Blog post #9

     For this open forum post, I would like to talk about the only two reality television shows that I watch: The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Both of these shows air on ABC. The Bachelor has been airing since 2002, and the Bachelorette since 2003. On both network and cable TV in the US today there is such a large number of reality shows fighting for popularity amongst viewers. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are two shows that have been able to stand the test of time in a competitive TV market and industry (and have remained successful!), and their cast members often remain prominent figures in pop culture.

     For anyone reading this post who needs a brief summary of how The Bachelor and The Bachelorette work, here is a brief run-down on the shows.  The Bachelor films in the fall and then airs each year from January-March. The Bachelorette films in the spring and then airs each year from May-July. The Bachelor revolves around a single guy (the "Bachelor") who is looking for his future wife, and the producers of the show find him approximately 25 single women to meet and date. Each week the Bachelor will go on both group dates and one-on-one dates with the women and then narrow down the dating pool, until it finally becomes the final two, and hopefully things will end with a proposal! The same exact set-up works on The Bachelorette except it is one woman dating lots of guys.

     It is interesting to try and look at these two shows in terms of the cultural diamond. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have an interesting team of creators behind them. The producers of these shows (Mike Fleiss and Elan Gale are the two main producers) are both active on social media and in promoting the show, but are never really shown on camera. They impose very strict rules for their contestants during filming. They have been known to have great relationships with some of the cast members, and disastrous relationships with others (even going so far as to call certain cast members things such as "worst Bachelor we have ever had").  It is also interesting to see how the creators market each Bachelor and Bachelorette (for example, with recent Bachelor Sean who was a Christian, most of the marketing around his season focussed on the fact that he observed the traditional Christian belief in waiting until marriage to have sex).  As far as receivers of the shows, that would be mostly the women of America. There aren't a lot of male fans of The Bachelor of The Bachelorette (except for some poor husbands or boyfriends that are roped into watching with their significant others). But this is a show that attracts women of all ages; from high schoolers and college students, to young career women, all the way up to moms, middle aged women and even grandmothers. The appeal of a woman or man finding their soulmate at long-last is a theme that seems to be popular with all generations of female viewers. And lastly, these shows are very successful in the social world. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette rely heavily on social media to help promote their shows and to help with enagage viewers. Live tweeting is a huge part of each show (I can speak from personal experience as my Twitter feed always changes to all #Bachelor and #Bachelorette when a new episode of these shows is on, and I often join in on the Twitter conversation).  As I stated earlier, the cast members of these shows often reach celebrity status after being apart of Bachelor Nation (as the producers call it). Being on either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is also a great way for a cast member to get endorsement deals or to take their personal business to the next level and get national attention (such as Emily Maynard's jewelry line, Catherine Lowe (formerly Guidici's stationery line), Josh Murray's fitness business, etc). Some contestants even use their experiences from the show to make a profit, such as Courtney Robertson writing a New York Times best-selling memoire about her life to-date, and her time competing on The Bachelor.

     There is more then enough information written above (I think!) to have a class discussion about these two shows, but I think there is still more to be discussed. One thing that makes these two shows interesting is that unlike other reality shows of a "competitive" nature, The Bachelor and Bachelorette aren't filmed live. They're each filmed a few months in advance, and this allows for the possibility of spoilers. Both shows are famously spoiled each year by popular blogger Reality Steve. (You can visit his blog here: http://realitysteve.com/.) I won't go into too much detail about Reality Steve as you all can visit his blog if you would like to see more for yourself, but I will say that he gets the spoilers right every season down to the most intricate details (and so far has only been wrong about the final prediction during just one Bachelorette season). I am a huge fan of Reality Steve. I personally see the entertainment value in The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but I also see how much of it is staged and "not-real." I think Reality Steve's commentary is absolutely hilarious, and I also find it fascinating how he is able to find out all the spoilers for each season so early in advance and almost always is 100% correct. So I am a big fan of his. But just about all of my friends and family members who watch these shows are die-hard haters of his blog and spoilers, and are very passionate against "not ruining the magic" of each season. I find this interesting, and my personal perspective is there isn't really much magic to begin with is so much of what you're seeing is manufactured by a few producers and a bunch of Hollywood ideals.

