Mad World

The show Mad Men, is a show about a 1950’s Sales Executive. The main character, Don Draper, is depicted as a Caucasian Alpha Male that is clearly respected by everyone he interacts with, despite the fact that he treats people as inferior. For an instance, throughout the series, Don commits adultery and has several affairs with other women. Another example is how after a long period of time his brother finds him, and rather than treating him as a family member he gives him money and sends him away. Later on his brother ends up committing suicide and Don shows no remorse. Despite the fact that these instances occur consistently, on either a less or more extreme basis, other characters still give him their up most respect.

The fact that this television show depicts this man through a negative light and he still maintains his superior image really shows how people in positions of power aren’t really held to the same standards so the average Joe. The message almost screams out “I’M RICH AND POWERFUL, SO I CAN DO WHATEVER I”D LIKE”. Also, the fact that the main character is a white male is no coincidence to me. In fact, it only adds to the stereotypical image of how a white man in society should be dominant and powerful, and must not show weakness at any cost.  This show also says a lot about our culture, in a sense that individuality is seen as a strength and bond of marriage has lost its' once praised and magical meaning. 

Jaime S.

Heidi and Seal Broke Up! No Marriage is Safe!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I keep up with celebrity gossip. I’m a sucker for People Magazine and I’ve gone as far as following E! News on Twitter. And anyone who keeps up with celebrity news knows this past week, (Gasp!), Heidi Klum and Seal broke up. Now I was personally surprised to hear this, but even more surprising to me was how shocked people really were! People who have never even met this couple were truly upset by this news and Twitter blew up with tweets like, “I really that those two were SOLID” and “If Heidi and Seal can’t make it, no one can”.

The truth is, celebrities are commodities and their relationships are too. Magazines, talk shows, and more make big bucks off the lives of celebrities and hot hookups or shocking breakups make the most.  We base our lives off what celebrities tell us; what to wear, how to act, and how to act in relationships. Have you ever read an interview with a celebrity where they talk about their relationship like it’s the most effortless thing, only to instantly compare yourself to them and feel your relationship inferior? THEN a month later you find out they broke up! WTF!

Celebrity marriages are notorious for breaking up. It’s not really that hard to believe when almost half of ALL marriages end in divorce. But maybe there’s more to it. Celebrities are commodities and their image can be bought and sold, so perhaps their relationships are just the same. Seal has now been on two different talk shows talking about the split (and adding that his new record is coming out!) Kim Kardashian’s notorious 72 hour marriage was blatantly accused of being all for publicity and ruining the institution of marriages. As far as I’m concerned most celebrity marriages could fall into this same category. 

The most important thing to remember is not to compare yourself or your relationship to the glamourrazzi. You’re probably happier than they are J.

-Christine A.

Hegemony and Gossip Girl.

When I think about hegemony in the media, I think of Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl is a TV show which is based on a group of wealthy students who started in High school in the beginning of the series, now who are in college living off of there parents money. They buy and have the most extravagant things always supporting the best designers, they live in the best apartments and throw the most over-the-top parties. They just started having "Jobs" but do not show the characters at there job that often, unless there is a scandal involved. The kids in the show who cant afford the nice designers like Jenny who made her own clothes was considered a LOSERS and an "outsiders". Clearly Blair and Serena the "it girls" were these "losers" probably which were middle class's idols. Blair the "it girl" always thought everyone wanted to be and dress just like her, because she was so cool and wealthy. I watch this show religiously but thinking about the plot makes me sick to my stomach thinking about how this is such a horrible influence on high school aged girls. It probably makes girls think that if they cant afford a $500.00 pair of shoes, or a $1,000 dress they are losers and not cool enough. It also think the characters are a little young to be at these huge extravagant "rich" parties, full of booze, scandals, one night stands, and DRAMA!

