Since February

I always thought I was one to over-analyse. Sometimes I stress about little unimportant things because I am afraid they won't work out the way I want them to. In a sense I am a stereotypical German: I like the security that comes with planning and order. But I also thrive off of improvisation, especially when it comes to artwork, poetry, and essay writing. I love spontaneously deciding to do things just out of the blue. I think my personality is full of opposites. I can be extremely serious and ridiculously funny in the same day. And media class this semester brought to my attention that I do not always read deeply into things as I sometimes think I do. I hate the saying that there is always a way to find meaning in meaningless things. I completely disagree: some things are actually meaningless. But I contradict my own belief because I have a tendancy to overthink the smallest remarks people make in everyday conversation. People say thousands of things every day. Not everything that people say is literally meant nor even believed by the person who says it. I am often an over- analyser and it drives both other people and I nuts. But in media class I realized sometimes I am the opposite. I think the whole argument about Disney princesses corrupting the youth is bogous, but I still respect and understand people who think otherwise. Yes, Ariel is too skinny to be alive and her boobs are huge but who cares. It's a great movie with great music. I think many children have more self esteem than we sometimes think. A kid can splash around in a pool and feel like Ariel the same way that I was certain I resembled the beautiful Mulan as a child. Too bad I was blonde and Mulan is Chinese. It really bothers me that I have this opinion and then I also think it is kind of sad that slightly deformed gummy bears are sold super cheap where I work. Media class made me realize that I don't exactly know who I am: I have trouble making up my mind. I am not going to sit here and pretend that the way things look do not matter. Of course they do. That's why when the Ritz cracker package is slightly bent it is sold for half price. I understand why people don't want to put bent cracker boxes out on the shelf: it doesn't look good. But the quality inside is still the same. I think it is hypocritical when people say, "I would never care what the man I romantically love looks like. It's all about who he is as a person." I fully admit that I care. I think it is extremely important to be attracted to the person you are romantic with or else it wouldn't even feel romantic. Of course who he is as a person is much more important but I can admit I would not be happy if I was married to a man I thought was hideous even if he was the kindest person I had ever met. There would be no romantic attraction! The great thing is that we all have different opinions. The most handsome man to me might seem ugly to my sister.
Another thing I learned about myself in media studies is that I am fairly sheltered when it comes to music. I love the sounds of some music from different decades but my Ipod is mostly 21st century artists. I would really like to try to get more of a variety.
Also I feel morally corrupt that I still pay on iTunes for music. It's stange: I feel corrupt for not stealing? Yes. Because the truth is I do not pay for music because I would feel too bad taking it for free. I feel like a total idiot but I am too lazy to download a program that would get me music for free. I also don't know how but I could get my friend to help me if I wanted to. I am so ashamed because the truth is paying 99 cents for each song really is nothing to me. I have a habit of throwing around money because I know I have money so I don't feel like it's a big deal. Don't worry though, it is my OWN money, not that of my parents. But still I am disappointed in myself for that. It sounds horrible but I know I am not the only one who feels this way about money. The good thing is I recognize and thank the luck that I have to live where I live and to be able to work for $9.60 an hour. I truly feel very thankful and fortunate for that and I wish everyone could be as lucky as I am. I have my own sponsor child and I am proud of myself for that but then again I feel like it should be expected of me to help less fortunate people. So anyways, I think I will try to start downloading music for free, which so happens to be illegal.
Throughout the past 5 months I have learned a lot about myself, and although some of these things disappoint me, the learning experience has surely been for the better.