     One last thing of note-  that there is a popular web series inspired by the The Bachelor and Bachelorette that spoofs both shows called "Burning Love." My personal favorite is the Burning Love Bachelorette edition... I have seen most of the episodes twice. They are completely over-the-top and ridiculous, but it also highlights how the real-life shows can be like that a lot of the times, too. I think the fact that there has been such successful spoof series also just points back to the fact on how much of an influence in pop culture the two original shows have made. Here is a clip for the Burning Love Bachelorette season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUFbLD6-vgc



     I would love to hear if anyone from our class watches either The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or their spin-off shows, which are Bachelor Pad and Bachelor in Paradise (which I don't actually watch). These shows have definitely made a lasting mark on American TV and other parts of pop culture by incorporating social media and even inspiring a successful spoof series.


     -Annaliese

Blog post #8

      I will be honest, I had a difficult time coming up with a topic to discuss in this class that we haven't already talked about! I feel like our key terms encompass so many issues or common themes in pop culture today, and we have already discussed many popular musicians, TV shows and movies. The only thing that I could think of at first was discussing reasons why large "reality based" (when I say that I mean more realistic then families like the Kardashians) families like the Duggars from 19 Kids and Counting, the Robertsons from Duck Dynasty, and the Thompson family from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo have gained so much popularity.... but then I realized that I have never seen an episode of 19 Kids and Counting, Duck Dynasty, or Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, so I probably wouldn't be very educated to blog on this topic. (Hence why the whole phenomenon of these shows confuses me!)

     Anyways,  instead I am writing about something totally different. If I had to pick a topic for our class to discuss, it would be the topic of how Christians and the Christian faith are currently portrayed in most pop culture, especially pop culture that appeals especially to teenagers. I am a Christian, so I feel like this is something that I can relate personally to. Out of the pop culture that I tend to pay attention to (I guess "consume" would be the right word?), I have noticed very few representations of Christian characters, and the ones that do exist seem to be very unrealistic.

     One representation of Christian characters on television is from the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. This show isn't on the air anymore, but it ran for five seasons from 2008-2012 (the years that I was in high school), and was quite popular with the teen viewing demographic for all of those years. I watched it during the first few seasons, and was intrigued especially with the characters of Grace and Jack, two of the main characters who at the beginning of the show were advertised as evangelical Christians. Yet despite this, both are shown throughout all seasons of the show as being obsessed with relationships and having sex (and not just with each other). The dialogue of the characters and their actions in the show portrayed it as though their obsession with sex was directly related their faith, and as a Christian viewer I found that a bit disturbing. (Granted, the whole show seemed to be very sex focussed but where these two characters were blatantly Christian I didn't see the need to do that). Another example that is sort of similar is from the television show Hart of Dixie (which I have written about before in a different blog post of mine). I love this show and view it in a much higher regard then I did with Secret Life, but I will still acknowledge that they don't portray Christians on the show in the most realistic light. Lemon Breeland, one of the main characters on the show, was raised as a traditional Southern Belle and is seen from season one as being in church every Sunday and being involved in her church community. Yet Lemon frequently engages in premarital sex on the show; and irrelated to her sex life, can be downright cruel to her friends, family and neighbors, and very manipulative to get what she wants when she wants it. Of course this adds drama to the show and makes for an interesting character portrayal... but none of these behaviors are Christian-like at all. (Disclaimer: of course in the religion Christianity the whole belief is that everyone does sin. But what I'm trying to say is that Lemon's actions in the show are often intentional and go beyond that. And I'm sure that there are numerous more TV and movie examples as well- these are just the two that I was most familiar with from pop culture that I have personally watched.)

A quote from Grace from the Secret Life of the American Teenager

     There is currently a thriving Christian music industry, but it is often far removed from mainstream music. Artists that are able to cross between the two genres are few and far between. I have noticed that in country music references to church and faith are more common, but I believe that is more often because the Christian faith is more a way of life in the parts of the country where many country artists get their influences from more then anything else.

   
     Anyways: how/why does this relate to our course content? Well, Christian young adults are a larger population then one might thing! Studies show that over 70% of teens claim to identify with the Christian faith (source for statistic). While stats also show that many teens to tend to leave the church during or after their college years, I think that definitely part of that might be because of the way that pop culture portrays Christianity: both the lack of Christians portrayed in pop culture and the few unrealistic portrayals that are there! With such high numbers of teens claiming to belong to the Christian faith then I think that Christians would be an underrepresented group in pop culture (kind of like how we discussed earlier in class with some races being over or underrepresented).


