There's More Than Meets The Eye

    Taking a class like popular culture is important in your academic and lifetime success because it teaches more than essays arguing whether Marilyn Monroe and Pamula Anderson are both important sex symbols of their time, it teaches important life skills such as critical thinking, listening, and organization. For popular culture classes the context of these classes are merely a bonus that you learn while the major aspects you are suppose to take from classes like these are important life skills that will help you grow as both a student and a successful human being. I know quite a few people in my life who could have learned how to listen a little better or learned better organizational skills and these skills are skills that can be learned from classes like popular culture classes.

Happiness, It's More Than What You Buy

       In the article Billy Sim Chuck Klosterman explains how he makes a Sims avatar that he tries to model exactly after himself. What Klosterman struggles to do however, is to model the avatars personality after his own. After all do we really even know our own personality or who we really are? Because Klosterman struggles to mold SimChuck's personality into that of his own he experiences trouble when trying to make SimChuck happy. Normal things that make people happy like friends and hobbies don't cut it for SimChuck. Instead, materialistic things like expensive TVs and beds are what make SimChuck happy, so Klosterman buys his SimChuck expensive things that make SimChuck happy for the moment but this happiness doesn't last long. SimChuck wants natural happiness, which is the happiness one feels when they recieve what they want, and Klosterman buys SimChuck the expensive things to try to give him natural happiness but what SimChuck exhibits and what most people in our society fail to realize is that the things that we think will make us happy for a long time won't actually make you happy for that long. SimChuck does recieve natural happiness by recieving the expensive, materialistic items that he desired but only for a short period of time. In order to have long lasting happiness SimChuck must broaden his horizen and start focusing on things like friendships and hobbies rather than nice cars and houses.

Smart Phones, Lazy People

      Smart phones came around during the Millennial Generation and are arguably the one thing that can describe our generation the most. The Millennial Generation is thought of as lazy and good at adapting to new technology. Well of course a generation would be lazy if they had the answer to any question or anything they've ever wanted to know right in their hand. Our generation doesn't have to work hard in school and read books to find answers to their questions like previous generations had to, all they have to do is type their questions into Google. If they have iPhones they don't even have to type out the question, they can just ask Siri. Because students today don't have to work as hard to learn new things, they haven't established the work ethic that previous generations, like maybe their parents, have.
       So our generation might be a little lazy, but what we are good at is adapting and learning new advances in technology. We've grown up with computers and Smart Phones and because of this we feel familiar with them. A system update might be scary for previous generations using Smart Phones because that means change but for our generation it is simply a chance to navigate through and learn a new system. For most of us in our generation it is exciting to have the most advanced technologies and software programs and because of this it allows technology advances to spread faster through the public.

Roommates from Hell

       If I were to produce a reality TV show using Kirkwood students I would make a prank show about a student who gets set up by their friends to live with a total stranger, in one of the apartment buildings, that is there to make the student, who is set up, life hell. In order to create drama we could direct the student who is "in the know" and playing along, let's call them student B, to do things like eat all of student A's food that's in the fridge or use all of student A's beauty products. The drama would just unfold and it would be entertaining to watch how student A would react. In order to not make this feel too much like reality and keep viewers interested the pranks that student B would pull would have to be more devious and creative than normal pranks people pull and student A's reactions might have to be edited to appear more escalated than they actually were. It would be kind of like a blind date gone wrong but instead it would be someone you live with and can't just walk out on at a restaurant.

Be Masculine Or Die Tryin'

        How does one become a man? What's so special about being a man anyways? Every young boy is told at some point in their life to be a man, implying that being anything else (such as a woman) would be simply inferior. They are taught to be masculine and tough, but how does one become a man and establish their masculinity? In our last few reading they have discussed what it means to them to become a man. In the reading Knockout Punch becoming a man is related to both sports and war. War helps young boys become a man, it shows them what it means to be tough as well as other lessons such as "play when you're hurt", "Your enemy is inferior", and "Only girls cry". When war is not an option, young boys can learn these lessons from playing sports. This is further shown when we watched the documentary Football High young teens are told to push themselves to be stronger and be better and that is how you become a man. The idea of masculinity is also shown in advertising through the use of "Malboro Man"a cowboy used to sell Malboro cigarettes. This cowboy exhibits our societies ideals of what masculinity is and what it means to be a man. He is a loner and can survive on his own, doing everything for himself. He also is someone who delivers, he always gets the animals he is herding to where they need to go

