CI 5475 Week 15 - Final Project; To Kill a Mockingbird Facebook Edition

For my CI 5475 final project, I embarked on developing what I imagine to be a unit-long digital project utilizing the wildly popular Facebook social networking application. When paired with Harper Lee's canonical text, I argue that Facebook effectively scaffolds critical analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird via affording students incremental opportunities to…

-appropriate the roles & perspectives of self-selected / assigned characters of inquiry

-produce complete, multi-modal, research-based Facebook user profiles representative of the appropriated roles & perspectives of said self-selected / assigned characters

-engage the larger world of the text AND surrounding cultural, social, and so on contexts via participating in research-based, multi-modal-enriched, interactive role-play.

Before proceeding, please view the bellow link to Scout Finch’s profile created by myself to help contextualize and model the remainder of this explanation:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000518236624

NOTE: The above link navigates to an extremely stripped down, indexed version of Scout Finch's model profile. If you wish to view the complete profile either before OR after my detailed presentation to the class on Tuesday, December 15th, please befriend “Jean Louise Finch” (search for scout.finch.tkm@gmailcom; there are MANY similar profiles already active on the service) from your own Facebook user account to gain complete access.

PHASE I: CHARACTER ROLES & PERSPECTIVES APPROPRIATION

As students begin to enter the text, they will engage in detailed pre-reading and writing activities (e.g., text-based notes, bubbl.us maps, mind maps, and / or additional graphic organizers) to further investigate various characters that they find particularly interesting. Although students will have the opportunity to critically analyze final characters of choice in GREAT detail throughout phases II & III of the overall project, students will begin to “narrow down” their final choice via identifying, discussing, and overall exploring various characters’:

-Actions
-Attitudes
-Ideals
-Interests
-Personalities
-Relationships with other characters
-And so on

After students begin to get “acquainted” with and “sample” various characters, students will ideally self-select a character which they want to critically analyze to an even greater degree. If students do not come to a final choice via their pre-reading and writing, instructors can assign a particular character.

PHASE II: FACEBOOK PROFILE PRODUCTION

As students continue to progress through the text at potentially differing paces, they will incrementally create research-based, multi-modal Facebook profiles representative of various characters' unique roles & perspectives; in other words, students will "become" the characters they appropriate, making research-based profile production decisions to accurately represent "their" individual characters. As students incrementally create individual character profiles throughout the text, they will be required to base specific Facebook page elements on research-based, textual inferences (e.g., characters’ basic biographical information including birthday, relationships to other characters and family members, relationship status, political views, and religious views, contact information, education, and work information; as well as characters’ more detailed personal information including activities, interests, favorite music, favorite TV shows, favorite books, favorite quotations, and about me information).

For example, in Scout Finch’s model profile, I did not publish the non-research-based profile entry that Scout’s favorite book is Twilight. Instead, I deeply mined and re-mined the text to discover / re-discover that Scout enjoys reading The Mobile Register with Atticus during the evening (p. 22). For citation purposes, students can simply publish the specific page number / range leading them to make Facebook page-specific inferences.

Central to this portion of the activity is that students are NOT limited / restricted to creating a text-only profile while analyzing and developing appropriated characters. Instead, students will be required to identify and publish relevant, research-based visual content to complete their profile. For example, in addition to appropriated characters’ main profile pictures, students will be required to create annotated digital photo albums in which they must:

-gather research-based images from outside resources such as Google Images and Flicker.com that help further “flush out” and develop characters,

-as well as annotate selected images to further connect to and illuminate characters’ larger textual and contextual worlds.

Pictured immediately left is an image from Tom Robinson’s album titled “Walking around in my skin” which is likewise linked on Scout Finch’s profile page (NOTE: TR's profile and album were likewise created by myself to further contextualize and model the overall activity). To create this model, I visited Flicker.com, carefully gathering a collection of various creative commons images (via search terms such as "discrimination," "oppression," "slavery," and so on) to further explore what the world might be like through TR's unique roles & perspectives throughout the novel. For example, the image of a black man’s hands draped through red, white, and blue bars is paired with the following textual annotation to further “flush out” and develop what life must be like for Tom via his unique roles & perspectives in the novel: “And now here I sit in jail, falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell when I was just trying to help her. Isn't working for a living to support your family the AMERICAN DREAM? If so, why am I behind bars? What crime did I commit?”

And again, students are NOT limited / restricted to publishing static images; they can also publish video artifacts by uploading and / or linking to Google Video and YouTube content – more on this in a moment.