     If this topic did come up in class, then I would also be interested in hearing everyone's views on how other religions are represented in American pop culture. I know the most about Christianity since that is my own faith, but I also respect and am curious to learn about others' beliefs. Plus it would be interesting to compare Christianity's representation to other religions like Judaism, Islam... etc. Or even different denominations of Christianity! I think there's a lot to talk about with this topic.


     P.S. Another show that I have blogged about before is 7th Heaven. I think this is one show that did a FANTASTIC job of portraying Christianity realistically (among other things!).... but I don't want all of my blog posts for this class to just be me singing my praises of a show that went off the air seven years ago. :-) (And I don't think another TV show/movie has come close to doing what 7th Heaven did since then!)


     -Annaliese

Blog post #7

     In one of our recent Comm 348 classes when we discussed the issue of race in pop culture, the subject of the new television show Black-ish came up. Dr. C asked everyone who hadn't watched the show yet why they hadn't watched it. I had actually considered watching the previous week's episode (and even got a text from fellow Comm 348 classmate Max to remind me that it was on!), but alas, I didn't end up watching. Why? Because at the same time I happened to be in the middle of the season three finale on Netflix of my new favorite show, Hart of Dixie. And it was one of those season finales that was so good that there was no way that I was pausing it to watch anything else (or watching anything else for a couple days after because it was that good that I needed time to let everything sink in- haha!).

     In the few days after though that I was reflecting on both season three and Hart of Dixie as a whole, I started to realize the ways that race is presented in the show. I think that the theme of race is actually shown in a very positive light in Hart of Dixie, but perhaps so positive that it can be unrealistic (kind of like how the show Modern Family was called out for its unrealistic portrayal of class). But first I should probably explain it a little bit more about what the show is about!

      The main character in Hart of Dixie is a young doctor from New York City named Zoe Hart. She is fresh out of medical school when the show begins, and pursuing residencies. She is unable to get the residency that she wanted at a hospital in NYC, and ends up getting sent to a tiny little town called Bluebell in the Gulf Coast region of Alabama instead, to work at a family doctor's practice. The whole experience is a huge culture shock for Zoe, and the television show is centered around her new life in the Deep South, as well as the lives of some of the other "characters" of Bluebell (characters in quotation marks because for such a small town it has a lot of interesting residents!).

     Hart of Dixie is a dramedy that airs on the CW network, and as to be expected with most CW shows there are some love triangles each season, and sometimes the plot lines do get a little bit goofy. But overall I am so impressed with this show. I feel that I can relate a lot of the character of Zoe, as I am a Northern girl who moved down south for college. I enjoy the fact that this show can be laugh-out-loud funny, and then at other times it can tackle real life issues in a very real and serious way. And another perk: I always have a fondness for any televsion show that can successfully integrate a good flash mob into each season! :-)

     But as far as racial themes in Hart of Dixie, this is where things get a bit interesting. As I stated earlier, Hart of Dixie is set in a (fictional) very small town located on Alabama's Gulf Coast. The town of Bluebell, Alabama is displayed in the show as being a mix between lower middle and upper middle class. There are a significant number of reccurring characters on Hart of Dixie who are black, and one of the show's leads is also black. The lead character that is black is the town's mayor, former NFL player Lavon Hayes (who also becomes Zoe's best friend in the show). The Mayor's home is a large former Southern plantation house, and Mayor Hayes is seen as being very affluent from his former career as an NFL football player. The other black characters in Hart of Dixie are seen as being business owners in the town of Bluebell, or just average middle class citizens that are no different from their white neighbors. There are enough reccurring black characters on the show to present the picture that the town is equally divided racially (and there is even an Asian reccurring character in the first season). But yet there seem to be no racial tensions in the town of Bluebell whatsoever, and interracial dating also happens between characters and appears to be widely accepted. 

     Another observation that I made is that the few poor citizens of Bluebell (or the surrounding towns in the Gulf Coast area) that are shown in the show are always white, and very much fit the stereotype of "white trash." They all very much fit the country lifestyle, and all live in run-down houses on the outskirts of town or in the woods. A couple of these minor white trash type characters also have drinking problems. I find it interesting that the creators of this television show chose to make the few impoverished characters shown in Hart of Dixie to all be of a certain stereotype (and a white stereotype as well). 