Should music and other art forms be part of the public domain? My answer is yes. The public should have access to these art forms and should be able to alter them if they wish. The reason people express themselves artistically is both for personal gain and for public popularity. By exposing art, the artist is essentially sharing the art with the public. Girl talk simply took segments of songs and mixed them up, altering the sound on the computer to make them sound different. He created something new out of something already present. I personally would not do that because there is no need to change Michael Jackson's music. But I don't think using a song and altering it is any different than what Lady Gaga has done with Born This Way, which is very Madonna sounding. Personally, I don't think what Girl Talk has done and what Lady Gaga has done is necessarily as impressive as other art forms because it absolutely relies on another form. I mean, I thought it was a little silly that Lady Gaga was literally trying to be Madonna, not just act like her, in that song and music video. She even leaned in close to the camera at the end of the video and showed a gap between her two front teeth. But on the other hand, it is a hit song, and I haven't heard Madonna complaining. The point is, every artist is influenced by someone or something. But it does not mean that they are all just copy cats. In Enrique Iglesias's two hit songs, Tonight I'm Lovin' You and I Like It, he says the lines "please excuse me if I'm comin too strong" and "please excuse me I don't mean to be rude." Britney Spear's song which came out a little later literally usese the line "You over there, please forgive me if I'm coming on too strong." And I don't think it's a coincidence. But who cares. Artists influence each other. Whenever I am in art class I always paint swirls of blue and green and stars. Yeah, I got the idea from Vincent Van Gogh. Sue me (not that you would since I'm not famous and that my artwork is very metiocre, but you get the point). When people put their ideas out there, they are best to expect that others may use them.

Awkward Advertising

listening to the clip "marketing the unpleasant" was extremely fascinating because it really brought into focus how much more difficult it is to successfully advertise tampons than it is to advertise shampoo. There are some things that are completely natural, yet we still avoid the topic at all costs because it makes us uncomfortable. The reason why certain body parts and bodily fluids are more embarassing than others is hard to explain. I think this segment made me realise that just because something is familiar, does not mean it is not awkward. The man said that females are six times more embarassed to watch a tampon or sanitary napkin commercial than males are. But it goes the other way too. In grade six health class I know for a fact that the boys were mortified when the cartoon character got an erection, while the girls either laughed or just sat there enjoying the fact that they did not have to be embarassed because it would never happen to them. I would rather talk about prostate cancer than cervical cancer. Boys don't want to talk about testicular cancer, but they will talk about breast cancer. Exposing private problems of the opposite gender is just so much easier But what if there is an issue that affects both genders, like bowel and urinary incontinence. We are all embarassed by that. Nobody talks about excretion in everyday conversation. People don't want to talk about things that are kind of gross, especially when they are personal. We all know that everyone urinates. We all know that everyone sneezes. But what is more embarassing, to be walking down the street and and spontaneously urinate, or to be walking down the street and spontaneously sneeze?

Teenagers

From my point of view, people definitely exaggerate the whole idea of "fitting in" to certain cliques. Or maybe it is Just EDSS. But it doesnt seem like there are specific stereotypical groups who won't even speak to other people who aren't "cool" enough for them. It is not the way it is in movies where there is the popular group of girls who are viciously evil and incredibly pretty. There are girls at school who are not necessarily beauty queens but are still popular. And I can think of a couple guys who aren't exactly jacked athletes who everyone wants to hang around with. But I can admit that my opinion is biased because I have never really paid attention to social pressure. Of course I have felt it just like every other teenager, but I am usually successful in not letting it bother me. Sure, it only makes sense that the drama kids hang out together, and the football team are friends with each other because these people have common interests. But is it rare for a drama kid to hang out with someone on the basketball team? No. Can someone in hill top hang out with a member of the free thinkers club? Well...that might be pushing it. No I'm kidding. You can still be friends with people who do not share all of your beliefs. That is exactly how you learn about others and understand them too. So if teens just took a second to think about it, they would realize that social pressure is only there if they let it be there.

