Critique #3: bell hooks

We use media almost every single day, for example apps like twitter, Instagram, you tube, and more. Media has the ability to influence its viewers, sometimes its simple things like trying to get their viewers to buy their product or vote for a certain person in the next election. However, despite how harmless it might seem, media can truly have a negative impact on it viewers, as well as be harmful. The quote from bell hooks video would also agree with this idea and how media can have negative impacts. For example, how media can use negative stereotypes,especially when it comes to gender or the race of a character in a movie. The second quote from the Disney video, also talks about representation, but a different way. It says that the media creates these environments and images that slowly over time shape what we know and understand about the world. An example of this could be a little girl who watches older princess movies, this could shape her into thinking that as a girl she is helpless and the only way things will become better is if a man saves or helps her. It's not only young girls who are damaged, but also boys because they will believe that men have to be brave, strong, and they can not show any emotions.

In my opinion, motivated representation is how films are stereotyping roles such as gender, ethnicity, religion, wealth, and age. In her videos she uses lots of evidence to help support her argument, bell hooks especially uses evidence from older movies, for example movies making fun of feminist and showing white supremacy. She showed one clip of a woman just openly selling herself to a man, which makes women look bad and that they are just an object. This can not only harm women's own beliefs about themselves, but as well as what men think about women. It also, damages the work women have done during that time period, trying to break these awful stereotypes. Another movie clip that grabbed my attention was in part 1 of her speech, which was called Thieves and featured a two main characters, one that was white and another that was African American. However, in the film the black actor played as the thief and when bell hooks tried to ask the director why he choose to make the character black, when in the original script it showed no evidence that the thief had to be a certain ethnicity. The director could not give her answer, not because he had no answer, but because he didn't want to say the true reason behind the character choice.

As our society continues to grow and make changes, I feel like production companies are also trying to make changes as well. As an older sister, I have spent many summers and snow days baby sitting and the best distraction was a movie, so as you could imagine I have watched plenty of kids movies. One that stood out to me the most when choosing a movie to critique was the movie Wonder which was originally based on a book. It is about a boy name Auggie who has Treacher Collins syndrome which is a condition that causes facial deformities. This causes Auggie to not want to go to public school for fear that kids will make fun of him and he won't have any friends. Now in the movie there is of course the typical mean bully, who picks on Auggie and make him feel bad about his condition and not want to go back to school. As well as popular girls and other stereotypes. However, this movie in my opinion teaches children a very good lesson about how they should view children who may look different then them. Not only that, it also helps kids who have deformities and make them feel like they are not alone.

• Advertisement of the movie
• https://youtu.be/C0KLb_v50-k
• https://youtu.be/vYH5urNq1Ao

Adiche's story is very similar to what bell hooks discuses in her video, they both deal with stereotypes and how after seeing the same image or environment multiple times, you start to believe it. Which is why bell hook stress how these "motivated representations" are harmful to its viewers. We need to break away from constantly showing people the same stereotypes in movies or shows, because its starting to shape people and children into thinking that this is normal and that it is okay. Production companies instead should be challenging gender, race, religion, and wealth stereotypes in order to stop their audience from believing that it is true.

In class writing 2/25

There is a lack of diversity in TV showed and movies, which can have a negative impact on younger audience. If you look at shows like Doc McStuffins, there are lots of positives such a black female lead, a stay at home dad, and what it’s teaching kids, but there isn’t enough of this in social media. We also discussed how media can shape people, such as using influencers or celebrities to get people to buy products. As well as the negative effects social media has on younger females. However, things are starting to change, but only slightly. I think for there to be a serious change all production companies must be working to make that change, not just a couple changes in one or two movies or shows.

Seven Minute Writing:
Social Media has a huge influence on our day to day lives without us even realizing it. We want people to like and follow us, but sometimes that means not being yourself completely. People want to see the good things, like going on vacation, eating delicious food, or a cute puppy. However, these things all cost money and it’s difficult for the average person to post these type of photos. Lots of people argued during class that your real account and second account is still you, but I completely disagree. For example, my good friend from high school has two accounts, one that is public and on that is private and they are completely different. On her public account she posts photos about her vacations or how she went to this cute little cafe. Her pictures are alway perfectly positioned, with good lighting, makeup done, and her hair is all fancy. She poses seriously, no smile, trying to show off he figure and facial features, almost trying to grab people’s attention. However, her private account is completely different, she posts simple photos from her house, she is wearing an oversized sweatshirt, messy bun, no makeup, glasses, and no makeup. These photos look way more realistic and more genuine, she actually looks happy and she usually has some cheesy quote at the bottom. I know that this isn’t true for everyone when they own two accounts, but that’s how most people accounts are set up. It’s kinda sad in my opinion, that people on social media feel like they can’t be themselves.

