The task is the same, but the lens used may be different and the exhibit/subject/topic must be different. These three are training you to remain a critical thinker for life, one who challenges the norm, questions "reality," and contemplates on deeper levels than most civilians.
With this class, you're constantly working on How To Think. Colleges will want thinkers who do precisely what these blog tasks demand (I know because I consistently ask my professor friends at various area private and public colleges and universities). Complain if you'd like, but all these exercises are done for you, to help you improve your intellectual capabilities for college.
Select any exhibit and analyze it with 400+ words. Use the "Critical Lenses 101" handout. Look in the EXACT way the "Critical Lenses 101" handout tells you to as a critic. Ask the EXACT questions the "Critical Lenses 101" handout tells you to ask. Have the "Critical Lenses 101" handout with you as you study your exhibit and as you write this blog task. If you do not refer to the "Critical Lenses 101" handout enough or effectively, your grade will be cut in half because you are not following directions and are not thinking in the directed way.
“EXHIBIT” = novel, play, song, sculpture, film, poem, concert, painting, myth, sketch, poster, artwork, photograph, t-shirt, television show, biography, speech, advertisement, event, place/building (school, office), game, practice, rehearsal, ritual, haircut/style, website, routine, brochure, suit coat...
Three sample exhibits: "Halo," a popular video game; "American Gothic," a famous painting by Grant Wood; and "The Singing Butler," a famous painting by Jack Vettriano
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"The Sword in the Stone," a Walt Disney's Classic movie can be looked at through the three lenses that we have studied in class, which are also mentioned in the "Critical Lenses 101" handout.
Through the Marxist Crtical Lens, you can tell that money matters a lot in this movie. All the people of England want to be rich. It definitely shows in that the reason as to why all the boys and men of England want to be king is so that they can be rich. After all, money is power, right? Each boy or man of England goes to this designated location where a sword is stuck in this stone. Each of these men are desperate to pull that sword from the stone, because the one who succeeds becomes the king of England, meaning lots of money. The power system matters/functions in this exhibit in that the richest is the top, or the upper class that is most admired and has the most control/power. You are more listened to if you are more rich. For example, if you were the king of England, because you are the richest, people would listen to you more and be in your favor. The next class in this superstructure, right below the rich, are the wise and preferrably older. The rich and the wise interact with each other in that the rich hire the wise. For example, Merlin the wizard, who is very wise, would be hired by the king. The next class down would be just the middle class, like Arthur's (or Wort's, as his name was before he became king) caretakers. Lastly, the bottom class would be the poor, or those who can't take take of themselves and live with the middleclass (in this case preferrably the young too). The Wort, or Arthur would be this at the beginning of the movie. You could say that Arthur climbed the "social/economic ladder" when he was able to pull the sword from the stone. He went from the bottom class to the top by becoming the king of England. Throughout this movie, the bottom class seemed fairly happy because they do not dream of climbing up this "social/economic ladder" anyways, but the rest of the classes seemed very unsatisfied for the reason that they weren't the top. With the exception of the wise class, because they seem content with where they are at.
Through the Feminist Critical Lens, there seems to be a very precise male dominance in this movie. There are hardly any women in this movie, and when there are, they seem to be silly and just act off of emotions. Women in this film are portrayed/depicted as emotional and childish in this movie it seems. For instance, when Merlin changes Arthur and himself into squirrels, they meet up with some female squirrels. Although the boys tend to like being with the girl squirrels at first, they become a handful. They are depicted at crazy-like. So then Merlin and Arthur try to get rid, or run away from the girl squirrels, and after they finally get rid of them, the girls cry and wimper for the reason that they have been rejected. Hense an emotional depiction. Also, the part where Merlin meets up with the female witch in her cabin, the witch is portrayed as emotional too. This is for the reason that at the end of the witch and wizard duel standoff, the witch cries and sobs because she has been defeated. She also pouts because she recieved a cold in the process.
"The Sword in the Stone" can be looked at through the Freudian Critical Lens as well. In the mind of Arthur in this exhibit, he has a goal of freedom from his caretakers. He also wants to learn a lot it seems. All of the other characters in this movie have the dream of becoming royalty. They seek power and to be noticed, as well as the luxeries of being rich. Arthur's caretakers especially 'envy' Arthur at the end of the movie when they realize that he has been the true king-to-be all along. They are heavy with 'guilt' that they treated him the way they did, almost as if he was their slave before. So all in all, this film has a Freudian perspective as well.
Sara Barnes
Pd. 6
I recently came across an ad in Cosmopolitan magazine that was for secret deodorant. The scent of the deodorant is called “Va Va Vanilla” in the ad there is a woman who is gorgeous, but in a HUGE ball gown and there are flowers and things around her to suggest that she is very wealthy. There are beads and an amazing chandelier that is hanging above her, and also a tiger lying on the floor next to her. Tigers are usually used to show money, or that someone has money, like in the movie “The Hangover”, Mike Tyson has a tiger and is well known for being rich. The woman looks as if she is standing on a balcony with (obviously fake) mountains behind her, as if she is living in a fairy tale.
Using a feminist lens, the woman is being objectified. The dress is very low cut and the waste of the dress is tiny showing off her figure. This ad is basically stating that if you use this deodorant that you will be able to live in a fairy tale land, which cannot happen. The woman looks extremely happy, as if all of her dreams have come true because she used this deodorant. There are words above the golden banner with the scent saying “When you’re strong, you sparkle”. Using a feminist lens, this is saying that you are strong because you use their deodorant. A feminist could like this statement because they like when women are personified as strong or confident. They might not like it because she is being used as more of a symbol of money.
Using a Freudian lens, the woman could be looked at as living in a dream. Freud was famous for analyzing things such as dreams and subconscious thinking. A lot of little girls always read in books that it would be so cool to be a princess, and grow up thinking that girls are meant to be princesses and if you are not then you are less of a girl. In this ad, all of her DREAMS have come true, just because of this deodorant.
I found this ad right next to the natural enhancement pills for women. I sort-of laughed when I came across it because it is very obvious that they want this to appeal to women, so why not put it right next to what many women will look at, because many women are unhappy with the way they look in this area, so a lot of girls will look at it.
I chose to analyze the movie “Drumline” as my exhibit for my blog. This movie has many great examples of the inner workings of a “government” inside of a college. The main character, Devon, has just graduated high school and is admitted to Atlanta A&T college to be in the marching band, specifically on the drum line. While here, he has to pass a series of tests by both the professors and the students in order to be accepted by his peers. One of his tests that his professors administer is a skills test, which ranks the student from P4’s to P1’s; the lower the number, the higher the rank. The students even get in on this judging by watching their performances and judging by flashing their lights and honking their horns a certain number of times; this number being their P rank. Devon passes with flying colors, memorizing the music and receiving a P1 ranking from the professors and his peers, the first freshman to ever do so. I’m not sure of the significance of these rankings, other than bragging rights, because during practice the band is separated by section, not by ranking. You can see all of the different social classes during practice, but these imaginary boundaries melt away off the field. During practice you see the drum line, the tuba players, and the trumpet players in their own group, and so on. Off the field, the students are rooming, partying, and associating with each other as if those P1-4 numbers are nonexistent. Students aren’t stuck with their rankings though, there are two ways that students can climb the social ladder and earn higher spots on the field: they can either wait for a new evaluation at the start of the next school year, or they can challenge higher ups of their section to a musical duel in front of their peers to switch places. The system can sometimes treat their members poorly as well. This system is much like the systems in high schools all around the world; the lower on the ladder you are, the worse you get treated. In high school, freshman always get the initiation and always get treated poorly. This system is much like that in the fact that the P4’s have to do all of the “grunt work” like polish the drums before all of their performances at the games and against other schools.
i choose to analyze the House of Night book series.
Marxist:
How do social classes interact with each other?
In the House of Night series social class is everything. it determines everything from where you go to who out with. In the series the social classes are divided according to what year you are and if you have been given a gift by the goddess, Nyx. But even being gifted by the goddess doesn't get you in the highest class. if your gift is not understood my everyone then you are looked at as an outcast and walked over like the dirt of the ground. the interaction between the social classes is minimal. the high class reigns over the lower class and controls the school.
Are the lower/working classes exploited?
as mentioned before the lower classes in this series are treated like dirt they are used as refrigerators, drained of part of their blood for consumption of the high class during a ritual performed at a group meeting. they are dehumanized and treated like belongings.
Are the characters given more/less freedom by their class?
In this book people are given more freedom by their class. The high class is given more freedom than any group. They are given the most freedom from their class but also from the teachers. Due to their high status the teachers give them more freedom and excuse any wrong behavior. The teachers also excuse the high class because of the money. The higher class students are from rich families and with mommy and daddy paying large sums of money to the school to keep their kids happy the school officials look away on the things that happen.
Freudian:
Are any of the characters repressing any of their true urges, dream or goals?
In the books you see the main character Zoey struggle as she tries to repress her urges to drink blood, which whose taste she has acquired early in her years. She has to repress her urge to drink blood even though she has many young men willing to allow her a bit of theirs. Zoey also deals with repressing her old dreams that went along with her human life. As she becomes a vampyre, spelling from book, she has to give up some of her life dreams and become the new version of herself.
Are there any sexual symbols? Do these symbols imply anything about power?
There are many sexual symbols throughout the series. The most talked about or mentioned ones are the symbols worn by everyone at the school. Each class or grade has a different symbol that they wear on their clothing. and each symbol is in a way a sexual symbol and as you go up in grade your symbol becomes even more powerful with each year showing the strength and might of each year over the next and the teachers have the most powerful and sexually related symbol.
What is going on in the mind of any character in an exhibit?
Aphrodite: Her mind is full of herself and that is it. she is a complete narcissist and her mind barely leaves thought of herself.
Zoey: Her mind would be filled with thoughts of other people and how she wants to help them.
Erik Night(love interest of Zoey): his mind would be on Zoey first of all and also on the world and making it a better place to live.
For my last blog, I am going to analyze the NFL. Many people in today's society just watch the games for the huge hits and explosive touchdowns. A lot more goes on behind the scenes however that seems to go unseen. Looking at the league through a Marxist lens, one would definitely notice the power struggles and how a player can go from the top to the bottom like a snap of some fingers. Nothing is promised in life and it shows through our actions as we can slip up and tragically loose everything. These professional football players, any professional athlete in general, thinks that they are too important or "godly" that nothing can touch them and they can do as they please. A Feminist critic would be angry at the NFL for many reasons. For one, it is unquestionably a men's league as all the players are men and all the coaching staff is male. Women are usually thought of being not able to handle the hard hits and the toll that the game brings. Football has many female fans, however they can't play it because of their physque, and many females are angry at the fact that this is the way it is. Men are usually not limited to their choices on which sports they can play, as there are some men's volleyball leagues. A Feminist critic is rejoiced as there have been many powderpuff football leagues created so the women that want to play football can get that opportunity. Feminist critics are definitely the most angered by how American husbands ditch their wives and families to be apart of the fun that is the NFL. Now with the easy access of fantasy football, it is easier than ever to be engulfed in the fantasy world and to leave the real world. These men don't realize the stress that they add to their kids and their wives as they have no problem going to a friends house or to the bar to watch their teams or players with intense fanhood. Kids need parents to grow and to learn from and it is hard to do that if the parent isn't around cause he is too busy checking his fantasy football stats and scores. Looking at it through a Phreudian lens, one would think of the dreams that every young boy has, to be a professional football player some day. Eventually, most kids will realize that that dream is unreachable and will start to strive for the reachable, like college and carrers. For the other "lucky" ones, they win the genetic lottery and they follow their Phreudian dreams.
I was bored looking through one of my dad’s guitar magazines when I came across an ad that was trying to sell a guitar. She had a skimpy black swimsuit on with a tattoo on her butt and she had long black hair. She was attractive but she was slumped down and pretty much on the guitar holding the end of the guitar. In Marxist lens, money to spend on the guitar would give you the happiness and opportunity to be with a girl like that. Most likely men will pick up this magazine so they have no men almost naked in it. The top of the guitar is almost like a ladder. She is showing us where she is on that ladder because her hand is on the top of it. Almost like a social ladder? Maybe the guy has to play that key or play that well to get there. In a feminist lens the women has big lips and if any rocker chick would look at this picture they would idolize that women and want to be like her. When you think of rock stars they have natural roles to have rocker chicks that usually have dark hair and black clothes. This ad will attract them to get that guitar then. Maybe they will think that they can get with this woman if they have it. There are no limitations because of how she is dressed. Women are betrayed as slutty, punky, and bitchy. I think the social norms are the same for men and women because they are almost supposed to look a lot alike. A lot of tattoos, dark hair, piercings, skin showing etc. I think society would value them differently in certain jobs because no one would take them seriously or sometimes in the real world because people may look down on them or think that It’s cool either or. In a Freudian lens, the libidos influence the exhibit because it makes men know what she is going to do to him because of how she is holding the guitar, and that they can get someone like that woman in bed with him if he plays good and struts his stuff. The sexual symbols is her holding the guitar how she is. It shows power over the man. She is looking towards “us” and is saying what’s on her mind.
For my final blog task I will be analyzing my family. My family is close, and loving. We will and have gone to the ends of the earth for each other. Looking at my family through a Marxist lens one might believe we have a lot of money. That is not the case. We are an average American family with an average income. People will probably not believe this because of the types of cars my brother and I drive, ( me a Lexus RX 300 and him a Acura sports car). Yes we do have nice cars but if you look closely we keep our cars in good shape and clean for the most part. I do help pay for my car so I am not just receiving it but also earning it through work. I am also earning it through school and for good grades. My parents constantly joke that I will receive half of my car now and half after college because it is an incentive to keep good grades. They also say if I mess up and drop out they can sell the car and a year’s worth of tuition has just become available to help pay my debts. Other than what kind of cars we drive, we live in a modest ranch style house located near the ball diamonds. Sometimes people refer to this part of Brandon as the “ghetto”, but I don’t consider it “ghettoish” at all. Through a feminist lens we have an average family as well. My mom or I primarily cooks but every once in a while my dad will cook. We have yet to really get my brother to cook, he could probably cook anything that comes out of a box but nothing more. When it comes to yard work or handy man work around our house it is usually left up to the boys. I seemed to be challenged when it comes to anything to do with cars so I have my brother do car things for me. Through a Freudian lens you will see all the hopes and dreams that my parents have for my brother and I. They have everything set up so we have no excuse to fail in college or in life. They have given us all the tools, knowledge and smarts possible for the real world. I am ready. I am ready to graduate and start a new chapter in my life. This wouldn’t be possible without my family, they are my rock.
The last exhibit I will analyze is the movie Cinderella. This movie can ruin a little girl’s self-image because she will watch the movie and wish that she could look just like Cinderella, when in reality it is impossible because she is made up. Little girls will want to wear beautiful dresses, have the perfect skin and hair, and be skinny. Also as the girl grows up, she may think that the only way she will ever be able to find a husband is if she becomes Cinderella.
Using a Marxist Lens we see how money can effect a family. Money can make people greedy and disrespectful. “How does money matter/function in this exhibit?” Cinderella’s step mom gains money when Cinderella’s father dies. Instead of using the money for the good of the family, she spoils herself and her two daughters and treats Cinderella as a servant. While without Cinderella‘s father, the step mom would never have came into the money, but she does not care. “Do any of the characters climb the social/ economic ladder” Yes, Cinderella climbs the economic ladder because she marries a prince. If she never would have married the prince she probably would still be a servant to her evil step mom. Without the theme of money in the movie Cinderella, there would be no movie because this movie is based growing up poor and marring into a rich family. “Are the characters given more/less freedom by their class?” In this movie the freedom the characters receive is based on where they fall in the family. If they are step mom’s girls they receive lots of freedom and are treated as royalty being served on by Cinderella, even though they are the ones who have no money. Cinderella, on the other hand, is treated as a servant and not allowed to go to the ball, while her step sisters do. Even though Cinderella’s father is the one who gave the step mom money, Cinderella is still treated poorly because she is not a biological child of her step moms. Sometimes it is not where you fall on the economic ladder it is where you fall in the family.
Using a Feminist Lens we can see how Cinderella is put down and oppressed. “How are women portrayed/depicted in this exhibit?” Cinderella is depicted as a helpless, poor girl that the only way to save her is for the prince to swoop in and save her. On the other hand the step mom is portrayed as the strict on, which is kind of ironic because it is usually the father who is strict. This movie portrays Cinderella as an object that without her being saved, she is nothing. “Does gender matter?” Yes, gender does matter because it would make no sense to have a princess come and save Cinderella or for Cinderella to be a boy and have a princess save him. If the princess saved a poor boy, I don’t think the story would have become such a classic.
I am going to critically analyze the TV show “One Life to Live”. This show has been showing for many man years. But every person in it seems to be extremely wealthy. They can afford anything that they could ever want. Therefore I will analyze with the Marxist Lens using the Critical Lens 101 handout. (Questions are directly from the Critical Lens 101 handout.)
How does money matter?- In the show everyone is wealthy. This shows that they are powerful. Two of the main women compete constantly for the highest power. They are always trying to one up each other. Such as when they both ran for Mayor. The citizens chose Victoria but she had to back down because a major blow out happened in her family. Therefore Dorian Lord became mayor as downfall. This doesn’t really tell you which one has the power because Victoria won the election but Dorian is the mayor instead.
Do any characters climb the social/economic ladder?- There are a few characters who fluctuate on the economic ladder. Sometime the business Bucannan Enterprise does worse and at other times flourishes. Therefore the Bucannan family has problems at sometime. Also, Natalie Bucannan was raised by someone who was poor and instantly became wealthy once she was found out to be a Bucannan.
Are there social tensions?- Always! There are always people plotting against each other or competing against each other. No one seems to be happy unless they are plotting again one another. Even though most of the people in this show are wealthy they are not all happy. They are unhappy because their love lives are not working out the way that they wanted. The women are constantly fighting over men or men’s attention. And the men are always fighting for that ONE woman that they say is the love of their life.
Are characters given more/less freedom by their class?- The higher class always seems to get out of any kind of legal trouble they come across. In this show a wealthy, well looked upon person can kill another person and still get away and walk free. Mainly because they get the best of the best of lawyers. In real life though, there is almost no way that this would happen. There is simply so much evidence that could put them away. Also, they get off easily because almost everyone in town is “best friends” with the DA, and she always goes easier on her friends. Even when they do go to jail it is only for a couple days as where they should be there for years and years.
Are any of the characters “suffocated” by their class rules and codes?- Yes, Langston was an orphan that was adopted by Dorian Lord. She is now wealthy and expected to be a proper young lady. She is currently cheating on her boyfriend but doesn’t want to end the relationship because her boyfriend makes her seem more stable and more proper. She says she loves him and cares about him but she is only hurting him. She feels she has no choice but to keep the cheating between her and her other man, Ford. They hook up often and randomly and has gotten caught, but has told everyone that she cut things off with Ford and that she is devoted to her boyfriend, Markko. Her higher class says she should stick to someone who is stable such as Markko, but her ID is telling her to have fun and mess around with Ford.
I chose to analyze the Where’s Waldo book series for my final blog task. The images in the books are full of utter insanity. On each page you will find a specific exhibit such as: a track meet, museum, zoo, beach, airport, amusement park, and many countless others. Among the madness there are tons of subliminal messages and hidden images that relate directly to the three lenses that we have been studying in class throughout the year. Through the Marxist lens we see that money plays a huge role in these books. There are constantly people who are looking down upon the others and flaunting their fancy clothes and wealth. In some cases, the rich even physically step on the poor. How do social classes interact with each other? The wealthy literally and figuratively treat the poor like dirt. The rich are seen to occasionally use the poor as their slaves catering to the upper class’ every need. In addition, in other places of the book the rich seem to be just flat out irritated with the poor; they shoo them away and look absolutely disgusted with the peasants. Through the Feminist lens we see that women are mere sex objects and must be chauffeured around by men everywhere they go. In almost every location throughout the book we see men holding their women’s hand as if they were the men’s property. If a woman does not have a man she is wearing either a short skirt or a shirt that accentuates her cleavage immensely in order to attract a man. Should we scrap our created gender roles and stereotypes? Yes, most definitely, it is putrid and disappointing that this book is portraying women as either sex toys or as property. There is not one image in the book that depicts women as powerful or independent people who can fend for themselves. Through the Freudian lens we see that this book is extremely suggestive and permits promiscuity. How does libido influence this exhibit? The men and women found in the book have very few clothing on and are constantly trying to attract one another with their physical appearance and sexuality. Flirting and flaunting are major themes throughout this exhibit. Is the id winning in any character? The id seems to be winning in most of the people in the book; all of them seem to be free spirited and doing whatever they please no matter how corrupt it may seem. How are characters seeking stages of narcissistic bliss? Many of the characters in the book have their eyes closed and seem to be almost in a complete daze and totally oblivious to what is happening around them.