     Lastly, another observation on race further within Bluebell's social circles. Within the town of Bluebell, the official women's society is the Bluebell Belles, which is almost like an exclusive sorority type group for the young housewives of the town. The members of the Belles varies slightly between seasons of the show, but there are usually an equal number of black and white members. Each Belle comes from an affluent household, and this is seen through each of the characters' wardrobes, as well as discussions of the types of dues that the Belles have to pay to be members and the elaborate events that they're always throwing. From a personal standpoint, I think it's wonderful to see that the Belles are made up equally of black and white members!! Like within the rest of the show, there doesn't appear to be any racial tension between members. (Of course the Belles do have their share of drama [it is a women's society after all!] but none of it seems to be racially based). But when looking at the Bluebell Belles racially from a realistic standpoint, I'm not sure that the creators have done an accurate job of making this organization seem realistic. Alabama is a state in the South where racial tensions in established organizations still run high even today. In fact, it was just this past year that the University of Alabama had to make an official school-wide rule that banned racial segregation as a practice during Panhellenic sorority recruitment (Read more about that here). Personally, I think it is great to see a group like the Bluebell Belles that are so tightly connected and don't seem to discriminate for their membership at all based on race... but sadly I'm not sure if that is quite realistic, based on the real-life version of the world in where the show is set. 

     In closing, I have two statements that I would like to state:

     1. Comm 348 is definitely making me analyze the types of pop culture that I enjoy watching/reading/listening to... whether I like it or not (as in the case of questioning how race is displayed in Hart of Dixie). I guess that means that I'm definitely getting something out of this class!

     2. Hart of Dixie is a GREAT show. I think that everyone should watch it, or at least give it a try. The first couple episodes might seem to be a little much but I promise that before the middle of season one you will be hooked! I have gotten several of my friends back home in Maine addicted to it, and they're currently finishing season three on Netflix so we have all been texting non-stop (so it's proven to be a way for us to stay in touch!). The first three seasons are on Netflix and season four premieres on the CW network this winter. 

     -Annaliese 

Blog post #6

    Recently our class read the article "Modern Family is a Class-Blind Fantasy World" from Salon Magazine. This article discussed how the popular television show Modern Family does a terrible job at giving an accurate representation of the financial situations of middle class American families. For the majority of the seasons of Modern Family, the three families featured on the show are all single-income families, yet they are living extremely affluent lifestyles. Examples of this are the grand vacations that they take, the fact that they're always up to date on the latest technology, and how extravagantly decorated all of their homes are.

     Sadly, many popular American television shows take a similar approach to Modern Family and are unrealistic in their portrayals of class and the American family. But my personal favorite television show does what I think is an excellent and actual realistic job at portraying what life is like in modern America for a single income middle class family. This show has sadly been off of the air for seven years now, but in the 11 years that it aired on the WB network (now the CW) it had a large following.

     The show 7th Heaven was a family drama about a pastor's family in California. The main characters were the Reverend Eric Camden, his wife, stay-at-home mom Annie Camden, and their seven children.  In a society where having only one or two children is becoming the norm, having a family as large as the Camdens to be the subject of a family drama was definitely a bit of an interesting choice. But I believe that the show's creators, Aaron Spelling and Brenda Hampton, did an absolutely fantastic job giving a realistic portrayal for what life is really like for a large family living on a single income.

     In 7th Heaven, the Camdens live in a fairly large house in a surburban neighborhood in California. But it is noted quite often in the show that the family wouldn't be able to afford living in the house if it wasn't a parsonage (a house owned by the church congregation of which Eric Camden is the pastor of). And even so, the house still isn't large enough to accomodate their whole family at times (throughout the seasons of the show all of the children share bedrooms at different times). Annie Camden is known for being very handy and whenever something needs to be repaired she generally fixes it instead of calling out for a repairman to come and fix whatever the issue is. This is shown in mulitple episodes of the show, starting with the pilot episode in which Annie is shown fixing some pipes under the kitchen sink. Annie (and sometimes Eric) also cook most of the their family's meals at home instead of eating out. Characters in the show are seen eating at restaurants but they're usually very affordably priced restaturants (such as a local pizza parlour that is a popular hangout for high school students). During the few times in the show when the family eats a dinner out at a nice restaurant, usually a comment is made about what a treat it is.

