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/

Final Abstract Outline:

After receiving helpful input and ideas from Christina (my group partner), I feel that I am finally ready to put together a sturdy outline of what my research paper will consist of. I have changed, or rather narrowed, my interests in how consumption is retained to the specific topic of how postcolonialism is retained through the media. I know that the word "media" can be a very broad and somewhat ambiguous term, so I should note that I want the emphasis to be held within cinema and television, but I am hoping to find relevant data that involves other media outlets (radio, commercials, music, etc.).

I originally had planned on going into this assignment with an argument beforehand, but I believe this to be a crutch in my own retainment of the vast amounts of information on the subject. Christina particularly has inspired me to be more objective in my information gathering and the direction that I take my research, as I am growing increasingly aware of how detrimental my own personal biases can be to my research and writing. My goal then is to not argue that postcolonialism through the media is right or wrong, but rather that it is prevalent to this day (even if purposely surreptitious) in formerly colonized countries.

I plan on incorporating the early readings of the metaphorical cannibalism to my paper as well as some of the more recent readings involving consumerism and how it can relate to the nationalism of its citizens (and, as a corollary, how another country's media influence can change the nationalism of a different country's). I think this will be a challenging subject to retrieve knowledgable and highly relevant articles on, but I'm hoping that this also makes for a more concise and focused paper.

Seminar Paper Abstract: Celebrity Persona

What is your main intention? What do you propose to argue in this paper?

· I plan to discuss the phenomenon of celebrity. In particular, I would like to focus on the development of a celebrity persona and the proliferation of that persona.

· Additionally, I want to examine the importance celebrity has taken within American society and why.

· Specifically I plan to look at celebrity activism, i.e. "Charitainment", and its effect on the star persona as well as public opinion.

· Ideas for a case study: Angelina Jolie, Jenny McCarthy (need some help here)

How will your argument proceed? What are some of the main structural steps you will take?

· First I would like to define celebrity and celebrity persona. Then I would like to examine the way in which a celebrity persona is created. Next I want to look at how different events (drug abuse, court appearances, divorce, charity work, etc) affect on public opinion of the stars.

What methodology (including sources and media texts) will you rely on?

· Poniewozik, James. "The Year of Charitaniment." Time Magazine.

· Furedi, Frank. "Celebrity Culture." Society 47.6

· Alexander, Jefferey. "The Celebrity-Icon." Cultural Sociology 4.3

· Armstrong, George. "The Reification of Celebrity: Persona as Property" Louisiana Law Review 51.3

· Carroll, John. "The Tragicomedy of Celebrity" Society 47.6

· Turner, Graeme. "Understanding Celebrity." Understanding Celebrity.

· Turner, Graeme. "Manufacturing Celebrity." Understanding Celebrity.

What is the projected conclusion or outcome – the “big picture”? How will this paper contribute to larger discussions in a particular field?

· I plan to argue that celebrities who take part in charity work are not only viewed more positively by the public, but that this positive attitude allows them to more easily sway public opinion, even when they are far from an expert on the given subject.

· This paper will contribute to the discussion of why celebrities are so powerful in our society. Examining and beginning to understand this power will become part of a check on the power celebrities have, which I believe for the most part is immune to public scrutiny.

Abstract: Niche Television and the Destruction of News Media

For my final paper, I would like to investigate how the development of niche television has influenced how we consume news media. Specifically, the rough thesis I’m working with at this point is something like:

The fracturing of television into niche markets has produced a news media of individualization, where each news channel is structured to deliver news based on a set of preexisting belief systems, such as MSNBC for liberal thinkers and Fox News for conservative thinkers. This offers an incomplete picture of the events occurring in our world, destroying the purpose of news in the first place. Meanwhile, niche television has also provided the avenue for such shows as The Daily Show to rise, and though it is a “fake” news show, The Daily Show’s use of irony critiques the current TV news model and even ends up providing more truthful news than the “real” news sources.

To establish and flesh out the evolution and development of niche TV and its relation to news, I will look to find an article/analysis of the progression of television news from before the diversification of niche markets in the 1980s and 1990s, into the era of niche market, if not into the modern day. I already have a lecture by Jennifer Holt that describes the history, economic and cultural, of the development of niche television, Graeme Turner’s article on “Choice Fatigue” wherein he discusses the individualization of the TV watching experience, and hopefully several more articles/analyses of current TV news. I also have several articles, and will search for more, analyzing The Daily Show, its use of irony, and how its news is more “truthful” or “authentic” than “real” news sources. Further, I will do a textual analysis of various segments of MSNBC (the “liberal” side of news) and Fox News (the “conservative” side of news) to demonstrate their individualization, catering to niche markets, and how this makes their reporting insufficient. Then, I will do a textual analysis of segments of The Daily Show to demonstrate the use of irony and how this critiques the current TV news model and how it elevates The Daily Show from mere comedy entertainment to being just as, if not more, truthful than real news.

Revised Abstract

This paper will take Hartnell’s figure of the tourist and reposition him/her as media tourist, specifically in relation to the consumption of the recent canon of contemporary Holocaust films. Colored by artistic intent, individual and cultural vantage points, and the degree of distance from the event itself, reflection and subsequent representation of the Jewish Holocaust are mediated by distinctly particular lenses and ideologies. Consumed uncritically, films which use the Holocaust either centrally or peripherally run the risk of eclipsing historical specificity in favor of a universalizing and decontextualized moralizing tale. I will take Ritzer and Liska’s idea that the modern tourist wants a predictable, efficient, calculable, and controlled vacation and apply it to the tourist-viewer’s desire for an easily understood, easily digestible film narrative, one which will favor comprehensibility. I will explore this desire, incorporating the practice of Holocaust tourism and “musealization,” by placing each text within its particular historical moment, and drawing upon Huyssen’s ideas on the culture and politics of memory in the way the Holocaust has come to function as a transnational trope. Films to include Schindler’s List, The Reader, and Shoah.

