The Evil in You - Part 2

My perspective on my research topic has changed in a few ways.  I still think that people like a villain because of relatability and that chance to experience something without the danger, but now I think that for some cases people are lured into liking the villain.  The articles each had their own explanation as to why someone likes a villain, but they were all pretty much similar in context.  In one the articles that I read, the author mentioned the lack of a hero in some shows leaving only the villain.  They also mentioned that they sometimes do not show the victim(s), leaving someone to be okay with sympathizing with the villain.  I plan on comparing some of the villains with the some superheroes and read an article on vigilante heroes and how they were influenced by politics within the 1980’s.  I am still going to focus on the different ideas of what people see in each villain.  I am also going to look at Disney villains and their evolution and interest within our society.  I never noticed that they followed a stereotypical and, at times, racist stereotype.  Now they are becoming more like heroes and have their own fan bases.

            I am going to start with what heroism is, then move into what some of the theories behind why people like villains are.  Then I am going to proceed to look at specific examples and compare them to heroes.  I am going to finish with any theories on what in popular culture makes people like them such as the lack of a hero and a push for money. Overall, I am going to focus mainly on the reasons why someone likes them and what they might see when they look at the characters. 

The Evil in You

For the research paper, I chose to look at evil and its presence and impact on pop culture.  My view on the topic is that society is becoming more and more interested in villains and antiheroes.  It seems like they feel like they relate to them more.  I want to look further into why society thinks like this and whether or not popular culture caused the shift or society’s interested did. 

            My research question is:  Why does society enjoy villains and anti-heroes in shows and movies?  Has popular culture impacted ideals or has society impacted popular culture and created a new era of villains?  It relates to popular culture because of television series and movies such as Dexter and Maleficent that follow the story line of someone who is not like the rest.  These are popular mediums in our society making them apart of popular culture.  It also relates with the question of whether or not society changed popular culture or vice versa. 

            So far I know that there has been an increase in these shows.  This idea has been a part of society for a while stemming from mythology and historical events such as the celebration of The Boston Tea Party (Donnelly Pg. 17).  Another things related to my subject that I noted in an article is the idea of seeing people at their worst in reality television series, something that became very popular (Turnau Pg.1).  I have read in other articles that we feel a connection to flawed heroes and villains.  I need to find those other articles, they will help me make a strong essay.

            Right now my answer to the research question I posed would be that our society feels pressured and finds the anti-hero or villain interesting because it is something we could never act out in our life and are easier to relate to than the perfect, charismatic, and good looking heroes that are out there. 

DONNELLY, ASHLEY M. "The New American Hero: Dexter, Serial Killer For The Masses." Journal Of Popular Culture 45.1 (2012): 15-26.Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Turnau T. Inflecting the World: Popular Culture and the Perception of Evil. Journal Of Popular Culture [serial on the Internet]. (2004, Nov), [cited April 16, 2015]; 38(2): 384-396. Available from: SocINDEX with Full Text.

You Can Run but You Can’t Hide - Response Essay 4

            Avoiding consequences, hurting people, and then just tuning out?  Cyberbullying has become an increasing problem for children in our country and Facebook has become an enabler for bullies.

            The term Cyberbullying only applies to children.  Adults are Cyberharassed or Cyberstalked rather than bullied.  Cyberbullying is when a child is harassed by another minor digitally (Stopcyberbullying.org).  Bullying used to just remain on the playground and in schools, occasionally reaching farther and, in some circumstances, causing death but is now spreading through the use of New Media technology.  With new media, or more specifically Facebook, there also comes fewer consequences.

            Bullying exists in many mediums, from other social networking sites to being broadcast on television, so why is Facebook important?  Facebook has become an enabler for bullying, giving the bully a new medium to commit their actions.  It is not just that bullying takes place on Facebook but that it has so many ways to help it continue.  Private messaging, mass sharing, and the ability to remain anonymous add to this idea.  Despite all the changes Facebook is constantly receiving not much has been done in terms of bullying other than the usual report this buttons and blocking.

            While anything posted online can be saved and used as evidence, many people are not punished for what they do and can remain anonymous when committing the act.  The ability to create a new account with relative ease makes it very easy to remain anonymous.  Anyone can pretend to be someone else on Facebook.  There was once a case of a young girl’s information, including birthday, school, family information and pictures taken of her, were used to make an account that was entirely public, opening up the girls life to the world.  The perpetrator denied it and people started to avoid her because of it (Landau).  Facebook’s privacy settings also change so often that, despite trying to protect themselves, a victim could end up missing something.  It has also become much easier to spread rumors and lies.