     As far as the education of the Camden children, things seem to be very realistic in this department as well. During the 11 seasons that 7th Heaven ran for, the four eldest Camden children are seen through into adulthood or their college years. Three of them chose to pursue college, but they all did so in an affordable manner. Matt and Lucy Camden both attended a university in the same town as where the Camden family lived, and chose to commute from home instead of living on campus (to save money). Matt Camden was shown working a demanding job all through his college years to help pay for his schooling. When Simon Camden was shown going to college a few years later he chose a public college, didn't live in campus housing, and was also shown working during the school year to help cover his bills.  One of the younger Camden children, Ruthie, attended a private elementary school for a couple years during the show. It was noted by Eric and Annie multiple times that she could only attend because she had high enough grades to be there on full scholarship, and without the scholarship the family couldn't afford to send her there on just a pastor's salary.


     There are countless other ways that class is appropriately displayed in 7th Heaven; the fact that the family rarely takes vacations, how all of the weddings of older Camden children that have taken place on the show were fairly modest and budget concious affairs (that all took place in the Camdens' home city of Glen Oak, California), and how the Camden children are shown being careful with their allowance money and also being encouraged to work jobs during their high school and college years to help pay for their own expenses. But more then appreciating the fact that the creators of the show did an accurate job at expressing what life is like for a large single income family, I appreciate the values and morals expressed in the show. At the core of 7th Heaven are life lessons such as "there is nothing more important than faith and family," and also "material possessions aren't most important." The Camden family shows that situations in life might not always be easy and that sometimes money might be a bit tight, but that when you have the love of a family, a strong faith, and healthy friendships within your community that's what's truly most important. It might sound cliche- but the show did have a successful run on the WB network for 11 seasons! I don't think it would have lasted that long if  viewers disagreed with the messages in the show. :-)



      (On an unrelated note about 7th Heaven, the show was recently in the news. A couple weeks ago the news broke that lead actor Stephen Collins (who played Eric Camden on the show) is currently being investigated by police after reports against him for child molestation surfaced recently. I am sad that my favorite show is back in popular culture for such disturbing reasons.) 

   

Blog post #5

      

     I will never forget the first time that I saw BOD Man cologne. I was in Target one winter afternoon during my senior year of high school, with a friend of mine. It was a Saturday, and that night was my high school’s annual Snowball dance. We were at Target to get a couple last minute beauty items before heading to another friend’s house to get ready. (This was the first time that I had been invited to a girl’s house to get ready in a big group before a dance, so I was very excited, but that is getting off topic from my story.) Anyways, we were in the beauty department in Target, walking by the perfume and cologne section, when suddenly, I saw it. This cheap looking men’s cologne item from a company called BOD. I had never seen it before. The scent was simply titled “Really Ripped Abs.” I picked up the bottle, showed it to my friend, and we both looked and it each other and burst into laughter. The laughter continued until tears ran down both of our faces! “Can you believe that guys actually buy this stuff? I would never be able to take a guy seriously who wore this!” I said to my friend. I even took a picture of the cologne bottle on my phone and texted it to a few more friends because I thought the name and packaging of it was that tacky and funny.

     A year later, when I was a freshman in college at Gardner-Webb University here in North Carolina, it was Thanksgiving Break and I was spending the holiday with a college friend of mine in High Point, NC. We ended up in a Walmart on Thanksgiving Day, and found ourselves in the beauty department. I had honestly forgotten all about BOD cologne, but it was on a display in this particular Walmart, and upon seeing it I started laughing all over again. I showed it to my college friend, and she found it equally both funny and appalling that such a product would actually exist. “Hey, look at me, I’m wearing my really ripped abs today!” I said in my best tough guy impersonation voice to her, and we both had a good laugh. Again, neither of us could take it seriously.

     So when it came to this blog post, there was absolutely no question in my mind that BOD Man brand cologne was what I was going to be writing about, since clearly it has left an impact on me (and I’ve never even smelled the stuff… thank goodness!).

     The BOD Man advertising absolutely conforms to Katz’s themes, especially the one about muscularity with ideal masculinity. I feel as though I’m stating the obvious here… but to have a personal hygiene scent product called “BOD” pretty much is just a direct reference to masculine muscularity and attractiveness! The term “bod” is a slang term for “body,” but is used generally to mean an attractive or in shape body, so the fact that this fragrance company named their men’s cologne product after a slang term for being in shape definitely lines up with what Katz is saying. Also looking at the actual picture ad for BOD Man cologne that I am sharing in this post- the male model used in this image definitely fits the stereotype that is discussed in the “Hunkvertising” article that our class read last week.

