Unintentional Ideas

In "The Practice of Everyday Life," Michael de Certeau explains how theories or popular culture can apply to everyday life. He doesn't want to talk about the subject. He wants to make it possible for people to talk about this subject. He continues by explaining that previously we considered the individual, but we should really analyze groups based on social interactions, not how an individual sits within a group. He acknowledges that this could further emphasize the majority and take away from the minority, but comes up with solutions to this....

Critiquing Culture

In "Distinction & the Aristocracy of Culture," Bourdieu compares pure taste with naive taste. These are characteristics based on class and upbringing. Someone with pure taste is likely higher class and has learned to appreciate things on a deeper level. They look for details within the work and then decide on its quality. In contrast, people with naive taste come from lower classes and look at art in a superficial manner. They only classify it as good or bad. We can consider Bourdieu's ideas in thinking about movie critics. Often when we go...

Satire and Stereotypes

Both videos, "Girls Are Assholes: At a Bar" and "What a Girl's Makeup Means" perform satire. They take stereotypes, then exaggerate and distort them. But because there is some truth in them, we are able to find a message behind the ridiculous claims. The first video exaggerates the idea that girl's won't date nice guys and are only drawn to guys who will treat them badly. It features two girls at a bar who rudely turn down what is probably a nice guy, opting for the creepy guy. In the second video, Jenna Marbles chooses to exaggerate the stereotype...

The Problem of Profit Over Value

In his final chapter, Storey discusses "The Politics of Popular." He talks about the impacts of popular culture in a general sense and sums of previous theorists. He also revisits hegemony and ideology. In talking about the economics of culture, Storey explains the importance of "exchange value leading to surplus value (profit)." He points out that while that is the goal, creating value is also important for items to sell. The gap between...

Can Buzzwords Carry Meaning?

In his essay, "Postmodernism and 'The Other Side,'" Dick Hebdige explains the trouble with the word postmodernism. He claims it is being used as a buzzword, applied to a too many varying situations, which caused to lose its meaning. But he goes on to show that while it is used excessively, the situations tend to have three main things in common: they are against totalization, teleology, and utopia. These common bonds allow the word postmodernism...

Hyperrealism of Twilight

Within the context of postmodernism, Baudrillard presents the idea of hyperrealism in “The Precession of Simulacra.” He uses the experience of Disneyland to explain that sometimes the things we fantasize about become more real to us that what may would typically classify as “real life.” While intending to present us with an escape, it can also lead to a confusion between fantasy and reality. For example, we got to Disneyland to fantasize about being...

Introverts on TV: A Look at CBS’s The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) follows Leonard and Sheldon, two physicists, as they deal with living across the hall from a pretty, blonde wannabe actress whom Leonard inevitably has a crush on. The show also features their two friends Raj and Howard.  TV, while often exaggerated, can be considered a representation of the norms in our society. So like many other sitcoms, most of the characters are extroverts on TBBT. But there is one surefire...

Doctor Who: An Example of Postmodernism

In Storey’s discussion of postmodernism, he gives an overview of the many understandings and applications of the concept. Just the very fact that there is not one understood meaning of postmodernism, shows that we utilize this way of thinking. It is a concept that closely resembles poststructuralism and is used to explain the complicated world we are living in. It diverges from modernism and critiques the idea that the world can be explained...

From Niche to Mainstream

In “Black Postmodernist Practices,” Anders Stephanson interviews Cornel West. They discuss the postmodernism movement among the black community in America. West explains that it was much different for blacks because they had a different idea of reality than the typical upper-middle-class American. The postmodernist movement led to several black artist creations., including Parker’s jazz music. However, West explains that once it has reached...

The Problem with Race as a Category

In discussing the topic of race and racism, Storey brings up the idea of whiteness. It is considered to be the norm, despite white people not necessarily making up a majority of the world population. He explains that white exists outside of the idea of race and that only non-white people are considered to have a race, which is politically, not biologically determined. To further explain this idea, Storey suggests that if a white author writes a book, he/she will be described as an author; however, if a black author writes a book, he/she will be...

