Curation Assignment

curation

http://prezi.com/mn-ug-51okkz/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Misael Hyperlink Presentation

http://prezi.com/u2_yofdzfqwe/branding-in-pop-culture-sports-branding/

blog thing

password: bsu

http://bsuclasscomm.tumblr.com

My Blog

http://ghadaalnahdi.wix.com/ghadn

culture jammin' - CCampbell

http://ctrjammin.blogspot.com/
^My curation project ^

Antonia's curation presentation

http://lyllah8.wix.com/theworldisplural

Curation Presentation

http://prezi.com/vfloppwxfadh/princess-culture/

Games for me

For me video games mean working with other people to achieve a big goal. In my favorite game, Guild Wars 2, there isn't really a way to troll players because without others they have a few very big battles that without a group are impossible for someone alone to defeat.

When I was little, I remember Zelda and Mario games teaching me basic puzzle solving games. These days, playing games with others teaches me how to work in a group and that cooperation is key.

This being said, I've seen pretty good people become not nice when playing games, even going to the extremes of insulting their own friends. I this sense I believe that video games can be very negative to people. Games have ratings which should be stuck to by kids and reinforced by parents, this can prevent kids from taking the wrong things away from more violent video games .


p.s. I am so sorry I had a family thing pop up and posted this as quickly as I could

What is normal anymore?

when you think of something being normal, you automatically think that its that way for everyone else around you, right?

well... in a perfect world, maybe.

What happens, when there are people different than you? That don't have the same hair color as you? Don't wear the same clothes? You'd probably see past those differences

What about if that person was gay? things get a little bit more complicated there.

We all have grown up with this thought of heteronormativity surrounding us, and not even being aware of it. The fact that girls need to like ponies and pink and boys like sports and blue. Anything against that is considered wrong and immoral, and when someone goes against it, it causes a stir.

I think that we should throw out our preconceived ideas about what normal really is, and not let socially acceptable practices dictate what is right for people.

Fourth wave feminism?

Recently, I have heard about the "fourth wave" of feminism coming out. This wave however, is an internet hoax. But although this satire pokes fun at modern feminist movements with the use of parody and exageration, is this wave actually doing good? While Wikipedia and 4Chan are not always a credible source, I did find that these two sites had the most unbiased and valuable information. Particularly for the two biggest topics "bikini bridge" and "free bleeding". Yes "free bleeding" is exactly what it sounds like. the first, Bikini Bridge, is essentially the gap that comes between a bikini bottom and the woman's stomach when lying down. The two hip bones create a "bridge". An example picture from google is below. This fake trend was meant to make fun of the "thigh gap", although the parody of it is starting to be lost among young girls. "Free Bleeding" again is just that, a "feminist" form of self expression in which the woman refuses to use feminine hygene products during mensturation. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't read much of it. Not that I am against the idea of a movement towards equality such as this...I just...can''t... The link to the article is also posted below. http://bikinibridge.tumblr.com/ http://modernwomandigest.com/disturbing-new-feminist-trend-free-bleeding/

Food culture. A global force for good?

Check it!

First off, what a cool idea, right? not only is coke using this commercial as a clever way to bring people together on what may possibly be the most awkward day of their lives, but they advertise their products to us almost subliminally. Never once did you see someone telling you to "enjoy a coke" or was there a celebrity endorsement. I guess it wouldn't hurt that coke is donating all their money that would have been spent on advertising either?

More now, then ever we are seeing a paradigm shift with food companies. There was a bad stigma between the consumer and the producer because we didnt know what we were getting. There was so many unknown ingredients, harmful sugars and additives and the companies didnt inform consumers. The power has shifted to the consumer, giving them the upper hand. They get better products, for better prices, and now companies are beginning to become more honest with their consumer base and letting us know what is actually going into everything.

A slow culture jam.

When you think of culture jamming, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

...is it the people throwing pies in the faces of senators?

...or people switching the voice boxes of Barbies and GI Joes?


Culture jamming exists mainly to throw the scent off of what we believe as mainstream media and counterculture. I can expect to see an advertisement for, say... an NFL football game or something of that nature, I am expecting to see certain stereotypical behaviors from the commercial. A deep manly voice from the announcer, lots of loud noises and possibly even some scenes from the field of people getting hit and hurt.