     I think that BOD Man absolutely reinforces mask-ulinity, and it isn’t a healthy representation of masculinity at all. Just look at the description of the cologne from the fragrance’s manufactures as seen on their website: “These potent, sexy, all over body fragrances are long lasting and totally irresistible. They’ll have her saying

     ‘I want your BOD!’” Basically the idea that this company is trying to get across is that women should want men only for their hot bodies, which is a form of objectification and promotes mask-ulinity. I personally think one basic way that they could improve their product is by changing the names of the body sprays. In addition to “Really Ripped Abs,” there is also “Black,” “Fresh Guy,” and “Most Wanted.” All that I can say to these is REALLY?!?! The names on these are so corny and over-the-top that I almost can’t even type them out in this blog post without smirking. I still attest to the belief that I had in high school: I would never be able to take a guy seriously who wears “Really Ripped Abs” (even if he actually had really ripped abs). 

      -Annaliese

Blog post #4

      Modern media is completely saturated with messages about gender and gender identity. A lot of the messages are similar, but some conflict with each other. The fact that so many of the messages about gender are similar could point to the fact that there is oligopoly in the media industry, and because of that a lot of the media conglomerates are interested in promoting similar messages (this includes messages about gender).

      Like our class textbook from Kidd says, I would agree that women shown in most modern media are often displayed as being very concerned about romantic matters, their appearance, and equally or more concerned about matters of the home then they are about their careers. Although the statistics show that the media still has a long way go with diversity in portrayal of women, it’s good to see more female characters in newer TV shows, movies, and even women displayed in things like music videos and advertisements being shown as strong, independent, and hard-working women who can have other aspirations in life other then just to fall in love and be dependent on their Prince Charming.

     I’m going to be very honest here- pop culture has definitely impacted my gender identity, and I can even think of a couple memories from my childhood of when I was aware that what I was seeing in the media was making me think “This character or this girl/woman is what I aspire to be like someday.” The first example would be the character of Lizzie McGuire from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. I had never seen many episodes of the TV series Lizzie McGuire while growing up (as our household didn’t get the Disney Channel), but my parents took me to see the movie in theatres when it came out (I was eight years old). I immediately fell in love with the character of Lizzie. A fun, bubbly yet slightly ditzy teenage girl (who although was not very popular with her peers) who had a fairytale type experience happen when she traveled across the world. And it wasn’t the traditional prince/princess type fairytale- it was a culturally relevant modern fairytale where she was discovered by an attractive teenage male pop star and invited to sing on stage with him at an international music awards show; and in the course of a few days she was transformed from a normal teenage girl into a glamorous celebrity. I literally remember thinking to myself after watching the movie that I when I was older someday I wanted to get discovered by a famous international male pop star just like Lizzie did, and be transformed into a fancy celebrity. I’m sure that tons of other little girls who watched the movie also had the same wish, but with me I remember thinking to myself at eight years old literally making that a goal for myself. (Update: clearly I have failed myself as I am now 20 so my teen years are over and I never made it to international pop star status. ;-) ) 

      Another example from my childhood would be the movie Ironman. I feel as though this example relates a bit to the readings because both the Kidd book and the Leavy Trier-Bieniek text discuss the way that gender plays into the American film industry, both in the types of characters in movies and the key players behind the movies (such as who is directing and writing the films). Anyways, I saw the movie Ironman with my parents in the theatres when I was thirteen. I was not as enthusiastic for this film as I had been for The Lizzie McGuire Movie, as action films aren’t a favorite genre of mine. But my parents wanted to go, and at that age I didn’t really have much say in the matter so I went with them. I remember I liked the movie more then I thought I would, but the female character of Pepper Potts captured my attention. I have only seen the movie once so I don’t remember the exact details of the scene, but I know that near the end of the film Pepper helps to save Tony Stark’s life with her quick thinking and she jumps right to action. She does all of this while being impeccably dressed and wearing a pair of very high stilettos. I remember thinking to myself during the film “I want to be the type of woman someday who could save the world while wearing stilettos.” I remember telling that aspiration to my parents in the car on the way home, and my mom especially was thoroughly disappointed with that. She made some sort of comment about how I was buying into exactly pop culture wanted me to buy into, and how I was too influential. At the time I didn’t see anything wrong with that type of aspiration. Fashion was (and still is) a huge passion of mine, so what could be wrong with wanting to look good while working hard? Of course at age thirteen I wouldn’t have considered the fact that Ironman was a movie that was directed, produced, and edited by a solely male team, and that they probably wanted to make the character of Pepper Potts as sexualized and feminine as they could get away with for sex appeal to help sell the movie.

