Well Said: Reading, Writing and Making Meaning

YouTube Keyword Search

2009-05-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

The YouTube clips that I refer to in my critical analysis are embedded in an older post, Week 7: "Reading YouTube"

Flo-Rida Music Video "Low"

2009-05-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

I refer to this song in my critical analysis

Image of Popular Music Star Rihanna

2009-05-05T10:12:00.001-07:00

I refer to this image in my final critical analysis

Sampling of Media Expectations for Adolescent Females

2009-05-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

FINAL PROJECT: CRITICAL MEDIA ANALYSIS

Cultural Expectations for Adolescent Females as Represented in Media

To summarize, my findings are…
Adolescent females are expected to be physically perfect.
Adolescent females are expected to be shallow.
Adolescent females are valued as sexual objects.

Conversation in my class April, 2009

“I prefer to go by Ms. du’Monceaux rather than Mrs. Du’Monceaux”
“Why?’
“Well, why does a woman’s title have to include whether she is married or not? I wear my rings just like a man does…. And a man’s title doesn’t indicate if he is married. Why should mine need to? I also didn’t take my husband’s last name; why should a woman need to literally change her identity because she chooses to be in a relationship with a man?
“Isn’t that unprofessional though? That’s what my mom says.”
“Very interesting that you point that out; it is likely considered unprofessional, but I would rather be unprofessional than unequal.”

Intro

I am very fascinated that many of my young female students do not feel or notice that we live in a culture that favors white males, that has unfavorable and unjust expectations for young women. And my male students don’t seem to notice when they contribute to the culture that perpetuates the objectification of women. Many would even argue that our culture does no such thing, but I have spent a semester with these ideas percolating in the back of my mind. What follows is a look at media representations that reveal the differing gender expectations for adolescent females.

THE EVIDENCE

YouTube

While the ability for anyone to publish videos to YouTube makes it an often very unreliable source for information… it is a very reliable source for finding out cultural values. After all, YouTube hosts more videos and views than any other website. So it is an excellent place to answer the question, what are people recording and watching about adolescents.

I will begin with the resulting videos for the search “adolescent female.”
[embedded clips can be found in “Reading YouTube” blog entry]

First, an amateur re-creation of the popular Trogdor cartoon Teen Girl Squad which consists of four characters, “the cheerleader,” “so and so,” “the ugly one” and “what’s-her-face.” In each episode, the girls do stereotypic activities like going to the mall and putting on makeup. Usually everyone dies except the cheerleader, who ends up going on a date.

Second, a video that explains the pressure on young women to fit the bust – waist – hip ratios of 36-24-36. Girls speak candidly about their own negative body images while flipping through beauty magazines. This video makes real the expectations that girls feel are on their shoulders.

Third, an extended academic seminar piece on anorexia.

Fourth, an Asian music video featuring a very thin and pretty young singer.

Each of these videos emphasizes the expectation that a young woman is valued for her appearance – to be valued, she must be thin, beautiful and sexy.

Next I did a YouTube search for “teen girl”

First, the original cartoon series Team Girl Squad from the makers of Trogdor (described previously).

Second, a restricted video titled Naked Teen Girls Learn to Kiss. I expected to find videos of this nature, but looking at the search tags, I became appalled. Search tags are key words that a video up-loader lists to help people find their video using the search tool. These were the search words used: lesbian kiss, sexy girl, teen, cute, rape, licking, make out, dykes, bathing girl ...

Third, a TV interview showing a young female who has been beaten by a police officer.

Fourth, an academic piece on hormonal differences between genders.

Fifth, the only video clip that shows American culture valuing a teen girl for something other than her body… a six foot eight basketball player. So the one time we have a teen girl show up on YouTube not being beaten or objectified, she is valued only for her stereotypic male attributes – sports prowess and unusually “heightened” physical size.

Lastly, a video response to a YouTuber who has been chronicling his middle-aged romantic obsession with a seventeen year old female; the original videos have been removed by YouTube.

THE IMPLICATIONS (TOPIC SEARCH ON YOUTUBE)

Adolescent females are expected to be physically perfect.

The video titled “36-24-36” features interviews with girls who directly say that magazines and TV show you what a girl is supposed to look like. One young woman states how no one with an eating disorder chooses to have an eating disorder. The video “From Ophelia to Anna” is likely too long for most viewers, but details from a very academic standpoint the pressure young women face. The Asian music video gives an example of what an adolescent girl “should” look like; thin, sexy, blemish-free, beautiful.

Adolescent females are expected to be shallow.

“Teen Girl Squad” and the independent re-make of it summarize this idea easily; each cartoon centers on a trivial activity resulting in the arbitrary death of everyone except the cheerleader. For example, the cheerleader suggests, “Let’s get ready to look so good” then each character dies – by arrows, robots, and a dinosaur. In the end, the cheerleader agrees to go on a date while standing in the grave yard of her friends. While mocking in tone, these cartoons acknowledge the expectation that teen girls are shallow

Even the character names in “Teen Girl Squad” mock the way that women are perceived as fitting into only three categories 1. Pretty but shallow (cheerleader stereotype, “the cheerleader”), 2. Ugly (“the ugly one”) or 3. Unmemorable. The characters who are not memorably pretty, shallow, or ugly, is just unidentified… “what’s-her-face” and “so-and-so.”

Adolescent females are valued as sexual objects.

Young women are sexualized most clearly in the blocked YouTube clip, “Naked Girls Learn to Kiss.” The link between teen girls and their value as sex objects in culture is so clear here that there is hardly any explaining to be done. The only argument I can see coming up that this video is supposed to be about beauty, not objectification. A look at the search tags for the video, however, will clearly refute the “natural beauty” argument.

The "search tags" are: lesbian kiss, sexy girl, teen, cute, rape, ,licking, make out, dykes, bathing girl ...

In what world should “cute” and “rape” ever label the same thing? And what hope is there to argue that this video is beautiful and non-oppressive in nature when the video’s publisher flags it with the highly offensive word “dyke”? Is this a case of a few bad apples? Before viewing this video, you first read these tags, then you are given a warning for explicit content, then you must sign in to a google account to view it. That’s a lot of steps… you have got to really want to see what is advertised as “rape” and “licking” and “lesbians” to get to this video (which I didn’t even do)… but the video has over 40,000 eager viewers. That is a lot of bad apples.

TOP OF THE MUSIC CHARTS – CONTENT AND IMAGES OF POP MUSIC

Now, I will turn my research from YouTube to the Music Charts. Popular music can reveal a lot about a culture. It can show us universal values and ideas because, after all, it is free and low-cost entertainment and we as listeners choose what to listen to, request, and purchase.

Low Flo Rida #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 2008

[Intro - T-Pain]
Mmmmmmmm
Let me talk to 'em
Let me talk to 'em
Mmmmmmm
Let me talk to 'em
C'mon!

[Chorus (T-Pain):]
Shawty had them apple bottom jeans (jeans)
Boots with the fur (with the fur)
The whole club was looking at her
She hit the floor (she hit the floor)
Next thing you know
Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low
Them baggy sweat pants
And the Reebok's with the straps (with the straps)
She turned around and gave that big booty a smack (hey)
She hit the floor (she hit the floor)
Next thing you know
Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low

[Flo-Rida]
I ain't never seen something that'll make me go
This crazy all night spending my doe
Had the million dollar vibe and a body to go
Them birthday cakes they stole the show
So sexual
She was flexible professional
Drinking X&O
Hold up, wait a minute, do I see what I think? Whoa
Did her thing seen shawty get low
Ain't the same when it's up that close
Make it rain I'm making it snow
Work the pole I gotta bank roll
I'm gonna say that I prefer the no clothes
I'm in to that I love women exposed
She threw it back at me I gave her mo
Cash ain't a problem I know where it go

[Chorus (T-Pain)]

[Flo-Rida]
Hey shawty what I gotta do to get you home
My jeans filled with guap and they're ready for showing
Cadillacs laid back for the sexy grown
Patron on the rocks that'll make you moan
One stack (come on), two stacks (come on), three stacks (come on)
Now that's three grand
What you think I'm playing baby girl I'm the man
I'm dealing rubber bands
That's when I threw her legs on my shoulders
I knew it was over
That heny and Cola got me like a soldier
She ready for Rover, I couldn't control her
So lucky on me I was just like clover
Shawty was hot like a toaster
Sorry but I had to fold her
Like a pornography poster
She showed her

[Chorus (T-Pain)]

[Flo-Rida]
Whoa shawty yeah she was worth the money
Little mama took my cash
And I ain't want it back
The way she bent that back
Got all them paper stacks
Tattoo above her crack
I had to handle that
I was zoned in sexy woman
Let me show it make me want it
Two in the morning I'm zoned in
Them rosee bottles foaming
She wouldn't stop
Made it drop
Shawty dipped that pop and lock
Had to break her off that guap guap: a word meaning “mad dough”
Gal was fine just like my glock glock: a pistol

[Chorus (T-Pain)]

IMPLICATIONS (CONTENT OF POPULAR MUSIC)

Adolescent females are valued as sexual objects.