An example of jamming would be taking the advertisement and using unorthodox stereotypes to get a different message across. So someone could take those same images from the NFL commercial, and then possibly use it for a commercial against overly agressive sports, completely changing the message that the original advertisement had.

Switching gears a little bit, I like to think of the cartoon South Park as a good real world example of culture jamming. Trey Parker and Matt Stone use jamming throughout many of their episodes to make light of current events, or even make fun of pop culture icons...even 9/11 isnt safe...

Heteronormativity - Is it good or bad?

This article had several interesting pointsd for me. first, being the Bechdel Test. "The test is an extremely simple one: A work of fiction "passes" the test if it 1) includes two female characters 2) who talk to each other 3) about something other than a man. Yet, if you take any individual movie, it is likely to fail the test". This is an interesting concept to me. While I'm not sure if this test excludes any movie that includes this sort of behavior or not, I do klnow that it is very difficult for me to think of a movie where there are two female characters talking about something other than a man. The first film/show that came to mind was Game of Thrones. I probably thought of this show because not only is it my current favorite and the finale is coming up, but also because the show itself has been considered on the cutting edge of sexuality. But of course, after not much thought, I remembered that in fact there is much discussion between women about men. It's a huge story line in the show! I guess I find this test so interesting because of the idea of a movie/show/work that doesn't include the typical "wives bitching about stupid husbands" aspect. But alas, it is harder to find a work that does not incloude that. Below if the article in which I found the Bechdel Test.

Here's a topic we are all familiar with ... MUSIC.

    As this summer Pop Culture class is coming to a close, there is one topic that I wish would have gotten more attention, a topic that many people if not all can relate to...  Music. I was thinking about it the other day and trying to connect the dots between music and pop culture. When most people talk about music they probably think entertainment and the latest popular song, but I believe that the discussion about music can go much further and incisive. I have definitely learn a lot throughout the course of these five weeks, one of them includes becoming a more critical receiver in relations to the messages being sent out through different types of mediums/media and as well as determining their rhetorical stature. One of the ways I believe music can connect with pop culture is in relation to commercialism and promoting. An example of this can be experienced through the radio. Have you ever stop to wonder why you hear the SAME songs played over and over and over ... and over on the radio? The songs virtually get stuck to head, leading to exposure of the artist or the songs and trends that lead to popularity, while there are some songs that don't even get a chance or barely get talked about. Pop music seems to be the most popular genre in the world and is undeniably getting more exposure and rising in the charts more faster then its competitors. I did a little research online and discovered that many radio stations and most media outlets are controlled by a few companys that prevent the diversity of music and media.   (http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/05/the-sad-truth-of-media-consolidation-infographic.html)

                         

Sports vs. Pageants

Today in class after watchiong the video about how the NFL incorporates militaristic aspects and encourages the "All-American" male stereotype, I couldn't help but think about how similar this situation is to that of women in the Pageant world. In this video, Chris Rock makes some interesting points. Men are rewarded based on their physical performance, while women are based on their physuical appearance.

One Counter Culture to Rule Them All.

I’m reserving my right to an opinion right now. Right reserved. We discussed counter culture in class and there seemed to be an overall consensus that there was no such thing as counter culture because as soon as a culture forms that is against societal norms, it gets co-opted and becomes a sub culture.

I’m evoking my right to an opinion right now. Right evoked. After a little bit of thought, I’ve decided that punk culture, the way I have known it, is a counter culture. Punk culture thrives on subverting societal norms. To the point where even federal and state laws come second to the laws one creates for themselves. Punk, or anarchist, movements scorn society for a variety of reasons, and therefore reject current culture patterns. The only thing that could be co-opted from punk culture is the aesthetic, which, as we discussed in class, doesn’t mean that the culture itself is being co-opted, just the look.

For example. Blink 182 was considered a punk band, and one of the greatest punk bands in history until they signed a record label. The current punk generation rejected Blink 182, the heroes of punk, for being sellouts. As soon as Blink 182 entered the mainstream market, they were no longer true punk rock stars. They became posers. They had the feel, the aesthetic, and the appeal, but they had been kicked out of their own culture for breaking the most fundamental rule of that culture. That rule being individuality above all. The idea that cultural norms and patterns are something to be destroyed, not followed. Signing a record label put Blink 182 into the hands of the man. It made the band subservient. Which made them no longer punk. 

