actually his design director, worked for Armani four years and by the time he left, the sales of the company had quadrupled (Black Enterprise). Considering an African- American man helped promote Armani, which is a high end brand that brings in millions, I thought to see a few variations of race in the advertisements. Out of the one hundred- fifty photos I looked at, of young women and men wearing his shoes, none of them were African- Americans. Next, I looked at Dereon, a brand of clothing started by modern day rhythm and blues artist, Beyonce. All of her shoe advertisements displayed black women, some including her. Designers promote their clothing to whom they see fit; People are usually surrounded and work with people who they feel most comfortable around. Therefore, people of different racial backgrounds promote their designs toward people of the same race they are, though that does not necessarily mean those are the people who are going to spend the most on that particular brand, which is where the American culture and the stereotypes present, along with fashion and who is buying what, collides.
Next, I examined many of the same articles, this time focusing on the social class, keeping in mind the high class population is well-kept, hair done or nicely cut, nice clothing, make-up correctly applied, pedicures and manicures, a must. Also remembering the middle- class is somewhat well-kept, hair and nails done at times, but some weeks may do without and low class- grungy, hair and nails reflecting a life style of the working class. Jessica Simpson was in her own shoe advertisement and she had on a nice green dress, with a huge, leather bag, with her hair pinned up and curled; the shoes she were wearing were leather, high- leg boots. Make- up was done as though she was going for the night- time look, having a liquid foundation applied and mascara and eyeliner creating midnight eyes. One of the women in the Nina advertisement had on a stunning blue dress, accompanied by a pearl necklace; loose curls in her hair and popping red lipstick and toenails. Beyonce models her shoes in one particular magazine and she is wearing a beautiful, sophisticated, yet sexy, red suit, with a brown fur jacket and dazzling gold jewelry; her hair is wavy and make- up makes her look flawless. She has the appearance of a strong, independent, black woman who works hard; moreover, it is expected that other strong, independent, black women of high class will purchase her shoes and much of their attention to her design, coming from the advertisement. All of the designers mentioned, reflected the image they feel the upper class wants to see, because it is believed that is who most of their profit comes from.
Fashion has evolved in the past years, as it has overtime. As our attitudes change, fashion trends come along with it (Kat). As a reflection of American culture, older women are thought to be more conservative than younger women. Looking back, years ago, women both young and old, were covered, not having much skin exposed. Advertisements showing clothing for older women reflect this past to present attitude, assuming older women want clothing that is traditionalistic. “Always Classic, Never Closed” is the motto for the clothing store Talbot, established in 1947(Talbot). Predominately older women shop at this store and the designers in Talbot knew who to promote to and how to do it. The skirts in this store were nearly all full- length or at least come to the calf. There was a section for short skirts, and none of them rise above the knee. Looking at the short styles in Talbots, all were Bermuda shorts. Then I came across the special occasion’s section and grown and sexy came to mind. After observing the clothing thereof, one could definitely see the American people mindset reflected through these special occasion outfits for older women. The outfits displayed either long dresses, mid- length skirts, slacks, or spiffy suits, not so much for business, yet not so much for an exciting evening out either.
Younger women in American culture are assumed to buy and wear clothing that is sexy and revealing. Rocawear, created by Jay Z and established in 1995, just recently came out with a line called Diamond Celebration (Seventeen, 007). A young woman, having an hour glass shape, is modeling a short, black, dress. Its length is higher than mid- thigh and her cleavage is showing with a bit of material, cross straps, covering her chest, somewhat. This advertisement is promoting to young, sexy, women who are in shape. The woman’s face is cut off; therefore, only her lips down to the bottom of her legs, is shown. When it comes to American culture, young women are only thought to care about their appearance, especially in the fast- paced societies we live in now. Advertisement promoters know this, and having the Rocawear dress worn by a young woman who is sexy and in shape does a fantastic job of catching eyes of other young women who have a nice figure and have a definite concern for their appearance, and soon after, catches their wallets.
I believe that fashion advertisements do reflect an image designers and promoters believe that a certain type of people will buy. The problem with it is that not everyone who looks like the person on an advertisement is the one purchasing the item. Urban fashion, for example, has come a long way. Years ago, it was thought to be sold to young people of a lower social class, who were mainly African American. In today’s time, people of many different races, social classes, and ages, shop at urban fashion stores. Up Against the Wall, a store I visited when I was in California, is an extremely nice urban fashion store and a diverse people shop there. I later looked up their site on the internet and the models are predominately black; therefore, the designers of these clothes feel it is particularly black people who buy their items, and that is not the case at all. Urban fashion has grown and caters to people of upper class and all races, but that is still not reflected through the advertisements shown. I am not promising more money could be made by promoting to a diverse group of people, but if one wants to satisfy their customers and possibly make more money, it would only make sense to include a variation of people to model and display attire since it is a variety of people buying the attire.
The impact race, social class, and age has on marketing in America, is definitely one prominent to American culture. Through using race, social class, and age, many designers promote to whom they and their promoters feel are purchasing their items, though assumptions about those characteristics and the effect of those who buy is often misconstrued. As stated earlier, fashion is ever changing in America, and the longer the years, the more changes, and the more diversification seen by those purchasing this ever- changing fashion, in this ever- changing culture, known as the American culture.
Works Cited:
BWGREYSCALE.15 April 2009.Advertisement Archive.11 April 2009.<http://bwgreyscale.com/ad_index.html>
Brown, Monique.”Employed By Design- Fashion Designers”. Black Enterprise.july, 2000.BNET.14 April 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_12_30/ai_63323470/
Susan.IHEARTTHAT.30 August 2008. I Heart That. 14 April 2009.< http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.iheartthat.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/beyonce_hod_bw0000.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.iheartthat.com/%3Fs%3DSolange%2520Knowles&usg=__agx-0BjlRC_9mu33OU6rX-uCjU4=&h=799&w=618&sz=177&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=1GkIdWBs3SdgVM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDereon%2Bshoe%2Badvertisements%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1>
Kat.”The Impact of Fashion and Style on American Culture”.Style Phyle. 14 April 2009.< http://www.stylephyle.com/experts/why.html>
Talbots.14 April 2009.< http://www1.talbots.com/talbotsonline/index.aspx?hbcmp=KNC-PSGI&iq_id=5657263&HBX_PK=5657263&HBX_OU=50>
Up Against the Wall. 14 April 2009.< http://www.shopuponline.com/index.html>
Hearst Magazines.Seventeen. May 2009.
Drugs in America: You Make the Choice
"And so popular culture raises issues that are very important, actually, in the country I think. You get issues of the First Amendment rights and issues of drug use, issues of AIDS, and things like that all arise naturally out of pop culture" (Loder). Drug addiction, especially in the United States has been seen as a sign of American culture. Why is this so, one might wonder? First, what a drug addiction actually is should be taken into consideration. "You may be hooked emotionally and psychologically. You may have a physical dependence, too. If you have a drug addiction, you have intense cravings for the drug. You want to use it again and again. When you stop taking it, you may have unpleasant physical reactions" (Mayo Clinic).What makes drug addiction so common in America though and why is it seen now as a sign of our culture? James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces, which is an emotionally moving novel about a young American man addicted to drugs. His story is one of pain, struggle, hope, and recovery and helps one see just how and why drug addiction in America, especially, is not to be overlooked.
James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces,
was 24 at the time of his visit to Rehab. He had been analcoholic for ten years and crack cocaine addict for three.
Crack is inhaled and rapidly absorbed through the lungs, into the blood, and carried swiftly to thebrain. The chances of overdosing and poisoning leading to coma, convulsions, and death are greatlyincreased. Crack's rapid rush-5 to 7 minutes of intense pleasure- quickly subsides, leading to depression that needs to be relieved by more crack.This cycle enhances the chances of addiction anddependency. Because of the brief high, users areconstantly thinking about and devising ways to get more crack (Clearhavencenter.com).
The most commonly used drugs in America today are Marijuana, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Heroin, Prescription tablets and Ecstacy (SCDL). We think that these drugs are so much more common in Americathan any other place in the world due to the fact that it is very easy to access. It seems as though James Frey after forming a slight addiction could easily get ahold of crack, which made his addiction there to stay, atleast until he willingly decided to get help for himself.
The novel begins by James waking up on airplane with a hole in his cheek and in enormous amounts of pain.
On the left side of my cheek a row of crustedscabbed stitches hold a deep 1 inch-long gashtogether. My nose is bent and swollen beneath its bandage and red lines streak from my nostrils. There are black and yellow bruises beneath both eyes, there is blood both wet and dry everywhere." (Frey, 4)
Obviously, one can see that Frey had been through a lot. His drug addiction was not only harming him immensely emotionally, but physically as well, which one could see on the outside. He was emotionally unstable and unaware of how bad his addiction really was, but comes to discover the magnitude of it later on in his rehab visit and expresses it in his novel.
Addiction is a decision. An individual wantssomething, whatever that something is, and makes a decision to get it. Once they have it, they make a decision to take it. If theytake it too often, that process of decision making gets out of control, and if it gets far out of control, it becomes an addiction.At that point the decision is a difficult one to make, but it is still a decision… It wasn't my fault I didn't have any say in the matter. Bullshit. Fuck that bullshit. There is always a decision. Take responsibility for it. Addict or human. It's a fuckingdecision. Each and every time. (Frey, 291)
Here Frey defines his own view of an addiction. He seems to take on the perspective that his condition is not out of his hands but is actually a decision that is all up to him in the end.
Throughout the novel, James makes it very clear that he does not want sympathy for his problem but merely wants people to accept what he does and what he is: a drug addict. One might say that before James was comfortable in rehab that he had a cold heart of stone; one that did not want help or need anybody. I think that in America drug addiction has become so common because people, like James, turn away the ability to be loved by others. They feel that because they have a problem they cannot be loved or deserved to be loved. Jamesstates the worthlessness he feels throughout his novel quite often.
I don't blame you for this and I don't think there was anything you could have done to stop it. I am what Iam, which is an Alcoholic and a Drug Addict and a Criminal, and I am what I am because I made myselfso. You did the best you could with me, and you lovedme the best you could, and that's all I could haveever asked for from you. I have no excusesfor whatI've done or for who I am or for what I put you thoughall these years. (Frey, 260)
I think another large part of drug addiction is being lonely. For instance, James Frey has a very hard outter shell and acts extremely tough and unloveable, but as humans we all want to be loved and cared for deep down. I think he puts on a facade to act tough but he even states that he just wants someone to talk to.
I don't want to be alone. I have never wanted to be alone. I fucking hate it. I hate that I have no one to talk to, I hate that I have no one to call, I hatethat I have no one to hold my hand, hug me, tell meeverything is going to be all right... I hate thatthere is no one to hear my scream and that there is noone to help me learn how to stop screaming (Frey, 79).
I think as Americans we all have the desire to fit in. In elementary school there are bullies, in highschool there are cliques and no matter where you go, there are always going to be peoplewho are trying to fit in with a group. I think we all just have to the desire to love and be loved in return. James obviously feels as though his drug addiction is taking over his life and he has pushed away all of the people that truly love him, although they make it known that they are still there for him. I think that with the addiction to drugs comes to the desire to be accepted and loved. For example, one of my closest friends just recently broke up with her boyfriend of a year because he has become dependent on the pill, Oxycotton.
She realizes that she has to be there for himbut at the same time knows he has a dangerous addiction and cannot be the one to deal with his constant mood swings and side effects. She has taken him to a doctor and made it known thatshe cares for him and wants the best for him but he still calls her and says he is lonely and needs her. I think many times becoming addicted to drugs is in reality a cry for help.
As sad as it is to see someone struggle with drug addiction and to read the emotional memoir of a drug addictive person, it seems as though it will always be prevalent in American society. There are ups and downs and it seems as though being addicted to drugs might be an emotional rollercoaster that one might get sucked into and have trouble finding their own way out of. Ultimately though, one must not forget that drugs are a choice and no matter where you are from: America, Africa, Australia; you might one day have to make that choice.
