Blog #6

        In the South Park episode "Death," the creators' comments on censorship and assisted suicide reveal the lack of parental guidance and willingness to verbally talk about issues related to growing up. The parents in the episode are caught up in protesting a television network that broadcasts a show that promotes toilet humor as comedy for young children. Instead of talking about why the show is inappropriate with their children, they spend time away from them leaving them to figure things out for themselves. While the parents away, Stan's grandfather insists that he kill him since he is in misery. Stan's inquiry about killing someone if they want to be killed goes unexplained by all of their primary adult figures who do not want to "touch the issue with a 40 foot pole." The boys experience silence without explanation which is arguably the worst thing that can happen to a person. It enhances ignorance.

      When I think of silence and ignorance, all I think of is the "Allegory of the Cave" from Plato's The Republic. People that live inside the cave never see the light which is learning and knowing what goes on outside of the bubble where live. In the media today, there are a lot of pressing issues that some people do not feel the need or want to understand to better their own knowledge. They are living in this "silence." People that advocate for different causes and push for change are the ones that want to break the silence and bring knowledge and awareness for people that do not know or understand. Domestic violence, transphobia, and immigration are all things that need awareness so people can better understand and might in turn join the fight to educate all people.

Blog 6 REVISED

Some themes that came up in "South Park" were assisted suicide, censorship on television and to a certain extent, parenting. On assisted suicide there were three people the boys asked for advice that didn't want to touch the topic with ''A 40 foot pole.'' They asked an educator, a voice of reason, and a religious figure, all of which should have helped them but didn't. It makes a child really wonder and not know what to do when their questions are not being answered. It can be frustrating to be in that situation, and even though South Park is a comedy show, it does bring to light some very important issues that are taboo to talk about in a general sense. The grandfather in the show also didn't really think about how his grandson was feeling about it. 

That brings me to my next theme, parenting. I thought it was funny that right after the parent-teacher conference that instead of going home to talk to their kids, they just went straight to go fight the station that showing the cartoon. The normal situation would have been the mom talking to her son about the show instead of calling everyone else’s parents and telling them to not let the children watch. The kids need an explanation why because they don’t understand what is right and wrong, and they look up to the grownups in their life to help guide them. I found an article that touches the fact that parents are using tv as a babysitter because it's cheap, convenient, and handles children well. It's a BBC article and even though we aren't British it can definitely be applied on us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13308737

Blog 6 REVISED

The danger of silence, especially in controversial issues allowing conflicts to fester and get further and further from being resolved, is a reoccurring theme in life that is very present in this south park episode.  The whole idea behind this was parents trying to control their children, and to bring them away from an immature show and toilet humor.  But when a mature topic, Physician Assisted Suicide was brought up, not even the adults would touch on it.  The boys approached 3 different individuals, Mr. Garrison who acts as an intellectual guide, Chef who expresses ethics and is a voice of reason and is known to always take the boys seriously even when no one else does, and Jesus who clearly is a higher power and moral guide.  Even the officer caught them trying to kill the grandpa and he even turned a blind eye.  In society today, and in the past humans tend to ignore issues that are directly in front of them.  Many major topics such as abortion, politics, capital punishment, and physician assisted suicide, are thought of as topics to ignore.  However, if we ignore them, they will never be resolved.  Attempts to find common ground is a key to being content.  This issue is present throughout politics and throughout daily lives of individuals everywhere. A specific example of a text that this can be found in is To Kill A Mockingbird.  In this novel, they ignore the matter of segregation even though it is right in front of them.  This makes matters get worse before allowing them to get better.

Blog Post #6 Revised

The topics that I will be focusing on in relation to the South Park episode that we watched in class is based on the sense of conformity and censorship. In that whatever views the majority of society shares, everyone is supposed to follow regardless of your own personal opinion. And if you speak out against their views you are not right and against the majority. Relating to the episode in that the parent's think that it's not right for their children to watch "Terrance and Phillip" and instead of talking to their kids and/or changing the station, they vowed to ban the show. In that in order for there children to not watch what they deem is inappropriate they challenge to censor the show. In result taking away the creators freedom of speech to air the program. We are all individuals and won't share similar views as everyone else so I believe you should have the right to believe in whatever you want and shouldn't be forced to think alike. The American Library Association promotes the freedom of choice and to express your opinion even if it's unpopular. Where they stress the importance of those viewpoints to be shared. They say how most parents challenge books that are deemed "sexually explicit," have "offensive language," and may be "unsuited to any age group." Many classics have been challenged for various reasons such as "The Great Gatsby," "The Lord of the Files," and "The Grapes of Wrath." Which goes back to how the parents acted in the South Park episode. Where they were trying to look out for their children even though they were hypocrites by enjoying the use of toilet humor among themselves.

Blog 6- Revised

In South Park there were various themes seen however, the theme that stood out the most was the danger of silence. Silence is not seen as a major problem at times, however it might become one in the long run. For example, those who are lost in the voidance of depression. At times people seek help, in other cases they do not. But as it was seen in South Park, at times the individual(s) are not comfortable enough to seek help from their parents or parent figures due to them being neglected at all times. It is very important for parents to communicate and have a good relationship with their children to prevent the danger of silence. Like see in South Park, instead of the parents sitting down and talking to their children, they decided to riot in order to shut down the TV show. The children in the end concluded that their parents were too busy trying to shut down the TV show, instead of sitting down with them and addressing the issues presented. The danger of silence does not only pertain to children as seen in South Park, it is a danger to everyone who decided to stay silent. For example, According to CNN, the great actor and comedian Robin Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014. Robin Williams was sober when he committed suicide, however, he had been struggling with depression, anxiety, and early stage of Parkinson’s disease. Robin Williams committed suicide by hanging himself, his wife believes he learned the suicide technique from a movie role in which a character he portrayed died from autoerotic asphyxiation. Maybe if Robin Williams would have seek help he wouldn’t have committed suicide. Rest In Peace, Robin Williams.