Overall, I caution instructors that this phase of the overall project sounds MUCH simpler and quicker than it actually was / is. While creating Scout’s model profile, I wouldn’t doubt that I spent upwards of 10 or more hours mining and re-mining the text to gather and publish relevant, research-based Facebook page elements accurately representative of Scout's unique roles & perspectives throughout the novel. With that said, I argue that this overall project is MOST effective if thought of as an ongoing, highly RECURSIVE, “DURING” reading activity that should not be rushed. Instead, students will incrementally develop appropriated characters’ profiles as they mine, re-mine, revise, re-revise, and GRADUALLY come to understand how various characters function in relation to each other and the larger textual world.

PHASE III: MULTI-MODAL-ENRICHED ROLE-PLAY

As profiles begin to “even out” and become more “static” (I’m assuming that profiles will begin to take on this more static form as students continue to progress through the novel), students will then be encouraged to shift focus from developing individual characters, to interacting with characters appropriated by other students (if they have not already started doing so!). And this is where Facebook as a medium absolutely shines as the application was literally designed for this type of multi-modal social networking!



Although instructors could select specific issues of text-based inquiry for students to explore via appropriated characters' roles & perspectives, self-initiated, inquiry-based conversation is the ideal goal. For example, in Scout's model profile, I publish a text-based inquiry in the form of a Facebook “note” in which I further process Dill and Jem’s harassment of Boo Radley via the appropriated roles & perspectives of Scout herself.

As this Facebook "note" is then immediately visible to other appropriated characters who are Facebook friends with Scout, other students are then encouraged to contribute to my / Scout’s thinking via the appropriated roles & perspectives of THEIR respective characters. For example, in response to Scout’s original "note," another student appropriating Tom Robinson's character jumps in to further illuminate and process via research-based conclusions the experience Scout initially describes. Furthermore, students can "tag" other students / appropriated characters in each note to actively encourage participation and invite peer feedback. For example, notice how Dill Harris is tagged in this particular note, potentially encouraging and inviting the student appropriating Dill's character to respond and further contribute to my / Scout's thinking via Dill's unique roles & perspectives in the novel.







And again, students are NOT restricted to text-only interaction. For example, students can directly upload visual images / video as described earlier, as well as link to external images / video to further develop their thinking. Take a look at the exchange between Scout Finch and Tom Robinson regarding a link I / Scout posted to a YouTube video focusing on the Scottsboro Boys.




ADDITIONAL DURING / POST READING & WRITING ACTIVITIES

To help students more deeply appreciate and understand the larger cultural, social, and so on contexts in which To Kill a Mockingbird is situated (after all, the book takes place across the 1920s and 30s!), students can critically analyze unclear resonances via producing multi-modal wiki entries further elaborating specific Facebook profile fields. For example, I / Scout Finch mentions that she and her brother Jem enjoy reading and reenacting the adventures of Tom Swift. As I'm imagining an entire class will have no idea who Tom Swift is, why he is important, and / or how he might relate to the larger world of the text (I sure didn't!), students could create a short wiki entry for Tom Swift to further contextualize and create meaning for this piece of otherwise de-contextualized, period-specific information. And it would work quite easily, really; instructors just need to set up a class wiki and sit back while students create entries, further linking to and sharing said entries via their Facebook pages. For example, please view the sample wiki entry for Tom Swift that I / Scout Finch linked to on my / her respective Facebook profile page:

http://ci5475digitalwriting.pbworks.com/TKM-Class-Wiki

POTENTIAL CHALLENGES

To address what I can imagine is the reader's IMMEDIATE critique of my proposed project, I completely acknowledge that social networking applications such as Facebook are FREQUENTLY blocked in academic settings. However, I do not necessarily think that this attempt at institutional censorship negates the benefits of my proposed project; in fact, I argue that such censorship might have the reverse effect, further increasing students' and teachers' engagement, interest, and motivation with the overall task.

First of all, the incremental creation and revision steps inherent to this project CAN be accomplished while using school networks where the Facebook application is typically blocked; just in the alternate form of a wiki. Let me describe the process that I envision in greater detail:

1.) Set up a class wiki on PB Wiki, creating specific pages for each student (e.g., John's page, Kate's Page, Rick's page, and so on). NOTE: This stage of the process is where INSTRUCTORS will be required to do the most amount of leg work.

2.) Blocking out computer time during class, STUDENTS will then access their INDIVIDUAL wiki pages, further creating "dummy" Facebook pages that can be used as digital "lockers" to publish and store relevant, multi-modal, Facebook profile-specific information... AFTER being taught specifically how to do so, of course.

3.) From a later time and place at home and / or when students have access to a reliable network where the Facebook application is not blocked, profile-specific, multi-modal information can simply be transferred from the wiki storage locker to appropriated characters' respective Facebook profiles!