Sources to include:

Ash, Timothy Garton. “The Life of Death: Shoah—A Film by Claude Lanzmann.” Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah: Key Essays. Ed Stuart Liebman. Oxford, 2007: 135-148.

Bartov, Omer. “Spielberg’s Oskar: Hollywood Tries Evil.” Spielberg’s Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schlinder’s List. Ed Yosefa Loshitzky. Indiana University Press, 1997: 41-60.

Bach, Jonathan. “The Taste Remains: Consumption, (N)ostalgia, and the Production of East Germany.” Public Culture 14.3 (2002): 545-556.

Cole, Tim. “Prologue: The Rise (And Fall?) of the Myth of the Holocaust.” Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler, How History is Bought, Packaged and Sold. Routledge, 1999: 1-19.

Hartnell, Anna. “Katrina Tourism and the Tale of Two Cities: Visualizing Race and Class in New Orleans.” American Quarterly. 61.3 (2009): 723-747.

Huyssen, Andreas. “Public Pasts: Media, Politics, and Amnesia.” Public Culture 12:1 (Winter 2000): 21-38.

Liebman, Stuart. “Introduction.” Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah: Key Essays. Ed Stuart Liebman. Oxford, 2007: 3-24.

Ritzer, George and Allan Liska. “‘McDisneyization’ and ‘Post-Tourism’: Contemporary perspectives on contemporary tourism.” Touring Cultures. Eds Chris Rojek and John Urry. Routledge, New York 1997: 96-109.

Wieseltier, Leon. “Shoah.” Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah: Key Essays. Ed Stuart Liebman. Oxford, 2007: 89-93.

The Mouth - Final Paper Seminar

The Mouth

Thesis

The mouth is the gateway for consumption—the gateway that allows the most mystifying process in the universe to occur—the existence of human life. It is the most critical point in which an object from the outside physical world enters the anatomical world of the human body, triggering a transfer of energy that allows this life process to continue.

Increased consumption of television viewing results in increased consumption of television advertising, which results in increased consumption of economic goods. Television advertising increasingly features the mouth or appeals to the mouth as the gateway to consumption.

Medium

A ten-minute documentary will feature the following:

· Brief segment on the mouth

o Description

o Function

§ Vital

§ Non-vital

o Rooting reflex

o Psychoanalytical

· Brief history of advertising through several decades

· The role of the mouth in advertising.

o Mouth in passive role as the target of advertising.

o Mouth as object being displayed – to target the mouth’s desire to consume.

o Mouth as transmitter of advertising.

Examples will be sought out through television archives. Academic texts and analyses of advertising will also be researched.

Conclusion

Just as branding and advertising aim to appeal to basic human emotion, they also aim to appeal to the basic human instinct of survival that is embedded in the mouth.

Potential Topics to Investigate

Cannibalism

Word of mouth

Consuming the other

[If you keep thinking or saying 'mouth' over and over, it starts to sound funny]

final paper abstract

so now I think I have a better understanding of what I want to do my paper on.. here it is
I did bullet points, so the alignment might be a little off..

• What is your main intention? What do you propose to argue in this paper?
• I would like to compare and contrast how two very different types of celebrities are consumed
• One type of celebrity- Paris Hilton
• Another type- Julia Robers
• Paris Hilton- famous for her personal and party life. She basically has no special talent (She tried to release an album that didn’t work out too well). People are curious as to what lawsuit she will be in next or when she will get her next DUI
• Julia Roberts- considered one of the biggest female movie stars. She has been in many huge movies and have won academy awards. Unlike a lot of the celebrities today, we don’t hear TOO much about her personal life. Of course we hear some stuff like her having kids, but she is definitely not a regular on US weekly
• So how are these two different celebrities consumed by the audience? Is there are difference between consuming a talented movie star like Julia Robers and consuming a “socialite” like Paris?
• How will your argument proceed? What are some of the main structural steps you will take?
• I will research and read books on different studies of celebrities- hopefully find a reading that specifically talks about celebrities like Paris Hilton (ones that are only known for their personal lives), and ones that talk about celebrities who become famous for their work.
• By reading these different readings I want to find what types of audiences attract both of these types of celebrities, while finding out HOW these two different celebrities are consumed by these audiences
• What methodology (including sources and media texts) will you rely on?
• There are a lot of books on Celebrity and the Consumption and Construction of Celebrity such as—
• Understanding Celebrity
Turner, Graeme
• Celebrity Culture (Key Ideas) by Ernest Cashmore
• Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity [Paperback] by Richard Schickel
•
• What is the projected conclusion or outcome – the “big picture”? How will this paper contribute to larger discussions in a particular field?
• Turner says in Understand Celebrity that when it comes to the consumption of celebrity, there is not one set of principles. It requires contextualization and is highly individualized because audiences have their own agendas and interests, and their own reasonings for being fans and consuming celebrity.
• I would like to prove this argument by Turner by comparing and contrasting two types of celebrities and showing the different ways in which they are consumed by audiences.