In-Game Avatar vs. Out-of-Game Self

In “Videogames, Avatars and Identity,” Zach Waggoner attempts to tackle some rather difficult questions, that I think all gamers regularly consider. He wants to know why we play video games and if they affect the development of our real-world identity. He admits the latter question  may be quite difficult, but questions many gamers, particularly those who play RPGs and finds out that while most people separate the concept of both their in-game and out-of-game identities, they are somewhat related.  Waggoner’s question, “can video game...

The Dangers of Labels

Butler begins her essay by admitting that she does not advocate for theories centralized around lesbians or gays. This is because she believes the act of theories puts a box on the concept of lesbian or gay, which can go against its purpose and become oppressing. She continues this skepticism with the labels 'lesbian' or 'gay,' because the labels set up expectations and limits on what the person can be. This is further complicated when those labels create a negative stereotype or the idea that a gay person is a lesser imitation version of a heterosexual...

Romance Novels: Feminist or Patriarchal?

According to Radway, this is not a question we can yet answer. She explains that there are many types of romance novels within the genre and they all have different types of readers. Important to consider is that the readers of these novels do so with different purposes. Some read them to observe the contradictions between the novels and feminism while others read them because of "pressures exerted by developments in the larger culture." What these have in common, is that all of the readers are participating in a female community within our culture....

Queer Discourse

Alexander and Wallace discuss the needed changes regarding LGBT discourse. They explain that while it is a start to address the negative factors, such as homophobia, this does not undermine our heterosexual society. The suggestions they offer are to challenge heteronormative privilege, consider how we are participants in dominative heteronormative discourse, and to avoid merely limited inclusion in discourse. The ideas of Alexander and Wallace are not unlike those of the feminist theorists, Weedon and Ang who suggest changing the discourse to...

Poststructuralism's Influence on Feminism

Weedon discusses the influences of poststructuralism on the way we talk about feminism. She elaborates on the importance of language, subjectivity and discourse within the context of feminism. She explains that not all poststructuralist lens are appropriate for feminism, Foucalt's works especially well due to its addressing of history, gender, class and race. She explains that the language used provides a social organization for feminism. This allows us to see that the term gender is "socially produced." This is important to see, because Saussure's...

Hollywood and High School Horrors

The Movie Blog reviews a movie called The Conjuring. In doing so, it comments on our expectations of horror movies and that this is movie would have been good, had it not relied on horror conventions halfway through. The second article, which was from Bitch Magazine, discusses the changes that have occurred in the way sex education is presented to teenagers. They also point at that this has impacted the number of teen pregnancies, which is now lower due to the changes in sex ed. The new way of presenting it is less based around abstinence only...

Creating Meaning Within Context

Foucault discusses the many meanings of power and how we need to understand which context it is being used in in order to truly understand the meaning. This becomes a detailed example of Storey's introduction to Foucault in which he explains that discourse gives a subject meaning rather than acting only as an example of it. So, Foucault's examples of powerr are not necessary representations of power, but ways in which power is given meaning. In regards to this, he also talks about sexuality in relation to power and gives several rules for how we...

Are Our Sims Our Real Selves?

Since its release in 2000, The Sims have sold over 150 million copies. This includes three generations of the game with numerous expansions and custom content created for each iteration. In spite of its success, it's not hard to wonder why a game about living just as we do in our daily lives has become so popular? Why do we spend our time off of work or school just to make our virtual selves do the same activities? Certainly...

Reality and the Real

Zizek first discuss Zeno's paradoxes, then moves on to explain the real and reality in relation to literature which comes from the ideas of Freud and Lacan. Zeno's paradoxes describe that we can never truly reach what we are moving toward, that our needs change form as they become desires and, finally, that we can never cover a distance because we first have to go half of it, but before that we must cover a fourth of the distance, and this continues to shrink as we look at space. Thus, we never reach our end goal, because we must constantly set...

The Mirror Stage of Self-Understanding

Lacan brings the concept of the mirror stage into Freud's concept of psychoanalysis. It is the idea that before we have knowledge of the world, or can even put thoughts into words, we can look at ourselves in the mirror and see ourselves. This becomes one of our first concepts of the world which leads to further self-discovery. This allows people to create a relationship between themselves and their reality, a concept refered to as imago. This happens before society begins to tell us what to think. He ends by explaining that psychonalysis performed...

