Showing posts with label Hillary Steinmetz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hillary Steinmetz. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Budgeting Princesses.
As I think back to our readings on princess culture, I can't help but wish they hadn't gone to such extremes. The people they referenced in the article, for the most part, were examples of the few, not the many. For example, take the women they referenced with princess-related shopping addictions. Sure, any of us may know someone who spends more than they should to look good, but not to the extent the women in this article did. It made me believe that the habits of these women go beyond just their desire to be beautiful and fashionable.
Growing up, I was definitely obsessed with Disney princesses. I was what I like to call "just spoiled enough"- my parents made sure I had a great childhood without giving me every little thing I wanted. As I grew up, my parents transitioned the financial responsibility over to me a little at a time. As a result, I understood the value of saving up for something. I've had a job since I was 15, and have always worked for the things I have.
When it comes down to it, I think our link to princess culture is more about learning the value of a dollar than anything else. God knows I would love to have the nicest of something, but I understand that I just can't afford it. The women in this article had more than just a desire for beauty; they were willing to get it at all costs, and I don't think they understand what that means. These women throw money away like candy wrappers, and having come from where I have, I believe there's no way in hell they were ever taught how to properly budget until it was too late.
Now I'm all for spoiling your kids and making them feel like the most special person on earth, but as we become parents, we have to remember that responsibility comes along with growing up. As the article says, it's the biggest compliment one can receive at age 3 to be called a princess, but if someone calls them a princess at age 15, well, that's code for brat. Instead of teaching our little princesses to stand there and look pretty, we should teach them to run a country (as cheesy as that sounds). After all, that a princess's REAL future, right?
Growing up, I was definitely obsessed with Disney princesses. I was what I like to call "just spoiled enough"- my parents made sure I had a great childhood without giving me every little thing I wanted. As I grew up, my parents transitioned the financial responsibility over to me a little at a time. As a result, I understood the value of saving up for something. I've had a job since I was 15, and have always worked for the things I have.
When it comes down to it, I think our link to princess culture is more about learning the value of a dollar than anything else. God knows I would love to have the nicest of something, but I understand that I just can't afford it. The women in this article had more than just a desire for beauty; they were willing to get it at all costs, and I don't think they understand what that means. These women throw money away like candy wrappers, and having come from where I have, I believe there's no way in hell they were ever taught how to properly budget until it was too late.
Now I'm all for spoiling your kids and making them feel like the most special person on earth, but as we become parents, we have to remember that responsibility comes along with growing up. As the article says, it's the biggest compliment one can receive at age 3 to be called a princess, but if someone calls them a princess at age 15, well, that's code for brat. Instead of teaching our little princesses to stand there and look pretty, we should teach them to run a country (as cheesy as that sounds). After all, that a princess's REAL future, right?
Friday, November 11, 2011
Public Image.
After finishing the documentary on Wednesday, I had similar feelings to those Sam expressed in the blog post directly below this one. It really bothered me that he couldn't quite make up his mind on how politics and sports should interact. I mean, if you're going to make a documentary... you can't be on the fence.
However, despite this confusion, it still sparked some thought in me. I really latched on to his concept of Americans liking to think of things, and people, as simple. I see this as an extremely true statement; ask anyone who's ever met someone famous and they'll either say "Yeah, he was such a nice guy, really seemed genuine," or "Oh that guy's such a jerk. He doesn't even care about his fans." We want to think that the people we idolize are either heroes or villains; there's no room for an average Joe. After all, they're making millions more than us- so we want them to be extraordinary for better or for worse.
To go along with this, I believe this is why everyone raises such a stink when a public figure gets themselves in a pickle. All of a sudden, they don't fit the mold of a simple hero or villain- they've created their own villainous persona and started attacking. Even though you and I blow up at our friends or mouth off to a teacher almost daily, we're allowed. Those who are in a public position are expected to just... be. We're fascinated with them... but we expect them to be simple. Then any small action outside our assigned norm is reason to write the presses. My question is this: When the heck did they ask us? When we fall out of line, it's our friends and family who have a right to get angry with us. While we may respect or look up to an athlete or any celebrity, they don't know us from Adam. So I guess I know that no matter how much I don't understand the fan uproar over celebrity mishaps, I'm definitely not going to change anything. It goes back to the parasocial relationship- we get mad because we thought we knew them like a friend.
