The editors of A Vacancy at the Paris Hilton use the sociallite Paris Hilton to explain how the entertainment world went from being only accessible to celebrities with actual talent to a talentless world where almost anyone can enter into.  The editors take a postmodern viewpoint of the life of Paris Hilton and use key terms like simulacrum, utopia, and hyperreality. 

            Simulacrum is when something is similar to the real thing, yet you can’t quite tell what is real and what is not. Paris Hilton fits this mold because of her dumbed down persona she claims to only use to amp up ratings for her shows yet you see her having that same persona in her real life.  Like simulacrum explains Paris Hilton’s identities just collapse into each other and the audience cannot tell which one is real.  Whether she is playing up to the cameras on her reality show The Simple Life or she is in the news because she forgot to vote after she campaigned for other young people to vote, Paris Hilton appears to be the same character in real life as she plays in her shows, but you are still never sure when you are seeing the real Paris Hilton.

            As the editors of the piece explain celebrities like Paris Hilton make it appear to the audience that they are living in a perfect society full of parties and no rules.  Shows like Laguna Beach make it seem like California, the land of the celebrity, is the perfect place for the young, hip youth to live.  Like Paris Hilton, you can come to live in California, make a name for yourself, and escape any troubles, including the law.  Why wouldn’t you want to live a carefree life full of partying?  Well because sometimes living in a utopian world, like Paris Hilton, can cause for chaos to occur as it has recently for her with her recent or should I say numerous arrests for drug possession.  It is easy for the audience to envy the life Paris Hilton lives because it appears to be glamorous and fun yet is it really?

            The editors also describe the term hyperreality which is experiencing the real and fantasy at the same time without being able to distinguish between the two.  The paparazzi help the audience to realize this hyperreal world by following celebrities around in their daily lives and putting it on display for everyone to see. The paparazzi always manage to get pictures and videos of Paris Hilton doing outrageous things like running into trucks after spilling out of a night club, and losing control of her pet lemur which makes it hard for the audience to tell what is real and what is just a fantasy world that Paris Hilton likes to display to the world.  Her reality seems just to outrageous to be normal and makes it hard for the audience to distinguish what is real and what is pure fantasy.

            One aspect of postmodern studies that the editors failed to talk a lot about is how Paris Hilton manages to converge onto many different media platforms from television series to movies, to even music.  Paris Hilton has become the poster child of being able to be visible in many forms of media while still managing to not have any actual talent.  By living in a fantasy world Paris Hilton has managed to brand herself into infamy. The editors also briefly mentioned the use of meta/meta-fame being confined to her gender, and can relate back to feminist theory and the use of the female body.  Paris Hilton is most recognized by her sexual displays of her body from her infamous sex tape to her scandalous outfits she wears out to clubs.  I would even argue that Paris Hilton is mostly recognized for her body rather than her reality shows, movies, and music.

 The magazine Cosmopolitan has been around for ages now and targets the female audience with articles about love, self-improvement, relationships, and 100 different sex positions you can do to please your man.  If you have read Cosmopolitan you would see that the articles are mostly about how to improve yourself to impress men, or how to look like the perfect woman in society. Storey (2009) mentions in his text that metanarratives “operate through strategies of inclusion and exclusion attempting to silence other voices” by only accepting overarching ideologies in society.  Cosmopolitan produces metanarratives of marginalizing women in society by telling them how to be better for a man and how to be the perfect woman, and that is by the ideologies the magazine promotes.

Now Cosmopolitan has converged across media channels by not only having a magazine, but also a book that contains chapters about sex, beauty tips, and advise on life.  Storey (2009) describes the term convergence as a flow of media across different platforms and moving from one form of media to another.  Cosmopolitan started out as just a magazine, but after its success the editors realized that they needed to expand their brand and they came up with the idea of writing a book that correlates with the magazine.  By doing so this increases consumer loyalty which ultimately increases the revenue of the brand and corporation. 

Storey (2009) defines pastiche as being depthless intertextuality that only recycles culture which is prevalent in Cosmopolitan magazine.  When skimming through the magazine you can find articles on up to date news coverage of celebrities that not only tell you what is going on in their life, but also how to look like them.  The magazine recycles images and stories of celebrities in other forms of media, and allows their readers to access it in their magazine.   The recycling of these images promotes standardization which can be detrimental to the women reading Cosmopolitan and who believe this is the image that they need to portray.