"Surrogates" is a great example of a negative utopia. A disabled scientist is driven to create the first surrogate. Within a few years, surrogates and surrogate accessories are as common as cars and televisions. People now leave their houses on the rarest of occasions and become addicted to the control that the surrogates provide. Anybody can get one and those who do not are shunned into poverty. The director is trying to warn us about the potential dangers of modern technology and how our addiction to technology is beginning to get out of control. The earliest signs of this can be found in MMO-RPG video games like the World of Warcraft. Games like this provide a world without fear and a world where anything is possible with your character or surrogate. Role playing games such as this are the pioneers of what could be a much greater plan. There are people who are as addicted to these games as the people in "Surrogates" are to their surrogates. The only remaining obstacle is time. In time, technology will bridge the gap and we will no longer walk with our bodies; we will walk with our minds. Humanity will always seek perfection in every way possible and the bar will forever raise, until time comes back to the beginning of it all and starts over from the beginning.
For my last and final blog I will be examining the TV series “Wife Swap”. This show is all about show new and different perspectives on the world and how there is other ways people live and raise a family. The families chosen for the episodes are usually completely opposite. Through a Marxist critical lens the finical status of each family is one is very wealthy and the other does just enough to get by. The family with more money usually is stricter and has more expectations for their children. The other less fortunate family usually values time with the family more then the cash in their pocket. The two social classes do not interact with each other. Sometimes one mother helps the other family climb the economical ladder with some advice. The social tensions bring a lot to the show with tons of drama. Sometimes and most often the religious views of the two families collide. The lower of the family is usually a working class family and is exploited and judged by the higher up family. Through a Feminist lens obviously it is called Wife Swap right off the bat. The natural role of men and women are opposite in each family. One family the whole family contributes and in the other the women is the slave. The social norms for each wife and family are different and you can see how that puts a lot of stress on the new moms for the family. The society value in men and women are different in each episode and family. There will be a case where men control the entire house but put in one percent and complain the other ninety-nine percent while their wife is doing all the work. When looking at a Freudian and psychoanalytic lens each wife attempts to re-achieve what they have done in their own family for so many years before and now have to be able to change that for a week straight even if they don’t agree with how the other family runs things. The tradition that they each have to adapt to shows them that yes there way might be different but that doesn’t make that way right. There are so many different views and opinions in the world today that I think it gives people a chance at home to see that and take it into consideration, that there is no right way to raise a family.
MEAGAN DONOVAN
Law and Order: SVU has been around for many years, and has filled my life with happiness; I love it. There are many feminist, Marxist, and Freudian ways to look at the show. The two main characters, Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson, have been partners for ten plus years, and still Olivia is in Elliot’s shadow as a female, filling her “natural role” so to speak. She’s basically a crime-fighting secretary for him; she does his errands, calls his wife, and gets him coffee. To the normal, casual Law and Order viewer this would seem as if she is simply being nice, but the trained eye she has been doing this for all of those ten years. Women are also depicted as being extremely weak as this is the Special Victims Unit division of the many Law and Orders. They are often laying in a room begging for a savior, or battered and raped in the allies of New York City. The only strong women in the show are detective, Olivia, and attorney, Cabot. While women are weak, men are strong characters in the show. Detective Stabler is the ideal “man’s man” because he saves battered women while being both sexy and covered in tattoos from being in the armed forces. Through a Marxist lens we can also see interesting things in the show. Detective Benson is a child of rape, and was raised by a poor, alcoholic mother. She now lives single and in a low income apartment, and no matter how hard she tries to be that top detective, she simply cannot attain the spot. Detective Stabler was raised by a normal family in the suburbs, and he now is happily married with five children in the suburbs. Ironically, Elliot’s had the top detective spot for many years now. I feel that the two different upbringings have had a major effect on their lives. Through a Freudian lens we can see that Olivia and Elliot have always had a more-than-partners attraction to each other, but Elliot would never allow it to actually occur. Olivia’s id is screaming for Elliot to notice her, but her superego allows her to stay calm on the surface, so yes, Olivia is repressing her true urges. The Oedipal complex is not apparent in this show at all. Olivia’s biological father is her mother’s rapist, so obviously she has no affection for him whatsoever. Elliot’s mother is a paranoid schizophrenic; they do not get along at all.
I have chosen my workplace, Minilynx Childcare Center, for our last blog task. The Feminist Lens can be used a lot here. First I ask myself, “How are the women portrayed/depicted in this exhibit?” At Minilynx, women are the majority. The only males are one teacher and the owner’s husband. The women take on stereotypical “women” roles. They change diapers, cook, and clean. On the other hand, the owner’s husband takes on stereotypical male roles. He fixes things, mows the lawn, and does other maintenance jobs around the Center. Also, under a state law, male workers are not allowed to change diapers or help kids use the restroom. Under the Freudian lens this could be because males are more likely to molest children and parents do not feel comfortable with this risk. Under the Marxist lens I can ask, “How does a power system matter/function in this exhibit?” The directors control the workers and do all of the hiring. The owner does all of the paychecks and money matters and keeps in contact with the directors. The directors have more power than the workers, but also have more stress. If the workers have a college degree, they get paid more and are given more freedom to make decisions; giving them more power over other workers. I also can use the question, “How does money matter/function in this exhibit?” Many of the workers are single mothers and many of them had children young. Many of them didn’t have the time or money to get a college degree, so they don’t get paid well. Since they don’t get paid well, they don’t always try their hardest. There are also social tensions from time to time at the Center. Sometimes workers don’t get along and this makes things much more difficult. Also, they make the younger workers (high school or college age) clean a lot more than older workers. This is an age status issue. The older workers have the benefit of having the time and experience, so they don’t have to do the petty jobs. With the Freudian lens I can examine things about the children. Some of them are at the stage where they have their first “crush.” Little boys will chase around girls that they like or little girls will boss around boys that they like. Also, many behavior issues that children have come from home. For example, if the children are in foster homes, they can be very attached and afraid of abandonment.
Cj Wachter
For my exhibit this time I chose to analyze facebook. As far as the Marxist lens goes, it truely doesn't matter if your super wealthy and you have a facebook or if you are dirt poor and you have a facebook. Money just doesn't matter in this exhibit. The only way a person could tell what type of money class or power system your in is by your profile pictures and maybe if they deeply analyzed your profile's words. Everything on your profile could be a lie however. Some people don't like to put up a picture of themselves so you can't tell what they look like. Instead, they put up a photo of something they are interested in or someone they desire to be like. Basically there is no need to have a lot of money when having a facebook. Now looking through a Feminist lens is slightly different. Gender can matter and gender can't matter. There have been times on facebook where someone adds me and I talk to them and see if I know them and they say "no I added you because you're hot." That is so annoying. I'm sure some men out there just go though people on facebook and add them srickly because of their looks. However this could also happen to males. Some girls are just as nasty as men when it comes to creeping on people on the book. I feel that women are more portrayed as a sex object than men. In some cases it is the woman's fault for their treatment. For your profile picture if you have a half naked picture of yourself and your boobs are hanging out, you are asking for degrading adds and comments from men. There are a few other little ways your gender could get you discriminated on facebook. You could join a group of all men and because you are a girl get made fun of or yelled at for adding yourself. Another example could be farmville. Just because I'm a girl and I had a farmville doesn't mean I suck at it. Many guys used to tell me my farm sucked (which it did) and that it was because I'm a girl. However gender takes no place in that situation whether you are a girl or a boy. The matter is how much time you like to waste planting fake plants, building fake buildings, and taking care of your fake animals.
For my last blog task I have decided to analyze KRROfest, the yearly concert of bands that 103.7 puts on for all ages to enjoy. I’m not entirely sure if I’m allowed to analyze it this way but it’s worth a shot. Considering all we have been talking about with Life of Pi I’d like to answer the question are we fully animals or humans. I think that we are definitely animals by what I experienced. In the crowd, people circle up around each other and push each other and call it ‘moshing.’ Really it is just pushing and punching people for fun. A lot of it is men that never grew up, have tattoos and are missing teeth and business men that finally can take of their suits and ties.
I think that the social classes do interact with each other. A lot of times the ‘big fights’ break out between a lower class man and a high class man because of a comment. I think even music, a common bond, can’t help with the oppression people experience because of their human jobs. I think that this proves how oppressive society can be to members of it. There was a man at this concert who’s name was Caveman. Caveman had three teeth, literally, and tattoos, and no self control. He worked as a plumber and hated the government. Yes, we actually had a talk, he couldn’t speak well but he really did enjoy his life. I think this shows that he is content with himself even though he doesn’t live the ‘perfect life’ or have a ‘perfect’ experience. I don’t think that lower class people are miserable; I almost believe they are happier.
From a feminist view, there weren’t very many women doing the moshing thing, most of the women were laughing at the boys, but there were some. These women were quite manly, not all of them, (trying not to be stereotypical) but most. A lot of the men surrounding this mosh pit were fighting off the men pushing to protect their women. I think a lot of them thought that their girlfriends couldn’t fight for themselves, which relates to the ‘roles that men and women play’. I think that social norms appear in this exhibit a lot.
A Freudian lens on KRROfest shows the strong pull between the superego and the Id. We are controlled mostly by our superego, or we try to be at least. During the week people work at their jobs, behave how these jobs tell them, and obey normal day societies expectations. KRROfest brings out the wild side in all. Most adults, (and to be honest quite a few underage kids) drink more than their body can handle and pass out on the side of the road, drink and drive, throw punches and yell at these concerts. This is the ID coming out. By coming out so much on one day, shows how much people were oppressed and keep true feelings within. I think that a concert like this allows people to behave the way the wish they could on an everyday bases it just becomes so extreme because they have been holding all these emotions in for so long.
Little People Big World is the TV show I have selected. Freudian lens plays a part in this show. Amy and Matt are a dwarf couple. Since they are little they have more problems than regular size. This plays a factor into their relationship. Matt would be the id. He always does what ever he wants when ever. When one of his sons when to Ireland for a soccer game he missed out on it. Matt also builds items around their farm. This causes problems with Amy. She is the superego. Amy always looks in the way that by building it is wasting space and time. Amy is the conservative out of the family she always plans for ahead and not in the moment like matt does. Because of this Amy becomes put down by Matt. The feminist lens helps viewers see how gender function still continues in today society. Amy’s role is that of the mother. She always cooks, does laundry, and picks up after everyone. Amy is the ultimate mom; she runs the kids everywhere they need to be and keeps the house under control. Also their only daughter is hardly ever on the camera. Is this because most women watch the show and the sons are good looking? Where as Matt is the old fashion father role. He believes it is work before play and that the women have the house jobs. Matt feels like he has to be in control of everything. Such as when his son went to Ireland; he made all of the arrangements and raised the money for his son to travel over there but when it came for him to be a father and support him he failed. Since Matt collected that money we can look through a Marxist lens. To Matt money is no problem. It is like money grows on tree for him. In one season of the show he as bought: a BMW car, a Mercedes convertible, completely remodeled their house, and has built numerous buildings around the farm. But then when looking at Amy see is all about the money and saving. She complains to Matt that they are spending too much money. The children all go to an expensive Lutheran school. This is because they have the money to allow this; but two of the boys almost do no even graduate from high school. It makes you wonder why they would make them go their then because it is a harder school.
Samantha Hagen pd. 3
I am choosing to look deeply at work places. Such as restaurants, I have worked at a couple in the past and they have been pretty similar in how they hire certain sexes for jobs. But the one I'm going to look at most is my job before the one I work now. Almost all the servers there were women, all the busers were usually girls sometimes they did hire a guy but they never lasted or they would switch to dishwasher and all of the dishwashers were guys. All of the hostesswere girls. All of the cooks were men and one time a cook made a comment about how they won't hire a women. "They arnt allowed in the kitchen." First I'm going to look at this restaurant in a feminist view. There were natural roles such as women being servers and usually in a restaurant a guy does cook, which is different than at home. Who puts the limitations on the genders? Well this certain place was not a corporate owned place or the person doing the hiring could say who they wanted to and who they didn’t. Such as one time they had a older women apply for a host job and they didn’t really want an old person doing it so they were like "hey you wanna start hosting?" they had control over what they did. I look at the job I have now which is a corporate restaurant and it is so different, at my old place we had to ask the cooks for everything, they were our "bosses" at night, now we have managers on all the time and we are basically the same as the cooks when it comes to status which is nice because they always thought they were so much better then everyone. If I were to look at this in a Marxist lense I would ask myself how social classes interact with each other at this place. Well they do pretty good. The hosts seat the people, the people order the food, the servers tell the cooks what they need, they cooks cook it, the bussers clean up, and the dishwashers wash the dishes so if they didn’t work together thing wouldn’t run smoothly. The next question would be do any characters climb the social economic ladder? And that answer is yes definitely, the cooks hold the highest power there, telling you when you can clean up, when you can leave, when you can do basically anything since the owner is usually not around at nights and he doesn’t really do much of the "managing" work. One of the questions is are the lower working classes exploited and the answer to that is no, because everyone working in a restaurant is a lower/workingclass.
For my exhibit I am going to examine my T-shirt. The shirt is blue and says "More Than Enough" on it. It also has a foam finger on it that says "#1 Fan." My sister's boyfriend is in a band and "More Than Enough" is the name of their band. They play a mix of rock and hip-hop music. They have many other styles of shirts that I also have but I am just going to examine this one.
Marxist Lens:
How does money matter/ function in this exhibit?
With me wearing this shirt it is giving publicity to the band. I know that many other people have their shirts too. With fans wearing their shirts it is showing the public the band name then the public will ask about it and then maybe get into their music and end up buying a shirt of a CD. Publicity is a very good way for someone to make money.
How do social classes interact with each other?
You do not have to be a middle class teenager to like their music and their band. You could be some high up executive person and still like their kind of music. You could be some poor homeless person and like their kind of music. I have been to some of their shows and I have seen people in the upper, middle, and lower classes all together listening to "More Than Enough" play.
Feminist Lens:
How does gender matter/ function in this exhibit?
Gender does not really matter with this shirt. Yes, the band has made female shirts that are tighter fit and a smaller sleeve but they are not saying that females have to get that shirt, they can get a men's style of shirt too. All of my shirts that I have of theirs are men's style shirts. They are more relaxed fit and like just a regular T-shirt. But I do not think it matters whether you are a girl and get a female or male style of shirt.
Who puts limitations on genders?
Obviously the band is not limiting who buys what shirt so there is not a limitation on genders here. You can be either gender and like the same thing, it is not a big deal.
Freudian Lens:
How does libido influence this exhibit?
Libido is not an influence in this exhibit, girls can get girls or guy shirts. Again not a big deal.
Are there any sexual symbols?
I guess a person could take it as "More Than Enough" meaning you do not need anything else but the person in the shirt instead of it being the band name. They are meaning it as they are the best, more than enough, all you can get and want is them. I do not think they meant it as sexual in anyway but a person that does not know it is a band might take it the wrong way.
For the last critical thinking blog I chose the Brandon Municipal Golf course where I work. I am at this place all of the time and have noticed some things through the Marxist, Feminist, and Freudian lenses.
First, through a Marxist lens I have noticed that money matters in the life of a golfer. I am not exactly sure on the price to golf the full 18 holes, but i do know that it is expensive! And if you don't want to walk and you are going to rent a cart, there goes some more money. And, if you are going to have something to drink and/or eat, you might as well just give them your wallet! I have heard of the stereotype of golfers being people that are rich, stuck up, and have all the time in the world; well that is mostly true. If consider yourself a real golfer you are going to need some serious cash because you are going to be spending that ridiculous amount of money not only one time, but almost everyday if not every single day! You also are going to need to have a set of golf clubs, balls, tees, and maybe even some special shoes or clothes. All of these items are very overpriced. The clubhouses make it almost impossible for an average person to go out and golf, unless you go to a tiny course with no challenges. There is the overt and covert parts of the golf course. The obvious thing would be that you are going there to golf. What you don't notice is how everything there is there for a reason. They purposely make you go inside and pay in the pro shop so you see all of the merchandise. There is the Lounge located right next to the pro shop so you see all of that delicious food and drinks and want to buy more. You can also relate the golf course to its owner. They golf course is just like the owner because he is rich and tries to get money from people too. The golf course is a system in itself. The people that go there all of the time have a higher status than the people that have been there a few times. So, in return, the people that are there all of the time get treater better than others because the owner knows to keep them happy so they keep coming back and giving him money. The people of lower "status" are just ignored. I think there are social tensions because I have seen it. There is this one person in particular that comes to the golf course every other day! Then there is this man that comes often too, but not as much as the other. I have seen these two in a conversation together and they are constantly bickering over how many times they came that week. The man that doesn't come as often obviously wants to be on top. Also, I have a personal experience with giving the higher status class more ruling. Since I work there, I can golf for free whenever I want to. Well, one day I went in with another coworker to golf and the lady told us that we cannot go golf that day. When we asked her why she said because there are some serious frequent players out today and you two will be too slow and will just get in there way, sorry girls. You can try going to another smaller course. I was just amazed that she could turn us down like that! That is a perfect example of how the more serious golfers are rewarded!
Gender at the golf course is an uneven ratio. There are definitely way more men that go golfing in one day than there are women. Yes, more women golf now than years ago, but it is still uneven. I think the reason there are less women golfers is because they think that it is a men's sport because it is a stereotype of old retired men. I also think it could be because women don't live up to the gender expectations because they can't hit the ball as far as the men can so they feel like they don't level up to the men. Is this true though? Are men constructed better than women at sports? I think not! Women can do what men do, women just have better skills than men in other areas.
I choose to do the Movie The Jacksons An American Dream for my final blog task. Through a Marxist lens I look at the movie by seeing how long it is. I am sure it took millions of dollars just to film this movie. Let alone try and keep track of all of the kids and watch what everyone is doing. I love this film and I wish that they wouldn't play commercials during it, oh well I own it now. Through a Freudian lens all I see is everyone trying to hook up and persue relationships thats kinda hard when you are on the road constantly trying to stay on track of your life! I agree that everyone needs love, but you don't need to go about love in a sexual way all of the time. It only shows the physical aspect anyway. I do see that the characters in this film also have a hard time sleeping maybe they have bad dreams and feel that they can't "function" apart as a family and need to be together. Family seems to be important but, you only see that with the males of the family they are part of a group. Mommy and the girls are nothing and therefore they don't really get to do anything fun either. I feel that is just upright wrong. Through a feminist lens I see That Katherine mommy takes care of everyone in her household kinda the womans job anyway. She also tries to take on the role of caring about the boys and their well being.... Basically she wants them to get enough sleep and be healthy for school the next day. She has no problem with marriage, but Joe freaks out and thinks that it will ruin the family and separate the Jackson's forever. Sometimes I wish I could just control what people do in the movie and make it my own. I would make Joe cook and clean and shop. I would also use the belt on him to see how he liked to be spanked for punishment for nothing wrong.
ReannaMennis_6
Chelsea Mattson pd. 7
For my blog task I chose to analyze a flower bouquet I got from when I was sick. I will analyze them through a Marxist lens. The bouquet has pink, purple, yellow, orange, and red flowers in it. It is beautiful. It caught my attention from across the room with its Marxist-like visual dominating colors as opposed to all the brown furniture in my living room.
1) How do social classes interact with each other?
A: well in this bouquet I think of each kind of flower as a class. The pink and red carnations being the most powerful since they capture the eye first. They are dominant over the other colors. The yellows and the lavenders being like the middle class. They are still bright and beautiful, yet not as attention capturing as the red/hot pinks. Then last but not least the sprigs of leafy decoration thrown into the middle of the flowers I think of as the lower class. It is really only there for decoration, It doesn't serve much purpose in the system, and it only is added to accompany the upper and middle class flowers. They all work well together since they balance each other out and create visual harmony in the bouquet.
3) Is a system oppressive to its members?
A: In a way yes and no with the flowers. Obviously the bigger and larger stemmed flowers will suck up more water and sunlight than the thin stems; also the thicker stems are less likely to break, meaning they will hold the flower up the longest. (Through a Freudian lens it's survival of the fittest, the larger stems that can beat out the other flowers for water and sunlight will thrive) The small springs of decoration grass crumbles since it isn't strong, wealthy, and doesn't serve much purpose other than visual balance. The brighter/stronger stemmed oppress the weaker/duller colored greenery.
5) Are the lower/working classes exploited?