Works Cited
Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. New York: Random House, Inc., 2003.
www.dps.state.ak.us/Crimelab/services/control…
www.clearhavencenter.com/substance-abuse-treatment- resources/signs-of-crack-ise.php
www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-addiction/DS00183
Loder, Kurt.www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/drug.html
http://www.drug-help.net/imgs-drugs/oxy-all-mg.jpg
http://blogofbad.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/a-million.jpg
The Media and the New American Tea Party
Tax payers are angry with the new bailouts and the enormous budget recently passed into legislation. These angry tax payers are holding protests called Tea Parties, referring to the Boston Tea Party tax protest of 1773. This movement was sparked by Rick Santelli, a reporter for CNBC, on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange during his on-air rant about the new federal budget and bailouts. A week later was the first round of Tea Parties. This is a grassroots movement of fiscal conservatives that are against the enormous and wasteful spending by our government. The media is trying to have a big part in this movement by either promoting it or criticizing the protests.
In “Turnout tepid in U.S. for modern-era 'Tea Parties'” by Chris Parry of the Vancouver Sun, the Tea Party protests are made fun of. Parry criticizes FOX News for promoting the protests, and scoffs at the sizes of the protest. He compares the size to rallies of immigration and pro-choice which “attracted millions.” Parry continues to jab at the protests by making fun of its name; “tea bagging” is slang for a sexual act. Parry calls this a partisan movement by Republicans. He then tries to attack FOX News’ Neil Cavuto. Cavuto was caught on an open microphone with an on-location producer at the Sacramento protest, estimating the turnout at 5,000 people. Cavuto reported "They were expecting 5,000 here, it's got to be easily double, if not triple that" (Parry). However, Parry fails to write that Cavuto clarified that the estimate he was told did not include the over flow areas. Parry tries to make this movement sound weak and desperate. He blames FOX News for being bias because of their promotion of the protest on their network.
The new budget of $3.55 trillion, the largest in American history, is upsetting the tax payers (Berger). Rick Santelli inspired this movement by the explaining how the government is “promoting bad behavior” by buying up people’s mortgages, while reporting live on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He asks the traders "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" He then went and offered an invitation for all capitalists to attend his “Chicago Tea Party” (Berger). The bailouts are also angering the American tax payers. These bailouts for the failing banks and car companies are giving them billions of tax payers’ dollars. A New York Times article defends the bailouts by giving the example of how Nazi Germany escaped the Great Depression faster by having government bailouts (Leonhard). This article is trying to promote the government bailouts by comparing it to what fascist nations have done in the past. These indicate our country is heading towards a collective society.
A week after Santelli’s on air rant, over 50 Tea Parties sprang up around the country. Attendances for the first round of protests ranged from 250 people to over 6,000 at each venue, a total of around 50,000 nation-wide. This quick spread of protest was made possible by online bloggers, Twitter and Facebook. The media did not play a role in these first protests. The internet has made it possible for these fiscal conservatives to meet online and organize these protests. Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger, has been promoting the Tea Party on her blog ever since Santelli announced the Chicago Tea Party. People are using Twitter, a social messagingnetwork, to inform their friends of the protests. Facebook, a social networking website, has allowed people to join groups comprised of people attending their local Tea Parties. Another way people were informed by the numerous websites that have been created to promote the protests, such as www.reteaparty.com and www.taxdayteaparty.com.
The second round of protests took place on April 15, 2009. They took place in over 700 cities nation wide. I personally attended the tea party protest in Fayetteville, AR, and it drew hundreds of normal working class citizens of all ages and races. There were many families with young children. Adults held signs that read “Give Me Liberty, Not Debt” and many others that referred to unnecessary spending as “pork”. Children also had their own protest signs telling the government “Keep your hands out of my piggy bank” or that they owe a substantial amount of debt to the government already. This was similar to the hundreds of other protest that took place across the country. The numbers of protesters around the country skyrocketed to 4,000 to over 20,000 in major cities such as San Antonio, Atlanta, Sacramento, New York City, Oklahoma City, Washington, D.C, and many others (Jenkins). This is partially contributed to the hype given to the protest by the FOX News cable channel, but also the networking resources helped inspire the large crowds. The message was the same, but this time it was louder.
A reporter from the CNN tries to paint the movement as hostile and partisan. While interviewing a protester, CNN reporter Susan Roesgen interrupts the man several times and the crowds began yelling at her to allow the man she is interviewing speak. She calls the protest “anti-government” and “anti-CNN.” FOX News responded by saying “…settle down Susan! Come on girl...Poor Susan Roesgen, nobody hates you... we love the CNN. Relax everybody. Don't get your hate on" (Gay). FOX News is reporting the protest is not a partisan movement (Berger). Republicans are leading the force; however democrats are participating in these protests as well. People realize that this economic crisis has been created by both parties and requires a bipartisan solution. The enormous bailout packages were started by George W Bush, and were accelerated by Obama. People realize that this debt is going to have to be paid off by future generations that have not even been born yet. The internet was a big factor for the protest’s nation-wide success because people are able to interact and organize with others that share their same beliefs. The media tried to impact the protest by either glorifying them or criticizing them. The message of stop the wasteful spending remained the same, though.
This movement has been heavily reported by both liberal and conservative media. Both types of media try to put their bias views into the story; however, I was able to experience a Tea Party protest and get a real understanding of the movement. It is truly bipartisan movement of people who oppose the large government spending that is currently taking place.
Work Cited
Berger, Judson. "Modern-Day Tea Parties Give Taxpayers Chance to Scream for Better
Representation." FOX News. 09 Apr 2009. 16 Apr 2009 <http://www.foxnews.c
om/politics/first100days/2009/04/09/modern-tea-parties-chance-to-scream/>.
Gay, Verne. "TV Tea Party War." The TV Zone. 15 Apr 2009. 16 Apr 2009 <http://weblo
gs.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/blog/2009/04/tv_tea_party_war.html>.
Jenkins, Griff. "Thousands of Anti-Tax 'Tea Party' Protesters Turn Out in U.S. Cities."
FOX News. 15 Apr 2009. 16 April 2009200<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009
/04/15/anti-tax-tea-party-protests-expected/>.
Leonhardt, David. "Stimulus Thinking, and Nuance ." New York Times. 31 Mar 2009. 16
Apr 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/economy/01leonhardt.
html?_r=4&ref=business>.
Parry, Chris. "Turnout tepid in U.S. for modern-era 'tea parties'." Vancouver Sun. 15 Apr
2009. 16 Apr 2009<http://www.vancouversun.com/News/Turnout+tepid+modern
+parties/1500117/story.html>.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060429/060429_protest_vmed_1p.widec.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jaysmizzle.com/index.php%3Fstart%3D30&usg=__iyDtyMKLIsbEbsrA5iMv3_VsK4A=&h=451&w=298&sz=48&hl=en&start=49&um=1&tbnid=8JLZFmkk5PGlUM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=84&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtea%2Bparty%2Bprotest%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1
Police Culture
Police Culture
I wonder if anyone has ever wondered how police officers actually function in their home life. It is not as glamorous as many would think. Police culture is abnormally different than any other living culture. Police life is nothing like what the television shows express. Actual law enforcement life is nothing like the shows CSI, NCIS, or even Reno 911. They deal with a high divorce and depression rate along with little personal time. Officers all around the United State can culturally be seen as the same even though there are many different departments and policies within each of these departments. Then there is a culture of people who hate police officers or see them as officers who like to go out and shoot everything they see. Let us deal with the false portrayals.
Obviously everyone knows that Horatio Cane from CSI Miami is the best police officer there ever was. This might be true if it were real. The atmosphere of CSI is nowhere near the reality of real police work. CSI along with many other police shows out there show a scene where an officer shoots a suspect and then everything is fine. I think that this is where most people in a non-police culture think that officers like to go out and shoot anything they want. There is a drama called Southland that really shows how these officers deal with having to shoot a person. It is not as fun as most people would think.
A different view of police officers might be that the public thinks police officers are the happiest people ever. Depression of police officers can be onset by a variety of factors. Stress is a major factor in depression. “High stressors on police officers can include killing someone in the line of duty or having your partner killed in the line of duty” (heavybadge.com). These are ultimate stressors that police officers deal with every day. Killing someone in the line of duty will make an officer think more than he or she ever has. In most officer involved shootings, the officer will have to see a psychiatrist after the shooting before returning to work. Lack of support by supervisors is also a big stressor. This can be said about any job or any supervisor; however, when this happens in law enforcement, officers feel as if they cannot perform their job without getting in trouble and that causes a negative influence among officer moral and ultimately stress. Another huge stressor is the disruption of family time because of work. Officers and their families have to get used to the fact that the officer will probably not be home on time for seventy percent of the time. This is caused by big events happening close to the end of shift. One of the last stressors of a police officer is the daily involvement with the stupidity of the public. This is most commonly known as the “asshole factor.” Police officers have to deal with people who do not like them every day and this puts a big stress on police officers; however, if the public would do what it is supposed to do, then the officers would not have to interact as much which means that more and more people start to like police officers more.
What the public also does not see are problems that arise from stress. Divorce is the number one problem arising from stress. Divorce among police officers is a high percentage rate. According to www.heavybadge.com, “Surveys of police officers continually reflect estimates of divorce rates as high as seventy-five percent.” Every three out four marriages suffer because there are men and women out protecting the public and find it sometimes impossible to find the right time to be with their families.
The second problem stemming from stress is alcohol. The stress on a police officer’s life can cause the officer to start drinking. This then turns into alcoholism. Officers who take to drinking ruin their lives. At the job they are very professional and everybody loves them. When the officer is at home and the drinking starts is when his or her relationships start to tear. According to www.police-dynamics.com, “The police alcoholism rate is two times the national average.” This is horrible. I believe that the majority of our society fails to recognize this.
One last problem that stems from stress is suicide. The latest information on suicide rates show on average that 21.5 suicides per 100,000 people happened. The rates came from the World Health Organization website. “Police officer suicide is three times the national average” (police-dynamics.com). Society thinks that police officers feel as if they are invincible. Officers deal more with trying to keep themselves sane more than anything else.
Another reason I think that society views police officer culture differently is because they are in uniform and I think that scares people. Here is an excerpt I got from an article that shows how police officers are different from the public.
They are isolated. The wearing of a badge, uniform and gun makes a law officer separate from society. This segregation leads to many psychological effects which research shows can create negative personality traits. For example, psychological research shows the wearing of a uniform will tend to make any person dehumanize people who are without a uniform. Just wearing a badge or a gun can cause people to act more aggressively. These are changes that could happen to anyone wearing a uniform, badge and gun, thus these factors are expected to operate in some way on the police officer. Many officers suggest there is a "role," or "mask" which they put on along with their uniform. Sometimes this role leaks into their personal lives and changes the course of their relationships and leisure time.(heavybadge.com)
This suggests vast differences between society and police officers and thus creates a skewed perspective of police officers from society.
Something else that shows how police officers differ from the rest of society is that the public have friends they can always call on. Police officers friends tend to be other officers because they work with each other and are a family away from home. Another insert from the aforementioned article talks about the camaraderie and how it can be a double edged sword.
Camaraderie can be a two edged sword. The law enforcement job nurtures a sense of teamwork and unity with co-workers, what was once called "esprit de corps." The fraternity helps the officer on the job feel secure about getting the needed support in dangerous situations. It also stimulates a sense of belonging that can create an "us and them" view of the world. This makes the law enforcement "clique" harder to leave when retiring and makes officers more protective of each other. It also makes it more difficult to accept someone within the fraternal organization leaving or being killed. This adds to the stress of an officer.
(heavybadge.com)
This paper is meant to show how police culture is much different from any other culture. The amount of stress put upon police officers as they serve the public is tremendous and it has devastating outcomes. The problem that society has is trying to fully understand the situations and problems that officers go through every day and it only makes it hard when society tries to say that a police officer did something wrong. If everyone kept to themselves and let the supervisors of the police handle situations rather than all of society trying to be the boss then society would have a much better perspective of police officers. I will say though that no matter how tough this job may be and no matter how much stress it might put on the officer, the officer would not be doing this job if he or she did not love every bit of it.