Aesthetics/Lifestyle of Food

While beginning research into the vast world that the Food Network has created, I began to see a pattern in the literature on it. Many authors speak about a “lifestyle” created by the Food Network, specifically once Judy Girard became president of the network. From what I’ve read so far, she was the one who gave the network an identity beyond the old-fashioned Julia-Child-esque cooking show aptly described as “dump and stir.”

How did the lifestyle emerge? Can it be quantified? How much do the personalities on the network override the glamor of the food that they cook? Is people’s obsession with the shows based on a caveman instinct for food or on the flourish of the show itself?

I would like to include some visual comparisons of the past and present style of “cooking shows” as well as people’s reactions to the new aesthetics. How much more do they want the food when they see the pomp and glamor?

I suppose that I want to look into the branding of food and cooking and how a form of consumption that we all undeniably need can be more than just sustenance. I would like to explore why we crave the expansion and experimentation of the food that we need to survive.

I already know that Julia Child created a whole new world of American home cooking. I’ll have to find the source again where it said that before her, American homes had salt, sugar, pepper, and mustard in them for seasoning. It should be interesting to see how the Food Network has expanded our expectations for food even more. And how the network has further decentralized the world of cooking from chefs to amateurs from Childs’ beginnings.

Richmond, Ray. "CUISINE SCENE." Hollywood Reporter -- International Edition 381.18 (2003): S1-S3. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

Kaufman, Debra. "Food Network Grills, Chills and Thrills." Television Week 26.23 (2007): 14. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

Richmond, Ray. "BRAND NAME." Hollywood Reporter -- International Edition 381.18 (2003): S8. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

BILL BUFORD.  "TV DINNERS; NOTES OF A GASTRONOME. " The New Yorker  2 Oct. 2006:  Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web.  29 Mar. 2011.

Gallagher, Mark. "What's So Funny about IRON CHEF?." Journal of Popular Film & Television 31.4 (2004): 176-184. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

Germany and Korea

The dynamic between eastern Germans and western Germans after the reunification of Germany, as described in Bach’s essay, is similar to that of the interaction between South Koreans and the few North Koreans who escaped the oppressive country. The two Koreas undoubtedly have analyzed the German reunification as Korean reunification always remains a distant but potential hope.

One would assume that North Korean refugees would be welcomed by the South. When the initial defectors after the Korean division in the 1950s arrived in the South, a defection “intoxication,” similar to the German reunification “rausch, ”was experienced by the South Koreans. But as defections became more common, aside from a governmental stipend, North Koreans are now mostly looked upon as second-class citizens, much like the eastern Germans to western Germans. They often have difficulty finding employment or adjusting to life in the South. Since the situations of the two Koreas closely resemble that of the former two Germanys—one a technologically and economically advanced nation while the other a stagnant Communist nation— the dynamic within a reunified Korea would resemble the post-unification Germany.

In addition to the relationship to the two peoples, Modernist nostalgia and nostalgia of style are sure to exist, as forms of it are occurring already. Visitors to North Korea often horde the various products for sale that display North Korean symbols—alcohol, stamps, jars of food, and other items. And in a reunified Korea, northern Koreans will likely long for their former Communist nation, as their dreams for a harmonious and utopian, reunified Korea are dashed by their relegation to the second class and the accompanying hardship.

For my first official blog post, I wanted to address Shakirah Esmail-Hudani's article about the torture at Abu Ghraib. Several interesting things occurred to me while reading Hudani's analysis of the tortures: the seeming contempt of Western culture for reality, and the consumption of place and tourism.

When I first read the article before Wednesday's class, I was most interested in Hudani's classification of the torture as documented by photographs as a display of disregarding reality by the soldiers involved. Hudani characterizes the fact that the tortures were documented in such a way, staged according to cultural codes of the United States, put on as theatrical set pieces as contributing to this loss of and disregard for reality. I find this intriguing since so much of our discussion in this class has centered around topics or theories that, in the modern day at least, seem to disregard and flaunt reality at every turn. Neo-liberal economics proposes an economic system that ignores the realities of the world, such as the fact that businesses unchecked by regulation and rules will inevitably consume the entire economy and collapse (as seen in the home and credit meltdowns only a few years ago, or the lead up to the Great Depression before that, or the constant economic swings of the 1870s through the 1900s). When we watched the documentary The Persuader we saw how the whole industry of marketing, the cornerstone of our current economic model and even our culture, is built upon a disregard for reality, instead focusing on selling a feeling or an image, never mind what the product really is or actually does. The actions of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib do much the same. The realities of the war in Iraq are disregarded. The rules of the Geneva Convention, to which the United States has agreed to abide by, are forgotten. It is entertainment. It is a ruse. I had never thought about the actions at the prison in this light. The Iraq War has been cloaked in misinformation, lies, and a disregard for the facts since the beginning. Its a shame that the disregard for the real, the pastiche of reality, as Hudani puts it, has permeated so deeply into the fiber of this supposedly "necessary" and "just" conflict.