Please view the bellow link to a model wiki digital storage locker and accompanying illustrations to further explore this trick.

http://ci5475digitalwriting.pbworks.com/FB-PAGE-ELEMENTS

And lastly, I argue that the "subversive" nature inherent to this project may create the interesting effect of driving further engagement, interest, and motivation for students and teachers to critically explore the text in question. In other words, students and teachers may approach this overall task deviously knowing that they aren't "supposed" to be dong such an activity as Facebook is "fun" and therefore shouldn't be present in school. Students and teachers then may be motivated to collaboratively empower themselves to "fool" the system, have fun / experience a sense of satisfaction doing said "fooling," and maybe learn something during the process!

I hope you found this project concept interesting and useful to your future teaching practice. Please feel free to provide additional questions, comments, and concerns to this blog entry! Thank you for reading, and best of luck 5475!

CI 5475 Week 14 - Reflection Time & ePortfolios

As this blog is home to not one, but FOUR courses since coming online during the Spring term of 2008, there were MANY grains of sand to go back and sift through for this week's assignment! However, while sifting through my postings across CI 5475, CI 5150, CI 5472, and CI 5461, I feel as though I have isolated TWO distinct areas of development that I would like to briefly focus on:

1.) Considering effective integration / utilization of visual rhetoric principles.

2.) Considering appropriate attribution regarding appropriated multi-modal content.


1.) Although insightful and well done, I feel that my EARLIER postings demonstrate a weaker understanding of the effective integration / utilization of visual rhetoric principles. Before I go any deeper, please quickly review post 4/8 from CI 5472 (Summer of 2009), paying special attention to my integration of text and images:

http://rickleefilipkowski.blogspot.com/2009/06/ci-5472-post-3-media-representations-of.html

As you might notice in the post linked immediately above, my earlier use of text and images was relatively formulaic and "disconnected." In other words, I would follow a fairly regular pattern of presenting a point via text, illustrating it via image on the following center-justified line, and repeating the process. Although at times effective, I now perceive frequent "disconnects" between my central ideas presented via the TEXT, and how subsequent IMAGES worked to further reinforce, challenge, and / or clarify my initial points.

However, as I reflect on MORE RECENT postings across CI 5475 and CI 5150, I perceive a more intentional, effective, and otherwise "connected" integration / utilization of text and images. To illustrate this develop, please view the following MORE RECENT post from CI 5150, again paying special attention to my integration / utilization of text and images:

http://rickleefilipkowski.blogspot.com/2009/12/ci-5150-week-12.html

In contrast to my EARLIER posts where you may perceive visual meanings to be rather "dissociated" from textual meanings, I feel as though my ability to effectively "streamline" and otherwise integrate / utilize images with / alongside text to further reinforce, challenge, and / or clarify my core ideas is continuing to improve. As you might notice in the post linked immediately above, I am beginning to not only vary my pattern of how I integrate / utilize images with text, but consciously consider HOW and WHY different images and design orientations work to reinforce, challenge, and / or clarify points I initially make via text.

2.) Across my EARLIER postings, I notice that I tend to appropriate MANY images and videos from other sources, yet do not pay much (if any!) attention to accurately / correctly citing this appropriated multi-modal content. To illustrate this attribution abuse / neglect, observe how an EARLIER post from CI 5472 does not provide a single citation for ANY of the multi-modal content appropriated throughout:

http://rickleefilipkowski.blogspot.com/2009/06/ci-5472-post-71-studying-culture-of.html

Since the start of CI 5475, I have began to increasingly consider the implications that providing accurate citations (or not!) has when appropriating others' multi-modal content. Although I still really have no idea how to accurately / truly cite and give credit to the "new," multi-modal texts that I appropriate, I feel as though I am at least beginning to take a step in the right direction by utilizing "IMAGES USED" and "WORKS CITED" sections in each post where I a.) post original URLs for each image used, b.) provide hyper links to each image, and C.) provide complete MLA or APA citations when "compatible." For example, please view the "IMAGES USED" and "WORKS CITED" sections in the following blog entry:

http://rickleefilipkowski.blogspot.com/2009/12/ci-5150-week-12.html

Although this sort of attribution is most likely grossly insufficient (as well as probably illegal!), I still consider it a point of personal development in this course as I plan to continue to consider and explore issues of digital rights management, digital intellectual property rights, digital copy rights, and how said concepts are either "compatible" OR "incompatible" with print-based precedent.