Reality Check!

    One of the biggest topics concerning the vast, everyday-impacting world of pop culture is the theme of TV shows, specifically reality TV. Most if not everybody has seen one, if not it is impossible not to hear about them, as reality show make the story headlines and are hitting up the news feeds frequently. Many people that are faithful viewers of these dramas are not aware of the types of communications signals and messages being flashed at them, because of this many educators of the pop culture genre and scholarly experts like to point out the negative implications of these couch loafing shows. As many people will agree a lot of these shows are blown out of proportion, depicting stereotypes and focusing on lifestyles that aren't common or "real" as their title of reality indicates. In class we analyzed and dissected a few of these shows to see what types of setbacks they are causing or will eventually cause if they are exposed with the same stylistic approaches (stereotypes) in large showings to audiences. As much criticism or even culture jamming that reality TV programs have endured, could there be any positive things to take from them? In my option I think we can take a 180 degree turn and say YES, lets look at the POSITIVE side of things for a change. Currently I am not a big TV person nor do I watch as much reality TV as I use to. My peak for reality TV shows was right around 12 years old, I remember watching random shows on random networks including; VH1(Survivor and celebrity gossip), HLN (anti-crime/prison related Stuff), Spike (anti-crime/prison related stuff), CW (drama mix with relationships) and Discovery (how to fix random stuff), ... yes pretty normal 12 year old shows right? I would say that that those shows didn't necessarily have a"negative" impact, specifically in terms on my out look on reality, if anything it taught me what I should be avoiding when making decision in life. Back at that time I was pretty limited when it came to hobbies so reality shows rescued me from boredom and I'll tell you some of those show I get a kick out of watching (as bad as it might sound, seeing two people going at it for ridicules reasons made my day). I also believe reality TV can be educational teaching people about new ideas (although not the best ideas) and a glimpses into other cultures. so to reiterate, positives of reality tv include,

1. Teaches you how not to do things in life/ promotes lessons and morals by means of plots.
2. Strives towards discovery of many cultures and education about diverse ideas.
3.  ....  "There's nothing wrong with pure entertainment" - (TV Guide)  

           

spirit animal = parasocial relationship?

so, in typical white girl fashion, you may have eavesdropped a conversation that included the phrase "such and such is my spirit animal!"

besides the obvious oversized-starbucks and selfie taking, the only thing that really seemed out of the ordinary was the terminology that was being used here. Spirit animal is a term that I, myself have seen pop up more and more recently to define that one special someone that you share almost everything with...

...except the one crucial part of actually having met each other.

Sound familiar?

I my mind's eye, someone's 'spirit animal' can be considered a synonym for a parasocial relationship; they're practically the same thing in multiple facets.

So, in that case, my 'spirit animal' is Jim Halpert from the office.

What's everyone's 'spirit animal'?

Cool or weird

To decide what is cool seems very difficult and a boundary between cool and weird seems very subtle. From the articles, being different can be considered as cool. However, at the same time, it can be risky to be different, because those who are different can be also hated. However, I think this is also related to their ideas or beliefs behind the surfaces.

For example, a singer Lady Gaga has been considered both good role model and just weird. Her outfits were often very different from majority. Someone might say she is cool, because she is different from others. On the other hand, someone might say she is weird, because she is different from others. People react what they are not familiar with. Being different can be cool, but if people are “too different”, they might be discriminated or segregated. People who are with her way of expression seem to argue over not how her outfits look nice or good, but what she expresses by outfits. Her thought or belief captures some people’s mind, and they support her. I think this seems just like branding. People act for something or someone because of “the ideas rather than the products”. I think people also tend to praise her courage that she is not afraid of being different from others, because probably they know being minority is hard to be in our society.

It is interesting that many icons in media have perspectives of what we have talked about in class. We might not be so surprised even if people copy her outfits because of her belief and it becomes main stream.