Blog #6

In this South Park episode, the main theme I saw was ignorance.  The parents want what is best for their children so that they may become intelligent and mature adults.  The problem that is exhibited in this episode has the children of South Park being entertained by what the parents like to call "toilet humor".  The parents then decide to make a trip to New York to resolve the issue, but completely ignore the problems that their children are facing currently.  For instance, Stan is faced with the problem of being pressured by his grandfather to assist him in suicide.  Everyone that Stan tried to talk to had ignored him and had busied themselves with other issues that weren't relevant to the issue at hand.  Even the grandfather was ignorant of the pressure he was building upon his grandson.  The ignorance shown through the adult figures has caused the main theme of the episode.  Another example that is similar to this particular episode is Finding Nemo.  People who love you deeply often seek to protect you above all else.  But when this protection becomes extreme, it can become toxic and ultimately harmful.  While Marlin (Nemo's father) had a lot of responsibilities as a single parent, the initial problem with his relationship with Nemo is that it its severely one-sided.  But in the end they were able to resolve their problems with talking and trusting one another.

Blog 6

In this episode of South Park the mention of death was taboo. This can relate to the way Americans react and are afraid of death compared to other cultures around the world. In many other cultures including most religions based in India, death is embraced and celebrated much like a birth or a marriage would be. Americans avoid talking about death even to the people they are most close to including family members. In this South Park episode, role models for the children including parents, educators, advisors, and even religious figures turned a blind eye on their questions about death. Death in American culture in general is symbolized by a scary, frightening figure of the Grim Reaper. In Jainism religion/culture, death is symbolized by beauty and is a source of rebirth. They are more accepting to death than the American culture. Through their ways, they even can commit suicide to become one with everything and to end their suffering of being reincarnated. When a Renunciate knows his death is near he can purposely perform Sullenkna, the act of fasting until death. People gather all around him to witness and to celebrate his death and the end of his many lifetimes of suffering. On the opposite end, Americans avoid situations of suicide and try and prevent suicide from happening just like the little boy in South Park was reluctant to assist his grandfathers suicide. Americans avoid all situations of death and during a funeral there is more of a sense of morning than a sense of celebration.

Blog #6

In the South Park episode "Death", the parents basically completely ignore their children in their pursuit to make better television for the kids so they don't get 'corrupted'. This is almost oxymoronic in that they are 'caring for the kids' while neglecting them at the same time. They got super upset when they found out what their children were watching, but instead of talking to them about what is wrong with the show and why they don't like it, they go straight to the network and try to get it taken off the air so that NOBODY can watch it ever. They say it is for their kids' own goods, but it's really just based on their opinion of what is funny. It's also hypocritical of them, because on the show they say it is immature and stupid, but when they all come down with the stomach flu, everyone is making poop jokes and laughing heartily. They are also ignoring what the kids want to talk about, which is the idea of assisted suicide. All the adults end up either saying something completely off topic or saying "I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole". The kids then have nobody to talk to about it and it clearly very much bothers them. The parents are so obsessed with the television thing as well that they seem to just not care.

This kind of thing, the idea that parents just keep on doing what their doing and what they think is best for their kid but not taking into account what their kids want, is very prominent in a lot of movies nowadays. How many movies have you seen where you hear the lines "You're giving up your dream!" "No, Dad/Mom. I'm giving up YOUR dream." One example of this would be the movie How to Train Your Dragon. In the beginning Hiccup (the kid) doesn't want to fight dragons. His father, Stoick, wants him to. There is one specific scene where Hiccup and his dad both have something to say to each other and they end up being complete opposites of what the other says. Hiccup says he doesn't want to fight dragons and Stoick says he's sending Hiccup to dragon school. Hiccup keeps trying to say no, he doesn't want that, but his dad keeps going on and on about how he's gonna learn to fight dragons and blah blah blah. Hiccup acknowledges that his father is completely ignoring him, saying "this conversation is feeling very one-sided," but still his dad goes on and on.

Blog 6 REVISED

An issue we discussed in class is that parents aren't focusing enough time on their children and on their actual well being. Some parents are too caught up in trying to control what their kids do instead of just giving them the guidance they need and talking about issues that they should discuss with them. Otherwise children usually end up wanting to rebel if their parents are micromanaging them. Children aren't getting everything they need to know just at school, their parents should be there for them to teach them morals and life lessons they don't learn from their teachers. Children need support from their families.  In South Park, the episode we just watched their parents weren't there to talk to them when they needed it and would ignore them because they were too busy trying to protest against a TV show that was too inappropriate and corrupting their kids. Even when they reached out to their teacher, Chef, and Jesus they got ignored so they had no one else to turn too. That made the matter worse for their kids because they had no guidance when they asked for it so they had to go with their own instinct. Now days parents just depend on school to teach their kids all they need to know but in reality they need support at home also. A show that shows parenting is Modern Family, which has a few diverse families that don't all to meet up to standards of "normal". They have problems and make mistakes with giving their kids the wrong advice but they are really involved with their kids lives and are always there for them. It always shows at the end that the families talk to each other to figure out what went wrong. Every family may be dysfunctional in some ways but should work through it together.

Blog Post #6

Many parents drink in front of their children and never sit down and talk to them about the negative or positive effects of it.  If asked they prefer to say they can do it because they are "grown ups" and can do things the kids can't.  Then the kids become teenagers and get to the point where they feel like they are old enough to be considered adults. So they engage in under-age drinking without thinking about the decision they're making. All they can think of is that they are acting like the adults they want to be. Had they been told when they were younger that drinking can be done safely, legally, and for good reasons, they may have waited for a better time to do so. I've grown up with cousins and friends who were given the opportunity to drink because their parents want to make them happy and treat them like adults even though they still live off of them. The parents do it because when they were young, their parents did the same. My parents were raised the same, but raising me and my two younger brothers, they have always told us to at least wait until we are of legal drinking age, and even then we should only do it as a way to have fun every once in a while.

Blog 6

While watching the South Park episode, I kept thinking about how people base their arguments over controversial issues based on their religious beliefs.  Whether it's gay or transgender rights (everything else that matters over the right to marry), abortion, or physician-assisted suicide.  Most of the arguments that I hear are people saying these issues are wrong because they don't agree with that person's faith.  What I really don't understand is this country's government is supposed to be separated from religion, so why are we validating these arguments when laws are being discussed?  I understand if someone doesn't agree with something for themselves and their own personal life, but their faith is different than everyone else's and laws should not be created in favor of a specific religion.  Since I tend to focus on LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, I want to now focus on physician-assisted suicide.  A large portion of people who are against this say that suicide is frowned upon by their specific faith, and that's why they don't think that an entirely different person who has no part in their life should be able to have the right to die if they are terminally ill.  A recent topic that is part of this controversy is Brittany Maynard's physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.  She was terminal due to cancer and lived in California where assisted suicide is illegal.  Maynard moved to Oregon, where it is legal, to have the procedure done, and now there is this huge controversy over whether or not this law should exist.  The movie, “Million Dollar Baby” shows how Hillary Swank’s character wanted to end her life, but the nurses wouldn’t let her and the pastor said it was a sin.  It is her choice, and I believe Maynard, as well as the character, had the right to make that decision.