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

If I were to incorporate ePortfolios into my future classes (which I certainly plan on doing), I can imagine said integration to occur during a larger unit and / or lesson on effective uses of visual rhetoric principles per diverse and unique intended purposes and audiences. For example, while teaching a hypothetical section of upperclassmen nearing entry to post-secondary academia and / or the job market, a specific sort of formative or summative assessment that I have in mind could look something like

1.) assigning students / having students self-select unique, diverse purposes for creating an ePortfolio (e.g., college admission, job interview, high school graduation requirements, and so on)

2.) identifying potential audiences that students' ePortfolios will be exposed to

3.) selecting and utilizing elements of visual rhetoric to effectively convey identified purposes and appeal to identified audiences.

During this sort of overall unit and / or lesson, students would then be required to self-select and integrate artifacts in creative, diverse ways that engage multiple intended purposes and engage multiple intended audiences. Furthermore, I can imagine such a unit and / or lesson being debriefed by having students

1.) present their work to the remainder of the class to further teach other students how unique intended purposes and audiences require unique, creative uses of visual rhetoric

2.) Further reflect on their ePortfolio drafts by engaging

A.) WHAT specific personal artifact(s) they self-selected

B.) WHY they self-selected said artifact(s)

C.) HOW they integrated said artifact(s) into the larger portfolio to effectively convey intended purposes and appeal to intended audiences.

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

Across all of the technologies that we have explored throughout this course, RSS FEEDS and SOCIAL BOOKMARKING TOOLS have significantly changed the fundamental ways by which I consume and manage information.

RSS FEEDS / READERS

I perceive RSS feeds / readers to be a teacher's Godsend, beautifully working to take a significant amount of "leg work" out of micromanaging various sources of information. Where previous information consumption and management paradigms dictate that I must go to the information, RSS feeds / readers completely turn the tables as desired information of personal / professional interest is sent directly to ME! Frankly, it really brings a tear to my eye (and the sad part is that I'm not really kidding!).

Where it could potentially take me a lot of time and energy to search out and discover when my personal / professional colleagues publish desired information (e.g., INDIVIDUALLY going to each blog, website, wiki page, twitter feed, and so on and so forth only to have my time and energy wasted if no new information has been published!), my Google RSS reader notifies me the moment information becomes available! For example, as you can see via my CI 5475 folder, my classmate's work COMES TO ME the moment new information is published. Notice how there are 0 unread post updates in my RSS reader. I'll let you in on a little secret; there is nothing new to read because I've quickly identified and managed updates relevant to my needs / interests the moment that they came in!

In short, I perceive this technology as a literal "must have" during my future teaching career. Where I could waste valuable time and energy searching through literally HUNDREDS of students' / colleagues' blogs, websites, wiki pages, twitter feeds, and so on, continued use of RSS feeds / readers will allow me to sit back, relax (yeah, right!), and watch as the information I need pours in!

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING TOOLS

I perceive social bookmarking tools such as Delicious and Diigo to be similar teacher "must haves" as such tools effectively fulfill one of Beach, Anson, Breach, and Swiss's (2009) five ways to grow as a digital writing teacher - joining online communities devoted to teaching digital writing (219). In addition to utilizing RSS feeds / readers to subscribe to blogs, wikis, and podcasts, teachers can create and participate in existing online social bookmarking communities in which members actively identify, annotate, and SHARE information useful to digital writing instruction.

As the internet can be virtual "no man's land" of information, social bookmarking tools allow communities of teachers to assist each other across time and space with finding information relevant to their unique classroom contexts. If the cliche that "two heads are better than one" holds true, social bookmarking communities exponentially increase the number of "heads" involved in identifying relevant information! Again, it's really a beautiful thing. In short, I plan on continuing to reap the benefits of, as well as contribute to, various social bookmarking communities that will help me continue to consider the personal and professional issues that I am most passionate about.

Mom Filipkowski earns her 1st degree black belt in karate

Because I just had to...

CI 5150 Week 12 - This Post Sucks! Pun Completely Intended.

Throughout his article titled Cruising the Alternatives: Homoeroticism and the contemporary vampire, Andrew Schopp (1997) argues that age-old cultural representations of the vampire figure have undergone / are continuing to undergo a sort of "transformation" - while the age-old vampire was frequently represented as a predatorial object of intense fear, the contemporary vampire is frequently represented as an object of intense, often sexual, desire:

"Although it has long held a formidable place in the heart of western culture, until the nineteenth century, the vampire existed primarily as a creature to be feared, the revenant come back to torment the living... In the nineteenth century, however, the vampire transformed from a feared cultural phenomenon to a desired cultural product, from mythic explanation of the unknown to receptacle of cultural desires" (231).


