Amerikinidit's Blog

Final Reflection

Erika Gruner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:44:55 +0000

I signed up for “Media 486: Popular Culture” because some my friends were in it and they made it sound fun and interesting. Although it was not what I had expected, I am glad that I enrolled in this course.

My original expectation had been that we would be talking about more modern media and less about the history of popular culture. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed at first, but by the end of the class the material we covered and the order in which we learned it made a lot of sense.

One thing I learned from this experience is to be more analytical about the media that I intake. Before I took this class I mostly just viewed media as entertainment without reading into some of the deep messages being portrayed subliminally.

The blog that I think showcases my best work is “That 70s Mom.” In class, we were discussing motherhood in television and film when the “That 70s Show” mother, Kitty Forman popped into my head. In early television mothers were portrayed as perfect and this bothers me. I love how Kitty in “That 70s Show” is a great working mother although she is quite crazy and addicted to alcohol. I think this is one of my best blogs because the issue really hits home with me as a woman. Why can men in television have issues but females are pressured into appearing flawless? I enjoyed discussing and expanding on this topic because it really made me think.

One of my weakest posts is probably “Pigs didn’t start the Swine Flu!” Although the video I used is a quite popular meme, I believe that my argument was weak. I think I was running out of ideas for things to blog about when I wrote this. I used Steven Johnson’s book, “Everything Bad is Good For You” to discuss how Pop Culture is actually making us smarter. If I were to improve this post, I would have expanded further and gone into more detail about how the swine flu pig is somewhat educating.

If I were to do anything different about these assignments, I would have forced myself into posting twice a week instead of leaving most of my blogs and comments until the end of the quarter to complete when all my other classes are assigning final projects, too.

In conclusion, I am glad that I took Pop Culture. It was not what I had expected at all, but I can use and apply the concepts and ways of thinking about media to my other media classes and my future career in video production.

Reality Television

Erika Gruner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:19:10 +0000

Reality Television. Am I not the only person who cringes when I hear that word? What comes to my mind when I hear “Reality Television” is drama – girls bitching at each other and guys drunkenly fighting with each other. Personally, I dealt with enough drama in high school that I have never felt the need to watch a reality tv show.

This is the last blog I am required to write and I was out of ideas when I googled “Reality TV” to see what popped up. The first site on google that I saw was one about “Dancing With the Stars.” I thought about it for a little bit, and you know what? I think I have changed my opinion about reality tv – not all of it is bad. “Dancing With the Stars” isn’t full of drama (for the most part). I’ve seen the show maybe half a dozen times but there were never any girls yelling at each other nor any guys drunkenly swearing at each other. “Dancing With the Stars” is simply a dancing competition aired on television.

In the blackboard article written by Chuck Klosterman, on the first page, two people discuss if reality television is real. Of course it is! It may be edited to appear a certain way, but reality tv features people as themselves – not actors portraying a character. Although a lot of reality tv is garbage – “Real World,” etc., not all of it is bad!

Klosterman, Chuck. The Real World. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.

Web. 17 Nov. 2009. .

Lions and Cougars and Bears, Oh My!

Erika Gruner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:16:01 +0000

This is a reply to Andrew’s reply to Anthony’s post about cougars!

The first woman who comes to my mind when I hear the word ‘cougar’ is Demi Moore, 47 – wife of the beautiful Ashton Kutcher, 31. Cougars in general creep me out! Think about it – the age difference between Demi and Ashton is 16 years!!!! Demi Moore was halfway through high school before Ashton Kutcher was even born!!

The question I find myself asking is “WHY IS ASHTON ATTRACTED TO HER?!” I mean, Ashton is talented, hilarious, and easy on the eyes – he could bang/date/marry just about any woman he wanted to! For whatever reason he finds this woman who is old enough to be his mother attractive and sexy enough to marry her. ummm ew?

There is something wrong with our society if young men are attracted to wrinkly old ladies instead of the thousands of hot, young, sexy, and much more beautiful young women their own ages. I guess I won’t be complaining when I’m old, but from my viewpoint, these cougars need to go find men their own age!

“Ashton Kutcher – Biography.” Web. 16 Nov. 2009. .