So what I'm trying to get to is this: Zirin gets exactly what he wants- both athletes who will brings politics in and those who will leave it out. The ones who bring it in will face scrutiny and praise, but it's their prerogative because after all, they're just another person with opinions just like you and me. Unfortunately, all I have is this blog and 30something readers while they have 5 million television sets. And to those who chose to keep their opinion private, I think Zirin was way too quick to judge. I can respect someone who would rather express their opinion just to their loved ones and colleagues, like you and I do. Being famous doesn't mean the world is your stage.
However, despite this confusion, it still sparked some thought in me. I really latched on to his concept of Americans liking to think of things, and people, as simple. I see this as an extremely true statement; ask anyone who's ever met someone famous and they'll either say "Yeah, he was such a nice guy, really seemed genuine," or "Oh that guy's such a jerk. He doesn't even care about his fans." We want to think that the people we idolize are either heroes or villains; there's no room for an average Joe. After all, they're making millions more than us- so we want them to be extraordinary for better or for worse.
To go along with this, I believe this is why everyone raises such a stink when a public figure gets themselves in a pickle. All of a sudden, they don't fit the mold of a simple hero or villain- they've created their own villainous persona and started attacking. Even though you and I blow up at our friends or mouth off to a teacher almost daily, we're allowed. Those who are in a public position are expected to just... be. We're fascinated with them... but we expect them to be simple. Then any small action outside our assigned norm is reason to write the presses. My question is this: When the heck did they ask us? When we fall out of line, it's our friends and family who have a right to get angry with us. While we may respect or look up to an athlete or any celebrity, they don't know us from Adam. So I guess I know that no matter how much I don't understand the fan uproar over celebrity mishaps, I'm definitely not going to change anything. It goes back to the parasocial relationship- we get mad because we thought we knew them like a friend.
So what I'm trying to get to is this: Zirin gets exactly what he wants- both athletes who will brings politics in and those who will leave it out. The ones who bring it in will face scrutiny and praise, but it's their prerogative because after all, they're just another person with opinions just like you and me. Unfortunately, all I have is this blog and 30something readers while they have 5 million television sets. And to those who chose to keep their opinion private, I think Zirin was way too quick to judge. I can respect someone who would rather express their opinion just to their loved ones and colleagues, like you and I do. Being famous doesn't mean the world is your stage.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Techno-Strike
DISCLAIMER: While this doesn't exactly pertain to flash mobs, it has everything to do with the media that arranges them!
Two weeks ago, I had the great misfortune of my computer breaking. Of course, it fell during a week that I had mass quantities of typed homework to do, and I was completely freaking out. Honestly, I felt naked without the constant companion my computer had come to be. However, despite my doom and gloom mentality, I decided that I would treat my time without a computer as a technological detox. I wasn't excited about it.
As the day went on, I had to rely on computer labs during my breaks and library visits after class to get my work done. Having to schedule these in, I found I was so much more productive. My computer wasn't there for me at my convenience; I had to use my resources as they became available. It was only after this that I realized how deeply connected as a society we have become to our technology- not only the internet, but our televisions, cell phones, etc. Why? These devices seem so time sucking when we take a step back (or a forced detox), but that isn't enough to motivate us to limit our time with them. For example, I made great proclamations about how much I loved being unconnected and how productive I was without my computer, but as soon as I got it back, I digressed back into internet TV and procrastination. I think we allow this because the temptation is just too much to resist in our "everyone's doing it" society. We have the capability to be connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and because of this, we face a lot of pressure to be up on current events. Almost without us noticing, this results in us constantly dedicating our time to this pursuit of what is current.