Although produced WELL AFTER the turn of the 19th century in 1922, the silent film Nosferatu represents vampires consistent with dominant predatorial, fear-based portrayals prior to the "transformation" Schopp (1997) describes; in other words, the "lead" vampire is represented as a predatorial figure meant to be intensely feared. To illustrate the logic of this claim, at approximately 26 minutes into the film, the text "Is this your wife? What a lovely throat" is displayed to the viewer, immediately followed by a scene where the hideous, stone-faced, and otherwise expressionless vampire pictured at the opening of this blog entry appears to stalk a woman in her dreams. In response, the woman does NOT want to to be an object of the vampire's desire and / or desire the vampire herself. Instead, she appears to be absolutely terrified!



Although Schopp's (1997) article and respective argument may be thought of as rather outdated, the vampire figure's "transformation" from object of intense fear to object of intense desire has continued to accelerate and likewise intensify. Although there are MANY texts to explore this "transformation," the Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyers and True Blood franchise by Charlaine Harris are arguably the most "visible" popular culture manifestations of the "transformation" Schopp (1997) describes.

And perhaps "visible" is the understatement of the century. As box office and retail vender numbers might suggest (e.g., Twilight 2 New Moon SMASHING records by earning over 230 million dollars globally during its opening week!), audiences ranging across ages, classes, genders, sexual orientations, and so on appear to be absolutely ADDICTED to / CAPTIVATED by contemporary representations of the vampire figure as an object of an intense, often sexual, desire (Rotten Tomatoes). However, it's important to note that fear hasn't COMPLETELY been eliminated from the equation; in both the Twilight and True Blood universes, fear is an inherent tool utilized by the vampire to seduce / desire other, often human, subjects. Likewise, fear is an inherent cost incurred by humans once seduced / desired by a vampire, even if the human subject wishes it.

The remainder of this blog entry will be an inquiry-based exploration behind HOW and WHY this interplay between fear and desire as utilized in representing the contemporary vampire figure may be so powerful in captivating contemporary audiences regardless of gender and sexual orientation.

Twilight's Edward Cullen

"Star / Lead" vampire in the Twilight universe is Edward Cullen who was "made" vampire in 1918 when he was 17 years of age. As such, although Edward's "real" age is of 107 years, he maintains the physical appearance and build of a 17 year-old male as conventional aging is not part of vampire physiology.

The most striking contrast between the Nosferatu vampire (pictured at the immediate opening of this blog entry) and Edward (pictured immediately left) is clearly their visual representations. EVERYTHING visually about the Nosferatu vampire connotes senses of fear and alienation; his long, black cloak, sub / un human cranial and facial structures, intense eyebrows, absent stare, protruded fangs, and even the "choppy" sub / un human way he / it moves (see the above video to view for yourself what I'm talking about!). In response to this visual representation, the object of the Nosferatu vampire's desire, as well as potentially the general viewer of this 1922 film, experiences nothing but fear and an intense lack of identification with their alien-like predator (NOTE: which of course isn't necessarily a "bad" thing; "controlled" instances of fear void of actual negative recourse are of course extremely attractive to many viewers!).

In contrast, Edward Cullen's cumulative visual representation renders him as a sort of more easy to identify with, "hyper" male who is inherently more opaque and thus desirable than the "average / typical" male; let me explain more clearly what I mean by this terminology and argument.

In contrast to the long, black cloak covering the Nosferatu vampire, Edward is visually represented wearing a fashionable, contemporary pea coat. In contrast to the Nosferatu vampire's sub / un human cranial and facial structures, Edward is visually represented as a strong, masculine looking, and otherwise attractive contemporary young male. Via these features alone, I would argue that the above visual representation of Edward neither carries especially intense meanings of fear or desire; instead, I argue that these features mainly work to "normalize" Edward and make him more visually identifiable with / to the typical contemporary audience.

However, I argue that the above visual representation of Edward begins to take on additional menacing, mysterious and otherwise seductive meanings when his similarities with the Nosferatu vampire are revealed; specifically, both have an intense and otherwise "a-typical" stare, further enhanced and intensified by their "a-typical" eyebrows and gaze. Via these features, the visual representation of Edward is greatly exoticized, rendering his facial structures hyper-masculine and his eyes-hyper piercing. As a cumulative result, Edward no longer appears as "average" or otherwise transparent as the typical contemporary male. Instead, he appears as a force "beyond" the average contemporary male, a force that I further argue audiences of either gender or sexual orientation are naturally inclined to try to "figure out" (NOTE: of the 230 million dollars earned globally, a large percentage of patrons are male). However, I argue even further that as audiences attempt to "figure out" exactly what is behind Edward's menacing, mysterious, seductive, opaque, and so on representation, viewers experience a similar amount of calculated, recourse-free risk / fear as they are unsure of what, specifically, they will find.

