Evaluation Blog

Through this class we have learned not only what pop culture is, but how it affects us. Going into this class I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. What could I possibly learn about pop culture that could benefit me? This class has proven me wrong thinking that there is nothing more to pop culture than celebrities and movies and music. However, I didn’t enjoy some of the long readings that seemed to repeat themselves, which ended up just confusing me by the time I had to take a quiz on them. Overall this class was entertaining and educational.

In class discussions were usually entertaining. I enjoy how everyone is required to get involved in the discussion because it keeps the class from getting monotonous. While some people tended to speak more frequently than others, everyone had the chance to contribute. I think a lot of this class is your own opinion on pop culture so hearing every ones ideas led me to create my own ideas about pop culture.

I have taken your classes before so I am used to doing online blogs. Blogs are an interesting way to get us to contribute. I enjoy doing them because it allows students to read each others thoughts on different topics, instead of turning in a hard copy of a paper to the professor that we wont ever get to share.

The final project is also different from any other final I have done in my college career. While in most classes we have a long test and essays in this one we actually get to have some fun. Making a boardgame is just as beneficial to me as taking a test because while creating the game I have learned things about pop culture that will stay in my memory. Rather than cramming for a test and then flushing everything I crammed in there, I think a lot of these things have really helped me learn about pop culture.

I wasn’t aware how much pop culture affects our daily lives. As a consumer I now have a different perspective on some issues that deal with pop culture and mass culture. While a lot of the time I think its just culture, there is no need to over analyze every little detail, I have been opened up to the idea that some things do happen for a reason and not without a hidden intention. Overall I think this whole experience is one that I will always remember. Its not usual for students to go to a bar for class, or make a phone call, or watch a popular movie and then take a quiz on it. This class is out of the ordinary while still teaching me theories and ideas about pop culture.

Ads and Pop Culture

The two ads I evaluated for this weeks blog were two ads for a airline company. I’m not sure if they were selling tickets, but I think it was just selling the idea of the product. The advertisement from before 1990 had a picture of an airplane flying in front of a globe. Pretty standard airline ad, it showed exactly what the product does and showed that the airline flew around the world. The advertisement from now was of a man and a woman making out in a swimming pool. Looking at the ad you would have absolutely no idea what they are selling. In the bottom corner of the advertisement is a logo of the airline company and it said something along the lines of, “we’ll fly you to a romantic destiniation” or something dumb like that. However, the main focus of the ad were these two good looking people making out.

The first ad is trying to sell exactly what it is. Its trying to make you chose them to fly around the world. The second ad is selling sex. Its an airline company and all it is selling is two people making out which does not relate to an airline company at all unless you are interested in joining the mile-high club. The ads tell us a lot about the culture of the period they were produced in. The ad prior to 1990 was still in the culture where ads sold the product, they didn’t hide behind subliminal messages or fake images, but they sold the exact product. I would say now that our culture sells images and ideas rather than products. It’s the same with Nike, you never see the shoes or the clothing or the product, you always just get sold the idea and image of Nike.

Now a days we are so image driven that consumers care mostly about the image they are buying. People want to buy what is most popular and most appealing. When an airline company sells sex, which to some is more appealing than an airplane ride, they are drawing in consumers who are concerned with image rather than product. Selling sex doesn’t show us that they have comfortable seats, or good service, or cheapest tickets, it just says that if you are sexy you chose this airline which is completely ridiculous.

In the reading it talked about advertising and it said this “Now they say less about the product directly, and are more concerned with sending up or parodying ads by citing other ads, and status.” This is exactly what ads these days are doing. Rarely can you watch advertisements on tv or look at them in magazines and know what they are trying to sell you. We are a culture consumed by our obsession with image and advertisers know this.

Pop Culture and Politics

Pop culture and politics mix everywhere. Especially when politics are aimed at our age demographics, I feel like politics use pop culture to connect with us as a younger demographic.
The example I am using for this week is Oprah taking a stand for Obama and literally standing with him in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire. Oprah is an icon in todays celebrities. She is definitely one of the most recognizable talk show hosts of today.

So how does pop culture influence politics? This is a perfect example. Here we have someone who is a celebrity, crossing over into the political arena. When she makes it known that she is supporting Obama in the presidential race, she is hoping all her millions of viewers and supporters are going to agree with her. Oprah is a talk show hosts, who specializes in sappy stories that make us sit for an hour in front of our tv and cry. So what does she know about politics and why should I believe what she believes? She is just a pop culture icon, using her celebrity status to swing a vote.

Oprah made the decision to publicly announce that she was supporting Obama, and I don’t think she realized there could be repercussions. After she made that stand, her ratings dropped. Not everyone that watches her wants to vote democratic, and not wanting to support the democratic party, they can no longer support Oprah. Here is how politics crosses in to pop culture. Oprah’s shows didn’t change, she still had the same subjects and her topics didn’t become politically minded. But because she showed the world where she stands politically, she lost dedicated fans.