“Demi More – Biography.” Web. 16 Nov. 2009. .

The Remake

Erika Gruner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:46:59 +0000

This is a reply to Reboot Reuse, Recycle

I disagree with this post. Remakes are great! “Back in the day’ there wasn’t enough technology for certain special effects and many movies that have been re-made are better quality and are therefore more entertaining!

As a video production student, every time I hear an interesting story, or something I find strange/intriguing/odd, I say to myself: “That’d make a great movie!” and I write these ideas down in a journal of mine. Even when I’m watching a new or older movie I often find myself saying how I can and will make it better once I have the resources and skills to do so.

A few weekends ago, I was watching Peter Pan, one of my favorite Disney movies! I had not seen the movie in many years and there were many things that I did not remember from it. For example, the music? It’s a little too old school for me. I am aware that recently a live action remake of Peter Pan was made, but I have made a goal to create an animated remake of Peter Pan as soon as I know that I am capable of doing a fantastic job with it.

I don’t think remakes are boring – it’s just new writers and directors throwing a new spin on an old story!

The original Peter Pan:

A live action remake of Peter Pan

“Keep God Out of California!”

Erika Gruner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:33:29 +0000

Reply to Andrew’s post

I agree and disagree with Andrew.

1 – I disagree because I DO think that ‘god’ should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. Its called the Pledge of Allegiance for crying out loud! I refuse to pledge my allegiance to ‘god’! America was founded on the principal that people could practice whatever religion they please or lack thereof. I hate to shatter anyone’s ignorance, but not everybody believes in a ‘god.’ In America, we shouldn’t have to pledge our allegiance to god when we pledge our allegiance to our country.

2 – I also agree with Andrew because I think people are overly sensitive when it comes to religion. We see people walking the streets preaching the weirdest things. I remember once on campus when I saw a crazy man yelling that Christians were wrong to stop the Holocaust. Really? I mean, most non-christians would even disagree with that statement. If people are willing to preach about their views in public places, they had better be prepared to be made fun of. I remember another time, on Halloween, when I saw people holding signs that said “want to know your fortune?” or “You want $5?” When I went up to them, they started asked me how much I knew about the Bible, etc. We were just trying to have fun on Halloween and these religion-crazed people were pestering passersby.

Below is a video of the Jackass, Chris Pontius, during a stunt for the show Jackass, called “Keep god out of California”

Disney – Mulan

Erika Gruner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:43:58 +0000

I disagree with Meg’s post about Disney. The Disney films featured in her youtube video are some that I watched religiously as a child.

Mulan was criticized in this video because when a young woman tried to join the army, she was quickly discovered to be female because she was not as strong as a man, etc. I completely disagree. First of all, Mulan was not ‘discovered’ to be a woman until after she had been made official in the chinese army, fought in a great battle, and saved her commander’s life. In the end of the movie, after Mulan saves the (MALE) emperor’s life, she is honored with many awards and recognition. This sends the message that women can do anything a man can – and often do it better. Mulan had joined the army because her old and physically handicapped father had been called to duty and she feared for his life. She was also unhappy in her life because she was not the ‘perfect woman’ that she was expected to be. In “Mulan,” Disney shows children that women can be girly housewives or fight alongside men, and they have the power to choose what to do with themselves. Mulan is a strong and independent woman who faces the same trials as very masculine men and yet she still prevailed. Disney is entertainment for children – I think people are reading way too far into the messages that they are supposedly sending.

The video below shows clips from the movie Mulan, just ignore the soundtrack…

this video shows the trials that Mulan goes through

are you LOST?

Erika Gruner — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:56:27 +0000

For our book review, I read “Everything Bad Is Good For You” by Steven Johnson. In his book, Johnson argued that video games, television, film, and the internet aren’t as mindless as people used to think. One example he gives to support his argument that television plots are becoming increasingly more complex is the TV show, LOST. Since this is one of my favorite shows, I wanted to expand on this.

