Question 13, Feminism and the 3 waves

The first wave of feminism takes a quantitative approach. It basically strives for obtaining equal rights through thing like political legislation. The second wave also advocates women’s rights, but they take a more qualitative approach. They focus more on the symbolic such as the stigma associated with a man holding open a door for a women. Second wavers preach about the need for women to assert themselves. The third wave of feminism maintains many of the same underlying principles found in both the first and second wave of feminism, but they focus on things such as empowerment, agency, and embracing articulation. Although third wavers may look upon things like stripping negatively, like first and second wavers, they would advocate that the woman has the write to strip and should be able to go into that line of work if that is what she wants to do. All three waves of feminism have points that can be reflected through the image I have attached. The image is of the iconic poster of Rosie the Riveter. I will discuss how the three waves might look on this image positively. When examining this image through the eyes of a first wave feminist, one might appreciate the fact that it represents the women’s progress to obtaining certain rights in the work place since the poster is about how the women stepped into the jobs that the men left behind to go to war. Second wavers might look at this image and appreciate the fact that it represents an image of women being able to do just as well the jobs that men can do. Third wave feminist might be pleased that the image shows not only the factors mentioned for the first and second wave, but also the women now have the right to choose weather or not they want to go into these different lines of work.

Question 12, Postmodern Modes

The South Park episode “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” illustrates constructions of race by using an ontological approach to critique these constructions. There is a role reversal when it comes to the way this episode constructs race. By portraying the white guys that have used the n word as feeling persecuted and discriminated against it alludes to real life scenarios and constructions of race. By recreating certain real life events and images the episode is employing the aesthetic. For example, the Wheel of Fortune scene, the scene at the laugh factory, and the apology to Reverend Jackson to accept on behalf of all black people. Some critical aspects of this episode include the scene with the Deep South stereotypical “Red necks” as fighters against racial slurs. When the white characters that said the n-word take on the construction of a harassed group treated unfairly and tortured by the use of a hurtful word, the writers of he show heave done an ontological approach to critiquing the way our culture constructs race. Similarly the skit we watched from the Chappelle Show is also using these modes of postmodernism to make a critical statement about the construction of “whiteness”. An aesthetic characteristic is the skits inclusion of the show Dateline and the skits structure as an investigative story that is aired through Dateline. The skit is critical of the construction of “whiteness” when we find out the well-known white supremacist is actually black. Chappelle creates an ontological commentary on the construction of race, specifically “whiteness” and what it means to be constructed as white, when he takes on the persona as a black white supremacist with the intention of making a critical statement on our construction of racial separations and distinctions.

Question 11, relating texts to my topic

The overall topic and argument of my papers and projects for this semester dealt with the construction of celebrity identity as a brand or product. One article that I can relate to my topic and expand upon my argument is “Inventing the Cosmo Girl” by Laurie Ouellette. While in my papers I discussed the construction of Celebrity Identities, Ouellette’s article focused on the way Cosmopolitan magazine constructs an identity of the ideal “pink color” sociable young woman, also known as the “Cosmo Girl”. I discussed how by constructing the identities of celebrities in advertisements, the companies were creating a way to appeal to consumers that aspire to obtain a certain aspect of said identity. In a way the “Cosmo girl” is also an advertisement to get consumers who want traits of the “Cosmo Girl’s” constructed identity to buy products or merchandise recommended by the magazine in order to become a “Cosmo Girl”. For example an advertisement for a special hair accessory that allows a women to have a professional up do for work and a quick and easy party style for clubbing afterwards, just like a “Cosmo girl” would need. Another article that relates to my topic is “Black Sitcom Portrayals”. The article discusses the construction of African American families on television. Just like how I did my papers, the article used elements of textual and contextual analysis to illustrate the construction of African American families in shows and also illustrate how the shows portrayed limited potential for economic achievement within an African American community. This added to a media constructed image of race. This relates to how I discuss the media constructed image of celebrity.

Question 10, cultural studies

The image I have attached illustrates some points made in a few of the critical texts we have read throughout this semester. The First text that I believe relates to this image is Janice A. Radway’s article called “Women read Romance”. Radway discusses how women claim that they read romance novels to escape from the pressures of daily life. This somewhat fuels the stereotype that women are more complicated then men. One point that is illustrated by the image as well as the article is the defined separation of gender roles and how there seems to be a cultural distinction between male and female. Another article that this image relates to is “Inventing the Cosmo Girl” by Laurie Ouellette. The article discusses the construction of the “Cosmo Girl” and I relate this to the image because they both illustrate a type of metaphor for our cultures construction of women. While the “Cosmo Girl” is a construction of a type of “Ideal Woman” the image illustrates the stereotype that is constructed by our culture of women being more “complex or confusing” then men. The last article I relate to this image “Con-Fusing Exotica” by Sanjukta Ghosh. While Ghosh discusses everything from globalization to different cultures in her article, she also discusses the construction of Asian Indian stereotypes in our media. I can relate this two this image because the media is also greatly responsible for the construction of both male and female stereotypes that reflect the meaning of this image. The media has constructed an image of “men” that is not complex and a mind that is only concerned with simple things like sex, sports, and food, while the media has constructed an image of “women” that portrays them as complicated, stressed out, and over thinkers. All three of these articles make points that relate to the way this image is relevant to cultural studies.

Question 9, Discourse and Onion News

The “Fake News” story from the Onion News Network an ontological piece criticizing the “Real News” focus on trivial matters and making fun of the “Real News” by taking on an exaggerated persona that illustrates some of the superfluous things news networks report. I have attached also an actual news story about a bear. If compared to the Onion piece the absurdity of the actual News story is more noticeable. In Baym’s article he discusses the “Daily Shows” role as a “Fake News” show in the breakdown and reevaluation of discourse. He states that the “well-being of public discourse” is the focus of many of John Stewart’s interviews.

Question 8. Political Economy and Cultural Studies

After watching Mouse Trapped 2010 and Mickey Mouse Monopoly I was able to make a few connections with political economy and cultural studies. I found the Mouse Trapped 2010 video took more of a political economy approach when discussing the economic issues of Disney and its cast members. Political economy is the study of how politics and economics relate. This is evident throughout the video as the unhappy cast members complain about the poor wages and economic mistreatment they receive, while they mention that even though the cast members are considered an important part of Disney, it is the Share holders that receive the money. They also mention all the so-called “market research” Disney does to justify the way they pay their workers. Mickey Mouse Monopoly approaches their argument more through cultural studies, by focusing on an individual agency and studies how culture defines a society. The film discusses how Disney has been so engrained in our culture how it has created a “spectacle of innocence” which it hides behind. These two films support the arguments Grosserg made in his article to an extent. He basically argues that political economist criticisms that cultural studies should be more like political economy are foolish because the two are supposed to be different approaches of study. These videos show that it is possible to look at similar subject matter through both approaches and come up with individual conclusions and ideas.

Question 7, (Re)appropriation

Some sexual signifiers in the video that have been appropriated from early pornography include the use of sexual innuendos in conversation and the somewhat “clichéd” plot of a man going to fix the radiator of a woman that is extremely willing to have sex. Some of the editing and camera techniques as well as some of the music have also been taken from early pornography. This video could also be viewed as a reappropriation of sexual signifiers from early pornography. The use of techniques used in porn to sexualize a woman as actual “beauty tips” is a reappropriation of signifiers from early pornography back into the dominant.