After our discussion about consuming place and tourism, I looked at Abu Ghraib and the actions there another way. Hudani speaks of the prisoners as nothing but props for the performance of the soldiers. The photographs are not about the prisoners and their suffering, they are about the soldiers and their posturing. It seems to me this is mostly the case in tourism, or at least the "bad" kind of tourism we discussed in class. When we visit a place and pose for a picture, is it really about the place? Can the picture really capture the history and the culture surrounding the monument we want to associate ourselves with? It doesn't seem that it can. The monument can only really be a prop for us, the subject, to use to create a meaning around ourselves. I have pictures from the first time I went to the Golden Gate Bridge. While it is hard to argue that I am more noticeable than the giant orange structure behind me, is the picture really about the bridge, or it is really about ME and how the bridge props ME up and allows ME to say, "I've been there! I went to the bridge." It seems to me that its the same with the restored plantations of guided tours of areas of New Orleans still recovering from Katrina. Per Professor Irme's experience, we are encouraged to stop and take a picture with the sight. Why? Because its famous, because it is important. Therefore, we can become important too if we insert ourselves into it. Is all of this bad? I wouldn't say so. I'm going to keep taking pictures of myself at fantastic locales I travel to. Its just very scary to consider the breadth of experiences that are considered okay to commoditize this way and consume. Its one thing when its a bridge, another thing when it is a ruined part of a city, and still quite another when our military commodifies and consumes a place through the torture of its people.

Easy Digestion: The Figure of the Tourist and Contemporary Film Representations of the Jewish Holocaust

This paper will take Hartnell’s figure of the tourist and reposition him/her as media tourist, specifically in relation to the consumption of the recent canon of contemporary Holocaust films. Far from existing as comprehensive embodiments of history, representations of the Jewish Holocaust reflect the contextual conditions in which they are made, shifting and transforming over time and space in reaction to personal and national concerns, needs, and ideologies. Colored by artistic intent, individual and cultural vantage points, and the degree of distance from the event itself, reflection and subsequent representation are mediated by distinctly particular lenses. Consumed uncritically and (mis)taken for fact, films which use the Holocaust either centrally or peripherally run the risk of eclipsing historical specificity in favor of a universalizing and decontextualized moralizing tale. I will take Ritzer and Liska’s idea that the modern tourist wants a predictable, efficient, calculable, and controlled vacation and apply it to the tourist-viewer’s desire for an easily understood, easily digestible film narrative, one which will deny the incomprehensible in favor of a knowability. Specific films to include Schindler’s List, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Reader, and Shoah.

Seminar Paper

1. History of TV advertising and where its headed. Also will include other media and their relation to commerce.

2. The Mouth as the gateway of all consumption.

Based on the classroom discussion, it looks like I am aiming towards the representations of the mouth as the gateway of consumption in television advertising. Will post abstract soon.

Seminar Paper Proposal...ish

Topic:

I plan to discuss the phenomenon of celebrity. In particular, I would like to focus on the development of a celebrity persona and the proliferation of that persona. Additionally, I want to examine the importance celebrity has taken within American society and why. Through my research I plan to form an opinion on why I believe celebrities have such a large impact on society and culture and form an argument based on that.

Possible Research Articles:

· Poniewozik, James. "The Year of Charitaniment." Time Magazine.

· Furedi, Frank. "Celebrity Culture." Society 47.6

· Alexander, Jefferey. "The Celebrity-Icon." Cultural Sociology 4.3

· Armstrong, George. "The Reification of Celebrity: Persona as Property" Louisiana Law Review 51.3

· Carroll, John. "The Tragicomedy of Celebrity" Society 47.6

Sorry this isn't as in depth as it was supposed to be, but I'm in the same boat as Amy. Hopefully we will discuss this in class a bit more so we can all have a clear idea of what we need to accomplish in the paper/group project. See you all soon!

Seminar Outline / Proposal

While many of the suggested topics on the syllabus interested me, none seemed to really capture what intrigues me most about my own consumption: what is retained from my consumption. I try to be consistent in thinking of the outcomes of my consumptions, whether they are media, food, clothing, literature, whatever. When I am consuming something on television, for example, is this particular program bettering me as a person? Am I learning something from it? What are the benefits besides entertainment? Should something be required to surpass being simply entertainment, or tasty if it’s food, or expensive and popular if it’s clothing or other apparel? I find this idea legitimately fascinating and very hard to answer.

While I know that my current argument is yes, we should require our consumption to be healthful, enlightening, moral, and responsible. However, I know how difficult it is to keep my consumption within these guidelines, therefore I am excited in the idea of researching how many of these attributes are necessary and/or possible. While I worry that the premise itself may be too simple, I think the idea is an important one that often gets overlooked. I know many intelligent people that could care less about what (if anything) is retained from their media consumption, or the health issues involved with their food consumption, or the moral concerns that seem to accompany all of these matters. In this sense, I also must make sure to not broaden my scopes too far in fear of unsuccessfully breaking the surface of these issues’ structures, but I do believe I can touch upon the areas of each that I struggle with the most.

final project..????

So I do have somewhat of an idea of what I want to do for my final paper (me and Rachel are doing the project together). Off the list I thought I would have the most fun with celebrity/consuming actors. I guess I would like to go along the lines of how the cult and love for celebrity has brought most of us to consume the celebrity and actors instead of the movie, tv or medium itself. But. it is really hard to answer any of the these questions we are supposed to answer in this abstract though because one I have not done research for it so I don't really know what I am going to find therefore dont really know what my thesis or argument will be. I also really don't know what I am doing since we haven't talked about it in class much. I know we are doing a project with a partner/group AND a paper and I don't really quite know what the distinction is between the two, and if we are supposed to do our paper on the same thing our partner is going to write on since we did the project together? I feel like I have so many questions and right now this project/paper is very broad not specified. I hope we can talk about it in class today so I feel like I know what I am doing before writing a full on proposal/abstract!