A: In a way they are with this bouquet. The tiny grass sprigs representing the working class are plain and bare; they are exploited by the colorful petals. They work hard to suck water up out of the vase over the other flowers, yet they are still not recognized as pretty. The vibrant petals do in fact exploit the duller colored flowers and the grass decoration.
7) Are any of the characters "suffocated" by their class rules and codes?
A: absolutely! The smaller stems are suffocated by the larger and more powerful, the dominant flowers will live a few days longer than the week buds and or leaves on their stems.
I never would have thought a Marxist lens could be applied to a bunch of flowers but now I know it does.
Brittany Bolter
period 3
For my last blog task i decided to analyze where i work, Denny’s.
Marxist~
How do social classes interact with each other?
Most of the people that work at Denny’s are either lower or middle class. Im sure a higher class citizen would not work at Denny’s because it is not that nice of a restaurant. Maybe our family has money but it is not yours. My family i would say is in the upper middle class while some of my coworkers are lower class. We all for the most part get along. We dont treat someone differently because they are in a different class level then us.
Feminist~
Are there “natural” roles men and women fill?
I have noticed a few times while working at dennys that genders are split. There is not one guy host(ess). I have worked at dennys for almost 3 years now and i think i have only seen one guy be a host. He wasnt hired to be a host he was only schedule to host when he was absolutely needed. All the dishwashers have been males. I havent seen one girl be hired as a dishwasher. When i first started working at dennys there was one girl cook. She wasn’t a normal girl. she acted like one of the guys, more of a tomboy then a girly girl. but soon after i started she was fired. ever since then i havent seen one girl back in the kitchen area. Bussers there has been both male and females working that job. But currently we only have one male. As for servers Dennys will hire any gender. But mostly they are all girls. We have one guy server. We use to have more but they have all been fired. Guy servers tend not to last as long as girl servers. I think its because girl servers are friendlier and can take more crap from customers then guys can. Guys like to get mad and say what is on their mind. We have split genders for managers at Dennys.
To wrap up my College Bound English 12 experience I decided to anayze the music video for "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood. It is a very popular song in the country music world. They tell classic "boyfriend cheats on girlfriend and she now want revenge" type story.
Through a Feminist lens women are shown as angry, vengeful, aggressive, and violent. Carrie Underwood protrays the cheated on girlfriend and she's out for revenge. While her boyfriend flirts with his secret new girl, Carrie demolishes one of his most prized possesions, his car. She scratches the paint with her key, carves her name into his seats, smashes his head lights and puts a hole in all of the tires. In her mind it's a lesson to him, but really it vandalism. This could have gotten her in real trouble if she had reacted the same way in real life. While some girl would look at her as strong, stand up for herself kind of girl. However, she actually being violent and extremely over-reactive. Yes it was wrong for her boyfriend to cheat on her, but I doubt that destoying his car makes you even; I think it put her ahead in the "Who's the biggest screw-up" contest.
Through a Marxist lens the male is shown as shallow, materialistic, and unfaithful. He is cheating on his girlfriend and thinking that he is hiding it from her. Apparently she is not the most important thing in his life. And she doesnt even place second. Why did she go through all the trouble to trash his ride? For many guys their car is one of the most valuable possesions they have. To them it establishes a sense of pride and superouity. They also use their cars as chick magnets. But by her destroying the car, instead of going straight for him, hurt his pride and takes away his babe bait.
The Freudian lens shows how taking actions to the extreme isnt always the answer. Carrie Underwood is takes her revenge to the next level by destroying her now ex-boyfriends car. She could have simply confronted him and maybe a fight of words would have errupted. Instead she decided that she would dismemeber his car and hope that "maybe next time he'll think before he cheats". If girls start destroying their unfaithful boyfriends cars, they will possibly get arrested and Carrie Underwood would have to live thinking that her music video encouraged this.
Joe Egge P.5
I feel that this being our last and final blog of the 2010 school year, I'm going to pick out a very, (what i feel is) obvious exhibit.
Blogspot.com is a place created on the internet to bring up world wide social discussions. I feel that this place also causes a lot of controversy between people. Question number 4 on "Critical Lenses 101" under the Marxist heading asks if there are social tensions. Lets be real. blogspot.com was created to let people vent. everyone lets their feelings go on this website. they express their real life tensions here. it shows how the people that are venting, are being oppressed maybe at school or at their job. I guess there is always some blog out there that is all happy go lucky and makes people feel good about themselves and their lives. My cousin, for example, has created a blog, one of which i will not tell you the web address, that she just has to "keep the family informed while we're away." Kelly lived in England for a while and had just had a baby girl. she created this to post pictures for us back home to see of jayne. this was meant to be good. It's gone sour. Kelly spends SOOO much time on this blog "making Jayne look like a perfect child" that she has had no time to RE-do her dissertation in order to obtain her Ph.D. Also, she spends so much time talking about Jayne that I feel bad for the little girl because her mommy is always on the computer. Through a feminist lense, i see that the male, Ben, is being the leader by going out during the day and working/going to school, while the female stays home and eff's around. To me, that is totally 1950's lifestyle. (this would relate to question number 1 under "feminist critical lens). If you think about it, my cousin's real id is showing. she's not the type to go out and work. Cripes, kelly's 30 years old and never worked more than part time at Scheels back in high school. She's only trying to get other people approval, by getting a Ph.D. If she was really into it, kelly could've had it 4 years ago. easily. this, question number 6 of freud is what's going on in kelly's head. all of this is caused by blogspot.com, no offense Mr. C, but hey, at least we're using it for scholastic reasons. also comparable to blogging is twittering. anyway, thanks Mr C for an awesome senior year. You've helped us not only learn, but have a good time while learning, aka blog/ning.
For this exhibit, I am going to break down the show Malcolm in the Middle with critical lenses.
Watching this show with a Feminist Lens would make women all over the country proud of the mother in Malcolm in the Middle. Lois, the mother, has complete control over the all male family. She definitely wears the pants in the relationship with her husband. And she teaches her boys, and her husband in some cases, life lessons. Almost all of the episodes I have seen, she is usually right when it comes to what she thinks. When the men are in doubt, sometimes they try to prove her wrong. In the end, they find the answer to what they were already told. Throughout each episode, the mom is also the one who grants privileges to the males and not vise versa. Even though she is hard on her children, she ultimately loves her family with all of her heart. Whenever they are in need of her to have there back, she is there and stands up for her and her family outright like every mother should.
Watching this show with a Marxist Lens, the mother has all of the power in the family. But power is also passed on and fought over for throughout the rest of the family. Malcolm is the smartest one in the family. Reese, Malcolm’s older brother, is not smart but is stronger than Malcolm physically. Between the two, Malcolm has the power at first because he can outsmart Reese in every dispute. But when Reese realizes that he can’t win with wit, he resolves to violence and beats Malcolm up to gain the power in the end. In the long run though, Malcolm is the one who will prevail over time with his intellect. Dewey, the youngest in the family, has a special power over the parents that Malcolm and Reese do not have. Since he is the “baby” of the family, he can get away with more than Malcolm and Reese ever could. To the parents, it looks like he is being good to them, (the system), so he is rewarded for it.
With a Freudian Lens, this show is a good example of each trying to find their narcissistic bliss by getting what they want. Lois wants it her way and tries to control everything and is successful. By seeing her progress, it makes her content with what she is doing. Hal, the dad, is the goofy character in the family. He is not as power hungry as Lois is. He is actually more selfless. He gets narcissistic bliss from simply loving his family and giving them a content life to live.
For the last blog ever, I choose to analyze was the TV show, One Tree Hill. This show would be considered a teenage soap opera. One Tree Hill is probably the best TV show that I have seen. It is never boring and something new is always happening. It makes you want to keep watching and keep your eyes glued to the TV.
I can use the Marxist lens to analyze One Tree Hill. All the characters are very successful. They all got their dream jobs. Lucas wrote a very successful novel. Peyton owns a recording studio. Even though she only as a few singers in the studio. Brooke has a fashion company. She started the line when she was only a senior in high school. Nathan is a big star in the NBA. And wife Haley has a successful music career. It seems like we never see them working they are always at home. During high school some of the people were considered geeky, but they all become popular and on top of the high school. And now they are on top of the real world. During the very first seasons there is a little bit of social tensions. Lucas, Haley, Mouth and Skills were considered the outsiders but they soon became in the “in crowd”. Now when they are older there are no social tensions. They are all very successful in what they do.
I can also use the Feminist lens to analyze One Tree Hill. All the female characters are very successful. They have clothing lines, music careers, recording studios, acting careers and photography studios. They don’t rely on the men to totally support them. There is a little bit of double standard but nothing terrible. The when there was a double standard it was while they were in high school. Peyton was creative with her art. She liked to draw and listen to tons of music. A big double standard was while high school Brooke was considered a slut. She slept with everyone and would get whatever she wanted. She got whatever she wanted from her parents so she expected to get whatever she wanted from people. On the other hand, Nathan is pretty much the same. He parties, drinks, has many girlfriends and cheats on his girlfriends. So when Nathan does this he is a stud and a person to look up to. And when Brooke does this she is a slut. Haley starts as Tudor Girl (girlfriend to Nathan), then goes to Tudor Wife and Tudor Mom. She gets married while she is a junior in high school. And is pregnant during her senior year and has her baby on graduation day. Even with all that she was still able to succeed; working, doing well in school, valedictorian and a graduate of high school and college.
Emily Gardner_7
For my last exhibit I chose to analyze the TV show “19 kids and counting.” The show is about the Duggar family, which consists of parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children, nine girls and ten boys. They are Conservative Christians, they set aside times of the day to sit down and pray as a family. They spend little time on the Internet or watching TV. Using the Marxist lens we see that they are very conservative with their money and only spend it on the things that they really need. They don’t go out shopping every weekend like some of us do. They built their house as a family project to help save money and create a great family experience. The Duggar family income comes from commercial properties that they own and the TV show that they have. Jim and Michelle also home school all of their children so that they make sure that they get the education they need. I wonder how they can teach each child the correct grade level when their ages range from one extreme to the other. This family is very unique because they have kids of all ages and they all get along so well together. Using the feminist lens on this exhibit we see that the women are portrayed as being very conservative. The girls wear long skirts and tops that cover almost all skin that would be considered reveling. They do not wear swimming suits that might be to reveling. The young girls are also suppose to abstain from dating, but rather to go through courtship, in which the young man seeks permission from the girl's father to become engaged. If the kids are to get together with someone of the opposite sex they are supposed to have a chaperone and they believe that they should abstain from any physical contact/intimacy until marriage. How does gender matter? Well the males tend to do more of the manual labor and the females do more of the cooking and cleaning like the traditional gender roles.
Ashley Christensen pd. 5
Laryssa Osheim Pd. 3
For our last blog, I will be analyzing one of my favorite movies, Enchanted. Enchanted is a modern-day fairytale that brings us back to believe that fairytales can still come true!
Marxist: Money is not a huge issue in this movie. Gisele lives in Analasia, where there really is no money. But she lives in the forest, in a cottage, with all her little animal friends. She stresses that love is all you need! She doesn’t care about money, she just wants to find her “true love”. Although, she does go after a prince, and they usually have money. I’ve never heard of a poor prince, so that’s safe to say. Gisele would be considered, “lower-class” and Edward, her love, would be “royalty/upper-class”. When she meets Robert in the real world, he is also considered “upper/middle-class”. He has a beautiful apartment in Manhattan, which those are not cheap, and he’s a lawyer. The story wouldn’t be as much fun if she would’ve fallen in love with a poor man.
Feminist: Gisele is what every girl aspires to be. She cares about everyone, and is so content with her life the way it is. Yet, she is relying on finding a man to make her better? Women shouldn’t have to have a man to complete her life, but that’s what she’s looking for the whole movie, “true love’s kiss”. Gisele looks helpless without a man, she’s lost. All the songs are about finding her love. I personally don’t think we should be teaching little girls that all they need to be happy is a man/prince. Women should be portrayed as strong and independent, not weak and dependent.
Freudian: This movie could be seen as a complete dream. Fairytales aren’t real, there are no such things as dragons, magic etc. But this movie makes us think there are. It tests our dreams, and maybe will start making little girls dream about finding their true love, and dreaming about things that are being controlled by their id. You know Gisele will end up with her prince, but which one, Edward or Robert? It keeps your mind wandering to see which one she’ll choose to make her happy. Through Gisele’s mind, all she wants is her true love back, but Edward took so long to find her that her id took over and fell in love with Robert, the only man that helped her in the city. So what Gisele’s mind tells her to do is take the only she truly love, and stay in the real world, not go back to a world of pretend with a man she doesn’t truly love.
I was looking at the “sample exhibits” sheet and I decided that if I did my shirt it would be a challenge. So I decided I would. I am wearing the USF back-to-back shirt for national champions. It has a helmet a football and a helmet, and of course there is either USF or a cougar on it! It says 2008 and 2009 and back-to-back NAIA football National Champions. I think it would be easiest to use every lens. The Feminist lens is because the helmets are right over a girls boobs. A women is all about image because guys always care about what a girls boobs look like. I think that if it was not a conscious decision to put the helmets their then it was sub conscious specially since some of the guys had a little input into what the shirt looked like if they won the game in 2009. The Marxist is because it adds that much more power to USF. The shirt says look what we can do we have so much power. It influences a lot of people that are looking into going to USF but cannot decide. If I was a guy and played football and saw one of these shirts I think that it would help influence my decision to go there. USF if a very expensive college so it also adds that we are higher up in class. I also think that Freudian is a big one because they are the USF cougars with a helmet over each boob. Purple is a passionate color. In college I also think is a huge time for people to think about their future and what they want and do not want, but it is also time to have fun and your last time to do whatever you want before you settle down. So this shirt is a huge Freudian shirt because you see the boobs with a helmet over them, what is a guy not to like, it is his favorite sport, especially if he is going to USF, and boobs.
For this blog task i chose to look at the song Meet Virginia by the band Train. For some reason this 90s band has inched its way into being one of my favorites lately.
I chose to read the lyrics to the song first through the Marxist lens. Every line of this song has much meaning beneath the surface. In the first verse of the song we are introduced to Virginia, a working class woman who is definitely beautiful because it is stressed twice. the first line of the song tells us that she is lower/working class because it tells us that she doesn't own a dress and that she is desperate enough to steal. after this revelation that she would do such immoral things she is re humanized by showing that she is stubborn like most people (whether we want to admit it or not) and she loves babies and surprises (also like most of us) while virginia is lower class she has aspirations to be higher. she wears high heels and dreams about being queen. By the next verse of the song i believe that verginia is from the south because her dad is mentioned to be a alligator wrestler and her mother a car mechanic. alligators live in the far south so it would be logical to assume that virginia is from there. Her brother however has seemed to raise his status because in a line of the song he is said to have become a mediator to the president. however this is not a good president because Train tells us that he is mocked by the people. Possible a rip on President Clinton? Next she is shown as wanting to just keep life simple and uncomplicated, something that is impossible to her. if anyone is held down by there social/economic class it is definitely her. on top of being a hard worker she is also interesting to the listener because she does such unusual things as drinking coffee at midnight and supposedly having a very accute intuition. her body is also said to be unusual, not necessarily a complement.
After reading through the lyrics i went to youtube to watch the video for this song. in this song virginia is a young woman in her early twenties that is working in a waitress position at a diner in what seems to be in a larger more urban city. throughout the video she doesn't raise her social status at all but does get the hang of being a waitress.
after rethinking this project i wish i had looked at it in a feminist lens... dang
I am going to be looking at the movie V for Vandeta. This movie is a really good movie and I believe the writers for the movie got their inspiration from the novel 1984. This movie has basically the same plot but in modern times and V is successful with his rebellion. If use use a Marxist lens we can see how the social classes are put down by the government and they don't have any say in the happenings of government. Many people in England at this time are suffuring because of the government but V brings them hope that maybe something can get done and they won't be suppressed anymore. I do believe that all the citizens are unhappy in this contry and the only happy person is the chancellor. The people that work under the chancellor and unhappy because they are hampered by him all they time and they can do anything and they have not freedom just like the people. No one in this country is happy and V brings them hope that things will change. When we use a Feminist lens we can look at how Evey at first needs V to save her and protect her. As the movie goes on Evey begins to see that she can have her way with V and she decides to get out of his life and go back to her. She ends up going back to him by this time it is more because V needs Evey. The movie starts by potraying women as relying on men and their muscles but it ends with man relying on a womens smarts and how she over powers man even though he has the gun/muscle. This is a great representation for feminist at first it doesn't start good for them but by the end they are the ones coming out ahead. When we use a Freudian lens it raise the question can V control his id? or does his super ego tell him to rebel and figure out a new government for everyone else. I believe V does have control of his id and he only wants the best for his country and they way it is going now he doesn't think it will turn out good. He uses is super ego to develop a plan so that he can get back at the government. He is very successful. We never do get to see his face it is implied that it is burnt up and ugly but by looking at it with a freudian lens maybe V is listening to his super ego a little bit but the whole plan is concieved by his id. If this is the case V is a crazy man and he is lucky throughout most of the movie but his id fails him and he is killed.
For my final blog task, I chose to analyze a popular video game, Bioshock. This game is based on a man, named Andrew Ryan, who, in 1946, built a city, named Rapture, underwater in the mid-Atlantic to escape all the oppressive political, economic, and religious authority above the sea. This utopia is occupied by many people, including some of the best scientific minds. These minds led to the discovery of ADAM, which changes the human genome and give humans super powers. The discoverer of ADAM was a woman, Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum. The people who sell the ADAM, Fontaine Industries, become extraordinarily rich, which causes a drastic change in the social classes and eliminates the middle class. Since there is no longer a middle class, just those with money, and those scrounging for it, there is a massive power struggle. Through a Marxist lens, we see how different social classes interact, the ones on bottom strive to stay alive while the ones on top live in ravish mansions and don’t even notice how awful the rest of the world is. The inventors of ADAM climb the social and economical food chain, since there is such a high supply and demand for said ADAM. The working class is exploited due to the fact that if they don’t have regular doses of ADAM, their cells will start to deteriorate, so once they try ADAM, there is no living without it. This means the lower class is given really no freedom from the upper class; they are forced to whatever they can just to survive. Through a Feminist lens, we see that the woman’s idea is exploited for monetary gain and even though she is compensated, she only gets a portion of the profits, even though she invented it. She is also blamed afterwards for inventing it, because she didn’t know the after affects, since it was only experimental at the time when they were selling it. The head of the Fontaine Industries is a man, named Frank Fontaine, who forces Tenenbaum to sell her invention, which is just showing how controlling and demanding a man with power and authority can be, always crushing the underdog and keeping them oppressed to stay on top. Through a Freudian lens, we see what caused such an interesting city to be born. The whole idea for Rapture is based on the ID telling you to do whatever you want, like running away from your problems above ground, which is the opposite of what your Superego would tell you, which is to stay and face your oppressors, instead of running away like a coward. Obviously, Ryan chose to follow his ID and built Rapture. All of the people in power represent the IDs because they followed their IDs to get there. The only reason they are in power is because they chose to ignore their logical Superego and focus only on making money, by following their IDs. Everyone in Rapture does whatever they want, because that’s exactly why they moved there, to get away from the rules of the oppressors and live without boundaries. Over, this game is about complete chaos which ensues when we only follow our IDs and completely ignore our Superegos.
For my final blog of the year, I will be analyzing one of my favorite bands, Every Avenue. Every Avenue is a lesser known alternative rock band.
Marxist:
In many of Every Avenue's songs there is an underlying theme of being suppressed by the typical American life. The song "Chasing the Night" contains the lyrics "chasing the night to make our days better". These lyrics suggest that we work so hard during the day, to please the system, that we need to go out during the night and let our inhabitions lose. To answer one of the questions on the yellow handout about is a system oppressive to its members, I will look into the music industry more. The music industry is really just a system that wants its members to make it money as quickly as possible. For bands to do this they must find a strong following of fans. If they do not do this, even if their music is fantastic, the record company will drop them. One of EA's songs "Picture Perfect" talks about the music industry saying "everybody's saying you're never gonna make it". Luckily for EA they have a strong and growing fan base (though I doubt many of you have heard of them) that they have a great record deal with Fearless Records.
