Cultural Studies Fall 2008

what i see differently

kimberlysmiller — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:27:57 +0000

Whenever I look at ads now, I cannot help but diagram them in my mind. It is like a disease. I will be waiting for the subway and a friend will be talking to me and I find myself wandering into my own world, thinking about the advertisement that I see on the wall. I will stand there and think about the ad instead of the latest news that my friend is telling me. When I am done performing a symbiotic read on the ad, I look up and my friend is usually still talking, chatting on about what happened to him earlier in the day or what is going on Friday night. I always have the urge to tell him what I have figured out using the connotated and denoted images, and usually I do say something. Regardless, whenever I see an advertisement for something, I immediately think about what the company is trying to say; I have to uncover the meaning like its a game or something.

Katy Perry? Kill Yourself

webrown — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:21:11 +0000

So I was pretty sure we had a blog due this week, but no one’s posted anything. something along the lines of an instance in culture that made us “go what the fuck”? Anyone?

Just in case, I’m going to rant a little about Katy Perry. You all know her. She kissed a girl, and she liked it! ::Sprinkles:: This song is more than a little nauseating; let me share some of my favorite lines with you. From the chorus: “I kissed a girl and I liked it/ The taste of her cherry chapstick.” Apparently Ms. Perry likes getting drunk and making out with 12 year old girls! ( the music video for this song, btw, features the artist petting a kitty next to a stuffed bunny rabbit) And who can blame her? Cherry is one my favorite flavors too, and young girls are so impressionable and easy. Plus it probably did make her boyfriend soooo jealous It’s a wonder she even needed to throw back some liquid courage (I got so brave/ drink in hand) to engage in such a delicious, positive activity.

The entire next verse is worth repeating here: “No, I don’t even know your name/ It doesn’t matter, / You’re my/ experimental game/ Just human nature, / It’s not what, / Good girls do/ Not how they should behave/ My head gets/ so confused/ Hard to obey” Offensive enough is her puerile account of relationships and sexual impulses, but here Katy gets downright bitchy. But she can’t help it ::pouty face:: It’s just in her nature. This is where I had my what the fuck moment. I can handle a 24 year old teeny-bopper; that’s nothing new. What makes this song so fucking unberable is Perry’s convuluted understanding of gender roles. Come now Ms Perry, really? At 24 can you really not wrap your dolled up little head around a one-off homosexual impulse? There are hordes of drunk college chicks that have paved the way for you to kiss a girl, and like it, and not be the least bit confused by the experience. Do you really have to take such bitchy delight in being a “bad girl?” Also, is it necessary to be so offensive to actual lesbians in your music?

I know, I know. It’s not really worth getting upset about. If we’re lucky, in a year no one will even know who she is, but for the time being, I have to say how much it bothers me that 1. Katy Perry is making music, and 2. is popular even among groups that see right through her shallow lyrics. I mean I have friends that love this song; I’ve heard it at dance clubs; it’s like there’s this weird acceptance, even revelry, in horrible, innane pop songs that I fail to understand. I’m sure if I asked an average adult why they liked the song, they’d make reference to it being catchy or “ironic,” or something, but I for one am sick TO DEATH of hearing this chart topper.

One thing I see different!

teetaz — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:09:44 +0000

well now when I watch Family Guy, I can point out all the references to popular culture! most of the jokes are now extremely more funny or just really fucked up! They make references to big news stories and political events all the time. For instance I was watching an episode on what suppose to happen on 9/11. And at one part of the show it cut to a scene of President Bush reading a book, upside down to a group of children. As in the popular story on this same incident, a secrete service official walks over and tells him in his ear of what is going on, and he stares at the kids looks around then continues to keep reading. Its funny now, but it seemed unbelievable when it was first seen on television, but because it was on this cartoon it was funny and also made it cut at my continuousness.