Now I understand tourism!

I thoroughly enjoyed these readings on tourism. They essentially were commentary on tourism as culture that's been stripped, repackaged, branded, tagged with a price tag, then handed to the tourist. I guess this ties in with cannibalism as well as colonialism (if you consider them to be separate). Cannibalism in the sense that a population will cannibalize its culture in order to bring foreign revenue into their country. Colonialism in the sense that one people will exploit the culture of another people for profit. Maybe tourism is a neo-neocolonialism.

But in a world with increasingly blurring boundaries between peoples, isn't this system of tourism inevitable? To keep a culture as purely "authentic" would be to completely reject any new language, foreign monies, or foreign culture. The catering to and accommodating of visitors is a required system in order to survive both economically as the host country and sociologically as neighboring inhabitants of a planet. Zygmont Bauman claims that one would receive more culture as a tourist from interacting with a neighbor in Bauman's hometown than if he were to visit that neighbor's home country (or at least I think that's what he said). But that's just another "inauthentic" experience. But I guess any tourist experience is to some degree inauthentic-- and all are on their way to be McDisneyized.

(I think McDisneyficiation would have been a better term than McDisneyization. It rolls off the tongue better.)

more advice for writing abstracts

Dates:

1-page outline due on blog and in hard copy by Wednesday, March 23

Final paper/project due in hard copy by Monday, May 2

The purpose of the abstract is twofold: to settle on a topic and begin to organize your thoughts; and to solicit feedback from me and your peers at this crucial stage of the project’s development.

The abstract’s structure is up to you but it should contain answers to the following questions:

• What is your main intention? What do you propose to argue in this paper?
• How will your argument proceed? What are some of the main structural steps you will take?
• What methodology (including sources and media texts) will you rely on?
• What is the projected conclusion or outcome – the “big picture”? How will this paper contribute to larger discussions in a particular field?

The easiest thing to do is to dedicate a paragraph to each of these questions. These four sets of questions give you reliable guidelines even if you are planning to follow a format that’s different from or supplements the traditional confines of the seminar paper, which is very much encouraged.

You’re also encouraged to visit me during office hours to discuss your plans.

1-page outlines due tomorrow

Just to remind everyone that 1-page descriptions/outlines/abstracts are due on the blog tomorrow. If you're undecided and need help brainstorming, let me know or just sign up for my office hours to discuss your ideas. This remains a recommended option throughout the course, of course. The format of this 1-page submission is less important than the purpose: to help you whittle down and organize your ideas, to hold yourself accountable to an argument, to prevent last-minute scrambling, and to allow us to give you feedback as you develop the final paper/project.

Final Projects?

Have you guys decided on your final projects? Since the syllabus said it would be best to have the final project and the seminar paper related, I thought it might be good for us to share potential topics in order to form groups.

Hope everyone is enjoying their break!

Wow.

That's pretty much all I can say about this week's readings, especially the Henry Jenkins chapters. I've been attached to Jenkins since I took CTCS 191, and I keep forgetting that he's an anime fan. Although, as a fan of Japanese anime and manga (cartoons and comic books) myself, I would never apply "otaku" to myself. I don't know whether he doesn't understand what that word really means, or whether he really considers himself an otaku. Of course, there's always the third possibility, that process of whitewashing or "deodorizing" which would render the word harmless. For those of you who don't know, "otaku" is a Japanese word which refers to a level of fandom which most Americans would consider obsession bordering on that which drives people to stalk celebrities. Maybe I would have applied that term to myself had I not gone beyond a fascination with anime to study Japanese language and culture. And I am glad that I did begin studying it. There's much more to anime and manga than what meets the eye of the casual observer. Anyone who's seen Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, or Naruto on Cartoon Network could tell you that Japanese characters have disfigured bodies: faces with huge eyes and expressions which rely on water drops and blue lines. Maybe they would also tell you that they have too much violence and inexplicably indestructible bodies. I wouldn't deny that. I'd just like to add that there are moral ambiguities which are glaringly absent from American cartoons for children. Well, that and the fact that the characters deal with many more of life's problems than how to share a doll with a friend. If you still have some time left at the University, I would recommend taking Ellen Seiter's course on Japanese Anime to find out more.

On another note, I believe I revealed to a few of you that I am an aspiring writer. Not a writer of fan-fictions like those mentioned by Jenkins, but of my own fictional worlds. To be perfectly honest, I have always found it easier to create my own fiction than to try fitting it into the worlds created by other people. At present, I can only think of one instance in 1st grade when my teacher forced all of us to write fictional stories based on a book we read in class. Mine turned out to be near-plagerism (a substitution of color and the much quicker realization by the human characters — I couldn't stand the obliviousness of the adults). I almost wish that I could act within the fictional worlds created by Rowling and my personal favorite author, Nix. These are unforgettable worlds of such rich description (and are thus hard to create); they are so much fun to live in for a few hours or days or however long it takes you to read or how long you can read.

Ultimately, I'm glad that around the time I started reading Harry Potter my dad was beginning to adopt the "discernment" approach to media with subject matter that was at odds with Christian teaching (at least on the surface). When Sabrina the Teenage Witch used to be on TV, that was a no-no whenever dad was around because she was a witch. Forget the fact that she was facing high school issues or trying to use her magic for good, nope, she was a witch and that made her evil. Personally, I am an advocate of discernment over sheltering, for many of the reasons Jenkins covered.