Feminist Lens:
One question one the yellow handout is "how does gender amtter/function in this exhibit?". Every Avenue is an all male band made up of 5 members. All male bands are pretty sterotypical among the alternative bands, but can also be seen throughout all genres of muscic. You do not see very many girl rock bands. At Krrofest last Friday, Lacuna Coil was the only band out of the eight total that had a female in it. I do not think that it is a matter of men being better musicians, I just think it might be harder for women to get a strong fan base. Another question on the yellow hand out is about how money are portrayed. Many of Every Avenue's songs are about women. In the song "A Story to Tell Your Friends", Dave Ryan sings "The way she moved her lips drove me insane, now i'm left here in the wake fo something more, she made it hard to leave as she stood by the door in a v-neck t-shirt and nothing more". These lyrics make women out to be just sexual objects that are only wanted when standing in just a v-neck shirt. However, Every Avenue does not just sing about the sexual side of women. In the song "Mindset", they sing "inside out you're beautiful, there's nothing you can do to keep my mind off you". This tells us to look past just outward beauty and look inside too.
Freudian Lens:
In another one of Every Avenue's songs you will hear "you've go me turning blue". This is an obvious phallic reference. Another theme found in Every Avenue's songs is releasing your id and forgetting your superego. The song "Days of the Old" talks about getting drunk, making out, and partying on the beach. Every Avenue also brings out the inner animal in us at their concerts. Last year they toured on the Van's Warped Tour. These concerts are all about being crazy and letting us be ourselves. You see moshing, drinking, and drugs at these concerts.
Wow, I want to say I’m glad this is my last blog task but it makes me realize graduation is literally here. For my last one, I will analyze the song by Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin.” This song is a favorite to many because of the chorus which states, “Don't stop believin, hold on to that feelin, streetlight people.”
If you look at this through a Marxist lens you will see that the song is telling people to never give up and do what you want with what you can. Everyone grows up in different areas, “Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world, she took the midnight train goin anywhere.” This girl is “small town.” Using a Marxist lens that means she is a lower class probably farm girl. If you want to have money and power you must get out of a small town so she took a train. And “Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit, he took the midnight train goin' anywhere.” To me “city boy” makes him seem like he has more money, at least a middle class or upper class person. However; Detroit is kind of “ghetto” so he might not have a lot more money or higher class, but he did grow up differently. This song is kind of like a Romeo and Juliet because they are from two different worlds and their economies don’t fit together, therefore they can’t be together. Money matters in this situation because normally a city boy and a small town girl don’t mix. A town girl would cherish her belongings, while a city boy would maybe take things for granted because he has seen more of it. The song also says, “Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill, payin anything to roll the dice just one more time.” Through a Marxist lens this is saying that money matters to be happy and without money you will have no “thrills.” Another thing it is saying is people who have money blow it gambling and are stupid with it. They do not treasure their money and just use it for entertainment not for self good. Money in all situations also give the boy and girl freedom to leave their towns and become themselves. It gives them opportunity to take the midnight train going anywhere they want to go.
Another Marxist view is that it is cutting down the poor people by calling them “street light people” and telling them to never stop believing. It is giving young people and old people positive structure to want to earn money and get off the streets. This song is telling the people that the system will get better for them if they just believe. “Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard,” are more lyrics that prove people are waiting for good things to happen and to believe. However the song also tells you to get on that train that will lead you to what is best for you.
If you study the lyrics “A singer in a smoky room, a smell of wine and cheap perfume, for a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on” with a feminist lens you will see that this is cutting women down. This song is almost portraying girls as objects, saying if you get them wine, they will get with you and it will go on and on and on. Which with a Freudian lens is saying they will have sex all night long. It sounds like the “natural” date we see in movies. A singer, wine, and a couple sharing the night could sound bad but the lyrics put in that they are smiling. With a Freudian lens you could wonder what they are smiling about? Is it because they are excited to get in on or because the singer is actually good?
With a Marxist lens again you would probably guess they are at a cheap bar since it says she is wearing cheap perfume. But you never know he is a city man so maybe he stepped it up. With a feminist lens once again saying the woman is wearing cheap perfume gives her a sense that maybe she is cheap and maybe he is paying her to get in on and on. It is the night and they are “living just to feel emotion.” I love this song and there is a lot of meaning behind it. I will not stop believing in myself and will use what I can to get on the train going to UNL to succeed and become a better person altogether.
I chose to analyze the video game Splinter Cell Conviction. This game is all about a government agent, Sam Fisher who has been abandon by the agency he once worked for after going over the edge after the death of his daughter. Through a Marxist critical lens we can see that this exhibit is all about power. There is the new leader of the agency who has created a plot to assassinate the president in order to get him more power. Fischer is determined to stop him at any cost. Power is ever present throughout the entire game the constant struggle to determine who will have it through whatever means necessary. This game is the perfect example of the individual vs. the system. It is one man versus an entire agency and a huge conspiracy. Looking at this game through a Marxist lens we can assume that Fischer is the lower or middle class trying to take down the agency or the upper class, while on the other hand we can see the agency trying to gain more power and keep Fischer suppressed in his role. This system is very oppressive to its members. Everyone that exists in this system is expendable anyone who veers from the statuesque or hurts the systems is eliminated and forgotten.
We can also look at this exhibit through a feminist lens. In the game there is a woman named Grimm who helps Fischer to survive. Another woman that is present is Fischer’s daughter whom he must rescue. Women in this exhibit are portrayed as both very powerful as well as helpless. Grimm has lots of power over Fischer, she sees and knows things he doesn’t and use this information to help him get out of tough situations and tells him where to go and what to do. Fischer’s daughter on the other hand is helpless and Sam must work hard to try to save her. Sam’s daughter fulfills the usual role of a woman is distress that needs to be saved. While Grimm on the other hand while filling the usual role of an informative woman helping a man she also gains more power for her role by telling him to trust him and just do what she says.
Blog by Justin Gabbert
I decided to do by blog on the National song for the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is being held in South Africa a country that has suffered and been reborn countless times. The title of the song is "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. This is a very up beat song with powerful and moving lyrics. Using a Marxist lens this song represents the economic struggle and birth of South America. This song tells of how lower classes are completely separated by wealth with the upper classes. Songs are very oppressive to creators especially national anthems, because those are songs that can only be used once. Thats it one song and your done. Singers are very happy and so are listeners but when people stop buying the song then artists dont have the money to create another one. The song talks about how when you get older you become stronger. A marxist interpretation of this would be when you get more money you gain more power.
This song is empowering even through a feminist lens. The singer is male but it doesn't relate to manly material, instead it talks about a struggle to move on and succeed in life. Just like how women fought for their rights and with time came power. This song puts no limits on gender type. A hard core feminist may think that the singer is male only because society thinks that women cant sing as well. This theory is poposturious. Women are portrayed as strong nuturing beings with just has much if not more power than men. Man are portrayed as strong reliable beings with much to learn but the ability to grow stronger than ever before. Gender stereotypes are important in this song i believe because without different roles in society it wouldn't be much of a society. A male is singing this song but he sings it in a soft and gentle voice like a caring woman. Society values men and women as equals in this wonderful song. Each has the ability to contribute and succeed and this song give the motivation to do both.
A Freudian lens is the best to examine this song. The beat makes you want to move and dance. This song makes you open up to your id but still has the ability to keep it in balance. The song kinda represses the natural urge to just jump up and down like animals with its soft and soothing beat. However it is still powerfull enough to get you out of your chair and make you wave your hands in the air. Looking at this song sexually it could be seen as when you get older you will get stronger. It could also be seen has when you mature you're more sexually acceptable. I believe that this song wasn't created to arose our sexual intentions but instead to make us feel good about ourselves inside and out. The creator of this song wants to tell a story of how with time comes strength and with strength comes prosperity.
For my exhibit, I am choosing to deconstruct the movie "She's the Man". I think it's a great film because it portrays the stereotypical views of males and females. The film is revolved around a girl who is bound and determined to prove to everyone she is good enough to make the boys soccer team, even though she was told males are faster, stronger, more athletic, and all around better athletes. While working hard to make the team, her mom is forcing her to be a debutante. Although she doesn’t want to have to throw on the puffy dresses and put a bunch of make-up on, her friends support her and turn her into her twin brother, whom is in London for the time being and also going to a different school, in order to fool everyone. While arriving she can't blow her cover. She meets the "hottest" girl in school and really connects with her on an understanding level because she knows what it’s like to be in women’s shoes obviously. When the big game approaches her story was leaked and was forced to tell everyone the truth. The players and coach from her current school were accepting and surprisingly happy. The soundtrack to this movie is upbeat and motivational to get the viewers excited about what they are seeing. But also, it has soft soothing music for some more romantic scenes. The camera works with all angles to give us a feel of what the characters are seeing instead of us watching them the whole time. The viewers may wonder why society prefers the male dominant way of life and this movie makes you think of that factor. I think this is the perfect movie because everyone especially athletes have the same problems. Me being a girl athlete, I always get a hard time because girls basketball isn't as intense or as skilled as boys basketball. I hear it daily and it does get annoying but we all learn to accept it. I wonder why the people saying these things aren't in basketball themselves. Everyone has their opinions of sports but don't degrade a sport by its gender. Threw a Marxist critical lens we look at the power that men think they have over women. Men need to be the dominant factor in life, it makes them seem more needed and useful. Men hate when their manhood/dominance is threatened by a female. Females are given less freedoms and less credit then men. When we look threw a Feminist critical lens we ask some questions like who puts limitations on genders and what are “natural” roles men and women fill? I personally think everyone puts their own limitations on each other. Men and women will set limitations for their own individual person without even knowing it because in the back of our minds we know what is expected of us and what is frowned upon. Natural roles for men and women are the stereotypical cooking and cleaning for women and working for men. But since times have changed, I feel there are no such things as natural roles anymore. So many women work and so many men cook and clean. Lastly, threw a Freudian critical lens, we look at how psychoanalysis matter in this exhibit. Men look down to women and degrade women every day. They think they are better than women and in this exhibit it is shown through the game of soccer.
Madison Rozell pd..3
For my final blog task I chose to analyze the movie The Stepfather. It is about a single mom with three kids, one of whom is home from military school. David Harris comes into their lives and the mom quickly falls in love. The oldest son is always suspicious, only to have those suspicions confirmed. The stepfather turns out to be a murderer.
Feminist: Are there "natural" roles men and women fill? In this movie, this is true. In every scary movie I've seen, the killer or "bad guy" is always a man. This portrays men to be violent and strong while portraying women to be weak and vulnerable. However, the oldest son's girlfriend tries to stand up against the killer at the end which shows her bravery. It is the son who ends up fighting him though. In this movie, the man has the power. I like how this movie goes against the normal happily ever afters. The movie ends with the killer meeting another single mom at the hardware store. This leaves you anxious wondering what will happen with the next family. You are most likely thinking that the killer will remain in power, like he has thus far.
Marxist: How do social classes interact with each other? In this movie, the killer seems to be lower class. It doesn't ever show him with a home. The family he comes into has a good amount of money. The mom's sister works in real estate and gets the stepfather a job there. It is ironic because the killer is the one with more power even though he is lower in class rank. He either kills the families he encounters or escapes without getting caught by the cops.
Freudian: The Oedipal complex can be applied to this movie. The oldest son, Michael, always stays with his mom and never goes to his dad's house. The dad comes to pick up the kids, but Michael doesn't even want to talk to him. The daughter Beth is excited to see her dad. Both of these kids display the Oedipal complex. The other son, Sean, is flexible between his parents though. Explore the ways the libidos of the author, reader, character(s) work to influence the exhibit. The libidos influence the movie because it adds some romance and distractions from the horror of the movie. In The Stepfather, the oldest son Michael has a close relationship with his girlfriend. This adds to the movie because the stepfather is constantly talking to the mom about how he doesn't think it's good how they display their affection. He seems to be trying to distract the attention from himself, so he can go about his disgusting, murderous business.
For my last blog I chose the song "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crue -- I'm an 80's girl
Feminist Lens
The whole song is about girls and like most songs then and now, they portray women as toys or objects. They are good for sex and the lyrics prove that is about it.
"I'm such a good good boy
I just need a new toy
I tell ya what, girl
Dance for me, I'll keep you overemployed
Just tell me a story
You know the one I mean"
As a girl girl girl - I love this song, but find it degrading and disrespectful in a way. This song is very popular and was definitely a hit, but from a womans perspective - they make us seem like objects of lust and nothing more. Some women may say they love the attention, but others find it inappropriate - or could care less either way.
Fruedian lens
This song is very sexual, almost perverted.
"Trick or treat-sweet to eat
On Halloween and New Year's Eve
Yankee girls ya just can't beat
But they're the best when they're off their feet"
eat? - perverted?.. I think so. They're best when they're off their feet can only mean one thing. Motley Crue knows how to paint a picture with their lyrics.
Marxist lens
Guys need girls - lots of hot girls and in turn their social status sky rockets. Men are looked at as "Gods" almost when they whore around, and girls are in most cases looked down upon.
"Girls, Girls, Girls
At the Dollhouse in Ft. Lauderdale
Girls, Girls. Girls
Rocking in Atlanta at Tattletails
Girls, Girls, Girls
Raising Hell at the 7th Veil Have you read the news
In the Soho Tribune
Ya know she did me
Well then she broke my heart"
These are some pretty expensive dates for all these Girls, Girls, Girls..
Overall, this song is most likely looked at more through a feminist lens or fruedian lens due to the fact that it degrades woman and consists of sexual tendencies both blunt and hidden. I love, love, love this song and Motley Crue - I think this is a perfect song to critically analyze. You really could analyze any 80s boy bad rock songs - they all circle around sex and girls mainly. I enjoy these critical lens blogs - they open our minds and make us think about things we want to write about. This gives us as students a chance to express our creativity and show the things we love and think are interesting topics to blog about.
Jayden Crull Pd.6
For the last blog task of the year i want it to be about graduation. all of us have been working really hard to reach this point in our lives and we are almost there. I have survived 5 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, and now im on my fourth and final year of highschool. that is 12 years of school!
with these last few days of school alot of stress has been put on me and probably a few other people. graduation is a big deal and with it almost there it gets harder and harder everyday to sit in school. I have been late alot in the mornings just because i honestly dont feel like getting up. with the fear of failing i still get to school and make up what ever i missed and get it done.
Graduation through a freudian lense has alot of power involved. it is the point in many of our lives where we can make our own decisions of what we want to do. We can decide where to live, where to go to school, when to go to school. There are so many more that we as adults now can make being free from highschool into the real world, the working world. With these powers we acheive after graduating we have the choice to be what we want to be, and how we want to do it.
I am choosing to analyze The Blind Side with a Marxist and Feminist lens. Through a Marxist lens, the viewer can ask “How do social classes interact with each other?” The Blind Side shows this clearly. The black people from the ghetto are the lower class and Leigh Anne and her family are the upper class. They interact on a couple of occasions in the film. The black, lower class men constantly give Leigh Anne sexual innuendos just because she is an upper class, white woman. This is fulfilling a stereotype. Leigh Anne, on the other hand, wishes to help the less fortunate lower class people, like Michael Oher, achieve their dreams as long as they are willing to do it. Another Marxist question is “Do any characters climb the ‘social/economic ladder’?” Michael Oher climbs the social/economic ladder in numerous ways. As soon as he meets Leigh Anne his life changes. He gets to have a family and a home, along with their love. He climbs socially because he learns how to interact with the kids at his school so they are not afraid of him and his size. He makes friends because of it. Economically he goes from nothing to everything. He was poor growing up and barely got by. After meeting Leigh Anne and being encouraged to play football, every one discovers that he is very talented at football. College scouts come looking for him from across the United States and he is offered numerous scholarships. He ends up playing football in the NFL, probably one of the highest paying jobs you can get. This movie can continue to be analyzed through a Marxist lens in every aspect; it is a great example of a Marxist society. Through a Feminist lens, the viewer sees Leigh Anne being itemized by the lower class, black men. This stereotype occurs everywhere. A Feminist critic can ask “What are the social expectations for men and women?” In The Blind Side, Leigh Anne is your stereotypical upper class mom. She does have a job, takes care of her family, and manages to look good while doing so. She also goes against the norm of having a husband that brings home all the money. Michael Oher fulfills the stereotype that bigger men make good football players. He also is the example of how bigger men want to fight or defend people. This is a great movie that is great to look at through a Marxist and Feminist lens.
For my last and final blog for this class I’m going to analyze school sports. Looking at school sports through a Marxists lens reveals a lot. Like we have said in class and have debated about on the ning when people become good to the system the system becomes good to them. When a athlete is excels in their particular sport they are usually rewarded for hitting the genetic lottery and usually working hard to pursue their dreams. They are offered money to go play sports in college, more accepted/popular in their school by their fellow students, and in some cases are allowed to slip through the cracks of education in order to represent the school/community in a sport. Also, there are not supposed to be boundaries in school sports based on social class. But, like most every other rule in this world there is no way that is possible. Usually the lower class children do not have enough money to pay for x-boxes or big televisions so that have to make their own fun. Usually this involves a basketball, baseball, football, or any other sport to keep youth preoccupied and busy having fun. As they say "practice makes perfect" and the more the kids play the game the more the gain a step up on the competition playing videogames indoors all day. Now i know this example is not as prevalent in this part of the country but in other parts it is a big deal. This could explain the reason why there is such a concentrated number of black people playing in pro sports. A feminists’ lens would also reveal a ton about school sports. It is the truth when I say that there are far fewer fans interested in girl’s sports than there is in guys. There are always going to be stereotypes about men being better than women and this does not stop at sports. People go to games because they want to be entertained and they would rather invest their time/money in a game that has more potential to fulfill this craving for entertainment. There is the one similarity between genders though in school sports. That is that there must be the same number of opportunities for females as there are for males according to Title IX. It also states that no one can be discriminated in a sport based on gender. This law was placed in order to break stereotypes down and create new opportunities for woman equality. Now women can play boys games and can not be denied because of their gender.
for my Final blog task i chose to analyze the video game UFC Undisputed. in this video game the whole point is to inflict pain on your opponent to show who is the better man. This video game would be perfect for the marxist lens and maybe the freudian. +With the marxist lense it shows how insane people will become to show they are more powerful and superior to the other, they turn in to nothing more than an animal... with the most powerful opponent or superior opponent the want nothing more that money and fame. they could care less what the fans think they only want the money. Fruedian lenss and Marxistlense are the two best examples of what to analyze this film with. And with the feminist lense you could say that the females are always treated like property they walk around the cage and hold up a sign wearing nothing but a bikini they ar simply there for the pleasure of the fans, they are property
I am examining the song “Return by Capital Lights” through the Freudian lens. This is a very meaningful song about the promised return of Jesus Christ. How are the characters seeking stages of narcissistic bliss? In this song it tells us how Jesus Christ, the “rider” or “like the stranger in the night,” comes to send us into a bliss where all our needs will be met. The “rider” is the one that is the “character” that is granting this bliss along with the angels. In the song it warns the listeners that there will be false preachers claiming that they are the “Christ” but they are not. It is interesting how the writer of this song compares the “rider” as a “stranger in the night.” This song I believe can be interpreted in many ways. There is power and there is weakness; like through a Marxist lens. Do any characters climb the “social/economic ladder”? Yes, I believe that is what this song is telling us. There is a higher being, God, that is finally lifting everyone from the Earth and bringing us up to heaven or the opposite down to hell where they will live for eternity. “A nation set on tombstone” is the most powerful phrase in the entire song, which is basically what it is. Everyone is leaving and being sent either to heaven to be with God or to hell to be without God. There is what you call the “upper” class and the “lower” class and those are the people who have sinned and asked forgiveness and for those who have sinned and have not asked for forgiveness. The “lower” class are the ones who have sinned but have not asked for forgiveness, they are going to what we call the “lower” half of the two eternities. Are their social tensions? I would have to say there are definitely social tensions in this song. One verse specifically says “let rest the unbelievers who deny having a role, but they’ve played their part.” They deny being the “lower’ class but claim they are the “upper” class and they wish they were, but what the verse says is that they have played their role and they are the “lower” class.
I choose to examine a Pink advertisement by Victoria’s Secret. The ad is simple; a dark pink background, with big white letters that have a light pink shadow, and around the letters there is a gold outline. The ad simply states, LOVE PINK. In the P there is a small dog instead of a normal hole and the O in LOVE looks like a university symbol that has a P with an 86 by it and around the symbol it says LOVE PINK.
I you look at this ad in a feminist lens it is obviously aimed at women. They are told to love pink, love Victoria’s Secret. They do not even advertise any clothing in the ad or say that it is clothing they are selling, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that people remember the saying so when they see it, they ultimately love it. Because Victoria’s Secret is a mainly a lingerie store so girls know that it is super feminine, so do guys. They see that pink striped bag and immediately think, sexy. So any clothes that are related to that are sure to catch their attention.