Looking Past Marxism

Laclau and and Mouffe explain why Marxism needs to be altered to become more modern and allow for the globalization of culture and the economy. They discuses the flaws which hold back Marxism and they spend some time critiquing Geras' views. They explain that Marxism expected a uniform society, but this is just not possible, though they do believe each person should be involved in this transformation. To change our perspective, Laclau and Mouffe suggest we all must be aware of history in order to participate in change. Laclau and Mouffe clearly...

Influences on Culture

Many writers have been trying to determine the relationship between culture and the people who either consume or make it. Marx viewed this in a way that some them closely related. He explains that at some point, it will be inevitable for society's views to affect the production of culture in its current form. Following Marx, Engels discussed culture in relation to economics. While many people would assume economics to be the sole force of influence in the production of culture, he disagrees and explains that there are many other things that influence...

Can Nerd Culture Still Be Considered a Culture?

The term ‘nerd’ has taken on a number of meanings over time. It was once used to refer to a person who is socially inept or exceptionally good at science or math. It sometimes still is used in this way; however, a much more common understanding is that it refers to a person who is exceptionally passionate about a subject. This vagueness has led an increase in the number of people who classify as a nerd and the values within ‘nerd culture’ are causing conflict.  One video, where Wil Wheaten, a fellow nerd, discusses why being a nerd is...

Genre as a Loose Frame

Bazerman outlines the ways texts are classified into genres and discusses the methodologies necessary to understanding these texts when they may fit into multiple or no set genre which provides a way of thinking about the organization of the texts and the way they affect social groups. He gives several terms which can be used to understand this process such as social facts which are the things people believe to be true and speech acts which lead to a person or group taking action based on what has been said. These terms, along with the others he...

Breaking Away From Leviasism: Cultural Analysis of the 1950s-60s

In his chapter on culturalism, Storey discusses the writings of several authors regarding their views on the subject and how they follow some of Leavisism's ideas and where they separate from it. First, Hoggart talks about the way culture changed from the 1930s to 1950s. In the 1930s he thought it lead to "the rich full life" but no longer held the same view about the 1950s. It had changed into something that the industries could use to exploit the masses and was much more shallow. Next, he looks at Williams' ideas on culture. He considers three...

Writing: A Web of Conversation

Cooper discusses the ecological model of writing, which she considers to be an ideal. She explains problems that arose as the way writing was taught shifted. Writing was seen as a reclusive task. It gave writers the ability to only consider their ideas and to know they were original ideas. This has shifted, however, into the ecological model which considers the importance of the social aspect of writing. It can be used as a means for students and teachers to connect in the classroom. She suggests that the ecological model is a way for people to...

United... Separately

These chapters provide an overview of the changing opinions of culture. What stuck out most to me was the idea that culture can bring people together or separate them. I immediately thought of an example of pop culture regarding this idea. Within pop culture there are many fan bases which bring the fans of those shows, movies or artists together. They are able to unite over a common idea, but when another fan base seeks to threaten the existence of another, they are no longer united. Arnold suggests that culture can be a fix to problems and work...

What is Pop Culture?

The introduction of Storey's Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction begins with idea that in order to talk about popular culture, we need to understand its definition. In line with Greene's idea that a writer should frame their writing in a way to create perspective for the reader, Storey suggests that the chosen definition of popular culture will affect this frame. Thus, it becomes very important to understand the way it can be defined. However, coming up with a definition is not so easy. In order to understand popular culture,...

Let's Agree to Disagree

In "Argument as Conversation," Greene encourages the reader to think of writing in a social manner. He explains that writings can be seen as conversations between the authors. If a reader disagrees with the viewpoint of something, they will continue the conversation by writing about their stance. Rather than merely agreeing with someone's views, Greene explains that readers must extensively research a topic in order to gain their own perspective. After gaining this perspective, the person must then learn to frame it to their own readers. This guides...