over glamorized tv shows

I personally think that these days reality shows are becoming more glamorous than they should be. Shows on MTV like Teen Mom, Jersey Shore, and Ridiculousness are given so much attention from us viewers. But why? Teen Mom has become over glamorized within the past few seasons. I started watching the series when it was just 16 and Pregnant. Back then, the show was about how the girls accidentally got pregnant and it showed their struggles with becoming a teen mom. In every episode the different moms would reiterate how hard it is giving up their teen years and what they would have done differently if they hadn’t become a mother. Teen Mom shows the mothers taking care of the children and how much work it is for them to take care of a child and be a teenager. I still watch the show today and I know that it has changed drastically. All one of the teen moms likes to do is smoke pot, hang out with her boyfriend, and argue with her mom. She never helps take care of her son and leaves all the responsibility on her mother while she is out partying with her friends or smoking marijuana. Although this is not the purpose of the show, I believe that since the viewers are so used to seeing her get into arguments and basically screw up her life, it is what we expect to see. In previews for tonight’s episode it shows her getting into a physical argument with one of her friends. These are the types of things we expect to see coming from her, which I think is sad because ultimately this show is suppose to be about her relationship with her son and being a teen mom.

I also do not understand the purpose to the show Ridiculousness. I personally think it is disgusting and I cannot watch it. It’s basically like America’s Funniest Home Videos except the clips are only of people injuring themselves. Why does our society enjoy watching people get hurt? From teen mom fights to people sending in videos injuring themselves, I think our society is becoming a little too obsessed with reality TV shows and soaking up the bad in other peoples’ lives.

Media && Influence

In today's society, the media has such a huge influence on us, even when we are least expecting it.  This influence is very subtle and we let it pass us by without even realizing.  When songs are being played on the radio, it sets a trend of the kind of music that is currently popular in our time.  When certain popular shows get high ratings, many others will try to duplicate and produce similar shows because they are hoping to get the same success.  Let's look at Apple products.  We mentioned this briefly in class today, but Apple is now considered a monopoly by many (although monopolies are not a positive position in the US, or legal).  They are creating this "sameness" we mentioned in class, this convergence of subject by the media.  They have an iPod, iMac, iPhone, etc...but they only have two, three colors.   They make it seem as though you have a plethora of choices, whereas your choices are limited.  It is important to recognize instances such as these because we have to learn to think for ourselves, and not be led astray unintentionally.  It is okay to like certain popular products, there is nothing wrong with that, but we have to stop and think, "is this what i really need?  What is the reason I am doing a, b, c...?".

Wealth/Politics/Intelligence: Maid in Manhattan

           As I started to think about media that fits with the topic of hegemony, a few films popped up and one of them was Maid in Manhattan. I see hegemony as ideas from higher classes that are passed down to lower classes with a focus on how we should few wealth, politics, and intelligence.  This film embodies all three of this ideas of what hegemony is and how although lower classes may appear that they are happy with their lives and have their own opinions and views on intelligence that was not swayed or given to them by upper classes, they do indeed care what the upper class live, believe in and consider "high culture" intelligence.
          In Maid in Manhattan a wealthy senator candidate falls for a maid who is working in the hotel which he is staying at. She starts to embody every aspect of the reach and powerful lifestyle that is his and starts to change her views on how she sees everything. She once didn't quite focus on politics in anyway but as the wealthy senator candidate, she began to listen to his views on politics and soon adapted them as her own (although she is dating him see still decided to become more interested in it) view on them. As a result she became more "intelligent" because she knew more about political life. The maid begins to dress as a person would who is in a higher status of class. She begins wearing pearls and haute couture clothes, which all were bought for her from the wealthy politician. All these ideas that are connected with this hegemony is what makes one of the best media examples.

The conversation we had in class today reminds me of the riddle- what came first, the chicken or the egg? Trying to decide if media influences us or if we influence media is the same situation. Many things that go into the media reflect current social and political issues, which just gets directed back to us through the mass media. A good example of this is when women gained the right to vote and started working in traditionally male heavy work places. The media then started showing movies and TV shows that showed women in the workforce rather than women as housewives. In this case, the media was influenced by the social and political issues and in turn was just confirming our beliefs of how the world should be. On the other hand, media also influences our (the audience) way of thinking. The gatekeepers control what goes into the mass media for the world to see. An example of this is that clear channel is a media conglomerate which owns many forms of media like TV and radio. They have one of the largest influences in what is projected to the audience through their mediums because they own a large amount of media channels. In this case, media influences us more than we influence media. This argument can go either way, which is why it is very hard to determine whether we influence media first or the media influences us first.