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Although Schopp's (1997) article and respective argument may be thought of as rather outdated, the vampire figure's "transformation" from object of intense fear to object of intense desire has continued to accelerate and likewise intensify.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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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

CI 5150 Week 11 - Prison Tattoos and Teen Fashion

As I sat down to begin approaching this week's assignment on the subject of fashion, I immediately thought of an A&E special on prison tattoos that I recently watched before going to bed (random, I know). During the special, cameras were sent behind the "closed bars" (pun completely intended I'm pretty sure) of the nation's toughest prisons to explore the complex cultures, meanings, and functions behind prison tattoos.

Although what I learned about the cultures, meanings, and functions behind prison tattoos didn't necessarily shock me, a rather surprising observation dawned on me upon further reflection; there appears to be little (if any) difference between the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of prison tattoos, and the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of the fashions that our students spend millions on each year! Before I completely flush out my logic behind this observation, check out this montage of various prison tattoos that I discovered on YouTube. As you watch, pay special attention to the SPECIFIC WORDS that are often represented via tattoo art, as well as the SPECIFIC IMAGES that are often represented.

DISCLAIMER: Some of what you will see visually, textually, and behaviorally is rather explicit and prejudiced material. This material is being utilized for research and analytical purposes ONLY; in NOW WAY does it reflect any of MY particular ideological orientations or beliefs!



Throughout the A&E special, the authors' main thesis is that tattoos are primarily utilized in the prison setting as symbols by which to identify with, claim membership with, and / or represent various prison cultures and subcultures, including their respective ideological orientations and behavioral expectations. For example, one of the many prison cultures which the A&E special explored was the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (typically abbreviated as the "AB" or "ABT"), a radical, white-supremacist group with various soldiers and cells operating both in and out of the U.S. prison system. After potential recruits perform various acts of violence to earn the group's trust, acceptance, (one of the many required behavioral expectations for admittance to the group), they identify their membership with and represent the group and its ideological orientations by having a system of various visual and textual codes tattooed onto their bodies - some arrangement of the swastika (to represent their white-supremacist ideological orientations and help define what type of behaviors are expected of in-group members), sword and shield (to represent that they are "warriors" / "soldiers" with the responsibility of defending this ideological orientation), and some form of the text "AB" or "ABT" (as shorthand code for the group's comlete name). These visual and textual codes are then used to identify, represent, and define group behavioral expectations (you can fill in the blanks here...), as well as protect allied members of the in-group. Furthermore, these visual and textual codes are inversely used to alienate, set behavioral limits with, and often threaten members of enemy / other out-groups with differing and / or incompatible ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.

Take a moment to compare these sets of images side-by-side...































Given the above summary and discussion, I don't necessarily perceive any difference between the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of prison tattoos, and the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of the fashions that our students spend millions on each year!

THE "DESIGNER" GROUP

Just as the swastika, sword and shield, and textual "AB" / "ABT" are utilized to identify with, claim membership with, and represent the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations of a group like the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the Hollister Co.'s seagull graphic and accompanying textual slogan "Surf Team" are utilized by wearers to identify with, claim membership with, and represent a particular culture with its own unique ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.
















On its own, I have never really considered what denotative and connotative meanings the seagull may carry. My best guess is that the seagull has an obvious denotative association with the sea, and perhaps less obvious connotative associations with peace, freedom, freshness, perhaps travel, and so on. As Hollister Co. markets itself as a California-based surfer "lifestyle" brand, pairing the visual symbol of the seagull with the text "Surf Team" creates a sort of visual and textual code representative of this lifestyle and respective ideological orientation valuing youth, spontaneity, and arguably members of the dominant, white, affluent, upper-class.

Although I'm about to perform a certain amount of stereotyping here myself, members of this particular in-group are likewise expected to behave in certain ways in order to gain AND maintain identification and acceptance with this particular group (for nomenclature purposes, let's call it the "Designer" group . For example, members of the "Designer" group are expected to ALWAYS dress themselves in "designer" and / or clothing considered to be "cool," "trendy," "fashionable" and / or otherwise representative of their affluent position in the larger society. In addition to the specific clothing they wear, members of the "Designer" group are expected to act "cool," often carrying themselves with the attitude that they are of a dominant, affluent class / group who is "entitled" to receive respect and admiration from other classes / groups lower on the social hierarchy than they. As such, members of the "Designer" group are often expected to treat members of out / other groups as not as "good" as them and / or "worthy" / "deserving" of their attention.

















THE "GOTH" GROUP

Let's take a quick look at another popular cultural group represented by unique visual, textual, and behavioral codes; again, for nomenclature purposes, let's call it the "Goth" group. As is displayed via the above images, one major fashion utilized by the "Goth" group is the color black, carrying with it the connotative meanings of darkness, death, depression, submission, and so on. In addition to the color black, the "Goth" group also utilizes dark finger nail polishes regardless of gender, dark eyeliner and other make up regardless of gender, multi-colored hair styles, chains as necklaces and bracelets, and so on, likewise carrying with them connotative meanings of darkness, death, depression, and so on. As similar to the "Designer" group (as well as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas!), the "Goth" group utilizes these fashions to create a code representative of their lifestyle and respective ideological orientation valuing the fatality of life, non-conformity, and otherwise rejection / subversion of all that is valued in other, more dominant cultural groups.