 

Link: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/fashion/celebrity-fashion/2010/04/15/lady-gagas-weirdest-outfits#!image-number=31

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Lady_Gaga_a_good_or_bad_role_model?#slide=1

Gamer

Well, I'm suspicious to talk about online games, specifically RPG's. I started playing RPGs still in High School, and that was my outlet. I'd just change schools, I came from a public school on the outskirts of my town and was going to a private school of high level with a scholarship. No one accepted me, I sat alone in the back of the class, no college girls wanted to be my friends, and few people spoke to me. One day I saw the boys who also sat in the back talking about a game, and I asked to play. At first they did not accept, "girls can not play this game" was what they said, I insisted and I started playing. RPGs have changed my life, I became powerful in the game and more confident in real life, and plus, I made friends for my entire life.

I have read some studies a while ago that said people who play RPGs become more creative, besides these games most often require skills like strategy and intelligence. I know people who have learned English or even learn to read to play, since we don't have good games in Portuguese, and we play it in English.

However sometimes the influences that games have in your life may not be as good as they seem. With this I mean that I learned a lot from the games, I created a new world, where everything is possible inside my mind, and I began to take refuge in it when things in the real world were not going as I wanted, remember dream about the games that I played as if I were actually the character, and I remember how my character was worth more than my life to me. Furthermore, some people hide within the games, as they can hide in any other social network or through online social interaction, and confuse your head, that part go virtual friendships. I made great friends and good friends playing RPGs, and met several people who were not so nice as well, but just like in real life, in the game you also choose with whom you will relate.

I saw a movie that is truly inspiring about it, is about a boy who had a perfect life, until he started being a victim of prejudice and locked within a game of another life, and that as soon as I found this another life an escape to the problems of real life, however, he began to relate to the wrong people, and his life became hell. I will not spoil the movie, but I'll let the trailer down here, so if you get curious, you can watch it. Finally, whether in real life or virtual life, there are bad people everywhere, is a matter of being aware, moreover, their real life problems will not be solved with a new life, because when you disconnect the game, they will still be there.

Princess culture

I am very sorry, this is another look at the My Little Pony phenomena. This time I wanted to talk about the views that the show gives to princess culture.

I will focus on the four princesses in the show; Cadence, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight .

Princess Cadence I feel is the most stereotypical of all the princesses, however throughout the show she has had to show strength and perseverance. When she was first introduced she was shown as mean and stuck up- we later learn that it was actually Queen Chrysalis who took her form as to over throw the long lost Crystal Empire, mean while the real Cadence is trapped underground in a jail. Cadence eventually escapes with the help of Twilight and is able to save the empire from invasion- with the power of love. She is also Twilights old baby sitter, just a fun background fact, and marries Twilight's older brother. She gains the title Princess Mi Amore Cadenza after the wedding. She is the left to protect the crystal empire. She seems to be spunky and kind to all.

Princess Luna is a very interesting character. She and her sister Princess Celestia are in charge of raising /lowering the sun and moon. However, Luna becomes disheartened that the night that she rules over is slept through and not appreciated as the day time that her sister rules over. Out of jealousy she becomes Nightmare Moon. To save the world form eternal night, Celestia Banishes Nightmare Moon/Luna to the moon . When Luna returns and has Nightmare Moon cast out of her by Twilight and her friends, she realizes that she isn't used to the current world she shows this when she tries to enjoy a holiday that takes place during her beloved night time. She shows strength and teaches that jealousy isn't a good thing. She also teaches that even though someone seems strong sometimes they just want to fit in and be liked by all although sometimes you don't realize that people like you for who or what you are.

Celestia is the highest in the terms of stature of the four. She is very very old and has had to make many many hard decisions, such as banishing her own sister to the moon. She is the wisest and most respected character in the series. She shows that being a princess isn't easy and that it often can lead to bad things happening. She also demonstrates that she isn't perfect, when battling Queen Chrysalis she stands up the the villain but is ultimately defeated, instead of pushing on she understands the importance of passing on the task to someone else instead of doing it all herself.