My film at SCBFF

Hey, 495 Classmates!

If you're on campus this Sunday and are in the mood for some great short films and catered food, come to the SC Business Film Festival. They'll be showing the finalists' films at 3pm, one of which is my film "Bird of Paradise." yay! Then catered reception right afterward.

The festival is at the Tutor Campus Center. I have six seats left on my table so let me know if you'd like to attend.

Thanks!

Doing your job too well.

Any niche press, such as the gay and lesbian press, are in a difficult position, especially as they have to operate in a (eventually) contradictory dual role of objective news provider and a commercial entity. It's ironic that their success as news provider and activist (in their role of information provider) ultimately leads to their demise-- or at least the demise of staffers, not the corporate name. Gross mentions "misguided frugality and the search for respectability combine to further erode the economic viability of gay journalism." But maintaining the "economic viability of gay journalism" eventually will not make economic sense to a business trying to stay alive.

Today's Asian American ad agencies face a similar situation. The growth of these ad agencies through the 1990s and the 2000s represented the growth of the Asian American community as a significant market segment. And as corporate brands are beginning to realize the value of the Asian American market, the Asian ad agencies are now being swallowed up by the large, general market ad agencies who then implement a separate multicultural department. But the Asian American press and ad agencies are getting what they asked for-- representation and consideration as a significant segment of the US population and market.

One solution for these ad agencies would be to pursue general market advertising work. I would propose that the gay and lesbian press seek a similar route. Not to cover mainstream news, but to serve in more of a watchdog role.

A Cannibalistic Legend

Last night, my roommate told me this crazy legend about a popular Chinese breakfast food. She sent me the following information in an email (which I assume is from wikipedia):

The Story of Yue Fei states that after having Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian arrested under false charges, Qin and his wife, Lady Wang (Chinese: 王氏), were sitting by the "eastern window", warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the release of the general. Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get Yue Fei to admit the false charges of treason and would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan to execute the general. She told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the examining judge. This way, the general and his companions would be put to death before the Emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution.[2] This conspiracy became known as the “East-Window Plot”.[3] An anonymous novel was written about this called the Dong Chuang Ji ("Tale of the Eastern Window") during the Ming Dynasty.[4] When asked by General Han Shizhong what crime Yue had committed, Qin Hui replied, "Though it isn't sure whether there is something that he did to betray the dynasty, maybe there is.” [5] The phrase "unneeded", simplified Chinese: 莫须有; traditional Chinese: 莫須有; pinyin: mò xū yǒu) has entered the Chinese language as an expression to refer to fabricated charges.[6][7] For their part in Yue Fei's death, iron statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, and two of Qin Hui's subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun, were made to kneel before Yue Fei's tomb (located byHangzhou's West Lake). For centuries, these statues have been cursed, spat and urinated upon by young and old. But now, in modern times, these statues are protected as historical relics.[8] There is a poem hanging on the gate surrounding the statues, it reads: "The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general, the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors."[9] The story of Qin and his wife are also said to be the origin of Youtiao[10]. Folk etymology The Cantonese name yàuhjagwái literally means "oil-fried devil" and, according to folklore, is an act of protest against Song Dynasty official Qin Hui, who is said to have orchestrated the plot to frame the general Yue Fei, an icon of patriotism in Chinese culture. It is said that the food, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife, both having a hand in collaborating with the enemy to bring about the great general's demise. Thus the youtiao is deep fried and eaten as if done to the traitorous couple. In keeping with the legend, youtiao are often made as two foot-long rolls of dough joined along the middle, with one roll representing the husband and the other the wife.[6] The Fried Bread Stick (Youtiao), a type of cooked wheaten food of long strip, is a breakfast dessert in China. Its surface is crisp and the inside part is soft; it looks golden and tastes dainty. It is a popular traditional food for breakfast in China. The Fried Bread Stick is also called “Youzhahui” or “Deep Fried Ghost (Youzhagui)”. It is said that the Fried Bread Stick was a breakfast food invented by the people of Hangzhou during the South Song Dynasty. In 1142, the national hero Yue Fei was killed by Qin Hui in the Storm Pavilion (Fengbo Pavilion), near which there was a refreshment shop specializing in deep-fried foods at that time; when the boss of the shop, who was frying foods, heard the news that Yue Fei and his wife were killed by Qin Hui, he couldn’t  control his angry and threw two pastes tweaked by him in the shapes of a man and a woman into the oil boiler, while crying:” Come to eat fried Qin Hui!” After hearing this, the surrounding people, who understood his meaning, came to eat and cried with him. Later other refreshment shops followed him, making the whole Lin’an City begin to make “Youzhahui”. Today, although “Youzhahui” is called “Fried Bread Stick” in many regions, it is still called “Youzhahui” or “Deep Fried Ghost (Youzhagui)” in some regions. This legend transformed the ordinary process of having Fried Bread Stick into the process of “eat” the hated man. Actually, The Fried Bread Stick enjoys a long history. The Fried Bread Stick was called “Hanju” anciently. Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, once described the shape and production process of the Fried Bread Stick in his poems. The Fried Bread Stick is called “Guozi” in most regions of north China. “Guozi” means dim sum. Due to its popularity, the Fried Bread Stick almost becomes the substituted name of breakfast in North China.  The Fried Bread Stick can not only be eaten in full, but also can be eaten in many ways. For example, it can be torn into pieces and mixed with the soybean milk, be wrapped with rice, or fried or braised with shrimps after being chopped. I don't think that I'll ever be able to eat these knowing why Chinese people created them...

