reaction to bamboozled

I really really did not like the Spike Lee documentary, Bamboozled.  I really just did not understand how I was supposed to feel about it, and I know that’s the point, but I still don’t think it makes for a good documentary.  Also, I really do not think it had enough reality to it in order to make any change in the real world.  Absolutely everything was taken way too far.  Not only that, it was so far fetched I really do not think it even happens in any circle of society.  Also, it wasn’t that I just didn’t enjoy watching the documentary, I found it offensive to myself as well as many other groups of people.  I cannot imagine anyone who would actually truly like this movie.  I also did not understand what was going on with the main guy’s voice/accent.  I did not enjoy that because it did not make any sense, was it supposed to sound funny pr very serious? To me it just sounded extremely stupid.  Anyway, I clearly did not enjoy the documentary, but I am glad to know it’s out there, at least it’s something different that I got to experience.

Images of Masculinity in Popular Culture

These two articles got me thinking about men today and even upset me a bit.  The first article upset me when it was talking about the stereotypical man-boy who never wants to grow up.  He wants the things adults get without the responsibility that comes along with those privileges.  I would hope that men do not really feel this way, and really do want nice family lives the way many women do.  Later in the article it reported that men actually do really enjoy being husbands and fathers so that made me feel a little bit better.  I am not too sure how I feel about the stereotype that comes out of the Brokeback Mountain article.  I think it’s sad that gay men do not feel like they can be themselves at all times.  I never actually saw the movie, but from the article it sounded like these men only felt like they could be themselves when they were far away on the mountain, and that just does not seem right to me. I do not know how much I think the movie influences the average American male today, however I do think the types of behavior mentioned in the first article influence today’s men.  I think when men see commercials of single guys just hanging out, drinking, and having pretty girls, they might feel for a moment that they would rather have that life than a loving wife and kids.  Overall, these articles really make me think about men today.  I am not really sure how much I can relate to the Brokeback Mountain article, but the next one certainly makes me thinks about guys in my life.  It’s funny, but it especially makes me think about my older brother who is about to graduate college.  He is always talking about how he is in no hurry to find a job or marry his girlfriend.  My brother behaving this way makes me kind of sad, and makes me feel for his girlfriend.  However, maybe this is just a phase that all guys need to go through just before they really move on to the “adult” part of their lives. 

topic proposal and 5 sources

I think for my final paper I will mainly focus on my entertainment analysis paper.  After doing some research I have seen that there is a lot of stuff online about the new series that is supposed to be in the works that is supposed to be like the “new 90210”.   I think this is a direction that I can go in, talking about the way several series have emerged over the years as a result of 90210’s popular and long run.  I am also going to take one of the serious issues that I discussed in my original paper and discuss it in greater depth.

My 5 sources include:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills_90210
• http://www.tv.com/beverly-hills-90210/show/293/summary.html
• http://epguides.com/BeverlyHills90210/
• http://www.bh90210.co.uk/
• http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beverly-hills-90210/100057

 

reaction to Johnson’s book

I really liked the Johnson book that we finished over spring break.  I was really excited that we actually got to read an entire book in this class instead of just several short exerts from several books.  I found Johnson’s opinion on the entertainment very interesting.  It is nice to get to hear from someone with a different view that actually makes sense.  Sometimes people just like to disagree to disagree, but Johnson’s argument actually seemed to have merit.  Some of which I even agreed with even though it is completely different from typical mainstream thinking.  Johnson’s argument is going to help me write my entertainment analysis just because it helps me realize that I can have a descending opinion and it can still make sense and have merit.  I think I will be able to use some of Johnson’s argument techniques in my own paper successfully.  I think his book will make me look at several things I have always thought of a certain way and take a second glance at them.  

Proposed topic for entertainment critical analysis

I already decided that for my entertainment critical analysis that I was going to try and prove that the 90s teen soap opera, Beverley Hills 90210, projects a positive influence onto its audience.  I expected this to be a challenge because of the reaction I received when my theory was presented to the class. I already wrote in my paper that I believe the television show presents a positive influence because it deals with issues such as forgiveness, alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders, and single parenthood.  I wrote about these issues in my paper and wrote about the specific instances from the show when these problems were presented.  When I revise my paper I am going to try and prove how the show really does tackle these issues and leaves the viewer with a positive feeling.  Whereas other shows do an entire topic like this in just one episode and the viewer is not really left with the feeling that this was at all realistic.  I am going to prove how the soap opera form of the television hit actually helps it to get its lesson across and make it more realistic.  

Social Networking

I went on facebook and was able to look at some random USC guy’s profile, we’ll call him Patrick.  Just from my first quick look at his profile I would assume that he seems like a respectable and responsible guy who is in a serious relationship with a USC girl.  I also have to assume that he is involved in a lot of different things from all of the events his profile says he plans to attend.  As far as the level of personal information he gives, he does give his full name and school.  His birth-date and school e-mail address is on there as well, but that is about it so I would say that is not giving out too much information.  Patrick lists some of his activities as well as several quotes in his information, but he does not have music or movie favorites or anything like that on his profile. From the quotes I would have to say that Patrick is a passionate and driven person.  This makes me think respectfully of him, but that is about all I get out of this information.  I think his reasoning for having a facebook is probably just to keep in touch with people he already knows.  I think this because this is why I have a facebook and he’s a south carolina student who is greek and just seems like the type of guy I would be friends with.  Therefore I can see us having a facebook for similar reasons.  I do not think it is to make friends because from all of his activities I’m sure he already knows plenty of people.  I also highly doubt it is to help him get a career because like so many others, he has some pictures on his facebook that potential employers probably would not be thrilled with.  All in all, to me he seems like a pretty together guy who I would probably like if I knew him.