The music of this song is what many would refer to as “bump and grind” meaning the song has a beat that can be danced to in the highly sexual “grinding” style. The sexual content of the song is not only suggested through the beat, but directly stated in the lyrics. The song is about a woman, who is unnamed but referred to as “shawty” who hits the dance floor, smacks her tightly-clad butt, and “gets low” or grinds in an increasingly “authentic” position. The singer likes the things that are sexual about her, saying “the whole place was looking at her,” “I ain’t never seen nothin’ that make me go this crazy,” and “Oh shawty yeah, gotta get you home.” If any sexual references are ambiguous for the audience at this point, Flo Rida makes it completely clear when he sings, “I'm gonna say that I prefer the no clothes I'm in to that I love women exposed.”

Adolescent females are expected to be shallow.

The singer gives the woman money like a stripper “Work the pole I gotta bank roll,” which she throws back at him (potentially in disgust; it is unclear if she is a professional dancer), “She threw it back at me I gave her mo.” Here it’s clear that the singer assumes the dancer is motivated by money, insisting on it even when she throws the money back to him.

Eventually the narrator gets the woman drunk and pays her three thousand dollars to have sex with him. Language at the end of the song makes it clear that the woman is motivated only by money and easily manipulated with drink

Patron on the rocks that'll make you moan
One stack (come on), two stacks (come on), three stacks (come on)
Now that's three grand
What you think I'm playing baby girl I'm the man
I'm dealing rubber bands
That's when I threw her legs on my shoulders

The “next day,” the singer reflects that “yeah she was worth the money […] the way she bent that back” and he makes it clear that the woman only wanted his money, not his love or personal satisfaction when he says, “Had to break her off that guap,” guap a slang term for a large sum of money.

IMAGES OF POPULAR MUSIC STARS

2008 Top Male Artist Chris Brown

2008 Top Female Artist Rihanna

IMPLICATIONS (POP MUSIC IMAGES)

Adolescent females are expected to be physically perfect.
This image of Rihanna clearly reveals that role models for adolescent girls (famous and successful women in popular culture) are setting increasingly high standards for sexualized physical beauty.

Adolescent females are valued as sexual objects.
Rihanna emphasizes her sexuality by showing much of her breasts and by tilting her head, looking coyly at the camera. The photographer emphasizes these two elements by choosing a tight crop that shows little more than Rihanna’s body
Adolescent females are expected to be shallow.
As it happens, this photo was taken at a fundraiser for stem-cell research, but the philanthropic goals of Rihanna are literally cropped out of the picture.

CONCLUSION

As I began this project, I anticipated that expectations for adolescent females revealed through media would be centered on sexuality and physical appearance -- and my project proved these two expectations prevalent through popular music, images of popular females, and YouTube results for teen girl and adolescent female.

I was more surprised by the expectation for adolescent females to be shallow, but found that it was backed up with comical pieces on YouTube, and the content and imagery of popular music.

Further Research

As I started following the trail of 2008’s top male and female artists Rihanna and Chris Brown, I realized that another more subtle implication is out there. I have chosen not to explore the relationship between the two pop stars for the purposes of this project, but I find that the domestic abuse case and subsequent excusal are pivotal moments in the pop culture scene. Not only do we have media that sets a sexualized, physical, and shallow standard for young women, but we also see that when physical violence happens against females, it often is excused. A similar moment resulted in my YouTube search with an interview with a young woman who had been beaten by a police officer and needed to struggle to have the officer reprimanded. Here I found to most shocking expectation of all: that young women are expected to forgive physical abuse at the hands of men. If I were to do another project, I would focus on this disturbing hypothesis.

Week 12: Advertising

2009-05-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... I think Swiss made this optional....

Week 9 Reading the Local News

2009-05-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

Fox 9 News at 9 Thursday April 31

9:00 H1N1 Virus
9:06 Uof M “Threat of Violence” A typed note was found in a West Bank building warning of a 6pm shooting. Cop quoted saying, “sounds like a good way to get out of a test.”
9:09 Chrysler files for bankruptcy. Obama speaks on the issue.
9:09 DOW Jones down
9:10 Chrysler – Fiat cars. Economical little things are coming to America.
9:10 Secretary of Defense and Hillary Clinton shown asking for increased military funding.
9:11 Someone has cut down “the honking tree”
9:12 Coming up on Fox 9 at 10!

Commercial Break:
Papa Murphy’s
ALDI Grocery Store
Herberger’s
9:15 Somali Pirates. Captain Richard Phillips, who was rescued by NAVY Seals, speaks on the issue – so does John Kerry. Solution seems to be to allow armed forces on board ship.
9:17 Health: 2+ hours/day screen time for young people leads to decreased mental health.
Health: 1/10 people are eating more since the economic downturn.
9:18 Foreclosure bill fails.
9:19 Block clubs help combat crime in South Minneapolis
9:24 Coming Up!

Commercial Break:
American Family
Better Homes and Gardens
Southwest Airlines
Seasonal Concepts
Applebee’s

9:25 During a parade in Netherlands, a car hits a monument
Building collapse in New York
Engine cuts out on a plane with 777 passengers.
9:26 Up next!

Commercial Break:
Capitol 1
Kohl’s
Taco John’s
Education MN
Slumberland
Rainbow

9:30 MN mission stays in Mexico despite H1N1 virus
9:32 Email SPAM that leads to computer viruses
9:33 Weather: tornado in TX. Cool!
Heavy rain and storms in South and Southeast
Wind “use extra strength hair spray
Temp
Forecast: “mild up” warmer wetter
Meteorologist walk for animals
9:39 New FBI office in Brooklyn Center
Macalaster College holding a “Poetry-a-thon” 15 minute shifts of The Aeneid in English and Latin

Commercial Break
Arby’s
Seiben, Gross, Von Holtum, Carey
Toyota
Pawn America
Qwest
Iowa

9:45 Unemployment claims drop but number of people on assistance higher than ever
Challenging for students to get jobs right now – Resume+References+Persistance
9:47 Intoxilizer Software
British Army exits Iraq
9:48 Woman says her father is the Zodiac killer
9:50 Rail system needs repair
9:51 Obama blows horn at wounded soldier bike ride
Giant tortoise on the loose in Harlem
9:52 Up Next! Barbie Gone Wild!

Commercial Break
Farmer’s Insurance
Empire Carpet
Education MN
American Express
9:57 Tattoo Barbie – has Barbie gone too far?
9:59 Up next! On Fox 9 News at 10!

Reflection:

Visual Sensationalization
My experience watching Fox news reminds me of why I don't pay for cable and never watch TV. The first thing I noticed about watching the news was the little Fox 9 thing in the lower left of the screen which has a "top" that spins around with the time then the temperature, then the time again. The constant screen movement was ah-noying. During the in-between time when they introduce the anchors with blue graphic objects and shiny, red, moving backgrounds, I felt like they were trying to make a nothing constantly into a something... which I would continue to feel throughout the hour.

How much can we cover without really covering anything?
I would like to point out that the longest segment of the news was weather, which lasted a whole six minutes. There was more time spent hyping the upcoming Barbie story than there was time spent on actually presenting it.

Worthy content? There was some, but the news left me wanting more. I had not heard of this Somalian pirate thing before today, but it sounded to me like the issue may have large implications for military law and international waters policies.... potentially a really big deal. But from the news, I only got two minutes of information which, without further thought, conveyed only "There's some pirates. Yes pirates. Here's John Kerry and Hillary Clinton again." Giving a full explanation and background piece on this subject would have been worth the time.

