Question 1- Capitals

The reason cultural theorists separate the capitals from non-capitals is because they want to distinguish an object from an actual word. The capital version signifies the word as a noun, or object. While the lowercase is the common, everyday version we see it as. It is a shorthand for signifying ideology toward a specific area of cultural studies. It is all significant because with this approach, theorists can easily tell the difference when you are talking about the cultural version of a thing or the proper version.

Question 2- Fallacies

We avoid both of these fallacies because they make the overall argument seem less valid even if the information helps your argument.

Audience fallacies: Is when the author of a written work writes something relating to his topic, which could be about people, and the information has no citation. An example would be an author saying that all black people play basketball. It may be true that it is a popular pastime for some blacks, but you can't go out and say without proof these large, general statements. It is significant because these audience fallacies really how the audience views the information presented in the text.

Authorial fallacies: Occurs when the audience makes assumptions about why or how the author presented the information he wrote. An example would be someone presenting about an article, and saying "the author wrote this because ___________." That is an authorial fallacy and it is significant because without knowing or asking the author, there is no way of knowing.

Bonus- Question 13- Feminist waves

Here is an image that I can relate the three waves of feminism to.The context of the right magazine cover is that Halle Berry is featuerd as the sexiest woman of the year.

First wave feminism is purely quantitative. It is generally just about basic human rights. It is almost the foundations of the second and third waves as it is the most broad of the three. The advertisement displays Berry as this sexually powerful woman as she is compared to the President. She is appropriating Dominance and because she is compared to the President, it gives her choices and represents power. That is an example of third wave feminism, which builds off of the first wave.

The third wave was more about choice, allowing woman to do what they wanted. It was trying to fix the issues regarding how men are always the dominant ones, especially in the workplace environment. The second wave was more about equal recognition, not really about surpassing men in the boardroom etc. but to be on an equal playing ground. Which fixed the first wave's generalizations about human rights. The image signifies that women can become a sexually attractive, boardroom executive based from the textual elements from the ad. But overall it is more of a third wave picture.

As the waves get higher, the rights women have seem to increase. They build upon one another and allow women to become equally represented to the point of dominating over men.

Question 10- Three texts

Here is an image I found that was for the Sony PSP system

I remember when the advertisement came out and I remember it was banned in many places, and it seems like for good reasons. Many of the chapters and articles we read can be applied to this image but I think the three main ones are: "Cultural Studies Vs Political Economy" by Grossberg, "Advertising and Political Economy of Gay/Lesbian Identity" by Fejes, and "Postmodern Blackness" by Hooks.

I really like how almost any image or cultural/political idea we talked about in Critical Media and Cultural Studies class can stem from Grossberg's article. The political economy implications that stem from this picture are not quite as clear as the cultural implications, but I believe that the white woman could represent capitalism because of her dominant position over the black woman. It signifies that the white color is truly the best color for the PSP and that colors could represent the capitalistic system in which products are released. Culturally, there are some heavy racial themes in the advertisement. It almost goes without saying, a white woman dominating over a black woman, which historically is associated with white male landowners have a higher position over black slaves. Another interesting component is how it ties into gay/lesbian identity and how Fejes describes it.

The white woman does like homo erotic as she is physically touching another woman along with her clothing choice. There is also an important reason why the creator chose to use two females instead of two males. I believe it was to tie the advertisement more into homo erotic themes instead of racial (which is still heavily present). Grossberg's article can be narrowed down further into the advertising of Lesbian/Gay idenitiy from the fact that those topics stem from both political and cultural areas.

Even though I think homo eroticism is a large component of this advertisement, the textual elements of race are still strong and noteworthy. Hook's chapter about postmodern blackness. When he talks about the sixties and how repressive the postmodern state was and how race was viewed also reminded me of how the advertisement is constructed. I think its also important that the word "white" is separated from the rest of the copy. Race, gender, and sexuality stems from cultural studies. All the texts I chose follow that path, Grossberg gives a general overview of cultural studies and the political economy, and Fejes/Hooks go off of that idea and give a critical view of the issues associated with their topics.