Book Review Choice

The book I chose is called On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense. I chose this book because it was on Elyn’s book list.  I also chose it because I liked the title.  I thought maybe I would hear about luxury things because of the word “paradise” in the title and I love hearing about luxurious and wealthy things like that.  Just from reading the inside cover of this book I know that it is about life in suburbia.  I also know that it is just about how humans have evolved over the years, from people just striving to survive to people who have so many things like cell phones and all the crazy technology we have these days.  By reading this book I just am interested to hear about how different kinds of Americans live.  People from all different social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.  I have not read anything about this book that helped me to choose it.  I basically chose it because it was one of the only books on the list that caught my attention.  Like I said before, the word “paradise” in the title caught my eye.  I am not exactly sure what to expect from this book.  However, I am just excited that we get to read a novel in this class because we did not get to in my last English class and reading novels is my favorite part of English class.

News Blogs

         I looked through the 3 news websites that were posted on blackboard.  After going through all of them I decided that they all have pretty much the same information.  If I had to pick a difference I would say that CNN’s website looks the most “professional” out of the three.  Fox’s website and MSNBC’s website just did not look quite as serious to me.  Never the less though, they still seemed to all have similar information that I would say is reliable.  

         As for journalists who write blogs who used to write for major news sources, I do not think this makes their news information anymore reliable than anything that comes from anyone else writing a blog.  I think that their writing may sound better and flow more nicely; it is probably written better and has better grammar.  However, they are still bogging and voicing their own opinions so I would say in this sense it makes them every bit as reliable as anyone else who is keeping a blog. I do not think people who used to be professional journalists who now keep blogs post information that is more credible than amateurs writing blogs. 

         It is hard to say whether or not information from blogs is more or less reliable than the information you get from the traditional major news sources.  In one sense, when you get your news from the major sources you assume it is correct because they have a good reputation of getting you accurate news on time.  However, you never know what they may be hiding.  They may only be telling half-truths to make you believe whatever you want them to believe.  In another sense, it is hard to believe things on blogs because you may not have any idea who the person writing it is.  They may not be whom they say they are and they may just be making up stories on their blog.  The other side of that is, however, like the people in Iraq, they are really there getting a first hand look.  The people form the major news sources are not necessarily getting a first hand look, where as some of the people blogging are.  All in all, I would say that when getting your news, you need to use common sense to decide what is true and what is made up.  Both blogs and the major new sources are not always completely accurate.  However, I think a lot of the time people can use their head to decipher truth from fiction.

pop culture

Honestly, I love pop culture.  Sure there are some things I dislike about it, but for the most part I love almost everything.  However, my very favorite thing about pop culture is not the pop culture itself, but the shows that make fun of it.  I love shows like “The Soup” and “Chelsea Lately” on E! and “Best Week Ever” on VH1.  I think these shows are absolutely hilarious.  What is ironic about it is that I do not usually hear about most of the things that the shows talk about until the show comes on.  There are tons of crazy things that Britney Spears and other people do every week that I would never even hear about if I did not watch these satirical shows.  I do not usually watch many other entertainment news programs, like the more serious ones, so I get just about all of the pop culture information from these funny shows. I think these shows are so funny because they say on television exactly what the rest of us are thinking in our heads.  When the host of “The Soup” makes fun of Dr. Phil for being too nosey, it is so funny because everyone already knows it, but now someone is finally saying it out loud.  These shows just point out how ridiculous most of the things celebrities do are.  It is nice to take just a little bit of time each week to watch these shows and not have to take everything in the world so seriously for a change.

The main thing I hate about pop culture is the way that the paparazzi treat celebrities.  Granted, they would not really be celebrities if cameras were not following them around all the time.  However, I have to admit that I feel bad for them when it comes to this aspect of their lives.  Just think about it, when you have a sudden caffeine craving and want to run to Starbucks real quick, we do not have to think about this, we just do it.  Celebrities on the other hand need to have an entire plan for this trip because there are going to be a bunch of cameras following them.  They need to look their best just to get a coffee, and they need to figure out the way to go that will result in the least amount of attention possible. I think this would cause anyone to go a little crazy. 

I think the fact that our culture is so celebrity obsessed is not odd.  I think it shows that we are shallow, however, at the same time I think there are definitely worse things.  I do not think this obsession with celebrities and pop culture is the worst part of our society.  It is easy to stereotype celebrities as crazy and craving the attention, but I think I would go crazy to if I was treated like them sometimes.  Overall, I really like television shows that make fun of pop culture.  And finally, I feel sorry for certain celebrities who are constantly hounded by people wanting their picture.

 

1.  The Soup
2. Chelsea Lately
3. Best Week Ever

Introduction

I am a freshman who is in a sorority here at USC.  I am majoring in nursing and want to work in a children’s hospital after I graduate. I have a big family and love it!My three favorite TV shows are

1.  One Tree Hill
2. Will & Grace
3. That 70s Show