Using a Marxist Lens looking at the dog that is in the P of PINK it does not look like just any dog. It looks proud, like a show dog. This gives it the feeling of having importance or prestige; only the best can wear it and show it off like a show dog. The O that is a university looking symbol in LOVE also gives it smart look, like it is expensive and classy; the real deal. Everyone wants to belong, so it is almost like being in a super sexy chick club when you wear clothes from Victoria’s Secret. The simplicity of the ad makes us curious to see what they have to offer. By going on the website you are not only offered their clothing but you cannot help but look at what they have to offer to wear underneath the clothing. The gold lining really makes the words pop and gives it a richness that would be lacking if any other color were used. They want you to think, glamour, expense, luxury, and exclusiveness when you see these colors and simple line, LOVE PINK, on any clothes or in any advertisement.
For my final blog task i am going to anaylize the movie Tommy Boy. the movie is about a son whos dad has just married this young woman who is just doing it to steal his fortune cause he has his own break pad company and tommy his son goes on the road to try and save his late dads company by selling as many break pads as possible. throught the marxist lens one of the questions is does any of the characters climb the social/economic ladder and the answer is yes tommys new step mom comes into the family business by marrying tommys father but at the wedding he dies so she is the rightful owner of the company and is only wanting it so she can make millions of dollars from it and does not care about the workers who are the working class americans that depend on there jobs to support their families. Are the social classses exploited i would have to say yes cause tommy was born into a rich family and him and richard are out trying to save the company. Tommy is driving to all different parts of the region trying to sell brake pads even though he is already pretty well off. He is only doing it for the people that are working for the company because he believes in the working class of americans. Through the Freudian, does any of the characters represent there id and that is a yes tommys new stepbrother acts like he is very tough as when he gets off the boss a kid is making faces in the window at him and he punches the glass the kid is doing the faces from also he throws an empty milk carton into a baby stroller. Also in the movie he acts like he is untouchable by talking about how he and his wife so called tommy boys stepmom are gunna take the families money he has drank quite a bit and decides to pee on an electric fence this is showing us that he thinks he is unstoppable and that he can do anything he wants without getting hurt but this totally backfires on him and he gets shocked. Also he tries to blow up the trucks by shooting a rifle shell at the trucks gas tanks but the guard dog breaks loose of its chain and then jumps into his car and tears him apart his id is trying to show throughout the movie but it shows many situtations where his id is not being able to get through all the way.
Martinmaas_5
For this blog task i chose to annalyze cars in general. i decided to annalyze cars with a feminist lens. when most people think of cars they think that only guys know things about cars and women are totally oblivious to them. For the most part this is true, most girls could care less about cars, but in some cases some girls know more about cars then some of the guys. Not only do people think that only guys can know things about cars but girls can drive cars either, though it is a proven fact that girls get in more accidents, some girls can drive better. Also people think that nascar is a guy sport, this is very true so far seeing that there have been no women in nascar. I beleive that a woman could though. Erica Enders is one of the women in drag racing history that has made a change on the sport. Erica became the first woman to qualify number one in pro stock races in gatornationals in Florida. I beleive tha people think that cars are a guy thing becuase girls arent as strong as men and wouldnt be able to do half the things we can. I think that in some cases that a women could help, sometimes when turning a nut onto a bolt the bolt breaks from being turned to tight, with a woman they wouldn't break the bold...well in most cases. Another main reason that girls dont do car things is that its not that they are afraid to get dirty but its not their thing, it seems more of the guys job to "do the dirty work".
If women were in nascar i dont think that there would be as many people watching it as they do now. People think that men are they best drivers we have and they wont settle for anything but the best. They dont want a women ruining one of the few sport not yet ruined by women. women should just stay at home and watch the kids as the father is out at work making money. To me it seems like if a woman was given a shot to do these sports or work with cars i think that they could do it, there have been girls that have done it before, but they are looked at differently by others becuase it isnt normal. If more girl took the chance we could have more woman making money for doin things that others dont do
Im going to do the books Harry Potter threw a feminist lens. Men in the books are playing the major roll even though they are not to smartest people take Harry for example he is not the smartest but bc he is the Chosen one he is exalted in his fame. Unlike Hermione she is the smartest in her class yet bc she is a women and not the chosen she the Harry's friend she does not get as much fame and power as Harry does. As a woman Hermione has some limitations but not many. She is so smart that she kinda just blows away most of those limitations. She finds that people start to respected he for being a girl and being a very smart girl. She has pushed threw her limitations by being smart and being able to push threw much. I think Hermione gets rid of a lot of limits that she has and she does not follow really any of the stereotypes in the book. I think the social expectations are much in that world as they are in our world right now. Either the man or the woman could work and be happy in working. Though in the Weasly family the Ron’s mom stays home and cleans and looks after the kids. Kind of going back to the 50’s oppressive way the men treated there women. She stays home cleans looks after the kids and finds things to do well her husband is working hard to keep food on the table. I think we have gotten away from that a lot though it is still done some not as much as it was done in the 50’s and be for then. I think in Harry Potter books the society value of men over women is much sense the main character Harry is a male so they have a more important roll in the books. Even Dumbledoor is more valued then most women in the book. Look and Prof. Mognogle is very good witch and she is just a teacher and not feared or looked at in any other way as just a teacher in the books. I think women are valued in the book as well some of them are horrible people and some are very nice. The women in the book have equal say in everything that they do and have a chance to make a plan with all the guys. But they never really take any of the fame for what they have done in the books it is always the men who take most of the fame in the books.
Charlie Sellers_6
The topic I chose to pick is the sport of basketball.
When looking at basketball through a Marxist Lens I notice many things. Money is definitely a big factor in basketball. Money is one of the reasons that pro basketball players even play. A power system does matters because the players love the power. The basketball players are the high class. They hardly socialize with the bourgeoisie. These players climb the social/economic ladder easily as long as they practice hard so they can earn more money. I do not think that lower/working classes are exploited in this at all. These "characters" are given a lot of freedom because they are so rich. But they have to hold back a little because everyone is watching them so they cannot do anything to bad or they will be penalized.
Looking at basketball though a feminist lens is a lot better than looking at football through a feminist lens. Unlike football, basketball has a pro team for both men and women basketball. A bad thing about basketball is that hardly anybody watches girls basketball, and because of that, the women players hardly get paid any money compared to the men basketball players. Gender expectations for basketball is that men should play and women should cheer. Women are portrayed in basketball like they should not even play, but they should just be cheerleaders because women basketball is not fun to watch compared to men's basketball. The social norms are different for men and women because we assume that every guy basketball player has to be amazing at everything and girls players are just weird and boring.
When looking at basketball through a Freudian lens I notice many things. Basketball players have to listen to there ego most of the time. If they listen to there superego they will probably be put on the bench very quickly after. There ego is the best thing to listen to because they cannot hold back and not foul when needed. They also cannot get to wild by listening to their id and get a technical foul or they can also get put on the bench. The id is not really necessarily a winning character in any player because, only under certain circumstances, they will listen to it, but this hardly happens. Basketball also try to talk the referees out of a foul because they are in so much denial. When you see this, the player is just trying to act because they want it against the other team.
For my final blog task I decided to analyze my family. Many people have different kind of families. Some have parents that are divorced, some have parents that are in the military and some even have parents that have passed away. My family has gone through a lot ever since my dad died. We have become closer to each other and understanding each other better. Looking at my family through the Marxist lens people look at my family that we have a lot of money from when my dad passed away. This is not entirely true. My family is just an average family where they have to work to making a living and income. Some people call me spoiled because I get what ever I want when I want it. Right when I started driving I got a 2005 Nissan Altima. Besides that my mom just got a Envoy not to long ago. People sometimes judge you on what you drive and the way you dress. The reason why they may think you have money is because some people keep their cars in good condition and aren’t hard on them. With the clothes we don’t buy them every weekend. Yes, sometimes we treat ourselves to a new pair of jeans, shirts or even shoes. I personally thought that after I lost my dad that we would move into a smaller house than what I live in now. Most of my friends I have a big house compared to them since I have four levels. I always tell them it doesn’t matter how many levels you have in a house. I look at my house as a average house in a nice part of town. Through the feminist lens we still have a good family even though we lost a family member. My mom has a big role of playing both parents. I think she does a great job by being both the parents and still keeping up on things around the house. When it comes to having something done on the computer my sister will do it even though she doesn’t want to sometimes and she throws a fit about it. I know its hard for her to not have a dad around along with the rest of us because we don’t have someone that will pick on us or make comments that moms usually don’t make. Even though we lost one person we are still a strong family and do things together once in awhile and don’t let things get to us. By examining my family through the Freudian lens you can see all the different things both my parents have done for my sister and I. Without my parents guiding me through life I don’t know what I would of done. Especially when they talked to me about college when I was in middle school saying I should get good grades because they actually count as I get older. They have given both of us the knowledge that we have and smarts about knowing what goes on in the real world and what to look for. I am ready to graduate and take things to the next level in my life and go to college. By going to college I will meet new people and different personalities. With out my mom and dad guiding me and helping me out I don’t think I would be at the point that I’m at to this day.
For my final blog task I decided to analyze my family. Many people have different kind of families. Some have parents that are divorced, some have parents that are in the military and some even have parents that have passed away. My family has gone through a lot ever since my dad died. We have become closer to each other and understanding each other better. Looking at my family through the Marxist lens people look at my family that we have a lot of money from when my dad passed away. This is not entirely true. My family is just an average family where they have to work to making a living and income. Some people call me spoiled because I get what ever I want when I want it. Right when I started driving I got a 2005 Nissan Altima. Besides that my mom just got a Envoy not to long ago. People sometimes judge you on what you drive and the way you dress. The reason why they may think you have money is because some people keep their cars in good condition and aren’t hard on them. With the clothes we don’t buy them every weekend. Yes, sometimes we treat ourselves to a new pair of jeans, shirts or even shoes. I personally thought that after I lost my dad that we would move into a smaller house than what I live in now. Most of my friends I have a big house compared to them since I have four levels. I always tell them it doesn’t matter how many levels you have in a house. I look at my house as a average house in a nice part of town. Through the feminist lens we still have a good family even though we lost a family member. My mom has a big role of playing both parents. I think she does a great job by being both the parents and still keeping up on things around the house. When it comes to having something done on the computer my sister will do it even though she doesn’t want to sometimes and she throws a fit about it. I know its hard for her to not have a dad around along with the rest of us because we don’t have someone that will pick on us or make comments that moms usually don’t make. Even though we lost one person we are still a strong family and do things together once in awhile and don’t let things get to us. By examining my family through the Freudian lens you can see all the different things both my parents have done for my sister and I. Without my parents guiding me through life I don’t know what I would of done. Especially when they talked to me about college when I was in middle school saying I should get good grades because they actually count as I get older. They have given both of us the knowledge that we have and smarts about knowing what goes on in the real world and what to look for. I am ready to graduate and take things to the next level in my life and go to college. By going to college I will meet new people and different personalities. With out my mom and dad guiding me and helping me out I don’t think I would be at the point that I’m at to this day.
Megan Bly
Period 7
For my final blog task I am going to analyze the cartoon and movie, Scooby Doo. I will be using all three of my critical lenses which will add insight into my life and into the film I am experiencing! First I will be using my Marxist critical lens to analyze the Scooby Doo characters. The Marxist lens helps us examine how socioeconomic factors influence the characters, plot, setting, reader/viewer, author/maker, or any other aspect of an exhibit. When I use my Marxist lens I uncover that Shaggy and Scooby are in a lower social class than the rest of the “gang”. They are uneducated, poorly dressed and could be considered “trashy”. They are always eating and relying on others to do their work for them. Daphne and Fred are in the highest social class out of all of their “gang” members. They are well dressed, seem to be well educated and always want everything to be up to their standards. Velma is in the middle social class. She is very well educated, but either does not care about her looks, or can’t afford to look as nice as Daphne. Velma is the “nerdy” girl out of the group, while Shaggy and Scooby could be considered the clowns. One question that a Marxist critic would ask is; how do social classes interact with each other? In the Scooby Doo movies, you can definitely tell that the higher class characters are very judgmental towards the other characters. Daphne and Fred are always taking charge, although all the viewers know that Velma is smarter. They treat Shaggy like a dog, although he does act like one at times. I think that Velma is jealous of Daphne because of her style, but also respects her because she is more of the “popular” girl type. The characters usually get along, but viewers can definitely tell that they have different views and life styles. Next, I will use my feminist lens. This lens helps us examine how gender is a factor in an exhibit. One question that a feminist critic would ask is; who puts limitations on genders? In Scooby Doo I think that both genders put limits on each other. Daphne is the pretty blond that nobody expects to be smart or good at her job. I think that Fred puts Velma down because she is a girl. Although viewers know that Velma is very smart, Fred always seems to limit her because she is a woman. He gives himself the hard job, because he is the man, although we know that Velma could do it, or even do it better. Finally, I will use my Freudian critical lens. This lens helps us examine how inner workings of the brain influence every aspect of an exhibit. When I use this lens I think of how Scooby and Shaggy’s ID come out and take over them. They are constantly losing a battle to their ID by eating and messing around. Also, Fred’s unconscious mind lets his ego take over. He knows that he is good looking, and lets it take over how he treats others. He gives himself the “manly” jobs or the easy tasks to make himself look good, and for others to look inefficient.
Roeder_5
For my final blog I chose to analyze high school and senior year in particular. I find it only fit. You see the envy, guilt, displacement, denial, and dreams everywhere within high school. You see those that represent the superego, the id, and the ego. There are narcisstic people. There are those who only think with their phallus. Some are repressed by their dreams, urges, and goals.
As you walk down the hall you will see those students that are envious of those who are so called better looking, richer, more popular, more athletic, smarter, happier, or just have a life better than you. As you go on through highschool you find many times you have guilt and regrets. You regret not getting good grades through the years, you regret that office visit, that underage, disrespecting a teacher, and all the young stupid mistakes you made. All of these oppressions come to you especially in the last days of your high school years. You see those who have been displaced by friends and are forced to meet others. Some narcissistic people go into denial until the last days approch. They always felt they were always right, always better than everybody else; but as the final days approch they may realize that they had flaws and regrets. Senior year becomes much about following your dreams and goals in life. By choosing your dream college and major or going on to the military. They are all dreams and goals we set for ourselves somewhere along the line. Some are repressed by these dreams and goals because they realize they did not get the grades or do not have the money to follow them so they have to settle for something less then what they dreamed of. Some dreams are oppressed because of choices we made along the line. Whether it be getting bad grades, having a baby, or getting into trouble.
Is it hard to believe that we have come thirteen years together and some of us spent that time envying others instead of befriending them? We allowed ourselves to be displaced and get narcisstic at times. We let our ego get in the way, we followed our superego and had to control our id. We have been oppressed and repressed. We have bathed innarcisstic bliss. We may deny it all we want but it is only the truth that we can no longer ignore.
We have no choice to turn back and redo this expirence. Once we walk across that stage to receive our diplomas much of this will not matter. It won’t matter if you were the jock, the nerd, the prep, the emo, the outcast, the art freak. Your mistakes will be virtually erased as you move onto a new chapter in life. Your future is in your hand and you have learned from many mistakes. You create your ending. You can continue life as you have and do all the same things or your ending could be a complete surprise, like Life of Pi. It is in your hands to follow your dreams, to shoot for the stars to meet your goals, and know when to follow your urges. Life is your novel, write it as you want while keeping in mind the things and people that brought you to where you are today. Do no let your ego get out of hand and remember to thank those who helped you along the way through this journey in your life. You have survived your adventure on the lifeboat, now decide was it all a dream or is it reality?
For my last blog i choose to examine the great film _Gladiator_. This is a good film to anylize with a Fiminist lense. In this film the emperor daughter could become one of best cesar Rome have seen but like shes a woman she cant take over a whole nation. In time of the great empire of Rome the women didnt have a power they were used just for the pleasure and to surve the men. they were used as tools. The plot is of this film is based on the marxist lens. The main character is one of the best general of Rome everyone gloried him because he won many wars and inportant battles, but after he put to slavery no one cared about him beacuse he didnt have any power nor did something to improve the system. When you are good to the system, the system will be good in return. freudian lens Rome is becoming very savage, they are making men fight to death just to have fun, they use their men as slaves and treat them like property not a human being. Also they are killing animals. The Roman dont have hearts they just care about them self and about having fun.
For my last blog i choose to examine the great film _Gladiator_. This is a good film to anylize with a Fiminist lense. In this film the emperor daughter could become one of best cesar Rome have seen but like shes a woman she cant take over a whole nation. In time of the great empire of Rome the women didnt have a power they were used just for the pleasure and to surve the men. they were used as tools. The plot is of this film is based on the marxist lens. The main character is one of the best general of Rome everyone gloried him because he won many wars and inportant battles, but after he put to slavery no one cared about him beacuse he didnt have any power nor did something to improve the system. When you are good to the system, the system will be good in return. freudian lens Rome is becoming very savage, they are making men fight to death just to have fun, they use their men as slaves and treat them like property not a human being. Also they are killing animals. The Roman dont have hearts they just care about them self and about having fun.
The exhibit I decided to analyze is “That 70’s Show”. Looking at the exhibit through a Feminist lens it shows that it is okay and acceptable to have a stay at home mother, but also shows that the motherly character can be a working parent that provides for the family as well. Kitty the working mother is portrayed at having more caring motherly skills than the stay at home mother Midge, the next door neighbor, does. Midge is stereotyped as a unintelligent blonde; she dresses in a more revealing or skanky way while also saying bimboish phrases. This is a very funny character and uses her unimpressive intelligence to get laughs from the audience. Another woman that is portrayed poorly and I my opinion is the most annoying of all the women in the show. Jackie, while being extremely attractive, is the stereotypical teenage girl that has constant: emotional changes, boyfriend problems, and all around sassy personality. If not for her looks she would be the obvious pick to never get a boyfriend or any type of relationship because of her unpleasant and rude behavior. Her complete polar opposite and Jackie’s best friend is Donna. Donna acts like one of the guys and shows more masculine traits then all the other women in the show. She is a very independent woman and is not stared to voice her opinion. She is the definite role-model for young women in America. This show has a dominate id factor that each character fallows. Full of illegal drugs, underage alcohol consumption, and excessive sex the show glorifies everything teenagers often get in trouble for. The show often implies that they are hippies with the trippy colors in between senses but they all act like everyday teenagers. Some examples are, in almost every episode it is implied that the kids get high. This could be compare to a hippie but they don’t act like tree hugging peace activist in the show. I think this show just shows that everyone can be part hippie if you want to stereotype people into it. Another example is all the alcohol use when it state very clearly that they are all still in high school. This does not set a great example and may just cause young teens to think it is socially acceptable behavior. Also another very stereotypical fact about the teen is that every one of them has sex in some episode throughout the series. With all these bad influences portrayed on teens today, it will just be harder for us young adults to seem mature enough in older adult’s eyes. Changing lenses to a Marxist, almost all the characters are in suburb, white, middle-class with only a few exceptions. Jackie adds to her rude behavior with her arrogance of her parent’s wealth. She is always making fun of and putting people down if that cannot compete to her high-maintenance life. Her rich and powerful parents are hardly ever mentioned in the show leaving her with no guidance. One of the characters that seem to be the butt to her jokes is Fez. This foreigner is constantly being harassed by everyone, include Forman’s father who almost is outright racist to Fez. Fez is trying to always adjust to the American lifestyle and abandoned his native culture. For any Latino-American who is just trying to fit in, this show just adds more hatred and ridicule to them.
For this blog task, I’m going to analyze a baseball team. The Washington Nationals, the greatest disappointment for a baseball team in our nation’s capital. First, I will give you a little history about the Washington Nationals. Organized in 1901, the Washington Senators spent 59 seasons in our nation’s capital. Then in 1961, the team was relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota and renamed the Minnesota Twins to unite the twin cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Also in 1961, things got confusing in D.C. That year an expansion team was created and called the Washington Senators. This team didn’t fare to well and moved to Arlington, Texas in 1972 where they were renamed the Texas Rangers. Finally, the Washington Nationals we know today were created after the Montreal Expos were relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005. I will analyze through a Marxist lens first. How does a power system matter/function in this exhibit? For the most part, the Nats could be considered a small-market team since they have a low budget and small fan base. The Nationals have never been much of a power team, though they have tried to change this with the additions of Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, and the continued strength of Ryan Zimmerman. Also, in last year’s draft, they drafted a hard-throwing right-hander Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals team payroll for this season is just over $62 million, which is 22nd league. Comparing them to the New York Yankees, there is a difference of about $145 million, an incredible amount that shows how money makes the team “better”. Are characters given more/less freedom by their class? In baseball, if you cannot produce for the team, the organization gets rid of you. Especially for smaller teams that are struggling to win, there is a lot more pressure to succeed before you are eliminated from the team/staff. Does money really equal power, influence, freedom, happiness, and opportunity? No, it does not mean anything. The Minnesota Twins are the same way, a small-market, low budget team, yet they have skilled players and work hard as a team to win games. Then from the opposite end of the spectrum, the Boston Red Sox are struggling and have the second highest budget in the league. With all of the problems they are having as a team and in their organization, this is proving the point that money isn’t everything in the baseball, all that is needed is the desire to win and a quality effort put forth to work as a team.