Blog 6

A present day issue that applies to the theme of silence/ignoring people is coming out in the lgbtq community. There are several people who come out to their parents/friends and are just ignored. For example, one of my friends came out to her parents and they literally acted as if she didn't and they kept trying to hook her up with boys that they went to church with. I think that situations like that should never be handled the way they handled it, it is never okay to ignore your child's sexuality and purposely try to hook them up with a gender that they aren't comfortable being with. 

This theme was also shown in the new show on Fox called "Empire", the father ignored his sons sexuality and even arranged for him to be married to cover up the fact that he was gay. He stated that he didn't have any daughters so he refused to allow his son to be a "sissy".

Another thing that connects to this theme is the fact that sometimes parents rely on their eldest child to talk to their other children when there's a problem. For example, whenever my father gets into it with my younger sister he always comes to me expecting me to talk to her about the problem. Instead of asking me to explain things to her he should do it because even though I'm her older sister she doesn't listen to me the way she'd listen to him if he were the one talking to her about the situation at hand. 

South Park is generally a political show, it is satire at its best. Satire usually features humor to get a point across regarding norms or other issues. In this episode of South Park we see a lot of symbols and themes to make the point that parents need to start talking with they're kids rather than trying to control every little aspect of their life. They go on to include all the negative effects of doing so, like in the very end when the boys decide to do negative things like smoking crack. They finally decide to do such outrageous things because of the fact that they don't really have anything to do thanks to their parents not paying attention. They went to extreme measures to accomplish something so trivial, this episode was great the way they portrayed the parents as arrogant and oblivious. It shows parents that it is important to start engaging with their kids, it is good to sit down and converse with children because they have a voice too and still need to be guided not commanded. South Park has more of a dark satire which not a lot of people are comfortable with, but for the most part everyone appreciates and understands its message.

Blog #6 Revised

The theme in the episode that we watched in South Park is the way parents are being disengaged and dismissive towards their children. In the episode, the parents are upset because of the shows the children are watching, so they decide to do something about it and make a protest to shut the show down. The parents don't bother actually speaking to their children and sitting them down to discuss it. They instead ignore their children. Parents are commonly blaming television for children learning vulgar language and such things like that. This is a present day issue now because parents are only focusing on what the children are watching instead of actually communicating with them. These issues can lead to behavior issues with the child. This issue applies to many parents around the world, and its certainly a topic to be discussed more. It's the of lack communication between a parent and child that needs more attention to it.

An example of this is the movie Perks Of Being A Wallflower; this movie is about a shy teenager named Charlie, who is dealing with the suicide of his friend and has a dark secret from when he was a young boy. His parents are pretty distant and seem like they don't pay attention to what really goes on in his life. Eventually, Charlie has a severe mental breakdown and ends up being hospitalized, where he tells his parents his secret about how his aunt sexually molested him when he was younger. It really had a huge impact on Charlie's life. It's the issue of parents not communicating with their children or even knowing about things like Charlie's situation. He was afraid and vulnerable to tell anyone because he didn't know at that young age if that was right or wrong. Parents need to be more aware, and communicate issues like these with their children.

Blog 6

In the Southpark episode there were many themes represented by some dark satire, much like all Southpark episodes.  In my opinion the primary theme was the way some parents choose to treat children and the elderly.  None of the adults in the episode seemed to care at all what the children had to say and they believed them to be immature, because of what they chose to watch on television.  Every time stan tried to bring up his grandfather wanting to commit suicide the adults decided to completely ignore them which is incredibly hypocritical.  Not only did they ignore the children, but they ignored his grandpa too because, "he didn't know what he was talking about".   Hypocrisy is another huge theme in the episode.  As the parent were trying to rid the television of bathroom humor they were engaging in it themselves.  Also, it was the destruction of the bathroom that caused the show with bathroom humor to be cancelled so that is quite ironic.  The parents really didn't do anything by killing themselves like the ignorant parents they were the entire episode.  The overall theme in my opinion was that parents should be able to talk to their children about what is going on in the world around them.  If they want them to be more mature, they should listen to them and not ignore their every want and desire.  Controlling their lives only leads them to a dark path like the children stated in the end.  "Well now what should we do?  My uncle said crack was fun".  My point exactly.  

Blog 6

The episode "Death" from the show South Park had to deal a lot the taboo behind the controversial topic of euthanasia. Through the whole episode Stanley is asked by his grandpa to kill him. The grandpa says he is in pain and would rather die than suffer for a few more years. Also he grandpa mentions that he had killed his own grandpa and put him out of his misery. This suggests that back in the day euthanasia might have been easier to deal with because people just saw it as an act of helping people out. Now with all the laws and perspectives changing it is something that no one wants to talk about. Not even people that we seek for when we have questions which include teachers, mentors and religion. A piece of literature that also deals with this controversial topic is the book Of Mice and Men however, there is a difference where George doesn't want his friend Lenny, who unknowingly has just committed a crime, to suffer in the hands of angry men who are willing to kill him and suffer for that crime. The way that this show and book approach euthanasia are very different but they all lead to the same question, is it right to kill someone and spear them from suffering?

Blog 6

The episode of South Park that we watched had a bunch of mini themes but in my opinion the overall theme is parents cant try to hard to keep there kids completely innocent, sometimes doing that pushes children to venture out and do new things which could be worse. In this episode the boys are watching a TV show called Terrance and Philip and it is a show that 3rd graders shouldn't be watching. So once the parents saw that they were watching that they would not allow the boys to watch it. so the boys resulted to other stuff. Almost resulted in going to smoke crack. The parents then went to get the show removed off the network. They got it removed but the show they put on instead was worse than the one they just fought to remove. Also another theme is how everyone was dodging the question to kill Stan's grandpa. He asked his teacher, his guidance chef, and Jesus and they all said they would not touch that subject with a 20,40,60 foot pole. This just shows how the adults weren't there for them when needing to make a tough decision. So if parents worried less trying to make their kids perfect and actually listened and talked to them they could get through to them more.

Prompt: Blog 6

Just like Blog 5, only this time speak to issues and themes that you saw in the South Park episode "Death." We talked a lot about parent-child relationships, censorship and issues of control, avoidance of taboo subject, death, assisted suicide, toilet humor, etc. Find a current issue that speaks to one of the themes and discuss its significance. Then, brainstorm some other texts that speak to this issue.