One thing I learned

mwenkus — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:47:59 +0000

I did an Art History paper comparing the Art Institute and the Field Museum to an ancient Greek temple. As I was comparing the similarities of these institutions to ancient Greek architecture, I realized, one how much the Western World is influenced by ancient Greek art, and two, these institutions are regarded as prestigious because they resemble this old (credible) architecture with large columns. It is an example of high culture/pop culture. The Civic Opera building with its massive gray columns and Ionic capitals looks like a credible place to hold an opera. A Wicker Park venue with steal bars on the windows does not. Thats a stretched example. A different example, someone who knows jack about art is more likely to take a painting of a man and women standing in front of a farm house with a pitch-fork seriously when the picture is an old looking institution rather than a reconverted storefront.

Exam Image: Section D, Question 1

emilyeaston — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:47:47 +0000

Wiley, Kehinde, “Prince Tomasso Francesco of Savoy-Carigiano.” 2005.

Assi #13 ahhh….

harmondemetrius — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:46:41 +0000

Where in our readings have we come across this idea of “agency” before? Choose one reading and discuss how agency was either a key part of understanding the overall meaning of the reading, or how perhaps you felt that agency explained more than the author accounted for on his/her own.

Be specific. What reading are you talking about (name & author please)? How are you defining agency in the terms of the article? Who has it? Who doesn’t? And, how perhaps did that situation come about? Does the author explain or are these your speculations?

“Metaphors to live by: Landscapes as systems of social Reproduction”

Don Mitchell…

Well i think that if agency means making choices in other words having the power to do something. If felt this reading kinda expressed “agency” because it talks about how we apprehend and take meaning from landscapes. When we are apprehending and taking meaning from various landscapes we have the power to choose which ones we want to look at and take meaning from. In the reading I believe that agency is on of the key parts in understanding this article. In this article the author said that for any contest over meaning, the key issue will always be one of “power”. In other words a person with agency can pick and choose which meanings he or she wants to go with.

Assignment 13

mcmillankid — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:44:50 +0000

The “Get real” article was something I found to have some great examples of agency. White women were shown in a light that made them seem like ads and advice columns from fashion magazines caused unconscious action from them, they felt like they related and acted out on the subject matter. These girls would most likely be strolling down the cosmetic aisle and grab that cover girl without question. The magazine has a style set up like “This is what a girl is/does”. When a black girl read the magazines it was like a road block appeared on every other page for them. The subject matter was so opposite of their tastes all the way up to the ads, because the ads were so polar opposite of their desires they couldn’t be sueded. These girls were not brought up and cultured in the all American girl style. They truly though about every detail, rather than the white girls who just simply related to almost everything.

Blog 13

shl33face — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:29:51 +0000

I’m using my pass on this one. I’ve been too sick to function these past few days.

~ShleeeelhS~

Assignment #13

eriback — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:03:18 +0000

When Mom and Dad Share it all by Lisa Belkin.

TT illustrates that our choices are made up in contexts we do not control. The families make choices everyday that support the lifestyle they strive to embody, one that emulates equality and allows for the the parental duties to be fairly divided between both parents. The article points out that this lifestyle is not for every family though. In order to refuse the cultural norms and consciously make choices that are seen as unconventional and are often less convenient takes certain resources. The amount of agency these families have is dependent on their access to money. The wealthier families have more flexibility and the ability to make career choices that fit their ideology, yet often result in lower pay. A husband that works a blue collar job that allows just enough money for rent and bills and food does not have the option of opting for part-time in order to allow for more time to do his share of household and parental duties. This does not go to say that this man and his wife do not wish to share these responsibilities equally, it merely demonstrates how agency is constrained by lacking sufficient funds and is enabled by acquired wealth.

Assignment 13

teetaz — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:53:40 +0000

In Lisa Duke’s, “Get Real” article which talked about how race/angency has a big part in what woman really feel about magazines concerning them. White woman seem to be a agent that is taken into consideration when it comes to what is put into magazines like “Vouge” “seventeen” and ect. Because black woman are seen in reality as these strong figures who are not really bothered with weight gain, relationship issues, and the latest fashion they are most likely not featured in these magazines. Unlike white woman who talk about these issues more often than likely, and are seen through celebrities whom take on these same topics, they are mostly to go buy these magazines, because they can see themselves in every page. And as being an agent for this race in a whole an less for woman in general, these magazines make it clear where there influence come from in ads, article topics, and through the girls who were pick for the study that Duke’s article was based on.