            Before cyber-bullying, a rumor had to be told over and over again to spread, but now it can just be made into a quick post.  The whole school could view it in a couple hours instead of the time and effort it would take to spread it regularly.  On top of that, it can happen at any time.  There is not an eight to four schedule for the internet like there is for school.  If someone feels like being mean, they can just jump online, whether it is five in the afternoon or two in the morning.  This ability to post at any time also removes the time the bully would have had to wait and change their mind.  The instant gratitude lets them do it without really considering what they are doing to the other person.

            On top of the ability to spread posts like wildfire, a bully can directly contact the victim with Facebook's messaging service.  The bully does not need the victims phone number, all that matters is that they are either “friends” with the victim or the victim has lax security on their account.  After that, they can send as many comments as they want until the victim finally does something about it.  Facebook also gives the effect of a lack of inhibition.

            While online, no one can hurt you physically.  Someone could say whatever they want, and as long as the receiving party knows little about them, can remain safe from violence.  This has created some pretty drastic statements being shared such as death threats, encouraging suicide, and other threats of violence along with the typical name calling and put downs.  On top of this anonymity, someone can send disturbing and threatening pictures to a victim. 

            With this new form of bullying, the belief that victims should just get over it still exists.  Despite the fact that it is harder to escape this form of bullying without causing even more problems, it is still common for people to expect the victim to just get over it and ignore it.  This has always been a common attitude towards bullying and has not changed over the course of time. 

           

Works Cited

Landau, Elizabeth. "When Bullying Goes High-tech - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

"STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly?" STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly? WiredSafety.org, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Response Essay 3 - Mass Effect Rough Draft

Space. So vast and currently unexplored by humans.  What could possibly be out there?  Mass Effect 3, a space role playing game, explores that unknown and the problems that we might face and still shows problems we might see today along with cultural beliefs and ideals.

            Mass Effect 3 is the final game in the Mass Effect trilogy that follows the adventures of Commander Shepard.  It was released in 2012.  Commander Shepard is a commander for the Alliance Navy and later becomes the first Human Spectre.   They fight for peace within the galaxy that they are newly introduced to and discover that Reapers, sentient robots created to wipe out all intelligent life every fifty thousand years or so, are returning.  Shepard attempts to get the support of the council and Earth government but is ultimately ignored until planets start to be destroyed.  Throughout the game Shepard and their allies are attempting to gain support to stop the reapers before they wipe out all life.  The target audience is most likely young adult males with the game being rated for a mature audience.  Mass Effect may seem like just another space action game but a lot is hidden within it.

            First, let us look at Commander Shepard.  Commander Shepard is customizable and can be either male or female leaving out gender bias, however, Shepard follows an archetype.  Shepard is the typical hero with varying back story.  Each option has a stereotype.  You could be born for the military because your parents did it, an orphan who enlisted to escape crime, or a colonist enlisting after your friends and family were killed by raiders.  These each have a stereotype common for heroes in our society; birthright, escape, and revenge.  On top of all of this you can be a Paragon, the stereotypical good guy hero, or a Renegade, the antihero who gets the job done but on their own terms.  The paragon is everywhere is our society and the renegade is becoming an increasingly popular figure.  Commander Shepard reflects our typical views of heroes, even going as far as why they joined the Alliance in the first place.

            The story does not just include stereotypes.  BioWare, the company that developed Mass Effect, made strides in equal rights.  The protagonist of the story can become involved in romance with characters of the same sex, something not very common until recently.  There is even a race of blue humanoids that are only female but can reproduce with any gender and any alien race, including humans.  This challenged the pop culture belief that was against homosexuality and related subjects. 

            Along with challenging sexuality, racism is a common element in the game.  With humans meeting a large number of alien races in the game, and a war subsequently breaking out between the humans and the Turians, racism shows.  Turians are avian like with talon like nails on hand and toes, and have developed a sort of exoskeleton to protect them from the radiation of their home world.  A crew member named Ashley is uncomfortable with having aliens aboard the Normandy, the ship used throughout the game that includes elements of Turian design.  Throughout the game you also encounter aliens who are very wary of humans.  This shows an acknowledgment of human’s nature to fight and points out our original dislike of things that are different from us.

            The game challenges much of the status quo.  It covers racism and sexuality.  While racism is not as common as it once was, it is not completely eliminated from society.  The game challenges this through the conclusion.  In the end almost all races work together to stop the reaper invasion despite any problems they may have had with each other before hand, although, Shepard had to solve a few of those problems.  It also challenges sexuality through the military.  We have had a biased society and military when it came to homosexuality and, within the game, someone in a position of power can be homosexual.  Generally in our society we see the hero as strong, confident and interested in the opposite sex, especially in military heroes. 

            The game promotes both positive and negative values.  Shepard is a stereotypical hero until the player takes control and makes choices that shape the lives of them and those around them.  Mass Effect also seems to promote equality and acceptance.

