The Internet

       I would have to say that the internet has affected me in both a good and a bad way. The internet has affected me in a good way because it has allowed me to be able to stay in touch with my friends from high school because we don't go to the same college. It has allowed me to stay in touch with family members that live in different states and I am very happy about that. It helps me be able to look up information for writing essays for college that require research and it works out nicely to be able to access the internet from anywhere. Finally I think it works great for me to see the recent news about what's going on around the United States because I don't watch television that much so this really helps me to learn about news. The internet has affected me in a bad way because every day when I get home from college I find myself checking my Facebook and my Twitter instead of doing other things. It distracts me a lot and I find myself putting my homework off and having to do it like hours later from when I started. It distracts me from the real world and sometimes I am on Facebook and Twitter more instead of being outside and just enjoying nature. Finally it even distracts me from talking and hanging out with my friends in person instead of just talking to them online which isn't the same. The internet has something about it that draws me in and distracts me from the real world and sometimes I don't even realize how much time I spend online.

ABC News

        The story that was covered by ABC News that I found was the most real news was the one where they were discussing how hospital bills are out of control. The hospital bills are out of control because people who can't afford to pay for their own bills have to be picked up from another person who can afford to pay the bills. I feel like this is a real story because a lot of people today are being affected by hospital bills that are out of control and I feel like there is a lot of truth with this story because of that. It was nice that they had people talk about their own issues with hospital bills they got from being in the hospital because that helped it become a real story. I also found it interesting that they talked about how people have to pay fifteen dollars for a pill that the hospital got for three cents because that helped it become a real story as well. I thought that ABC News felt that this story was important and they encouraged people to send their story in so that people could learn about how bad the issue is which for me made the story real news.

       The story that was covered by ABC News that I found was the most meaningless was the one where they were discussing the eighty five year old man that was kidnapped and arrested for site seeing in North Korea. I would say the main reason why there is "fluff" with this story is because he was the second veteran to be kidnapped in North Korea for site seeing. I would think that there are more than just those two Americans that visit North Korea and go site seeing so I feel like this story has "fluff" because of that. I think that this story was meaningless and had "fluff" because there wasn't very much information about this story and it was hard for me to follow because of that. I feel like maybe if they had interviews or personal stories from the family members of the victims that were kidnapped and arrested for site seeing then it would have helped it become a real story. I just found it to be meaningless and have "fluff" because there wasn't enough information to make it a real story and to be able to understand the situation.

Millennials

      I think that one film that could define the generation of the Millennials would be the movie "The Social Network." This movie basically talked about how Facebook came about and how this was the new way for people to connect or communicate with one another. This defines the Millennials because there is a lot more technology now and they are very into technology and what is has to offer. It defines the Millennials because they are very social people and Facebook is another way for them to keep in touch with people and talk to them. It also defines the Millennials because they have less respect for people and Facebook is a way for them to show that because a lot of drama and fights erupt through Facebook. I usually get on Facebook when I get home and I don't like seeing all the fights and just plain arguments that are on it because no one needs to know about other people and their problems. The better way to take care of that would be in person but because Facebook is the new thing and people put their problems on it for other people to read. Facebook also causes people to get divorced or end their dating relationship because of information that is put on Facebook and they forget that it will get back to the significant other in their life. I think that "The Social Network" is a great movie to define the generation of the Millennials because of how popular technology and social media is today.

Reality Television

      I think that when Klosterman says that real people are starting to act like the archetypes they see on television his main point is that real people use the people they see on reality television shows as their role models because they think they are great people and they want to be just like them. Having the option to watch reality television shows gives real people the chance to connect with the people on the show based on the way they act and then connecting it to their selves. Real people also connect with the people on reality television shows because they see how perfect their lives are and then they want their lives to be like that without having to worry about anything.

     I think that this is a strong idea because real people do connect to reality television shows because they want their lives to be like the people on the shows. At the same time I think that it is not totally strong because of the digital editing that we learned about in class. This allows the scenes in the shows to be made into something different then what it originally was and I don't think that real people always realize that this is happening with the reality television shows they watch.

Controversy

      The song "Accidental Racist" by Brad Paisley featuring LL Cool J is a country song that is mixed with rap music. The song is basically about the south and how we should look past their slavery and their own culture and move past it and be equal. A lot of people reacted with shock because it was something they had never heard before. The song got a lot of criticism from critics. One of the big deals over this song was how it referenced slavery because people still talk about slavery to this day and it is something that people can't move past. Another big deal over this song was how it referenced people wearing baggy pants and if you don't judge people by their gold chains than they will forget the iron chains. People reacted with such shock because they didn't like the things that were being referenced in the song. My response to the song was that I didn't like it and it wasn't catchy. I just didn't like the way it was put together and I didn't like the music in the background.