Critique #2: Kid Stuff

It is hard to deny the amount of emphasis Disney films puts on masculinity such as characters like Gaston, Hercules, and many more. Some could make the argument that Disney films have characters of all body types. However, these characters don't usually play the lead role and are just background characters. In the video it says "Men with any other body type than masculinity are seen as outcasts or weak." They use the film Beauty and the Beast to help prove this point. In the film Bell's farther is seen as an outcast and his body type is short and fat, while LeFou has a similar body type, but is seen as weak. I agree with the video completely, that masculinity was a big focus in older Disney films, but as time goes on, Disney has started to move away from these themes such as the movie Frozen and a newer Disney show called Doc McStuffins. Unlike the video, the article "She's a Boss" looks at the positive aspects of what Disney is doing for their younger audience instead of the negatives. For example in the new kids show called Doc McStuffins, it features a black lead female character which is very uncommon when it comes to Disney productions. Not only that, but it teach kids important life skills like brushing your teeth everyday, wearing a bicycle helmet, and teaching kids how to communicate. I agree with the article as well, that what Disney is doing with this show is great for the younger audience, but it's disappointing to see that it is only in couple of productions. Despite how important it is for children to have good role models.

A major negative that the video discusses is how "Masculinity in violence and dominance is very clear in Disney films, were an unwillingness to fight a prove dominance is show as pitiful." This is bad because it might make the children watching the movies violent or harm other kids. Disney tries to add suspense to their movies by adding fight scenes, such as the end scene in The Lion King, but this could leave negative impacts on the younger viewers. However, he gives Disney a positive critique at the end of the video by saying that it is possible for Disney to step away from these stereotypes in order to avoid boys from becoming violent or detached from their emotions. The is means that Disney still has a chance to change their ways.  A major positive from the article, is that it doesn't use stereotypes like other Disney productions do, such as stay a home dad, a mom who is an actual doctor, and a same sex couple. However, a negative could be that even though Disney shows are starting to be less stereotypical, there are still issues with Disney films.

There is a huge difference between the characters Gaston and Doc McStuffins. In my opinion, Gaston is more directed towards boys and he is designed as this tall, muscular man who believes he can have any girl he desires. This is a bad characteristic because it teaches boys that "Men should view women as objects of pleasure or servants to please them." However, Doc McStuffins is completely the opposite, she is meant for all gender and is a black lead female character. She encourages kids to be safe and tries to get kids to be more comfortable to speak up for themselves and not to be afraid to get help when they need it.

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid was The Fairly Oddparents, which was about a boy named Timmy Turner who had two fairy god parents named Cosmo(green) and Wanda(pink).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wS5QXPGOTQ&feature=youtu.be
I think this show taught kids how to use their imagination and think creatively. Which as a child it is important to express yourself and think outside of the box. However, it does have a couple stereotypes such as the nerdy boy with bad teeth like the perfect popular girl, but she doesn’t like him back back because he isn’t popular. Another negative is how the main character talks to his friends and family which could have a negative impact on its younger viewers.

Counterculture critique

This is a image on adbusters that really grabbed my attention. It ties into a quote that Kilbourne said which is “we are all effected by advertisements.” Most of us are able to recognize the brands that are shown on the left of the photo, but unless we took the time to study plants in high school, we can’t name most of these leaves. The reason why is advertisements are constantly shoved into our face and we may not realize it, but it consumes most of our daily lives. Their on websites, television, the games we play, music, and YouTube videos. What’s sad is it’s not just adults, Kilbourne said that “Babies of the age of six months can recognize corporate logos and companies are starting to to target this age group.” There is no reason why a 6 month year old baby needs to know what the Nike logo looks like. It’s hard to ignore advertisements when they are everywhere.