Question 9- Onion news

This link contains a news story from The Onion. http://www.theonion.com/articles/michael-vicks-redemption,18576/ It is a humorous, but not entirely true, evaluation of quarterback Micheal Vick's career after returning to the NFL after dog fighting charges. Here is a "real" news video regarding Michael Vick:

For The Onion news story, their agenda setting (what the news find news worthy, or worth talking about) appears to want to humorously show how Vick is "going through the motions" to make the media and fans want to be able to forgive his actions. He donates money to "some charity or whatever" etc. Gate keeping (how news is filtered through a "gate" and only the stories the news wants in will be published) can also be seen with The Onion article. I honestly think that this article makes a humorous attempt to redeem Vick, they could have given the brutal honest facts about his crimes, but they do it humorously to lighten the story and allow people to emotionally connect better with Vick and show how he is trying to redeem himself. Baym's article about interpersonal relationships in the online community can relate to this story because of how it manages disagreement (490). There are obviously a lot of people who will not like Vick, but the article makes it a lot less disagreeable because of its discourse.

In the video news story, they make a realistic report when talking about Vick. The discourse is different in the fact that it is now a real story and not a humorous attempt to gain sympathy. Actual video of the pit bulls also changes the dynamics of the story around, as it is using an emotional appeal to make Vick seem more ruthless. However, the story is not 100% about the dog fighting, and mostly about Vick's signing to the Eagles. This agenda setting helps his image somewhat like The Onion article because of the hopes of redeeming himself through sport. The video does include the background of his crimes and his release from jail, but in terms of gate keeping, it looked like they did not want to portray Vick in too much of a negative light and more of a reclamation of former glory theme.

Question 8- Disney

Mouse Trapped 2010 and Micky Mouse Monopoly have many political economy and cultural studies elements in them. Grossman describes cultural studies as being related with race, gender, class and sexuality and the cultural meanings behind them (627). Mickey Mouse Monopoly describes how the images viewed by kids can shape what they think about the world later. They also describe how Disney is a culturally important company because of how kids were raised on it and how its a generational thing. In Mouse Trapped, one example of cultural studies is the cheese commercial and how the workers thought it was insulting that they are being compared to talking cheese. Grossman also described how cultural studies is very reliant on the self production of culture (629). This relates to both videos to how Disney is almost entirely reliant on its cultural aspect to be able to make money. The economic aspect of Disney is best described in terms of the Political Economy.

A major difference between cultural studies and political economy is that the political economy is neither stable nor closed (632). Political economy goes more into the economic, capitalistic issues regarding areas of interest. Mouse trapped has political economy influences because of how the employees describe how little they make every week. They describe Disney as this massive conglomeration that has the money to pay the employees, but they keep paying the employees far below what they expect to earn. In Micky Mouse Monopoly, the interviewers describe also how Disney owns so many areas of the entertainment industry and how it has so much power over people discriminating against Disney. One scene had a man get his book cover pulled because it had Mickey in a mousetrap. The monopoly that Disney has is analyzed by both films and are great ways to see how the political economy works.

Question 7- Re/appropriation

The video appropriates sexual signifiers from pornographic films. The video quality has that orange hue and the clothing suggests pornography of the 1970s. A common element in pornographic films has a manly man of some labor intensive profession arriving in the home to do something, and spontaneously engages in sexual activity with the female homeowner. The setup appears in the beginning but the video obviously twists that theme around.

The woman in the film re appropriates the ideas of what it means to be sexually attractive to men. It is assumed in this video that you have to have massive breasts to capture a mans attention. Most people in the beginning of the video would notice her breasts, but the important thing is how she embodies the issue many woman think about. The ending is interesting because all the signifiers implicate the woman desires sexual activity, but in reality she still just wants her appliance fixed. She re appropriates signifiers of sexuality from everyday life regarding how women want to represent themselves.

Question 6- Exoticism

In brief, the ad shows Conan O'Brien, a white man, traveling through India to create the fabric for his curtain on stage. Many textual elements of the advertisement display what Sanjukta Ghosh wrote about in our readings. Ghosh describes how this "exoticism" portrays foriegn cultures, specifically Indian cultures, as narrow constructions of Indianness (280). Exoticism is an element of globalization that appropriates elements of another culture that makes it seem "cool" but in reality gives a fake vision of the culture.