Mean World or Feared World

       We constantly hear about the issue of violence, violence is everywhere and one issue everyone is always concerned about is the effect of this constant exposure of violence in the media on children. Studies show that children who are exposed to excessive violence are more likely to act violently but studies also show that violence in the media is increasing but violence and crime are decreasing. George Gerbner spent his entire life addressing this exact issue. One major issue he brings up is that we have always been exposed to violence, this is nothing new to us. We can't even compare someone who isn't exposed to violence to someone who is because everyone has been exposedto violence in someway. Another issue Gerbner brings up is that fact that an increase in exposure to violence in the media does not result in an increase of crime but rather an increase of fear of our surroundings. Gerbner's studies show that people who experience violence more are more likely to be afraid and to think that crime rates are greater than they actually are. These people are also more likely to report that they believe crime is increasing when the reality of the fact is that crime has actually been declining. A third issue Gerbner brings up is the stereotypes constantly portrayed in medias especially when it comes to violence and race. African American are always showed as either really successful, rich, powerful people or violent criminals. Latinos are also discriminated against by being shown as immigrants who cause nothing but trouble and act out in violent ways, not the productive members of society that they generally are. These stereotypes are wrong on so many level especially when you take into account the fact that most violent crimes are committed by Caucasians. Clearly there are so many other things to consider when discussing the issue of violence.

High on Football

        Parents put their kids in sports as soon as they are old enough and our culture and society suggest that sports are what make you a man and give you masculinity, young kids are starting to feel the pressure of becoming bigger and better than ever before. This constant pressure is pushing some teens past the limit to a dangerous point. In the document Football High we are shown that doctors have been studying the effects of playing football on the brain. Helmets are only worn to protect against skull fractures, not concussions and other internal brain damage and that's where the problem comes about. Football players even in high school have a decreased ability to remember things over the course of the football season because of the effect hits that they take have on their brains. The only solution to this problem is to take out the aggressive physical contact that football is based around or to better design our football helmets so that they protect against both skull fractures as well as brain damage that occurs from being hit and tackled all the time.
        Another issue brought up by this documentary is the issue of these players not knowing their own physical limits. Because of the constant pressures they face to be bigger and better than everyone else they push themselves even harder than ever before and some of them don't know how far is too far. We are given an example in the documentary of a young gentlemen who pushed himself so hard in practice that he had a heat stroke and eventually passed away. Players are also playing with injuries, they aren't taking into account the effects their actions they are taking will have on their body down the road. A solution to this problem is changing the views of our entire culture and society but in the mean time we could educate these football players on what could happen in the future if they don't take care of their bodies now.

Porn Princess at Duke

         What's the difference between a Duke college student and a porn star? Well in this case nothing because they happen to be the same person. Lauren, a freshman at Duke, caused an uproar around the country when she revealed that she is a student during the school week and a porn star on the weekends. She even appeared on multiple talk shows explaining her reasoning behind her decision. One talk show she appeared on was The View, while being interviewed Lauren was asked questions like "What happened in your life that caused you to make this decision?" implying that something bad must have happened or something must be wrong with Lauren and that's why she decided to star in porn. This shows that a portion of our society today looks down on porn as a career and believes people who choose this path are making a mistake. Lauren proceeded to defend herself, saying that doing porn actually "empowers" her because she has control over her sexuality. Afterwards one of the hosts on The View responded by saying that their "heart breaks" hearing Lauren say that and they feel "sad" that Lauren feels this way.
           On the other hand, Take Part aired this story and defended Lauren as well as focused on the growing social problem, the increasing cost to get a college education. The tuition for a year at Duke is $60,000 which no high school graduate going to school full time can pay out of pocket with out help from parents, scholarships, and federal aid. Even with all those aids the cost can still be very overwhelming and hard to cover. Lauren decided that in order to pay to go to Duke, her dream school, she would start starring in pornographic movies. One of the hosts on Take Part argues that Lauren isn't doing anything illegal and this shouldn't even be news in the first place and I agree with that host. Why do we as a society worry about this particular college student paying for school by making porn when people have been doing this for awhile now. Girls making money off of their bodies and using that money to pay for school is not something unheard of and it is their decision to do what they choose with their body. I personally believe we have better things to worry about, like the fact that a college's tuition is $60,000 a year but a college education is almost a necessity anymore.