Again, as similar to the "Designer" group and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, members of the "Goth" in-group are likewise expected to behave in certain ways in order to gain AND maintain identification and acceptance with the larger group. For example, members of the "Goth" group are ALWAYS expected to dress themselves in the aforementioned styles that are considered to challenge the more dominant status quo. In addition to this specific clothing, members of the "Goth" group are expected to approach life with a sort of cynical, skeptical, glum, and / or at times apathetic attitude, as they believe that life is fleeting anyways. Furthermore, members of the "Goth" group are expected to value both the ways that they dress AND act as an expression of their individually and solidarity with the group's larger cause of dissociating themselves with, and even challenging, the more dominant status quo. Lastly, members of the "Goth" group are expected to more or less distance themselves from other groups under the guise that they "just don't care" about what others think of them, their fashion, their beliefs, and their actions. However, for not caring, the "Goth" group sure puts a lot of effort into dressing and behaving in ways consistent with the codes necessary to not only gain, but maintain acceptance with the larger group and their respective ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.

BUT WHAT IF I DON'T CONFORM TO AND / OR MISREPRESENT THE LARGER GROUP'S ESTABLISHED CODE?

Regardless of what sort of larger cultural group one belongs to, SERIOUS consequences are often incurred if one refuses to conform to and / or misrepresents the codes (visual, textual, and / or behavioral) as established by the larger group once identification with the larger group is established.

For example, these consequences are about as serious and violent as they get when considering a group like the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. After being initiated into the larger group, in-group members face death, physical, and / or sexual abuse if they do not live up to and / or misrepresent the ideological and behavioral expectations as established by the group's visual and textual codes. For example, if a group member is spotted as much as associating with another minority inmate or member of another out-group, big problems are to be had. As a matter of fact, the MINIMUM repercussion to such a infraction is the REMOVAL of the visual and textual codes tattooed on the member identifying them with and representing the ideological orientation and behavioral expectations of the larger group! In other words, if group leaders do not feel a member is capable of representing what the group stands for, crude removal (often via common construction tools) of the visual and textual codes identifying one with the larger group (again, we're talking tattoos on human skin here) is often the next logical step.


Although the consequences following a similar infraction in the average high school setting are of course MUCH less violent (e.g., if a "Jock / Designer" decides to see how they look in black, or even worse, is actually spotted ASSOCIATING and / or making friends with a "Goth"), individuals violating and / or misrepresenting ideological orientations or behavioral expectations as established by certain group's visual / textual codes likewise risk harsh bullying, extradition, and other physical or emotional abuse. In other words, if group members compromise the larger group's location on the hierarchical ladder via the violation and / or misrepresentation of the larger group's visual, textual, and / or behavioral codes, they WILL face consequences. Hence, the argument for school uniforms! In closing, this arguably universal adolescent "need" to identify with and represent a larger cultural group runs the risk of encouraging isolation, conflict, and prejudice vs. tolerance, understanding, and curiosity amongst diverse student and larger societal groups.



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ASSIGNMENT #1: FASHION ETHNOGRAPHY

Given my exploration on the coding functions of popular fashion, I believe that another ethnography-esque activity would be a very authentic, applicable-based task by which to apply what is going on in class to the "real world."

Step one: scaffolding

-Like ALWAYS, provide whatever background context regarding how certain groups utilize various visual, textual, and behavioral codes to identify with, claim membership with, and represent their group's ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.

NOTE: Feel free to use whatever you wish from this blog posting. However, although provocative, I'm not sure that EVERY school will approve of my likening of teenage fashion to prison tattoos.

However, I have some additional, potentially safer, scaffolding activities in mind including...

• Bring in popular magazines to have students identify various visual and textual fashion codes, making inferences and critical analysis of WHAT ideological orientations / behavioral expectations the group has, as well as HOW and WHY the group's visual and textual codes communicate said ideologies and behaviors.
  

Step two: field notes

And like always, this is the fun part! Send students out into the "field" (I'm envisioning any sort of public space including the mall, park, coffee shop, and so on), having them observe X number of groups of subjects (I'm thinking at least 3-5 here, comprised of at least 3-5 subjects per group), taking detailed notes on...

-WHAT they are wearing / HOW they are dressed.

-WHAT they are doing / HOW they are doing it.

Step three: reaction paper

-Following the collection of their field notes, assign a short reaction paper (I'm thinking 1-2 double-spaced pages here), critically identifying AND analyzing the RELATIONSHIPS between the visual and textual codes that subjects where literally wearing, and the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations groups appeared to hold.

Step three: decompression

-Share and decompress in small groups, large groups, or however you see fit to your unique learning context!

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ASSIGNMENT #2: SCHOOL UNIFORM DEBATE / ROLE-PLAY

-Following whatever scaffolding and background context regarding the above sorts of group dynamics as based on visual, textual, and behavioral codes, conduct a class-wide debate / role-play on whether or not their school should have a uniform policy.

-Assign students various "pro" and "con" roles regarding the issue in question (e.g., conservative parent, liberal parent, school administrators, teachers, community members, and so on), having them research and argue the issue however they discover their role positions them.

-Require students to collect X number of sources to form and support their position (I'm thinking 3-5 sources here).

-Debate "in character"!

-Decompress in and / or out of "character" via large-group discussion

AND /OR

-Assign a reaction paper similar to what I discuss in assignment #1 critically identifying AND analyzing the RELATIONSHIPS between the visual and textual codes that subjects literally wear, and the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations groups argued.