By combining all of these elements Cosmopolitan helps readers envision a utopian society full of glamour and sex.  It informs readers who are typically women on how to look perfect and how to get what you want out of life which can lead to a more successful, and more fulfilling life.  Storey (2009) writes that a utopian society is free from conflict yet if we strive for a perfect society it can ultimately create chaos.  I believe that it is conflict, on a minor scale, that allows for a successful society and not a perfect society where everyone looks and thinks a like which is what Cosmopolitan can appear to promote.  By telling women that they need to look and act a certain way to be successfully in life pulls them towards what would appear to be a utopian society, but a society that will eventually be chaotic and not succeed. 

References

Storey, J. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture. (4th ed.). London: Pearson-Longman.

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Gray argues in his article that to blame changing industrial and market conditions for the rise of black characters and producers is reductionism which needs to be avoided.  He argues for a more complex reason for the rise of blackness in film, one that contains social meaning.  When Black Power nationalism in the 60s started to erase segregation an emergence of black actors came about in movies.  Blaxploitation cinema was made to allow black Americans to have the “black experience” which ended up being very profitable for white producers who were able to exploit the popularity of blackness at the time.  After the Blaxploitation fad was over because of the decline of black politics less and less black characters were being represented in films.

            One film that Nama discusses is Star Wars because of its immense popularity and its absence of blackness.  Gray argues that assimilation makes blackness invisible or marginalized by eradicating social differences.  In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back the black character Lando Calrissian plays a successful man who has to struggle with being loyal to both the good guys and the bad guys.  Like Lando’s character, blacks in society were also facing a dilemma of loyalty with their race and rising class that was associated with the white community.  Nama argues that many black Americans struggled with being apart of their black community yet being apart of the white class membership despite their race.  The struggle that Lando goes through in the movie and the struggles of inclusion that black Americans went through reflects Gray’s argument of assimilation and the removal of black difference.  Yet you can also argue that because Lando’s character outlived most black characters in films and was eventually promoted in the film, it foregrounds blackness and shows an optimistic view of black characters. 

            Nama then goes into arguing how now sci-fi films have evolved into a more multicultural representation of race as in the movie The Matrix.  The Matrix brings awareness to race because of its diverse cast and race representation.  Even though the authoritative figures in the movie are mostly white, and male, the rebellious group who rises up against the makers of the Matrix are of different races.  The Nebuchadnezzar group mostly contains black and South Asian members, and the Oracle is played by a black female actor.  All of these characters play significant characters in the film and as Nama argues, it is based off “a multicultural model of racial equality and participation.” As mentioned earlier, Gray argued against reductionism and for a more complex understanding of the racial movement in films which is discussed with the movie, The Matrix. Nama argues that the movie is representative of black society and the black characters are reminders of the civil rights and Black Power movement.

            For further research Nama or other scholars should expand the research of race and study other races besides just black.  I think that society now has seen how black representation has been invisible in the media and should study other races to see how now the media represents those races.  I also think that scholars should focus on women of other races in sci-fi films or action films, or just films where they play a hero, and study how they are represented against the male hero.  It would be interesting to see how the characters are represented differently because of their race and gender as they play the lead, hero role.  Just by knowledge of action films women, especially women of color, are underrepresented and not acknowledge as much as the male heroes.

      By adopting underprivileged children of a different race other than white it disrupts the hierarchical class system that only allows white Americans to be a part of the upper class.  Hooks wrote that by critiquing essentialism it allows African Americans, or in this case people who are of a different race other than white, to recognize how class mobility allows for the black experience to been seen as different for different people and how black identity is diverse.  In this example, you can argue than that by adopting children of a lower class and of another race than the White celebrity it gives privilege to that child and puts them on the same class status as their white, upper class parent.  Hooks and Hall argue that the class system is constantly changing so therefore one’s identity, or this case racial identity, is also changing allowing more access for people of other races besides the white middle class person.