Pop Culture Critique #1: Kilbourne

1. "The image isn't real its artificial, constructed, its impossible but real women and girls measure themselves with it every single day."
2. The United States is the only developed nation in the world that doesn't teach sex education in its schools, but kids are getting sex education from advertisements."
3. "Girls exposed to more sexualized images at a young age are prone to eating disorders, depression,and low self esteem."
4. "Advertisements normalize dangerous attitudes."

The goal of Kilbourne's TED talk is to teach her audience just how dangerous advertisements can be if things do not start to change. Not only do advertisements sexualize women, but it also harms their self-esteem, and it normalizes dangerous attitudes. If advertisements do not change how much they Photoshop models and the vulgar poses they use, it will not only effect adult women, but as well as young girls. They create impossible images of women by using computer technology to give them flawless skin, tiny waists, and thigh gaps, which pressure women into trying to reach these unrealistic standards. This can lead to future eating disorders, depression, and low self-esteem.

In Kilbourne's speech she critiques the culture of advertising by using real slogans that companies use to show how they degrade women, as well as how they pose women in photos to look passive, vulnerable, and submissive. For example, at the start of the video she shows the audience quotes such as "Feminine odor is everyone's problem,""If your hair isn't beautiful the rest hardly matters," and "I'd probably never be married if I hadn't lost 49 pounds." These quotes make it seem like a woman's body and looks is the only thing that is important. Women in advertisements are photo shopped so much that they look like a completely different person and almost cartoon like. Kilbourne uses the argument that men are photo shopped as well to advantage. For example, she agrees that men are photo shopped, but it mainly focuses on their muscles and body, while women it is their facial features. Also, companies don't use harsh slogans about men like they do women, in her speech she uses an example of an advertisement the degrades a woman's breast but at least she can have good looking hair. 

The rate of young females who are depressed and/or having eating disorders is only increasing as the years go by. This is why I agree with Kilbourne, young women are held at such high standards when it comes to their looks. They are expected to have this perfect body with skin that has no blemishes or flaws. However, this is not physically possible because everyone has their own set of flaws that they can't change. It is wrong to force women to think that if they don't look like the models in the advertisements then they are not beautiful. Most advertisement to this day still degrade women despite all the attempts to make women and men equal.

If advertisements keep on degrading women, not only will it affect young girls, but as well as women in the workforce. If women are just something that can be sexualized, they won't be shown the same respect as men, despite the fact they do the same amount of work. Advertisements for some companies are beaning to make changes in how they edit and pose their models, but unless all companies around the world do it as well, this change will not have any effect. However, some organizations are starting to step up and fight against advertisement companies such as Brave Girl Alliance and Media Literacy Project. If these organizations fight back and people, especially women, start to fight back as well, we can make this needed change in advertisements.

This photo demonstrates how women are still sexualized in advertisements today. This is an advertisement from American apparels for a unisex flannel shirt that they recently released. This is the exact same shirt on both of the models just posed extremely different. As well as the difference of editing between the two.

 

Reflection #1

My goals for this semester are to be more open minded to new ideas and theories, think more outside of the box when writing, and work on my grammar skills. To help me obtain these goals during this semester I'm going to try to use new techniques when reading and doing assignments. For example, when reading an article for a class discussion, I'm going to take notes and mark important things, in order to better understand the concept or topic of the article. In order to think more outside the box I'm going to start to brainstorm multiple ideas instead of just picking the easiest one or the first idea that comes to mind. The best way to do this is to create a list of possible ideas and from there do a brief summary of each one and choose the one I like the most. My finale goal for this semester is to improve my grammar skills, grammar has never been my specialty and it is an important part of writing. When writing a paper I'm going to focus on getting all my ideas on the page and then go back and fix any grammar errors, as well as utilizing tutoring and peer editing to help catch any errors I might have missed.

When writing discussion posts I try to think critically about the topic, but I feel like there is always room for improvement. I try to think outside the box to the best of my ability, but sometimes its difficult to come up with new ideas on the spot. The blog post that I believe I did the best on, was the one about using imagery words. I feel like during that post I choose word or descriptions that are not common instead of the words that immediately popped into my head, which allowed better imagery for the reader. Reading actively can help you better understand the material and create more developed blog post. I try to mark key points or pieces that I found interesting when I read with a highlighter or pencil, so when I have to create a post about the assignment I already have a few ideas on what I could write about. From there I use the ideas that best fit the assignment for example, Journal #3, which is when we had to take imagery quotes and explained how they could benefit us in our own writing.