Thanks again for reading, watching, and listening CI 5150!
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IMAGES USED

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3421484332_60dafdab7e.jpg?v=0

http://api.ning.com/files

http://www.foto8.com/issue01/dprisontattoos/prisontattoo10.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWe1gEKghUcihgEwce-EmS7xPVW-9CP0FzcS7uN-cE00QKlxPYHn1B40h155clJmCc8V2-Hi4l0CL2UZ3lBRr6B0j0gBV_HmP_6C_JLQN2b1nZBTS5FgU5xkSiErbkG1aQcJ7_GgsiiU/s400/goths_group449.jpg

http://patdollard.com/wp-content/uploads/gangs.jpg

http://www.fashion-icons.gabrielmichael.com/hollister_graphics.jpg

http://photos.friendster.com/photos/00/95/64795900/1_190215854l.jpg

http://delawarebeachguides.com/Shopping/images/Company/775/hollister_co_photo.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TM3tiAQTtz9A_HuyEqp4cC7ru79pA0Gxu0N6uxcMPRxM-z8d7BWLDlNV2m-3yKPoQvgq5XLO7i56dmC1-47R3d7sbukvGwbiXoSlQVJllmbJNpFYFfCix9nIBue1kbXFMbjhXHqwu4_4/s320/better+goth+picture.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVEUzW6-qzy0LCB3JSndldTdGr-dv-uhRnj79nfHii2t2mdfpM_-ua5chlITJCC-ISZCMhVHRuqC4o28yLCzraJfeNngOymacSGf097qVGCflNgAJx2dte6qs-BVUC2W-J5J0dttQ4iqpI/s320/f_goth15m_f56c27b.gif

http://twopagans.com/gothic_chamber/gcactivities/quizzes/lexmax.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Belt_sander_bosch.jpg

http://images.quizfarm.com/1104014769loner.jpg

CI 5150 Week 10 - Critical Analysis of Toys as Status Quo Training Tools

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

In his blog entry titled "Toys: Nature vs. Nurture," fellow CI 5150 student Scott Wojtanowski (2009) explores the power toys hold to both reflect AND shape gender roles as he states, "the overtones of particular toys is rather suggestive of gender roles." Although I agree with the argument that toys do indeed both reflect AND shape gender roles, I would like to extend Scott's initial exploration even further into the "shaping" end the spectrum, arguing that critical analysis of any department store toy aisle reveals a large degree of intentionality on the parts of designers and marketers to design, produce, and market toys that function primarily as "status quo training tools" (gender being one of many, many interlocking status quo variables), or in other words, status quo "shapers."

Where my previous blog entries for this course have been largely theory-based and expository in nature, I would like to explore my argument that critical analysis of any department store toy aisle reveals my aforementioned notion of intentionally in toy design, production, and marketing by...

1.) designing an ethnography-esque assignment that is an application-based exercise in critical gender analysis of toy design, production, and marketing

and

2.) modeling what such an assignment might "look like" for student use.

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

Again, as stated above, it can be argued that toys are intentionally designed, produced, and marketed to shape many, many interlocking status quo variables including race, class, and so on and so forth; however, the following ethnography-esque, application-based assignment will begin to scaffold such a complex deconstructive critical analysis by "singling" out and starting with the status quo variable of gender.

STEP ONE

As I've stated in nearly all of my blog entries throughout the course thus far, provide your students with whatever background context is necessary for YOUR unique learning context.

However, I recommend starting with the core idea and argument that like any piece of culture, toys are intentionally utilized by those in power as yet another medium to transmit and otherwise "teach" dominant, pervasive status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on. To begin to explore this concept of intentionality, as well as practice critically revealing and analyzing this intentionality in as CONCRETE vs. abstract of a way as possible for students, teachers could begin with potential scaffolding activities such as:

OBJECT BIOGRAPHY

-Have students dig through their closets, attics, under their beds, junk drawers, and so on to find a memorable / beloved childhood toy.

-Bring the toy to class for group discussion.

-In pairs, small groups, and / or large groups, have students critically analyze their toys via questions such as...

• What sort of games did I use this toy with?
• How did I use this toy?
• What might this toy have taught me?
• How might this toy have taught me these things?
• What ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on does this toy appear to be supporting?
• How does this toy appear to be supporting these things?

VIEWING REAL WORLD ADVERTS

-View collections of clips such as the following:



-Respond to similar a similar question set of...

• What ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on does these toys appear to be supporting?
• How do these toys appear to be supporting these things?

-Decompress as a large group in whatever way is appropriate for YOUR particular learning context, informing students that they will replicate / apply this sort of critical analysis out in the "real world"!

STEP TWO

And here comes the fun part...

-Equip your students with digital note taking tools (NOTE: I don't really foresee quality being an issue here. For instance, I imagine even low-end cell phone recording equipment doing the trick. However, if students have higher-end equipment at their disposal, more power to them).

-Split students up into small groups (I'm thinking 4-5 students per group), and assign each group to visit a toy department in a nearby store (NOTE: depending on students' transportation situations and proximities to nearby stores, this step could present difficulties. To manage potential problems, perhaps develop and post some sort of car pool grid to help facilitate and organize travel. Also, perhaps perform and post a simple Mapquest, Google Map, and / or Google Earth search of all nearby stores with toy departments for planning purposes).

-In their small groups, have students...