      Hooks also argues that by critiquing essentialism it empowers the experience of black identity allowing for a more diverse culture.  By having these types of news stories circulated in the media it makes the audience more aware of diversity in the family instead of subjecting them to one category.

The representation of women in the media unfortunately has not changed much since women first appeared on television, and this article only reinforces that claim.  I have been an avid viewer of The Real World for years now and I have observed throughout my years of watching the show that it is very stereotypical and the show typecasts people to fulfill a certain character.  For example, there is typically an angry black man on the show or a flamboyant homosexual, but the show never fails when it comes to casting the female characters on the show.  There is always that girl on the show that is the slut, the drama queen, or the bitch.  In The Real World: Key West the season managed to capture all of those characteristics which made for good television.  In the article Stern focused on how the show represented the female body, in particular, the fractured body or the “fractured female.”  The most recognizable “fractured female” on the show was Paula, a troubled woman who admitted to having an eating disorder which then led to further insecurities that were exploited on the show. In the study conducted by Stern 25 sorority sisters who watched the season were interviewed and took notes on their impressions of the characters on the show, specifically the female characters.  The female participants observed the way the show constructed the storylines around negative portrayals of the women on the show and only focused on their insecurities and drama they contributed to the show. In particular, Paula’s eating disorder and drinking problem was at the forefront of the show giving a bad representation of real women in society.

Stern found that many of the sorority sisters who participated in the study could find some sort of connection with Paula’s struggle with her eating disorder because it is an issue that many women in society deal with.  Another connection that the sorority sisters made with Paula’s character was lengths she would go to when drinking by hooking up with men and women showing her need for attention from other guys.  Like the participants, I found these two storylines, the body image problems and the need for attention using one’s sexuality, as being realistic issues that real women deal with in society.  From a reading in Storey, the Experience Approach explains the connection women in society have with different forms of media, in this case The Real World. The show did represent real issues that real women deal with.  Though were some of the actions like acting out when drunk influenced by the camera?

Foucault argues that we live in a surveillance culture today and when we feel we are being watched we change our behaviors.  When Stern analyzed the production side of the show she found that the audience saw the drama on the show as being apparent because of the cameras that invited the drama.  The participants observed that the women on the show liked to play it up for the camera which was usually in a sexual manner to impress the men on the show which ultimately leads to symbolic annihilation.

By representing women as over sexualized females who need men’s attention in order to feel wanted only leads to further suppression of females in society.  Although mentioned earlier that some of the experiences of the women on The Real World were relatable to real life experiences, I still believe that many of the actions taken by the women on the show were exploited and made to be overly dramatic, and somewhat unrealistic.  Stern argues in her article that this “fractured female” has become a marketable commodity now that is sold to audiences making it more visible in media which consequentially makes it appear more real and normal for women.  The exploitation has even become entertainment for viewers now, even women, who see it as being comical when “bitch fights” ensue.

Foucault claims that power is discursive therefore anyone can have the power to change who controls the media and we need to challenge how women are being represented in the media in order for change to occur.  By just passively watching these images of women we are only advancing the negative portrayals of women.

References

Stern, D. (2009). Consuming the fractured female: Lessons from MTV’s The Real World. Communication Review 12, 50-77.

Storey, J. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture. (4th ed.) London: Pearson-Longman.

The Social Network, or the Facebook© movie, was a fascinating look into how the social networking site, Facebook©, was invented, and the turmoil friends and classmates went through along the way.  What got my attention the most was how the characters were constructed in the movie and dynamic between the male and female characters.  It was very much stereotypical where the men were the brains of the operation and the women were used for her looks and sex appeal.

Unlike the article we read about the value in blue collar work in the show American Chopper, the Social Network showed the value in mental labor over manual labor.  Mark Zuckerberg was the brains behind the invention of Facebook© because of his savvy computer skills and creative ideas of how to make the social networking site popular.  The movie showed that only mental labor was important because unlike Zuckerberg who was very intelligent and therefore was able to make Facebook©, the Winklevoss’ did not have the same mental capability as Zuckerberg, and ultimately had their idea stolen confirming that unless you are a smart male you cannot get as far.  The male characters were also the main focus of the movie whereas the female characters just played supporting roles that catered to the male characters.  There is a definite class distinction between the men and women where the men were seen as being apart of the higher class.  Matthew Arnold argued that the function of culture was to maintain the social hierarchy that included the necessary cultured authority which held the class system in place.  The Social Network reinforced Arnold’s ideas by presenting the male characters as the cultured authority and the female characters as the suppressive class who catered to the men in the movie which ultimately kept the hegemonic class hierarchy in place.

