COMM 330 (Hooks)

In Bell Hooks video, Hooks discusses Modonna as, at one point in time, an individual that was believed to be the leading feminists in the media and the music industry. But once she began ageing and her popularity began to sink she resorted to patriarchal ideals by sexualizing herself as a woman, and forgetting about her former and apparent feminist stance in society. We can see this patriarchal switch not only in many female artists today but in male artists as well. Brittney spears, Christina Aguilera, and Miley Cyrus all fell under the tutelage of patriarchy. Both Britney Spears and Christina, though I would not consider women of feminist support, began working as young, bright and talented ladies on the Disney channel. Both grew out of their Disney phase, but even at their original peak of stardom continued to remain popular not because of the sexuality but because of their talent. Then when their talent began fading they both resorted to sexualizing themselves and making themselves objects to men.  Miley Cyrus did this to, at first a great role model for little girls everywhere, but later a sexualized object in a male dominated society. We can even see this with the very talented and openly gay Adam Lambert. Adam Lambert could have been the first ever openly gay American idol to make it the finale of the show, but decided not to come out while still on the show because of the heterosexual, male dominated media and music industry. I believe no matter what his sexuality was he would have been a great success but because of the heterosexual patriarchal society he works in, he too fell under their tutelage. Even the songs he sings are not true to him, singing about falling in love with women and not men.  Hopefully, artists like lady gaga, one of the very few who are true to themselves, do not change their ways to fit the mold of the heterosexual patriarchal society we live in, and continue to perform to songs that are true to themselves and are supportive of diversity and difference. 

COMM 330 (Kilbourne)

In the video killing us softly, Jeanne Kilbourne, discusses the misrepresentation of women in the media, in which she studies and examines ads from the 1970s and on that portrayed women in a negative light, with men in the patriarchal position and women the inferior. She noticed, as I too noticed that the representation of women is getting worse. I just recently saw an advertisement at a bus stop for Smirnoff vodka, where the ad background was yellow and the bottle was blue, and the women, with her body wrapped around the bottle, was wearing red. Because of all communications courses I have taken, I of course, felt obligated to analyze the advertisement and interpreted it as an advertisement definitely for men.  The red, yellow, and blue are overtly the primary colors of the color scale, therefore, symbolizing that Smirnoff is the primary vodka for men.  This ad does only say to the viewer that this is the primary vodka to drink but you can have sexy women to wrap around you. The advertisers had to have known that by putting her in red, it symbolized sex, as society usually associates the color red with sex and/ or prostitution.  Jeanne Kilbourne would have a hay day ripping this ad to shreds. 

COMM 330: No representation

After reading the articles in class about representation in the media and hegemony, I have come to notice many different parts of the media, not only the misrepresentation in the media but the lack of representation.  The lack of representation of certain members of the human population can be blamed on the hegemony of the white, straight, and rich dominant culture. I witnessed this first hand when I was with my 7 and 8 year old cousins. While I was playing a good game of ping pong with my cousins, my young female cousin was playing Disney songs and popular song from movies. One of the songs was the finale song of the movie “Alvin and the Chipmunks.” In the song, the chipmunks sing “born this way” from Lady Gaga. Now, I know as many people of my age know the real meaning behind the song is dedicated to LGTB individual and celebrating the way they were born. However, while listening to this song, they skipped over, entirely, any mentioning of gay, straight, or bi, and trans*. Not a single mention from the song was LGTBQA related. I really found this fascinating. Obviously kids songs are censored, like the song “I’m Sexy and I know” from LMFAO (one of the songs played by my cousin) was censored for contact, but the fact they felt the need to censor LGTB I found really quite fascinating. The fact they’d even use a song that is meant for the LGTB community and others who feel different  and had no relation to the true meaning of the song. This truly shows how society is still very far behind in terms of LGTB issues and representation amongst children.