Too Cool for School

I definitely think that people around me are strongly influenced by the media standard of "cool," however, I would also argue that I am surrounded by people who do not allow the media standard of "cool" to shape their lives nearly as much. I notice that people are very strongly influenced by the media standard of cool in the area of technology, particularly with cell phones. It literally seems like every week a new version of a cell phone comes out claiming that it is different from all the rest, and it almost degrades other brands to a lower standard. Eventually, a new phone will come out that will top this one and it will be "the cool phone," while the others will be considered old and out of style. It is exactly the same as Ipods. In my opinion, Ipods are like humans. They started out simple and evolved into something so complex. At first, the only thing Ipods could do was play music and everyone thought that was the greatest thing ever, and now, Ipods are a phone, music player, camera, internet source, and more all in one. The human brain used to have such a small capacity that survival insticts were the only concept they could grasp. And millions of years later, what humans are capable of is absolutely mindboggling. The difference between humans and Ipods is that Ipods evolved with excessive velocity. People are also strongly influenced by the media's standard of "cool fasion." Say the geekiest kid in school comes to class one day wearing short shorts with thick rubber boots that come up past the knee. Everyone will torment her. But if Kesha comes out wearing that everyone will see it as a revolution in fashion and it will become a popular trend, because the media follows Kesha, and Kesha is famous. The media's standard of "cool" is apparently to be a drunken slut, and I am not sure if it has always been that way but it definitely is today and it is so influential on teenagers. Kids as young as twelve are acting totally inappropriately because that is what their role models are doing. And it is all because the media is potraying that behaviour to be cool. But on the other hand, I believe I know people who are true to themselves and do not allow the media to control their decisions nearly so much. Some people will just wear what would be considered the most ugly outfit of all time out in public because it is what they are comfortable with, and they do not care if the media doesn't like it because it works for them. I think people like that are stronger than everyone else, because the only real way to be different is to truly not care what other people think. There are less people like that out there than most people are aware of, especially with teenagers. Because with teenagers, often one of the most important things is to meet the media's standard of "cool."

Lady Gaga: The Perplexing Package

Lady Gaga is an example of both a performance artist and a pop star, despite the the fact that these are usually opposites of one another. A pop star is simply defined as a person who "performs popular music." Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus are pop stars along with Lady Gaga. Songs such as One time, Womanizer, Party in the U.S.A, and Poker Face appeal to a large demographic, which is the reason these artists are pop stars. In my opinion, becoming a pop star is much easier than becoming a performance artist. With youtube, all a person has to do is sing a catchy song with an appealing haircut and they have a decent chance of getting a record contract. As long as Britney Spears stays pretty, has a few mental breakdowns, and edits her voice so that she barely sounds human, she will stay reasonably famous. Miley Cyrus has her dad to thank for her fame. Notice how the Jonas Brothers have fizzled out while Miley has stuck around. I think this is because she has a famous parent while the Jonas Brothers come from a family of ordinary people. Lady Gaga is a pop star who became famous after her hit song Just Dance came out a couple of years ago, before anyone even knew how eccentric she was. Now, I would argue that she is 35% famous for her music and 65% famous for her performance art. She knows that if she does crazy wild things, she will get attention. I still do not think that it is all an act, because Lady Gaga does seem to be a reasonably bizzare person. Or at least she isn't someone who marches to the same drum as everyone else. Lady Gaga wears dresses made of meat, ends her shows with her own suicide as part of the act, has fire and sparks shooting out of her breasts, and shows up to the Grammys in a giant egg. This is why she is a performance artist and a genius. But she is also a Pop star because she sings pop songs while doing all of these strange, unimaginable things.

The Invisible Force

The media is so incredibly influential because it has the power to immediately alter one's outlook and decisions even without one's slightest recognition that such changes are occurring. The media is deeply psychological , and perhaps even dangerous because it simply cannot be escaped. One of the main problems that the media creates is that it tarnishes developing identities by targeting those who are most vulnerable: the adolescence. Currently, this has presented a major issue among young females because the media has convinced them that the ideal image is essentially promiscuous. Honestly, how many music videos have been produced where a celebrity such as Kesha or Britney Spears dances half naked around a night club completely intoxicated while rubbing against various different men? The party animal image is unbelievably popular in our society, and it is potentially out of control because it results in young girls wearing barely enough material to cover their backsides. The media also has the ability to convince teenage boys that their purpose is to have sexual relationships with as many girls as possible because that classifies them as "cool." Listen to song lyrics and I guarantee you will hear a rapper stating that " they are gonna make love in da club." Even Enrique Iglesias will no longer make a music video where he has a romantic picnic and then goes horseback riding with his girlfriend. Instead, he will be getting intimate in some sketchy place with a woman he's never met. It's pretty clear that sex holds major importance in today's popular culture, and it's all because the media and the celebrities that promote it. So how can we expect people to shape their own identities? The answer is, we can't. Unfortunately, that is the media's job.