Turning toward textual represents of Edward in the Twilight parent text, Myers (2005) similarly represents Edward as an easy to identify with, yet "hyper" masculine object radiating desire. However, all throughout the parent text, the main object of Edward's desire (Bella Swan), as well as potentially the reader, experience textual undertones suggestive of a possibility for Edward to do Bella (or the reader themselves!) great, unpredictable harm:

I turned slowly, unwillingly. I didn't want to feel what I new I would feel when I looked at his too-perfect face. My expression was wary when I finally turned to him; his expression was unreadable. he didn't say anything.

"What? Are you speaking to me again?" I finally asked, an unintentional note of petulance in my voice.

His lips twitched, fighting a smile. "No, not really," he admitted.

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly through my nose, aware that I was gritting my teeth. He waited.

"Then what do you want, Edward?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed; it was easier to talk to him coherently that way.

"I'm sorry." he sounded sincere. "I'm being very rude, I know. But it's better this way, really."

I opened my eyes. His face was very serious.

"I don't know what you mean," I said, my voice guarded.

"It's better if we're not friends," he explained. "Trust me." (74)

To begin to deconstruct this lengthy quotation, as well as explore how it squares with additional textual representations of Edward throughout the parent text, Edward absolutely radiates desire via a number of mechanisms inherent to vampire physiology. First, his physical appearance as described above is "hypnotic" as is evidenced by Bella when she acknowledges how she is "forced" to feel (seemingly unwillingly in this case) when processing his "perfect" physical form. Also, as is later explored throughout the remainder of the text (I will not quote the sections here at length as they tend to be extremely sappy!), Edward's body and breadth radiant a seductive smell that Bella and the reader find difficult to resist.

However, behind this intense desire that Edward appears to exude, strong undercurrents of fear, danger, risk, and so on are present. As Edward warns Bella and the reader that it is better if she / they don't get to know him, Bella and the reader likewise experience a certain amount of uneasiness. Each party is not sure how to process exactly WHAT Edward is saying, as well as the cold, detached, menacing and almost threatening WAY he is saying it.

Overall, this unique combination of desire and fear have a powerful influence over Bella and the reader; each party is absolutely intrigued, questioning if it is "worth" turning the page to be further seduced by Edward despite the risks / dangers that are sensed. Again, judging by the aforementioned record-breaking box office and vender numbers, audiences MUST be perceiving the reward to be greater than the risk! However, I argue that Edward's influence on Bella and the reader would not be nearly the same had his character been visually and / or textually represented as COMPLETELY desirable and safe. As similar to the Nosferatu vampire, it IS the recourse-free fear / risk that further exoticizes Edward's desirable / seductive characteristics, further driving interest in the text.

However, when considering the popularity of contemporary vampire literature, it is difficult to pinpoint WHY, specifically, so many MALE viewers / readers are likewise enthralled with a stereotypically feminine concept. In addition to the previously explored argument of contemporary audiences' overall identifiability with the characters of these texts potentially driving viewership / readership, Schopp (1997) suggests another potential explanation; these sorts of texts may afford and open up "spaces" where dominant ideologies surrounding sexuality may be challenged:

"Given its late nineteenth-century origins, we should not find it surprising that the vampire product both affirms and resists culturally and historically determined discourses of sexuality. While the vampire product can, and often does, reinscribe heteronormative ideologies of sexuality, specific products resist such ideologies and articulate alternatives to dominant configurations of sexuality" (232).

In other words, although certain texts can indeed reinforce pervasive, discriminatory ideologies surrounding constructions of sexuality (e.g., males are "gay, homos, queer," and so on if they find Edward / the idea of Edward desirable / seductive in ANY way), the Twilight and True Blood universes might open up popular spaces where ALL readers are free and / or even encouraged to step outside of / experiment with dominant ideologies governing sexuality with little to no negative recourse. As a cumulative result, ALL readers regardless of gender and / or sexuality may perceive their experience with the Twilight and True Blood texts to afford a safe, comforting, and meaningful gateway to engage facets of themselves deemed "inappropriate / unacceptable" to engage elsewhere.

True Blood's Bill Compton

"Star / Lead" vampire in the True Blood franchise is William "Bill" Compton who was "made" vampire in 1868 when he was 28 years of age. As such, although Bill's "real" age is of 169 years, he maintains the physical appearance and build of a 28 year-old male as conventional aging is again not part of vampire physiology.

Before I jump into a similar exploration of Bill Compton, some general context regarding the Twilight vs. True Blood universes needs to be explored. Where Meyers' (2005) text is clearly tailored to her target audience of young adolescence in terms of violence, sexuality, and general "adult" themes, Harris (2001) writes for a much older, much more "adult" target audience. As such, the True Blood HBO series and parent texts are MUCH more explicit in terms of violence, sex, and overall "adult" themes than the Twilight movie series and parent texts. However, these differences in overall explicitness offer EXTREMELY rich fodder for further exploring HOW and WHY the interplay between fear and desire as utilized in representing the contemporary vampire figure may be so powerful in captivating contemporary audiences.

