Week of March 31st Blog

This week we reviewed how mass communication and mass production influence our society (mass culture) today.
Media most likely has the greatest impact on our culture today through communication. Many don'd realize how much it engulfs our life, however, it is everywhere. The news channel, billboards, newspapers, ads on the internet, and social networking are just a few examples of parts of the media that form our opinions and raise questions. Some complain that the media has too much power and can filter their content so they can convince the general public to agree with their biased opinions. "Were the media guilty of emphasizing violence and downplaying moral value?" (Culture and Mass Communication 1).  Mass communication became relevant wen the typewriter was first invented. It became realized that now one message could be sent to multiple people. This sparked industrializtion and thus the printing press and other mechanisms that could bust out more messages to the public were created. This had great effects on society at that time. "...the weakening of bonds of kinship, and the declining social significance of the family, the disappearance of the neighborhood, and the undermining of the traditional basis of social solidarity" (Culture and Mass Communication 25). Many forms of mass communication would come that would forever change our society such as radio, television, and telephones. These have become part of our popular culture and broadcast interesting information such as sports games. Some might think that this was purely to entertain the public, but it was really all just about the money. "...timeouts for commercials had extended the average length of a professional baseball game from 2 hours, 57 minutes in 1978, to 3 hours, 11 minutes" (Culture and Mass Communication 30). These commercials could advertise a variety of goods to consumers and try to get them to buy what they were selling. "Coca-Cola and its logo and Levi's jeans have long been popular around the world" (Culture and Mass Communication 36). This all shows how our world has become lost in consumerism and now we don't even realize it happening around us.

March 17th Reflection

In the documentary PressPausePlay, the good and bad effects of new technology and communication are debated over. Many artists give their different opinions on the subject. Some think our culture is dying and others think it is blossoming.

Music production used to be much more difficult than it is today. Many artists appreciate the work required to make music and release it to the world. Now it seems that any artist can make their work public with new technology. "Slap up their early stuff on Facebook. On YouTube. It would get lost. It would get lost in the ocean of garbage" (Keen). Andrew Keen describes how true artists don't just become famous by posting their music on the internet. It would simply get lost with an overflow of other information on the internet and soon forgotten. This makes it significantly tougher for the true artists to emerge. Technology allows about anyone to use a simple program on their computer to create music.

It is argued that only the most devoted of artists deserve recognition. People without musical education will find it almost impossible to make their voice heard. "I don't hear a lot of stories about the Robert Rodriguez's and Quentan Tarantino's who just sort of went out there and made a movie on their own and ya know became over night successes" (Watson). Adam Watson argues that it is very difficult to become a great film maker without going to film school and that many people think they can be directors just because they can buy higher quality cameras for less money.

However, new technology isn't completely bad. Olafur Arnalds has little music theory background, yet with the new technology he can create his music. "But still it's just sound frequencies. Theoretically there is no actual difference between a sound coming from a computer or a sound coming from a piano" (Arnalds).
Arnalds is able to make his music popular without having to be a prodigy of musical genius because of the technology that allows him to create digital music.

Computer programs such as Napster allowed individuals to download music for free. This was great because people could listen to what they wanted to without having to buy it and it was completely legal.This took much money from record companies. Sean Parker talks about how this affected large companies. "We were the the wake-up call for the record companies. We we're the first time that they were forced to recognize what was happening with content distribution on the internet" (Parker). This would change the way music was distributed forever. People could now get music off the internet instead of just records or CD's. This was great for those who couldn't afford the music they wanted.

Week of March 10th Reflection

This week we watched Smoke Signals which portrays how Native Americans seek healing through story telling and gives an idea of the reservation living conditions.

Thomas Build-The-Fire is a very perceptive Native American who doesn't act like a typical reservation Indian. He dresses nicely, wears glasses, smiles, and pushes social boundaries. He has a one-way friendship with Victor who obviously is annoyed by Thomas's presence and is always asking questions and telling stories about Victor's dad. Victor is aggrovated by these stories because he only sees his father as a dunk who left him and his mom alone. Victor is hurt by the fact that his dad left him and pushes away anyone who tries to help him by talking about it. Thomas talks about the time Arnold took him to Denny's after he found him on the bridge and that portrayed Arnold as a good person. After finding Arnold's wallet, Victor sees that his Father planned on going home and that he really does love him. In the final scene Victor throws Arnold's ashes into the river and this is the final point of healing because he realizes that he was a good man and not just some drunk who left him.

Much of the scenery in the reservation gives the audience an idea of what Native American life is like. One example is the flag hung upside down on independence day. This is ironic beacause Native Americans independence was taken away by America. Also, all the beer shows what kind of life Victor's dad has. Even the ironic poster in police office about justice shows the police man's racism.

Week March 3 Reflection

This week we finished Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. The ending of the book shows how witchery destroys and manipulates people and Tayo resists the urge to turn to witchery.