Here is a link to the transcript for "Death": http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Death/Script

blog 6

I think that a central theme in the south park episode is the idea that there are sensitive topics in our everyday lives that we choose to avoid talking about. We today have topics like war, abortion or like in the southpark episode euthanasia, but it is politically incorrect to really be open about your stance. One place we can see this is in modern day political elections when, politicians are forced to be open about where they stand on these topics. Even saying just one sentence that might be slightly controversial can lead to a fallout in your reputation. The fact that these politicians speak to such a large volume of people really makes every word count. But on a small scale, people's words have the same amount of impact and when we can choose not to talk about them, we naturally don't. I think that the boys (in south park) lack of knowledge on this social norm is a satire in itself because they are unable to realize why no one wants to talk to them about it. One book that demonstrates this ideology of having to make a moral decision is Of Mice and Men. The idea in this book is that their are two best friends and one always seems to be causing unintentional problems in every community they visit forcing them to leave. Evenually it becomes apparent that the only way to fix their problems is to kill one causing the problems. The beauty of it is that he wouldn't even realize he was going to be killed.

Blog 5 REVISED

A theme I wanted to focus on from the Last Dictator was power. Chaplin was expressing that at he didn't want to be a dictator and that he didn't feel he was comfortable taking over people's life and ruling. I heard that Hitler didn't want to be a dictator and actually wanted to be a priest but he was pressured by his father to get involved with the government instead. I kind of felt like Chaplins words were words that Hitler wanted to say but didn't. It makes me wonder what would have happened if Hitler had not let himself agree to what his father wanted and rather what he wanted. Hitler was a very powerful man and even today his legacy lives on, even though it is a bad legacy. His power was known far and wide and it even traveled through time. It definitely shows he had great power.

This image above shows how power and those who have it can take advantage of others. Our country was young and they barely started the governement when Thomas Jefferson was alive and he knew that he British were corrupt with them. He hoped for a new country that could avoid this but he also knew that a successful government is a strong government. Even today, we see that the president does not have ultimate power even thought it can be seen that he is the image of ultimate power. They have congress and the senate, and hey stop a lot of things that presidents want to pass as laws. Sometimes the control of power is good, sometimes it's not.

Blog #5 Revised

Blog #5

A present day issue that I will be relating to Chaplin’s speech “The Great Dictator” is equality.  In Chaplin’s speech, he talks about having equality among different races and religion.  Although race and religion are still issues today, society’s tolerance has grown greatly.  Just because there is better equality for race and religion, other groups still struggle for it.  An equality issue in today’s society is gay rights.  Society is finally starting to accept the gay community.  The topic on whether gay marriage should be legal is a big concern.  In order to make everyone have equal rights, gay marriage should be allowed.  If it is not allowed, then the equality is taken away from gay people.  Right now thirty seven out of the fifty states have legalized gay marriage.  Clearly, there were equality problems back in Chaplin’s time and there are still equality issues today.  An example of the struggle for equality is displayed in the novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird.  In the story, a man named Atticus Finch has been asked to defend Tom Robinson, an innocent  black man accused of raping a white woman.  Even though many people in Atticus's town look down on him for defending the man, he does it anyways.  He does this because he believes that everyone should have an equal chance during trial no matter what the color of their skin is.

Blog #5

In Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator speech, I think the main theme is revolved around humanity.  Somewhere along the way of new advances in the world, we have lost the thing that makes us human.  I do not think that technology should take full responsibility as to why this has happened.  From 1939-1945, our world endured a lot of hardship.  Many countries were controlled by evil dictators that sought out to control what people should think and look upon the world as.  They made their minds dependent on the dictator's thoughts and ideas.  It caused them to be more like robots and the dictator was holding the remote, in this case.  Technology has also held a strong grasp on the human mind as well.  Machines are made to think for themselves to make our lives easier, but in fact, it is causing us to be so dependent on them that pretty soon we're going to be looking up on our tablets, "what is humanity?"  It is making us less social and friendly to the point where we cannot shake a hand to greet someone you just met.  I think that this was the point to Chaplin's speech.  We should be trying to be our own person instead of letting other things take hold of our humanity.

blog 5

The theme in the Great Dictator that strikes most relevant to me is the growth in technology. What makes this particular theme special is that it has always been a problem as long as humans have existed and it has done everything but slow down. A few years after Charlie Chaplin wrote this speech, the book 1984 came out which predicts a very technology heavy government in the near future. Now that that book is 30 years out of date, it seems very relevant to both Charlie Chaplin and us as humans today. A present day issue is that demonstrates this theme is whether or not the NSA should be allowed to track it's citizens movements and trace their calls through everyday technology. The idea behind this is that it is supposed to be a way to prevent terrorism however it lowers the amount of privacy the average citizen has in the country.

Blog 5 REVISED

Charlie Chaplain's "The Great Dictator" relates to technology in today's world. With technology where it's at, he is saying we are losing our human qualities. Cell phones and social media is today's biggest problem. People are forgetting how to communicate in person and are being less social in person. Someone who talks constantly and openly online may not say a word in person and this a huge current problem. Society is acting like robots in this world today. Everything is done by machine and communicated through machines and this is taking away our human qualities. Another point he touched on his speech is equality. Today, we are advanced in that equality between races is at an all time high. Howver, this does not mean racism isn't still out there. He is saying to make everyone equal, no matter the race, ethnics, or religion. We have made many advances in this subject, but haven't come all the way. This speech was a start in addressing these issues.

Blog #5

          Charlie Chaplin's speech in The Great Dictator is a timeless piece that touches on the issues of technological advancements, equality, tolerance, individualism and obedience to authority. Equality is an issue that is constantly being fought for every day. Chaplin says in his opening statement, "I should like to help everyone- if possible- Jew, Gentile- black man- white." Equal rights among all people is something that might always be an issue. At the Oscars this year John Legend and Common performed their famed song "Glory" from the motion picture Selma which speaks specifically about civil rights and marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Not only does this song talk about civil rights in the sixties, but also addresses current issues about Ferguson and violence. "Glory" advocates for everyone to keep pushing forward and fight for justice and freedom. It is not a specific group of people that can advocate for equality but everyone, young, old, black, white, woman or man. As a people, we are to fight together in the war for equality.

