Spike Lee Films

Spike Lee's Film, Bamboozled, that we watched in class was great. I thought it was really crazy the way that his show took a turn for success. It reminded me a lot of Mel Brooks' The Producers, except The Producers didn't possess quite the biting social sting that was seen in Bamboozled. I really enjoyed watching that movie actually and also the portrayal of certain characters. The white man was "blackenized", the black man was "whitened", and the stage characters were blacker than night. Altogether a pretty great film.

Gays and Lesbians on TV

Gays and Lesbians are usually used to be a funny friend to the main character. They are always generally happy and pretty flamingly homosexual. They aren't at a happy medium... they let you know they are gay. It's wonderful how TV land works. Gays also generally get into some trouble that they need help with. This trouble is not anything incredibly serious. Just something that can be chuckled at later.

Latino/Latina Images in Media

Most of the times in movies, Latino men are portrayed as gangbangers, stoners, or as murder victims. Latina women are generally portrayed as the trophy-girlfriend of a drugdealer, or as sexy foreign vixens. Wow... all of that seems like pretty positive images...I would probably be mad if I were them...

Video Games and Music Videos

Video Games (in my opinion) portray females as secondary, always attractive characters. They will (at least in this day and age) now use guns and violence like their male counterparts. This image is very different in music videos. Women are sex objects who have no higher purpose than to spread their legs to some rapper. Who, by the way he raps about, loves to "get p****". There is only one image that this sort of portrayal can depict... women are whores who always want sex. There's my two cents...

Abscences from Advertisements

I had never really noticed the exclusion of some groups by advertisements. It is a rather odd that advertisement groups leave out Native Americans, poor people, and such. There is also a generalized template used by the mass media for describing a white male; semi-intelligent, skilled in blue-collar work, generally semi-overweight, and funny. What a great stereotype right? So we've replaced Native Americans and poor folk with the "modern-white-male" a vast generalization of millions of people who can say three phrases, "I need a beer", "Wanna make me a sandwhich", and "not my fault". Also, I believe that we don't include poor folks and Native Americans because in America we associate the two with more-or-less harmful connotations and therefore would not want to see them in advertising. Native Americans are alcoholics, poor people are blacks who sell drugs and "bust caps". Stereotyping is soooo fun...

Homoerotic Advertising

Homoerotic advertising is being used increasingly more by companies as they begin to recognize the importance of gay consumers. Companies have found ways that they may take an ad that was originally marketed to straight males and tweek it just a little bit so that now their product is aimed at straight males, but there are hints there a gay male sees and picks up on. Now the company has advertised to two groups at once. They couldn't be happier, but this sets a confusing image for our younger generations as they flick through magazines. With a very absorbing mindset our young children will see these ads, and every little tweek they see, they will store in their young minds. So just how far are we willing to let advertisers go in their search for ever-more groups to market to, when their images may harm our younger generations with vague advertisements.

Pornography in Fashion

Sex sells. What more can you say. Companies see an opportunity and they take it. If there is an area that they may take advantage of to sell more units... so be it. It's a profit and that's what matters to the business world. This is harmful because these ads reflect our culture and what we like to see. Therefore through this mass sexualization, we see the beginnings of moral integrity crumbling as Americans become more and more infatuated with sex and glamorization.

Holocaust Survivors

I was not able to attend the speakers but I did look up Rosalie and William Schiff and the book they wrote. My thoughts on it go as such: what they are doing is great. It is very brave of them to go out trying to get people to understand the horrors of what racial hatred can lead to in a worst case scenario. It is even more courageous of them to publish a book containing all the crimes and atrocities that happened to them and people they knew and loved. It is terrible that things like the Holocaust happen in our world, but people are ignorant. My hats off to Rosalie and William Schiff for what they have written and for the words of bravery that they are speaking.

Wow... gotta love media hype... and fall

This story was very interesting. Pretty crazy stuff that reminds me alot of the All-American Girls Murders. It's interesting and morbidly humorous to see how the media swarmed all over the story. They began to let their imaginations race and their creativity flow. Pretty soon poor Mrs. Walker was a high-life murder. Drama, intrigue, mystery, etc., all seemed to pop into the reporter's heads that were covering the story. "Surely there is more to this murder," they must have thought as they typed away and imagined what sort of personal crime she had done against someone to deserve this. However, she hadn't done anything, just lived and then gruesomely died at the hands of an unknown and uncaring robber. Wow... you gotta love media hype. Anyone ever tell these people that having an overactive imagination is a qualification for writing fiction... not news. On that note, im out.