LOST, for those who don’t know, features the survivors of a plane crash, Oceanic 815 to be exact, on a seemingly deserted island somewhere unknown and unnamed in the Pacific. The cognitive workout that Johnson claims certain television programs give us consists of following intense and overlapping plotlines as well as following many detailed characters at the same time. In LOST, there are up to 10 main characters in any given point in a season due to survivors being killed off and others being found. There are also many overlapping plot lines like Johnson discusses. Not only are the survivors trying to get rescued, they also must try to survive on this mysterious island with polar bears, ‘the monster,’ and ‘the others.’ As some answers are revealed (I won’t tell you, go watch the show at abc.com) many more questions arise as the plot twists and turns.

I have seen many websites and forums where people discuss their LOST theories. Before I came to college, it was a weekly event for my entire family to get together and watch LOST, and afterwards discuss what crazy new thing was revealed. If you’re lost watching LOST, I recommend that you start at the beginning by watching it online, otherwise you probably won’t understand anything.

Johnson, Steven. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. Print.

“LOST: About the Show.” ABC. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. .

Stay Alive

Erika Gruner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:37:14 +0000

Reply to Andrew’s post

In his post, Andrew wrote about Interactive Horror games. The first thing that popped into my mind when I read his post was the scary movie “Stay Alive.” Although it is a movie, the story is about an interactive horror game. In “Stay Alive,” the characters are playing an underground video game that has some roots in the town they live in, but when they die in the video game, they die very similarly in real life. The characters are then forced to solve the mystery if they are to survive the game.

I haven’t seen this movie in years, but I remember it being pretty scary, and I remember I enjoyed watching it.

I disagree with Andrew that this is the result/victim of the ‘dumbing down of society.’ Personally, I would just call this another form of entertainment that apparently isn’t his cup of tea.

“Stay Alive.” Web. 8 Nov. 2009. .

Celebrity ‘Car Wrecks’

Erika Gruner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:20:03 +0000

When we discussed reality TV in class, we discussed the people who became celebrities merely for having their lives aired on television. For example, Jon and Kate Gosselin. They have 8 kids; 2 sets of multiples. Twins and Sextuplets. Thats crazy, right? But why must we watch their entire lives on television? Are we that bored with our own lives? Personally, I would rather watch something with a plot line, but nonetheless I did watch the season premiere this year when the parents of eight kids announced that they were abandoning their marriage.

Jon and Kate, normal people who became celebrities for just living their own lives, are now an example of a celebrity car wreck. It’s very sad that they’re breaking up, but its even more sad that a record amount of people tuned in that night to hear them admit that sad fact.

As Henry Jenkins puts it in his article, “Buying into American Idol,” we, the television audience, wants to interact, rather than just sit back and watch television.

Nobody describes a car wreck like Dane Cook. Below is a video of Dane’s comedic take of a real car accident, rather than a metaphorical ‘celebrity car wreck’ but you can apply what he says about a car crash to what we see on Reality TV.

Jenkins, Henry. Buying into American Idol: How we are sold on Reality Television.

Niche Channels and Fans

Erika Gruner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:53:10 +0000

In class we discussed how media is fragmented. On TV, for example, there are thousands of channels, many of them targeted at a specific audience. These are ‘niche channels.’ When it was mentioned in class that the average American watches an average of 15-20 channels, I thought “No way, not me!” Then when I started writing down the channels I watch, I was proven wrong….my total is about 12:

ABC, Fox, The CW, Spike, Disney, ABC Family, MTV, E!, VH1, Comedy Central, MTV2, and TLC were the first few that I thought of.

Some of the channels that I watch could be called niche channels. For example, I watch Spike TV because CSI runs for about 10 hours a day. This is targeting of a specific audience – CSI fans.

In this case, when I call myself a CSI fan, I mean that I enjoy the show – I dont know episode numbers and I haven’t seen every single episode ever made, and you certainly will never find me at a CSI convention (if such a thing exists?). I agree with Joli Jenson in her article “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization” that often saying you are a fan of something means that you are crazed and obsessed. I think this is a sad connotation because what other word are we supposed to use to express our feelings about our favorite shows/sports/other media/etc.?

Below is a video of Avril Lavigne being chased by a crazed fanatic, or in better words, a celebrity stalker…

Jenson, Joli. Fandom as Pathology: Consequences of Characterization.