Princess and the Frog- BEST DISNEY MOVIE EVER

Princess and the frog is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, and one of my favorite movies general. If there is any movie that goes against all Disney princess movies it’s this one. Not only is Tatiana the first African American Disney Princess, but she is the one of the first princesses to be independent from a man’s world. She made her own money, set her own goals and followed her own dreams. She didn’t fall for the prince. He fell for her.  Though he really was a prince, he wasn’t portrayed like the rest of the princes, rich and noble young lads. He is portrayed as lazy, more free willed, and somewhat unintelligent.  Which I think really has a feminist perspective in mind. Also, Tatiana’s best friend a rich, dumb witted, blonde girl who is the daughter of the governor of Louisiana who originally wanted the prince ended up not getting him, which I believe shows that Disney is portraying a theme that women who work hard, are independent, and not afraid to speak their mind are the women who will get their man of their dreams, and that she is not the lucky one, but he is.  No matter what color or ethnicity they are. All on this entire movie is brilliant. I think the song that Momma Otis sings also speaks wonderful words of encouragement to those watching the film. “Don’t matter whatchu look like, don’t matter whatchu wear, how many rings you got on your finger, we don’t care, no we don’t care!”

Comm 330: Whitney Houston

Tonight I watched an episode of south park, and it could not have been a more perfect episode that deals with issues that resonate with current events in pop culture. The episode starts out with the boys watching T.V. The news is on and the 2008 primary debates are on between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, when all of a sudden “breakings news” interrupts the debates where Britney Spears is caught on camera, camping in Colorado and then caught peeing in the woods. They notice every little thing about Brittney and even point out her weight, zoom in on acne on her face, and then zoom in to show her peeing on a bug. The show then continues on where she ends up staying in south park and if a photo of her is released to the media, the person who takes the photo will receive a hundred thousand dollars. The boys attempt to get a picture, but when they get inside they see a sad Britney who just wants to be left alone from the media, free of ridicule. While the boys attempt to take a picture, Britney takes a shot gun and shoots herself in the face, blowing half her face off. She’s rushed to the hospital and the media makes it seem as if she was going for a drastic new look, and zoom in on a scar under breast instead of her half blown off face, that they assume is scar because of breast implants. This type of satirical comedy continues throughout the show. As the episode progresses, the boys try to free Spears of the media by taking her to the North Pole. The adults and media employees explain to them that just like back in the day when people would glorify a beautiful girl, give her jewels, and the sacrifice her, America does the same thing “but through pictures, and T.V.” basically saying we like to kill off our celebrities. Now, this episode had a lot of themes of about the effects of the media, but I could not help but think about Whitney Houston after watching this. We glorified this woman, made her a rock star, and then when her life began to go in shambles the media ridiculed her, and could not get enough of Houston destroying her life. Just like in the episode where Spears dies, and soon glorified for being a pop icon, this after making her out to be this horrible individual, we are doing exactly the same thing with Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston was phenomenal, one of the most beautiful and talented performers/ vocalists in generations, but as in South Park, it was the media that made her, and the media that destroyed her and it is the media that seems to forget they were the ones who contributed to her death, and we the people, those who consumed the media, feed into it, and now feed into glorifying her again. 

Comm 330: Transfromers

Today I just re-watched the film “Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon,” Which is the third film of the movie series. I never really thought anything of the film when I first saw it, except that the action scenes are awesome, the special effects brilliant, and that they called the “Sears Tower” The Willis Tower, which should Always be known as the Sears tower. When I watched it again today, I had a Hugh epiphany about the film and its underline symbols and meanings.  The first thing I noticed was the color of Optimus Prime, the leader and head transformer of the primes. His colors are an obvious portrayal of the American flag, seeing as though he is a red, white and blue machine, which should be ironic because he is from outer space, but really, it’s not ironic at all. The films whole story is the exact portrayal of the American ideology and patriarchal society we live. The Primes represent the all-American hero, who end up on earth and must defeat the decepticons who want to destroy freedom. Here is one of the many ideologies of the United States; the hero that fights for democracy and the bad guy against it. Then there is the character of Shila Buff, who plays your typical boy next door, a no body, who ends up being the one to save the world, 3 times. WOW. Here we can see the idea that the people of America, the underdogs in society, and the neighbors next doo can be heroes too… that is with the help of the U.S military who  help the primes defeat the decepticons. Shila Buffs love interest, of course, is a beautiful model-esque girl, who runs around in heels throughout the entire film. It’s pretty obvious that she is not considered anything but a heroine who Buffs character must save. It’s so interesting that a film about giant robots can have so many underline meanings, that has the potential to subconsciously effect the way we think.