Ch. 8 and 12 - Sexual References in ads

The two studies that were conducted in each chapter are quite believable and shocking at the same time. Children's programming is a gateway for society to leak into the child's mind and tamper ever subtly with it. By putting trace amounts of sexual references into the ads, the companies (and whoever else might participate) condition children that what they see on Tv is what they should see (and get) in real life. That flawless woman that you just saw on the Victoria's (not so) Secret commercial, well you should marry her or else you screwed up. Come on people.
On the topic of pornography in fashion... yes. I say yes because, like the study showed, fashion and pornography are almost beginning to appear to be two versions of the same thing. The only thing that separates them anymore is the little black censor bars (that we call clothing) that they make them wear for the shoots. Its ridiculous, if i wanted to see a pornstar modeling shoes i would watch an x-rated film and look on the floor of the shoot, not inside a copy of any magazine. We ask why our children expect so much, in terms of beauty, from society while the answer sits under our nose.

and now inclusion of Scottish, Irish, Iraqi, Russian, and Mongolian Americans in Ken Burns Films (what the heck?)

This whole nonsense about Hispanic Americans needing to be included in a World War 2 documentary makes me a bit uppity. In World War 2, America fought united against foreign threats to our liberty, security, and freedom. Also, WE fought so that WE might help stop an atrocity that was being committed against the human rights of Jewish people throughout Europe. Now when we went to Japan or Europe did we say, "Alright everybody divide up into groups by race. We want all Hispanics on boat A, Black People on Boat B, Whites on Boats C, Middle Easterners on Boat D, and Native Americans on Boat E. We gotta do this documentary on each of y'alls contributions to the war so this will make it easier."
COME ON PEOPLE
America fought UNITED. We fought as a united front against a greater evil. Americans fought and died. Americans fought for every bloody inch with blood, sweat, and death. Americans gave their lives so that their posterity might be free to enjoy their lives and their freedom. America fought in World War 2, not The League of United Latinos, Afros, Whites, and Others Fighting Against The Oppressive Nazi Regime; United Under The Banner of The United States (LULAWOFAONR;UUBUS for short). We owe it to the patriots who fought and died for us to recognize them as a united group, not to subdivide them and say this group did this and this group did this. Americans won World War 2. When we began to divide them up and say this group did this and this group did this, we began to add to the already developed racial divide in the United States. Don't spend all the time on recognizing the individual players, when the team was who won the game.

Disabilities in Media

Disability coverage in the media has always been one sided for me, ever since I was a little kid. My uncle suffered a stroke when I was younger and all my life, I have watched my mom take care of him and he has been a big part of my life. This has made me especially sensitive to media coverage about "cripples". It always appears that the media tries to play the pity card every time they speak to a handicapped person. They try to stir up feelings of pity and sympathy in order to get their target audience to be shocked or moved. Well, handicapped people ARE NOT people to be used to stir up the emotional crock pot. My uncle is one of the happiest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing or being around. Aside from his easy shamble and his slow speech, you would never guess the hardships that he has been through. If the media plan on calling him anything, it should be a survivor.

First Entry

I would say that I get the news through various channels randomly throughout the week. These channels may include: television (I do not watch Fox news because I believe it to be a big-brother sponsored propoganda network), newspapers (occasionally), and Time magazine. I do not read alot of online news content (mostly just offline stuff) because, to me, it isn't as convienent. I don't watch alot of news because I do not want my brain to be spoiled with the unripe fruits of prejudice, ignorant nationalism, and lies coated in the sweet musk of Geraldo Rivera. My beliefs on what the news shows tell me is as follows (keep in mind I do not believe this because I am not this stupid): Black People commit all crimes and sell all of the drugs in the United States. White people are rich, noncaring, or just plain stupid. Mexicans are all illegal and gradually taking over America (starting with the South). Gays are wicked offspring of Stan (pun intended). And last, but not least, the Leadership in Upper America has nothing better to do than shoot each other on "hunting" trips. What the hell...