Blog 5

The present day issue that is relevant in Charlie Chaplins "The Great Dictator" is the technological advances. We have gone a long way from when his speech was written but he states in the speech "Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness...Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost." This to me means that the machinery we have yet it is good and benefits us, it also makes us cynical and we don't act like humans. We get sucked into technology and lose the personal qualities of cleverness, hard and unkind. Chaplin says "More than machinery we need humanity." I take this as even know machinery is important we need to get our heads out of our phones and ipads and actually act like a human being.

Blog 5 REVISED

I would like to relate the Great Dictator movie clip to the theme of humanity being more important than technology. I think this is an issue that we still have today, with cell phones and computers and TV. People do not talk face to face anymore, they choose to text or email or talk on the phone. I think this is a great problem for this generation because there is a lot that people will say online or over text that they would never say in person. This can lead to cyber-bullying, which can then lead to depression and even suicide. It is very interesting to me how this was an issue back when this movie was made, and it has escalated with present times, and no one has tried to make any changes. I think something that relates to this issue would be the cell phone commercial that comes on before a movie at the theater. It states that there is a time and place to use your phone, and the movie theater is not one of them. The fact that movie theaters have to play this commercial really shows how addicted Americans are to technology and cell phones if they can't even go two hours without checking facebook or replying to a text. This is a more modern version of the Great Dictator's message of technology taking over humanity.

Blog 5

The theme I’d like to use from The Great Dictator is equality/common humanity. Although the movie is from the 1940’s it still applies to many things today. I’d like to primarily tie this theme into immigration laws of today. Recently President Obama has submitted an immigration order, which legally allows 5million immigrants to stay in the country. But 26 states are suing the US government to stop Obama's executive action on immigration. I feel that the immigration laws in the US are good examples of not so proper equality/common humanity. Many people come to the US to better their lives. Although not all do. Some are criminals and I feel like the criminal stereotypes are the ones that people hear about the most and that’s what gives immigrants the stigma of being criminals. This country was founded on immigration because people wanted to get away from hard ships from their home land. Whether it was to practice religion, to get away from unjust rule or to try and better their lives. The states that are denying Obama's executive action on immigration are declaring it unconstitutional and would force increased state investment in law enforcement, health care and education. Should we ruin people’s lives that are trying to better themselves just because we are going to have to spend more money on things? Those are the things you have to think about with this theme of equality/common humanity.    

blog 5

This speech ties into the theme of equality and tolerance of the fellow man. The present day issue that comes to mind when I heard this speech was racial discrimination. Throughout the speech Chaplin was talking about how we are all a part of this world and in the conclusion he says “Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.” I think that if Chaplin was alive today he would say basically the same thing and argue that yes there has been some improvements but there is still a lot that needs to be changed.

I feel that racial discrimination is a very brood topic but in recent years I feel that there has been a lot more focused on people of Latin descent. Within the last week even it has been a major topic of discussion sparked by the fact that a Mexican directed movie won so many awards at the Oscars. Many influential people have spoken out about this topic.

Blog 5 -Revised

One of the issues Chaplin addresses in his speech, “The Great Dictator” is the equality of all people. A present community who has struggled and currently struggles with inequality is the LGBTQ community. For example the allowance and the prohibition of gay marriage. As humans, the LGBTQ community should have the right to determine what they want to do with their lives and if done so, not to be judged. Not only is gay marriage an issue, those who form part of the LGBTQ community are seen as indifferent due to their identities. However, there could be a change. Equality could and should be practiced for the LGBTQ community. An example of equality regarding someone who forms part of the LGBTQ community would be my dear friend. My friend is a transgender. My friend was always a very active individual in high school regarding grades, extracurriculars, and what not. Her dream was to attend Mills College. Mills College is an all women liberal arts college in Oakland, CA. She is currently enrolled in Mills College as a Bio Major, she loves it and is doing amazing there. My friend serves as an example of how the LGBTQ community should be treated, as equal as everyone else who identifies themselves as cisgenders. A legit example of woman power in the LGBTQ community besides my friend, is Laverne Cox. Laverne Cox is best known for her role in the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, playing the role of Sophia Burset. Sophie Burset is an incarcerated African American transgender woman. However, not only does Cox play the role of a transgender, but in reality she is a transgender. Cox has been awarded many awards due to her acting, but she also is the first transgender woman of color to produce and be the star in her own television show, which is VH1’s TRANSFrom Me.
http://www.lavernecox.com/ 

Blog #5

A present day issue that is related to Chaplin's speech is equality and tolerance.  Society in the present day has advanced in trying to establish equal rights to every person, but people are still not going to give up their dominance over others.  There are a good amount of people in today's time who believe that they have power over others because of their race, ethnicity, religious backgrounds, etc.  I believe it is a dominance issue that people have inherited from their ancestors who grew up in a time of equality only being practiced by the whites.  In the current day, there have been many provisions and expectations have risen to a level that each and every person should be treated with the same respect.  People should have advanced by now but there is still many issues and problems with equality among the people.  There is a song called 'One Day' by Matisyahu which really brings out the emotions in people not being treated the same way as others.  Matisyahu is a equal rights activist and this song really depicts how he says that one day, people will be able to come together and fight no more.  It might be tough and there will be obstacles but if you can get passed that, then one day people will be able to respect each other and be friends.  

Blog #5 Revised

In Charlie Chaplin's speech in the "Great Dictator", the theme that really caught my attention was equality. It's mainly aimed for women to get the same respect as men. Men are always perceived as dominant, powerful, and superior. But, women on the other hand don't receive the same as men. Women are distinguished as powerless, weak, unintelligent, and inferior. It just proves that women aren't viewed as equally among men. Many women also refuse to accept that their role in society is to stay at home and raise children while the man works. There is many powerful women out there, and it should inspire all women to accomplish anything, without any fear of judgment. Women should be allowed to choose what they want to do in life and to pick their own identity. They shouldn't have to obey the traditional roles of society. Women can do anything that men do, and it's all possible. We still have yet to prove that even more to society now. 

An issue that can relate to this theme is equality within all people. Just like the song One Day by Matisyahu, his song is about changing the world and stopping all the fighting and violence. A line of his lyrics that I really liked was when he says "One day this all will change, Treat people the same, Stop with the violence, Down with the hate." He has high hopes and faith that one day the world will come to peace and everyone will be free. He talks about the hope for that "One Day" that the world will change.