• visit the store they choose / are assigned
  
• select X number of toys that they believe function as "status quo training tools" (depending on YOUR unique class context, I'm thinking of 4-6 toys per group for this assignment)
• photograph said toys so that box art and marketing is as visible as possible
• take digital and / or analog field notes recording:

1.) WHAT type of marketing is being used, HOW it is being used, WHAT type of effect / purpose it is being used to achieve, HOW it is achieving that effect / purpose, and so on

2.) WHAT ideologies, assumptions, values, world views and so on the toy is transmitting, HOW it is transmitting these ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.

STEP THREE

-Utilizing their field notes, have each group prepare a multi-modal presentation to explore and argue WHAT status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views and so on their selected toys are being used to transmit, as well as HOW they are transmitting them.

*This presentation could take on really whatever sort of form you feel is appropriate to YOUR unique class context. For example, students could use PowerPoint, iMovie, Voicethread, as well as any number of other utilities to build their presentations.

*Regarding assessment, I find it reasonable to require students to pair a MINIMUM of 3 descriptive text or spoken sentences per image, depending of course on what sort of medium they use to present their findings. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE BELLOW MODELING, I will be pairing ~ 3 descriptive text sentences per image. However, overall assessment depends again on YOUR unique learning context and expectations. Good luck, and have fun!

ASSIGNMENT APPLICATION

For the purposes of the modeling portion of this week's entry, I will be restricting my critical analysis to how a number of toys currently on store shelves transmit gender-specific status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.

The bellow examples are my best approximations what this assignment might "look like" having never done it. Feel free to appropriate and adapt however you see fit!

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Pictured to the left is Handy Manny, star of the Disney Channel program Handy Manny. As indicated by the "Handy Manny" Wikipedia entry, the general episode formula for the popular children's program is the following: 1.) a resident of the fictional town of "Sheetrock Hills" contacts Manny's repair shop with a problem that needs fixing, 2.) Manny and his band of anthropomorphized tools set out to fix said problem, and 3.) Through teamwork, Manny and his team are successful.

One major ideology that Handy Manny transmits and teaches children is that men are "meant" to fulfill / it is "natural" for men to fulfill the authoritative role of worker / builder / maker in society. In other words, when there is something that needs fixing, Handy Manny helps to further invest men with the perceived authority / expertise / credibility that others seek out when something needs fixing. One way in which the product's marketing contributes to this message is the phrase "Let's get to work!" printed directly on the toy's packaging. As children pass by this toy and read this quotation (if they can in fact read), this direct address invites children and parents to further identify with Manny and the ideologies he represents as they play "handyman" with him.






Pictured to the left is the Fisher Price Play My Kitchen. One major ideology that Play With My Kitchen transmits and teaches is that women are "meant" to fulfill / it is "natural" for women to fulfill the submissive role of domestic processor in our society, while the dominant male (e.g., Handy Manny) is out gathering resources to process. In other words, when there is some sort of domestic need that needs processing (e.g, cooking), Play My Way Kitchen helps to further invest women with the perceived authority / expertise / credibility when dealing with domestic matters. Although textual marketing is scarce on this product, the visual says it all as an EXTREMELY young child is smiling and expressing emotions of happiness and relaxation with her domestic task at hand.








Pictured to the left is the Circo Cheerleader Dress. Enough said... One major ideology that the Cheerleader Dress transmits and teaches is that women are "meant" to be / it is "natural" for women to be objects of desire for the opposite sex. In other words, women are "supposed" to dress revealing / show off their bodies, and women "should" enjoy the feedback they get from men when they are objectified. Notice how marketing on this product is virtually non-existent. Instead, the product itself IS the marketing. In other words, when young girls see this flashy, pink dress, they may automatically associate the toy dress with the attention that "real" cheerleaders get. Therefore, they may beg their parents for the toy dress in order to get the same sort of feedback, and ta-da, the dress sells itself with virtually NO exterior marketing!











Lastly, pictured to the left is the Ryan's Room Knight and Shining Armor complete with helmet, breast plate, sword, and shield. Via the marketing slogan "A suit of armor to fit your brave knight!", one major ideology that this toy transmits and teaches is that men are "meant" to be / it is "natural" for men to be society's warriors / defenders / aggressors. In other words, men are "supposed" to dress masculine / show off their masculinity, and therefore "should" enjoy the feedback they get from being perceived as such. However, notice how differently the male armor vs. female cheerleader outfit is marketed; more specifically, the armor packaging pictures a young boy dressed for battle! This difference in marketing may also transmit and teach the ideology that women are "meant" / it is "natural" for women to enjoy dressing up for idle vanity, whereas men are "meant" to / it is "natural" for men to get dressed up ONLY when there is a particular role / duty to fulfill; in this case, a warrior preparing for battle!

CI 5150 Week 8 - Edible Popular Culture;The Food Network

PART ONE - READING RESPONSE

In their essay titled "Popular Culture and the Dark Side of Food," Walker and White (2008) propose the argument that the human constant of food is yet another popular culture artifact both reflective of, as well as shaped by, dominant American (or arguably global) cultural ideologies:

"Food is a window into culture; it allows us to experience and sample cultures different from our own without leaving our homes; it serves as a means of transporting, transforming, and maintaining cultures. According to many, food is culture. Catherine Manton refers to to food as everyone's first language... Food is necessary for all cultures to survive; to live, people must eat... Food, consumerism, media, and the power of big business have a complicated and multifaceted relationship in American culture; separating them is difficult" (131).