Video links

So I had to watch the Mad Men clip again. This scene alone makes me want to start watching Mad Men. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

Here's the Iphone vs Evo video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

By the way, I'm already using what we're learning in class for work stuff. And the Mad Men clip definitely inspired me with some ideas!

Man of Transaction

In John Seabrook’s recounting of his experience at Skywalker Ranch, he professes that “there was no denying that a transaction was involved somewhere along the line. A relationship between The New Yorker’s brand and Star Wars’ brand had developed, and it was in The New Yorker’s advantage to cultivate it.” But as we advance as a more consumerist society, couldn’t every action be considered a transaction? Especially considering the many forces at play behind how brands are established and viewed by consumers, it seems every action we make can be considered a consumption of, an indirect use of, or feedback of a brand. Something of value (and everything can eventually be assigned a monetary value—money allows us a system to reduce “qualitative determinations to quantitative ones”) is always being exchanged. But quantifying everything is part of human nature. Whether it’s money, time, or scientific phenomena, it’s part of our DNA to quantify and one of the reasons we’re such an advanced species on this earth.

Is quantifying such a terrible thing? I guess we could all theorize on where the world will end up. On an optimistic note, maybe our ability to quantify everything and to break down our world into basic units and transactions will allow us to live our lives more responsibly. We could put a price tag on every action we make. Maybe we would feel more accountable for our actions and the effect we have on this world. But then again, humans are more reactionary—we don’t have the best record in correcting our behavior to be more preventative—and this will probably catch up to us someday. (Wow, that sounded preachy. That’ll probably cost me a few seconds of a potential reader’s attention, which could range between a few cents and few dollars).

Consumers in Focus Groups

I saw this commercial three times this afternoon before I saw the connection between it and our most recent class. I'll bet you can do better.

Peanut Butter Snickers

Confession

I may actually have to re-evaluate my opinions on The Simpsons. That study done by Alters put me in the uncomfortable position of seeing my own hypocritical views on the show through those two families. Then again, maybe I would just like the show better if it wasn't a comedy... but then it wouldn't be The Simpsons, would it? Perhaps there are unresolvable conflicts of interest.

On a tenuously related note, did anyone think that the two families that Alters did her case study on were similar to the families in Wife Swap?

"I Am": Cannibalism, Neo-Liberalism, Consumerism, and More!

I just wanted to post this while it was fresh in my mind.

In Leonard Maltin's class tonight we watched a documentary called "I Am" directed by Tom Shadyac that sets about asking the questions 1. What is wrong with the world? and 2. How can we fix it? The bulk of the film is concerned with exploring how cooperation, compassion, empathy, and love are integral parts of the human experience and should be employed to build a more sustainable, better world. However, something that really caught my attention and immediately made me think about some of the issues we have been talking about came in the opening third of the film where Shadyac diagnoses what he refers to as "the sickness" of our culture. In this segment, Shadyac hints at the forces of consumerism, neo-liberalism, and cannibalism, among others, that have created a culture that has moved away from caring about people to a culture that is committed to caring about consumers and the satisfaction of the needs of the individual above all other concerns.

I found the film extremely thought provoking in all respects and wanted to urge you all to see it when it opens in L.A. on March 11. Perhaps we would be able to analyze how the film examines some of the topics we've encountered.

End of plug. More academic posts to follow!

Hermione Granger as Feminist Role Model

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=182205

http://www.blogher.com/hermione-granger-feminist-role-model

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/socialstudies/archive/2010/11/16/hermione-is-modern-day-wonder-woman.aspx

http://www.helium.com/items/713838-character-analysis-hermione-granger-in-harry-potter

http://geekswereright.com/2010/02/13/bellavshermione/

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Potter+Hermione+Granger+culture+anomaly/3834224/story.html

Food Inc. and conversation with creators tomorrow night

http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/879135

The best-selling authors talk about the industrialization of food and its devastating impact on personal health and the environment.

Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, authors of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Fast Food Nation, respectively, are two of the country’s leading voices on issues of food, the food industry and sustainability. Their groundbreaking work has started a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. Pollan and Schlosser both appeared in the Academy Award–nominated documentary Food, Inc., which Schlosser co-produced. Join us as they come together for an important, fascinating conversation.

The event will be moderated by Evan Kleiman, KCRW radio host, best-selling cookbook author and chef/owner of Angeli Caffe.

A reception will follow.

For the past 20 years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: food, agriculture, gardens, drugs and architecture. He is the author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, winner of the James Beard Award, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by both The New York Times and The Washington Post. His book The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World was also a New York Times best-seller and received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best nonfiction work of 2001. PBS created a two-hour special documentary based on The Botany of Desire. Pollan’s most recent book is entitled Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. A contributing writer to The New York Times magazine since 1987, Pollan has received numerous awards for his writing, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series; a John Burroughs prize for his book Second Nature; the QPB New Visions Award and Reuters-IUCN Global Award for environmental journalism for his reporting on genetically modified crops; and the Humane Society’s Genesis Award for his writing on animal agriculture. In 2009 he was named one of the top 10 “New Thought Leaders” by Newsweek magazine.

