Don't forget boys!

This may be something that we are discussing in association with the superheroes on Thursday, but I wanted to mention how Disney movies and other cartoons may affect little boys growing up as well. On top of the princess culture, which I believe is extremely evident in today's culture, I think that the image that is projected on boys is equally important.
In all of these fairy tales and Disney movies there are three main depictions of men: the prince charming, the evil antagonist, or the goofy sidekick. In movies like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast there is always the scary guy whose main goal is to destroy the protagonist (i.e. Jafar and Gaston) but there is also the sidekick who is plucky comic relief as well as does whatever the main guy says (Genie and LeFou – I did have to look that last one up).
I believe that growing up this affects young boys by saying there are only three main roles you have to fill as you grow older. Not every single person can be the main hero or the goofy sidekick. It is equally as unfair to expect all guys to turn into the stunning prince charming or the homeless, yet muscular street rat with a heart of gold.
What it comes down to ultimately is the fact that there are stereotypes in every movie. Even though children’s’ minds are more moldable, I believe that just as many stigmas are being fed to us as adults. Chick flicks and spy movies both have dozens of references to girls only being happy after they found love, or men being smooth, buff guys all the time. It is shocking how much of these are shown in Disney movies at such a young age, but I also believe that in this day and age it is not something that we can easily escape from.

Reality TV taking over?

In class yesterday we were talking about the increasing popularity of reality TV in today’s society. One student even ventured as far as to say that reality TV is the only option we have when we click on the television. While I don’t agree with that statement one hundred percent, I do agree with the fact that reality TV shows are infesting our popular culture. One reason I have noticed this is because a place that was once untouched by reality TV, is now giving in to the madness and similar shows are popping up all over it. This portal is none other than hulu.com I am an avid Hulu watcher and one thing that has become more and more common is the trend of airing reality TV shows only available online. I plan on bringing a clip of one of these shows as my example to class on Thursday, but there are a few others that should be mentioned as well. The one I plan on talking about Thursday is called the Genuine Ken, where eight men compete to be the ultimate boyfriend modeled after Barbie and Ken. Yes, the dolls. The clip will only reiterate how ridiculous this show sounds. Another one they have is a show where couples have a car and race across all these different obstacles to win a prize, while simultaneously shoving some brand names down our throats. Recently there has been a reality dance show that aired on Hulu as well. I don’t mind reality TV, and I definitely don’t think it is the only thing on television to watch. But from what I have seen interrupting my views on Hulu, it is in the process of taking over all forms of technology, not just on the TV. I hope that it doesn’t come to a point where it is the only thing left to watch, especially on Hulu which was previously my sanctuary away from the madness of reality television.

Facebook invading roadtrips?

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

I, like one of millions on Sunday night, sat down to watch the Packers play the Steelers in Super Bowl 2011. I do enjoy a good football game, but what interests me more about the Super Bowl every year is the commercials.
One that caught my attention this year was one of the many car commercials they showed during the breaks. The Chevrolet Cruze is a new car coming out this year, and although I am not really a fan of Chevy (I prefer Fords) this commercial is very interesting. It depicts a girl and boy on their first date, and the girl leans in to kiss the boy before heading inside. Smiling and somewhat satisfied the boy climbs into his new 2011 Chevy Cruze and drives home. Alas, he cannot wait those sacred two days to call the girl and find out if the date was a success. Luckily this new car not only has OnStar to save him during an emergency, it also has a button that allows you to check Facebook right there in your car! He clicks the button and, thank goodness, his date is the first person to post a new status proclaiming that it was the Best First Date Ever. All is right in the world and the guy can drive home in peace knowing the date went as planned.
In class we talked about social media and how it seems to be taking over the world slowly, yet surely. We discussed the new smart phones and whether they are media sites or simply tools to access social media domains. I think this commercial proves that the phones, and now cars, are tools to keep us constantly attached to our Facebook (Twitter, Myspace, etc) accounts. This commercial accurately depicts today’s generation and how addicted we truly are to posting everything that is going on in our lives. The fact that this girl immediately got home after the date and had to post about it shows that she is more concerned with telling the virtual world about it rather than just enjoying the feeling of a good first date. Also, the boy could not even wait ten minutes to get home and actually use a computer to check his Facebook. He had to find out seconds after the date ended to see if she replicated his feelings.
Is this commercial accurate? Is our generation so addicted to technology that our cars now have to have verbal Facebook and Twitter while we’re driving? I personally think people spend too much time on social networking sites to begin with, I cannot imagine how the trend will grow if car systems are thrown into the mix. I enjoy my car rides with some music and maybe some conversations, but now it seems like that is a thing of the past. Along with new cars zooming onto the roads, we have a whole new meaning of the information highway. Literally it is on the highway.

Commodification in TV

In class last week we talked about commodification in the media. It was defined as the blending of advertisements within programming. Some of the examples we used were The Truman Show and popular brands of soda used in reality shows. The first thing that came to my mind was the television show American Idol. The blatantly obvious commododification in the show is the Coca-Cola use. The judges are all shown drinking out of Coke glasses, and there are multiple commercials for the soda brand throughout the duration of the show. This is similar to what we discussed in class and not that out of the ordinary for most reality TV shows. I think that if you watch more of the show, you can see that American Idol crosses the line of simple advertising and begins to shove products down your throat.
The finalists of American Idol always do group songs together during the show, and sometimes they create actual music videos for viewers to watch. This would be completely harmless if the music video was not sponsored by Ford. Due to the fact that American Idol has corporate sponsorship the music videos that they show morph into a three minute commercial with some catchy pop song with one goal in mind: to make you buy a Ford. It is one thing for a television show to have commercial breaks, but when the products are being thrown at you throughout the entirety of the episode it gets a bit ridiculous. I think American Idol takes commodification to another, way more annoying level. I hope that media does not continue on this downward spiral into consumerism and focuses more on the actual substances of television shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB0VUAJyFM0

Pop Culture Influencing Comedy Choice

Today in class we discussed types of movies and TV shows that we assumed we would hate until we gave them a chance. Some classmates mentioned Jersey Shore, Seinfeld, and Friends as television shows that they found out they enjoyed after they finally watched them. During this discussion I kept thinking about an instance where the exact opposite happened to me. This did not involve a TV show, or movie, or musical group but rather stand up comedians. I love stand up comics and I used to spend hours watching specials on Comedy Central or Youtube. One comic I used to watch endlessly was Dane Cook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdv2exhGxU4&feature=related
I thought he was so relative and funny, until something changed my mind. I saw a MadTV sketch where they made fun of Dane Cook and the damage was done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMV4kwbSdw4
In class people mentioned shows they thought they would dislike until they gave it a chance, but in my case I liked something until I saw another form of media that was trashing it. The pop culture references in the MadTV skit showed me another side of Dane Cook and after watching it, I could never take his comedy material seriously anymore. It was hard to watch him and laugh at his jokes instead of his mannerisms and excessive amounts of hair gel.
I realize that many people still think Dane Cook is funny. His multiple roles in romantic comedies have proven that. I just kept thinking about how easily my mind was changed after seeing the Dane Cook parody. It really proves how much popular culture can influence what we think is funny and entertaining, and how quickly our minds can be changed. And unfortunately, how it can even lower the ticket sales for Dane Cook comedy shows by one person.