Before, Leroy, Pinkie, Emo, and Harley were all friends from the Vietnam War who would share their stories, drink, and curse the white people for the land they had taken. Tayo finds out that they are coming to get him, most likely to kill him. Tayo hides between boulders and watches as Emo slowly kills Harley to try to bring Tayo out from hiding. The witchery had manipulated Emo so that he thrived off of destruction of life. Leroy and Pinkie begin fighting too over a simple shove. Witchery had even made Harley and Leroy, Tayo's best friends turn against him and attempt to bring him to Emo to be destroyed. In order to finish the ceremony, Tayo has to avoid Emo and the others.

Tayo finds himself trying to resist the urge to stop Emo from killing Harley. He would have liked nothing better than to stab his screwdriver right through Emo's temple. However, if Tayo did this, he would become part of the witchery himself, be driven to insanity, and end the ceremony. It's hard to comprehend how witchery can manipulate someone to have the desire to kill another just because they are a "half-blood". Emo didn't really care about the importance of whether Tayo was sane or not. His cause to find Tayo was completely personal. Tayo does resist coming out of hiding and later, Leroy, Pinkie, and Harley are found dead and Emo has to move away to California because he isn't wanted in the reservation. This shows how Tayo was strong enough to complete the ceremony and that made the destructive witchery leave his life for good.

Week of Feb. 24 Reflection

This week, in Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko we read pages 163-208. This is after Tayo has gone through his ceremony and is healed. Tayo finally finds something to fill in the emptiness inside of him and begins to see Betonie's visions come true.

Caught in the middle of an exhausting trip, Tayo spots an Indian girl underneath an apricot tree. She sees how exhausted he is and brings him inside and begins to make supper for him. Her name is Ts'eh and she represents Earth and this is symbolic of Tayo being nurtured by nature. Nature is what Tayo lost his touch with in Vietnam and totally warped his inner being and Ts'eh is helping him recuperate. Tayo sleeps with her and immediately falls in love. She has filled his emptiness and he is noticeably more confident the next morning. Tayo finally feels "at home" and has found his place in the world.

Tayo notices that two of Betonie's visions come true. The woman he foresaw in Tayo's future is Ts'eh and the stars Ts'eh and Tayo saw were the constellations that Betonie envisioned. The only thing that was missing was the cattle. Tayo knew he had to find them and bring them back, for it was part of his destiny. Tayo is angry at all he white cowboys and ranchers because they dstroy the land around them and the animals. He is also angry at Indians like Harley because they value the things white people have and envy them. Tayo steals the cattle and finds that Ts'eh has a husband. Tayo doesn't seem to mind this fact however.

Week Feb. 17th Reflection

This week we met a man from the Navy SEALS, Clay. He told us stories, his feelings, and answered most of our questions.
Something that really struck me about Clay is how happy of a guy he seemed to be. He'd be making jokes in front of a bunch of high school students. When asked a serious question about his experiences in his work, his world seemed to freeze and his face would go blank. He would get very serious and remember the things he had to go through to complete his job. It was tough to imagine what it was like being able to relive those moments just by thinking about them. He can remember having to shoot a 12 year old, against all his morals, for the protection of his men and the civilians in the Cafe. He compared the taste of blood in his mouth to being able to remember the taste of your first birthday cake. He can recall many people yelling at him because he is a "ruthless killer", but he says he would die any day for them. This shows his dedication to this country and his belief that it truly is the best country in the world. He also told us that he did his job so none of us would have to which is incredibly inspiring. Some would call him a hero but he doesn't agree with the term because what he does is job.

The one story he told about the 12 year old girl and his seriousness as he told it made me realize how traumatizing that situation really was to him. It really was devastating to him because he had to shoot a girl who thought the best thing she could do was blow herself up because someone either tortured her or brain washed her. It gut wrenching how real the world is sometimes. He told that if he could redo the entire thing, he would have ran across the road and blown himself up. This interested me because he would have died with her instead of just her dying. I don't really understand his reasoning for this but I'm sure he has a good one. He says that he still sees her eyes staring at him every night before he goes to sleep and maybe this haunting image is why he wants a do-over on the whole thing. This just shows that even the world's top warriors can be traumatized and scarred for life.

Week of Feb. 10 Reflection

This week we reflected on pages 1-80 and also read pages 105-118 of Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. Themes throughout the book were revealed and many important quotes were pointed out. During the class discussions I noticed that ignorance and denial seemed to be a trend in Native American life. All of the Native Americans in the bar are a great example. They use alcohol and having sex with blond women to ignore the truth about their lives and how they will never be more than what they are right now, "Native Americans", meaning that they will just be discriminated against and live in a cycle of poverty and alcohol until their lives come to the end. They also blame the whites for change not only in their land but in their racial purity too. However, they don't realize how much they are changing inside of themselves too in their values, culture, and morals.

On pages 105-118, Tayo goes to the medicine man to prepare for a ceremony. he very observant medicine man learns about Tayo's struggles. The medicin man talks about how everyone is angry that the white men have took their land. "...Tayo, we have done as much fighting as we can with the destroyers and theives: as much as we could do and possibly survive" (Silko 118). This relates to how Tayo has fought this struggle with in him for so long that he is about to lose himself and that he needs to stop the internal battle if he wants to live on with his life.

(I know it's a Spider-man photo but I thought it fit the subject well)