Blog 5

In Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" he mentions that men should be men and weren't meant to be machines. Even though that was a time prior to the widespread of personal technology, that thinking stands true to this day. Think back to the last time you used you cell phone. Chances are the last time you looked at your phone was within an hour. Today men are acting more and more like machines. We have taken the human element out of communication. Now days humans are so caught up in technology that we rarely talk to each other face to face. There's from the T.V. show "One Tree Hill" where Julian says," I've got this theory that if the phone was invented after texting people would be all like "wow, you can actually HEAR the person!" This quote seems to say that when technology is improved, we become more like restricted computers rather than sociable humans.

Blog Post #5

The present day issue that I will be focusing on in relation to Chaplin's speech is the usage of technology. As I look around in public places, all you see are the majority of people on there phones even when they are with friends and aren't even talking to one another. Over the years technology has greatly benefited our society in many ways but has also harmed us, due to the fact that a lot of people can't stop from using technology. Many people are eager to always buy the next big thing if it's either the latest phone, flat screen t.v, or car. Where people blindly buy whatever new product of the week is marketed to them. Taken directly from Chaplin's speech was a quote stating that "We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in." "Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want." Which still has continued to this day even from the 1940s, and I believe is actually getting worse. Meaning that something has to happen in our society in order for us to change the way we live. But with that being said I believe that technology has become so ingrained in our lives, and is one of the main moneymakers for businesses. That it will be very difficult for us to move away from.

Blog 5

As Chaplin talked about in his speech "The Great Dictator", he stated that there should be equality for all. Which there should be a change in a lot of issues for everyone to have equal rights but the one I want to relate it to is gay marriage and homosexuality overall. This is a big issue right now because it isn't allowed in all states which shouldn't be the case. Everyone is human and should have the same rights, even if they have different sexual interests. Chaplin says that we should fight for our liberty, which I believe in. Even if you aren't gay or if you are and want to make a change in the injustice then should stand up and fight against this. We can all relate to not being able to have something that we love and not being able to win a fight against something we are strongly passionate about so we should all be to help and be behind this issue. A modern song that can relate to this is "She Keeps Me Warm" by Mary Lambert.

Blog 5

The theme in Chaplin's speech in "The Great Dictator" that spoke out to me the most was equality.  While listening to Chaplin, I kept hearing "men" and how the men need to do something about the issues of that time.  I understand that "times were different then," but that doesn't give reason as to why women were, and still are, excluded from certain aspects of society.  Today, most American women are fighting for the wage gap and equality in the workforce.  However, what is not being recognized is just women in general being inferior to men.  We need to see that just because a woman is working a minimum wage job does not make her less of a human than a man who is the CEO of some company.  This society thinks a large income makes an individual more educated, kind, honest, respected, etc. than someone who struggles to make ends meet.  This issue applies to all genders, of course, but women tend to get dealt the shorter end of the stick.  A present day issue that speaks toward income acting as the definition of a person would definitely be Christian Grey from 50 Shades of Grey.  Despite all of the other issues that this book shows, Grey is seen as this powerful, strong man who deserves to be loved.  In reality, he is merely an abusive and manipulative person, but this is blindsided by the fact that he makes a lot of money.  I think we need to start basing people off of their actions, words, and promises rather than the income they receive or the plentiful amounts of decorations that they own.  We need to judge people on who they are rather than how much they make.  

blog 5 REVISED

An issue that speaks to Chaplin’s speech in The Dictator that is also very present in modern day society, is the overtaking of technological advances.  These advances have both pros and cons when it comes to society as a whole.  Although it is very nice to have basically unlimited access to the world in something as small as an iPhone, It is also threatening to its surroundings.  This particular advancement has led to loss of human interaction in the real world.  It has taken away individuals abilities to communicated on a personal basis.  Another issue that has risen from this is ones ability to think for themselves.  How many times a day do we google a question? Its that easy to find an answer to a math problem or a word’s definition.  What has the word come to that we can’t open up a dictionary, or do simple multiplication? This is particularly a problem for me because it has always been my dream to be a surgeon.  However, with the technological advances, modern surgery today has little brain power behind it.  For the most part, machines are preforming the life saving work that once was my dream. This does have a strong positive side though.  Many machines that perform these actions aren’t susceptible to human error.  This leads to better success and recovery.  Technological advance have both pros and cons, and always will. All that matters is what we as individuals decide to make of it.  A text where you can see overtaking of technology is 1984.  In this novel, the government uses technology to control everyones lives.  The quote "Big brother is always watching" acts as evidence to this claim.  George Orwell creates a world in which individuals are brainwashed and over controlled by the government's use of technology to the point that they can no longer think for themselves.

Blog #5

In the Charlie Chaplin speech in "The Great Dictator" one of the issues discussed was equality of all people. Today's rising issue of equality would be the feminist movement, wanting to make sure that all women have the same rights as men. One of these issues is making sure that women receive the same pay as men in the same working position, this was brought up in a clip from the Oscars this year. In the acceptance speech by Patricia Arquette for best supporting actress she bring up this point in her speech talking about how all women deserve equal rights and pay as men in America.

Blog Post #5

Soccer is the most diverse sport in the world. It does not have barriers against ethnic backgrounds, forms of governments, or geographic locations. Almost everyone and anyone can play it. There are professional leagues in almost every country and the World Cup is a competition between the world's best national teams. In those ways, soccer represents the society Chaplin so deeply desired. It does have some flaws though. Every once in a while, fans get ridiculously obsessed over results or blindly furious about players performance. For example, on April 27, 2014, during a Spanish League match, a Villareal fan threw a banana at the opposing team's defender, Dani Alves, attempting to make a racist "monkey" joke. Alves, being a better person than the angry fan, picked up the banana and started eating it during the match. This is exactly the kind of thing Chaplin would approve of. People trying to insult others and others not accepting their rude behavior and turning it into something positive instead. The days following that event were filled with many other famous soccer players posting images in support of Dani Alves and his fight against racism. It is one great example of how racism in this world, and in the world of sports, is still present to this day, and how we can also find a way to put away those invisible barriers.

Blog 5

A present day issue that can be related to the theme equality and tolerance is racism within the media. When I say the media I mean shows like fashion police. Just the other day one of the host made a comment about an African-Americans artists hair saying that it probably smelled like weed just because she had locs. However, when there are Caucasians with the exact same hair style the stereotype doesn't apply to them and the look is "trendy". I believe that the rules should apply to any and every race why does the hair have to have two different stand points based on the race sporting it? 

