Semester Overview

The thing I found most interesting this semester was how society and women view their own bodies. We try numerous products, whether it be makeup, special face cleanser, or an expensive lotion, we will try anything that we think will make us look and feel prettier. Most women seem to lack self-confidence and are not proud of their bodies or proud of what they have given, I think media seems to be the blame  for this. We looking at the ads shown in class, men in the advertisments seem to over power the women. I man is always shown as a strong, empowering person. On the other hand, women seem to be used as objects. In fact sometimes a woman's whole body isn't even shown, only her legs, butt, or any body part that will sell products. I found this to be very interesting because I never did notice how poorly women can be treated in social media. Being a woman myself, I found this to be very demeaning and hurtful to the women in our society and cultures all around us.

CNN News Stories

One of the CNN news stories consisted of the wives of American soldiers who had been wounded in battle. These wives were pampered with a new hairstyle and a new designer dress and shoes. Personally, I thought this was an interesting story. I thought it was a sweet idea to take these ladies, who had been put through so much, and pamper them for a day. However, in the story one of the stylists said they were going to, "make them look more beautiful", which I thought was a kind of degrading comment. Also, I the end of this story the news lady shared that the women were able to keep their designer shoes and dresses, which also had no relevance to the story. Klosterman said that the extra facts stated that have no meaning to the story, are simply done to catch your attention and to add more to the story.
Another story that we watched consisted of the infamous 'Boston Bombers'. The news reporter asked the lady who was interviewing outside of the courthouse what the boys were wearing and asked about their facial expressions, which again has no relevance to the story. Before reading Klosterman's article, I didn't notice the excess things put into news reports, but now it's too obvious and I will definitely be on the look at in more news stories to come.

Harry Potter

Most people of my generation have watched at least one, if not all, of the Harry Potter movies. Harry Potter is much like Star Wars. Not only did the Harry Potter movies have midnight premieres, but the people who attended these movies dressed as Harry Potter or in wizardly-type clothing. People have become obsessed and Harry Potter, at one point, seemed to be taking over the entire population. The popular trends taken from Harry Potter are not only the costumes but some cultural trends have set throughout the years. In the movie, Harry wheres circular shaped glasses, which seem to be a popular trend among teenagers and young adults. Fake glasses are becoming very common and I think Harry's famous glasses have put this trend over the top.

What Happens When People Stop Being Polite

The most significant idea of Chuck Klosterman's, "What Happens When People Stop Being Polite",  is that reality T.V., such as The Real World, isn't actually reality after all. The Real World has had a number of seasons. Although each season has different people each time, the individual personalities are the same from season to season. In each season there's almost always a man of color, a gay man or woman, a drama starter, and other people from total opposite backgrounds. Each character seems to be given a role to take on and they have to portray that role to the best of their ability.
 Chuck states on page 36, "They have to behave as if what they're doing hasn't been done before. Real Worlders always get into arguments, but you never hear them say, "Oh, you're only saying that because you know this is going to be on TV," even though that would be the best comeback 90 percent of the time." What Chuck means is that people on The Real World have to pretend like they aren't on TV even though they clearly know cameras and film makers are standing only a few feet away. But people seem to love reality TV. Why? Because we seem to think that reality TV can actually relate to our everyday lives unlike other shows or movies.

Country Music

People who listen to country music are usually viewed as white, patriotic, unintelligent males who seem to spend all day in their pickup trucks cruising down mud roads or parked outside of a trailer park. I know we've all heard the many names for these people such as rednecks or hillbillies. But how did these stereotypes of country music come into play? Most view country music as the number 1 music of our country. It seems as if everyone in some way, shape, or form can relate their lives to a number of country songs. The patriotic stereotype seems to originate from songs like Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue", with lyrics that sing, "And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A. 'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass; it's the American way," What patriotic American couldn't relate to that song? And you would be labeled as Un-american if you couldn't. As for the unintelligence stereotype, the lyrics seem to be direct and anyone with a brain could understand almost every message each country song was trying to get across. Also, country music seems to have originated in the south, and the southern states have a reputation of being dumb or poorly educated. The justifications of this argument are completely wrong. In fact highly educated people have been proven to listen to country music. As for the patriotism, many country songs and listeners are highly supportive of our nation and our troops and they tend to show it in their songs more often than rock or hip-hop artists. Therefore, the patriotic stereotype tends to hold somewhat true.

Billy Sim

Chuck Klosterman uses The Sims, which is a video game of virtual reality, to relate to how we think the perfect world should be. One of the main points Klosterman explains in this article is that video games cage our imagination and our ability to think outside of the lines. When he asked his niece to explain to him the details of The Sims she simply only described to him the rules and outline of the game rather than using her imagination as she does when playing with her dolls. Klosterman stated, "Computers make children advance faster, but they also make them think like computers." Another one of Klosterman's points that he mentions is that the characters in the game only become happy when they buy things, which is how many people seem to think. In reality, it's not the purchases in your life that will make you happy; only you can make yourself truly happy. The last point is that, when playing The Sims, people tend to make a character just as they seem themselves, but people are never really right when choosing their own characteristics. It is said that people only play in order to see who or what they could be without any real-life consequences. We can learn from Chuck's points and really put into perspective of who we really are and what actually makes life worth living. Also, although technology does seem to have positive effects, especially in our generation and society, it seems to have some severe negative effects as well. Technology is taking over our society and our children at such a young age, and it seems like it's only going to continue to get worse as the years go by.