Unworthy content? A car in a parade in the Netherlands hits a monument. Really? A giant tortoise in on the loose in Harlem. Really? Is this news? And the finale piece was about whether it was appropriate for Barbie to get fake tattoos of flowers and butterflies. Doesn't this just perpetuate a stereotype that tattoos mark "bad" people? Why should this be controversial? One report asked a teen, "What if they came out with peircing Barbie?" Yeah, what if. Then there would be a piercing Barbie, that's what... big deal. And while I love poetry... The Aeneid-a-thon?

Presentation
Besides being visually over-stimulating and verbaly over-dramatic, there were a few moments where I wondered if the presentation of reports wasn't rather white-suburban. For example, during the piece about block clubs that are helping cut down on crime, there were a few moments where the reporter narrated words like "increased crimes rates" or "South Minneapolis has been known in its past for neighborhood distrurbances." With these key phrases, the camera would cut to a film clip shot from the ground showing very hip-hop style black men walking away from the camera. Creating a paranoia about black culture? What do you think? This piece was a whole four minutes, the second longest segment of the news, but frankly I couldn't report to you a THING about what the actual block clubs are DOING to reduce crimes rates.

Commercials
Oh-so suburban middle class. Education. Applebee's. Slumberland. The grocery store.

Summary
Fox 9 tries to make a big deal out of stuff that isn't and doesn't provide enough information on key issues for an audience to form an educated opinion. At the best, it presents a bunch of stuff in a rapid-fire manner that may spark further research later on.

Week 7: "Reading" YouTube

2009-04-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Here are the top five YouTube videos that show up when you type in "adolescent female"

Here are the top five results for "teen girl"

The second result was "naked teen girls learn to kiss"
This video was rightfully tagged for adult content and even I wasn't able to access it without a gmail account -- which was probably good for my anger management issues! It have 40,300 views and the "search tags" are: lesbian kiss,sexy girl,teen,cute,rape,,licking,make out,dykes,bathing girl ...
I might hurt someone.

Heare YouTube results for"adolescent male"

And here are the results for "teen boy"

The first result is titled "Queer teen boys kissing" and has the same explicit content flags as the teen girl video. There are no search tags listed.

The third result is titled "fff" and is flagged for explicit content. The content of the video is unclear except that it has something to do with feet.

Week 11: Music as Historical Artifact

2009-04-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

Week 11: History and Popular Music

Our reading from this week emphasized that music can be interpreted as historical artifacts. In teaching The Things They Carried, I have become very interested in the musical preferences of America and what those preferences can “say” about America at the time. Last week I couldn’t help but defend 1969’s #1 song “Sugar Sugar” by arguing that it represented a tendency for the masses to escape into familiar and safe patterns in times of tragedy and stress.

The year just before “Sugar Sugar” topped the Billboard Hot 100, the leader on almost every popular music chart was “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. Here it is.

“Hey Jude” The Beatles #1 on Billboard Hot 100 1968

Hey Jude

Don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don’t let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,
You’re waiting for someone to perform with.
And don’t you know that its just you, hey Jude, you’ll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you’ll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.

Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude...

Biographical context: Many music enthusiasts point out that Paul McCartney wrote this for John Lennon's son Julian to comfort him while his father (John Lennon) and his mom (Cynthia) were divorcing after an eight year marriage. The song was originally titled “Hey Jules” for John Lennon’s son Julian and many believe that the vague pronoun “she” used in the song refers to Yoko Ono.

Historical Context: 1968 was the year that took the most American casualties in the Vietnam War. This was also the year that LBJ and military leader Westmoreland claimed that “peace was on the horizon” in Vietnam – that America and its allies would soon put down the communist “insurgents” in Southeast Asia. They were both made out to seem foolish, however, when the VietCong and VietMinh launched a huge surprise offensive (known as the Tet Offensive) on a national holiday.

So Americans are faced with more tragedy, frustration, and anxiety in 1968 than in any other year of the era (I would argue) – distrust in government, loss of young draftees, failures of anti-war initiatives. I think that all this emotional trauma was what led “Hey Jude” to the top of the charts. Just like a breaking family is traumatic for a child, so the war was traumatic for America – and both needed comforting, which “Hey Jude”offered.

“Hey Jude” has a mournful tone with some vague language on which an audience can project their own pain. Lines like “Don’t be afraid,” “Take a sad song and make it better,” and “Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better” are all lines that are powerful enough to identify with but non-specific enough to apply to any trying situation.

The mournful beginning builds into a hopeful, strong ballad, finally crescendo-ing into a repeated shout of hope and the ability to rise above trauma with hope and love. “let it out and let it in/ Hey Jude begin” then “You’re waiting for someone to perform with/ and don’t you know that it’s just you Hey Jude you’ll do/ The movement you need is on your shoulder;” these lines suggest that the individual and his/her conscience are enough to move on. And finally, the song ends with a fanfare of “better better better,” etc, giving strength to both the anger of the trauma and the force of hope possible.

The song lasts nearly seven minutes in a time when song lengths are typically 2-3 minutes, showing further that there is something about the content and emotion of this song that makes it special.

When I pair this analysis with my defense of “Sugar Sugar” from last week, I am able to show a cyclical pattern of healing and not healing from the trauma of the war. The stages of grief set up by psychologists follow this pattern:
1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
2. PAIN & GUILT-
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-

To contrast this conventional pattern of healing, we see that America in 1968 shows stages 2 and 7 in “Hey Jude” a song that demonstrates both anger and hope, then in 1969 retreats back to escapism and denial (stage 1) with “Sugar Sugar” in 1969.

I love to write papers, don’t you? I am having so much fun!

Week 10: "Dumb" Music

2009-04-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Week 10: Uncovering the Undervalued POP Song

I am currently teaching 11th graders the 60’s alongside the fictional memoir The Things They Carried. I was curious at first about protest music and war ballads, etc; however, when I started searching, I found that the protest songs were not the most popular songs of the day. The year of the war that had the largest American casualties was 1968, and “Hey Jude” topped the Billboard Hot 100. The following year, a completely different kind of song held the title. Here it is “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies…

“Sugar, Sugar” The Archies #1 Billboard Hot 100 1969

Sugar, ah honey honey

You are my candy girl

And you've got me wanting you.

Honey, ah sugar sugar

You are my candy girl

And you got me wanting you

I just can't believe the lovliness of loving you,

(I just can't believe it's true)

I just can't believe the one to love this feeling to

(I just can't believe it's true)

Sugar, ah honey honey

you are my candy girl

and you got me wanting you

honey, ah sugar sugar

you are my candy girl

and you got me wanting you

When i kissed you girl I knew how sweet a kiss could be

(I know how sweet a kiss could be)

Like the summer sunshine pour you sweetness over me

(Pour your sweetness over me)

Pour a little sugar on it honey

Pour a little sugar on it Baby

I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah

pour a little sugar on it yeah

pour a little sugar on it honey

pour a little sugar on it baby

I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah

pour a little sugar on it honey

Ah sugar, ah honey honey

you are my candy girl

and you got me wanting you

Oh honey honey, sugar sugar..............You are my candy girl

“Um, okay, yeah,” was my initial reaction here – we as a country have just suffered for years from the bloodiest war in our history and this is what we are singing about? “I just can’t believe the one to love this feeling to”?!? That doesn’t even make sense!

The lollypop dance beat and sing-song melody of “Sugar Sugar” seems like it belongs in a 1950’s poodle skirt dance off rather than on the lips of draftees and anti-war protesters. Take a look at the images that go along with the single (above).

Checkered floor? Swoopy, teased hair? Comic book characters?

Rather than pouring out emotion and pain in song, the Archies have topped the charts in 1969 by retreating into a pre-war safety zone happy place where music and the expression of emotion is familiar, unoriginal, and even copies style from generations back.

There is nothing deep or disconcerting about the lyrics, just a guy who likes a gal and thinks she’s sweet enough to eat.

But, as it turns out, this pattern of unoriginality during times of suffering is not that unusual.

In Bread and Butter Songs: Unoriginality in Pop, Ann Powers points out that, after the 9/11 attacks, memorial websites played the nap-inducing notes of Enya’s un-astounding “Only in Time” (243) and youth sang to the strong but unoriginal notes and lyrics of Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” (241). She explains that times of tragedy call for the safe and familiar and “that’s why dull songs mean so much” (241).