The women on The Social Network were there just for ‘eye candy’ and to fulfill the fantasy of the computer geek male.  For example, the character, Christy Lee, was portrayed as the oversexualized female who was interested in Mark Zuckerberg’s partner, Eduardo Saverin, because he was the co-founder of Facebook©.  As the movie went on her character became the crazy girlfriend who was jealous of everything her boyfriend did, and even went as to set fired to a gift she bought him.  By portraying the female character in this way it only reinforces the stereotype that all women are jealous, sexual beings that are only after men for their fame and money.  Also not only was the female character, Christy Lee, oversexualized and ‘crazy’, she was one of the very few female characters in the movie.  The movie was based around the inventors of Facebook©, who were all males, and included only three female characters that had a consistent role in the movie, Zuckerberg’s ex girlfriend, Eduardo’s girlfriend, and Marylin Delpy, the second year associate of a law firm.  Each female character in the show plays a particular character that is mostly invisible in the movie, especially the stronger of the three characters, Marylin Delpy who rarely speaks in the film unless she is having a heart to heart with Zuckerberg’s character, fulfilling her nurturing woman role instead of the strong female lawyer role.

The Social Network is another movie that continues to reinforce gender stereotypes in society and refuses to represent women as more intellectual characters.  I think by even having more represenations of women in the movie that played a role other than the sexual being that was there for the male’s pleasure, the movie would have made great strides in disrupting the stereotypical hegemonic ideals in society.

One movie that comes to mind is Maid in Manhattan, a movie starring a Latin mother who meets a handsome, wealthy White male while working as a maid in a four star hotel.  The movie is very stereotypical in that a White rich male saves an impoverished Latin female from her not so luxurious life as she fakes being a wealthy woman.  It portrays a utopian world that any women can imagine by giving hope to finding a rich White male who can save you from your somber life.  The movie tried to separate itself from other typical romantic comedies by having the leading female character be a mother who can be more relatable to more people who see the movie, and gives a sense of escapism and fantasy that they too can have a life like hers.

Also like many other romantic comedies the movie ends with the couple still together, and still very much in love.  The movie also shows them living the perfect life, him being elected into office and her owning her own hospitality business.  This portrays the ‘perfect’ love you see in a lot of romantic comedies where two people fall in love and live a happy, successful life together no matter where they started out in the beginning of the movie. Moral of the story: love conquers all.

References

Storey, J. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture. (4th ed.) London: Pearson-Longman.

When I typically think of power I think of the government, the people that make the laws that we have to live by so reading Foucault’s view on power was interesting because he believes that power as being something can be produced by anyone through discourse.  Foucault says that we have the ability to question or resist power relations in society which therefore makes us powerful as well.  On page 325 of the textbook Foucault argues that “where there is power, there is resistance” and there is never just one instance where resistance happens, it is mobile and changes as society changes which eventually changes people.  You can see the shifting of power and resistance in the media all the time with new obsessions over material objects and people.  We are constantly surrounded by the media whether it is watching entertainment television or the news, and the media continually sends messages of power to whoever views it.  Also because the media is so intrinsic in our life it gives viewers a narrow look into reality and what seems to be real in the world by seeing how other people are in society. For example, in sports many of the people who watch sports are men who admire the sports figures which can have a big influence on how they perceive themselves and what they should be like.  Football is arguably the most famous sport in the United States and the Super Bowl is one the highest rated shows in history which just shows how powerful it is in our society.  The media has the power to construct a certain type of look for football players and the audience has the power to accept or reject those images produced by the media.  Society has a certain perception of what football players are supposed to look and be like so I think it is hard for them to resist the pressures of the media.  Football players also have to live up to this role model figure that sometimes can be difficult, for example, players like Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco who both have reality shows that do not necessarily represent football players in the best light.  They both are also in the media a lot with their cocky antics and un-sportsmanlike actions.