I suppose this experience has gotten me to be a bit more cautious of my pop culture consumption. I believe consumption is the most accurate term- because we have the tendency to let it consume us right back. It's infiltrated our lives and our leisure time, and now that I've noticed this, I'm working on making little changes to take my time back. There's nothing wrong with being connected- I just want to make sure I'm not slacking on my personal, face-to-face interaction because of it.
Two weeks ago, I had the great misfortune of my computer breaking. Of course, it fell during a week that I had mass quantities of typed homework to do, and I was completely freaking out. Honestly, I felt naked without the constant companion my computer had come to be. However, despite my doom and gloom mentality, I decided that I would treat my time without a computer as a technological detox. I wasn't excited about it.
As the day went on, I had to rely on computer labs during my breaks and library visits after class to get my work done. Having to schedule these in, I found I was so much more productive. My computer wasn't there for me at my convenience; I had to use my resources as they became available. It was only after this that I realized how deeply connected as a society we have become to our technology- not only the internet, but our televisions, cell phones, etc. Why? These devices seem so time sucking when we take a step back (or a forced detox), but that isn't enough to motivate us to limit our time with them. For example, I made great proclamations about how much I loved being unconnected and how productive I was without my computer, but as soon as I got it back, I digressed back into internet TV and procrastination. I think we allow this because the temptation is just too much to resist in our "everyone's doing it" society. We have the capability to be connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and because of this, we face a lot of pressure to be up on current events. Almost without us noticing, this results in us constantly dedicating our time to this pursuit of what is current.
I suppose this experience has gotten me to be a bit more cautious of my pop culture consumption. I believe consumption is the most accurate term- because we have the tendency to let it consume us right back. It's infiltrated our lives and our leisure time, and now that I've noticed this, I'm working on making little changes to take my time back. There's nothing wrong with being connected- I just want to make sure I'm not slacking on my personal, face-to-face interaction because of it.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Pop Culture of Halloween
This post seemed only appropriate for today since it is, after all, Halloween. As I watched people walk around campus in their costumes, I couldn't help but get mildly creeped out. As you grown out of your prime trick or treating days, costumes kind of lose their shine, and become something we only do for parties the weekend before Halloween.
When I was little, costumes at school on Halloween were so exciting and cool. Now... they just weird me out. However, this observation made me realize that the pop culture texts I consume weekly have altered my perceptions of the "norms" of tradition. One of the ways this is most prominent to me is through holiday specials. Halloween conveniently falls right at the beginning of November sweeps- arguable the most important period of time for TV networks. While there are four sweeps periods, the November sweeps are usually regarded as the ones that carry the most weight. As a result, networks play up anything they can in order to get audiences to tune in to their programs over what the competition is showing.
This convenient correlation has been played up so well that it has entirely changed the fabric of Halloween. For example, take How I Met Your Mother. This year's special will bring back the "slutty pumpkin"- a woman Ted fell for years ago, but lost sight of before he could get her name. Throughout the first episode we were introduced to the slutty pumpkin, Barney comments that he loves Halloween because no matter what a woman dresses up as, it's going to be slutty: "If she's a nurse, she's a SLUTTY nurse!"This reiterates a tradition we've seen prominently in the last few years: Halloween isn't just for the kids anymore. It's virtually impossible to find a women's costume that it cute, flattering AND appropriate unless you make it yourself. Movies like Mean Girls refer to Halloween as the one day of the year that it's okay for girls to dress like sluts. When such practices are intertwined with the media we love and practiced by the characters we relate to, such behavior becomes acceptable, and furthermore, common practice. It's all just a part of the tradition of Halloween now.