Another thing that relates to this is the song "I am not my hair" by India Arie in the song she says "I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within." What she means by that is don't judge a book by its cover, everyone deserves an equal chance regardless of how they look and I agree with her. Some of the greatest books may have dingy covers.

Blog #5

An issue facing us today that can also relate to Chaplin's speech in The Dictator is that of the take over of technology. Chaplin discussed how technology is not a negative thing, but its effects and how it makes humans act can be negative. This is seen with the use of cell phones. While cell phones are useful and helpful objects, they do pose a threat to basic human interaction. Even walking around campus there are so many people practically glued to their phones.
Chaplin stated that basic human instincts were good, yet society, with its technological advances, was spreading negative things such as greed. Technology is not bad, but what comes from it can be. While cell phones are good and useful there is a time and place for them. Some people think it is more important to update their instagram than it is to start up a conversation with someone else. While Chaplin probably never realized the severity of the issue of technology, he did acknowledge that it could be a problem.

This image shows how different we are now that we have cell phones. We are less social and engaged and more focused on our phones than what is going on around us. We should take Chaplin's words to heart and make sure not to let technology destroy our humanity.

Blog 5

A present day issue that is related to Chaplin's speech is equality and tolerance. Today in day there isn't a wide acceptance towards homosexual relationships. In some states they aren't able to get married and are made to hide in the shadows. Like the speech said towards the end "Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance," we need to fight to free these people who are pretty much enslaved. We need to stop the hate and intolerance because in the end of the day they are humans just like everyone and have feelings like anyone else. This is not an issue we shouldn't just ignore like Chaplin says we have to do something about and no one should be degraded for who they are. A modern song that also addresses this issue is the song "Same Love" Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert which also talks about the taboo that being "gay" is given and how no one should change who they are. 

Prompt: Blog 5

Think back on the themes we discussed in Chaplin's speech (the tensions between humans and technology, individualism, blind obedience, equality and tolerance, etc). Find a present day issue that speaks to one of those themes and discuss it. Then, brainstorm some other texts that speak to this theme.

Unit 1 Reflection

Follow this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EGp720VM00FhQmDSVB7siZDuA524G8-FKn-tWVXmXmk/viewform?usp=send_form

This is where you make a case for the grade you feel you've earned for this unit. This is more than just your Photo-Journal. It's everything we've done so far, including the blog, group work, class discussions, peer review. Look back on all your work and give yourself credit for the work you've done. I also want you to think about ways you can improve next semester.

Blog 4

For my photo-journal project I would like to use images that relate to me.  I am very interested in running, animals, and other hobbies.  I want to capture the inspiration that can spark motivation in others as it does for me.

For my photo journal I’d like to use the inspirational images that sport companies use to help try and sell their products. I have always enjoyed sports, they have been a big part of my life, and my major is exercise physiology. I like the images they use that show athletes coming from nothing and making it to the big leagues. For example an image of a raggedy soccer ball.  I think images like these really help people connect emotionally and help them believe that anything is possible with passion and hard work. Or images that show people persevering through an upsetting or major injury. I myself have had an upsetting injury and I can really appeal to images like that. Or I would also like to use images that help promote in preventing sports injuries. Not exactly sure what I want to do yet but something along those lines.

Blog 4

For my project I am going to compare how the same companies use different adds at different times or on different channels to sell the same product 

And how logos pathos and ethos is used at these different times.

blog 4

In my photo journal I want to go ahead and talk about how images can motivate people. I am always looking for motivation in my life so it would be interesting to see how exactly an image can motivate us. I also want to know for these particular images, why they were set out to motivate us in the first place.

Blog #4

For my photo journal, I will concentrate on images that show what it means to be American. This is a broad choice to pick, but I believe I can find images that can capture the essence of various perspectives, like immigrants, natives born here, the one that were here on this land before and those who make this land their home. I think there is a lot of room to appeal to more than just English speaking Americans since over the last couple years there has been an increase in immigration. This alters what it means to be American, and there are some aspects that have stayed the same.

Blog 4

For my photo journal I want the images I choose to mainly focus on emotions. I think comedy and sad advertisements/commercials really grab peoples attention. I'm not sure what pictures I'll use yet but I think that pathos is the best way to sell products because usually everyone can relate in some way. These kinds of ads don't just focus on a certain group of people, it's usually directed towards everybody.

Blog 4

For my photo journal, I want to concentrate on fitness ads. This covers a wide range of sports and just working out in general. Usually, only very fit people are used in the advertisements. However, those body types are very unrealistic to the average person who just wants to be more in shape. I've worked out constantly starting in high school my freshman year of football. I played all 4 years of football and two years of baseball. Sports were a huge part of my growing up and my friends too, yet none of us look like those guys on tv ads. They are almost discouraging to someone who has never worked out before or who is very overweight.

Blog #4

For my journal, I am going to use sports ads and personal experiences to show how sports can have a huge positive effect on your life. It's not only the fact of being in a sport that is the great thing, its that  being in a sport as an individual or as a teammate makes all the differences. I played full contact football throughout my whole life, also with wrestling. These two sports are what pushed me to do good in school, public activities and excel in almost anything I put my mind to.

Blog #4

For my photo journal, I am going to focus on sexual objectification in advertising. Many companies whether it is a small one or a big one, use sexual objectification in their advertising. It mostly takes advantage of women but sometimes men too. Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person as a an instrument of sexual pleasure rather than a person with a personality and feelings. I am going to focus on this for my photo journal because I am learning about it in my human sexualities class and it is very interesting. Hopefully by the time I am done with my photo journal, I will make an impact on others. It is important for people to look past the ads and look at the bigger picture.

Blog #4

For my photo-journal I'm going to focus on how the media portraits the concept of beauty on women. The media typically only show us the tall, skinny, size 0's on TV. They don't concern themselves with the more full, chunky, plus size women. The only time I see more full women on TV is when they are celebrities who have gained weight/ lost weight, they talk about health problems, or try to convince you to get that perfect beach body. The perception of beauty is changing the lives of many young girls. Many girls start hating the way they look at an early age and aim to fix themselves through plastic surgery. I wanted my photo-journal to be about beauty because I think its about time to break that barrier. Women need to start feeling more confident in their looks. "Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. Its not something physical." (Sophia Loren).