As similar to the visual representation of Twilight's Edward Cullen, True Blood's Bill Compton possesses similarly striking visual contrasts to the 1922 Nosferatu vampire. Like Edward, Bill is represented via a more "human" / "average" appearance which audiences find easier to identify with than the alien-like Nosferatu vampire. However, like Edward, Bill's visual representation contains resonances with the Nosferatu vampire that work to further exoticize and establish Bill as an opaque, hyper-masculine figure. As a cumulative result, the viewer is inherently "attracted" to Bill regardless of gender or sexual orientation, allowing themselves to be be further seduced by him to fulfill the visually generated need of "figuring" him out. Please view the following extremely short clip to get a better idea of the similarities I'm referring to:





Throughout the above clip, Bill is further visually represented via a fine trail of blood running out of his mouth, suggestive of the fact that he has just "fed" on someone who was potentially unwilling OR willing to be "fed" on. Furthermore, as similar to the Nosferatu vampire, Bill is frequently represented via protruded fangs throughout the True Blood experience as pictured right. While fulfilling their need to "unravel / "figure out" Bill Compton, audiences again are confronted with visual images that connote senses of risk, fear, and danger. As such, audiences likewise experience a sense of uneasiness toward what they may potentially learn, as well as what might potentially happen to them, while allowing themselves to be further seduced by Bill.

Turning toward textual represents of Bill in the True Blood parent text, Harris (2001) similarly represents Bill as an easy to identify with, yet "hyper" masculine object radiating desire. However, all throughout the parent text, the main object of Bill's desire (Sookie Stackhouse), as well as potentially the reader, experience textual undertones suggestive of a potential for Bill to do Sookie (or again the reader themselves!) great, unpredictable harm:

"I stared at him. I'd never seen anything so beautiful or so scary in my life... He gasped, and jerked, and he began moving in earnest. At first I was dazed, but I began to catch on and keep up. He found my response very exciting, and I began to feel that something was just around the corner, so to speak -- something very big and good. I said, "Oh, please, Bill, please!" and dug my nails in his hips, almost there, almost there, and then a small shift in our alignment allowed him to press even more directly against me and almost before I could gather myself I was flying, flying, seeing white with gold streaks. I felt Bill's teeth against my neck, and I said, "Yes!" I felt his fangs penetrate, but it was a small pain, an exciting pain, and as he came inside me I felt him draw on the little wound" (144-145).

In addition to its general raunchiness / sexual explicitness appealing to many readers, the way in which Bill is represented throughout this passage absolutely radiates desire. In addition to his flawless physical appearance, Bill possesses a unique characteristic of vampire physiology that functions to further seduce and control potential mates AND victims; the ability to "glamor" people. Check out the following short clip of Bill teaching another vampire how to "glamor" someone, rendering the individual COMPLETELY under the vampire's power:



As Sookie and the reader themselves are seduced into the explicit and frankly pornographic sensuality of the above textual scene, further processing yields potentially unsettling questions including...

1.) If Bill has the ability to "glamor" anyone and place them COMPLETELY under his power, is he taking advantage of Sookie and the reader?

2.) Are Sookie and the reader "willingly" engaging in this sensual experience?

And...

3.) Could Bill potentially lose control of his "love bite" in the heat of the moment and kill / pose a serious threat to Sookie's life?

Again, this unique combination of desire, seduction, sensuality, and fear have a powerful influence over Sookie and the reader; each party is absolutely intrigued, questioning if it is "worth" turning the page to further be seduced by Bill despite the risk, danger, and potential perversion that are sensed. Again, judging by the fact that the True Blood HBO series is going into its 3rd season, as well as the fact that Harris is writing her NINTH book in the series, audiences MUST be perceiving the reward to be greater than the risk! However, I argue that Bill's influence on Sookie and the reader would not be nearly the same had his character been visually and / or textually represented as COMPLETELY desirable, safe, and good intentioned. As similar to the Nosferatu vampire, it IS the recourse-free fear / risk that further exoticizes Bill's desirable / seductive characteristics, further driving interest in the text.

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

SO... WHERE ARE WE GOING FROM HERE?

As has been explored throughout this blog entry, visual and textual representations of vampires are EXTREMELY dominant forces in contemporary popular culture, exercising a large amount of influence over viewers / readers. Although I could not find any concrete "numbers" to support the following claim, I argue that audiences contributing so much money and interest to this popular culture phenomenon are skewed toward adolescents (in particular regarding the Twilight saga!). As such, it is important to consider the longer-term implications that these representations pose in either REINFORCING or CHALLENGING dominant ideological constructions, as well as what these representations stand to "teach" adolescent viewers.