     In class we learned that a country song has to focus on love, be relatable, have easy to understand lyrics, tells a story, and that the song is knowable by the end to truly be a country song. The song "Accidental Racist" wasn't focusing on love at all. I don't think that for me the song was relatable. I did find that the lyrics were easy to understand. The song started out telling a story but as it went on it didn't keep telling a story. I wasn't able to know very much of the song by the end.

Intertextuality

     Intertextuality is something simply just referencing something else. I see this in movies and television shows. There is a character in a Smallville episode that references Superman. The character references Superman by wearing a shirt that has the Superman logo on it. On the cover for the Dark Knight Rises it references Catwoman. The cover references Catwoman by having a picture of her on the cover.

Midterm Blog

     In this half of the class the thing I learned the most about would be how influential mass media like television has impacted the way we live our lives and the way it has impacted our popular culture. In the "Killing Us Softly" video by Jean Kilbourne she talked a lot about the power of advertisements on the people that see them. I was shocked to find out that people are exposed to over 3,000 advertisements each day. When young girls see advertisements of woman being sexy and looking attractive than the chances of them wanting to look like that are high due to the power of advertisements. In the "Marlboro Man" advertisements they use marketing strategies to sell their cigarette products. In the early advertisements they used a strong cowboy either working with cars or with horses to try and sell their cigarette products. In the most recent advertisements they used a adventurous team out in the desert with horses to try and sell their cigarette products. In the modern advertisements they use handy and family sports athletes to try and sell their cigarette products. I never realized how much mass media impacted the way we live our lives and the way it has impacted our popular culture until I took this class.

Masculinity and Violence

     Masculinity for boys in our culture is a big part of their lives and they are encouraged from a young age to act tough and be able to stand their ground even if that involves a little violence. I think that to me it seems like violence and masculinity for boys has always had some affect on them and been a part of their gender role. I think that violence and masculinity are always going to be a part of the male gender role. If a boy doesn't act tough and stand their ground they are looked at as not manly and they don't want that.

     Boys also tend to play more video games and violence is shown a lot by the male characters in the video games. In violent video games like the Grand Theft Auto series the male character is always fighting people and sometimes even killing people which could teach boys that fighting is the right thing to do. Boys also see violent acts on television and in movies and the male characters are almost always acting in some sort of violent way because that is how their gender is supposed to behave. If they see all of this it could affect how they show their emotions or how they change as a person.

     I see this as both a positive and a negative force. It is a positive force because I think that it is a positive force because boys will get further in their lives if they know how to stand up for themselves in case something bad happens to them like being kidnapped. This way they might be able to get away if they know how to act violent and stand up for themselves. It is a negative force because I think that they could take advantage of acting violent and they could use it in the wrong way. They could be mad at a person and just use violence to make them pay and in that case it would be wrong.

     The APA talked about how violence could cause boys to become aggressive, not trust others, and even desensitize which goes along with what I was saying because I believe that violent video games could causes boys to become violent when they grow older. I don't believe that the ACLU goes along with what I was saying because I believe that violence on television should be monitored more and people should look into the affects is either has or doesn't have on boys when they grow older.

"Football High"

     In the documentary "Football High" there are a lot of important issues that happen with being in and playing football. One important issue that the video brought up would be that playing football causes a lot of players to get concussions. There are 60,000 concussions every year in high school football. It presents this issue by talking about Garrett Harper who actually got two pretty bad concussions. The first one he got was really bad and he had to be helped off of the football field and the second one he got wasn't as bad because he could walk off the field by himself. Another important issue that the video brought up would be that getting hit in the head can cause brain damage and lead to CTE which can cause depression and suicide. It presents this issue by talking about Owen Thomas who experienced CTE and committed suicide at the age of 21.

     One big issue that the video brought up would be that football teams practice in 100 degree weather which is very dangerous and can cause players to have heat strokes. It presents this issue in two different stories. Will James suffered a heat stroke which caused his liver to have problems and he had to be put into a medically induced coma. After being in the hospital for three weeks he was released and eventually went back to play football. Tyler Davenport also suffered a heat stroke with a body temperature of 108 which caused his liver to have serious problems. After being in the hospital for six weeks he passed away. Another important issue that the video brought up would be that football teams have to many practices and no free time. It presents this issue by talking about the Shiloh football team which has team workouts for twelve months which starts as soon as the season ends and they work on being faster, better, and stronger.  