Manly Ad

I chose an ad that I found of the Internet of a 'manly' Under Armour advertisement. Under Armour sells athletic gear for both men and women. Under Armour carries anything from back packs to sweatpants. In this ad Under Armour is targeting towards heterosexual men. This ad is implying that if men have or buy the new Under Armour underwear, then they'll have hot chick in their bed in no time. After buying the underwear they'll automatically become sexier and will become a chick-magnet. Also, it implies that purchasing the underwear will make you more of a man and they will bring out your strength and chiseled chest.

Football

Before viewing this movie I had no idea how serious sports injuries could be. Throughout my life, starting at age 4, I have been involved in numerous sports. From soccer to softball I did it all, and I've had many sports-related injuries. Although I have never had diagnosed concussion, I have taken several lashings to the head, but like most athletes, I always got right back up and continued to play. This video made me more aware of the possible damage me or my teammates could be doing to ourselves. It's scary to think that taking a blow to the head could result in lifelong damage to the brain.

I think more coaches and players should view this video. We start softball practice in August, which is a relatively hot month. There have been a few times at practice where I thought I was going to pass out because of the heat. Hearing about the high school football player dying of a heat stroke/exhaustion made me realize that there's more to life than just sports. You may be a hero in a game, but injuries can permanently change your life forever.

Beauty

In the article, "Only Two Percent of Women Describe Themselves as Beautiful," it discusses that not only do American women not consider themselves as beautiful, but it seems to be a world wide trend. These women believe media is too harsh on what they consider to be beauty, giving them a low self-esteem and making them conscious about their bodies. Women want to satisfy a man's needs and feels she needs to look, act, and dress the part and some believe that shopping at Victoria's Secret is just what they need. Victoria's Secret is a high-end store that carries anything from sexy lingerie to skimpy low cut bikinis. Victoria's Secret was made to satisfy a man by designing this scandalous clothing for women. In Marie Smith's article, "Decoding Victoria's Secret," states, "So, Victoria's surprising secret, according to this writer's interpretation, is that she based her huge success with women upon being the best at giving men what they want visually."

Both articles, "Only Two Percent of Women Describe Themselves as Beautiful" and "Decoding Victoria's Secret", agree on the fact that women base their beauty on how they think men want them to look. Society has women believing that they can only be seen as sexy or beautiful if they look the part. Society bases their judgements on appearance and what is seen on the outside rather than what's on the inside. Unfortunately we live in a cruel world where we always seem to judge by first glance.

What is Beauty?

This weeks' readings focused on our society's interpretation on what we believe is beautiful and what isn't. In one of the readings, it was discussed that only two percent of women describe themselves as being beautiful. On page 50 of the reading it stated, "Additionally just thirteen percent of women say they are satisfied with their beauty; twelve percent say they are satisfied with their physical attractiveness; seventeen percent are very satisfied with their facial attractiveness; and only thirteen percent are very satisfied with their body weight and shape." We can conclude from this article, that the women in today's world seem not to have a very high self-esteem. It seems we have society and the media to blame for this.

Because women seem not to have confidence in their body or appearance, that's where Victoria's Secret  comes into play. Victoria's Secret is a high-end, multi billion dollar company that sells anything from luxurious lingerie to cosmetic products used to enhance the woman's body, making her feel sexy and beautiful. However, this lingerie isn't just for anyone. On page 60 it states, "The one restriction is the customer be size fourteen or under." Although the goal of Victoria's Secret is to make a woman feel better about herself, they seem to be down grading those who are, in fact, larger than others as if saying, "If you aren't small enough to fit into our clothes, then you can't be beautiful or even sexy."

Ten Seconds to Love

The major idea in Klosterman's "Ten Seconds to Love" is that society has shaped what we think the present-day sexy woman should dress, act, and look like. In the beginning he refers to Pamela Anderson as basically being the bimbo of society but secretly every woman wishes they were her. On page 74 he states, "We've established this unrealistic image of what we want from the human race, but it angers people to see that image in real life. It sort of shows why most Americans hate themselves."
The major ideas in the reading "Porn" is the fact that the Internet was the bases of how pornography first became popular. Klosterman stated on page 112, "Porn sites are the window to the modern soul; they're glimpses into the twisted minds of a faceless society." This meant that porn, although taboo, is something everyone wants and dreams about.

When comparing these two readings you will see that Klosterman believes everything is based off of  how society perceives it. Society shapes what we think is attractive and not attractive, and society although, it's rarely talked about, goes crazy over porn and pornographic films, pictures, etc.

The Futile Pursuit of Happiness

          One of the most significant ideas that John Gertner makes in his work called, The Futile Pursuit of Happiness, is that people often overestimate how happy they think they'll be when they buy or receive something that they want. A passage in the reading said by Daniel Gilbert states, "Things that happen to you or that you buy or own- as much as you think they make a difference in your happiness, you're wrong by a certain amount. You're overestimating how much of a difference they make. None of them make the difference you think. And that's true of positive and negative events." One event that John Gertner mentions that most people think will make them happier, is winning the lottery. However, over time those who are lottery winners have them same amount of happiness as those who have not won. I recall numerous times when I thought something would make me extremely happy, but I ended up not being as excited when it actually happened. Like getting a new phone for instance. The thrill of getting having a new phone fades away after a few days, making me want a new one all over again.

     These ideas are important because they help show that no matter what comes to play in life, you will eventually move on and get over it. As mentioned, happiness from an object or thing only lasts for a period of time. The same goes for a death of a close friend or family member; no matter how hard it may be, time will pass and you will mostly likely move on.