Question 10

This trailer of the Jersey Shore relates to several topics which we have discussed in class throughout the year. One of the most obvious things in the Jersey Shore is how obnoxious and hyper-masculine the male cast is. The male cast is continuously doing everything they possibly can to make themselves seem like men. In the show it is very common to see the cast get into fights amongst themselves and other people. In Katz's reading of Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity. Katz talks about how white working class males are anti-authority rebels and that violence is genetically programmed male behavior. An example of this type of person would be the musician Eminem. Another text that relates to this video is Rakow's Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture. it discusses what type of images of women are present, whose images are they and whom do they serve, and what are the consequences of those images. This pertains to the females in the Jersey Shore because they are so focused on their visual appeal to the public. However, the majority of people who watch the show ridicule their actions and appearances. The Jersey Shore relates to the Judith Butler reading of Imitation and Gender Insubordination. Butler discusses people being homophobic and in the Jersey Shore there is not any direct homophobia, however the cast, both male and female continuously talk about smooshing and having sex.

Question 11

11. One critical text that relates to my overall argument throughout the semester is the reading on Gender, Race, and Class in the media by Janice Radway. In the beginning of the semester, I made the argument about controversial celebrities in the media. From there I transitioned to focusing on Black males and women's roles in the media. On my final I decided to focus solely on Black Advertisements vs. White Advertisements. Radway's reading relates to my first paper about how the stereotypical black male is generally seen as being overtly angry, and powerful. He signifies, power and strength. Laurie Ouellette's Inventing the Cosmo Girl relates to my second paper and my argument on how women are seen as secondary, or sexualized. Laurie Ouellette talks about how important it is to dress sexy, or to impress people."Sex is a powerful weapon for a single woman in getting what she wants from life" (Ouellette 229). In my paper I argued that women must present themselves in a sexual way in order to be seen in advertisements. An example of this is seen on the GQ website. There is an image with a black male and a white female, and the male is shown in a powerful way, while the female is shown in a seductive, sexualized way. This is ironic because it is uncommon to see a black male in a dominant role, especially when a white female is seen in a less important role. This aspect of the female being secondary to the black male, does not correspond with Ouellette about women being professionals, however it does relate to her section on how women must use their looks in order to better themselves professionally.

Question 9

9. The two articles I chose were about the NFL draft. The article from the onion discussed Alabama’s RB Mark Ingram and his draft stock. He cut down a piece of meat and described his talents relating to the meat. The article from CNN.com was about the fans booing the commissioner for the potential lockout of the upcoming season. The boo’s hailed from inside of Radio City even before the draft started. The CNN article relates to a breakdown and reevaluation of discourse by acknowledging the difficulty of solving the problems associated with the lock out. Although it is only sports, the lock out has been a very popular issue recently on the news and several people have been very critical of the situation. The article from the onion is the complete opposite of gatekeeping. We would rarely see something like this on a real news channel. This type of satire provides its followers by presenting comical relief. “culture jamming turns the commercial techniques of image and emotion back on themselves through acts of what Christine Harold calls “rhetorical sabotage” (Warner 190)”.

Question 8

8. The video Mouse Trapped 2010 dealt with the aggravated and underpaid workers at Disney. The workers are aware that they are being underpaid and are living below the poverty line, however they continue to work there. The employee’s situation at Disney relates to cultural studies. “If does not assume that pleasure can be manipulated by or at least articulated to repressive forms of power and existing structures of inequality. And it recognizes that pleasures may themselves be repressive and regressive-for example those derived from relations of domination over the other groups in formations of racism” (Grossberg 634). Contrary to Mouse Trapped, in Mickey Mouse Monopoly they discuss Disney films and the stories they tell about race, gender, and class. The video also interviews several guests who are completely unaware of the mistreatment of workers and possible racism in the movies; therefore they continuously go to Disney and pay for an obnoxiously overpriced ticket. “But it does not deny that they are sometimes duped, that they are sometimes manipulated, that they are lied to (and believe the lies, sometimes know that they are lies)” (Grossberg 634). The political economy relates to this because it is a false consciousness. Disney is portraying itself as a friendly and accepting environment, however they are being reported for instances of race, gender, and class in their movies and their workers are also knowingly underpaid.

Question 7

7. The video of “How to Make Your Breast Look Bigger” is both an oppositional and dominant commentary on gender and sexuality. It is a dominant commentary because it focuses on the dominant figure in society and the male gaze. If you are not getting enough attention from the dominant figure, white male, then you must make your breast look bigger. Contrary to the dominant commentary, the oppositional commentary is present at the end of the video when the dominant white male asks the female to have sex and she rejects his request.

Question 6

6. The American Express advertisement starring Conan features traditional India rather than modern India. The video shows Conan running around a town in India searching for a specific piece of fabric. Through his journey he encounters several other natives. The commercial represents India in a modern and stereotypical manner. Conan is shown riding an elephant, speaking Hindi to the natives while English is their second language, the natives are all seen wearing bright hijabs and gowns, the music in the background is something you would hear in Disney’s Aladin, and all of the natives seem to have a fantastic relationship with Conan. The commercial also portrays the natives as being, less important than Conan.They cater to his every need and praise him as he rides in on an elephant dressed in all white (representative of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem).

Question 5

5. The urinal game tests to see how well you understand men’s bathroom etiquette Ideology is looking at the world in terms of common sense, or the construction of common sense. Hegemony is the construction and sustaining of an ideology. It is the idea that the ruling class, race, etc. can become the cultural norm. The ideology in the urinal game is deciding which urinal to use; it is assumed that everyone knows where to properly urinate when there are other people in the restroom. The game relates to hegemony because it sustains the ideology of needing to leave “buffer space” between urinals.

Question 4

4. In the image of the pipe entitled “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” is an example of interpellation because the text reads, “this is not a pipe”. Interpellation is when we recognize something by shape because it is familiar to us (similar to the example of the stop sign in class). The artist is saying that the image represents the social construct of a pipe, however the image is in fact several different items used to build what we have constructed in our minds.

Question 3

3. Both Ghetto Delta Airlines and the Everest College advertisement mock stereotypical blackness and make African Americans seem lazy, and uneducated. In the Ghetto Delta Airlines video the narrator solely refers to stereotypical “black” phrases, and the video shows several examples of items associated with blacks (spliff, 40 oz. beer in brown bag, someone wearing sunglasses inside, etc.). In the Everest College advertisement it shows a black male in a dark parking lot dressed relatively “thuggish” preaching and screaming to a camera about education, however the way he speaks makes him seem uneducated. However, the videos are also different. Ghetto Delta Airlines is deliberately mocking the stereotypical blackness, while the Everest College commercial is not blatantly mocking the black community.

Question 2

2. An audience fallacy is when we assume whom the audience for a particular situation is. An authorial fallacy is when we assume what someone did something and what their motives were behind their actions. An example of an audience fallacy would be assuming everyone at a professional basketball game is there because they have played basketball before. An example would be assuming everyone with a private jet does not care about saving gas and being environmentally friendly.

Question 1

1. Cultural theorists separate words with capital letters from those without, even when the words are proper nouns because of the cultural construction of the word. When a word such a woman is not capitalized it is referring to a person by their physical make up or gender rather than the social construction of a person, which we have created.