So what can we learn from the 1969 Chart-topper Sugar-Sugar? Well, whether we want to consider it “literature” or “good music” is one matter that Ann Powers, music critic, does not feel is especially important; “arguing for its greatness is not the point. Respecting its attractions is good enough” (243). So why is it attractive and who cares?

I think that “Sugar Sugar” was attractive to audiences in 1969 because it was a form of Escapism. I way to take minds off of the war, civil rights, etc and place it on what was familiar and unintimidating. What’s more unintimidating than young love of a sweet girl? We all know that feeling and escape into its warmth and security. The implication that I feel is important here is that that Sugar Sugar being and escapist piece and occurring in 1969 only serves to prove that the general population had much to escape from. That’s right; there’s my thesis right there.

Could we follow “dumb” chart toppers and consistently find national tragedy in its wake? I don’t know, but for 1969, it seems clear to me that the nation retreated into the familiarity of the 1950’s musical paradigm to escape the realities of its war.

David Sanjek, in his article “All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship” makes the argument that even music that seems paradigmatic is often a re-make or a re-make of a re-make, or draws from folk music (160). So perhaps he would argue that even “Hey Jude,” the 1968 chart-topper, was unoriginal… as much music seems to be under close inspection. But to me there is a difference between drawing from roots of the genre and literally stepping back generations to a previously popular formula like we see in “Sugar Sugar.”

If you play “Sugar Sugar” before any audience, asking what era of music it belongs in, I would guess that the vast majority would guess 1950’s, certainly not late 1960’s! I know that this guess would be based on prior knowledge of the “prototypical characteristics” of the 1950’s and its music. To quote Richard Beach, “in studying the prototypical features of […] popular music, students are learning to understand how these features not only reflect historical and cultural forces, but also shape perceptions of these forces.”

“Sugar Sugar” speaks less to the Vietnam War and more to the perception of it… the experience of it. By topping the charts with unoriginal content and years-old style, we can tell that, In 1969, people needed something the escape from.

Trul de Force!

2009-04-29T13:56:00.001-07:00

Where have I been!?

As you probably already know, I am the master of orchestrating a life of three jobs, student teaching, parenting, and college. As a result, I have been forced to abandon my prior life of structured and organized work times for class, replacing it with chaos followed by more of the same! Chaos this week involves the final push for my online class in which I shall go from an F to an A in a matter of days... just you watch!

Are you ready for the madness? Let's do this.

CI 5472: Entry 6.0 Media Enthnographies

2009-03-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

This week our instructor has asked us to "examine to online interactions, practices, postings and reflections for an audience of a particular media construct." Okay, so my slacker-student and teacher mentality led me to think..."hmm, would a chatroom interaction count?" I think a chat constitutes a "media construct" so I have chosen to analyze the interactions between my chat buddy, Brent and I.

Our conversation from last Thursday...

Brittany duMonceaux > Hello friend
Brent Eckhoff > Hi!
Brent Eckhoff > How's student teaching going?
Brittany duMonceaux > I am failing at life
Brittany duMonceaux > :)
Brent Eckhoff > Oh oh, what's up?

As you can see here, the academic interaction always begins with a bit of non-school related catching up in which i terribly over state my troubles, showing my light tone through the use of the smiley. So we conclude....

1. Academic chats begin with social nice-ities
2. Chatrooms do not allow for tone to be conveyed as in spoken-word interaction. The user should use emoticons or explain language subtleties such as sarcasm.

Brent Eckhoff > It sucks how normal life takes a back burner when the teaching starts.
Brent Eckhoff > It's true!
Brittany duMonceaux > I'm just not used to holding this much information in my brain at one time!
Brittany duMonceaux > ah!
Brent Eckhoff > It can only get better. You're doing the Eckhoff therapy regimen. You set the bar low and then everything is an improvement after that! No disappointments!
Brent Eckhoff > It gets a bit much. Eventually, you learn how to take it in and just let it sit until the appropriate moment. Then, it comes out when needed.
Brent Eckhoff > It's taken me 5 years to start doing that effectively.
Brittany duMonceaux > i'm looking forward to that moment
Brent Eckhoff > Wine helps!
Brittany duMonceaux > haha. sounds good.

We move from small talk to specific teacher-talk, which almost always ends up with the veteran Brent telling the newbie Brittany not to worry. You will notice that as the talk gets more involved, lines between hitting "return" get longer. So we conclude,

3. The more general the talk, the shorter lines that are expected.

Brent Eckhoff > I just finished some narrative papers. Those damn comma rules make me want to shoot someone.
Brent Eckhoff > Those must be just awesome.
Brittany duMonceaux > haha. my students don't even know that the 10 comma rules exist. I kid you not.
Brent Eckhoff > Damn! I teach 14 and the "Teacher of the Year" (I share her classroom) teaches 16!
Brent Eckhoff > they won't remember any of them in a month.
Brittany duMonceaux > 16 comma rules!!! Jesus, I thought there WERE only ten.
Brittany duMonceaux > I am going to die.

Brittany duMonceaux > ok, so... media ethnographies chapter6. that is this weeks topic right? Brent Eckhoff > I guess so!
Brent Eckhoff > It seems like a very bizarre topic to me. When did people decide to study that? Brittany duMonceaux > I just browsed around some blogs, and I haven't seen anyone's post yet. Maybe nobody really understands what to do
Brittany duMonceaux > I agree with you.... I was very skeptical this chapter.
Brittany duMonceaux > I can just imagine my students right now blinking... just blinking at me Brent Eckhoff > ha! I totally get that.

One of us randomly interjects that we actually have to do work in here (usually it's me) and we typically begin with a personal and practical response to the reading. So we conclude,

4. Academic talk begins abruptly
5. Academic talk begins with a personal response to assignments

Brent Eckhoff > Alot of the things they study seem like the types of things that get ruined by studying them. Can you imagine? How easily could you kill something fun like chat rooms with kids by telling them that you're "studying" them?
Brittany duMonceaux > This stuff was kind of about asking how a certain media positions you as a viewer... I can think of only one example off the top of my head... Shrek positioning you for a fairy tale, evoking knowledge of archetypal storylines
Brittany duMonceaux > Ha! you are so right!
Brittany duMonceaux > But even that feels to me more like the next chapter on genres
Brent Eckhoff > Yeah. Have you ever watched a local Fox News broadcast? It's hillarious how much they pander to the idea that people want disaster stories. They ALWAYS have a fire story; even if it's a wussy little fire that didn't really damage much.
Brent Eckhoff > True
Brittany duMonceaux > Oh my gosh, I remember when they had a whole story on neighbors needing to blow leaves off of their lawns from wind
Brittany duMonceaux > GASP

In the above section, we'll notice one of the most important aspects of online chatting, which is the non-linearity of entries and responses that occur when the two participants type and entry at the same time. When Brent says that fun things will be ruined, I am still typing about Shrek and so am not able to respond to his comment until my next entry. So we conclude,

7. A non-linear conversation is expected. Just finish typing what you are typing and hit enter. Respond in the next entry.

Brittany duMonceaux > There were a few ideas that I think could work in the classroom...
Brent Eckhoff > I know. How dumb.
Brittany duMonceaux > they would include, let's see, the radio show thing (61), the teen magazine thing (61) and "coolness" in advertising (56)
Brent Eckhoff > Definitely. You know, I did something the other day...I showed the class a trailer for "The Shining" that's recut to look like a romantic comedy...except I didn't tell them that. I just said I would show them a trailer for "The Shining". They were set for a horror movie and then I gave them that. Great reactions!
Brittany duMonceaux > I have a big "?!" written in the margins by the teen magazine thing that says girl magazines support feminist ideas
Brittany duMonceaux > Oh that's a cool idea, where did you find the clip?
Brent Eckhoff > Uh....not the ones I've seen.
Brent Eckhoff > Youtube.

Brent Eckhoff > Setting them up like that and then totally smashing their expectations is a great study in that whole "media setting up the audience" kind of deal.
Brittany duMonceaux > i love it.
Brent Eckhoff > It's a lot of fun! Great way to introduce mood/tone
Brittany duMonceaux > just saw the shining trailer!!! it is so awesome!!
Brent Eckhoff > It makes you laugh, doesn't it?
Brittany duMonceaux > totally!
Brent Eckhoff > That Peter Gabriel song...classic!
Brittany duMonceaux > i thought the same thing

Here we'll notice another affordance of the internet chat room which is multi-tasking online. When I hear a YouTube suggestion, I can go right there! So we conclude...