Finally, Twilight. Twilight is the main character for the entire series. She does not start off a princess though. Instead it is something that she has to earn it- even though she never asked for or wanted it (it was actually a marketing strategy by Hasbro because they wanted to sell a toy).  However that aside, she earns the position by knowing herself, allowing herself to grow, and getting to know others better. She as a character values knowledge, learning, friendship, hard work, and honesty. She studies under Celestia  as an apprentice but lives in Ponyville inside of a treehouse-library. For all that she is though she isn't perfect, she even drives herself crazy in one episode due to obsession (also please note the Golum reference in the clip). She is very smart but sometimes doesn't know what to do, showing that even though someone is smart they won't always know all the answers. She is faced with hard decisions, uncertainty, not knowing where she fits is, responsibility, and much more. She has to show strength and determination on many occasions- most recently in the 4th seasons epic final battle against an old enemy of the princesses. She doesn't quite meet the stereotypical princess idea- she is tough, smart, kind, has a select group of close friends, and isn't always sure of herself. She also isn't pink and lives surrounded by books. Even though she is a princess and very good at magic she never is done learning and never thinks that she knows everything.

Overall I think this show shows the princess culture in a very interesting way, each princess in the series brings something new to the table. Even though Cadence is pink she is spunky and strong. All have good attributes and aren't perfect, I think that that is an important aspect of life to acknowledge.

Media does what media wants with what it wants

As a person who is into many many fandoms/ sub cultures I often see media make fun of many of them in some way, shape, or form. Here I will be talking about the HUGE negative view of the furry fandom/culture (I will be using these words interchangeably) that the media has given it.

Many members of the fandom  like to think that the negative views and stereotypes of the fandom started with this CSI episode but not just that, another known negative media example is seen in an episode of 1,000 Way to Die. This media attention focused on the fandom in a very negative way, making the sexual parts of the fandom seemingly the only parts. The media then never followed up all the negative media with any positive media. This is still actually going on today, most recently in an episode of Pawn Stars in which the suiters pictured even released a statement to the fandom saying that they weren't really going to Miami for a sporting event but were actually in town for a convention , in addition all the suiters pictured in the clip have well kept suits that are probably regularly washed- so the chance of them smelling is very very small. There are so many examples of negative views in the media of the fandom that it is usually the only thing people know about the fandom.

However on the flip side, there is some good media on the fandom too! Although these examples take some digging and can be hard to find. The most recent article that I came across that gave the fandom a positive view was an article by BuzzFeed where a reporter actually went to a convention and experienced the culture for him/her self. There is even a news paper article released a while ago about how the fandom's biggest convention is a $3 million cash cow for Pittsburgh every year. What negative media also fails to acknowledge is that at every single furry convention, there is money raised (on average 10k) for a local animal rescue. What the media also likes to not tell people is the general definition of the fandom, which is simply, a fan of anthropomorphic art. If you have ever watched The Lion King, Disney's Robin Hood, even Winnie the Pooh you have watched and know that it means for something to be Anthropomorphic. Many members of the fandom also think that way back when, when the media got tired of Trekkies they needed a new group of people to pick on. So they found the furries.

In some sense the furry fandom could be viewed as a counter culture of sorts as it is usually given negative attention by the media. However maybe it isn't as many many people can relate to what the definition of the fandom is. Many many people don't realize that the members of this fandom, and many others, share many of the same interests and views that people outside of that fandom do. Could media even be trying to make a counter culture out of something that just isn't a counter culture?

The furry fandom is huge and has many aspects of it, both good and bad, but it does not deserve the negative attention that it is given.

Connection between War and Popular Culture

As for the connection between pop culture and war, I think that the last has become over-romanticized over the time. The iconic image of war has become glossed, utterly noble and very distanced, as society removes itself from the conflicting view on war. For example, Civil War became so romanticized that the plain fact of America being once in war with itself is globally overlooked. In that way it is similar to many other wars that are re-enacted and re-told in every local newspaper as epic stories, but it is presented as separated detached piece of the past. To prove my assumption I would point at National Civil War Project, an ambitious collaboration by the choreographer L. Lerman. It is an eclectic mix of pieces and productions, gathered together from American Repertory Theater, Harvard and several others universities and art organizations. “All the pieces will be performed throughout the United States with stories coming from both Union and Confederate states. The project will extend until 2015, the duration of the war’s 150 year anniversary (1861-1865). The project, while serving a very important purpose, does shed light on how war, over time, becomes something almost mythological in its scope. To look at a photograph from the Civil War is to see a world that we are no longer a part of, but yet, it is the very same world we live in. A recent photo-set featured on NPR features wet-plate photographer Todd Harrington retracing the steps of Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner in what is a very interesting juxtaposition of the then and the now. The photos show one place in two very different contexts” (PolicyMic). So, that vivid art compilation from the world of pop culture suggests that the image of war became considerably distorted in modern pop culture.