Works Cited
"Divorce, Alcoholism and Suicide Rates Among Police Officers." Police Leadership - Character Based Principles. 13 Apr. 2009 <http://www.police-dynamics.com/divorce.html>.
"Effects of Stress on police officers." Police Psychology. 13 Apr. 2009 <http://www.heavybadge.com/efstress.htm>.
"Frameset for Wives section of Heavybadge." Police Psychology. 13 Apr. 2009 <http://www.heavybadge.com/wframe.htm>.
"10 reasons cops are different." Police Psychology. 17 Apr. 2009 <http://www.heavybadge.com/10reason.htm>.
"WHO: Suicide rates." 13 Apr. 2009 <http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/>.
“@ewffan congrats to @aplusk The King of Twitter” (www.twitter.com). Some readers, while reading the above, may be asking, king of what?Twitter. Although originally created in 2006, Twitter has just recently made a significant rise in the popularity ranks. Twitter is an Internet website that allows people to communicate with one another via status updates.The website, intended for the use of everyday people, has caught the eye of all. Users range from average, regular Joe’s such as my brother, Steven Bertram to celebrities such as “aplusk”, or otherwise known as Ashton Kutcher. Regardless of specifically who has jumped on this bandwagon, it is no mystery that Twitter is becoming an interest of millions. Slowly but surely, Twitter is making a debut as part of the present American culture by gaining more and more attention, collecting numbers of new users at a very rapid pace, and conducting characteristics of a bright future.
Twitter is a free networking website that “enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as ‘tweets’” (www.wikipedia.com). Tweets are short messages that allow your “followers”, or the people that have selected the option to “follow” and keep up with your Twitter, to see what you’re doing according to your status. Sometimes referred to as the “SMS of Internet”, Twitter allows users to send as well as receive updates, mirroring the use of SMS text messages over the phone (www.wikipedia.com). The database has been compared to competitors of the social networking groups, Facebook and MySpace, although Twitter is a much shortened and condensed version of these two. I, myself, even set up a Twitter account in order to get a hands on idea of the concept for this exploration and paper. Under the username of “melanie_kb”, I selected to follow many celebrities as well as local friends, family, organizations and music groups. Its easy to use, and also somewhat entertaining to see what the privileged people of Hollywood and New York City are doing on an average Tuesday; while I might be writing a paper for English class, they are jetting off to Las Vegas for fellow celebrities’ extravagant birthdays… and I get to know about it all thanks to Twitter!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
I’m certainly not the first or the last to lose my Twitter virginity though. These days, you can pretty much name a celebrity off the top of your head and they are more than likely going to have a Twitter to follow. Some of the more “Twitter addicted” users, or “Twitterholics” as they’re sometimes referred to, include Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt of the popular MTV reality show, the Hills; CNN Breaking News; the popular singer/actress, Miley Cyrus; singer/songwriter, John Mayer; and Ryan Seacrest, the host of E! News (www.twitterholic.com). All of these Twitterholics’ pictures can be seen below. Even though the Twitter website was designed and published for use in 2006, most of the stars joined Twitter in 2008 or early 2009. Celebrities use the device to communicate with one another, which can at times be hard when you’re busy recording in the studio or shooting scenes for an upcoming show episode or movie. They also sometimes use their Twitter as means of promoting a new movie or CD, or releasing late breaking news that all their followers appreciate knowing first, such as user Perez Hilton. Perez is a gossiper in Hollywood, and is most famous for his website, PerezHilton.com, that lashes out on celebrities and always has the latest gossip of Tinseltown. Perez, under the Twitter username, perezhilton, also sometimes uses his Twitter to argue with fellow followers. It was just recently that Perez and teen star, Miley Cyrus, had words over a debate involving gossip sites and Jesus, with Perez saying, “@mileycyrus I don't have bad things to say about Demi, or Selena, or Taylor. Nopes. Just YOU! Jesus loves you - but he loves them MORE!” (www.twitter.com). Ashton Kutcher, a very avid Twitter user, was newly reigned “the King of Twitter”, bypassing CNN Breaking News with the most followers, meaning 1,000,000+ followers for Ashton!
Ashton Kutcher single-handedly conquered CNN. On Twitter, anyway. Kutcher, the actor and new-media entrepreneur, edged past the cable news network late Thursday to become the first Twitter user to have 1 million people signed up to follow his tweets. It marked a milestone in the explosive growth of the young company… (If goal accomplished) The winner had agreed to donate 10,000 mosquito nets to charity in time for World Malaria Day on April 25…
-David Sarno (www.latimes.com)
All this buzz around the networking site makes you wonder why its gaining such massive amounts of attention, and from such credible people.
Of course, not everyone is going to be a fan or have positive feedback for the Twitter site, but its hard to ignore the appealing characteristics of the undeniably popular website. One of the reasons Twitter may in fact be so popular is because of its accessibility factor. Twitter can be accessed many ways, such as through the internet, a Facebook application, as well as by various iPhone applications, such as Twitterific, that are available for purchase through the iTunes Application Store. Another thing that may attract people to Twitter is how simple it is to use and update. Instead of spending hours on Facebook or MySpace, looking at pictures and viewing the extensive profiles and “walls” of “friends”, you can just scroll down and see what your followers or the people you’re following are up to, and in a short time manner. Although some people have found flaws in this system, Twitter is praised by most, such as this writer, who recently blogged about their disagreements with negative feedback about it.
I’ve heard two kinds of criticisms of Twitter already. The first criticizes the triviality of the content. But asking “who really cares about that kind of mindless trivia about your day” misses the whole point of presence. This isn’t about conveying complex theory—it’s about letting the people in your distributed network of family and friends have some sense of where you are and what you’re doing. And we crave this, I think… The second type of criticism is that the last thing we need is more interruptions in our already discontinuous and partially attentive connected worlds. What’s interesting to me about Twitter, though, is that it actually reduces my craving to surf the web, ping people via IM, and cruise Facebook.
-Liz Lawley (www.many.corante.com)
For most, Twitter is a helpful and entertaining tool for everyday use. That’s why its quickly gaining street cred and seemingly becoming a part of American culture, in the sense of communication and networking software.
It is clear that part of American culture is our means of communication. Whether its by phone, e-mail, or snail mail, we, Americans, find ways to get in touch with each other. In recent past, Facebook and MySpace, social networking databases, have joined the group above. Everyone has a Facebook or MySpace to keep in touch, and if you don’t, then you are considered out of touch. Twitter is making its way up the chain of communication devices and is already making headlines by catching up to Facebook and MySpace with its recent popularity spurt. Many believe that because of its fame and acclaim, Twitter will bypass the use of other social networking websites in the very near future, making its name in our culture. With so many users already (an estimated 4-5 million), there is no denying that its place in American culture and popularity with so many is well deserved and earned.
It was just the other day at a family lunch that the topic of Twitter was brought up. When mentioned, someone asked “what’s Twitter?” and my brother astonishly replied, “you don’t have Twitter?”, in a tone that made it seem as if not having a Twitter was like not knowing the sky was blue. I later got my brother’s opinion on Twitter, finding it humorous that Twitter was even becoming a popular thing of Fayetteville, AR. My brother, Steven Bertram, said, “Twitter is so easy and less time consuming than Facebook. When I’m at the office, I can check Twitters for scores of games, golf updates, and also updates or invites for drinks or dinner from friends.” Just his surprising reply, in addition to the rising popularity rates and praises from users about Twitter, it is obvious we can expect great things and results of the Twitter website, and plan on it putting its name down in American culture.
WORKS CITED
Twitter. 14 Apr. 2009 <www.twitter.com>.
"Twitter." Wikipedia. 14 Feb. 2009. 14 Apr. 2009 <www.wikipedia.com>.
Sarno, David. "Ashton Kutcher trumps CNN on Twitter." LA Times. 16 Apr. 2009. 16 Apr. 2009 <www.latimes.com>.
Leelefever. "Twitter in Plain English." YouTube. 5 Mar. 2008. 14 Apr.
2009 <www.youtube.com>.
"Twitterholic." Twitterholic. 14 Apr. 2009 <www.twitterholic.com>.
Bertram, Steven. Personal interview. 12 April. 2009.
Lawley, Liz. "Thoughts on twitter." Many 2 Many. 6 Mar. 2007. 14 Apr. 2009 http://many.corante.com
Twitter Logo picture:
http://atlasnetwork.org/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/twitter.jpg
Twitter layout picture:
http://www.editorsweblog.org/_twitter1-thumb-499x468.jpg
Celeb pictures: www.twitter.com
The Misinterpretation of Immigration
American culture is constantly being faced with immigration, which comes along with prejudice. It is not easy sometimes for people to accept other cultures into their own and not judge them because of their background. The truth is that most Americans misunderstand the reasons why people have to immigrate to the U.S. It is usually because they have no other option. “Mrs. Sen’s” by Jhumpa Lahiri, portrays the image of immigration as human hardships and reflects how American society deals with this. Life itself is not an easy thing to deal with even if one is white; through the character of Mrs. Sen’s the reader can see one of the perspectives of why people move to America and have such a hard time adapting. The story shows how people handle changes and acceptance differently, and how they would do anything to assure their survival. Society should learn to accept immigrants for who they are and not do so depending on their cultural background. In the end, everyone is a human being and in a sense we are all alike. Instead, we should be aware of the hardships they go through and we should try to support them and not judge them.
“Mrs. Sen’s” is a story about getting used to living in a foreign country. Through her character, immigrant hardships and immigrant acceptance are portrayed. The reasons why Mr. and Mrs. Sen moved to the United States was because Mr. Sen’s had found a teaching job at a university. Mrs. Sen found a job babysitting a kid named Eliot at her house. Although they were living in good conditions, emotionally Mrs. Sen was collapsing. The story describes how hard it was for her to adjust to America and how much she wishes she could be back home. The story also shows how Eliot notices all of these things and watched Mrs. Sen adapt to his country. She is overpowered by the male figure, Mr. Sen. This shows what a certain power a male figure can have in other countries, which could sometimes relate with American culture. She depends on him all the time, and she is not used to functioning on her own, which is what America’s culture is based on. Americans are used to being dependant and doing everything for themselves, which is one of the reasons why people look highly of the States. There isn’t anything pulling one back, at least not society, there are many opportunities to take. People can do what they want and not what they are supposed to do. Getting used to a different country and its culture is not something easy, and that’s exactly what Lahiri is trying to show through Mrs. Sen’s character.
“It is very frustrating” (Lahiri 123) Mrs. Sen said in regards to the fact that she couldn’t get the same fish as when she lived in India. Obviously nothing was going to be the same as home, but she had a hard time realizing and accepting it. “When allocentric individuals immigrate to a more individualistic culture, they are more vulnerable to feelings of alienation and stress” (www.allacademic.com). There is more to moving to a new place and adjusting, it causes an emotional distress that is almost inevitable. It can be said that it is part of the journey, so immigrants shouldn’t be expected to go along with everything the new culture expects them to do. It was not her choice to move there, but that was probably the only way for Mr. Sen to get a decent job and provide for her. This shows how some people don’t get to choose if they want to leave their homes, it was probably just a necessity rather than desire. “Everything is there” (Lahiri 113). Mrs. Sen described India, this proves that it is really hard for her to leave everything behind and get used to a new culture, which most Americans probably don’t think about when they meet an immigrant. Most people wouldn’t think that people like Mrs. Sen would only immigrate to America in order to have a way of survival. Instead, they can be looked at as some intruder that only wants to improve their way of life instead of staying in their own country.
Moreover, the author isn’t only trying to say that every American might judge and immigrant but also that some people can appreciate immigration and learn from it. Not everyone judges others or feels bitter about the fact that they are coming to their country. Lahiri suggests that we are all human; there really shouldn’t be any prejudice about anyone. I interviewed an American girl to ask how she felt about the prejudice that happens in America towards immigrants. Her answer was very touching and showed how not all Americans are against immigrants. “They are ignorant people that don’t know how to treat others” (Butler). Immigrants shouldn’t be mistreated only because they are not from the same race. There should be more compassion and understanding that we live in a world with different ethnicities. “Don’t make any judgment on your skin color” (www.helium.com). There is nothing wrong with treating everyone equally, after all isn’t America the country where everyone is equal and have the same rights? Maybe the ones that are racist against immigrants should think about that before they make remark or comments about their background.