From Commander to Inquisitor

Going into the game, I was very excited.  I love Bioware games and RPG’s in general.  I tried to avoid looking at others opinions because I knew that they would include a lot of negativity.  I did not care if other people liked it or not, I was the one playing it.  I played alone and tried to avoid going online for the game. 

                Playing the game fulfilled my expectations.  I did not even notice the passing of time.  The experience gave me that pleasure and escape because it involved more thought and more adventure than another experience might have.  I had to make choices that could affect my game and potentially ruin my inquisition.  When I had to stop playing, I did not want to.  I was having fun and did not want to go back to studying and writing papers, I wanted to continue to close rifts and fight the red Templars and dark spawn.

                I think that the purpose of entertainment in popular culture is to keep us from realizing when our lives get boring.  I was stressed and growing more and more so by the day but was given a way to pretend that I did not have those problems, if only for a little bit.  

The Internet and its Ads

Consumers seem to be losing more control of their private information since the formation of the internet.  Consumers do still have the choice of whether or not they want to give out this information but everything seems to be moving towards the internet and, before long, it seems like it will be a total necessity.  I think with less control over this more information will be stolen.  With the increase in information and necessity of the internet, more information can be gained from hacking into these databases and more people could lose their information.  On top of that a new market could open up where our information is traded between companies for profit which could open up more venues for people to gain our personal information.

            In relation to that, it is nice to receive personalized advertisements.  Looking at what people Google or search for on shopping sites in not a bad thing.  All it is is effective advertising and will only help out places or people who might not get the traffic that they need to stay in business.  On top of that, you might find something better than what you were previously going to buy and save money or time because of it.  Targeted advertising does not seem to have any effect on the consumer other than if you are trying to hide something from someone.

            The use of harmful stereotypes in advertising will continue to have an adverse effect on society.  As long as there are ads reinforcing the stereotypes, the stereotypes will continue to exist and bring more people down.  For example, all those ads with thin, over sexualized women or insanely strong, confident men are going to continue to mess with peoples self-image and make them strive for unhealthy things or hate themselves for not being those people. 

            

Smart Water and the Body

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            Normally advertisements do not make me think, however, when I saw this ad I asked myself, why is she naked if she is selling water? In another set of advertisements for smart water a male celebrity is shown clothed and working out.  In this ad series, Jennifer Aniston is shown topless and in various poses.  In the ad that I focused on, she is kissing the water as though it were significant to her in some way.  It made me wonder why this water was so special, although I never went out to investigate myself.

            The advertisement is selling sexualized water.  Their tag line “Pure Infatuation: Yeah, we get it, we’re pretty obsessed with vapor-distilled purity too” can almost be mistake for sexual desire.  “Pure Infatuation” is in bold lettering with different tints of blue used against their plain background making it stand out and catch the viewers’ attention.  Having her kiss the bottle adds to the sexualization of the tag line. 

            The ad plays well to both genders.  To women, a successful and beautiful women is drinking this water and to men, an attractive women is kissing the bottle.  People who see her as successful and beautiful might buy it to try to be like her while people see her as attractive and acting in a sexual way might buy it to try to find women like her.  The advertisement makes you feel like you need that brand of water because it is different and appears to make you fit and attractive. 

The ad is stereotypical.  Women are generally seen as more health obsessed than men in terms of buying expensive products such as the water they are trying to sell here.  The water is in turn being shown with a thin woman.  It also follows the idea that women should be attractive but not strong.  Unlike in other advertisements, her muscles are either not shown or emphasized.  The ad is harmful, in my opinion, because of the body image that it portrays.

The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch by LeRoy Ashby

A few historians who shared the views of historian Lawrence Levine began to look at different mediums of entertainment and its impact on society.  Sklar talked about the motion picture business and how it was the first medium to not have culturally elite men running it.  Harris talked about the arts to talk about the transformation of society.  Toll looked at the racism of the minstrel shows and how it impacted views on African-Americans and the south.  Douglas looked into feminism and why female writers were ignored.  Levine’s ideas and works helped lead to new views on society and new looks at the minorities of popular culture and how they shaped society.

            Later, in the 1990’s, scholars debated popular culture.  Lipsitz argued that mass media lead to “exploitive social hierarchies (pg. 13).”  Susan Smulyan argued that the audience choice and industry control have left the industry lopsided.  These ideas are interesting because the definition of popular culture and how it works seems to be different for everyone.

            My own definition has morphed from just being about what television shows or music is popular to a much more complex definition.  Now I see popular culture as what is defined and accepted by the masses, be it a song, clothing style or even a haircut.  I also do not see it as just the younger generations defining it, especially now that I realize that older people who run the companies can often start a trend.