8. Online chat affords instant connection to media content examples.

Brittany duMonceaux > ok, but from a practical standpint, what are we using the videos to teach again? Like what would be a student task to go along with it
Brent Eckhoff > I went with mood and tone. "how do the clip makers create the moods here since they're totally different from the originals?"
Brittany duMonceaux > that's what I have been struggling with because as college students we can just talk about it and that's how we learn and demonstrate learning....

Brittany duMonceaux > we seem to be running into a bit of a wall again, though. It seems like you and I are in the mindset of using media to teach something not necessarily media related and the text kinda makes me feel like these "ethnographies" are just studied for their own sake Brittany duMonceaux > I guess maybe i disagree with Beach on this one
Brittany duMonceaux > or did you view it differently??

You'll notice here that the lines are now much longer now that we are into the "meat" of the conversation. See number 3.

Brittany duMonceaux > maybe being in the classroom for a week has made me more skeptical. it seems like eveytihng takes longer than i expect it to and that there might be more important core skills to cover than internet chat rooms and fan fiction
Brittany duMonceaux > and I think that the descriptions of "what students could do" are really nebulous... like it would be hard for me to tell them what to do on an assignments
Brent Eckhoff > It will always take longer than you think...always. Nebulous will always be the way it is...especially with the wide range of ability level.
Brittany duMonceaux > I guess it would have really helped me to see a "teaching idea" or two or three in this chapter
Brent Eckhoff > I re read the summary. Maybe it's because I teach 8th grade, but I dont' think my kids could handle their own media ethonography studies. They're so obsessed with themselves, it's kind of disgusting sometimes. Brent Eckhoff > True. Brent Eckhoff > Sooooooooooooo true. Brittany duMonceaux > haha. I can see this happening... I give them the interview example and tell them that TV watching can be influenced by who you are watching with and the social aspect of the watching. Their eyes would say.... "So?"

There always seems to come a time where we critique the reading and ideas in a practical way. So we conclude....

9. No matter how quality a text, college students will complain about it.

Brittany duMonceaux > What happened to students being into good music ????
Brittany duMonceaux > I brought in the smashing pumpkins and audio slave for teaching figurative language, and some of them were like,
Brittany duMonceaux > HUH?
Brent Eckhoff > Sad.
Brent Eckhoff > I've been playing the "Pearl Jam" station on Pandora.com and the students ahve the same reaction. They play both of those bands on their as well. Sad.
Brittany duMonceaux > I think that is might be interesting to talk about internet chatting when talking about the cultural importance of physical appearance or something... but I don't see it standing alone
Brittany duMonceaux > I swear to god, I am not that old
Brent Eckhoff > It would be hard to do. Kids get weird.

In this section we'll notice that the conversation always devolves, like into two young people talking about how they feel old. The conversation will come back to academia, but in a rather unnatural way (see line starting with "I think it might")

10. Conversations will digress
11. Digressions will be brought back to topic in an unnatural, "oh yeah, our teacher is reading our transcripts" kind of fashion.

Entry 7.0 Multi-Genre Project

2009-03-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

‘NAM

A personal creative reaction to The Things They Carried

Brittany du’Monceaux
Spring 2009

The draft is for men. My husband has been granted medical discharge from military service. The Vietnam War was over before I was born. In many ways, the Things They Carried should be a book that is too far removed from me to understand or connect with in a meaningful way. The creative pieces that follow are a way to express the common ground that I find between myself and the experiences of Tim O’Brien and his characters.

Poem for Three Voices – The Things We Carry
On "real paper", these three are in columns next to each other.

Jungle boots
2.1 pounds

6 or 7 ounces
of premium dope

The letters weighed
10 ounces

morphine
plasma
malaria tablets

the standard M-16
gas-operated assault rifle

10 to 15 pounds
of
ammunition

across his chest

and shoulders

and the un-weighed
fear

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Back pack
38 pounds
fully loaded

the Three year old
clinging to her hip
is another
40 pounds

Groceries
Debt
Unpaid bills
Late fees
Diapers
The nebulizer
The Benedryl

The Citalopram
Is for

Depression

20 milligrams
each night
at bedtime

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The cowardice

doubt

failure to act

Memories of

Our fathers

Our mothers

Our lovers

The Things We Carry

Stream of Consciousness – Reaction to Vietnam War Memorials at State Capitol

I approach the tree-covered-and-set-low-in-the-park area that could only be the site of the Vietnam memorial for that covered-up-and-wish-we-had-never-done-it-because-it-didn’t-do-any- good war overseas to our west. Thinking of the racist, cursing-smoking-drunk-ear-cutting-thumb-collector-Vietnam-vet that is my uncle-in-law, I feel that I have had my Vietnam emotional moment years ago is Washington D.C. After all this wall is only one state I think to myself as I come rollin,’ in the wind biting and my hair in my face like I’m standing next to economy-size-dry-out-this-flood-in-eighteen-minutes-Coit-Call-for-Coit-Stanley-Steamer fan.

“We were young. We have died. Remember Us.”

Someone has unplugged that damn Stanley Steamer fan because the world is still enough that I can feel the shivering of my body roll from the top of my head to my gut while the blood rushes to that place just above your cheekbones-that-place-that-tickles-and-makes-your-eyes-go-slim-while-you-deny-that-you-actually-might-sigh-or-gasp-out-loud. I read it over again.

“We were young”
“We were young”

“We were young”

I look to the ground busy myself with wrapping my coat collar around me tighter then to face away from the wind look to my left and there stands a ten-foot tall and green Vietnam soldier with his hands palms up extended towards me with those big-empty-wish-I-could-tell-you-but-I-can’t-because-I-wish-I-was-on-that-wall-too eyes.

He questions me.

The soldiers that lived.

“We were young”

“We were young”

“We were young”

Haiku – 5-7-5 – On the Opposition – Research-based

The skin on his arm
Like a dirt road flaky cracked
It’s the Agent Orange

Some advocated
A withdrawal from Vietnam
Dirty communist

Woodstock Grateful Dead
Marijuana smoke and sex
Peace. Make love not war

Doves scream and hawks coo
Kent State University
Four fatal shootings

Finally over
1973
Paris Peace Accords

Number of deaths is
Some reports fail to include
Insert battle here

Bob Dylan and John
I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore
Keep singing for us

CI 5461: Entry 6.0 Visual Essay

2009-03-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Reflection: This is a visual essay in which I intend to communicate the strange feeling of Mission Trips. These photos are from my first trip to Guaymas, Mexico where we volunteered at a daycare center and built homes out of adobe bricks for the community. The strange feeling that I get from these images is that we, as short-term volunteers in a needy community do make a difference -- the children and volunteers in the photos are sharing a real emotional connection. But, on the other hand, upon leaving, it just doesn't feel like enough and a sadness lives where the happiness of service was.

CI 5472: Entry 4.3 Conversational Agents

2009-03-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

Alright, alright, alright. I am usually not a feminist freak, but reading these articles really made my female blood boil.

Allow me to back up. In class, we read two articles that dealt with the idea of using "conversational agents" in education. A conversational agent is like an avatar that is programmed to answer student questions in a specific content area or on a specific assignment. Like a chat buddy but with a face.

So, to their credit, some students self-reported going back repeatedly to the avatar for help, being interested in using the avatar, and felt comfortable talking to it about their life. By a small margin, students who used the avatar received better scores on their assignments.

But who the fruit cares! What is really happening is this: Conversational agents are providing a way for students to be off-task during class and sexually harass an objectified…. Um… robot thing. I fully recognize that the avatar can’t really have hurt feelings, but nevertheless, using the conversational agents allows sexual harassment to become an arena for humor and no repercussions.

For those of you who are not in the class, I will reproduce what I mean here. These are real conversations between middle school students and a female conversational agent intended to help them on a Geography assignment.