In the story of Mrs. Sen, we see this idea of being equal with everyone through the character of Eliot. Mrs. Sen’s gets really attached to Eliot. It is almost as if he was her own comfort. She can’t understand how Eliot’s mom can leave him all day long with her because it is not how families work in her own culture, and in a way it is culture shock. She asks him “Don’t you miss her?” since he only sees her at night (Lahiri 123). This struck Mrs. Sen because she is not used to seeing kids act so independent at such young age. Eliot’s mom plays a big role in the story. She is the kind of person Lahiri is trying to show the American culture that does really exist. The one that is not very accepting of other cultures, and just uses Mrs. Sen because she has no other choice. “She tended to hover on the far side of the door frame, calling Eliot to put on his sneakers and gather his things, but Mrs. Sen would not allow it” (Lahiri 118). In other words, it is just for convenience that she lets Mrs. Sen keep her son. Through the character of Eliot’s mom, one can notice how difficult it is for some people to adjust to the idea of interacting with foreign people. Even though they are human as well, for some reason they are looked at as an outcast in society. That is why sometimes they are not given the rights they deserve, “We are for the rights of all immigrants, whether they are documented or not” (http:///items/427049-prejudice-against-immigrants-in-the-us). There are current issues in America that deal with immigration. It is very meaningful that a lot of people are starting to change their views about immigration and are doing something to end the prejudice that surrounds this society.
There shouldn’t be any judgments towards people with different backgrounds, but for some reason it is something that people struggle with all the time. This is something that is shown to the fact that immigrants are less likely to find jobs because of racial prejudice. “Researchers found that only a small number of immigrants had found jobs that matched their qualifications and many remained jobless or had accepted unskilled work.” (http://www.thaindian.com). There are many barriers that American society is putting in order to block immigrants from moving forward. The main barriers, which an immigrant has to overcome, are their accent and language skill. Those are things that they are supposed to overcome on their own and it is something that improves with time. The studies also showed that ones ethnicity, skin color, lack of cultural understanding and lack of support from others are also what are preventing immigrants from having a job. It is amazing how those are they main reasons why they can’t get a job. It would be interesting to see what immigrant Americans would do if they were treated the same way in the other countries.
The author is trying to warn the reader, that everybody has an unconscious mind that will judge others andnot be fair. But one needs to learn to star accepting others and their cultures. So is Lahiri right by raising assuming that prejudice is wrong and Americans need to be more aware that they are doing it? In the circumstances Eliot mom has, then it is, Whenever Mrs. Sen invites here inside, she doesn’t try to make an effort to get to know her, she’s carless and doesn’t want to be there. That shows how little respect she has towards her, and that’s probably why Mrs. Sen feels so lonely and rejected. There are a few people that want to get to know her and they are so emotionless. The story reflects how much one could learn from other, especially immigrants, but for some reason instead of doing so one rejects them. Mrs. Sen probably felt used, and unimportant, and sometimes we all portray that towards immigrant. Which leads them to think they are inferior and powerless, so they have to conform to society. “Do you speak English?” this question is mentioned a lot through the story, emphasizes how Mrs. Sen is judged by her appearance. Do we have a false image that we can be better than them, just because we know more of our culture?
There is more to life than pretending that some of us are better than others. There are many cultures and they are all different. Trying to adjust to a different one is not easily done. Maybe that’s why some people refuse to learn the language of the place they are living. The story reflects how American culture can sometimes undermine immigrants, stereotype them, and judge them. How rejection can be painful, to the point where people like Mrs. Sen don’t want to improve their ways of living and being able to function their own. It is all about human determination, compassion, and trying to introduce acceptance of other cultures into society.
Works Cited
Butler, Samantha. Personal Interview. 12 April 2009.
“Immigrants less likely to find jobs because of Racial Prejudice”. Ads by Google. January 2009. March 2009. <http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/immigrants-less-likely-to-find-jobs-because-of-racial-prejudices_100164319.html.>
Lahiri, Jumpa. Mrs. Sen’s. Interpreter of Maladies. 2000. Larsen, Amy."The Homemaker: Social Roles and Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Mrs. Sen’s" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Women's Studies Association, TBA, St. Charles, IL, Pheasant Run, Jun 28, 2007. 2009-02-04 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p169954_index.html>.“Protestors across America call for Immigration reform” May 2008. <http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/01/immigration.protests/index.html>Rossell, E.S. “Prejudice against Immigrants”. 2009. <http://www.helium.com/items/427049-prejudice-against-immigrants-in-the-us.>
To fully understand the significance of “Express Yourself” you would have to go back to 1965. On August 11, 1965 Lee Minikus, a highway officer, pulled over Marquette Frye on the suspicion that Frye was driving intoxicated. After Frye failed the series of tests, Minikus attempted to arrest Frye and his brother. In doing so, a crowd of on lookers that had grown from dozens to hundreds started the infamous Watts Riots. One African American jazz musician named Charles Wright made the song “Express Yourself” shortly after the riots and is the same song that N.W.A sampled from. It is the history behind the original “Express Yourself” that makes N.W.A’s sampling of it that much more meaningful and powerful.
Modern Views on Obesity
Modern Views on Obesity
We come in contact with the obesity issue in society everyday, whether it is walking to class on campus or waiting in line at a restaurant. Society has created many different opinions on how obesity and the obese should be viewed. Some researchers such as, Mary RayWorley in Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance, believe obesity should be an accepted part of today’s world. However, other researchers, like Greg Crister in Too Much of a Good Thing, or William Dietz and Steven Gortmaker in the Annual Review of Public Health, suggest the need to combat obesity in all its forms. Although Worley successfully argues her position on obesity and public opinion, effectiveness of dieting, and calls for change, Crister, Dietz, and Gortmaker substantially back up their opinions with scientific evidence and write from a less biased view.
Both Crister and Worley agree, correctly, that the public already has a somewhat negative view toward the obese. Society, primarily youth culture, obsesses over looking like the thin, gorgeous models displayed on every woman magazine. Twenty-six percent of thirteen-year-old girls admit to have trying, or becoming, anorexic (Worley 37). Dietz and Gormaker fail to comment on this subject, as they concern themselves primarily with scientific fact, as opposed to public opinion. The difference in Crister and Worley’s opinions is the degree of the stigmatism. Crister strongly believes that not enough seems to be done to prevent obesity and that society has become too accepting of what he calls an “epidemic.” If it was up to Crister, there would be a campaign against the unhealthy behaviors that lead to obesity. The goal of this campaign would not be to change the obese into skinny stick models, but into a healthy weight that wont threaten their lives. He argues his point: “In both the campaign, against unsafe sex and the campaign against smoking, stigmatizing such behaviors proved effect in reducing risk and harm” (Crister 462). He is, however, aware of one potential problem with a campaign and mentions it to strengthen his argument. Crister quips, “It’s true smokers-and homosexuals-may have experienced a modicum of stereotyping in the short rub, but such is the price of every public health advance: short term pain for the long term gain” (Crister 462). Crister’s idea of a campaign stigmatizing the unhealthy behaviors that lead to obesity would greatly benefit society. If an innovative and effective campaign, such as the one waged against smoking can be devised, then one addressing the problem of obesity should be highly effective. Initially, funding will be hard to find, but if current trends increase so will donations to support the campaign. Perhaps one day we will be able to hector the obese, just as we do avid smokers.
Furthermore, Dietz and Gortmaker also support the idea of a campaign. Not a campaign stigmatizing obesity, but one educating the public on how to prevent obesity. They believe that there are two viable approaches to preventing obesity, one being family based. A family based approach should focus on increasing physical activity, while decreasing the amount of calories consumed. They suggest that, “Efforts to reduce food intake should focus on potential sources of excess caloric intake, such as soda, fast foods, or the calorically dense foods advertised on television. The most appropriate strategy is not to purchase these foods, rather than to have them in house and restrict access to them” (Dietz 334). Furthermore, they preach removing televisions from a child’s room and limiting the time children are allowed to watch television. This encourages children to engage in physical activity more, as opposed to suggesting physical activity (Dietz 345). The second approach pertains to a school based approach, which would rely mainly on reducing the amount of sugared drinks consumed, during a school day, and increasing children’s physical activity. Dietz and Gortmaker write, “Consumption has increased dramatically in past decades, coincident with the obesity epidemic, and there is experimental evidence for impact on weight gain. Children have ready access to these products in school via vending machines and cafeterias, and beverage manufacturers gear marketing strategies directly to children and adolescents” (Dietz 346). Meanwhile, the percentage of high school students enrolled in physical education class fell from forty-two percent in 1991, to twenty-seven percent in 1997. That deems twenty-three percent lower than the projected goal of fifty percent for 2000 (Dietz 346).
However, Dietz and Gortmaker’s plans contain a few flaws. For example, parents must be aware of their child’s weight issues so that they may take an active a part in their health. In order to make a family based approach viable, parents need to be educated on growing issues associated with childhood obesity. A school-based approach represents the greatest challenge. The junk food industry will oppose any change, because doing so will greatly damage their profits. Although, some private schools, such as Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, ban the sale of candy in their cafeteria and vending machines. Another difficulty will be getting children to exercise on a regular basis. This can be overcome by making physical education mandatory and by teaching classes that focus on promoting lifetime physical activity.
Worley’s views couldn’t be farther away from Crister’s. Not only does she see no need for a campaign or any increase in the stigmatization that comes with being obese, but she believes society should be more accepting of the overweight. She disagrees with the idea that, “thinness signals self-discipline and self-respect, whereas fatness signals self-contempt and lack of resolve.” She notes that, “Those who are fat quickly learn to be deeply ashamed of their bodies and spend their lives trying to become what they are not and hide what cannot be hidden” (Worley 469). This “social ostracism” leads to not only to self-esteem issues but has physical implications as well. Dietz and Gortmaker agree with this, saying, “Energy intake in excess of energy expenditure results in weight gain, whereas energy expenditure in excess of intake results in weight loss” (Dietz 340). Stereotypically, fat people have a tendency to be afraid to exercise in public, due to fear of offending others and inviting rude comments. This in turn leads to a lack of exercise, which will indeed lead to health risks. This plays right into the hands of medical professionals who link the health risks to obesity. This is where they begin to disagree with Worley. They present strong evidence linking obesity to increased health risks, such as: “Overweight adolescent males have an increased early mortality in adulthood, and overweight adolescent males and females both have an increased adult morbidity that appears independent of the effects of adolescent weight on adult weight” (Dietz 339). They further evidence this by noting the growing number of data supporting this belief. Worley uses personal beliefs and experiences to evidence her beliefs, while Dietz and Gortmaker use facts and scientific research and therefore can be considered a more definitive source.
Worley dreams of the world becoming similar to the conventions held by the NAAFA. There, fat people gathered together without fear of taunts or ridicule and could live without their body shame, even if it was only temporary. She strengthens this point by talking about how everyone looked great, radiant and happy. And why did they look so great? Because they had clothing options; normally, Worley claims it is impossible to find stylish, oversized clothing. The NAAFA offers fat people clothing options that aren’t normally available-another aspect of the social discrimination faced by the overweight. Crister gives the obese an option through weight loss: an option Worley insists is not always available. This is not a viable option for most overweight individuals if you ask Worley, however. Dietz and Gortmaker preach weight loss as well, as does most of the scientific community. They view weight loss as a simple intake/outtake ratio. If you use more calories, than you take in weight loss occurs. Again it comes down to diet and exercise. Exercise and maintain a healthy diet and you will lose weight. I agree.
Obesity is not going away in society any time soon. So the question emerges, should we accept it, as Worley would have us, or reject it, as Crister, Dietz and Gortmaker would? I believe that Crister and the gang are correct in their assumption that obesity is indeed a problem, which needs to be combated. The public must stop accepting the obese and begin slimming down; however, I do not support society’s obsession with being too thin. There needs to be more than just widespread diet use, but an increase in physical activity and proper dietary restraint in order to maintain a healthy weight. This will lead to the eventual slimming of our “supersize” nation and over weight culture.