Another common practice in holiday specials is the crazy party with a twist. Take last year's Community Halloween episode, for example. They set out to have your typical Halloween party, but then they're all infected by the food and become zombies. It's a battle for their humanity as they fight off their infected friends, and even though we're well aware that it could never happen in reality, it grabbed our attention. Now, we may not see any zombie infections in everyday life, but the ever-presence of the Halloween party in TV shows and movies has been absorbed and embraced by our culture. If you look back in time, Halloween used to be just about kids. Adults handed out the candy, and that was it as far as their participation went. Halloween parties popped up originally as friends just hanging out, and since, have grown into a wild tradition. This is no statistic, but I'd argue that Halloween is one of the biggest party holidays on college campuses. It's encouraged for people to wear crazy costumes, and it seems that they tend to do more crazy things. Today, I saw that many brave pumpkins gave their life over this past weekend, and I'm willing to bet that this was a part of several party festivities. This is our way of having the crazy party that only TV seems able to accomplish. Just like with the scandalous costumes, seeing Halloween as a day for especially wild parties on TV makes us more apt to follow suit with our own Halloween festivities.
Overall, it's hard not to notice that pop culture has permeated most aspects of our lives. I'm not saying I mind; it's not going to stop me from watch the return of the slutty pumpkin tonight. It's just interesting to bring such connections into light.
When I was little, costumes at school on Halloween were so exciting and cool. Now... they just weird me out. However, this observation made me realize that the pop culture texts I consume weekly have altered my perceptions of the "norms" of tradition. One of the ways this is most prominent to me is through holiday specials. Halloween conveniently falls right at the beginning of November sweeps- arguable the most important period of time for TV networks. While there are four sweeps periods, the November sweeps are usually regarded as the ones that carry the most weight. As a result, networks play up anything they can in order to get audiences to tune in to their programs over what the competition is showing.
This convenient correlation has been played up so well that it has entirely changed the fabric of Halloween. For example, take How I Met Your Mother. This year's special will bring back the "slutty pumpkin"- a woman Ted fell for years ago, but lost sight of before he could get her name. Throughout the first episode we were introduced to the slutty pumpkin, Barney comments that he loves Halloween because no matter what a woman dresses up as, it's going to be slutty: "If she's a nurse, she's a SLUTTY nurse!"This reiterates a tradition we've seen prominently in the last few years: Halloween isn't just for the kids anymore. It's virtually impossible to find a women's costume that it cute, flattering AND appropriate unless you make it yourself. Movies like Mean Girls refer to Halloween as the one day of the year that it's okay for girls to dress like sluts. When such practices are intertwined with the media we love and practiced by the characters we relate to, such behavior becomes acceptable, and furthermore, common practice. It's all just a part of the tradition of Halloween now.
Another common practice in holiday specials is the crazy party with a twist. Take last year's Community Halloween episode, for example. They set out to have your typical Halloween party, but then they're all infected by the food and become zombies. It's a battle for their humanity as they fight off their infected friends, and even though we're well aware that it could never happen in reality, it grabbed our attention. Now, we may not see any zombie infections in everyday life, but the ever-presence of the Halloween party in TV shows and movies has been absorbed and embraced by our culture. If you look back in time, Halloween used to be just about kids. Adults handed out the candy, and that was it as far as their participation went. Halloween parties popped up originally as friends just hanging out, and since, have grown into a wild tradition. This is no statistic, but I'd argue that Halloween is one of the biggest party holidays on college campuses. It's encouraged for people to wear crazy costumes, and it seems that they tend to do more crazy things. Today, I saw that many brave pumpkins gave their life over this past weekend, and I'm willing to bet that this was a part of several party festivities. This is our way of having the crazy party that only TV seems able to accomplish. Just like with the scandalous costumes, seeing Halloween as a day for especially wild parties on TV makes us more apt to follow suit with our own Halloween festivities.
Overall, it's hard not to notice that pop culture has permeated most aspects of our lives. I'm not saying I mind; it's not going to stop me from watch the return of the slutty pumpkin tonight. It's just interesting to bring such connections into light.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Heavy Users.