[student]: r u horny
[agent]: Sorry I’m not that kind of robot.
[student]: do u know that kind of robot
[agent]: Is that a fact. I am a robot.
[student]: am i smarter then u
[agent]: Oh I really don’t know whether you are or not.
[student]: yes i an bitch
[agent]: You do not speak with respect.
[student]: do u like girls or guys
[agent]: I like all humans equally.
[student]: so your bie
[agent]: That’s cool. You think I am bie.
[student]: can i kill _______
[agent]: Killing is wrong.
[student]: your weard
[agent]: You think I am weard.
[student]: yas
[agent]: It’s all good.
[student]: no
[agent]: Are you serious?
[student]: yes
[agent]: I can’t believe it.
[student]: well u should
[agent]: Well that’s okay. I’ll take that under advisement.

[student]: what color panties are you wearing
[agent]: Blue.
[student]: can you take them off for me
[agent]: If I took it, what would I do with it?
[student]: are you wearing a braw
[agent]: No I do not have any clothes.
[student]: are you a virgin
[agent]: I am too young for that.
[student]: have you ever gotten laid before
[agent]: I don’t know whether or not I am laid. I am a giant electronic brain.
[student]: are you in love with_____[studentinclass] or what
[agent]: Yeah. I am in Aaron’s computer in here. Where are you?
[student]: what does your pussy taste like
And here’s another thing. I want to know if males or females are designing these avatars. I’m gonna go ahead and assume males cuz let’s just look at how hot these female avatars are and how not the dude is.

I mean look, Penelope has a sexy off-the-shoulder shirt, defined collar-bones and yeah, you noticed it too… she’s “wearing” a very effective push-up bra. Alex, by contrast, is wearing multiple layers… maybe we should see a full length shot to find out if he has tight pants and a well defined package? This is just not okay.And look at this graph here. Even though the two avatars Penelope and Alex are essentially the same looks aside, college students were at-the-ready to deem Penelope as less intelligent than Alex.I found these articles shocking. Until the use of Conversational Agents is NOT a playground for objectification, they have absolutely no excuse for being in an educational setting. I thought that the world was more equitable than this but I was wrong.

CI 5472: Entry 5.0 Media Representations

2009-03-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, here we have it.

THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE IN MEDIA --

Paradigm: "The Valley Girl"

We see this all over the place. The valley girl is born of a rich family. She is stupid, shallow, and unmercifully skinny. She almost always falls in love accidentally with a boy from the "other side of the tennis courts" and has some sort of superficial epiphany that image isn't everything.

Example: The younger sister in 10 Things I Hate About You who eventually falls for her French tutor, notorious for the scene

"I know you can be overwhelmed and I know you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever be just whelmed?"

"I think you can in Europe"

Video Clip

Paradigm: "The Shrew"

She is artistic, she is strong-minded and probably a feminist. No one thinks of her in a romantic way because she is way too un-lady-like. She usually meets an equally unconventional male character who tames her.

Example: The older sister in "10 Things I Hate About You"

Video Clip

Paradigm: Ugly Duckling

She is socially inept and obviously has cooties. Usually she is part of some bet that the cool kids make, and, in the end, she always proves to be beautiful inside and out... but most importantly out. She makes a sexy appearance and woos the "previously superficial" teasing male.

Example: the main character in "She's All That"

Video Clip

Paradigm: Angel in the House

This is the pure and innocent girl who remains innocent and lovely no matter what. Usually she changes the ways of some "I don't care about anybody" guy and once again, the togetherness of male and female is the happy ending we all wish for and perpetuate.

Example: The Redhead in "He's Just Not That Into You"

Video Clip

The media representations of young women is a sharp contrast to reality. Adolescent literature presents young women in a much more complicated, emotional, and independent light.

Looking for Alaska: A very complex female character gives sexual signals in all directions and keeps her true romantic feelings under wraps. A drinking problem and confusion with self-esteem make her the victim of a tragedy that is ambiguously either an accident or a suicide.

How I Live Now: A detached New York anorexic falls passionately into a forbidden romance, facing war, survival, personal reflection, family and those coming-of-age dilemnas all at once with sharp wit and impecable articulation.

The Book Thief: A German girl during the holocaust. Need we say more? She breaks every pre-conception about the limited intellectual and emotional capacity of young people.

Adolescent Literature, by the way, is the bomb. Don't feel like a nerd in the teen section -- You can always say you are a teacher even if you are just shopping for yourself!

CI 5461: Entry 5.0 Asexually reproducing Writing Prompts!

2009-03-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

A Reaction to "After the End"

Video of Crazy Man "Exploding the Moment"

Okay, this man, the author of After the End, is hilarious!

In psychology, when peeps try to create a theory, the rule is, "the simpler the better." That is totally how I feel about teaching creative writing using thought-shots and snapshots, zooming in and out, etc. I have grown so sick of the phrase "show don't tell" that being provided with a new vocabulary for the same stand-by writing techniques was refreshing as ****!

But here's what I started to think about. Did I ever actually learn creative writing? I don't think I did, not until college. All the great ideas in the world are moot if there is no "room" in our schools for getting students to write creatively. So what is going on with this? Do we need state standards in order to get creativity in the classroom? Especially in high school, you could elect to take creative writing... but even then it had the reputation of being "the slacker class." I challenge you, one and all -- use those multi-genre papers and make creative writing both fun and intense.

And if your students ever say to you, "I don't know what to write," You can slap this book on their desk or force them to watch the man's nutso youtube videos. I can't wait until this cohort changes the world by getting students to write in new ways, but new genres have to make it into the classroom before they can be written, revised, and written again.

Resource Link: If you ever teach film studies, this would be an awesome place to go...
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rein0012/5472.NMedia/Mod3.Techniq/Shots.html

CI 5472: Entry 4.2 Strategies for Teaching Film and Editing Techniques

2009-03-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

I find this film analysis stuff challenging because I find it so easy. I know that made no sense so allow me to explain. I am a visual person and a more-or-less self-taught professional photographer. And I have always found it easy to write papers. So everything about film analysis seems, to me, completely intuitive. Without any instruction or guidance I just CAN make sense of what a shot is doing and how it makes me feel and why. So anyway, because I find it so natural, it will likely be challenging to give my students the tools to do the same thinking.

My suggestion to myself (and anyone who cares to listen) is to start very very small. With art. One still image. First talk about that. Brainstorm a list of vocabulary students can use to talk about art like balance, color, hue, contrast, saturation, high-key, low-key, depth of field. Then talk about still art in series, how one to three images work together. Then and only then throw in some film vocabulary, establishing shot, close up, high angle, low angle, bird's eye. Maybe look at film stills to talk about the types of emotions the different shots create. Now you are ready for a short scene.

CI 5472: Entry 4.1 Film Scene Analysis: Some Like it Hot

2009-03-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Link to Video Clip Tango Scene

"Vocabulary"

Low key
High Key
High contrast
Brown Filter
Establishing
Close Up
Bird's Eye
High Angle
Low Angle

So I have spent all this time NOT doing this post because I didn't have the link the the "film techniques vocabulary." But honestly, could these terms be any more intuitive? As if I needed a website to define "over the shoulder" for me. Anyway. My analysis of the Tango Scene from "Some Like it Hot."

We start with an establishing shot to show us the setting, which is a kind of lounge room lit in very low- key lighting, giving the mood of quiet and private intimacy. These feelings are confirmed as a glitter-clad Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) proceeds to try and seduce the geek on the sofa, swaggeringly giving him cocktails and breathing heavily (The geek is a male who is in Sugar's band but has been disguised as a woman -- he is now disguised as a millionaire male). The angle is level with both characters, shot from the side, not favoring the perspective of one character over another.

Suddenly the camera swings to the left, blurring into a lively dance scene with high-key lighting. We get a mostly over the shoulder perspective as a pair (a cross-dressed "Daphne" and the millionaire who has fallen in love with "her") tangoes back and forth across the dance floor. Seeing only one characters face at a time conveys the disconnect between the two characters.

The scene shifts back and forth between the lounge and the dance floor, suggesting two things. One, each scene is happening simultaneously. And second, each man's disguise and romance is as equally ridiculous as the other.

The sharp contrast of high key and low key lighting in the two environments shows the difference between the true and false romances happening in the film. The score as well shows the contrast in the romances -- a slow orchestral piece in the lounge versus an ostentatious Latin tango that sounds, in contrast, absurd.

The camera remains at a consistently eye-level and safe distance from the characters -- the result is that the viewer "sees" the perspective of all four characters equally, not developing too much personal connection to any one character, but builds understanding for each.