In our society it’s the unspoken rule that you don’t talk about two things to strangers, politics and religion. When either becomes the topic, you are bound to offend somebody by something you say. Everyone has their own opinions and everyone wants to be right about those. When a celebrity that is followed, I’d even argue idolized, takes a stand and goes from being an everyday talk show host to a political supporter, she is putting herself at risk. Nobody wants pop culture and politics to mix.

But as Fiske would argue, we need micropolitical changes to create macropolitcal changes. So it has to start somewhere. Someone has to take an individual stand to create change. In this example, Oprah uses her status as a pop culture icon to start somewhere, she is trying as an individual to make a change. While she may have lost some viewers, she probably has influenced many more to vote for Obama.

Clothing Blog

I was excited for this blog because we get to do one of my favorite things, people watch. I could sit and watch people for hours so this was a fun project. For my three locations to watch people at I chose Clods, Dutch Bros, and my church. Each location had extremely different people in different dress who were all acting in different ways.

The first location I went to was Dutch Bros. This seemed like a really casual place to go. Most people were dressed in jeans and t-shirts and seemed to be dressed for class. The majority of the individuals who walked in the door looked like students on their way to class. I was people watching in the morning and it was funny to watch people who looked like they just rolled out of bed and walked to get coffee. Those people tried to avoid eye contact with everyone. The people who were dressed and ready for the day seemed to be more talkative in line and willing to talk to the baristas.

The second location I went to was my church. This of course was a completely different vibe. Everyone at church was dressed nicely. No one showed up in sweat pants or a sweatshirt. Guys wore button up shirts and jeans or slacks and girls were mostly in dresses and skirts and heels. I think it goes without saying that it’s a known fact that people dress up when they go to church. Our culture says that’s what we are supposed to do and I couldn’t imagine what the reactions would be like if I came to church in my sweats. Everyone was very friendly to each other and everyone seemed to carry themselves with confidence. I think if someone would have showed up dressed outside of the norm they probably could have gotten some strange reactions out of others. Maybe not necessarily mean reactions, I think people would probably just wonder what that other was thinking.

The last location I went to was Clods. I went there on a Saturday night which is a pretty typical ‘going out’ night. The people here were dressed much differently then either other location I went to. Girls were all done up. Hair and make-up, sparkly revealing tops, and either short skirts, or tight jeans. And almost every girl was wearing heels; there may have been one or two girls not in heels. The guys were also done up. But in a different sort of way. They were wearing their typical t-shirt and jean combo but here they had their hair done and seemed to be more conscious of what matches what. Shirts looked ironed instead of pulled out of the dirty clothes pile. At a place like Clods on a Saturday night everyone is dressing to impress. Whether they are dressing to impress the opposite sex, or to out do their competition, they all seemed to be trying to make an impression by what they wore. This may be judgmental, but to me it seemed like the more scandalously a girl was dressed the harder she was trying to get some free drinks and flirt with guys. I think here more than any other place, what you wear results in how people treat you. I guarantee if I went to Clods looking like I do when I roll out of bed, and tried to talk to a bunch of people I would get ignored. On the other hand, if I spent hours getting ready and dressed a little more scandalously, I’d probably get more attention not only from males but from other girls too.

Our culture is so into clothing that everyone seems to be preoccupied with what they wear. What you wear expresses who you are and how others perceive you. When I show up to class in sweats I don’t want people to think I’m lazy and sloppy because I’m usually not, but that is the image I portray. What is popular to wear is chosen by pop culture. We see ads and hear music that tells us what looks good and what is the popular thing to do. When people don’t follow these underlying rules they aren’t viewed as highly as others that do. It seems like taking a stand against this would only hurt your image and how others view you. So my question is, knowing that pop culture affects what we wear and how we act towards others by what they wear, what can we do to make a difference about that?

Letter vs. Email

This week I chose to write to two different people that have had a big impact in my life. The first I chose to write a hand written letter to was my best friend from high school, and the second I wrote an email to was my brother.

In class everyone talked about how hard it was for them to write the hand written letter. I personally didn’t agree. I like writing notes and letters to people because it shows them that you care enough to take time out of your day thinking about them. Granted, it is more difficult to have to think about what you write before you write it because there is no delete button, I don’t think its any more difficult than writing an email. In each scenario I was making myself vulnerable by telling someone how much they mean to me when it was unexpected. Most people don’t write sentimental letters out of no where. While I wrote the email over a week ago I have not gotten a hand written response. My best friend called me and insisted we go to dinner to catch up. This is just how our culture is. We talked about the culture of cell phones in class and this lined up with it perfectly. Instead of sitting down and writing me a letter back that would take a few days to reach me, he called me because it was quicker and easier and would get the job done faster. Our culture wants it now and using a phone instead of writing a long letter fits right in with that.