References

Storey, J. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture. (4th ed.) London: Pearson-Longman.

Because Girls Gone Wild uses cheaper equipment and does not require paid actors it makes more of a profit off the “peep show” videos.  It is estimated that the videos receive 100 to one returns on each tape which allows them to use most of their revenue on their marketing which has helped them significantly to build their brand.  With all of the money they save from production they use to further increase their brand with things like their tour bus, t-shirts, and even the women who become human billboards by wearing Girls Gone Wild apparel.

In the article Giroux argued that businesses like Girls Gone Wild commodifies a certain image of a “hyper-sexualized, anorexic teenage girl” that intrigues consumers’ desires while also being able to preserve a virginal image which then can become self-commodification when the women on Girls Gone Wild brand themselves with sexual images.  This aspect of the videos fulfils the cultural commodity because it builds a social identity and brings pleasure to the audience, in this case men.  I do not believe many women buy these videos, but the infomercials can been seen constantly on late night television which women do see.  The audience builds a certain connection to media and by only using women that appear to be innocent I think resonates with young, college girls.  The Girls Gone Wild marketing ploy to only use young, innocent looking women is a way to market to both the men who are the main consumers of the product and to the women who can in a way be considered the producers of the product because without the girls there would be no Girls Gone Wild.

Men also play a big part in the success of the Girls Gone Wild business who fit a niche market, according to Mayer.  The founder of Girls Gone Wild Joe Francis capitalized on the idea to air his infomercials on networks that advertised to the same market he was trying to market to which started with the Howard Stern Show. Francis was able to benefit from the type of audience that had low class, but had high buying power and even from Howard Stern’s image.  Stern had a Mook image that resonated with his male audience and the audience that Francis needed to purchase his product.  Francis began to also embody this Mook image himself which allowed him to brand himself by being a public figure that was known to stir up controversy.  Mayer refers to this as the sale of men to other men that captures the niche young male consumer.

This brings into question is Girls Gone Wild a niche product or are the consumers a niche market?  Girls Gone Wild is probably the most recognizable soft core porn videos on the market, but there are still so many you can choose from.  Sex has become a major commodity in today’s culture and continues to be a big seller to men in particular which I believe makes it a homogenous product.  Though the producers of Girls Gone Wild would probably disagree because they believe they market to a niche market of men who only want to see a certain type of woman who is innocent looking.  Only time will tell if this type of image being portrayed of women will continue to sell or if a new image of women will emerge in the years to come.

For further studies I think there should be more research on the other types of demographics that possibly consume Girls Gone Wild and what attracts them to the videos whether it be the girls or the vouyeristic appeal of the videos.  I was also interested to read about how Girls Gone Wild was marketed on networks such as E! that was the home to Howard Stern, a guy that the target audience also watched, but since then he has now moved onto a more restricted network that you have to buy to be apart of.  Where is Girls Gone Wild now marketed and how does that affect how the audience consumes the informercials.  Also now that Francis has been in more trouble since the introduction of the Girls Gone Wild videos has the image of the videos changed and who it markets to changed?

Joe Francis, the new Nelson Mandela

References

Mayer, V. (2005). Soft-core in TV time: The political economy of a “cultural trend.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 22(4), 302-320.

From Bourdeiu’s perspective I would conclude that reality television is a part of the middle class distinction because reality television is mostly famous for its trashy nature that does not require much knowledge to understand.  Bourdeiu writes that one’s taste is a marker of their class in which some people are more scholastic and art savvy (dominate class), where as others are less educated and not as knowledgeable of the arts (subjugated class).  Since reality television involves everyday people, and the audience does not need special knowledge to understand reality television I would say that it is a part of the subjugated or middle class distinction.

Since reality television is so popular today I believe it has the power to produce and influence culture.  It used to be just movie or television stars that the audience would look up to, but now they have another type of “actor” that appears to be more real to them since they are playing themselves on the television show.  Reality television can distinguish itself from other scripted shows, and produce its own type of culture that resonates with fans of reality television. They also have economic power because it does cost close to nothing compared to scripted television and the actors cost less yet they make a lot of money off the show because again of its popularity today.

References

Storey, J. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture. (4th ed.) London: Pearson-Longman.