Have We Gone Too Far?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm obsessed with celebrity culture. When it comes to the cult of celebrity, I drink the Kool-Aid every day. However, even I can recognize that we're taking it too far at this point. There is an entire series on ABC that centers around celebrities jumping off of a high-dive into a pool. For real. It's worth noting that Drake from Drake and Josh and Chelsea Handler's right hand man, Chuy, are on the show, but I digress. The frightening point is that I don't, nor do many people, see an end in sight. As long as people are fame-hungry and willing to make fools of themselves on TV and people are still watching (they will be), producers will shell out the $6.40 it costs to make a reality show about them. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but as viewers we have to stop complaining about these people getting rich and not going away because we're the ones watching them and supporting them inadvertently. It's also kind of cruel and unusual because audiences aren't ever laughing with these "stars" as much as they are laughing at them.

A form of control

To be completely honest at the beginning of the course I kept thinking to myself that we are what we are perceived. The stereotypes that are associated with each one of us are of our own making. Having this said, my perception has changed. Stereotypes appear from historical context and the head of the media are in control. It sounds very skeptical but I now see the truth in this. We are not part of the making and continuation of them but we are responsible in agreeing with them. As members of society and through independent media we are responsible in changing these misrepresentations in mass media. Because what do these mass media producers actually know about the people they represent, marginalize and stereotype? Not much. They are privileged and do this for control.

And On That Note

Analyzing media is an important and valuable aspect in our society. Media is all around us, therefore it is crucial that an audience understands what they are being told and informed about. If we don’t criticize the media then we are being controlled by a hegemonic group of people that make up that media. We continue to watch shows that portray wrong class identities or stereotyping then we are contributing to the continuation of these shows. Without us, the audience, the media has no one to target to and their shows will not succeed. Some shows are a misrepresentation of our culture and society while others try to connect to the “American” culture. From taking this class, I began to look at the shows I watch and critiquing them.  When I watch a show now I look at the varying aspects it has to offer. For instance, shows that I used to find funny sort of seem wrong to laugh at. Or for example the Real Housewives franchise is just plain wrong. They fixate on a life that the majority of the population in this country can only fantasize about. The reason many people want this life is because the media has persuaded the lower class in this country that material goods dignifies ones success and power. Therefore, one should acquire and attain these things in order to live a great life. I watch the show mainly because it is funny to see how most of these women lack common sense and don’t truly know things about our society. The things they argue over are not important compared to the obstacles others face. On that note, I believe that if we want to see a change in the way the media represents our culture, then the majority of the people living in this country have to be the changing agent and take the media back. Let them know that just like they are watching us, we are watching them.  I really enjoyed this class and the varying subjects we covered.  

Bootylicious Barbie

I've decided to write my blog extension paper on the celebrity status of Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian. I feel as though I have to devote another blog post to this idea of the celetoid for the fact that I've uncovered so much more information that I find so interesting. One of the articles I'm including in my paper is on the antifeminist nature that exists in Nicki Minaj's image. She portrays herself as Barbie, continuously becoming more and more like the hegemonic image of Barbie that come to mind. She's small-waisted, always wearing makeup and expressing herself and her sexuality constantly. This is what our culture has determined is the proper woman. Nicki is our daily reminder of our society's values - body image. Kim Kardashian follows that same path as she constantly talks about her butt in nearly every episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, she tweets about it, it never stops! I just think it's really interesting that we don't talk about this a lot but it's a huge reason of why they're famous. Weird, yeah? If everyone could be famous because they had a "donkey booty" - wouldn't there be a lot more celebrities? 

Funny or Racist

I have been thinking a lot about the line between racism and satire. In class we talked and defined satire as a joke that uncovered the injustice or misconceptions while a racist joke doesn't do anything to to combat the situation. So when does racism become satire and when does satire become racism? I think there is a lot of media and a lot of comics out there doing a lot of work on exposing racism through comedy. However I think a lot of the inherent racism in our society still gets by in media when it's covered as a joke. There was an Saturday Night Light sketch recently were two students were really obsessed with Japanese culture. They grossly misunderstood Japanese culture and were playing off sterotypes. There was a teacher to dispel the misconceptions, but I didn't feel like the scene put enough importance on him. In my opinion the scene was certainly intended as satire, but to a lot of viewers it probably just reinforced sterotypes. It's not really a good option to stop talking about racism, because no conversation is worse, but when do we know when the comedy is helping or hurting us?

Introduction to Radio, Television, and FIlm

With all this talk about Television, I often wonder why we do not look at other parts of media in a critical way as well.  Now I am not saying that no one has done this type of critical response before, but why is it not as mainstream as other critiques.  The two mediums that come to mind the most are radio and comic books. 

Comic books have featured some of the worst depictions of minorities over their lifetime.  Images of war enemies, women, and people of color had a hard time appearing in comics.  During WWII Japanese soldiers were depicted as disgusting beasts.  Women since the 1940s have been over sexualized being placed in the tightest suits and in the most awkward body positions that do not make anatomical sense.   And more often than not, African Americans were featured as either living in the poorest neighborhoods, or the villains. 

Radio is also a culprit of poor representation.  In the old days many Disk Jockeys were hired because of their ability to sound like a certain group of people.  The companies want to hire these people to sound like minorities so they would not have to hire any minorities in the first place but still appeal to them.  That coupled with the idea that many of the voice actors in the days of radio plays were white yet voicing colored actors. Even today there are a lot of stereotype voices in radio commercials.

I think one of the reasons for this is the idea of the people who were part of the leading class were running these mediums.  But I think what is a bummer is how we have not questioned these things.  If we had questioned these representations in the past what would our problems of representations be like today.  I guess that is the great thing about this class.  It taught me that things need to be questioned.  Even something as innocent looking as the Christmas episode of Tom and Jerry.

Final Blog Post

            Throughout this class we have studied the relationship between media and how it reflects and is reflected in our culture.  A topic that I specifically enjoyed was the topics on reality television shows, specifically The Real Housewives.  I have continuous arguments with my girlfriend and her friends who are in love with the show and wish their lives were as glamorous as the main characters.  My girlfriend and her friends are perfect examples of how reality television affects the thoughts, minds, and feelings of its audience, as outlined by Berger in his analysis of Marxism as it relates to media studies.  Shows like The Real Housewives advocate specific agendas like materialism.  I constantly tell my girlfriend and her friends to watch The Real Housewives through a materialistic lens, but they yell at me and say they watch it as a source of entertainment; rather than an actual glimpse of reality.  People may watch these shows for entertainment, but their minds are subconsciously absorbing the information presented to them, even though they may be watching these shows purely for entertainment.  My girlfriends friends actually think it is acceptable to live and act the way these women do; when in reality it is not acceptable in reality.  I find this ridiculous and completely absurd.  By subconsciously absorbing this type of information, reality television is altering the perception of their audience.