     Football is a very dangerous sport and can cause a lot of serious issues to a player. Is there a way to make is less aggressive and dangerous? That is one question the video makes people think about. Football takes a lot of time away from a player because they are always at practices or doing something with football and they could lose track of their family. Is this all really worth it? That is another question the video makes people think about.

Fake Love

        Chuck Klosterman in his article called "This is Emo" talks about the concept of fake love and how people see this in the media like movies. This concept of fake love seen in movies makes people have high expectations of how love works and they get hurt in the real world because they find out that love isn't like how it is shown in movies. Love in the real world isn't perfect because there is always some type of problem and it takes serious commitment. In the movie Titanic the characters by the name of Jack and Rose have a romantic relationship in the movie. Being on the ship they have fancy dinners and dances. They don't really have a first date considering the fact that they are on a ship but they do have sex early on in getting to know each other. They have a perfect relationship with one another even though they have to hide it from Rose's fiancé. These expectations of romance are setting people up for disappointment because in real life being in a relationship isn't going to consist of going to fancy dinners and dances all the time. These expectations are also setting people up for disappointment because in real life being in a relationship doesn't usually consist of having sex right away when you meet someone. The last reason these expectations are setting people up for disappointment would be that in real life relationships aren't perfect because there are usually problems with every relationship.

Selling Sex in Advertisements

        The first thing with this advertisement that Jean Kilbourne would object to would be that the woman is sitting in a weird position posing in this car. She said that women in ads are almost always sitting in or standing in weird positions. She would object also to the fact that the woman is really thin and changed to look like she is perfect. She said that women in ads are always changed to look perfect because they can't have big thighs and waists because that simply isn't allowed. She would also object to the fact that this ad could be focusing on her breasts to try and sell the car she is sitting in. She said that women in ads usually have the ad focusing on her breasts because they can sell everything.



Sexiness in our Culture

           Sexiness right now in our culture is really important because we see people trying to be sexy on television or social media, and outside in the world around us every day. To me it seems like sexiness is more important to women than it is for men. Celebrities that we see on television every day especially the women are dressed in revealing clothing that they wear to make them look sexy and people that look up to those celebrities want to dress like them to look sexy. There are women outside around us every day that are dressed in revealing clothing because it's important for them to look sexy because it's a part of what makes them feel good about themselves every day. Sexiness right now in our culture is more important because people are becoming more open about sex and not being so embarrassed and ashamed by it. To me women are more into sexiness and its importance to our culture as a whole.

            With the whole Miley Cyrus performance on the Video Music Awards and people not liking it and complaining about her and the performance in general also had to do with the sexiness she was portraying. It was important for her as becoming a woman to be sexy and break away from being Hannah Montana. Pamela Anderson is a sexual person and isn't afraid to hide her sexual interactions with men. She represents the importance of what people see as a sexy person and look at her as a role model and want to look and be like her which can be hard. Even with celebrities it's more the women that look at sexiness and its importance to our culture.

Popular Culture and Happiness

          Popular Culture and happiness have a lot to do with one another because the things that are involved with popular culture are also things that bring happiness to people. We encounter popular culture every day with the things we do and those things can make people happy. We encounter popular culture when we are using a cell phone to communicate with friends and family which brings happiness to people because they can talk to a person that maybe they can't see every day and that is the closest thing they have to seeing that person. We encounter popular culture when going shopping by ourselves or with another person which brings happiness to people because they can let go of what is bothering them and focus on just buying something that they really want and being happy.

            We encounter popular culture when watching television or just seeing the advertisements that are played during commercials which brings happiness to some people because they love watching television and seeing the advertisements because it gives them a good laugh. Some people it doesn't bring happiness to because they simply just don't like watching television or seeing the advertisements. We encounter popular culture when listening to music which brings happiness to some people because it allows them to bring back memories of good times with friends or family members. Some people it doesn't bring happiness to because it reminds them of a friend or family member that passed away and it ends up upsetting them.

            I am engaged in texting, watching television or movies, shopping for clothes or shoes, hanging out with my friends, and being on the internet every day. All of these things that I do make me happy because I enjoy doing them. Popular Culture and happiness have a lot to do with one another because the things we do every day usually make us happy right away or later on in our lives. These things that I do every day usually make me happy right away but sometimes make me happy later on in my life.