Nowhere is food's multifaceted relationship to popular American / global culture and the media more explicit than on the Food Network, a cable television network where round the clock programming is devoted to a single topic; food! On the surface, the Food Network arguably works to challenge American (and arguably global) society's current obsession with figure, image, weight, and dysfunctional eating patterns, instead broadcasting the more subversive message that it is "O.K." for Americans and viewers to eat and enjoy food (Walker and White, 2008, 132). However, close, critical analysis of the Food Network's programming, particularly male vs. female on-air chef personalities, may reveal a much less than subversive message; the thin body is still the ideal body. In other words, upon close, critical examination, the Food Network arguably continues to further deleterious ideological paradigms equating individual power and control, especially for females, with body size, favoring of course thinness (e.g., the thinner you are, the more power and control over that power you have) (Walker and White, 2008, 134).

Although Walker and White (2008) do not explicitly say so in their text, I argue that linguistic discrepancies / double standards between how men and women are perceived depending on their body figure / image helps lay bare various underlying ideologies. Therefore, this discrepancy can be illustrated via the common language we use to refer to men and women of various sizes. For example, a man on the "overweight" end of the spectrum is usually referred to via language with MORE affectionate, gentle, and overall positive connotations such as "husky," "strong," "cuddly," and so on. Conversely, a man on the "underweight" end of the spectrum is usually referred to via language with MORE negative connotations such as "scrawny," "weak," "gangly," and so on. In other words, the very language we use constructs the ideal male figure / image as leaning toward the larger end of the weight spectrum, as male weight is connotatively associated with great personal control, power / will power, care of oneself, as well as great authority, credibility, expertise, and so on.

However, the exact opposite appears to be the case for women. For example, a woman on the "overweight" end of the spectrum is usually referred to via language with MORE negative connotations such as "chubby," "fat," "thick," and so on. Conversely, a woman on the "underweight" end of the spectrum is usually referred to via language with MORE affectionate, gentle, and overall positive connotations such as the department store favorite "petite," as well as "thin," "small," "little," and so on. In other words, in contrast to men, the very language we use constructs the ideal female / image as leaning toward the smaller end of the weight spectrum, as female weight is connotatively associated with poor personal control, power / will power, care of oneself, as well as poor authority, credibility, expertise, and so on.

For a television network devoted to nothing but food, talking about food, eating, talking about eating food, enjoying, and talking about enjoying food (you get the gist), the Food Network doesn't appear to be doing much to break down, challenge, and otherwise subvert dominant ideological constructions of the ideal male vs. female figure / image. Instead, the Food Network appears to reinforce and perpetuate dominant, pervasive ideological paradigms as the on-air chef personalities further construct the aforementioned dominant gender discrepancy / double standard. In other words, the male chefs tend to be large, masculine figures, and the female chefs tend to be thin, feminine looking figures.


For example, meet Italian chef Mario Bitali who is featured in Food Network programs such as the explosively popular Iron Chef and Meet Mario Bitali.

Although not "obese," Mario is no doubt a portly man. In combination with this particular pose, Mario's size conveys the connotative associations of power, authority, expertise, and credibility over his trade; cooking.

However, Mario still appears soft in a certain way, almost "jolly."










Similar examples include Chef chef Paul Prudhomme as well as the likewise wildly popular Emeril Lavigne. BAM!

Overall, the portly figures / images of these on-air chef personalities reinforce the message to viewers that men like to eat, and they should eat and enjoy their food as it will make them bigger, stronger, more masculine, and so on.







In contrast, various on-air female Food Network chefs appear to send a different, and much less subversive message to viewers.


For example, meet Italian Chef Giada de Laurentiis. In contrast to her portly and "overweight" male culinary peers, Giada is arguably the definition of the ideal female figure / image; she is thin / petite, white, and otherwise absolutely beautiful. In fact, I know many individuals that watch Giada's show just for her shocking beauty. In fact, they probably have absolutely NO idea that the show is about an otherwise boring and uninteresting subject to them; cooking!

In contrast to our male chefs' portly sizes connoting a sense of authority, power, control, expertise, credibility, and so on over their culinary trade, Giada's thin size similarly connotes her identity as an expert chef; the standard is completely reversed. In other words, if Giada was the same size and / or had the same body figure / image as Mario, Pual, and Emeril, would viewers "buy" her as a competent chef in complete control over her culinary trade?

As a result of her four, count 'em FOUR, shows on the Food Network (Most Popular Recipes, All About Giada, Everyday Italian, and Giada at Home), Giada's image has further transformed / been transformed into a pseudo porn vixen to perhaps further convince viewers that yes, she is in control of and an expert with the food she cooks. See for yourself!



Now readers, I have some news for you that I am sure will not come as a surprise... If you eat to not only survive, but truly enjoy the types of delicious Italian food that Giada cooks across her 4 shows, you WILL NOT have the figure / image of Giada, no matter how hard you try. Similarly, eating these types of food WILL NOT be the way to model stardom.

Again I ask you - if Giada did not have this type of ideal feminine figure, would viewers invest her with the same amount of authority, power, control, expertise, credibility, and so on over her culinary trade? Furthermore, would viewers be as interested in seeing (or perhaps more intense, requiring) a similar chef-to-model transformation with our friends Mario, Paul, or Emeril in a magazine such as Playgirl?