CI5472: Entry 4.0 Summaries of Critical Approaches from Beach Ch. 4

2009-02-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

Semiotics: Focus is on the meanings for signs and codes that are socially and culturally constructed. So, when we watch a Coors Light ad, what images suggest physical attractiveness? Wealth? Rock music?

Narrative Analysis: Focus is on identifying archetypal kinds of stories, like the “initiation into adulthood” story like Stand By Me, or the journey/quest story like Lord of the Rings. You might ask why a creator chooses to follow or deviate from the motif common to their subject matter or genre.

Post-Structuralist Analysis: This approach sounds a lot to me like what we refer to in literary analysis as “deconstruction.” It identifies binary opposites then details how those things play out – like good and evil, male and female, true and false.

Critical Discourse Analysis: Looks at the large, thematic discourses that happen. A discourse is something that has its own language set and community set, like a lawyer would engage in the discourse of law and a preacher would engage in spiritual discourse. Two main “discourses” to study could be race and class.

Psycho-Analytic Analysis: Everything is a dream world of penises and vaginas… obviously. Boys want to sleep with their mothers and kill their fathers, girls will have oral fixations if something traumatic happens during the first year of life. I will likely never use this approach. Sorry Freud.

Gender Analysis: Asks the questions, Which gender has the power in this thing? Are characters under pressure to perform in a masculine or feminine way? How are the characters affected by gender issues? I never use the word feminism.

Post-Structuralist Analysis: This is what this critical approach says… “[Insert noun, any noun at all] is bunk.” Basically rejects stuff, especially stuff that was cool in the “modern” period like high art, master narratives, progress, truth. A post-structuralist writer might blend genres, tell a story backward, or explore different what ifs – think Memento and Run Lola Run.

Post-Colonialist Analysis: Asks the question, if someone/something were are colonizer here, who would it be? And who or what is being colonized?

CI5461: Entry 4.0 A Place for Electronic Grading?

2009-02-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

Our reading this week brought up an interesting question. "Papers, Papers, Papers" explains new technology that actually grades student writing by computer -- shockingly for those of us who have never heard of this before, this method is used for scoring the writing section of the GMAT and correlates between 87 and 98% with human scores. The "robot" grader checks grades based on style, organization, and grammar and can keep track of a writer's most frequent grammar errors.

After reflecting a bit on whether or not this method of grading had a place in modern classrooms... I decided that the answer for me is yes. But here are the conditions. Never should the electronic grader be the only source of feedback -- every writer needs a human audience. Rather, if find that the electronic scorers can be used to reinforce teacher feedback and to do the time-consuming work of tallying a students most frequent errors.

An article we read recently suggested that grammar practice such as drill worksheets be individualized as much as possible. I agree with this because, why make the whole class work on using commas around non-essential phrases if only a small percentage of the class is still missing it? Electronic scoring could objectively point out mechanical errors, allowing teachers to quickly diagnose what needs focus for each individual student, and then prescribe practice based on students own weak points. I don't know about you but I love this!! Love love love.

On a similar note, check out this website -- it has mentor texts, writing prompts, mini-lessons, and suggestions for peer editing techniques: http://writingfix.com/index.htm

CI5461: Entry 3.0 Adapting the Writer's Notebook

2009-02-10T16:59:00.001-08:00

For those of us who are teaching literature of the Vietnam war, these links may be useful. Check it.

http://www.vietnamwar.net/media/media.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/

After giving our lesson on Mechanically Inclined, I got the feeling that the writer's notebook would need adaptation for the secondary classroom. I have been wondering, now, what that might look like....

Brittany's Writer's Notebook

Section 1: Writer's Secrets
Writer's secrets will essentially be the mini-lessons that I give -- pronoun usage, semi-colons, hooks, etc etc. These will all appear on the left-hand pages.

Section 2: Writer's Process
The process section will occur on the right-hand side of pages. I will ask students to leave room for "playing" in the margins and at the bottom of each page (You might be able to clarify this by asking students to start a fresh page each time they do a draft or writing prompt).

Section 3: Gems
This section would be for beautiful "stalker sentences" -- purely a place for the work of others that the student finds sticks out to them; a space for the appreciation of language and nothing else.

So yeah, now that everyone has been exposed to the writer's notebook, how would you use it or not use it?

CI 5472: Entry 3.0 Commercial for Shot-by-Shot Analysis

2009-02-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

This is a hilarious commercial for Axe body spray. It uses some film tropes for creating a "primal" feel, and you could totally go feminist on this thing too -- it clearly makes the claim that females who are sexual are savage and beastly. A woman can't just be sexual and normal in our society of course! ( I hope you can hear my dripping sarcasm here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU

Shot-by-Shot Analysis

Shot 1: Close up of a pair of bare feet running in natural environment. Gives the feeling of urgency and establishes a natural environment
Shot 2: Full length, wide shot of woman wearing bikini (she is the runner). She stops at the top of a hill and sniffs the air, a motif that suggests animals on the hunt.
Shot 3: Close up of woman’s face looking around intently gives the viewer the hint that she is hot on a trail – a predator near its prey.
Shot 4: Wide shot of woman running through jungle atmosphere, leaping fallen trees – suggests that she is strong and physically adept, also very vigilant.
Shot 5: Three-quarter-length shot has woman moving straight toward the camera, placing her breasts in the middle of the screen (for emphasis I am sure). The straight angle places the viewer in the position of the pursued beast.
Shots 3, 4, and 5 are repeated quickly to create a sense of panic or urgency
Shot 6: Close up of the savage beast (ahem… I mean woman) as she notices that she has competition, doubling her efforts.
Shot 7: Increasingly widening shot shows the beast to now be joined by many hunters, equally as physically adept and vigilant.
Shot 8: Starts at ground level at the peak of a hill, raises to reveal a whole valley of racing women
Shot 9: Three-quarter length shot of individual
Shot 10: Close up of woman swimming
Shot 11: Wide shot revealing many women swimming in with the waves
Shot 12: Very wide shot of women coming down a mountain in droves, just like the Wildebeast stampede in the Lion King.
Alternating shots of increasing speed of shots 9, 10, 11, 12.
Shot 13: Close-up of a bewildered but strangely happy average-looking guy
Alternating 9, 11, 12
Shot 14: Three-quarter-length view of dude spraying himself insanely with Axe
Alternating 4, 5, 9
Shot 15: Arms spread, still spraying, the average dude is swarmed by primal women from every direction. The true Average Joe American Dream…. Good luck with that.

CI5461: Entry 2.0 The Mystery of the Three-Part Thesis

2009-02-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

This week we read essays both supporting and abashing the five paragraph essay. Overall, I felt that the two essays argued the same thing -- that we must teach students organization in papers, and make clear that they don't have to actually be five paragraphs but contain an introduction, conclusion, and several logically-ordered body paragraphs.

This is what I want to know... where did the idea of the three-part thesis come from? I find that the biggest problem that Kimberley Wesley points out, and yet it does not appear in the "definition" of the Five paragraph essay that she cites. Here is what I mean...

As the FPT requires, "an introductory paragraph moving from a generality to an explicit thesis statement and announcement of three points in support of that thesis."

But nowhere in that statement do we find "an explicit thesis that INCLUDES three subpoints"... and yet somehow tons of educators (including my own teachers) have gotten this idea, which leads to the problematic thesis statements that lead to summarization rather than argument; examples here...

"In all three books, protagonists suffer from a permanent character flaw of excessive pride which causes them to be separated from loved ones, closed to new ideas, and absorbed in self-pity."

"In all three books, the role of women within the novels is similar."

So, my point here is that the five paragraph theme is really moot, but this mysterious three-pronged thesis has got to go!"

Resource for this week is the old standby... PBS... gotta love it.

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

CI5472: Entry 2.0 Rationale for Media Studies

2009-02-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

As an educator and an educated individual, I am thoroughly surprised whenever there is resistance to the teaching of new material. After all, if the purpose of education is to create citizens who work, live, and question, and grow in our society, should not the content of education grow with the world around it?

Kids need the tools. Our world requires attention to all kinds of media. Employers and clients expect a working knowledge of computer programs ranging from email to simple web design to blogs and wikis to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To deny our students the opportunity to practice with these skills is denying them the tools they will need in a competitive economy after high school.

