Masuclinity

In the documentry we viewed Tough Guise: Violence, Media, & the Crises in Masculinity,  he states how men wear mask to stop the exposure of thier vulnerability. Katz explains that terms like tough guise, came from "the front that so many men put up that is based on extreme notion of masculinity that emphasizes on toughness, physical strength, and gaining respect and admiration from others through violence or implicit threat of it” (Katz 2011) As a man I believe that this true. At an early age were are always taught not to cry, complain and be strong and tough. I can even remember being 12yrs old and was a bit husky and always told to lift weights because I had the physique to do so but thinking back on it lifting weights and having muscles was apart of the notion of being a "tough guy".  The media also don't make it better being manly man is something that is protrayed in many commericals, movies and in advertising. Below is a video of an Old Spice Commerical that shows what a manly man looks like and wears:


Jhally, S. (1999). Tough guise: Violence, media, and crises in masculinity
[Documentary]
Katz, J. (2011). Advertizing and the construction of violent white masculinity: From BMWs to
Bud Light. In G. Dines & J. Humez (Ed.). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader (pp. 261-9). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Porn is Everywhere

I can remember being in class and viewing the two documentaries to help us understand pornography: The Price of Pleasure and Pornography in Everyday Life. From watching it showed how porn was degrading and violent. I honestly disagree I feel that the porn that they were showing were violent and degrading. However, the act of sex is everywhere you turn. But the more messed up part is that the high demand porn is barely legal or teen it is a bit ridiculous for this to occur and I feel it is terrible to adore such genre.









Caputi, J. (2011). The pornography of everyday life. In G. Dines & J. Humez (Ed.). Gender, race, and

Feminity

I can remember being in high school and it was the first time I ever seen so many females play sports and actually be good at it.I remember being on the varsity football team and it was a girl suited up and playing football (full contact) I also remember this girl trying to block me on a play I had no other reason but to lay her out because I didn't then she would attempt to trying to do the same to me so other words I hit her as hard as I could just to see if she would quit or what would she do but amazed at how hard I tackled/blocked her she bounced right back up.I  always assumed that girls could play sports but if they would get they would cry right away and the girls who were tough enough were considered gay or took on more manly characteristics which led to the definition of hegemony which means "those in power secure the consent of the socially subordinated to the system that oppresses or subordinates them... to persuade the populous that the hierarchical social and economic system is fixed and 'natural' and therefor unchangeable"(Dines & Humez, p. 627). It was then I realized I would never past judgement or think less of an opponent because it was a girl it was already proven that girls work just as hard and at times even harder than that of the opposite sex.I have grown up with tom boys who eventually lose there tom boy ways but importantly I learned not judge so quickly. Below is a clip of a female embarrassing a male in a game of basketball pay attention to how excited everyone is not at the fact that he crossed but more so that he got crossed by a girl.

Multiperspectival is Important!!!!!

According to Douglas Kellner, in order to have a multiperspectival approach to studying the media, we must always look at the media in these three aspects: textual analysis, audience perception, and the political economy. “Textual analysis should use a multiplicity of perspectives and critical methods, and audience perception studies should delineate the wide range of subject positions, or perspectives through which audiences appropriate culture” (Kellner p.15). These three perspectives are very key and important in regards to studying the media because it allows us to analyze in-depth  as far as race, class and gender is concern. This can be done through texts, how the audience make meaning of what is seen and through the profit of these specific media genres. It is my assumption that the media i.e TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and etc. have a certain control over there audience that in fact it creates  stereotypes, and can negatively affect hegemony and stir up more sexism than it already is. According to Kellner, "A critical cultural studies attacks sexism, racism, or bias against specific social groups and criticizes texts that promote any kind of domination or oppression” (Kellner, p. 15). However, by using the multiperspectival approach things that media makes available become much easier to interpret and understand. Hegemony on the other hand refers to those who are in power secure the consent of the socially subordinate to the system that oppresses or subordinates them… through… control of religious, educational, and media institutions, attempts to persuade the populous that the social and economic system is fixed and “natural” and therefore unchangeable” (Dines & Humez, p.627) Thus meaning keeping the poor poor and the rich richer this actually reminds me of the current state of the entire occupy wall phenomena. Below is a video of the Occupy Wall St. it shows how the lower social class fight change through protest, chalk art and signs I hope you enjoy.





Sources:
Dines, G. & Humes, J. (Eds.) (2010) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Kellner, D. (2011). Cultural studies, multiculturalism, and media culture. In G. Dines & J.
Humez (Ed.). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader (pp. 7-17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Occupy Wall St. Tribute -Youtube.com

Exploitation of Popular Products

This a clip from Martin, a Christams episode it shows Martin being cheap with gifts for Christams in order to have his beloved Jordan 12's. In fact the shoes actually came out at that point in time of the episode and this caused a bigger craze for the popular shoe. This shows how the media exploits certain product and bamboozle you into purchasing that product.