Works Cited
Andrew, Ray "How to Prevent Childhood Obesity." How to Prevent Childhood
Obesity. 23 Jan. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 16 Apr 2009
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Prevent-Childhood-Obesity&id=945114.
“Calories in Drinks.” 2009. Lot-o-nothin.com. 16 April 2009
http://www.caloriesindrinks.com/cid/drinks_list.cfm/name/soda/id/2/.
Crister, Greg. Too Much of a Good Thing. Pennsylvania: Greenhaven Press,
2002.
Dictionary.com. Obesity. 2009. Online Dictionary. 16 April 2009
< http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=obesity&search=search>.
Dietz, William, Steven Gortmaker. Annual Review of Public Health. New York City,
New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 2003.
Hitz, Shelley "Obesity in America -- The Growing Epidemic!." Obesity in America –
The Growing Epidemic!. 2 Jan. 2005. EzineArticles.com. 16 Apr 2009
http://ezinearticles.com/?Obesity-in-America----The-Growing-Epidemic!&id=7567.
“How to Beat Anorexia.” 8 November 2007. Funny Cool Photos. 15 April 2009
http://funnycoolvideos.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/how-to-beat-anorexia/.
NAAFAonline.com. 2009. National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. 16 April
2009 < http://www.naafaonline.com/dev2/>.
Obesityinamerica.org. 6 April 2009. The Endocrine Society. 15 April 2009
http://obesityinamerica.org/.
Pulaskiacademy.org. 2009. Pulaski Academy. 16 April 2009.
< http://pulaskiacademy.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1>.
Teenvogue.com. 2009. Vogue. 15 April 2009 http://www.teenvogue.com/.
Worley, Mary Ray. Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance. New York:
Greenhaven Press., 2004.
America’s obsession with YouTube and Hulu
Twenty years ago, when someone had a question about something they would either ask someone, or go find it in a book or newspaper somewhere. This isn’t usually the case anymore because of the Internet. The World Wide Web connects people together from almost all countries. It has changed the way people communicate, access data, and learn about the world around them. The same could be said about the entertainment that has become available to us all. The two websites, YouTube and Hulu, have been frequented to such an extent that they are household names and now very recognizable. By analyzing how the websites came to be, why they are so popular, and how they are evolving into advertising giants, we will see why they become a part of American culture and our way of life.
As some will remember a few years ago, internet videos were not all that popular. It was not a question of people wanting to watch TV or movies on the internet; it was a question of logistics. The speed which internet service can be provided has made huge leaps and bounds in just a few short years. Before the age of DSL and Cable internet connections, there was something called dial up. Those who do remember what it was like wish to forget it as soon as possible. After the five or so minutes required to sign on, you would click on some link or website and patiently wait for the page to load, perhaps passing the time by reading or taking a nap. In those days we were lucky if the page would load much less the video you were trying to watch. Soon though everyone started getting faster connections as the technology became cheaper and more accessible to the average person; therefore, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief as we could now effectively surf the internet (Howe 1). I remember certain flash game sites started to offer little videos that one could stream for free, which would be generally funny in nature and very entertaining. Well that’s when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim saw the market to open up a website devoted exclusively to free viral videos (YouTube). When I say viral videos I mean, videos that have become very popular and spread around the internet much like a virus. The creators were former employees of PayPal, which handles the credit card payments for EBay, another popular internet auction site. YouTube was started up to host of the videos that were becoming ever so popular. It is estimated that fifteen hours of content are being added to YouTube every minute, so to say the least the site is extremely popular (Wiki 1). The website Hulu, which launched in March of 2008, had about the same concept as YouTube, except choose to host mostly full length television episodes under contract from the TV networks. The Website would work out contracts with the TV networks and put in commercials between breaks in the show, unlike the so far commercial free YouTube, although we will talk about what YouTube is planning for the future (Ramage 1).
After the release of Hulu many television networks that had their own channels on YouTube switched to Hulu. The reason was for the better protection of their copyrighted materials since they could be more controlled on Hulu (Hulu.com). The two websites, which are in a sort of competition, keep trying to come up with new ways to entice people to use their website. By airing a variety of shows Hulu plans to draw a wider audience than that of YouTube, which consists primarily of younger people. YouTube, which allows users to post their own videos, is made up primarily of these and only a small percentage of videos are posted by actual media groups.
Sites like YouTube and Hulu get their popularity for a few reasons, but the main one is that it is free. This though is up for some debate because being forced to watch commercials almost makes you want to pay to watch uninterrupted. The primary way that these two sites make money is by advertising so the user doesn’t have to pay any money to see the content. For a site like YouTube it is not practical to charge money to see videos that the users made, unlike Hulu which is compromised of television shows produced by studios who are trying to make money (Cuban 1). With it being free there is nothing to lose when one sits there and watches free clips for hours at a time, which is easy to do since the videos all offer related videos on the side. It is very easy to navigate from video to video and let the hours pass you by because they all seem interesting. Another reason for the immense popularity of YouTube and similar sites before it was that it allows the user full creativity on what they want to post. With a few exceptions, such as pornography, and explicit things you can post virtually anything you want to. Videos about music, movies, different sports clips, stupid dance moves and just a few of the millions of videos to choose from.
YouTube has also become a self help site to help fix any problem you have. For example if I wanted to install speakers and subwoofers into my car I would look it up and I guarantee there are many different videos that will show me the step by step instructions on how to do this. I wanted to learn how to disassemble the bolt action on one of my rifles, so I looked it up and found a video explaining the process and how it was done. Some people do complain about the videos posted that are so stupid and irrelevant that they forget this is a valuable learning tool. Yes, there is a lot of stupid crap to wade through on the site, but there is a lot of solid content and informative videos. The websites YouTube and Hulu were also set up to be very user friendly, with different categories users could pick from to narrow down their searches or they could just type in what they wanted in the search bar. Since Google bought YouTube for 1.8 Billion Dollars in 2006 YouTube uses Google’s search system in its search bar (Wiki 1). For instance when you start your search for, The lord of the Rings : The Return of the King, After typing “The” and the word “lord” the rest will pop up for you at the bottom for you to choose, making searching for things very easy.
Now, when I say that the sites are free, you know that they are not nonprofit organizations not out to make money. They do have revenue but this comes completely from the world of advertising. The two websites have been evolving into giant money making machines that can channel the millions of internet viewers into their web of “buy this, buy that”. It is not like this is a new concept though, there have been advertisements on television for 60 years and today is no different. After all there are a lot of products out there that need to be sold. In the past few years thought this has been a problem for the commercials on television. With so much of their audience going online and watching their favorite programs on the internet, the networks have fewer opportunities to sell us stuff. When YouTube was the only big video site around, advertising was present on the site but it did not overwhelm the “free content”. When YouTube started to have broken up television episodes on their websites, a lot of the television executives became worried that since people would watch the show on YouTube instead of TV, they would miss all of these commercials. With the sponsors not receiving as much business they could threaten not to pay the network any more money for their air time. It came as a relief when, Hulu finally opened for business and started cutting deals with all of the major networks. Now that the TV episodes could still have their commercials, more and more of them flocked to Hulu as a means of broadcasting their show on the internet while still retaining advertising revenue. The ongoing competition between Hulu and YouTube is now shifting in the way of who is making more money. According to Peter Kafka, Hulu is making more money because it secures advertising on 80 percent of its videos, while YouTube is only securing advertisements for about 3 percent of its. He also says YouTube is paying out huge bucks to music groups for licensing fees for its videos on the site. Another reason he thinks Hulu is making more money is the huge bandwidth costs that they must provide so people can see their videos. Bandwidth is the amount of throughput or traffic a particular system can handle. For example the teachers at my old high school wouldn’t let us play games because it slowed down the network for everyone else on the system. Think about all of the videos being played every second on YouTube and they have to provide all of this so their website can function (Kafka 1). Yet another way to see how Hulu is doing compared to YouTube is to look at YouTube’s new format planned to go into effect April 16 of this year. They plan to “ make the site more attractive to the content creators who make the kind of stuff Google could actually sell ads against” (Carlson 1). The site plans to get rid of their existing tabs and replace them to look like Hulu’s. Not stopping at this, they will also add the interruptive commercials into all of the videos just like Hulu. This is an attempt by YouTube to catch up to the astounding progress Hulu has made. This decision though could have some dire consequences. I do not think that the millions of fans of YouTube will take quietly that they will be subjected to these ridiculous advertisements that interrupt their viewing pleasure. I am with them in that respect because it would be very annoying to watch a thirty second commercial to an eighteen second clip. This unfortunately is the direction they must go to reach their audience and actively compete with the ever growing Hulu.
Watching videos on YouTube or Hulu has become part of our American culture, as well as part of much of the rest of the world. We rely on these sources for information, advice, but above all endless entertainment. While we may judge the people running the show as money hungry wolves who are preying on us “sheeple”, they are a necessary part to the way our economy works. Just remember the next time you sit down and watch a free show that there is a lot of hope from an advertiser that they didn’t waste their money.
Work Cited
Carlson, Nicholas. "Google redesignes youtube, copies hulu." Silicon Alley Insider. March
30,2009. The Buisness Insider. 13 Apr 2009 <http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-
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<http://blogmaverick.com/2008/06/16/hulu-is-kicking-youtubes-ass/>.
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17,2008. The Wall Street Journal. 13 Apr 2009
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2008. BNP Parabias Group. 13 Apr 2009 <http://www.atelier-us.com/internet-
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Youtube.com. 13 Apr 2009. Google.com. 13 Apr 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/>.
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Why do many Amercians like a Cinderella story?
The NCAA men’s basketball Tournament is a yearly tradition that goes on in the month of March. The tournament brings excitement and chaos to all different groups of people in all different ways this time of year. For this reason, the tournament has also been known as March Madness. In the March Madness tournament there is initially a field of sixty five teams selected. The teams are selected by both automatic and at-large bids. The automatic bids are assigned to each of the teams that win each of the major conference tournaments. There are thirty automatic bids every year in the tournament. The remaining thirty four spots are filled by the at-large bids. The at-large bids are assigned to teams through a very complicated process which determines what each of the teams will be seeded in the tournament along with where in the bracket each team will be placed. This process is done by a special selection committee that is approved by the NCAA. The at-large teams generally come from the power conferences which include the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10, and SEC. However, there are still at-large bids
available on some occasions which schools from the mid-major conferences with outstanding records can be eligible for. Many teams know that they will make the tournament no matter how they perform in their conference tournament. Generally, teams in the top 25 of the polls at the end of the season make the tournament. Although the committee usually does a good job with the selection process, every year we find ourselves with an argument over which teams did and did not make the tournament. “Snubbed” is often the term the college basketball world gives the teams that did not get a bid to the tournament although many felt they were worthy. So each year this phenomenon sweeps across the world in the month of March. March Madness gets people involved by having them fill out tournament brackets and create bracket pools of
their own. For this year’s tournament, ESPN showed Barack Obama, The President of the United States, filling out his bracket on Sportscenter. Bracket pools are groups created that allow individuals to fill out brackets and turn them into the pool to see who in the pool can guess the winner of the most games
correctly. These are created usually online but sometimes on paper. They create in some cases a point system that makes the tournament into a competition and all the more interesting. When March rolls around every year, there is this appeal that is generated sports fans and non-traditional sports fans alike. The NCAA Tournament creates this buzz that is unlike many other sporting events. This appeal is generated from multiple things. The tournament creates appeal to its American viewers by having such a large field involved in the tournament and the story lines that develope. The tournament also now-a-days is becoming more and more popular because of the increasing accessibility it is achieving through other means of technology in America and all across the world. American culture finds the NCAA tournament appealing because of the stories and legacies that are involved in it. In examing the NCAA tournament, it is easy to see why the “Cinderella” storylines and ease of access through various means of technology appeal to the masses of the American public.