Conan travels through this exotic area of India, but what stikes me is that throughout the video is that Conan seems to be the "exotic" one. The people seem fascinated with his presence there, one clip even has a woman playing with his hair. Obviously there are many textual elements that present the Indians featured as the exotic ones. But I think the major overriding theme here is globalization in general. Conan is appropriating elements of Indian culture into his curtain he weaves, so his experiences there can literally be shown in the final product of the curtain he makes. This element is not "in your face" clear, but I believe it fits the theme of globalization because cultures of another country somehow find there way into American culture today, as hinted by the curtain.

Conan's exotic nature, combined with the globalization theme creates this hybrid feeling of inter mixed cultures and perspectives.

Question 5- Urinal game

Ideology is the science of ideas. In short, it means common sense. It can be a way in which someone views a certain issue etc.

Hegemony is constructed from ideology and it has to do with a power structure. Karl Marx believes that normal people "the base" are powerless and our desires are filtered through the superstructure. That can be religion, education, government etc. That is a form of hegemony, a more common example of hegemony would be a patient believing that the drug the doctor prescribes is adequate because of this power structure the doctor gives off.

The flash game, which is a fairly accurate representation of the awkward situations males experience in the bathroom, has many hegemonic and ideological influences. In terms of ideology, it is common sense to be as far away as possible from another male using a urinal because it gives the feeling of safety and comfort. However, when the game asks you to choose a spot between two guys, the best answer is to not be next to the hyper masculine gentleman. This presents a hegemonic factor into the urinal game.

In a little easter-egg type of element, if you click on the muscular gentleman, he goes up and physically attacks the user, signifying dominance over the user, which hegemony is basically formed under.

Question 4- Signification

The image shows a picture of a pipe, but the text below it signifies it as "not a pipe." Saussure was a linguist who wondered why a table meant "table." This relates to the picture because the text below the pipe goes against the clear signifers that we are in fact looking at a pipe. The cultural construction of a pipe is evident in the image, but the artist wanted it to signify something different.

Question 3- Portrayal of race

Ghetto Delta- Race is portrayed by the stereotypical associations of black people. A white man is displaying "blackness" by talking "ghetto." They also compare the plane to a woman's behind, which makes the assumption that all black people think about is a womans behind.

Everest College- The filming technique I believe give the commercial a gritty, jumpy, and almost in your face feel. This connects with race because the setting (dark, LA looking nightlife), the black speaker, and the filming technique all look like it is trying to appeal to the market that lives in the "ghetto."

They are both similar in that they are using "blackness" to try and capture the intended audience. They are different in the fact that the first one heavily uses grammaticality incorrect vernacular. But the College ad has the man speaking less "ghetto," probably to signify that this college education will make you be able to speak correct English.

Question 11- Two texts + Ad

My topic for the semester was about how sports stars are portrayed in advertisements, and the cultural meaning behind that. I found another advertisement that features Quarterback Brett Favre, which displays him as an ”everyman”, a topic I discussed heavily in my papers. Brett is shown sitting on a pickup truck with Wrangler jeans along with other “redneck” sort of imagery around him, including the setting and other textual elements.

One reading that I believe relates to this particular advertisement is the Schor reading “The New Politics of Consumption.” Schor describes how “new consumerism” is jeopardizing the quality of American life (186). In the image, Favre appears to be content with his imagined signifiers of social status. The only reference to his football career is his jersey number by his signature. It portrays him as this everyday man with a pickup truck and Labrador retriever which appears to go against the concepts Schor describes. This is important because it creates a valid argument to the ideas that Schor presents. The ad signifies that there are people who are not aspiring to be this millionaire who lives in a big city and goes shopping at expensive places, and that directly responds to Schor’s article.

Another reading by Stabile, “Nike, Social Responsibility, and the Hidden Abode,” also presents another interesting look at the Brett Favre advertisement. Stabile describes how a sports company creates this “just do it” campaign, and that any aspiring athlete can be just like an NBA player (200). The ad with Favre could be seen as signifying that any white male living in the “country” can be a superstar quarterback, granted they know Favre is an NFL quarterback. Just like the imagery that Stabile talks about regarding NBA players.

The two articles combine in the idea that you do not need to be a certain social class or setting to make it big. The ad goes against consumerism but promotes the fact that an average Joe is capable of social class leaps through sport.