For my final blog task of my high school career, I decided to do it over the world-wide famous musical, Wicked. Wicked is about the untold stories of the wicked witch of the west, Alphaba, and the good witch of the north, Glinda. They both go to the same school and are roomed together. The person that they look up to is of course the Wizard of Oz. In a feminist lens the question how are women portrayed in this exhibit can be answered. Unlike the movie The Wizard of Oz where the women seem to be the caretakers of the land while a seemingly powerful man runs the land with lies, in Wicked the witches seem to have much more power over the men. For example, Glinda with just the flick of her hair can get whatever she wants whenever she wants, and with the flick of Alphaba's wrist she can get whatever she wants too. And so they take over the land of Oz and send the Wizard running back home. This musical is much more for feminism than the original Wizard of Oz. I think seeing this musical through a feminist lens makes it better because it gives women a bigger role in society, and makes the story more realistic. Seeing this through the Marxist lens you can answer the question how does money matter in this exhibit. Well, Glinda comes from a wealthy family so that is also why she is so Popular and gets whatever she wants. With money she gets more power over her peers. Alphaba doesn't have any money at all and is forced to be ugly and insignificant to everyone due to the lack of money. But money does not matter when it comes to magical power. The Wizard of Oz realizes the power Alphaba possesses and she automatically becomes his favorite witch. In some society’s money can and will rule over all, but in some special occasions, other things become more important, like magical powers. Through the Freudian lens you can answer he question how does psychoanalysis matter in this exhibit. Everyone of Oz believes that Alphaba is listening to her id, going against everyone for its selfish need. Of course they have it all wrong but they listen to their own ids, excusing of all other possibilities and rationalizations. If anything they all envy Alphaba’s power over them so they follow their ids just to get rid of her.
Danny Sellers
So about 20 blog tasks or so later i have finally arrived on the last assignment. Through this class and all the different learning exercises we have done i have started to analyze almost everything around me. I have learned to look at things for what they really are and not what they appear to be. I have also applied all the knowledge to breaking down pieces of art to be able to feel the creators perspective. The last exhibit i want to examine is a place where i frequently visit. This place that demands my time is known as the gym. The gym is a perfect place to analyze with the lens because all three lenses we discussed can apply to the gym.
Using the feminist lens i would like to answer how gender plays a big role in the gym. AS most people known gender is one of the key factors in gym participation the men believe they can dominate the gym because they are more of the muscle builders and feel like they own the place and can boss everyone around because of this. The females on the other hand like to use it as a chance to show off their goods. Females mostly stick to cardio workouts while wearing very revealing clothing. They get sweaty and like to do prvocative stretches to entice the muscular men working out. This leads to the degrading nature of men towards women. When we look through our marxist lense we see how money plays a role in the gym and gym goers. Gyms are often seen as a club for the elite you have to pay a pricey fee you could towels and other non essential items, the windows are always dark and you walk in the doors with workout clothes on (your uniform). What is the only way to join this club? The only way to join is by paying the pricey fee, this plays into the marxist lense because you know everyone working out there has the money to pay for exercise and therefor is probably a little better off than some other people. Finally, with the freudian lens i want to analyze people letting out their id at the gym. Alot of people let out there id at the gym because it is accepted at a place where you can go and blair hard rock on your headphones pump yourself up and take your bodily anger out on the machine you are using. You get to grunt be sweaty and focus all your energy on exerting as much force as possible. Thats what i call a free richard parker.
Lyle Hall
The exhibit I have decided to choose is about Halo the video games for the Xbox 360. In this video game, basically all the important figures of battling and winning are men. Through the feminist critical lens you could ask how are women portrayed or depicted in this exhibit? In Halo, I would say it is completely sexist towards women. Men fight out wars against aliens (set in the future) and women just help with small technical stuff, or are not involved at all. If they are involved it is only because they are romantically involved with one of the characters. This game is basically saying all men are superior to women. Men fight huge intergalactic wars against aliens and even zombie type aliens, supporting the human race, and doing what ever they can to have humans survive. Women has the only role of being a damsel in distress or at home making more fit warriors for the cause, by bringing up their young and making them into soldiers. Another question to ask in the feminist lens is how does gender matter or function in this exhibit. Women are totally insignificant in this video game, but men are definitely way more superior to women in the sense that they are battling to the death for their race, while women do nothing but sit at home raising babies. Which in the long run is good for the future of the army, so I really do not see why it is that much of an issue. If women were out fighting the wars, who would provide the next generation of soldiers? Personally, I like the idea of a "stay at home mother", because in this case, they do more help staying home than they would on a battlefield. I am not saying they are not cut out for war, I am just saying it is probably better for the future generation of the human race, so they can have a more abundant amount of soldiers. The only significant role in this game for a woman is a computer with the digital form and voice of a woman. She is essentially the damsel in distress, but without her the human race could most definitely be extinct. The makers of Halo probably set this computer as a woman so women playing would not get offended by the lack of females, and also to attract the minds of male players so that they pay attention more. If the digital woman were real she would most likely be a hot woman. Some gamers get fantasies like that because they can not get anything else, and makers of Halo knows this.
I have recently come across an advertisement in the Cosmopolitan magazine. This ad is for Euphoria Calvin Klein perfume. There is a woman who appears to be naked under a dark purple or plumb colored bed sheet. There is a man with a black button up shirt with is not buttoned up. Her eyes are closed and one hand is holding up the sheet and the other is on the back of the man’s neck. The man has his face on the woman’s cheek. His hand is on her lower stomach on top of the blanket. Gender does not matter because they become one person in this advertisement. The woman is portrayed as a sex symbol to men. The man in this advertisement looks like an animal who is calling for his mate. Women are also shown as being easy to get in bed with men. The man in this advertisement is muscular and has great neck muscles. This may make men to think they must be fit to get a woman in bed with them. Genders put their own limitations on other genders. They say o she is just a girl or he is just a guy he can do that or he is supposed to do that. The man in this advertisement looks like he is in control of the girl. In this advertisement a woman has to look sexy and be sexy at all times in order for her to get the man of her dreams. Stereotypes for men and women are portrayed in this advertisement; therefore I believe people should not let this advertisement persuade you to think stereotypically about men and women. Calvin Klein is the brand of perfume being displayed. This is obviously a male gender name. One can infer that through a man’s eye his needs have to be fulfilled in a sexual manner. In the Freudian lens one can see how this advertisement is promoting sexual desires for men and women. The woman is leaning on the man and is dependant of him to fulfill her desires. The man takes control and will help her reach her challenging desires. The perfume bottle can portrayed like a male’s genitals, but may be some what of a stretch. Dark purple or plumb color is a very sexy color that has darkness and mysteriousness. The purple or plumb color sheet also can be seen as a symbol of power; Power in a sense of money. Generally deep purple is a symbol for royalty. In order to buy this perfume you must be popular and have power and a lot of money. This also can show only the upper class will have greater sexual pleasure than ones who are in the lower class.
The Exhibit im going to talk about would be the show "16 and pregnant"
With using the feministic lense you can see that in the show they try to blame the girls for getting pregnant and somehow it wasnt the guys fault. also in the show it shows how the moms have to do everything for the baby and thats how it should be while the guy goes out to party and do whatever they want, which shows that girls stay home to take care of the kids like in the olden days. When the girls are pregnant in this show their moms are always very supportive while the dads dont say much.
If you look at this show with the marxist lense it shows all the teenage girls to be poor, whithout a job and worthless but then the guy gets a job and doesnt help out with the baby so they act like money is everything, they also make the guys always dressed nicely to come off as having alot of money, or to look "sexy."
By Katie Carlson
PreReading
(I know we recently went over the topic of Krro Fest in class but I had started this blog task on Saturday. I just want to let you know I am not copying your idea. However I did like the thought about it showing that we have an oppressive capitalist society. That was marvelously worded.)
Preview
I was fortunate enough to have my boyfriend, Ian Nelson, surprise me with Krro Fest 2010 tickets on Friday! While I was there I was aware that we had a blog task that was due in the next week and seeing all the types of people and analyzing their situations made it a prime exhibit to use for this blog task. The “Critical Lenses 101” handout will reveal an immense amount of underlying themes.
Marxist Lens
One of my favorite things to do anywhere is people watch. Many enjoy it but countless times we find ourselves judging instead of observing and embracing. Krro Fest 2010, my first rock concert, was some of the most interesting people watching I have ever done so far in my short life. Often I caught myself finding more interest in the people around me than what was going on on stage.
This leads us to our first question from the Handout:
“How does a power system matter/function in this exhibit?”
At rock concerts you will not find the “brilliant Ol' Chap” in his suit and tie screaming “I hate EVERYTHING about you! Why do I LOVE YOU!” [Three Days Grace's song I Hate Everything About You.]. A great majority of rock music lyrics seems like they should end in a countless number of EXCLAMATION POINTS.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, because you scream them all. You will come across many powerful individuals, shouting, drinking, smoking, and having their fancy of a 'good time'. Does this show that the people under this governing/ruling are unsettled and agitated? Otherwise why would they feel the need to lash out by screaming, jumping around, climbing fences, etc all in a violent manner?(I'm pretty sure that no one would climb onto fence and shake it back and forth in a peaceful manner.)
Feminist View
“How are women portrayed/depicted in this exhibit?”
It is empowering to be able to jump around and yell as the males do. But at the same time women can be turned into an objects at concerts. Males can make them just an accessory ,something good to look at, that in turn makes you look good. I saw plenty of that at Krro Fest. Sometimes women will strive for that attention and dress provocatively in order to get it.
Freudian Scope
“Is the id winning in any character?”
The majority of the people at Krro Fest were pure ID. They had drank themselves into a state of uncontrollable blunder. Otherwise there would not have been a hole torn in the fence, people scaling it, and starting rowdy mash pits. Krro Fest could cleverly change their name to the 'id' Fest!
Experiences
I learned from this experience to keep my doors open to new things and also got a reminder not to judge and stereotype so harshly.
For my blog I decided to analyze video games in general. Video games can be very controvercial through all lenses. With a feminist lens we see that video games can be very anti for females. You don't see a lot of women who will willing go out and buy and play video games. With all the obnoxious and sexist comments from other players it steers people away from the hobby and forces them to do other things. People remark online with sexist comments and that is very wrong. If more male video game players would embrace females the sport or hobby could become better than it already is. We would be able to have a more diverse group and with a more diverse group we get more fun. Also if there were more games that appealed to women it would entice females to join up. From a marxist lens we can see that video games are getting more and more expensive which makes it harder for women to buy them. Studies show that women generally make less money than males and therefore would rather spend it on necessities instead of video games. Males have more money and therefore have better access to that freedom. If females received an equal share of money than the whole video game universe would drastically change. We might see more females play games which would be better for the world. This problem must first be overcome. From a freudian lens we see how video games take us out of reality and let us live our fantasies and dreams. We can take an easy way out and just relax and enjoy what others are doing instead of living it ourselves. Video games are lifes way of saying that we aren't able to do some of these things but here is an easy way to have a fun safe way to experience them. With a nominal fee we can go on great adventures and be whoever we want. Also with a freudian lens we can see how through video games we are physically sucked from our beings and brain washed to sit in front of our tvs for hours on end and play endless games. Games have become more and more addicting and have drawn in a wider audience to cast them under their spell. These new games want us to fork over our money so we can waste our lives away in front of tvs. It is a big mind game that eventually the video game industry will win and we will all have to buy games and enjoy them.
For my exhibit, I am choosing to analyze the film, _The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus_, starring Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. This movie is about a man who made a deal with the devil--that to be immortal, he had to give up his daughter at the age of sixteen. Dr. Parnassus (Dr. P) also gets powers when becomming immortal. He travels with his troupe of characters and his daughter in a trailer where they perform on the street for money. There is a mirror in the trailer, and when you step through it all of the things going on in your head become the reality you are standing in. After some performances, the troupe comes upon a man who has been hung off of a bridge (Ledger). They take him in and make him a part of their troupe.
Marxist Lens~When even Ledger goes through the mirror, he becomes someone else. The first time he goes through, he is still the same man, but Depp is now playing his role. This is marxist because Ledger is becomming whoever he wants to be. When he is Depp, he gets all of the ladies and all of the sex he wants, women flock to him--he is feeding his id. The second time he goes through he is played by Jude Law. In this trip through the mirror, he litterally climbs a ladder of success. At the top of the ladders there are photos on magazine fronts praising him. It also makes him look good in that in the photos, he is helping underprivilegded children, which is a clash of social statuses. The third time he goes through he is portrayed by Colin Farrell. In this trip, he is attending an award ceremony to award him of his duties with underprivilegded children. He is living the dream, controlling everything.
Feminist Lens~Throughout the film Dr. P's daughter is portrayed as an object. One of the boys in the troupe is trying to get her, Ledger is trying to get her and her father is trying to protect her but waaaay too excessively. She is displayed on stage just as something to look at, and at one point Heath Ledger's character, Tony, has sex with her and that's that. It is an exploitaion of women.
While in this "Imaginarium" people are always given a choice. For example, these gangster guys are chasing Tony, and they have a choice to run to their mother (because this is their imaginations)or they can choose to join the police. It is a test to see if they will choose thier id or thier superego, if they will give in and go to mommy or step up. Of course they choose their mother, and they blow up. This imaginarium seriously tests the mind. Check it our Mr. C, I think you would really like it! You will find a surplus of things to analyze.
for my exhibit im going to analyze the virtual world other wise known as also known as (aka) facebook.
Facebook has a variety of effects on people, anyone which you know everyone on this blog probably has a facebook, facebook is unique because it allows people to project themselves as anybody you can let on to be a totally different person. So many people me to a small degree fabricate their personalities, simply because you can pull it off. Facebook is the great connector of people on the network you can meet people from any place on this planet. You can really get to see cultures not so much experience them but get a peek at them. You can really get to see who people are underneath the image that is let on. Some people everyone knows always are standing in a mirror with a camera fixed on them it seems these people are well not to bag on anyone but they seem superficial, infatuated with what they look like. Pictures are a big thing on facebook, you can get a peek into someones life just by the photos that are attached to said persons profile i mean if you see some illegal photos such as drinking and what we like to call "label hiders" (when people are photographed drinking the can is turned so the label isnt visible) maybe these people do this because they want to hide who they are to an extent and what their vices are, maybe they are just being smart you can be the judge of this. Some people like to put crazy photos on facebook to show they are outgoing adventurous people which they very well could be, Some people put photos on facebook to flaunt or show that they are very worldly there ain't a thing wrong with that though. Peoples personalities no matter how hard they hide it tend to come out and that is a good aspect of facebook. facebook is like a virtual world some people are exclusive for their facebookiness and diligence to the website. It is a good device for communication and comradery my hat is off to the network on this one. Facebook oh facebook, status rapes haha crazy photos what would we do without it break out photo albums and reminisce who knows whats better. Anyone that has a facebook "creeps" anyone that has a facebook will admit that they are to an extent a junkie anyone that has a facebook will admit that they have wasted many hour apart glued to that flourescent screen but hey sometimes you gotta get the job done sometimes it just gets plain dirty ha. Kashi Halma
DAN NELSON PERIOD NUMBER SIX!
The exhibit that I am chosing to look at and discuss is going to be motor sports. I will be looking at motor sports, all kinds of them including nascar, touring racing cars, rally racing cars, super bike racing, etc. through a feminist lens. the reason i decided to do motor sports through a feminist lens because that is one thing while i was contimplating what to do, that has one of the least amount of women in it that i could think of and is something different from the "norm" of what i've done for the other blogs. ANYWAYS, the reason you can look at motorsports through a feminist lens is exactly that, there is not many women in it at all. There are endless reasons to why women might not be in these kinds of sports (for the most part, there are a few girls in motorsports do not get me wrong)but for the most part, they probably just are not into it. But, are women being supressed and kept from being in these kinds of amazing sports? or do women just not have any interest in them? I do know that there are alot of female fans of nascar, but for the most part i have only REALLY seen males interested in nascar. Men are way more fanatical about nascar and it seems like they are willing to pay more (etc.) to watch nascar or any other sport. Maybe it is because most women are "weak" (<-not all women are weak, but that is the stereotype) and are scared of being injured or not doing well or maybe just are not fit enough to do it. BUT there are women in the motorsport racing world, and i personally am a fan and am proud of Danica Patrick. She has accomplished ALOT in her career and she has raised the bar for women AND motor sports. I definantly believe that more women should try out for motor sports, and if the stereotype is somewhat correct and they can not keep up or match the mens' skills, then i think that women should at least have a racing league started for them. But all in all, motor sports seem to be keeping women out somehow and that needs to change. Women need to start working with motors! i hope women start taking the example of Danica Patrick and make big changes to anything that one would be in!
For my final blog task of the 2010 school year, and what a year it has been, I am going to look at the Olympics as my last exhibit. The Olympics can be viewed through all but one of the lenses in different ways. But first I want to view them through a Marxist lens. The question from the packet states: “How does money matter/function in this exhibit?” well money matters/functions in many ways. Millions and millions of viewers, from all around the world, view the Olympics. And NBC, the network that air’s the two week sporting event, gets paid a certain amount, for every TV that is on, and watching the Olympics. But it is not a lot of money at all that NBC gets for every TV, and every viewer that is watching the Olympics at that time, but for every person watching, that dollar amount increases a lot. And not including all the money that comes from all of the spectators in the stadium, watching as their country competes for the gold. Tickets for the Olympic events can cost anywhere from up to 25 dollars, all the way up to 1,100 dollars. But whom can you blame for the high prices? These are world-class athletes, who are the best in the world at what they do and get to compete every four years. So money has a lot to do with the Olympics. And this is where different social classes get to come together and battle it out against other countries. We can also view the Olympics through a feminist lens. I will look at the question from the Critical Lenses 101 packet, that says: “Who puts limitations on genders?” I think society as a whole, puts limitations on genders because one gender, male or female, will not be able to do certain things because of the gender of that person, and the fact that some believe that males can do things much better than females, and females think that they can do things much better than males. Now granted, males are naturally stronger and more bigger than females, but that doesn’t mean that females can’t function, or do the things males can do cuz their not as strong, or as big. Everyone is better than someone, weather male or female, at something, but it shouldn’t come down to gender because we all, male and female, are capable of doing the same thing.
The routine of going to church and church itself can be looked at through all three lenses on the “Critical Lenses 101” handout, Marxist, Feminist, and Freudian.
To start out with a Marxist Critical Lens, one can tell that money matters to a church quite a bit. Without a bit of money a church wouldn’t be able to function properly and spread the word. The church has to be able to pay its bills and stuff in order to keep people coming as well as to pay the pastor. I does not matter what social class you are in when you attend church because those around you are looking more to what is on the inside. But everyone is in a different social class when it comes to talking to God. That is where members try to help one grow in their faith and help them climb the “social ladder”. They do this because it may be their calling to help others grow in the faith of Jesus Christ. I would not say there are social tensions but sometimes the pushing of people higher up to those in a lower class to help out more.
Next onto the Feminist Critical Lens, in some churches there seems to be a male dominance in pastors. In Catholic churches women are not allowed to become a priest. In many stories in the Bible the women are not mentioned, for example there are not any women disciples and women are not in the major stories taught. Then again, women play an important role in conceiving important male children. Such as, Mary giving birth to baby Jesus. Both gender roles matter in a Christian aspect, but in a church I would say that males are more dominant in the aspect of running things and taking charge. My church loves to have pot lucks and the women are portrayed as amazing cooks and men as the big eaters.
A church can be looked at through the Freudian Critical Lens as well. A pastor has a goal to preach about God’s word and teach about how we can be forgiven and have eternal life. The pastor is constantly learning and going to conferences and classes to continue to grow in his own faith. The congregation of the church seeks the Good News and to teach others what they have learned. They are constantly thriving for the word and to fulfill what they have been taught. Sometimes people follow their Id and are not conscious of all the good deeds they are doing and sometimes it can be reversed when they are not conscious of bad decisions they are making. Ones ego can take control and you may follow either. Christianity will not stop you from being conscious or nonconscious.