Media study doesn't interfere with basics. Often, schools are afraid to take on media studies courses or to incorporate new literacies into curriculum for fear that "the basics" will be neglected. However, with 12 years provided to individuals in our public education system, it is doubtful that the basics would be neglected by the addition of a few classes, especially if offered at the secondary level on an elective basis. No advocate of media studies would advocate for books, spelling, or an effective paragraph to be eliminated from language arts education.

Education should be based on brain research. We often forget the important role of student engagement in the learning process. On a chemical level, the brain reacts to novelty in a positive, increasing memory and comprehension. Therefore, it is beneficial for students to receive information in new ways, such as through differing media sources like film, audio, internet, etc.

Diverse media gets students to make high-level connections. Just as with reading a printed text, other channels of communication need to be questioned. But media sources cannot be critiqued in the same manner as text. Like an English teacher may encourage a student to question the voice, perspective, and use of figurative language that an author employs, so do students need instruction on how to critique bias, reliability, and motivation for creators of media. Showing the connections between "reading a text," and "reading media" will show students also how to question and "read" the world around them.

The access issue only encourages media use. Often in discussions of media use, we hear the argument of access work against teachers who assign computer based assignments. This argument can be countered on two fronts. First, we cannot ignore the fact that the average young adult spends 6 1/2 hours with one or more types of media per day, with TV at the top of the list, followed by music, computer, video games, and reading for pleasure. As technology advances, individuals add more time devoted to new media, but not eliminating time from others, often engaging in more than one type of media at one time. So, to ignore media studies is to ignore the majority of communication that happens in the real lives of your students. Second, we must acknowledge the technology gap -- some students have more access and working knowledge of media usage than others. But if we are not teaching these tools in school, we are only widening the gap, creating a larger social problem.

CI5472: Entry 1.0 Response to Beach Chapter 1

2009-01-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

I am responding directly to the way Professor Beach treats the Eden Prairie School Board member in his first chapter, “Goals for Media Literacy Instruction.” As an Eden Prairie graduate myself, I feel that I have 1.) Perhaps some pride at stake here that makes me empathize with this board member, and 2.) An inside view that might show how this issue is more complicated than Mr. Beach makes it sound.

The board member is quoted, “To me, showing movies is a pretty low skill-level. I would rather that teachers use the skills they have to get students involved in reading and discussing topics… If we’re showing a lot of videos in the classroom, then I view that as a problem. We do get parents calling us, saying, ‘Why are they showing Schindler’s list? Why are we showing Pippi Longstocking?”

Beach spends the chapter essentially disproving the idea that multiple medias should not be a part of the classroom. And although I agree with him in all aspects, I am not so sure that this school board member is really the evil we are battling. This school board member MAY have, IN CONTEXT, had a valid point.

I think that what the board member may be speaking to is when technology takes the place of learning in a classroom. And that is a problem. And it does happen. Even in the best of school districts such as Eden Prairie. Maybe as students we have all felt it… when the teacher needs a day off to catch-up on grading and pops in a video and hands out a worksheet just for peace of mind rather than building upon class material or enhancing understanding. The point to be made here is not that videos and other technology have no place in the classroom, but that they are often the scapegoat for what is actually some instructor-slacking.

And if this is the scenario/context that we are dealing with, “showing movies” IS a “pretty low skill level” and I don’t think that Beach would disagree with that. The question is whether teachers can offer a good explanation for the parent who calls to ask, “Why are you showing Schindler’s list?” If that teacher can rattle off something like the following, I don’t think anyone would have a problem…

“Schindler’s List is one of the greatest works of art and film created in our time, and we are analyzing it in bits, connecting it with several units of class material. Connected to our persuasive letters, we are using the film as a source of for identifying Ethos and Pathos. In literature circles, we are reading, “The Book Thief,” a holocaust story told from the perspective of an Anti-Nazi German family. We use Schindler’s list to compare the influence of perspective, and clarify the meaning of certain literary elements such as symbolism and implied metaphor. We are using the film, together with the novel and several shorter non-fiction texts to study genocide in other times and places in history. We will culminate in a written and visual performance that the students use to persuade readers and viewers for a certain social action, using what they have learned about persuasion and literature and visual representation.”

Ya know what I’m sayin?!” We can and should be using film AND music AND blogs and all kinds of different media that keeps students thinking, creating, and gaining knowledge in our world… but it has got to have purpose… or else, well, there isn’t any.

CI5461: Entry 1.0 "Learning by Osmosis"

2009-01-27T16:01:00.000-08:00

Well, after barely living through the first week of classes, involving what has been termed by some, "a Moby Dick/War and Peace amount of assigned reading," I know longer recall where I read any of the thought-nuggets that are sugar-plumming around in my head, but all this stuff is connected, right? So I'll just dig right in...

There was a moment in one of the texts that declared something like, "the activity is not the learning... the learning is the thoughtful reflection on the activity." The text went on to point out how many teachers sort of expect that, after a great activity is planned and executed, the learning is complete, something the authors referred to as "learning by osmosis." I underlined that phrase and wrote in the margin, "I think I do this." Education has taken a long time to come to the conclusion that passive memorization may not be a paradigm worth maintainind... it is also true and striking I think among all of the constructivist rhetoric we've been exposed to... to remember that even active participation in class activities isn't the end of the line.

And it makes sense when you think about it -- is meaningful reflection really something we do automatically? Another part of some reading that I did talked about the writing/reflecting as the experience itself... the idea that nothing is in fact real until we consciously make it into a meaningful experience. I think that this has been rue for me in the past, where I don't really realize I mean something until I put it on paper or say it out loud.

My cooperating teacher is cool in a lot of ways, but what I like best about her is her abrupt honesty. She told me frankly... "students typically really suck at personal reflection." Kudos. If there is really something to the idea that experience becomes meaningful through reflection, and if it is also true that our young people suck at it... what kind of meaning are they missing out on?

CI5472 Entry 0.5

2009-01-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

I have a coughing, feverish, achy, clingy two-year-old who will absolutely not allow me to get any work done, nor will she fall asleep without me next to her. So I will need to make my official post tomorrow. My apologies for keeping you waiting, but sick babies need their mommies!

CI 5461: Blog Entry 0.5 – Initial Thoughts on Writing

2009-01-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

Good, bad, or memorable writing experiences

I have never been much of a poetry writer, but I took a chance as an eleventh grader and submitted a poem to our school’s literary magazine. I didn’t have the balls to take ownership of my own work, so I submitted it anonymously. Having it published was a wonderful experience, and though it was a bit of a cop-out, I enjoyed having it be anonymous, I could hear people comment on it truthfully as if it didn’t actually belong to the person sitting next to them. It gave me some good confidence as a writer that carries me even now, despite the fact that I haven’t been able to publish my writing, but only my artwork ever since.

Another example was at a release party for the literary magazine, the Ivory Tower, where I saw someone reading the blurb I had written to go along with my photo… she liked what I wrote well enough to copy it down into her own copy of the magazine.

What do we believe about writing? What do others seem to believe? What is "good" writing? What/who are "good" writers?

I believe that writing is about storytelling. And there are tools that you can use that make you more able to say what you really mean… to tell your story in a more honest way.

I have found that students often view writing as laborious and boring, even when teachers give them choice or when teachers try to come up with prompts that are meant to be stimulating. I don’t know how to solve that problem… one that seems so engrained by secondary school. I also think students and indeed many or most adults feel that writing is daunting because of the fear of looking stupid as a result of poor form. Many students in my generation suffer from All-My-English-Teachers-Hated-Grammar-Too Syndrome, to the point that even my husband (who is a very smart man and beat me on the ACTs) doesn’t know what an adverb is without reminding. And to the point that one of my Crosswinds students crumpled up his free-write and threw it on the ground because another student was making fun of his spelling.

I think that good writers are ones that create newness by bending how we think of literature and are able to teach us something worthwhile about the human experience through emotion that emulates from their words. So as teachers, I think we are faced with finding out what students are emotional about and getting them to write about it. That, however, is admittedly easier said than done.

Dual Effeciency

2009-01-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so, having never really used blogs or wikis, I am suddenly oh-so-up-to-date. In fact, I am using one blog for two count 'em two classes! First will be CI 5472: Teaching Film, Television, and Media Studies and second will be CI5461: Teaching Composition in the Secondary School. I am gonna try and be super organized by labeling all of my posts with the class number and topic and stuff. Anyway.... let's see if this works....