Something that has really resonated with me since class today was our peak into the Cultivation Theory. Of course, none of us want to think of ourselves as "heavy users" of media- I don't know about you, but that phrase immediately brings to mind the image of dirty needles and even dirtier people. However dirty the phrase seems, I don't think I can deny that I'm at least on the brink of TVaholism. I'm an eager viewer of countless genres- I love watching spies take on adventures I would NEVER dream of trying in Covert Affairs and laughing at the teen drama of Degrassi. I think of myself as something of a crime scene expert now after years of watching all three CSIs and Criminal Minds, and I feel a warm fondness for Phil and Claire Dumphy, likening their relationship to my own.
I guess you say I use all these various parasocial relationships to experience things I otherwise wouldn't have. I am the exact opposite of adventurous, and you couldn't pay me to actually go on a spy mission- I'd probably cry the second you put a gun in my hand. I'm not brave enough to protect a complete stranger, and it follows that I have amplified respect for those who put their lives on the line for their country or a cause- real and imagined. This same concept applies to my love of CSI. I considered pursuing a Criminology major for about a second before I realized the problem I already mentioned; I'm not brave, and on top of that, I really hate science. I want a family and set hours, a leisure that a career in Forensics often doesn't accommodate too easily. However, when I watch CSI, that reality doesn't matter. the crimes are creepy, yes, but fake, and only the glorious, victorious side of Criminal Justice is fully depicted. The good guy wins, and we can all sleep easily knowing that the bad guy is in jail, dead, or sure to get caught on the season finale.
I'm sure the spies and bad guys do nothing for my anxiety or active imagination, and if they didn't exist, I doubt I would be inclined to run out and solve a crime, but their existence allows me and people like me to get in 40 minutes of adventure from a safe seat. When the bad guy gets away, I have to admit, I sleep a little less sound. We watch TV as an escape, but it plays an important role in our every day life. As long as you can keep yourself at least mostly removed from your favorite subject matter, I think it's a healthy guilty pleasure that keeps us, well, entertained- which is it's most basic function, after all.
So, when it comes down to it, being a "heavy user" may not be ideal, but it's also not uncommon or shameful. It's possible to be hooked to multiple shows and still lead a healthy life with healthy relationships. I guess the moral of the story is this- get a hobby, talk to a friend, then hang out in front of the TV for awhile (and maybe bake a cake or run in place while you watch). We're not the only ones with addictions, and you all seem pretty normal to me, so I say embrace them.
I guess you say I use all these various parasocial relationships to experience things I otherwise wouldn't have. I am the exact opposite of adventurous, and you couldn't pay me to actually go on a spy mission- I'd probably cry the second you put a gun in my hand. I'm not brave enough to protect a complete stranger, and it follows that I have amplified respect for those who put their lives on the line for their country or a cause- real and imagined. This same concept applies to my love of CSI. I considered pursuing a Criminology major for about a second before I realized the problem I already mentioned; I'm not brave, and on top of that, I really hate science. I want a family and set hours, a leisure that a career in Forensics often doesn't accommodate too easily. However, when I watch CSI, that reality doesn't matter. the crimes are creepy, yes, but fake, and only the glorious, victorious side of Criminal Justice is fully depicted. The good guy wins, and we can all sleep easily knowing that the bad guy is in jail, dead, or sure to get caught on the season finale.
I'm sure the spies and bad guys do nothing for my anxiety or active imagination, and if they didn't exist, I doubt I would be inclined to run out and solve a crime, but their existence allows me and people like me to get in 40 minutes of adventure from a safe seat. When the bad guy gets away, I have to admit, I sleep a little less sound. We watch TV as an escape, but it plays an important role in our every day life. As long as you can keep yourself at least mostly removed from your favorite subject matter, I think it's a healthy guilty pleasure that keeps us, well, entertained- which is it's most basic function, after all.
So, when it comes down to it, being a "heavy user" may not be ideal, but it's also not uncommon or shameful. It's possible to be hooked to multiple shows and still lead a healthy life with healthy relationships. I guess the moral of the story is this- get a hobby, talk to a friend, then hang out in front of the TV for awhile (and maybe bake a cake or run in place while you watch). We're not the only ones with addictions, and you all seem pretty normal to me, so I say embrace them.
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