Brittney Myrlie pd.7
Kortney Fisher
pd.3
I'm going to analyze the song "I hate you" by Sick Puppies. It's a good example on what I do (check out new up coming bands) and take interest in.
The marxist lens isn't used in this song. But like any recording group, the money is in what is being produced. You get a band like Sick Puppies to be introduced to what is popular during a certain time, and BAM!!!, they are making hits, selling out shows, and making albums gold. It hurts the fans in a sense as their money is not going for them, it is going directly to the producers and songwriters with every cd and concert ticket sold. Having a great band also gives you more power. You are the headlining band and have other bands opening up for you. With the money you bring in, your producers give you as much power as the think that is needed.
With the feminist lens, you can see this song as hurtful and maybe even degrading. "You're everything I ever wanted but It's never enough You're never enough", these lyrics can make a girl think if I truely am everything he ever wanted how can I not be enough, and why does he keep saying this. Later in this song he talks about things being a waste making it seem she just wasted her time on absolutely nothing and change for him to not want her back. Getting her hopes up for rejection. "I'll take whatever I can take Whenever I can take it If it ever comes" can be seen as him just using her for sex and enjoying using her as a sex object. He doesn't want to be with her, just wants to get some. But as the song continues to the end the lyrics "I never knew until I got a taste I'm so ashamed Of what I did to you" makes it seem like the girl FINALLY took a stand and told him what was and treated him like a sack he is. Shows that not all girls are willing to stand about and be treated as useless toys.
Using the Freudian lens, you can see exactly what the man's mind is thinking. He lost this girl and he hates that she is constantly every where making him want her back, but uses every will power to say no and stay strong. Even though he is staying strong he doesn't really take into consideration her feelings and what he is doing to her. Once he gets a taste of his own medicine, it seems like he is sorry and didn't mean to hurt her like that. It shows a hatement between two people after a breakup/agruement. They hate each other and they hate that the feelings still lingers around and they just want to move on like nothing happened.
For my final blog task i chose to examine this modern apartment as seen in this picture
http://www.contemporist.com/photos/domain_s2.jpg
To start I thought we could look at this as a Marxist Critic. This individual is verses a system by putting himself above the city and has a giant window so when he looks out he can remind himself how superior he is. This person obviously climbed the social and financial ladder in order to purchase this sky high apartment. This owner for sure puts himself above literally and figuratively his peers. It could be argued that this person is free as a bird being that high in the sky. As a high class person he decorates in all white because it is almost angelic. He is so high up he is an angel? This could be his thought. I think this apartment looks like a high end bachelor pad. If this is a bachelor pad he is going to be getting some girls if he brings them home to this place. When they walk in they get a calm feeling from the neutral all white decor. This neutral color scheme can be examined with a Freudian lens. The white or ivory color gives you a feeling of calmness subconsciously. If we want to or not when you even look at this room you are just calmed. You can imagine coming inside from the busy city and go way up to above it, above the noise and the excitement. You sit down in the comfy couch and flip on the TV and maybe even take a short nap. You could sit and watch the city from a eagles perspective. Whatever you choose to do you are calmed and relaxed. This is not something you choose, it is something you are influenced by your surroundings.
For my final blog task, I set apart a good chunk of time to complete a thorough blog to go out on. However there was a change of plans which pushed back my time set to complete the blog to an hour. This change of plans consisted of me driving people home from a bar. While sitting in the bar waiting for the sign to leave, I began to understand how the system works. So I began to apply the lenses.
Marxist critical lens:
A big question brought up while using the Marxist critical lens is how does money matter / function in this exhibit? This is a great question to apply to the bar scene. First off, without money there will be no drinking in the bar, which is not the main reason most people go to bars. Let’s say you’re a single man looking for a single lady. If you have the extra cash lying around you can more easily purchase drinks for women throughout the bar greatly increasing you odds of 1) getting to know the girl and 2) finding a potential girlfriend. If women see your just loaded with extra cash, the stereo type would be that they will be attracted for you because you can provide them a secure future, and most likely a fun future. However this is hardly the case. Now there is a couple different classes at the bar. The people looking for a partner, the people looking to get drunk, the bartender, and the occasional kids called in to drive someone home. A bar is a very social environment, so quickly you began to assess what person belongs to what class. One question I found under the Marxist lens on the “critical lens 101” was: Are characters given more/less freedom by their class? Let’s bring our attention to the single women class. These women are generally more “free” to do what they want, when they want, to who they want. They could walk around the bar getting free drinks from the men looking for a women. Or they can be the first ones to start the karaoke without embarrassing themselves. This is because they are given more attention merely because they are single, and are females; which leads me to the feminist lens.
Feminist lens:
The first question I want to bring up from the “critical lens 101” handout is: What are the social expectations of men and women in this exhibit? At a bar people may expect men and women to socialize with one another. But what else do we expect from these roles? We expect men to buy females drinks and try to impress them with their best attributes. And we expect to see women accepting these drinks, socializing with the men and pretending to be more impressed than they really are for support.
Freudian lens:
If we whip out the Freudian lens at a bar, we can see the bar as a place full of a bunch of human beings in a social environment attempting to have sexual relations with each other.
The last blog task I am going to analyze is my family, because family is going to be the last thing a person has. Family is a very important thing in a human being’s life. If you don’t have family you are not a well rounded person. Family is forever. The family you grow up with has a huge effect on an individual. They can learn, act upon, as their parents and family members have.
In a Marxist lens family could revolve around it. Money is an issue in most American families. They are either obsessed with it, or can’t survive without it. Money can tear or make a family. My “family” well my parents have said we had money issues. Well what was the issue, my mom was keeping an account to her, while my dad was spending for the family. My mom blamed it all on my father. Money tore my family apart, minus that my mom went crazy and lost it. Then now my dad, brother and I, are just on my dad’s income, and he pays for everything, money isn’t always flowing. But we are happy. Therefore money does not tear my family that I have now apart.
Freudian lens, and the story of Oedipal complex, will explain how the subconscious level of the human mind works. The story of Oedipal complex, is basically that this father chains his son to a mountain because of a silly thing of that his son will end up killing him and marrying his wife. He was scared and chained his son up. Somebody found the son raised him and that all eventually happened. This is saying that subconsciously humans wish that they could get rid of the same sex parent and be with, get the most attention from the opposite parent. I would almost agree with that because I am a daddy’s girl, I get along with him, and despise my mom. I don’t think I am jealous because they aren’t together and I think we all look in a spouse that is most like the parent we have.
Feminist lens would be easy. Men can do anything. Women can do anything. My dad does both jobs. I can do both jobs. My dad has been “playing” dad and mom of me and my brother of my high school career. For mother’s day, my mom and I weren’t getting along and I gave my dad a mother’s day cake. This proves that gender doesn’t matter and Feminist shouldn’t even have a label or exist.
oh baby the last blog. going to miss it but also going to love not doing it anymore.
For my last blog im going to do it on shooting video games. In the marxist way its showing how people can go crazy for power. they will do anything and use anything to get that power. If your just a random boy and gets picked on and there is a crow bar or a shotgun in front of you saying if you grab this you wont get made fun of! probably going to do it in a video game. The shooting video games let you be in control and let you be the most powerful. They make someone that does not play a sport or isn't good at anything feel like something. and i think this is how kills start. those kids at the columbine shooting were probably a prime example of someone like this. they got made fun of and they probably got a lot of there ideas from a video game that has shooting and violence. The marxist lens is the most powerful and is making good people who seek power, go bad and turn into these wild animals.
In a feminist lens there are no lady's that when a new game like call of duty or halo come out they go rush in and buy it or go and sleep in a tent in front of a store to make sure to get that game. Girls are not that type. and when they do play a game that is popular the guys playing against and with them go CRAZY they start saying all kinds of random weird comments and even sexual. They guys turn into wild and exotic animals like there is a new female to be made theres and put into there pride. most of the young ladies who buy these video games probably did not buy them and are playing at a friends house. when i would play call of duty and let my sister talk i would get some of the most random and most of all sexual comments. my sister was in shock at what was said. women are the center of everything. most guys playing the game only care about there kill to death ratio but once a girl starts to play it gets wild and they loose focus of what is going on. so therefore women can be way more powerful then they think. they can instantly change the mood of a game.
Austin Sumner
For my exhibit I have chosen Twin Lakes about 8 miles north and 3 miles west of Humbolt, South Dakota. I was there tonight fishing, thinking about the blog task that I would have to do tonight and it came to me, Twin Lakes is the perfect exhibit.
Money is a big part of fishing, or at least it is to some people. Tonight at Twin Lakes, there was a couple fishing off shore. This could be because they are financially strong enough to afford a boat. There were also about 8 boats on the water including my family's boat that we bought for a thousand dollars from a dude my dad works with. We had been looking for boats for awhile when my dad came across our boat and this one fit us. It was cheat, just the right size, has a great motor, and most of all it floats. Also on the lake was Britt Wickett and (his wife) Dani Schmidt. Britt's boat was probably a little cheaper than ours but once again a good boat. My dream boat was on the water as well. It was an 1850 Lund with probably a 105 horse power engine on the back with probably at 12 horse power kicker. This was probably a twenty-five thousand dollar, Cadillac of a boat. These are the guys that seem to have the most power on the lake, and seem to be respected the most. These boats can tell you a lot about the people driving them. They can tell you someone wants a boat that will get them around to do what the love no matter how ugly the thing is. Or, they tell you that dude's got some serious cash and isn't messing around out here. For all the people, no matter how sweet their boat is or how much money they have you could say that everyone just wanted to enjoy the day and one of America's greatest past times. My point is that the social class of a person out on the lake is easily recognized. I talked to a guy on the dock as we were leaving, and we'd talked to him when we were fishing and he was giving us some tips, but on the dock he said, "I'm here 6 days a week, I got kids about your age and my wife a bi***." We laughed about that for awhile. I interpretated that the lake was the spot where he could be happy. Not many people will spill information about themselves like that but I believe that it’s because he realized that we are alike in a way that we both love to fish and don’t care how good we look on the water, it’s just about being out there. We drove past a couple nice Lunds, never talked to them, but it seemed like that guys that had the simple rigs were just outgoing. Is this because we could be the same down home middle class citizens? I think so.
I will be analyzing The Hills from MTV for our final blog task of our high school career. First I will be examining it through a Marxist Lens. How do social classes interact with each other? In this show there is no interaction between classes. All live in a life where almost everything has been given to them. They go to college and then start work with mom or dad or one of their friends that can hook them up with a secure job that brings in the cash. The rich guys get the hot girls that have money so there is no shortage of money to go around. Are the ruling clases happy? Yes they are extremely happy. They only thing that they arent happy about is when the girls who all have money that get into cat fights over who hits on what guy in the circle of friends that they all grew up with. The guys dont care who has what girl. They think of them as property which leads me into my next lens. The Feminist lens. How are women portrayed/depicted in this exhibit? They women in this show are treated like dirt. They grow up with money and the attitude of i'm the best and you cant touch me. Or that is how they are portrayed, rather. They guys on the show treat them like nothing because if they dont put out, they know there is another girl on the side waiting to get with a rich attractive male. So, what reason is there to keep these girls around who only cause drama among their friends and thier friends girlfriends? They see no reason to. They have the knowledge and concietedness to know that there will always be another girl to go to when this girl is done with. Are there "natural" roles men and women fill? Well if you think old school and think of what women did back then and then add money to that then yes there are "natural" roles that women fill. Most of the guys go out and make money and the job that has beens set aside for them and the women stay at home in their big luxurious houses and do nothing all day long. They talk to friends, talk about getting plastic surgery to make their breast bigger. These women are typical girls who want to make sure that they dont fall behind all the other girls that are chasing their men even though they may be engaged or even married. The men have no problem going on to another women while engaged/married to this women because they will be able to sweet talk the girl they have if the girl doesnt want to leave the life style that has been put in front of them with fancy cars and big houses with the best over-looks of Hollywood. But, back to the marxist lens. Are their individuals dehumanizing, mechanizing, roboticizing, zombiefing, only serving the larger cause; only producing for the "greater good" theme? Yes their are. This show, shows that to a T. You see the women become whatever their rich boyfriends want because they know if they do that they will live the best lifestyle possible with fancy cars and big houses even if they dont enjoy the relationship that they may be in. They dehuminize themselves by means of plastic surgery and being the fakest possible girl just to appeal to their boyfriend. Why would the boyfriend stay with a girl who is average with average boobs and an average butt? They dont and it is shown over and over again. You see the girls cry over these relationships. Why are they crying? I dont believe that is because of the fact that they lost the man as much as it is that they lost all the money and benefits that that money brings to them and their world. They start drama just trying to get the boys attention which makes the guys just want to find another girl who is down to earth and wont start drama that they can zombify just like they did the last girl. They zombify them so they can get a higher social class. The guy with the hottest girl and the girl with the biggest boobs gets the most "props" from his friends and becomes the one that everyone talks to just because he has a "trophy" girlfriend that all the other guys want to bang.
The exhibit I have chosen to analyze for this blog task is the United States of America. There are several aspects of our country that can be analyzed with a Marxist lens. Money is the object that controls just about everything that happens in the United States. The people who have money have power. In order to get an education you need to have money so you can get school supplies and have a way to get to school. You also need to have money so you can get a job. If you do not have any money then you will not have a home, without a home you have no place to shower and clean yourself up. If a person was to go to a job interview and they were in dirty clothes and had not had a shower in a while they would more than likely not get the job they are interviewing for. Without the job their children are forced to go through the same cycle of not being able to get anywhere in life, unless they are taken away by social services and are then put into foster care. Money is also a major factor in our politics. People campaigning for different public offices need to have money so they can travel and have campaign ads. If someone runs out of money to fund their campaign they will have to drop out of the race; you never see someone who is poor, or even just middle class, in a political office, it is always the old rich people (guys usually). The fact that mostly men hold public offices in the United States can be looked at with a feminist lens. Never has there been a woman as our president, there has always been a man as the president. Another thing I viewed with the feminist lens is that our military has just recently allowed women to enlist. The women in the services do not even get to do the same jobs as the men. When a man goes over seas he will be able to be in combat; when a woman goes over seas she will, more often than not, end up behind a desk doing paperwork. There are also plenty of things to view with the Freudian lens. Sex is a big part of everything that goes on in our country. Many of our advertisements, movies, and books are about sex or have some kind of thing that will make people think of sex. Another thing that deals with the Freudian lens is the id, ego, and superego. There are a lot of people in the United States who lie, steal, hurt, and kill; they are the id. The superego is comprised of all of the do-gooders -people who are very involved with charities, helping others, and going to church. People who just live their life without doing bad things, but also without doing good deeds, are the ego; they fall in between the id and the superego. Dreams are also a big part of life in the United States. People work to someday live the American Dream, which is basically having a nice job, nice house, and a good family (basically a perfect life).
I will be analyzing the song called “Dice” by Finley Quaye and William Orbit.
I was crying over you
I am smiling I think of you
Where your gardens have no walls
Breathe in the air if you care, you compare, don't say farewell
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
I was crying over you
I am smiling I think of you
Misty mornings and water falls
Breathe in the air if you care, you compare, don't say farewell
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Virtuous sensibility
Escape velocity
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Nothing can compare
To when you roll the dice and you swear your love's for me
Breathe in the air if you care, you compare, don't say farewell
Nothing.
This song means a lot to me because it is one of my favorites. I will be looking at it from a feminist lens. Gender matters in this song because a guy is singing it. He is asking the girl to let her guard down when he says “where your gardens have no walls.” It seems to me that usually women are being played and all that is talked about in songs these days is about women’s bodies and sex. They are oppressing women, but in this song, the guy is not oppressing women, he is saying that he wants the love of his life to take a chance on him and let love in. Women in this song are depicted as people worth loving and taking care of women. Letting their guard down and letting someone in. Knowing they are good enough. Men are naturally thought to let women down and be a stereotypical guy that is just going to break our hearts. Women are known to be too easy and fall for guys that just break our hearts. This seems “natural.” Movies, books, music: these things all put limitations and tell people what to think about the roles of women and men. Because the guy is trying to get the girl to open up to him, I think this is a gender role switch. It is a gender expectation to have the girl want the guy to open up and tell her how he really feels and what he wants. Men are valued completely differently than women. Men are valued for their money, if they get women, how they look, power. Women are valued of how well they can cook, clean, and raise kids. I think that this song is valuing women and showing how a woman and man can be in love and open up to each other and take a chance on love and life.
Laura Hieb
Wright_7
For my final blog task, I am going to critically analyze, examine, probe, and excavate as many aspects of the work force as I can (under the Critical Lenses, of course). It is depressing to see that this will be my final entry, as I have relished the way that we are allowed to think deeply, subliminally, and spiritually in this class (compared to other classes). I will be viewing Sunshine Foods, Inc. intensely (this is where I work).
Marxist: There is a constant power struggle at work. Everyone has a boss, who has a higher boss, who has a higher boss, etc. If you get a promotion, or more hours to work, or any types of perks or benefits, it could be considered, "climbing the social ladder". For example, I report to Chad Padgett and Craig Bosch, two of the coolest bosses ever. They are hard working, yet at the same time laid-back and chill. Chad and Craig report to Tony Bosch. Tony owns many of the Sunshines in the surrounding area. So, in a sense, one could say that I work for Tony. If one would get terminated from Sunshine, they could be potentially “knocked off the social ladder”. There is a constant struggle for a job at Sunshine, and even those who manage to get a job still have to scrap for hours and recognition.
Money matters more than power in the workforce; the entire reason why we work is to get a paycheck and support ourselves/our families/girlfriends/boyfriends/disposable income. Many people, including myself, wouldn’t be motivated to work if, let’s say, the government began handing out paychecks. Power is important in the workforce (you get more respect/recognition, more money, etc.), but without money, the workforce would be significantly diminished or even nonexistent/obsolete.
Sunshine is more of a blue-collar job, with most of the work being contributed from your body and not from your mind. We “interpolate” with the customers, doing the miserable, boring, dull work that we always do. It comes with a reward (paycheck), so we remain somewhat content and continue our boring, predictable, expected lives. Also, we need to work (bring home the bacon), so we don’t have much of a choice to work or to not work (unless you fancy the career of a hobo).
The exhibit that I'm going to analyze for my last blog is Brandon Valley High School wrestling. When analyzed through a Marxist lens we can easily see that there is a major power system in wrestling. You can see that the coaches are at the top of the power system, having complete control over everything and everyone they have this power, because they are the appointed leaders that must be followed in this system to succeed. The next power level is the team captains, the team captains have a lot of power in wrestling to control both themselves and other wrestlers, they obtain this power from the other wrestlers by a popular vote and respect, they also earn this power by putting in the most time and effort. Besides the team captains the seniors naturally have the next greatest power just from the fact that they are the oldest and have usually invested the most amount of time. Money matters in this system, but not to a great extent. We have to have money for busses and coaches, and to receive this money we are forced to follow and conform to the system.
A Feminist lens can also be easily applied to this exhibit by analyzing how gender functions in wrestling, and also how women are portrayed. If we examine through Feminist lens the gender roles in wrestling we can see that only the males are actually allowed to wrestle and compete, and if a women tries crossing this role she is normally viewed as weird or abnormal. Through gender roles we can also see that the women's sole job is to watch and cheer on the wrestlers, by this being women's only job they put themselves under men in importance. In wrestling women are normally portrayed as being non essential to the team or even worthless by some of the wrestlers, women are also portrayed as having to always look as nice as possible. When in fact this is not the truth, because girls play an important part of the team by keeping points, stats, time, and other important things, girls also can play the role of helping to motivate the team by being supportive and cheering, it is sad that this important role that they play is often viewed as being unimportant or worthless.
BVHS Wrestling can also be analyzed using the Freudian lens, this lens can be used to see how psychoanalysis matters. We can see that psychoanalysis plays a role in analyzing some of the motives behind wrestlers. Wrestlers go out with the sole purpose of satisfying their id by dominating another human being, and to show how they are the most powerful and also the alpha male. Another motivation for some wrestlers is to compete to show off to the opposite gender.
Wright_7
Marxist, cont.
Many employees don’t have much of a soul while working at Sunshine, as the Marxist Lens displays. They are instructed to, “put box here…walk over there…beep…must…bag groceries….must get carts…beep…must stock shelves…beep….beep….beep….objective completed” just like a robot. Your managers don’t care about your feelings or your well-being (well, I guess some of them do), but the primary concern is whether or not everything got done that needed to get done. We are mechanized, vegetized, roboticized, zombiefied, etc. If we fail to provide these basic commands, we are DONEZO/GONEZO. Fired. Sometimes, the working clasess (employees) interact with one another by teaming up to get important things done quicker (teamwork).