Sexy Knees Sell, Unsexy Knees Don't

        In this Kenneth Cole advertisement promoting Black a new fragrance for men it states that "It's better in the dark" the connotation of this statement is that sex is better in the dark. Kilbourne would not only have a problem with the suggestive and sexual statement of "It's better in the dark" but also with the fact that the woman pictured is being objectified. The woman's face isn't shown which shows that she is merely an object to have sex with "in the dark" and not a human being. Kilbourne would also object to the fact that the woman is blind folded which usually is done before violence occurs so people can't see their attacker but in this ad the act of blind folding is sexualized and partly numbs us to this act that tends to lead to violence afterwards.

            In this Dermocare Intensive Nourishing Cream it is pretty blatantly obvious that the ad is trying (and I would say succeeding at especially since my boyfriend just looked at the screen while I was writing this and asked me "Are those boobies?" ) to make a pair of knees look like a pair of breasts, Kilbourne would obviously object to this idea of turning women into objects and using their boobs or what appears to be breasts in order to sell things such as body cream. This ad even states "For sexier knees" but the reality is NOTHING is sexy about knees! They are merely a part of our body that we need in order to move and function, they are not sexual objects nor are they in any way attractive.

Silly Rabbit the Internet is for Kids

          In "The Lady or The Tiger" it is clear that advertising teaches us at a very young age the importance of being "cool" and how to obtain this coolness. It is also explained how our coolness changes as we get older. In elementary school and possibly even younger we were taught what was cool through cereal commercials, the Trix rabbit could never have the cereal but young children could and that's what makes them cool. When you get into High School you focus less on being cool and a lot more on just not being lame, advertisers use this so they can portray objects so that it seems everyone else has them so you should too. When you reach adulthood semi-originality, but not to the point of weirdness, is what makes you "cool."
           So how does advertising and coolness relate to the vices and virtues of the internet? Through social media of course, with the beginning of this age of the internet critics believed that individuals would become isolated and soon lack important social skills needed in work places and other social situations. This criticism was quickly proven wrong with the start of social media websites that actually connect a lot more people and not only connect more people but people with similar interests and views. Recently however, social medias have had a focus on who on the internet is cool and who is not. As young people we strive to be cool and one reassurance that we are cool is by getting a bunch of likes and favorites on your social media sites. This shows not only you but also the world that you are likable, relatable, and even cool. We all strive to be cool and the internet works as a tool to help us become cool.

Popularity Never Felt So Good

         In the documentary "Generation Like" we are shown the world of social media that many, if not all of us as young adults, know so well. It seems like everyone is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram now-a-days and we all crave the likes, retweets, and favorites that show acceptance and approval from our followers. With popularity online comes an opportunity as well. "Generation Like" shows us that Companies draw into these social medias and our need to be connected and will pay people such as vloggers to endorse their products on their videos. With this the marketers then become the consumers.
          Another big point made in this documentary is that Companies are constantly monitoring and recording every single action that we make on the internet. They use this data in order for them to twist and manipulated their products into our social medias and hopefully into our interests. An example would be the new Hunger Games movie, the marketing team for the movie is actually controlling and manipulating every bit of information that comes out in order to build up a big excitement for the movie. This way they don't release all of the information at once and maintain our interest in the new movie without us forgetting about it. Although the marketing team would never admit to this.

Spaghetti Sauce, Mustard, and Happiness

According to Dan Gilbert "Natural Happiness is when we get what we want and synthetic happiness is what we get when we don't get what we want." Before Howard Moskowitz, it was believed that people wanted the most cultured foods and chefs assumed they knew the perfect way to make a dish. There was no variability in our food, no decisions to be made. Because of all this the relationship between food and our happiness was purely synthetic. We weren't able to choose what variety of spaghetti sauce or mustard we thought we would enjoy more. We were simply stuck with the one kind that food producers thought we wanted and because of this we weren't happy we got what we wanted, we were just happy with what we had.

 

Howard Moskowitz constructed experiments to find out what kind of spaghetti sauce people wanted. When he asked them they never once said chunky but after many taste tests it turns out one third of Americans actually preferred chunky tomato sauce and thus began variability in our food. Moskowitz stated that there aren't hierarchies of food, or mustard in this case, "there is a horizontal plane of different mustards suited for different people" and "In embracing the diversity of human beings we will find a sure way to true happiness." Now that we are able to choose the variety of spaghetti sauce or mustard that we want, the relationship between food and our happiness is that of natural happiness. We can choose what we want and therefore be happy because we got what we wanted.