As Walker and White (2008) state, "The role of the media cannot be overlooked or underestimated in the creation of the ideal female body. Popular television glorifies this as sexy, successful, and happy" (134). And as I've worked to explore throughout this blog entry, even a media network concerned with cooking, eating, and enjoying food is not "immune" to the perpetuation of dominant, gender-based ideological paradigms. And if you ask me, this is an EXTREMELY wasted opportunity! Via the incorporation of female chefs more representative of their actual audiences, the Food Network COULD HAVE dealt a potentially effective and subversive blow to the dominant ideological paradigms that the ideal male figure / image is the husky man, and the ideal female figure / image is the thin woman.






And don't get me wrong, the Food Network does in fact include some of these more subversive on-air chef examples. Take Paula Deen who is featured in five, count 'em FIVE, Food Network programs (Most Popular Recipes, All About Paula, Paula's Best Dishes, Paula's Home Cooking, and Paula's Party). In contrast to the thin and model-esque Giada, Paula is a much more "average" looking woman more reflective of her actual television audience. Also, Paula is actually seen eating and enjoying her food vs. sensually playing around in it! In contrast to Giada, this potentially sends the more subversive message to average female viewers that it is in fact "OK" to not only cook, but actually eat and enjoy food! Oh, and just another tid-bit of information... Although Puala may not be considered as youthful, beautiful, and so on to many audiences, she is still wildly, and I'm talking WILDLY successful as an on-air chef personaility, earning millions upon millions of dollars throughout her career, as well as branching out in other media outlets including print.





Given the media and popular culture's ability to not only reflect, but actively shape the ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on that we internalize as a global people, I argue that REAL global change can be made via critical analysis and revision of the messages media and popular culture sources output. In the specific case of the Food Network, perhaps including more on-air chef personalities not only EATING and ENJOYING the food that they make, but actually representative of the viewers that they are cooking for in figure and image, would at least be a start in shifting our ideological paradigms for the better, and literally healthier. But, I'm betting that the magazine that Giada modeled for sold a lot, and I mean A LOT of copies. However, we have to ask ourselves a central question- What is more important? Making short term profits? Or creating a society where people's success and perceived levels of power, control, expertise, credibility, are not defined by their body figure / image?

Unfortunately, although I imagine that you and I don't have trouble arriving at an answer to this question, our response will ALWAYS be at a conflict with corporate profit interests. Until this conflict changes, many men and woman will spend hours cooking a meal, but later feel too guilty to eat and enjoy it. And might I had, food is just a metaphor here. The overall implications this discussion of food has to our global society are much worse. But, that's another blog entry!

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PART TWO - ASSIGNMENT

Although this isn't my original idea, it's a great one, and I hope you find it beneficial!

In Professor Rick Beach's CI 5475 Digital Writing class, we recently discussed the use of mobile, digital note taking tools that allow students to take detailed, mult-modal field notes. Although this list is by no means comprehensive, some of the digital note taking technologies we discussed and actually used in class (more on that in a minute) included cell phones to take and transmit digital textual notes, digital photographs, audio samples, and videos; digital cameras to take photographs and videos; digital audio recorders to record of course audio; GPS devices to record the exact position of note taking, and so on.

In order to then practice using these digital note taking tools, Professor Beach then gave us the following ethnography-esque assignment that deals with this week's chapter on food and popular culture. In short, I definitely plan on using this assignment with my students, and I hope you find it interesting and useful.

FAST FOOD ETHNOGRAPHY

Step 1: Explore with your students in whatever way is appropriate to your unique learning context the role(s) that fast food chains play in American culture. Again, although you can tackle the task however you wish, I recommend the following point of access:

-Explore with students the idea that many individuals argue that American fast food chains promote a sort of irrelevant "anti-culture." In other words, given the ubiquitous saturation of fast food in not only American, but global markets, many individuals argue that fast food is in a sense "culture-less."

-Question this assumption with your students, and pose the following essential questions.

• Are fast food chains truly "culture-less," or do different fast food chains contain and reinforce certain ideologies, values, assumptions, world views, and so on of their own?
  

Step 2: Then, and this is the fun part, group students into small groups, provide them with various digital note taking tools, and have them actually visit various fast food chains and take field notes in the form of textual, audio, and video observations in order to engage this essential question and explore the cultures, and / or lack there of, of popular fast food chains.

In Professor Beach's class, the class was split up into groups of ~4-5 students, and further divided up among the various fast food chains of the Dinkytown area including McDonalds, Pot Belly, Subway, Burrito Loco, Qdoba, Bruegger's Bagels, and so on to complete this assignment. Our field notes consisted of photographs of the locations, audio / video interviews with staff and patrons, GPS based maps and diagrams, textual notes, and so on. Really, very creative and interesting stuff!

Step 3: Once students visit their locations and gather their digital notes, they could then create wiki entries in which they explore the location they visited through the lens of the above essential question. Then, students could present these findings in groups, or whatever else you come up with as a class.

For a more detailed example of what this overall project and final product might "look like," visit the "Depicting Dinkytown" wiki which we created following our completion of this assignment in CI 5475. I hope you found this activity interesting and useful!

http://depictingdinkytown.pbworks.com/FrontPage

IMAGES USED

http://archives.starbulletin.com/98/01/28/features/art.gif

http://dirtyharrysplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/prudhomme.jpg

http://www.ecorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/emeril.jpg

http://static.open.salon.com/files/giada-de-laurentiis1239729856.jpg

http://www.foodnetworkfans.com/forum/attachments/giada-de-laurentiis/6d1185240182-giada-photos-esquire-giada-delaurentiis-1-0807.jpg

http://michaelscomments.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/giada-delaurentiis-3-08073.jpg

http://www.delish.com/cm/delish/images/8M/GHK0508WEpaula003-lg.jpg

CI 5150 Week 7 – Why Popular Culture in the Classroom?