After writing the hand written letter I sat down and wrote an email to my brother. This is our main form of communication anyways so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to send him an email. However, he was rather startled by what the email contained. I got this response “wow Anna, thanks I appreciate you too.” And that was the last of it. I’ve seen him since and he hasn’t said a word. My brother and I aren’t usually super vocal about how much we care about each other so he probably didn’t know what to do in that situation. This doesn’t bother me at all because I was completely expecting it. Our culture doesn’t encourage vulnerability, and I feel like its especially strict on males. Pop culture has created the strong, emotionless guy while the girl is able to show her emotions and its not thought about twice.

When writing my letters I was writing with a producerly like text. It could have been readerly because I was writing and who ever was reading should just accept what I say as true. But it could also be writerly because it challenges what they think and feel and they have to challenge their vulnerability. Because it is challenging but also must be accepted with a mind ready to accept it, it becomes a producerly text.

I’ve done this assignment two other times before and I think this is the first time I really thought about how pop culture affects even little things like how my friend called me instead of wrote me back. I would except him to do that but I never would have thought twice about why he would chose to do that. Its sad that we have a culture that is so based on time that people don’t even take time out of their days to tell the people that mean the most to them that they do.

Footloose

For this weeks blog we were asked to watch a movie from a different time period then movies of today. I chose to watch the movie Footloose. The basis of the story line is that a big city kid who loves dancing moves to a small town where music and dancing aren’t allowed. Despite the ban he continues to do what he loves.

The movie says a lot about the 80s culture. The 80s were a time of rebellion. Sexual things weren’t as socially acceptable as they are today, but going through the rebellion of the 80s put us at where we are today dealing with those issues. It was a time to break free from what was so rigid about society. This movie shows the culture of the 80s in the main character when he does what he loves no matter who says he cant. While dancing and music aren’t allowed, these two things could be substituted with any vice that an individual might have that wasn’t viewed as acceptable. The main girl in the movie is dating the popular jock and when she meets the rebellious main character she falls in love with him instead. This could relate to the culture of the 80s when people were trying to be different and no longer were trying to be the perfect cookie cutter individual. The head cheerleader falling for someone other than the best football player was seen as a faux paus and she was breaking free of that norm.

The movie was made at this time because it represented the struggle that individuals faced at that time. There was a struggle between being a goody goody and being someone who broke the mold and turned their back to the stiff morals that everyone was so accustomed to. Dancing and music could be interchanged with so many things, something like drugs or alcohol or even sex. Things that people enjoyed that society viewed as a negative. The movie allowed individuals to feel better about things they loved that they maybe shouldn’t have.

This movie also goes along with the reading in the book relating James Bond and structuralism. The structure of the movie follows every other popular type of movie story line. There is a good guy fighting against the bad guy and in the end he wins the girl. This movie puts itself in the pop culture arena because it follows those guide lines that everyone can relate to, a battle of good versus evil. It also embodies semiotics because it shows that so many things can stand for something different. Signs and words and language can stand for something so much more than it is. The battle to want to dance was more than just a kid wanting to dance in a little city.

Music Genres

For the blog this week I chose to listen to four songs that would be categorized as ‘pop’ music. You can usually find me listening to country or folk or some sort music that wouldn’t be found on popular radio stations. I went on iTunes and found the top four songs on the pop charts and went from there.

The music categorized as ‘pop’ differs greatly from the country music I normally listen to. While country music tends to tell some sort of a story I feel like pop music could sing about absolutely nothing as long as it has a catchy beat. Adorno says that people who listen to popular music are childish, and are likely to distraction and inattention. In my opinion you cant pay close attention to the lyrics of pop music or you will disappointed in how dumb some of the lyrics may be.

Country music talks about love a lot, maybe too much sometimes. But the songs tend to be focused on getting over break ups or actual true love songs. I feel like listeners can easily relate. Pop music tends to focus on the physical aspects of love, if you catch my drift. Not as many listeners can relate to ‘making love in the club’ as they can to having their heart broken or something of the sort. Pop music also doesn’t seem to sing about family very much. I didn’t find a single song that had family as the focus. Country music doesn’t sing as much about family as it does about love, but a lot of the lyrics include family and family values.

Country and Pop also differ when talking about play. In country terms, playing is going fishing and riding tractors and playing in the dirt. Pop music defines playing as dancing and singing and clubbing. I think that the differences in the lyrics of country and pop are based on the values that the writers and singers have. Each genre portrays a different lifestyle and relates with different groups of people. Pop music to me would be categorized as popular music because it fills the air on numerous radio stations. Adorno also talks about the standardization of music, which makes listeners think they are listening to something new and different when in reality its all the same. To me, that completely defines pop music. All the lyrics are similar and all the beats are similar, there is always just a small difference in the tune or how the beat goes that makes people think the songs are different. I’ll stick to my country music.