The NCAA tournament is very appealing to its American audience every year when it comes around. The entire basketball world and others get excited as March Madness arrives. The American public gets all wrapped up in it every year because they fall in love with the story lines. They love the Cinderella stories that develop throughout the field of sixty-five teams. In just three weeks the best teams in the nation compete and are narrowed down to one final champion. The Cinderella stories are what make the
tournament so exciting for all of its viewers across the nation and even worldwide. Tad Boyle, the University of Northern Colorado’s men’s basketball coach, said this in discussing the Cinderella story appeal, “On any given night anyone can beat anyone in this playoff system which you don't see in other collegiate sports” (Wilson). Boyle makes a very valid point that in the majority of the other collegiate sports we do not see these “David vs. Goliath” match ups that are seen in the early weeks of March Madness. These match ups are one of the things that just grabs the attention of the American viewers. When Teams like George Mason University make a run like they did in 2006 making it all the way to the Final Four, the American fan already takes a liking to their story (Wilson). It is an American’s nature to route for the underdog and hope that they come out on top when going up against these big names schools that are known for being basketball powerhouses. This is why so many Americans love the NCAA tournament. Storylines like the George Mason one happen every year. Each year in the tournament, some non-major program makes it deeper into the tournament then everyone thought they would. Last year it was Stephen Curry’s Davidson team that wore the glass slipper of the
tournament (Mariotti). In the 2009 tournament it was Western Kentucky, a twelve seed, who managed to unexpectedly defeat Illinois, the five seed, in the first round of the tournament in the South region (Gale). The fact that the tournament is single elimination makes it all the more exciting for the American viewer as well. All the players realize if they get to the finals, this may be their one shining moment in the spotlight. Being an American, we do not have the greatest attention span for things that are not very exciting. However, watching games and realizing that the entire season of these teams is on the line in every game makes it very intriguing for many viewers. So it is easy to see how the Cinderella stories play a role in how appealing Americans find March Madness to be. Another factor that weighs into the appeal of March Madness is how easily accessible it is thanks to new technology.
Recently, the development of new technologies has allowed the way people view the March Madness games to be different. In the past the majority of the people that watched March Madness were those that watched it on television. This has almost become old-fashioned. This years tournament was broadcast in addition to on television in its entirety on the internet on March Madness on Demand. Tim Chisolm said this about
the online broadcast, “ While in the past such broadcasts were grainy, unappetizing windows within one's internet browser, today the options extend to full-screen high-quality streams that are only limited by the restrictions of your computer or internet bandwidth” (Chisolm). The technology that allows for this to happen is changing by the day. Sports have become a pioneer for broadcasting things on the internet. This appeals to the American NCAA basketball fan for two reasons. One, as Americans we live life on the go, and we all do not have the time to sit at home and watch the tournament in its entirety. Two, we do not always get to watch the team we would like to watch because the TV broadcast goes from game to game and only shows the game that has the closest score. With March Madness on Demand, viewers can watch the games featuring the teams they want with very minimal interruptions as well as watch them on the go on devices such as laptops and cellular phones. With this technology people are able to keep up with the tournament and the teams they choose with out having to sit down in front of the TV where they hope they get to watch some of their game. These advances in technology make the tournament very appealing for the American Sports fan. According to Alex Zaharov-Reutt, “March Madness is a true American sporting institution” (Zaharvo-Reutt). It appears as if this statement is becoming more and more true. The broadcasting of March Madness has started catering more and more to the typical lifestyle found in American culture.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is becoming more and more an annual phenomenon that sweeps across America and other parts of the world in the weeks of March and early April. This is an exciting event for all sports fans and especially college basketball fans. These weeks are filled with lots of games and match ups that cause chaos
in the sports world. The tournament has also come to be known as March Madness. A field of sixty-five teams makes up the tournament and is what, after being placed into seeds and brackets, causes the true madness. The Madness begins after Selection Sunday and the games begin the next Thursday. The tournament brings with it this buzz and energy that is unlike any other. The tournament appeals to a very large portion of the American public as well as many in other countries. The tournaments appeal comes from the Cinderella storylines that come with it. The stories about the high seeded teams that make magical runs deep into the tournament are appealing to the public. The new technologies that have recently been developed such as March Madness on Demand,
which broadcasts every game of the tournament in its entirety online also add some appeal for the American viewers because it fits right in with their lifestyles. By looking at the Cinderella stories and the new forms of technology the tournament uses it is easy to see why March Madness appeals to the mass of the American population.
Works Cited
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LLC. 15 Apr. 2009 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNue9aWTLwM>.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O77xhmhfrdU&feature=related>.
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<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTRHQPnPMl8>.
Wilson, David. “March Madness, Cinderella stories appeal to the masses.” College
Media Network.com. 3 Apr. 2009. College Publisher. 15 Apr. 2009 <http://media.www.uncmirror.com/media/storage/paper972/news/2009/04/03/Sports/March.Madness.Cinderella.Stories.Appeal.To.Masses-3696149.shtml>.
Mariotti, Jay. “Raw Appeal of March Stronger than Ever.” Fanhouse.com. 12 Mar. 2009.
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Gale, Tyrone. “NCAA Tournament nearing end: Too much Big East, too few
Cinderellas.” TheTigernews.com. 3 Apr. 2009. College Publisher. 15 Apr. 2009 <http://media.www.thetigernews.com/media/storage/paper863/news/2009/04/03/Sports/Ncaa-Tournament.Nearing.End-3695168.shtml>.
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The American Dream Culture
“Success is somebody else's failure. Success is the American Dream we can keep dreaming because most people in most places, including thirty million of ourselves, live wide awake in the terrible reality of poverty”(Ursula K. LeGuin 1). For many people in today’s society, the “American Dream” is an unfathomable goal, a dream in the midst of an inevitable future we spend lifetimes reaching. Beginning with education, we are taught to live out this dream by becoming successful, raising a family, and ending life in monetary happiness. Blood, sweat, tears, and most importantly time, are poured into the race to live out the dream depicted by parents, in storybooks and in movies. This is a dream that today’s culture has twisted into the ultimate utopian life. The idea of the “American Dream” has created a virus that feeds itself with the influences it has on culture, and is one that propels the American culture forward at an almost destructive rate. Yet, the success of this dream is sometimes inaccessible.
In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Lowman works as a traveling salesman desiring to fulfill the “American Dream”. He fails in creating this utopian world of wealth and success that he has created in his mind, and instead pushes his goals and aspirations upon his two young boys. Both boys, however, fail at becoming successful in the world’s eyes, and both stop short of any dream their father held for them. With those around him becoming wealthy, including his own brother and neighbor, Willy’s dream shatters, his mental and psychological wellbeing begin to crumble, and his life ends tragically in suicide. Willy’s fear of abandonment ultimately forced him to attempt to conform his sons and family to the American Dream. This, in turn, ended in both his sons turning against him, and falling short of any dream at all. The fight for the dream led to jealousy, despair, and abandonment. In the end, he notes, “after all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive” (Miller 104). Although this dream might seem like the ultimate way of living, many people spend their time dreaming up the life they want to live, and end up allowing the enjoyment of living to pass them by, all the while living in the poverty and solitude of today’s world.
Continuing with the effect of material success on today’s society, we look to the past actions of our founding fathers and how they established the “American Dream,” as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration 1). America has been marked as the land of opportunity and material prosperity for any individual, regardless of race, ethnicity, and economic background. In today’s society, many people focus on making money and becoming successful so that they can live comfortable lives and provide for their families. In turn, this culture teaches their children that this way of life will create happiness, creating an endless cycle. In Death of a Salesman, Miller relates the text to the reader by telling the story of many average Americans. The text automatically assumes that like most people, the readers are educating themselves for a future career in which they can make enough money to live a monetarily safe and comfortable life. Looking for such a life, Willy Loman eventually lost the love and respect from his family and friends. By focusing on what he wanted individually for himself, he gave up on the love of those closest to him. Instead, as a salesman, he sold his personality and created false relationships with customers, leaving him searching for love and acceptance. In today’s culture, we see many similar circumstances in which parents abandon their children, skewing their future views on goals and happiness, and also creating turmoil in their lives at home.
The idea of the American Dream is not one confined to the 1940’s, the decade Arthur Miller sat down to write Death of a Salesman. This is a Dream that has continued to evolve from the conception of this country and is thriving more today than ever before. We as Americans are born in, or immigrate to, this land of opportunity, and are immediately and overwhelmingly taught a certain hierarchy of value. What is valuable is not family, respect, honor, humility, selflessness, friendship, or patriotism; at least not to the degree that we like to think it is. What is valuable and of great importance, however, is money.
Money surrounds and drowns the culture we have created. It is the driving force behind every single thing that we do. We go to college so that we will be able to get jobs that pay us more money. We plan our lives based on how much money we make, how much we would like to be making, and how much we spend. And if we do not have it, we live our lives in denial, trying to create the illusion to ourselves and others that we do, by taking out loans, charging credit cards, and building what almost 90 percent of Americans have: debt. Some might argue that this is a natural way of life around the world, that money is simply the currency used to accrue the basic necessities of our very survival. However, this is not the case in the United States of America. Here, money, and accumulating the largest amount in excess of what we need, has become an obsession.
For evidence of this obsession, look not further than… anywhere. People all around us are more concerned about their current appearance and the accrual of material wealth than any other single entity. The media that surrounds us has been flooded with it. Celebrities are worshipped, and their possessions paraded around for entertainment on TV shows such as MTV Cribs and Fabulous Life Of (MTV, Fabulous).The more outlandish and eccentric, the more appeal is accumulated in the eyes of the American public.
However, it is not merely the desire for material possessions that is a cause for worry. Motivation and a certain sense of urgency in preparing for the future can be a very healthy and wise thing to devote time and effort to. What is of greatest concern is the rate at which the obsession for excess monetary strength is growing. The American youth have been severely influenced by the culture that the American Dream has created.Today, just as in the 1940’s, this culture has placed an added importance on education for the sole purpose of making more money. In Death of a Salesman, Willy talks about his son attending college “three great universities begging for him, and from there the sky’s the limit” (Miller 41). According to theU.S. Census Bureau's 2007 median earnings for full-time workers at least 25 years old, annual earnings for those with Bachelor’s degrees average $21,500 more than those with only a high-school diploma (CollegeBoard 1).According to USA Today, the trend of attending college is continuing to grow, with 80 percent of high-school students graduating in 2000 attending college compared to only 75.2 percent in 1990 (Henry 1).Perhaps what is of even more concern is that fact that the American youth has not only been influenced by their culture, but that they have fed back into it and in turn have supported its continuing growth. The trend that the American Culture has now created is gaining strength, speed, and numbers.
As stated earlier, there are many positive effects that the American Dream has had on our culture. However, it is even more important to ensure that neither the positive nor adverse effects of the American Dream continue to diminish the importance of virtue, fellowship, family, and love. We as Americans must not allow our achievement of monetary comfort and luxury to come at the cost of sacrificing the values that this great country was founded upon. We live in this country with the dream of obtaining “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration 1). We must not allow that idea of pursuit to become an overwhelming obsession that in the end hinders the ability of ourselves or others to enjoy life, liberty, and true happiness.
Twilight-Cultural Phenomena
“The most epic romance since titanic,” said on Hollywood.com. Since November 2008 when Twilight hit movie theatres around the world is has became a cultural phenomena. The incredible popularity of the movie also increased a divine interest in the already recent published Twilight Saga book series. There could be many reasons to describe why the film and book series suddenly appealed to those throughout the United States. Some of these reasons could possibly be the actors and actresses who play the characters in the movie who had a strong sex appeal to viewers, or the already popular book series that has been competing with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, or it could be the cultural aspects that make our society find it acceptable to have an interest in the idea of vampires and romances. Twilight, a film of romance and vampires, is a cultural phenomena in today’s society no matter what the reasons are.
Twilight, the film and the movie, follow the same basic plot. It is about a 17 year old teenage girl who was not really pretty or smart. She has never had a boyfriend or even been appealing to guys. She moved to a town named Forks where her father was the local police chief. She was suddenly the interest of every boy in the local high school, but only one really catches her eye. The one guy was named Edward Cullen. Edward is a vampire. He lived in a family of vampires. There are 7 vampires in their family. Edward has never
felt love like the other vampires have, but he has a strange connection to Bella Swan. They fell in love. Bella does not a fear of vampires like she should according to Edward. In fact, she wanted to become a vampire herself. Bella’s scent was intoxicating to Edward. He found her taste appealing. Through a series of unfortunate events, Bella finds herself in danger of becoming a vampire named James next meal. Edward rescued Bella from danger, but not before James bit her. Edward forced himself to such the venom out of Bella’s bite. In doing so, Edward saved Bella’s life. He promised that he would never let anything else ever happen to her again and that he would always love her.
