Entry#10 Burger Skinny

I know we had already talked about the Carl's Jr commercials in class, but I had always noticed why they use the women they do. I never really realized that I was analyzing their technique, but I did in fact know that the sexy lady was just to get the attention of the people. Men might want to go and expect to see that same lady working the cashier. While women believe that eating a Carl's Jr burger will make them busty, flawless, and curvy. The reality of this, however, is that the women is only being used to make people want to make a visit to their local Carl's Jr. The technique they are using is to increase their sales and popularity, and many ads do that now. How effective is it?

What does this have to do with the fast food burger restaurant you might ask... Nothing. I have ate at Carl's Jr various times and look nothing like this. If anything, I'm fatter and greasier. Don't be fooled by the sexy hot women. They have absolutely nothing to do with the burger.

Entry#9 Media and Friends

I think I have definitely been affected when it comes to my personal view of the media. After watching Killing Us Softly, I realized how ridiculous some of these expectations are. It is true, it is impossible to look the way the media wants (at least not with any natural process). Now, I catch myself looking at the different ways the media is portraying not only women, but men as well. Commercials always use good looking people to sell their items. They also use average looking people, but they are the ones acting stupid and clueless in the announcement. I have also been noticing how well the media is when it comes placing stereotypes with certain people. I have now been introduced to a new perspective on media, and it is not a good one.

 

Women can't do anything. They can barely open a bottle of ketchup.

Husbands can't cook to save their lives. But this is SO EASY, even they can do it!

You have no real skills and lack quality characteristics? That's ok! All you need is a busty chest!

Men are always wrong. Period.

Entry#8 Got Men?

After watching the past two films in class, I though it would be interesting to do my own research and find pictures of men being stereotyped by the media. Even though we watched a film about females as well, I found males to be more interesting. I think its probably because I never realized how alike they were to the females portrayed by the media. Even though female dehumanization is more common, it's interesting to see it the same on the other side.

1. I like this picture because instantly, it is telling men that if their muscles don't show unintentionally, they're not real men. I find it funny the expectation being set here. As if muscles are the definition of being a man.

2. Lately, I have seen a lot of very thick beards. I am a frequent user of social media and have seen some posts claiming that having a beard like this is manly! Also, why would someone being a carnivorous mammal make them manly? Are vegetables just not doing it? What I love about this picture though is the fact that bravery is manly, but ironically, so are bunny ears!

3. I am not sure why this picture makes me happy... Maybe because unlike a lot of the things on the media today, they encourage men to become something that maybe other "manly men" consider gay or not manly. Personally, I don't know what's more attractive than a helping, well-educated man! Thanks to whoever made this!

Entry #7 Daddy?

The very first thing I noticed was how well organized the site was. As I looked through the site, I realized that in bold words the site said it was about "bashing" men and emphasizing their stereotypes. As I read a little deeper, I found some post by men ridiculing their own stereotypes to emphasize how wrong they really are. To think that the post are by men and have such an organized site when supposedly they are lazy and messy makes it a bit humorous to me. Although I looked at various post on the Dumb Men site, I was specifically interested in one post I read titled 8 Stupid Things You Should Stop Saying to Dads by Aaron Gouveia. In his article, he informs the audience that he himself is a father, so I decided to keep that in mind when reading this. What the author is trying to do with this post is remind the audience to always think before they speak. He gives examples about some of the things he has been told before that he thinks are just insulting and straight up stupid. The reason I was so intrigued by this post was because of the sincerity and emotion he puts into his writing. Some of the examples he gives is "Looks like dad dressed the baby", "What do YOU do all day?", "That's not how you do it. Here, let me show you". Gouveia, being a father feels like a lot of the time these things are said unintentionally. However, he does find them insulting and as if his parenthood is being attacked. I found it funny how we never really consider that men have feelings. But, like we have learned this past week, society expects them to be a certain way, and now it is as if there is no way of picturing them a different way than as macho men. The author did a very good job at not hiding his emotions. He is obviously upset and insulted at the fact that just for being a male, he is immediately going to be a bad, clueless father. The purpose of this post was to ask for a fathers day gift, and that was to stop being prejudged as a whole just for being a man. He leaves the audience with a lesson; if it might insult someone, don't say it.

Entry #EC Let Us Stand

Really the only thing I could think of during this film was protesting the cost of going to college. It made me so motivated to want to take a stand in something that I believe should be changed. I questioned if it could really be that hard to have a peaceful yet demanding protest, and still get what we are asking for. If I had enough people to agree to come up with some plan to help get the voices of students heard, we can definitely make a change. Michael Moore's film really motivated me to stand up and make everyone hear what I have to say. Not just in my specified idea, but in anything I do. If I want something, I need to go get it however I can. I really enjoyed the way he decides to approach things. I liked the organization of the film, and the way he chose to do everything. Even if many people don't really like him because he is trying to expose the truth about the country we live in. If he wasn't a threat to them, they would have no reason to be offended. I think he is very honest, and straight forward, which only made me enjoy the film even more. Moore is realistic and has his eyes wide open spotting the truths behind every lie in America. I found him funny and influential, and he definitely motivated me to do what I believe, and go after what I want.

Entry #6 The Color Purple

My favorite color is purple (in case my blog background hasn't gave it away). I am so fascinated by it, and enjoy all the shades that come with it (currently wearing a purple sweater under my purple blanket!). To me, the color is absolutely beautiful and reminds me of royalty. Lucky for me, purple is the color of my birthstone. I was born in February, and the birthstone for that month is amethyst, which is such a wonderful shade. My baby sister, Isabel, was also born in February, making that color much more precious to me personally. Amethyst symbolizes peace, and is supposed to be a calm and relaxing stone to those who wear it.

What is your stone?

I found it fun learning more about my stone and would recommend all of you to look into yours! They are all beautiful and so fascinating! Plus they symbolize some beautiful things.

Entry #5 School Sucks

After reading the article, it made me wonder if having shorter class sections really help us as students. I know after a few weeks in this ENG102 course that it is much more stressful that having a class lasting the full semester. It feels as if everything is squished together because there is so much work assigned in one week alone. I know now from experience that having a course like that makes it very stressful to work on the other courses I have. I do like the idea because of the fact that it can become possible to graduate sooner than it is now. I REALLY like the theory that we might even have to pay less. But it made me wonder that if that was really a concern of the education system, why can they just lower the tuition? For example, I know GCU recently bought a golf course. It makes me ask myself "is that why they take so much money from the students?" So reading that statement made by the ASU board in a way angered me. Something that really stuck out to me from this article was how the author was able to mention the questionable things about this change. However, the author right away counter argued these concerns by filling in the awkwardness of a faulty change with the benefits of the idea. To me, the idea has a bit of both: flaws and benefits. As a student, I am not too sure I would like a semester like that. It can be better to take longer sessions, and not have to be rushed with all the work a 7 1/2 week session might bring.