While Schopp (1997) argues that contemporary visual and textual representations of vampires potentially stand to create "spaces" where consumers are free and / or even encouraged to step outside of and experiment with dominant ideologies governing sexuality with little to no negative recourse, Glenn Sparks (2009), a professor of communications at Purdue, suggests an outcome with less optimistic implications. In a 2009 USA Today article, Sparks (2009) comments on how the current trend in vampire literature may convince adolescents, whether explicitly or implicitly, of the existence of actual vampires:

"The hit movie 'Twilight' not only may entertain viewers, it has the potential to encourage viewers to believe in vampires... When a fictional story is presented in a realistic way, it can move people to believe -- or at least move them away from disbelief and toward more uncertainty about the supernatural... This reminds me of what happened with the 1973 film 'The Exorcist.' Many people said they had never considered demon possessions before, but some of those who say the movie began thinking it was a possible phenomenon" (9).

Although a potentially "silly" claim, I argue that the effect Sparks (2009) describes is potentially dangerous; in other words, if adolescents aren't encouraged to "see past" the ridiculous albeit entertaining premises of these texts and critically read WHAT / HOW the texts themselves are contributing to the construction of ideological paradigms, assumptions, values, world views, and so on, producers of visual and textual texts stand to exercise TREMENDOUS power over consumers. In other words, it might be one of our jobs as teachers to move students beyond getting "hung up" on who the "hottest" vampire is, if Edward is good in bed, and if there are real vampires out there, toward more meaningful critical analysis of WHAT / HOW representations of these figures contribute to the ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on students internalize while consuming said representations.

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

SO... HOW DO WE MOVE STUDENTS BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT TO CRITICAL ANALYSIS?

NOTE: Because I sort of went nuts with this week's blog posting, the following assignment section is going to be relatively short!

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF GENDER STEREOTYPES IN TWILIGHT AND TRUE BLOOD

In their article titled Graphic Novels: American Chick Lit, Martha Cornog and Steve Raiteri (2009) explore the centrality of "pretty girls" in adolescent literature:

"Good ole American pretty girls in comics predate shojo manga heroines by decades. The charming Gibson Girls won hearts in the 1890s, and then Neil Brinkley's gorgeous flappers into serial stories..." (53).

Cornog and Raiteri (2009) continue to underscore the skewed representations of females portrayed as helpless / powerless victims in need of saving vs. powerful agents capable of effecting change in their textual contexts. Taking off from Cornog and Raiteri's (2009) discussion, teachers and students could partake in critical analysis of the main female characters and / or gender power dynamics in the Twilight and True Blood universes.

In brief, teachers and students could explore essential questions such as:

-How much POWER do Bella Swan and Sookie Stackhouse hold in their respective texts?

-How do they exercise said power?

-How do visual and textual representations of Bella and Sookie either REINFORCE and / or CHALLENGE pervasive ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on surrounding ideas of power, gender, sexuality, and so on.

Teachers and students could then view the visual and textual texts in question to engage these questions, creating traditional and / or multi-modal inquiry projects.

In short, I believe that such an activity would encourage and teach students the value of not only viewing vampire texts for entertainment purposes, but using said texts to further read, evaluate, and question their realities!

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

WORKS CITED

Ball. A. (Executive Producer). (2008). True Blood [Television series]. United States: HBO.

Cornog, M. & Raiteri, S. (2009). Graphic Novels. Library Journal, 134(9), 53.

Harris, C. (2001). Dead Until Dark. New York: Ace Books.

Meyers, S. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Murnau, F. W. (Director). (1922). Nosferatu [Motion picture]. Germany: Prana Film.

Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. <http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twilight_saga_new_moon/>

Schopp, A. (1997). Cruising the Alternatives: Homoeroticism and the contemporary vampire. Journal of Popular Culture, 30(4), 231-243.

Sparks, G. (2009, Jan). Does "Twilight" Prove Vampires Are Real? USA Today, 137(2764), 9.

-------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------

IMAGES USED

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgic9zptIbWpTNdz-AbGXn9ojOcGXINv-34XHZojW1uCesNlG65XYKPYECBZvY_GVtzynbpJlKJ44upQq7g2DgRNyL9QkQCIGsWDqNrYZ-3sCaakpcVAxltN2LPQdALXInGc-mmGvSlr6SR/s400/Vampire5.jpg

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/PYR/PAS0054.jpg

http://l.yimg.com/l/tv/us/img/site/02/18/0000050218_20080717142508.jpg

http://static.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/bill-compton-pic.jpg