PART ONE - RATIONALE

Dear Parents and Legal Guardians,

Despite our personal feelings toward the fashions, music, movies, video games, television, internet, mobile technologies, literature, and celebrities that our children consume (or as we may argue are consumed by), most of the education that truly matters to our students is taking place in the popular culture vs. academic sphere (Walker and White, 2008, p. 1). In fact, the authors of Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education propose that the argument can be made that “popular culture has become the most influential education institution for our children in our society” (Walker and White, 2008, p. 4).

Regardless of the connotations we associate with particular contemporary popular culture artifacts (e.g., "slutty" fashions, "raunchy" music, "violent" video games, and so on), such a claim is hard to dismiss. Consider the most anecdotal and circumstantial pieces of evidence - our students are practically human billboards advertising for brands such as Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, and American Eagle; our students spend hours of their days, not to mention billions of their / our dollars per year, consuming popular music, movies, and video games; our students spend hours of their days consuming video and audio content from television and the internet; our students send and receive thousands of text messages per month to network with their friends; and so on and so forth. In fact, I am sure that you can include some examples of your own that I’ve missed.

When these anecdotal / circumstantial pieces of evidence are paired with empirical research as collected and interpreted by associations such as the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the argument that popular culture has become the most influential education institution for our children is even harder to ignore. For example, in 2004, the Pew Project found that 45% of teens possessed cell phones. In early 2008, this original figure was found to nearly double to 71%, and no doubt continues to rise (Lenhart, 2009). And if it is indeed true that the mobile device will become the primary internet connection tool by the year 2020 (only 10 years away, mind you), our students will continue to consume, or perhaps be consumed by, popular culture at an increasingly exponential rate regardless of time and place (Rainie, 2008).

Given the pervasiveness of popular culture, as well as the power which it holds to educate our children and contribute to the shaping of their ideologies, assumptions, values, and overall world views, Walker and White (2008) pose the following question: “Does popular culture have a role in the education process of our young?” (1). Although the anecdotal and empirical evidence supports the initial claim that yes, popular culture does play a role in educating our young (and a potentially enormous role at that), critical examination of contemporary popular culture artifacts in the classroom remains virtually absent in contemporary schools. In other words, the artifacts and texts that arguably shape and “teach” the ideologies, assumptions, values, and overall world views that our students will later possess remain left out of the formal / traditional education process.

Given this disconnect between what is truly “teaching” our students, and what is actually being “taught” in the day-to-day realities of the formal / traditional classrooms across our nation, it is our social responsibility to critically engage popular culture artifacts in the classroom. If we expect our students to become global citizens capable of not only consuming the resources of their realities, but critically questioning and effecting some sort of global change if they do not like what they see and / or the direction these resources position them as a global people, it is our responsibility to integrate critical analysis of popular culture into the formal / traditional classroom (see attached assignments for what such integration might "look like" in the classroom). If we continue to neglect critical examination of popular culture artifacts, their power will quite literally remain unchecked vs. under the control of our students and future global citizens.

In closing, it's no doubt that popular culture is an extremely powerful force in our students' lives. If we do not teach our students to be critical consumers of popular culture, we potentially run the risk of our worst fears coming true - popular culture consuming our children.

Sincerely,

Rick Lee Filipkowski

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PART TWO - ATTACHED ASSIGNMENT(S)

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ASSIGNMENT #1 - POP CULTURE CONSUMPTION LOG

Unlike certain teachers, parents, and additional contemporary popular culture "others" who may perceive pop culture as something "foreign," "uncomfortable," and so on, our students are generally the exact opposite, perceiving pop culture as a completely "natural," "comfortable," and so on component of their everyday lives. One argument for this differing perceptual orientation between many teachers, parents, and students may be a sort of saturation factor; in other words, various repeated popular culture stimuli across mediums habituate students to said stimuli, thus reducing their levels of conscious, critical perception. For example, the video game violence that strikes certain parents and teachers as relatively horrific, deleterious, and promoting of "undesired" sets of ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on (e.g., killing prostitutes for their money in the popular Grand Theft Auto series) is often perceived as otherwise "normal" stimuli to many students. As such, where certain teachers and parents experience a sort of hyper conscious critical orientation toward what their students are consuming (often favoring the type of negative connotations as described above), students tend not to process these otherwise "normal" experiences with the same, or arguably any, level of conscious, critical awareness. With that said, the following VIEWING LOG assignment might be an interesting way to dehabituate students to these experiences, and force them to confront the popular culture that they are consuming with a more critically conscious vs. passive orientation.

NOTE: This activity is not necessarily intended to transition to a discussion / prescription of value judgments regarding various popular culture artifacts (e.g., video game violence is "destroying" our culture and teaching our students to "hate," text messaging is "destroying" the English language, and so on). Instead, this activity is intended to be more DESCRIPTIVE vs. PRESCRIPTIVE in nature, working instead to reveal not only the amount of time students consume popular culture artifacts, but the types, themes, ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on students possibly perceive these artifacts to either reinforce or challenge.

Also, if sent home with the accompanying letter, parents and legal guardians could feel absolutely free and / or be likewise encouraged to take part in this activity as well in order to become part of the conversation themselves!