I think my overall class grade so far should be around a B. I always come to class prepared and have my assignments or homework completed before class begins. Despite the fact that it can be intimidating, I try to participate in class discussion when I understand the material or believe I have the correct answer. However, I think I should participate more than what I do now, but it will get easier when I become more familiar with the class and other students. I also think that when it comes to my writing there is always room for improvement which is why I decided to choose a B instead of an A.

Grammar

I have never been good at Grammar, I either put way too many commas or never enough.  I have a bad habit of writing run on sentences and completely forgetting that a semicolon is a form of punctuation. I don't consider myself a bad writer when it comes to creating new ideas and organizing the paper, but usually if I do get a bad grade it is because of grammar. Sometimes the computer application called Grammarly can't even help me.

Grammar Notes From Class

• Period creates a full stop effect
• Semicolon is an artsy yield, not a full stop
• Comma means breathe
• Conjunctions (FANBOYS)
• For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
• Conjunctions are "glue" and when you use it you also use a comma
• Allowed to write with "I"

Grammar is play. Grammar is intention

A woman without her man is nothing

• A woman without her man, is nothing
• A woman, without her man, is nothing 

Sentence Improvement Strategies

• Add an -ing or -ed word or phrases to the front of the sentences
• Add strong, visual, action verbs
• Place adjectives or descriptions out of order

1. Tying up her shoes, Sienna sang loudly and prepared for her morning run in the park.
2. Stretching out her limbs, Sienna was tired from a long night of studying and anticipated a well deserve jog.
3. Sienna, head pounding and exhausted, tried to quickly run through the park.
4. The small boy with curly hair, quickly devoured the messy cheeseburger, like he hadn't eaten in days. 
5. Dancing was the woman's passion and despite the gloomy rain, the woman still had a smile on her face.

Journal #3

Three halt haggard houses formed a kneeling rank on the far creekside and each had two or more skinned torsos dangling by rope from sagged limbs, venison left to the weather for two nights and three days so the early blossoming of decay might round the flavor, sweeten the meat to the bone

• How you word your sentences can really help the reader visualize what is happing in the text, especially if you use more unique and uncommon words. For example the words haggard, skinned, blooming, and decay are not common every day words. These words help the reader to better visualize a deer hanging from its limbs from a tree as it slowly decays.

Ree, brunette and sixteen, with milk skin, and abrupt green eyes, stood bare-armed in a fluttering yellowed dress, face to the wind, her cheeks reddening as if smacked and smacked again.

• Providing more than one detail when explaining a character or landscape can also help the reader visualize the scene. If the writer would have only written the Ree was a girl with Burnett  hair an sixteen, it would be difficult to imagine what she would look like. However, the writer provides a list of details about Ree such as her milk skin, abrupt green eyes, and the most detailed one is about her reddening checks as if they were being smacked multiple times.

The house was cool in the brighter spots and chill in the shadows.

• Sometimes changing common phrases makes the reader understand just how bad or good a situation is. For example, in brighter spots you would expect it to be warm and cool in the shadows. However, the writer uses “cool in the brighter spots and chill in the shadows” which allows the reader to visualize just how cold it is the house, as well as how they have the money to afford heating the house.

I’m from poem

I am from a tiny bedroom
With not enough room,
I am from lilac painted walls,
Decorated with over filled shelves.
I am from the tiny stars that I taped to my ceiling
without my parents knowing.

I am from beach trips in July

Filled with images of purple and blue skies.
I’m from the warm ocean breeze
tangling your hair and putting you at ease.
I am from sand castle competitions
built with plastic molds and shovels,
Trying to build our vision
I’m from too many pictures,
Making my cousins whine,
And forcing the parents to say
“Just one more time.”

I am from holiday diners,
Turkey, mashed potatoes, and too many casseroles.
I am from the table,
Littered with holiday decorations,
Fancy napkins, shiny plates,
and fresh baked rolls.
I am from dinner conversations
Where you couldn’t talk about politics
Because you know there would be an argument,
So instead the parents talked the  about the past
And the kids all laughed.

I am from a family,

Who has faced their own troubles,
Filled with sleepless nights, lost hope,
And men who refused to cry.
I am from family,
Who pushes through,
And knows that there light at the end of the tunnel.
I am from a family,
That makes me miss home,
My moms cooking,
And my small tiny home.