The actors and actresses who play the characters in the movie, Twilight, has a lot to do with its sudden popularity. The movie appeals to mostly young girls in the age group of middle aged teenagers to young college age females. The actors and actresses had a large influence on the viewer population. Robert Pattinson is an appealing actor to young women. When Hollywood casted the role of Edward Cullen they were looking for an attractive young actor who would appeal to the expected viewer as the next Tom Cruise. According to Peter Veledez, “Edward in the eyes of many is seen as the perfect guy” (http://stuyspector.com/2009/02/09/twilight-sinking-its-fangs-into-stuyvesant). Robert Pattinson, also know as the strikingly handsome Edward Cullen, has had a large impact on the popularity of Twilight.
Edward Cullen’s appearance is another culturally interesting draw to Twilight. Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga, gave an interesting approach to the looks of a vampire. She gave vampires a beautifully breath taking look. The look attracts people to the vampires. They have white, transparent skin; amber, crimson, and black eyes; and the most appealing structure to human eyes. “I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful” (Twilight 19). Kononenko said, “Bella isn’t particularly smart or pretty, but she is the only thing that matters to Edward. Seeing a guy like that fall in love with a normal girl really makes it the perfect love story” (http://stuyspector.com/2009/02/09/twilight-sinking-its-fangs-into-stuyvesant). Stephanie Meyer made a unique cultural approach by making vampires appear beautiful and appealing to human eyes instead of terrifying as my generation grew up thinking.
Twilight was already a blooming book series when the film version first made its début. Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga book series had already sold over 20 million copies before the movie ever hit the big screen. In today’s culture, vampires are craved by young readers. The United States has a fixed fascination with science fiction and the idea of immortality which appeals to the newer generation. Ever since March 27, 2008, at least one if not more of the four book in the Twilight series has been in USA TODAY’s top 10 books. When Stephanie Meyer’s book series was already a cultural phenomena, the movie just sent the idea of vampires to a culturally accepted level.
Today’s society is more accepting of the idea of vampires than societies in the past have ever been. To an older generation, vampires are only referred to when discussing Halloween costumes, but in today’s generation, vampires are in the top selling books and box office most mind blowing films. In today’s generation, “the vampire bite is easy shorthand for sex,” said Sarah Seltzer (http://alternet.org/movies /109067 /love_bites: _what_sexy_vampires_tell_us_about_our_culture/?page=2). Is this why vampires appeal to my generation, the newer generation? Is it because we are a sexual addicting generation? I think the sex appeal says a lot about why vampires appeal to my generation. My generation has less moral standards than my grandparent’s generation grew up with and still holds true to. This newer generation had less regard for the moral standard of sex after marriage and is a very sex craving addicted generation. The idea of vampires is more acceptable in today’s society for many logical reasons.
Today’s generation is a sex craved revolving society. This affects the way society accepts things. In both the film and literary versions of Twilight, Bella states, “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him” (Twilight 195). This gives the newer generation a falsified idea of loving a vampire. Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in Twilight the movie, gave younger girls a chance to express their nascent desires out loud. According to Sarah Seltzer, “the part of the formula that appeals so widely is not the story’s morality, but rather its adolescent hunger. It’s the sexual budding, the fraught glances across the cafeteria, the craving to be singled out, and the quick touches of a skin that sends a shock through the other person” (http://alternet.org/movies/109067/lovebites:whatsexy_ vampires_tell_us_about_our_culture/?page=2). Vampires are easily accepted into today’s society due to my generations budding interest in science fiction, immorality, and most of all our interest in sexual desires.
Today’s society finds science fiction and immorality a great interest. For this reason, young readers today are interested in vampires. Twilight gives readers the fulfillment they are looking for with immorality. It described a vampire’s life span and the only death they can approach. It stressed the idea that a vampire lives a life of immorality. Why is immorality so important to my generation? I think it is because we have modern technology and modern medicines but still have not found a way for a human to live forever. In today’s society, movies and books have a strong focus on science fiction and immorality which appear to many young people.
Twilight also introduced the idea of drugs in a faint way that appears to the viewing audience. Edward Cullen told Bella, “but your scent, it’s like a drug to me. Like my own personal brand of heroin” (Twilight 287). Bella responded, “Oh…I thought you hated me when we first met” (Twilight 287). Edward said, “I did. For making me what you so badly. I’m still not sure I can control myself” (Twilight 287). Why would a book designed for young readers mention heroin? I think it is because drugs are more acceptable in out generation today. People do not discriminate drug usage anymore. This whole passage has a secret meaning. Edward speaks of drug and the want for something. I think the secret meaning is that in our culture if you want a drug then you just get that drug and you can not control that want. I found the fact that Twilight referred to a drug a very cultural aspect of the story.
“A full-blown cultural phenomena,” is how the LA Times described Twilight. I think this statement is proven correct in many ways. The actors and actresses who
appeared in Twilight the movie had a sexual appeal to young female viewer which in turn, enhanced more interest in the books as well. The book series, Twilight Saga, was already competing with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series in the top ten books in USA Today. Another thing that has allowed Twilight to become a cultu ral phenomenon is today’s generations high interest rates with science fiction, immorality, and of course sexual desires. There is no other way to say it, besides that Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga book series and the film version of Twilight have all became none other than a cultural phenomena.
Click the link below to view a YouTube
Movie Review of Twilight.
Twilight Movie Review
Work Cited
Alternet.org. 2008. Love Bites. 14 April 2009 Vampire Article
Communites.Canada.com. 2008. Twilight is a cultural phenomenon. 14 April 2009
Cultural Phenomenon
Movie-moron.com. 2008. New Twilight Pictures & Trivia. 23 April 2009. Twilight the Movie
Stuyspector.com. 2009. Twilight. 14 April 2009. Twilight in the Newspaper
Twilight-Quotes.com. 2009. Twilight. 14 April 2009. Twilight Quotes
YouTube.com. 2009. Twilight-Movie Review. 23 April 2009. Twilight Movie Review
South Central L.A.’s Influence on “Straight Outta Compton”
In 1988, five rappers got together and formed “The World’s Most Dangerous Group” named N.W.A, acronym being for Niggaz With Attitude. N.W.A’s five members consisted of front man Eazy-E, lyrical geniuses Ice Cube and MC Ren, legendary producer Dr. Dre, and Yella. When the five collaborated in the making of their 1988 debut album, “Straight Outta Compton”, they were also collaborating in the making of the gangsta rap sub genre. In my paper, I will summarize how “Straight Outta Compton” was fully motivated by everyday life in South Central Los Angeles and how it differed from most East Coast rap being produced at the time.
“Straight Outta Compton” was one of the first albums to give an accurate look into everyday life in South Central L.A. One of the main issues that were addressed throughout the album was the gang violence that the members faced in their neighborhoods. Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone wrote, “[Straight Outta Compton] was one of hip-hop's crucial albums, it was a bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles' burnt-out and ignored hoods” (Caramanica, 2002). When Caramanica writes “ignored hoods” it helps remind the reader that we don’t always know where people come from or what they face in everyday life. For N.W.A’s members this meant dealing with drive by shootings, gang violence, and murders as an everyday occurrence. Throughout most of the album Ice Cube delivered violent lines such as “If ya f*ck with me I’ll put a foot in ya ass” (N.W.A, 1988). The reader is than able to understand that most violent actions portrayed in these songs are made in retaliation and not the common misconception that they are random.
As N.W.A developed their sound they began to realize that their music was being well received by a large audience and decided to make a couple of tracks that were less “gangsta” and more “popular” to gain radio play. While most of their album had gotten banned from getting radio play, they were still able to get one song out; “Express Yourself”. The central theme around Express Yourself was that African Americans have always had trouble expressing themselves and were usually held down by “the man.” Ice Cube starts the song with one of his most famous lines. “I’m expressin with my full capabilities, and now I’m livin in correctional facilities” (N.W.A, 1988). At the time this was made there were a lot of active Black Panthers in Compton, some being famous rappers such as Tupac Shakur and Warren G. Most of the political active African Americans related to this line because of the brutal resistance they would met from the L.A. Sheriff’s when they would conduct protests.
N.W.A’s most infamous song was “F*ck The Police” which had gotten banned from most radio stations and thought of as its sole purpose was to start riots against law enforcements. So much that local and federal governments contacted N.W.A to express their disproval with the group’s song. “On August 1st, 1989, the FBI sent a bulletin to the group's label denouncing this song.” (Rolling Stone, 2004) MC Ren, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube gave unforgettable performances on the song, with lines full of frustration that only people who have faced years of unjust oppression could have had. Ice Cube once again started the song in the only way he seemed to know how; effectively and powerfully. “F*ck tha police comin straight from the underground, A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown” (NWA, 1988). However simple his words might have been, they were not less effective or powerful.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Well that doesn’t mean only the West Coast was like that, the East Coast probably had the exact same things happening there.” While some would argue that yes; the exact same things were happening on both sides, you have to take into consideration the severity of both of the problems in both areas. In 1989 Public Enemy; a New York based rap group, came out with the hip-hop classic “Fight The Power” which was the focus point around a black power movement generated by Spike Lee. While both were charged with raw intensity, “Fight The Power’s” New York hip-hop style was not as intense as Straight Outta Compton’s South Central L.A rap style was.
The New York and South Central L.A. styles were affected by where each one was regional placed. In West Coast rap, the rappers described as hanging out on street corners and at different houses. This differs from New York rap because New York was surrounded by apartment complexes putting African Americans closer to one another, resulting in neighbors becoming closer friends and developing stronger bonds. This helped New York residents put together protests such as the one shown in the Public Enemy video. Also, the different drugs on each coast affected the neighborhoods and the type of intensity that the police officers had to bring to most situations.
It was because of all these differences between the East and the West Coast that the problems that needed to be fixed on each coast became more apparent. As the East Coast issues dimmed out of the national spotlight, the West Coast exploded back with the Rodney King riots of 1992. These riots were the main issue focused around Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” and Ice Cube’s “The Predator”, helping each of their solo careers take off after the separation of N.W.A. “[The Chronic] is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s, and one of the most influential Hip Hop albums of all time” (RapCentral, 2002). Both albums were well received and helped Ice Cube continue a nine album career and counting, while making Dr. Dre one of the most legendary music producers ever.
In conclusion, I have summarized the effect that South Central L.A.’s changes and events affected the style of N.W.A’s album “Straight Outta Compton.” In my paper my goal was to disprove the common misconception that violent music in an area makes it violent, when in fact it is the mood of an area that determines the type the music that is produced. N.W.A showed this talking about violence and human right violations before there was violent music being played in the area. It is due to N.W.A that we have such a wide selection of rap music nowadays along with better civil rights in most our cities. N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” is one of African American’s most important pieces of literature and is rarely nowadays treated as such.