TO BE COMPLETED AS Homework:

Step 1:

-Provide whatever conceptual framework(s) regarding popular culture YOU deem appropriate for YOUR specific learning context.

NOTE: Because certain popular culture artifacts are highly visual, it might be important to cover how film and camera techniques are used to construct meaning. Although this is by no means a requirement for this activity, Rick Beach (2007) does a wonderful job of quickly breaking down how film and camera techniques convey visual meaning in chapter 3 of his text Teachingmedialiteracy.com: A Web-Linked Guide to Resources and Activities. Also, check out the visual literacy module created by Laura Boercker, writing instructor at North Harris Montgomery Community College.

Step 2:

-Select a time frame to run the viewing log activity that you again deem appropriate for your specific learning context.

-However, while designing this activity, I have about 1 to 2 weeks in mind.

Step 3 (now this is the EXTREMELY customizable part):

-Throughout the amount of time that you select, have students keep a viewing log recording various information regarding the popular culture artifacts that they consume. To keep this log as DESCRIPTIVE vs. PRESCRIPTIVE as possible in nature, I recommend considering the following type of categories:

-Time / date

-Duration of time

-Approximate quantity (more for mediums such as text messaging / IMing)

-Summary

(For artifacts such as television and movies, perhaps a sort of description of plot / episode summary of major events, what characters specifically wore, said, did, film / camera techniques, and so on. For artifacts such texts and IMing, perhaps a short of summary of main ideas of conversation exchanges. For artifacts such as fashions, perhaps a description of the style, colors, and so on.)

AGAIN, THIS IS HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL LEARNING CONTEXT.

Then, TO BE COMPLETED AS A CLASS:

Step 1:

-Either in small or large group, have your students share their viewing logs. During this time, students could explore starter questions such as:

-What did you find surprising?

-What didn't you find surprising?

-How does your consumption of popular culture compare to others?

-And so on.

Step 2:

-Create a "master" log for the class, but with additional, customizable categories such as ideologies, assumptions, values, world view, and so on.

Step 3:

-Using the DESCRIPTIVE viewing logs that students have created and / or you begin to build as a class, begin to isolate and critically analyze various artifact trends. For example, if several students used Grand Theft Auto as an example, begin to critically analyze this artifact by exploring questions such as:

-What ideologies does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What assumptions does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What values does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What sort of world views do this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-And so on.

Overall, I believe that this assignment successfully positions students to...

1.) become conscious, critical vs. passive consumers of popular culture.
2.) practice and use a sort of "common" critical language.
3.) base conclusions on EVIDENCE vs. OPINION!

I feel that the direction that this sort of assignment positions students in how they critically consume popular culture is relatively limitless, restricted only by your creativity. Also, this assignment positions students to take on a much more independent role in critically viewing popular culture, such as self-selecting and analyzing print advertisements.

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ASSIGNMENT # 2 - STUDYING POPULAR CULTURE "CELEBRITY"

Although I created the following assignment for Professor Swiss's CI 5472 media class over the summer of 09, I feel as though it is very adaptable to critical analysis of popular culture. You could further adapt this assignment to your specific learning context to explore the following questions:

-What is / what defines a "celebrity"?

-How am I influenced by what celebrities do / say / act / advocate?

-To what extent is my perception of reality (ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on) shaped by what celebrities have done / said / acted / advocated?

As stated above, it may be helpful to cover chapter 3 of Beach's (2007) discussion on the uses of film and camera techniques to convey visual meaning prior to this sort of activity. As similar to the previous assignment description, film and camera techniques will be useful for you and your students to cover as these techniques can be used as further evidence on which to base critical analysis (trust me, they are not difficult to understand, and are very fun to explore). And again, for an additional, quick resource on learning film and camera techniques, check out the visual literacy module created by Laura Boercker.

For an in class activity, you could split students up into groups of 6, distributing ONE picture to each group (or, you could have each group self-select an image to explore). Then, you could have students critically dissect and analyze the advertisements based on 1.) evidence including camera shots, lenses, lighting, special effects, and anything else from the film techniques chapters you'd like! and 2.) the specific effect(s) each being utilized to create.

Then, you could pose questions such as:

-What kinds of ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on is your advertisement supporting? How are specific evidence / film techniques being utilized to support this?

For example, the first ad with Anjolina Jolie may be supporting the ideal and assumption that the definition of beauty is white, slim, and so on. The evidence / film techniques may support this by showing a close up of her flawless, beautiful white face. Also, you could argue that she is being digitally enhanced to look even MORE beautiful; more beautiful then she probably actually is.

-What kinds of ideologies, assumptions, motives, and values is your advertisement challenging? How are specific evidence / film techniques being utilized to support this?

For example, the 3rd and 4th ads of Queen Latifah may challenge the dominant ideology and assumption that the definition of beauty is being white, slim, and so on. The film techniques may challenge this dominant ideology / assumption by showing a close up of her face, which is rather heavy-set, yet still beautiful, in comparison to Angelina's. Also, Queen Latifah is of course an African American, and the close up of her face works to accentuate and beautify her physical features that are unfortunately often associated as "inferior" to white individuals'; her hair, nose, and lips.

For homework, students self-select an advertisement utilizing a celebrity and do a similar analysis, identifying AND analyzing...

-What evidence / film techniques are present.

-How they contribute to the overall effect(s) of the ad.

-AND how they work to support or challenge dominant ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.