For my final blog task of my 2010 senior year of high school, I will analyze Barbie dolls.
I know that we have talked a lot about barbies in class but I think that there is even more beneath what we have already uncovered.
Through a feminist lens, barbies are little role models for young girls, but why not young boys? They are not generally given to boys because they accumulated the ‘doll’ name or association, though there are male Barbie dolls. The dolls may have changed slightly over time that they have been around, though the effect they have on young girls body-image will never change, unless Barbie becomes more ‘real.’ Realistically, Barbie cannot sustain herself with her features and measurememts, if the proportions of a barbie doll were to be humanized, it would not be possible, her boobs are too big, her waist and neck are too small, and her hips are wide, she has a very exaggerated hourglass figure with a big head. For all intensive purposes, if Barbie were human, there is no way she could even be more than comatose because her tiny body could not support itself, her back/neck would break because of her large head and DDs. Yet she doesn’t fail to influence the way young girls feel about themselves, she is so ‘pretty’ in their eyes and in the movies she is in she is always glamorized and gets the guy, rides on beautiful horses, has the perfect life.
Through a Marxist lens, Barbie has been a tremendous money maker in the toy industry. Their sales and the obsession of young girls with these toys have made the business top dollar. Also, barbies are not really all that expensive, it doesn’t matter your income level, it wouldn’t be too difficult to afford a Barbie. They sell them at the dollar store, walmart,…some of them do get to be expensive but there are also very affordable options. Generally, Barbie is always depicted by her flawless, “fake” body, and having all the latest accessories and clothes, her clothes are top of the line “cool” this shows that Barbie is depicted as a wealthy woman, if she were to be real, but she is wealthy without a man? How could she be? The male Barbie dolls have only begun to come out in the past 2 decades, before when women in real life were more dependent on men, the barbies were made to be independent, now that women are independent, they introduce male barbies, reinstating women’s dependence on males for survival. Did Barbie really need a male to survive, were girls not going to ask for her anymore if she didn’t have a man? What kind of thoughts does that put in their mind at such a young age? They will grow up to think that the only way for them to be successful is to be an accessory to a man.
Through a Freudian lens, the concept of Barbie and her fantasy life fit perfectly. Young girls who play with barbies will watch the movies, dress them up, play out scenarios with them, basically all pretending that they are Barbie, they do with her what they want to do or become themselves. Barbies represent a sexual symbol, or lack there of. Barbies are flawless beautiful women icons but lack (except boobs) the most basic of feminine features? “as do the male Barbie dolls as well” is this to protect or shelter children from learning too much too fast? Or does it really confuse them in gender features? It is questionable and debatable the purpose of erasing male and female features, but why not erase all features of the female physique? Why just some and not others? Is this trying to put an emphasis on certain features above others? It tells young girls “bigger is better” and exploits them at their most vulnerable self-development stages in life.
Katelyn Christensen
Wright_7
Feminist: The women are expected to "check", or help the customers pay for their grocery items. The men are expected to lift the heavy boxes, stock the shelves, carry out the groceries for some customers, etc. The men do most of the dirty work, hands down. However, that's not to say that checking is a cake walk; it is extremely frustrating to stay focused when your checking line is ten people long and you are pressed for time. But why not have the women stock the shelves? Are they not "capable"/strong enough to do men's work? Also, why not allow the men to help check? Are they so worried about their bodies that they aren't smart enough to work a register? Ostensibly, neither gender can survive without the other’s help, especially at a grocery store.
Wright_7
Freudian:
For a narcissistic bliss, EVERY employee wishes that he/she could go back to the days in which they are cared for by Mom/Dad. They don’t have to support themselves and work 40+ hours/week, they can have a disposable income again, etc. Life would be better, they think (and wouldn’t it?).
Oedipal complex: Employees may be the best of friends, but deep down, they want to rid the other of their current position so that they can be more easily recognized/have less competition for promotions, salary increases, etc. In a employer/employee relationship, the employee wishes the boss would cease to exist, so that THEY can call the shots, be the big guy (or big girl – Feminist), etc. The superego of the workforce could potentially be the boss. He wants you to work as hard as you can, without distractions. The id could probably be one of your fellow lazy employees that distracts you from working to the best of your abilities. You are the ego, deciding on how you should work (this will affect your pay rate, hours received, and, quite possibly, the termination of your job). Our minds envy those who don’t have to work when we are working. We wish we could be out in the sun, when, instead, we are forced to work in a stuffy old building. To end on a high note, some people enjoy their jobs and relish the facts that they are offering services to others. We feel important, responsible, and more mature and adult-like when we have jobs. Other people are actually relying on us!! We feel empowered. And we’re making money as well! Receiving a feeling of omnipotence, while also receiving a financial “cushion”, sounds more than all right to me. In conclusion, we need jobs to “bring home bacon”, to stay busy, to stay intelligent/scholarly/exemplary/collegiate (more than collegiate for many), to feel important (helps with self-esteem issues), and, finally, to receive a comforting sense of morality (to go home and realize that we can make a difference for others/for America/for the world).
This ends my analysis of the workforce.
I chose to examine the Paramore concert I had the privilege of attending in Council Bluffs, Iowa for my final blog task.
First, looking through a Marxist lens: How does money function in this exhibit?
I've found with most well known band's, there's a tiered effect to the seating at their concerts. The closer you are to the band, the more you'll have to be willing to pay. This 'tiered effect' wasn't the case when I attended the Paramore concert. General admission was 29.99 (plus the 8 dollars to ticket master) and we were able to squeeze our way up near the stage and experienced a clear view of the show- no extra charge.
I'd like to examine the singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams, through a feminist lens. She's not a stereotype. She's the lead of an extremely successful rock band in a world where successful rock groups are 99.9% male. Her lyrics are clever and honest- a breath of fresh air between Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. I mean, everyone's entitled to their musical opinions whether you want to hear someone sing about tear drops on their guitar or not — but is it really that 'OK' to write about wanting to ride on someone’s disco stick? Where should we draw the line?
How are women portrayed/depicted in this exhibit?
Hayley Williams isn't your typical "sexy" woman. If anything, she's adorable-- you want to take her in one arm and shield off any harm with the other. But then, you hear her open her mouth and sing- ripping through the chorus of Misery Business, blowing anyone and everyone away. She's modest, charming, funny, and overall, she's just a normal 21 year old girl- not a common find in Hollywood.
When I look at the Paramore concert through a Freudian lens, one thing comes to mind- The moshing.
mosh
–verb (used without object) Slang .
to engage in a form of frenzied, violent dancing; slam-dance.
It's a person's- mostly boys' way of letting themselves become totally controlled by their id's. It has the ability to make them feel more 'manly'. It pumps them up to push, shove, and or punch around without any consequences. They're achieving narcissistic bliss by feeding their id whatever it wants.
Some people fulfill their id's in other ways- like getting drunk. I personally don't understand why anyone would want to get drunk at a Paramore concert. All I wanted to do while I was there was soak up as much as I could remember, knowing that it would most likely be a long time before I was able to see them live again.
-Hilary pd. 7
As to I just got done working out, I’m going to examine lifting weights with a Marxist lens. Why do we work out. Simple, to get more powerful! Buff guys run things more effectively than wimpy nerdy guys. The more ripped you are the more powerful you are. Not only to you make others fear you snapping them in half but ladies love a guy who’s fit. They love looking at a guy who has overt muscles and they covertly want him simply because other women do (feminist lens). While working out, the social classes work really well together. Weak individuals are the proletariats and more muscular individuals are the bourgeoisie. Tonight I went up to a man who was doing some tricep lifts and asked him how well they work, how to do them more effectively and he even gave me a little advise to start with a lower weight to build up the right technique. Do characters climb social ladders? Yes, with people who work out the more you work out the higher the ladder you go. You start at the bottom and work your way up. The bourgeoisie help out the proletariats so that they can also become much more powerful because the more Americans we have being powerful as all hell the more ass we kick elsewhere, making America the true bourgeoisie of the world helping or hindering as they please. The upper class has more freedoms such as doing different sorts of a similar lift because their muscles are more used to what’s going on. They also have many more opportunities to impress really attractive women and to get with them as they please. They get more freedoms than a sloppy fat computer nerd with women because they are simply physically attractive. There are certain social tensions between the two classes because some bourgeoisie find the proletariats annoying and in the way so they might become rude and obnoxious to make the lower, less significant human feel bad for what they’ve done. Some proletariats hate how the bourgeoisie just get what they want because of how they look and they stop respecting the upper class “the way that they should be treated.” Sometimes there is a struggle between two bourgeoisie, a power stuggle. They want to be the Alpha male so that they can get all of the ladies and then they start to do a showing off competition to impress the females that are nearby.
Swenson_7
The exhibit I chose for this blog was the TV series Two and a Half men. If you were to look at this show through a Marxist lense you would find many meanings and symbols, for instance if you look at Charlie and his brother Alan you can tell right away they are two very different people. Charlie has “climbed the social and economic ladder” in life with s successful music career making jingles for ads and such while Alan is a recently divorced middle aged chiropractor who has nowhere to live and has become dependent on Charlie and his home. They are definitely two different social classes and constantly butt heads on how Charlie acts with women, around Jake (Alan’s son), etc. I would say if there were to be a ruler between the two of them it would probably be Charlie just because he pleases his id more with what he wants to do and how he wants to live making him more vicious when something threatens his comfortable way of life where as Alan is portrayed as a feminine like “sissy” guy so to say who doesn’t even have the courage to stand up to his x-wife. The lower class, Alan is definitely exploited, however, only when it benefits Charlie, once again making Charlie the dominant one because Alan reluctantly helps. I think that the characters are given more/less freedom based on their social class because Charlie is a bum most of the time, he sits around in a beach front home going through women like eating chips from a bag, rarely every really working for anything and he is constantly happier than Alan. If you look at Alan on the other hand, has a 9 to 5 job as a Chiropractor, constantly working to pay for his own needs along with Jakes and is very unhappy most of the time, and high strung, very stressed out because of his responsibilities and social status that does not allow him the comforts and leisure lifestyle that Charlie has obtained for himself. It’s like Alan is suffocated from the life he wish he had because he is an “adult” with a kid, divorce, 9 to 5 job, etc, and Charlie still lives out childhood fantasies and lives a care free life. It shows us that money and semi good looks can make you happy, comfortable, relaxed, and powerful like this character Charlie.
Olson B. Period5
My exhibit is what people wear day to day. Through a marxist lens you can determine what class they are people that are wearing aero, american eagle, and hollister are most likely upper middle class or high class just because of there clothing those name brand clothes do cost a lot of money and by wearing those clothes it shows you have the money to buy them. Also it shows that those kids care what they look like day to day and care what people think of them. Other kids like to wear sport clothing like nike addidas and under armour these types of clothing can show people that you are athletic and you are ready to play any type of game at time just cause your wearing t-shirts and shorts most of the time. Some kids cant afford the name brand clothes like american eagle, nike, and under armour so they are judged by others just by the type of clothing they wear and it doesnt matter how good you are at something some kids judge you on the clothes you wear or the stuff you have. People with the name brand clothing seem to also get looked at more by others and get compliments just cause of the fashion and how they look males and females are equal here everyone judges other people just on the way one looks in something or how they wear it. Also a lot of people like to wear animal print clothes showing how much of an animalistic society we are. People and animals are a lot alike but us as people we are probably worse just cause when we riducule or harm we know it hurts the person we are doing it to and we know we are doing it but we still do it anyways so the zebra and cheetah print they put on clothing probably has a lot to do with that but the difference between animals and humans is that animals dont know they are hurting the animal they are attacking they are doing it to survive and live. We as people do it just to fit in to the norm which is not right and we all just need to be nicer and not judge the people on what they wear but their personality which tells a person how they are really. But in the world we live in today it all matters what class you are in.
My exhibit I'm going to examine is school. My lens: the Feminist lens. School has feminism all around, even if you don’t realize it. It's "awkward" when guys are with a big group of girls or when one girl is with a whole bunch of guys and she's not dating anyone. It's all about what you are and who you hang out with in schools now days. In a lot of schools especially in ones where the girls are depicted as sluts than the girls get put in categories that could ruin their reputation for the entire school year. Put yourself in the shoes of one girl who mistakenly went and had intercourse with a guy and the guy told everyone in the school about it. After this event, to the whole school you were known as "easy", or someone that gives in to a guy quick. There are some good things for women around schools though, like at our school the females get to go before the guys when seniors and juniors get to go first and they have to announce who can go. There's one benefit for women, another would be sometimes girls get away with more especially if they are in a lot of outside activities and travel a lot, the teachers might be lenient on when they turn in their assignments. It's all about how you look at it in your own eyes. Now, for looking at how women are maleness in a way. Well, there are your "cat fights" with one another and for guys who are the strongest but girls it's who's the prettiest. If you hang out with a lot of different girls you will see each and every one of them has some sort of guy in them. No matter what it be, it's there you just need to be around them and do new things with them. Volleyball is the women’s way of getting out aggression so it's a little bit like football. I don't understand why schools don't have a football team for girls; I know there are a lot of girls out there that love playing football. I have a few friends in fact that come play tackle football with me and some other buddies. These girls are good at it too; some of the guys actually are scared to get the ball when they play with us, ha! Now, the "natural" roles of men and women are actually filled well, yes there are women jokes but that's just how society works. Women are just as equal as men though, women don't just have to be left in the kitchen and bedroom, and the men can do those things just as easy as women can. I hate how at places there are limitations on men and women, swimming pools for example, must wear this and not show this. Well that's why I like nude beaches because you can go there and wear whatever you feel like it or nothing at all, it's your choice and you’re free to do it. This is how the world should be, you can do what ever you feel like doing as long as it doesn't break your city or state laws, every where has to have laws but only the laws where it keeps everyone around you safe. Women are just as equal as men and in some cases better than, you just need to figure that out for yourself. Schools need to stop separating one another and just let the kids have fun but safe fun.
The exhibit I choose next is the chuck Norris jokes that people post online. Through a Marxist lens, money does not matter to him because he can get anything he wants just by using physical force, mainly roundhouse kicks to the temples. In the jokes he is displayed as the most physically powerful being on earth and he is not afraid of any living being. On the surface it seems like a complement to chuck Norris because it says nobody can stop him from getting what he wants. Under the surface some people may think that the jokes are making fun of him. The context of the work basically depends on the person that posts the joke and can be gross and non school appropriate or it can be clean. Chuck Norris has basically been in positions where he has been in a tough guy role so it is only natural that he is labeled as the most superior being in the universe. There is no culture in these it just has people under the rule of chuck Norris, kind of like Joseph Stalin who ended up killing most of his own people. It does not talk of social classes, it just talks about Chuck Norris being in a position of dictatorship. When it comes to these jokes there is nobody who climbs above Chuck Norris as far as social classes go. When it talks about him in the jokes it says that he is oppressive because if he wants somebody to be gone they will be gone in a flash. The jokes say that he does not have a conscience when it comes to oppression over people inferior to him. It does not say that any social classes have any more power than other social classes. None of the characters are suffocated because in the jokes when their time comes it comes on quickly and it is practically painless. Through a Freudian lens nobody gets to experience bliss in the jokes because they live their lives in constant fear of chuck Norris. However he would fit very nicely under the oedipal complex because he gets rid of any males who are superior to him so that he can be the superior being. Chuck Norris has an overactive sex drive in the jokes because he will have sex with any attractive woman whether she wants to or not. He uses his id a lot because he does anything he wants whenever he wants to do it and he never uses his conscience.
For this blog I decided to look at A Cinderella Story. I chose the one with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. With a Marxist lens, you can see that Austin’s dad only cares about money and success for his son. He owns a car wash shop and wants Austin to take over the family business and play football at the same school he went to. Sam is shown as a slave to her stem mom and step sisters. She is oppressed by the upper class and her friends are also. The step sisters rule Sam’s life. No one class has more or less freedom in this movie. Austin is rich and popular but he is ruled by his dad. Sam is poor but she is ruled by her step mom.
Through a feminist lens we can tell that Fiona, the step mom, is a major ruler, even though she is a woman. She has a lot of power against her own daughters and Sam. Sam is shown as a working girl, by working at the diner for her money. She has to do the dirty work because she is like Fiona’s maid. Sam is also needy towards Austin. She is so happy when she is talking or emailing Austin but when she can’t talk to him she is sad. Her happiness depends on a man. She is also devastated when Austin finds out who she really is, because she is not seen as the “popular girl” with the new car and pretty clothing. She wears more tomboy type clothes. Austin is valued more in this movie because he is such a jock. People think that without him, they could not possibly win the football game.
There is not much with a Freudian lens in this movie. You could say that Austin and his friends are all hot guys and all the popular girls are also attractive which are better to have in a movie than a bunch of ugly people. Sam’s ID wins her over when she goes to the dance and meets Austin face to face. She is supposed to work and make Fiona happy but instead she follows what she truly wants to do. Sam is very envious of her step sisters that they get whatever they want.
I am a couple of days late on this blog task but I will be talking about Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne is the most popular rapper and to modern day music he is the equivilent to The Beatles and Michael Jackson. Lil Wayne is the perfect example of being on both sides of the Marxist lense. He grew up being in New Orleans as a gang member and a drug dealer. He then became a rapper and is now a millionaire that does whatever he wants(although he is currently in prison).
If you look at Lil Wayne in a feminine lense he treats women like crap most likely. He currently has 2 women pregnant and another kid he probably never sees. Often in the lyrics of his music he calls women hoes or b*tches. Still for some reason or another women find him attracting which I find hard to believe because he has almost every part of his body tatooed. Im guessing that women like him because all the guys love his music and that they want to be with someone powerful.
If you look at Lil Wayne with a freudian lense the dude is literally out of control and if you see him up close he is killing himself with all the drugs he does. In his music he often talks about drinking codeine and smoking marijuana. He was arrested in the last year for possesion of a handgun, possesion of pot and ecstacy, and a large amount of money(wiki). So basically he never learned what an ego and superego was in his life because the man only does what his id tells him to.
When he is released from jail everyone will like him still. This is kind of sad in my opinion that Americans have to look up to a felon for good music. But I guess as a rap fan you have to understand all these guys came from the slums and they are just living their lifes how they always have. Maybe this is why we look up to them? We are to civilized to act this way so we look up to criminal rappers just to feel the way they do through their music.
A.J. Plummer pd.3
Let's top this year's blogging off with something I actually know somewhat well; how about Everybody Hates Chris? Yeah, this one should look just fine through those lenses. The social classes in this show mainly, but not always, consist of young teenage kids. Chris mainly has one friend who's name is Greg. That's basically the only person he hangs out with. The only other side of the school kids that is seen a lot is group of bullies. Chris and Greg's school life is all about just trying to get by with passing grades and not get beaten by these bullies daily. In a few episodes, Chris and Caruso, the bullies' leader, are battling to become class president. It seems that this is the best way these young kids could find to climb the social ladder. But it worked for them; I can't remember who won, but which ever kid it was sure felt on top for awhile. The differences in gender are shown a lot around Chris's house. His mom is an angry mom, his dad is a money-tight pushover, and his brothers and sisters get along just like any sane siblings. Meaning they argue over stupid junk and spend more time getting into trouble because of eachother than anything else. The boys act like boys; they like the action stuff and the psychical stuff, like sports. The little sister is the one who taddles constantly and even locks brothers outside of the house if she's angry enough. The funny part about all this is that this is true. The women are shown as the ones who should by no means be pushed over the line. They'll flip! Chris's mom even puts out more agression that his dad! His dad happens to be pretty laid back about all matters but money, and mom can push him around any way she wants. Women are shown as the controllers, very entertaining. Psychoanalysis matters in the show because it makes people think about these other things. Why is chris in a battle to reach a higher social status? Does he feel like he needs to make up for home life? The show is, in fact, called Everybody Hates Chris. His parents just seem to get on him because of his slipped-the-mind mistakes. Maybe he isn't able to tolerate this and feels he really should make up for it. Also, Chris's dads budget control versus his mom's are so different. So what's up with the dad not being able to cough up some cash every once in awhile? Maybe he grew up in a home that didn't have much, and he naturally conserves. Libido isn't so easy to see if not probing for it. Chris has his basic middle school attraction to some girls but that's about it. I haven't noticed anything subliminal or even many instances of sexual attraction between the parents. I guess one street guy always likes to egg on Chris to make this one girl his girlfriend. There's not a lot there, but it's still visible under the lens. Hope you enjoyed the blogs as much as I did this year Mr. C. This seems like a good one to end a good year with.
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