Blog #3: Due November 15th- Inventing new contexts

On November 8th, we began to discuss our bodies and who owns them. We talked about how we become less inhibited through drugs and alcohol; how social perception and stigma often lock us into binary representations of body and self; how tattoos and piercings for some, are a way to embrace and embody the body; and how Goth and Vampires are two sub-cultures that fully embrace and embody difference. Based on the viewing of "Let Me In" consider two of the following questions. Please scan others' answers and weave in 1-2 other conversation threads into your answer.


FIRST on a scale of 1-10, rate the film (10 is the highest, 5 the mid and 1, blechk!)
1. How do Abby and Owen reinforce stereotypes around gender; or even transcend gender?
2. Do you believe in vampires? Describe what you like about them.
3. How does Abby challenge what you have come to know about vampires?
4. Consider that the main character, a twelve ( or something) year old is a vampire- explain how this might generate a new appeal for viewers.
5. Were there moments you turned away from the film? Which scenes? What caused you to turn away?
6. What do you anticipate the moral of the film to be? Consider if Abby and Owen stay together a possible message the filmmaker is trying to make
7. How is this film different from other vampire films you've viewed?

Reflection #2 and Wiki Due October 25th

Your reflection is a 2 page TYPED response about how you negotiated and experienced your identity stabilize, destabilize or even restabilize in the space you attended. In your response, please 1) focus in-depth (by drawing on the tools below) on at least two items that you perceived important as it impacted your experience in the social space you attended, and consider 2) the sociopolitical messages that attempted to unveil themselves in those spaces and its' impact on you . For support, draw upon class discussions, readings, and websites, to analyze your own experience and consider class terms, visual rhetoric, visual reading (oppositional, negotiated, or dominant stances), film tools, archetypes, analytical lenses, color symbology and any other tools you have up to this juncture. Your responses should be in either MLA or APA and references are a must.  Each person must turn in his/her response. You can use parts of this response in your wiki presentation. ASSUME I WILL ASK, "WHAT WOULD BAUDRILLARD SAY" and include that in your reflection...

Blog #2: Due 10/4, How has your identity been impacted by PC?

Applying concepts from Baudrillard, Visual Rhetoric, class discussions, observations, your WIKIS and course readings, reflect, by selecting one popular culture that has "SUCKED" you in and describe how your identity has been influenced. Consider the space(s) you inhabit when you participate in that popular culture (such as a sporting event, or a dance club...), the logos present, colors, your senses, presence, and the tools that rhetors have used to seduce and construct identity. What sociopolitical ideologies impact those spaces and how does that impact you? Please talk to each other throughout your posts. This is due by 12:00PM on 10/4.

I totally agree with Rachel and the point that she made about not realizing that many forms of music and art can be classified as copies. Before reading Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation I would have viewed many elements of popular culture as true originals not copies. But like John C pointed out in his post, it is extremely difficult to come up with one’s own genuinely new idea. I am not very big into art so I never really noticed the various types of copies that take place in galleries until we watched the movie in class. However I do pay attention to music and there are a great deal of imitations and near copies that are played off as “remakes” in the music world. Almost everything out there is a copy or an adaptation of someone else’s work and I honestly feel that in this day in age true originals can no longer exist. The key to popularity however is creating something that fits into the current period and its trends.

Popular Culture Proposals Due 9/6

a. A clear and specific definition of your popular culture supported by two peer-reviewed

sources that support your definition. This does not include on-line sources on Google or

Wikipedia.

b. The dates you plan to attend. The due dates for your Wikis are: 9/20 10/25, and 11/29

c. Names of the people in your group including email addresses.

d. A paragraph, that includes appropriate use of citations (MLA or APA) and which

clearly explains what you want to explore. For instance, how the films are different, how

the spaces are different, how gender is portrayed….

e. A works cited.

Blog #1, Due 9/13: How do you interpret Baudrillard's concept of the simulacra? Identify/describe other simulacras...

Hi all- it's been a pleasure having all of you in class and talking with you! For your first blog entry which is due by 12:00PM on 9/13, please respond to the question posed above as you also read through your peers' responses. In your responses, please take into consideration class discussions, readings, peer comments, and outside experiences, etc. Please note the authors and theories we have discussed in your responses. Your answer is thorough when you have included these aspects. Have fun!

Reflection #1 with Wiki #1, Due 9/20

Your reflection is a 2 page TYPED response about how you negotiated and experienced your identity stabilize, destabilize or even restabilize in the space you attended. In your response, please 1) focus in-depth (by drawing on the tools below) on at least two items that you perceived important as it impacted your experience in the social space you attended, and consider 2) the sociopolitical messages that attempted to unveil themselves in those spaces and its' impact on you . For support, draw upon class discussions, readings, and websites, to analyze your own experience and consider class terms, visual rhetoric, visual reading (oppositional, negotiated, or dominant stances), film tools, archetypes, analytical lenses, color symbology and any other tools you have up to this juncture. Your responses should be in either MLA or APA and references are a must.  Each person must turn in his/her response. You can use parts of this response in your wiki presentation.