As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser explores subjects ignored by the mainstream media and gives a voice to people at the margins. Over the years, he has followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California; spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado; told the stories of marijuana growers, pornographers and victims of violent crime; gone on duty with the New York Police Department’s bomb squad; and visited prisons throughout the United States. His work defies categorization, earning praise not only from liberal publications like The Nation, but also from Fortune, the Financial Times and the National Review. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation, has been translated into more than 20 languages and remained on The New York Times best-seller list for two years. His second book, Reefer Madness, also a New York Times best-seller, looked at America’s thriving underground economy. Schlosser has also worked in the film industry, serving as co-producer of the award-winning documentary Food, Inc., in which both he and Pollan appear. He was also an executive producer and co-writer of the feature film Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater. The screenplay was named one of the best of that year by New York Times critics A.O. Scott and Mahnola Dargis.

Evan Kleiman is host of the weekly radio food show Good Food, which is heard each Saturday morning on KCRW 89.9 FM. She is also the renowned owner and executive chef of one of L.A.’s favorite restaurants, Angeli Caffe, and best-selling author of numerous cookbooks, including Cucina Fresca and Pasta Fresca. She was the founder of the original Slow Food chapter in Los Angeles and ran it for eight years. She served on the Board of See-LA, the nonprofit which runs the Hollywood Farmers Market, and currently serves on the Stewardship Council of Roots of Change, an organization creating linkages to attain a sustainable food system in California by 2030.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

So, as most of you in class on Wednesday remember, I was very vocal in my objections to the movie adaptation of the classic children's book. I still hold by my opinion that there was not nearly enough material in the original story to warrant a 90-minute-ish movie. In addition, it takes a lot away from the magic of the original to explain through pseudo-science why the weather is expressed in food. I also think that it completely changes the context of the story to attribute all of the disasters to human/machine error.

But, I think that my biggest bone to pick with this movie is the pseudo-science which feeds into the misconceptions people have about microwaves and how they cook food. Yes, microwaves are a kind of radiation because they are electromagnetic waves. No, they are not the kind of radiation that mutates your food and changes molecular structure. This is why people believe that microwaved food is cancer-causing. But, what the microwaves actually do is excite water molecules in the food, causing friction. And any grade-schooler can tell you that friction causes heat.

Lastly, what is with all of the "stupid" humor in that movie? Is this really what we are reducing the next generation to? How does America intend to improve the education of the youth or even compete with other nations if we allow for such nonsense to continue? "Steve." Really? Way to raise the bar.

Alright, my ranting is over. Feel free to comment and to refute my claims.

Cannibalism/The Cook

Hi Class,Since I wasn't able to be in class today, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the film we watched last week and the readings we went with it, and also wanted to hear other people's ideas, so please respond! I thought it was interesting in the Bartolovich reading when she talked about how The Cook is unique in talking about cannibalism because it shows modern day civilized people being cannibals rather than barbarians or more primitive human beings. I really do agree with her in the sense that it was a lot more effective in making me (the audience) think about themselves as being cannibals. Watching primitive humans that do not really exist anymore is not exactly relatable to a contemporary audience. I was able to relate and put myself in this film much more than Little Otik. A tree creature/monster eating humans did not have any sort of impact on me, I just felt like I was watching a fairytale/fiction movie that I consumed and didn't really think about (I only forced myself to think about it for the sake of this class). The Cook really disturbed me and made me ponder about what it was trying to say I think because it was a lot closer to real life, if that makes sense. The ending when she looks straight into the camera and says "Cannibal" is also very powerful, for I believe its the first time in the film where a character breaks that fourth wall, and its very striking and jarring. It really startled me a little, like "is she really talking to me?" Relating cannibalism to contemporary consumer society is definitely more effective when the actual film is in a modern setting we can understand.So basically, I think The Cook is a lot more effective than Little Otik...If anyone was making this a competition....ha

An observation...

After finishing the readings and checking out a few other reviews for Little Otik, I haven't seen anything written about the theme of "possession" in the film. Considering that Svankmajer himself claims that he does not assign any intentions to his films, it could very well be my own personal interpretation, but I found it interesting that Mrs. Horakova seems more infatuated with the idea of possessing a child rather than raising one; I think she wanted what she couldn't have more than she simply wanted to be a mother. I wonder if the surrealist introduction of the market people on the streets buying babies in rapid succession spoke just as much of this idea (undervaluing nature for our own selfishness) as it did simply to express Mr. Horak's thoughts or as a tribute to Bunuel's similar shot in Un Chien andalou. It is also interesting that the precocious young Alzbetka goes so far as to announcing something along the lines of "I want this because I don't have it. I'm a very possessive person," accentuated by an extreme closeup. I'm curious as to what people's thoughts are on this and how these subconscious desires of possession relate to the greater theme of consumption.

Course Description

In our era of global capitalism, consumption and consumerism are considered to be key to managing a healthy global economy and a healthy self alike. Consumer activities and flows are thoroughly mediatized. In this course we will discuss how the intertwined operations of media and consumption have impacted contemporary lives and given rise to new theoretical, political and ethical configurations in the past decades. Some of the major sites we will explore are films that foreground eating and other forms of consumption; television, particularly reality programming, soap opera and advertising; memory and history; travel; citizenship and politics; friendship; fashion; fandom; and youth culture. We will draw on a range of media texts and an interdisciplinary collection of theoretical and critical readings related to consumerism and consumption encompassing cultural studies, film and television studies, communication, feminist and postfeminist approaches, tourism studies, history and studies of political economy.