A Culture of Celebrity: Authority, Activism, and Elizabeth Taylor

Hey! Here's the link to my final project so you all can check it out. Essentially its a term paper with imgs, videos, and some cool graphics to make it more interesting and fun. If you click on the imgs they will either enlarge or take you to a video and on the timeline the little play buttons take you to a video. You don't have to watch all the videos, etc of course but if you are interested in any of Elizabeth Taylor's films or her support of AIDS research, etc feel free. Hope you all like it and that all your finals are going well.

www.deptofletters.com/liztaylor

Oh for some reason the site seems to work better on safari...don't know why but it does.

Blog 7, final one!

The semester is finally coming to a close, and I have to say that this has been one of the most rewarding courses I have ever taken in my entire life. In that sense, it is a fitting way to end my college studies at USC before I graduate in a few weeks. I feel that all of our writing, debating, and public speaking skills have improved considerably since the first week. Most importantly, I know that I have become a much more critical thinker since the beginning of the course, and have further realized how little I really know about anything at all in this world. Though the notion sounds self effacing, it is actually a very good thing; there's so much to envelop in this crazy world! Hopefully we can all keep in touch after this and perhaps share some life experiences together. I know I would like that, as I've already learned so much from all of my classmates and professors in this course.

OkOk, I'm sorry for getting sappy and completely digressing from our standard blog considerations, but I feel that this semester is owed a tribute of some sorts. It's been real, thanks for the good times. Have a great summer everyone, please keep in touch!

Group Presentation

So as you guys know, me and Rachel are doing our presentation on celebrity- with an emphasis on celebrity gossip. So here is the reading we want you to read for Wednesday! (only the first 10 pages, but if you want to read more, be my guest!)

http://api.ning.com/files/pcj92mMhPQflbaIa9GbRP1AIWAzibYV3mwhPQdzcmkN5EeFFDWYl69Rc1vwhfd52qdrME4oZwPn4FL1Dqgs8vps*SDU9Ix7Y/TurnerUnderstandingCelebrityCulture.pdf

and if you have time, take a brief look at three of these gossip articles... we will be using these for a little exercise in class.

http://perezhilton.com/2011-04-18-rachel-bilson-hayden-christensen-riding-bikes-sherman-oaks

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/christina-aguilera-jordan-bratmans-divorced-finalized-2011154


http://www.people.com/people/kate_middleton (for this one look through the whole page and also the article "William and Kate's Honeymoon Locale: Jordan?"-- for this i just want you to have an idea of the whole Royal Wedding Craze.

See you guys wednesday!

Spongebob

I write this as i sit in bed with a horrible cold, so excuse me if anything does not make sense... but I know we talked about kids media today- and Sarah Banet Wiser's article talks a lot about Spongebob Squarepants. Although I was never aware of these more adult jokes in the show, I watched a clip in class and when you are actually paying attention, there are a lot of references and jokes that only adults will enjoy. Here is a clip from an episode where spongebob takes his driving test. This is a very short and poor quality clip- if anyone finds a better one let me know! but this clip shows a couple jokes/critiques (the dumb/corrupt cops, etc) so enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ADFQGgPPk

Cultural Citizenship

Though a seemingly ridiculous farce about the future, Idiocracy does provide some insight to a future in which the world is populated with consumers with no citizenship. Toby Miller’s chapter on “What is Cultural Citizenship?” is a difficult, and somewhat schizophrenic, read that covers a whole span of issues in a small amount of space. The chapter discusses the spread and prevalence of neoliberalism around the globe but disguised as citizenship—a victory for capitalism is a victory for democracy.

Miller discusses the difficulty of cultural citizenship and provides great examples in which the co-existence of cultures in the same space results in a collision. He presents a “double bind” we are placed in. We protect cultures from external oppression while trying to protect members from internal oppression when their human rights are threatened.

It seems that despite any cultural citizenship, the world is doomed to one of survival of the fittest, which would be survival in a neoliberal environment. But at some point, there would be a toppling of those in power. As the uprisings in the Middle East show, the oppressed are now taking control. As Americans, we celebrate the “victory for democracy.” But we have to look at the future when the oppressed decide that America’s consumption practices are a form of oppression against the rest of the world. The future as depicted in Idiocracy doesn’t address it, but the world will be, if it isn’t already, a mad scramble for what’s left of the world’s resources.

Rebecca Black

I want to thank all of you for bringing that video to my attention. It was great fun. When I watched, I also felt very sorry for the rapper that appears in the video. I thought, "The poor guy didn't know what he was getting into." Then I read the article below. Interesting!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/392183/rebecca-blacks-not-to-blame-meet-the-man-who-wrote-friday/