Reference:

PolicyMic,. 'The Civil War Is Now More Pop Culture Than History In The American Psyche'. N. p., 2013. 

Culture jamming

Culture jamming is tactic of anti-consumerist social groups, designed to subvert or disrupt mainstream components of media culture, such as corporate advertising. Its core purpose is to foster progressive change in social mind by exposing the methods of cultural domination. As a kind of subverting, culture jams should obviously disclose questionable and disturbing political assumptions that lie behind commercial, popular culture. As for the crucial tactics, culture jamming utilize fashion statements, product images and refiguring logos, so that to challenge and doubt the criteria of “what’s cool”, stressing the importance of the freedom of consumption. The interpretation of the authentic communication medium is often ironical and satirical, as cultural jams are a stance opposing social conformity and passivity. Among the most prominent cases are adulteration of the advertisement billboard by Ron English with BLF (Billboard Literation Front) and street protests organized by Reclaim the Streets movement. Personally, I would not mark cultural jamming as solely political phenomenon in nature, as it focuses not only on critiquing political or advertising messages, but even boost cultural collaborations between scholars, activists and artists, which transcend rather than criticize status quo. As jammers are eager to disrupt the unconscious flow of thoughts that occurs when majority of consumers perceiving popular commercials, they appeal to the strong emotions of fear, shock, shame and anger, so that to catalyze social change. Memes are another vivid instances of cultural jamming basic products that stimulate behavior, musical, visual or verbal associations, which can be easily transmitted to other involved in cultural jamming.

Virtual Friendship: Be cool. Be someone else. Find yourself

It've never been so easier to keep in touch and meet new people online. Thanks to social networks, we have never had so many friends. However this is transforming the definition of friendship. It is common sense to say that the computer does not replace the actual experience of relationship with other people. Even so it is possible to meet someone and maintain an authentic virtual friendship. There is a change of conception of friendship in the beginning of 21st century. Friendship is a relationship that occurs increasingly within the sharing and exchange of ideas. The friend is not necessarily the one that is next door, but someone to be together is through a conversation, an exchange of views, experiences and conceptions of thought. However, is really easy to change who we are, and what we think by internet, or we can find who we really are by knowing people who are like us. 

Virtual friendships, as well as conventional friendships, favors the increase of reflection and action of the subjects from the other speaks. The authenticity of affection in relationships mediated the internet reveals a new way of being together in which subjects are mutually affected by symbolic exchanges that take place in the record of chatting. The exchange of experiences and opinions raise subjective transformations that change ways of thinking and that can bring increased power to act.

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/virtual-friendship-and-the-new-narcissism

Capitalism and Popular Culture

From first glance it may seem that capitalism and pop culture are linked directly and work “side by side” to strive into the mainstream. The logic is that capitalism is similar to pop culture in core value of free competition and rewarding those who work the hardest. Simultaneously, the pop culture sorts out only the most relevant, up-to-date and popular songs, movies, TV shows and other cultural products, so that to fit the target audience’s needs. Capitalism implies that the competition among networks, recording labels and motion pictures companies is transparent and fair. Likewise, capitalism is an engine that makes pop culture truly massive, as it is massively advertised, produced and purchased by society. Conversely, the dominant ideas presented in media are commonly belong to the ruling class for two reasons. First, access to education and leisure to become immersed into all manifestations of culture is traditionally privilege of the ruling class, and, second, capitalists uphold roughly full control by the media sources due to their outright membership or due to the ownership of the pop culture production/dissemination (art galleries, satellites, TV stations, print releases, etc.). The example of that assertion is the biggest American retailer Wal-Mart dictates creative artists what it will or will not stock. So, the prevailing number of pop culture products, films, books and art pieces reflect ideas and attitudes of their creators, members of ruling class, whose output is alternately masking, promoting and justifying the kind of social from that fulfills their privileges.