      It is interesting to me that these two memories of going to the movies with my parents and aspiring to be like two female movie characters have stuck with me. I can seriously remember each one as though it happened yesterday. I think that definitely means that each of these female characters really made an impact on me at a young age. 

My favorite scene from the Lizzie McGuire Movie

Pepper Potts in the first Ironman movie (I think this is her outfit from that made such an impression on me)

     -Annaliese

Blog post #3

     First off, can I start by saying "how have we already been in school for three+ weeks?!" Is it just me, or is this semester already starting to go by in quite a blur?

     From the start, this class has been more challenging then I expected it to be. I'm not saying that I  expected Comm 348 to be a super easy GPA boosting class that I wouldn't get much out of... but since I want to work in broadcasting after college and pop culture is directly related to broadcasting and the entertainment field, I thought that it probably wouldn't be my most difficult class and might be something lighter in a semester of other tough classes that I already had lined up. Well, I was wrong! I think that after my 300-level French class (for my French minor), this is probably my second most challenging class that I am in this semester at Queens. It would probably tie or beat French for difficulty if not for, you know, the fact that French is taught in French.

      My thoughts so far are quite simply that I am going to get a lot out of this class! I think that we have a really diverse group of people in this class and that adds so much to our discussions and just to the overall culture of the class, and that makes me really happy. Yes, we are all communications majors or minors, but we all have very different interests and goals within the field of communications (and very different interests and goals within our personal lives!). The fact that this is a discussion based class is perfect for the diversity of the class. This class will also be great for staying current with pop culture and hopefully for learning about some aspects of pop culture that I wasn't as familiar with before! As someone who wants to work in mainstream radio after college it will be really beneficial for me to create a habit of staying current with many forms of pop culture (not just what interests me personally).

      I think that analysis is a skill that I will be able to develop better after completing this class. Already in just the first few weeks I feel like I have gotten some really good pratice in "diving deeper" into various texts and other materials. But at the same time, this will also be my biggest challenge. I am a very literal person and sometimes seeing beyond the black and white is hard for me. Already in some class discussions about certain materials after sharing my own views and hearing my classmates' thoughts on something I will think to myself "That was such a good thought!" or "That was so deep! I need to start thinking more about all aspects of the issue like that person did."  etc etc etc.

      I have a couple steps to overcome my challenge of struggling with deeper analysis. One would be to really continue to take the time to put a lot of thought into my responses on these blog posts. I agree with what the syllabus says about how these blog posts are great practice for the essays on the midterm and final exam, and I also think they're a great way to prepare for quizzes and to really let the material that was learned in class in the past week sink it. Another step would be to not be afraid to ask for help when I need it! I definitely think that I will be checking out the Writing Center later in the semester (probably for my other classes as well- I have a term paper that will be due in another communications class). Getting a second opinion on my writings could be very beneficial, especially writings that might require deeper analysis on terms or concepts that might not be as familiar to me. I also plan to ask Dr. C for help if needed throughout the semester- I have never been afraid to ask professors for help. :-)

     One other thing that I have been doing in the past couple weeks is using college hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays to review the homework material for this class and one of my other T/Th afternoon classes. So far that has really helped me a lot to be prepared for my classes! I have a busy schedule this semester and if I do my homework over the weekend sometimes it's hard to remember all of the details of the readings for example by the time that class comes around.


     I am looking forward to both the lip sync competition (I am a huge 90s pop fan and already thinking about song options....) and the presentations about pop culture from other countries! I am planning to try and interview my friend Liane for my presentation. Last year I was a transfer student to Queens from nearby Gardner-Webb University. My friend Liane was my French teaching assistant during my year at GWU. She is from Paris, and actually just last month moved back to North Carolina to pursue her masters' degree at UNCC! I am so excited to have her back in the States again, and she is the first person I thought of for this project!

Liane and I during my year at GWU. 

     -Annaliese