Work Cited Page
· Caramanica, Jon. "N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton" Rolling Stone 30 Sep. 2002
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nwa/albums/album/128098/review/6211658/straight_outta_compton
· Ice Cube, MC Ren. “N.W.A.: Fuck The Police” Rolling Stone 4 Nov. 2004http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596262/fuck_tha_police
· Thomas, Connors. “Dr. Dre: The Chronic” Rap Central 15 Sept. 2003
http://www.rapcentral.co.uk/drdreLyricsCHRON.html
N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton [Lyrics]
N.W.A - Gangsta Gangsta - http://www.metrolyrics.com/gangsta-gangsta-lyrics-nwa.html
N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton - http://www.metrolyrics.com/straight-outta-compton-lyrics-nwa.html
N.W.A - F*ck The Police - http://www.metrolyrics.com/fuck-the-police-lyrics-nwa.html
Work Cited Page
· Caramanica, Jon. "N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton" Rolling Stone 30 Sep. 2002
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nwa/albums/album/128098/review/6211658/straight_outta_compton
· Ice Cube, MC Ren. “N.W.A.: Fuck The Police” Rolling Stone 4 Nov. 2004 http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596262/fuck_tha_police
· Thomas, Connors. “Dr. Dre: The Chronic” Rap Central 15 Sept. 2003 http://www.rapcentral.co.uk/drdreLyricsCHRON.html
N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton [Lyrics]
N.W.A - Gangsta Gangsta - http://www.metrolyrics.com/gangsta-gangsta-lyrics-nwa.html
N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton - http://www.metrolyrics.com/straight-outta-compton-lyrics-nwa.html
N.W.A - F*ck The Police - http://www.metrolyrics.com/fuck-the-police-lyrics-nwa.html
Girl Power: The Balance between Feminism and Femininity in American Culture
At one point in time, the thought of a woman riding a horse with one leg on each side would cause the jaws of society to drop in disbelief. With the Feminist Movement of the late 60’s and 70’s, society’s view of women was fiercely challenged, resulting in female independence and choice. In recent years, the influence of feminism has permeated throughout many aspects of life and has become a fixture in American culture. However, similarly to feminism, the Anti-Feminist Movement has also successfully established some of it’s’ beliefs in society, and as a result conflicting representations of feminism can be seen throughout American culture, specifically the culture of American television.
Commercials such as the “butt-dialer” from T-Mobile, and sitcoms such as Sex and the City, are examples of the rise of feminism as well as the challenging of the feminist stereotypes that are popular throughout American television culture. This paper will discuss how and why these examples are bringing about such change, the feelings of those opposed to such, and my own personal opinion regarding the effects of feminism in television culture.
The “Butt Dialer” commercial, from T-Mobile, is a perfect example of the rise of feminism that can be seen in American commercial and television culture. In this advertisement, the man is sitting on the couch with his cellular phone in his back pocket. Next, the woman walks in the doorway to inform him that his “butt” is calling her, and she talks back in the phone, somewhat facetiously, saying “hey butt” back. She then introduces the new Blackberry phone, which unlike the traditional open-faced Blackberry the man currently has, includes a cover that flips closed to avoid further “butt dialing” caused by sitting on his cellular phone. In my opinion, two aspects of feminism can be seen in this advertisement. First, the roles of “silly” and “smart” have been reversed, meaning that the man is seen as the oblivious and “ditsy” character, while the woman is the sensible and “dominant” character. Second, not only does this commercial include the woman as being the more intelligent character, it also portrays her as having more technological awareness then that of the man, which is a huge ego boost for feminism, that I believe is just now becoming more common in American culture. In the past, woman and technology were two words that had little, if any, correlation to one another in American society. Technology was a man’s world and women were not allowed, and were portrayed as not capable of finding that world even if they wanted to. Now, with advertisements such as this, not only are we seeing smart and capable woman, we are also seeing woman who know there technology and they know how to use it. Traditionally speaking, woman have been viewed in American culture as “silly”, “ditzy”, and pretty much any other personality trait that would cause someone to not be taken seriously. This is not to say that woman are not “silly” and “ditzy” , we all certainly have our moments, but that is exactly what they are, moments, not lifetimes. With this new wave of feminism pouring out all over television and commercials, it is obvious that American culture is aware of the other, more positive characteristics that are in woman of both the adult age as well as young girls.
That being said, commercials have also embraced the young ladies of America as well, portraying them as sensible and technologically aware. An example of this is seen in T-Mobile’s “Over Sharing” advertisement, involving a single-father and his three daughters ranging from high school to elementary ages. The three girls are text messaging on their cellular phones, when one greets her father by telling him that one of her friends was curious about his progress in the online dating world. After the father responds by saying it is unnecessary for the girls to tell their personal business to everyone simply because they have unlimited text messaging, the other two girls inform their father about how another friend of theirs has a relative who is interested in him. This commercial is an example of how the future generations of America are technologically savvy, in addition to acknowledging that females are just as much a part of this trend as males.
When considering this feminist theme, that seems to be stream-lined in contemporary television, it leads one to question what the cause of this movement was. In her article “How Feminism Transformed Advertising”, Barbara petro discusses what led advertisers to switch gears and get away from the traditional, domestic portrayal of women, to including women who are independent and feministic. Using the example of Kotex feminine products, Petro says that the commercials “…feature various situations portraying independent women surviving in the world during their periods” (Petro 1). She continues by stating that the slogan for Kotex, “Kotex fits. Period. Suggest[s] it fits all aspects of a women’s life, which is now so multifaceted and quick-paced” (1). Petro concludes that it was the feminist movement of the late 1970’s that has since had a continuous influence on society, which as a result put pressure on the advertising industry as well to “pay heed to the feminist message” (1). I certainly agree that this is the cause for the feministic influence in modern advertisements. The feminist movement changed the way society viewed women, and advertiser’s main focus is to appeal to their target audience, thus enabling viewers to relate to the advertisement. That being said, if the way society viewed women changed, then the way advertiser’s portrayed women would also have to change. In my opinion, since society influenced advertising to embrace feminism, then it is advertising itself that is now an extremely powerful outlet that influences society to continue that embrace.
Equally as influential as the advertising industry, is its common partner, the television industry, which has played an important role in the promotion of the feminism way of thinking. From the start of shows such as Murphy Brown and The Mary-Tyler Moore Show, which both include single, independent females, there has been a movement within the television industry that has strayed away from the “June Cleaver” type woman, to the modern “Carrie Bradshaw” woman, who is more self-reliant and ambitious than that of the perfect housewife, June Cleaver. In addition, it is my opinion that there has been a recent feminist movement within television that can be seen in shows such as Sex and the City. Not only promoting the traditional views of feminism, I think these shows have also discouraged the negative stereotypes society commonly attributes to a woman who is considered to be a feminist. Since the early days of the feminist movement, the goal has been to prove to the public that there are women within the female population that are capable of more than the traditional roles society has assigned to them. However, with the success of this movement came a new hurdle to be jumped. By eradicating stereotype emerged in which all women, who were considered to be feminists, were characterized similarly to men. The only differences in the characteristics of men and the characteristics of feminists are that, in addition to being “tough’, “strong”, and” rugged”, feminists are also seen as “bitchy”, “angry”, and often times considered to be homosexual. By portraying female characters as both feminist as well as feminine, I think Sex and the City, has introduced a new image into American television culture, which successfully challenges the negative stereotypes associated with the “man-hating” feminist. An example of such can be seen in season four of the series, when one of the main characters, Miranda Hobbes, chooses to have a baby. To describe Miranda, I would characterize her as the “ultra feminist” of the group. A high-powered attorney, Miranda has a degree from Harvard Law School and lives as a single woman in a posh apartment, all earned on her own. With that in mind, it was shocking to viewers when Miranda decided to enter mother-hood. In her article “Throwing the Baby Out with the bath Water: Miranda ad the Myth of Maternal Instinct on Sex and the City”Kim Akass begins by saying “… Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) is the least likely to become a mother” (Akass 1). Therefore, by this seemingly untraditional mother choosing to become a mother, the stereotypes of society are challenged by the representation of a woman who is not only feministic, but also feminine as well. Akass quotes authors Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels who claim that the media “…seeks to contain and, where possible, eradicate, all the social changes brought on by feminism” (2). The mechanism of such is the media’s constant reinforcement of the stay at home mom as being the “successful parent”, while the working mother is seen as the “distant parent” with no maternal-instinct. (2) Michaels and Douglas conclude their argument by saying that shows, such as Sex and the City, are starting to “‘…exhume what feminists really hoped to change about motherhood…that it [is] so hard and yet so undervalued’” (2). I agree with positions of this article, and as a woman who is pursuing a career, I feel more open to the idea of becoming a mother if American society becomes more supportive of such a lifestyle.
That being said, there are some who are opposed to the growth of feministic values in American culture and heed warning that the promotion of such within our society could have dramatically negative effects. Pastor Chuck Baldwin, author of the article “Feminism Destroying America”, argues that “…there is no greater threat to America’s future survival than the overall negative effect that modern-day feminism has had, and is having, upon our homes and churches” (Baldwin 1). Pastor Baldwin continues his article by describing the many problems feminism has caused, with particular emphasis on children. It is his belief that the support of feminism and the encouragement of working mothers have resulted in a lapse of values and discipline being influenced in the youth of America. (2-3) In addition, the author also claims that feminist movement has gone over-board and instead of resulting in equality between wives and their husbands, these women are now in “… a place of independence from, and lordship over them” (2). He finishes by saying that American culture has made a trend of portraying fathers as “…the butt end of every comedian’s joke, the fall guy in every sitcom, and the stupid buffoon in every television commercial” (3). Personally, I do agree with Pastor Baldwin’s claim that men are portrayed as being somewhat of a “lower species” in contemporary television culture; yet, I think that is equal to the monster-like portrayal of women. However, I do not agree with Pastor Baldwin’s position that mothers working outside of the home has resulted in the “failure” of America’s youth. To be perfectly honest, a theme that seems more common in American culture than “stupid” men and “angry” women is “useless” children. Adults in general need to stop constantly focusing on all the problems that children may have and attempting to find a cause for them because by society consistently reinforcing the idea that “children have problems and this is why” it is my belief that that is the actual cause of these problems, and that has nothing to do with working mothers, unintelligent fathers, or the feminist movement. Thus, I think this claim made by the author was simply a common outlet used by many people to support their opinion; therefore I disagree.
As one who was raised in a home that I would categorize as “old fashioned”, I do not consider myself to be one who is an extreme feminist. Growing up, my mother was a homemaker and my father went to work. I was exposed to the traditional ways of family life that people would be unlikely to categorize as feminist. Feminism in my household was not something discussed very often, and if addressed the characteristics of a feminist were more congruent to the “angry” stereotype that is common throughout society. This is not to say that I was raised on the beliefs that a woman ‘belongs” at home, and her place is by her husband’s side. Instead, my family simply raised me and my siblings to believe we were capable of anything, and interestingly enough it is my father, my uncle, and my older brother who are most emphatic about the importance of accomplishing my goals “on my own”. These three people are the most influential men in my life, and while they may not support the modern feminist movement, they do support independence. When reinforcing this theme, they often describe the importance of independence by saying I should never put myself in the position where I am forced to be dependent on a man or anyone else. Instead, I should accomplish my goals and put myself in a position where in case anything goes wrong in a relationship all I have to do is say “get out of MY car, get out of MY house, or get out of MY office”. Coming from men who were also raised with the same traditional values, I think the fact that they regard a women’s independence with such importance is also further proof that society has accepted a woman’s right to choose her lifestyle. Overall, while my family may not support the entire feminist movement, they do, and have always, supported me and my younger sister’s hopes and dreams of future accomplishments, which is, in my opinion, the true definition of a feminist.
In conclusion, while there are those that oppose such, the commercials by T-Mobile and the inclusion of a pregnancy in Sex and the City are examples of how television culture has not only embraced the success of feminism, but also strives to encourage the acceptance of independent women as being both feministic and feminine.
Works Cited
Akass, Kim. "Throwing the Baby Out with the Bath Water: Miranda and the Myth of Maternal Instinct on Sex and the City." The Scholar and Feminist Online 3 (2004): 1-3. Feminist Television Studies: The Case of HBO. 2004. Bernard Center for Research on Women. 8 Apr. 2009 <http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/hbo/akass_01.htm>.
Baldwin, Pastor Chuck. "Feminism Destroying America." Online Posting. 23 Mar. 2007. NewsWithViews.com-Where Reality Shatters Illusion. 8 Apr. 2009 <http://newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin357.htm>.
Petro, Barbara. "How Feminism Transformed Advertising - Associated Content." Associated Content. 11 Nov. 2005. 8 Apr. 2009 <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13241/how_feminism_transformed_advertising.html?cat=35>.
"T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl Flip "Butt Dialer"" Advertisement. YouTube. 28 Jan. 2009. 9 Apr. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Fs8cbV8lM&feature=related>.
"T-Mobile myFaves "Oversharing"" Advertisement. YouTube. 4 Mar. 2009. 8 Apr. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFaCMUGq79k&NR=1>.