Blog 4

Ever since I was young sports have always inspired me to be the very best person I can be.  For my photo journal I want to show how sports can inspire and motivate somebody to reach their full potential.  I have been playing baseball all my life and I know there is still so much more for me to learn.  I have learned more about myself by playing baseball than anything else. I want to show that the real benefit of playing aren't the athletic skills, but how you change and learn from it.  SO, for my photo journal I want to write about images that show the work and dedication that you put in to a sport and the inspiration it brings to millions of people.    

Blog 4

For my photo journal, I want to use motivational and inspirational sports ads.  I feel like they are very interesting on how they depict society.  Currently ads are showing off very fit and the top tier of healthy trainers who have unrealistic bodies for the average person.  The Ads need to think about the majority of people and not just the few gifted athletes or models.  Ads should try to help show obesity, which is at an all time high in our country and give people hope that they can change.  They  need to show that the average person can do it, and not have them feel insecure when they see a model on an ad to be healthier.  People will react more to a realistic and reasonable goal to reach in ad.

For my photo journal, i want to go in depth about the music industry. I'm going to use this opportunity to focus on the positive outlooks on music, and what the industry is more or less like. Exploring and criticizing artists would be interesting, because theres so many legendary artists to choose from.

Blog 4

As usual, I always tend to have a hard time when picking a certain topic. I was leaning towards beauty, however it seems like there's a good amount of people who want to focus in that area. Therefore, after about 45 minutes of looking through random advertisements, I decided to focus on alcohol. Many advertisements are created to advertise the purchase of alcohol. I still don’t know whether to focus on how alcohol is promoted or comparing 3 different types of alcohol. Comparing based on the category of alcohol they fall into. For example, whether it’s beer, liquor, or wine. Wish me luck!

Blog #4

I have spent a lot of time volunteering at after school programs that are designed to make sure that elementary aged students have a stable routine and environment where they are able to finish their homework and participate in extracurricular activities. I think it's important for students especially at a young age to learn routines and have structure. I have no idea how I am going to translate this into a photo journal so I have to think of ways to connect this interest to my photo journal.

Blog 4

I think that for my photo journal I would like to focus on something that has been part of me most of my life. I would like to focus on sporty advertisements that motivate people to get up and enjoy a sport. Sometimes all it takes is an advertisement for people to say I want to be like that person and then they fall in love with the sport. Also for this project I would like to focus on sports that are not too popular among people because those sports need some recognition too.

Blog 4

For my photo journal, I want to focus on sports are how they are an entertainment industry. Sports have had a big impact on my life and I want to go into more in depth on how they fit into our culture. I will use pictures from many popular sports, not just in the united states but from around they world. These sports are possible because of the massive fan base that they have created and make their money off entertainment. Photos helps gain and kept follows that make the sports industry possible.

Blog #4

For my photo journal I really want to focus on domestic violence and the way the media and advertisements portray it. It's a topic I'm really interested in because these are world wide issues that are still continuing, and it's an important issue that not many discuss or make more awareness to it. It's also something I would love to get involved with. Making more awareness can change any victim going through this situation, and can save a life. It will revolve mainly around pathos because of how much emotion they put into the images or commercials they make based on domestic violence. Ethos can also play a role in this as well since some ads do involve a celebrity or even a well known organization to be more credible and persuasive.

Blog #4

For my photo journal I will focus on writing about advertisements that use tools to make their audience feel like when they buy their product, they are also buying a piece of ego, elegance, class, and social status. Things that the average person wouldn't pay attention to after looking at the ridiculously high prices. I will try to explore the use of colors, words, and images, along with pathos, logos, and ethos.

In my photo journal, I want to talk about how marketing and advertising teams use pathos or satire in order to sell their products to us, the consumers. I want to pull apart why use satire or comedy as apposed to other styles of pathos and the comparison of different cultures and how they use or why the don't use comedy as compared to the West and mainly American culture.

Blog #4

For my photo journal I want to use pictures that invoke emotions. I am not sure what kind of pictures I will use but probably something along the lines of animal cruelty. This is a subject that I am very passionate about and have strong beliefs against animal abuse and neglect.

Blog #4

For my photo journal, I've decided to focus on images that capture different ways that society views women. One of the things that I am really passionate about is women's rights and feminist ideals. One of the pictures I'm using is the one that I used for the Blog Post #2. It's the one with a woman's leg and there are markings on it and the stereotypes that have to do with their skirt/short lengths. I'm going to be using images that relate to that and other ways that women are viewed, such as how when men are doing anything that is considered "girly", it's a bad thing.

Blog 4

For my photo journal I plan on talking about the way ads can have an impact on wildlife conservationist acts. I will explain how the ads pertain to the viewers emotions and the positive effects it has on spreading the word about the wildlife problems.

Blog 4

For my photo journal I plan on using pictures that appeal to people's emotions. If I'm honest I don't really know what kind of pictures I'll use but I know for sure that they'll either focus on one subject and have different emotional ties or it'll be several subjects with one emotional tie. I'll probably be able to talk about ethos as well but I don't think that I'll be able to focus too much on logos.

Blog #4

For my photo journal, I would really like to do something on either LGBTQ+ rights or possibly just transgender rights.  I feel as if this topic isn't seen as something important or relevant, but it is definitely one of the most relevant topics for today's discussions.  I might want to include suicide rates within the LGBTQ+ community, but I would have to decide that once I finally choose the pictures that I believe would fit perfectly.  Of course, my photos will revolve heavily around pathos, but I do plan to include some logos.  Hopefully, I will even be able to provide a bit of ethos as well.  I know that this photo journal won't suddenly solve everything, but I really think it would be a beneficial way to bring these issues to light to people who might not know of them.

Blog #4

Commercials that really interest me are the ones that use humor to sell there product. And are oftentimes subtle in the way they convey there message. Anything from print ads to televised commercials, are memorable to me when humor is involved. That being said I tend to be more alert to funny commercials and watch them instead of changing the channel during the commercial break. And, commercials that tend to have ongoing storylines and/or sequels I really like. So for my photo journal I will be focusing on funny commercials that are related to the same concept/brand. Analyzing how they are selling there product even with the use of humor.

Blog 4

For my photo journal, I want to depict the way media portrays beauty in advertisements using ethos, pathos, and logos.  The idea of “beauty" has always really interested me.  I think that the amount of time, effort, and cost put into someone molding themselves into society’s view of what is beautiful is overly sufficient.  I think it is absurd that ones happiness can depend on their image, which relates back to how someone compares themselves to the image that media paints a picture of.  

Blog #4

I want to choose images that generate emotion. That emotion can be what ties the images together. I will probably have joy be the emotion that ties the images together. For example I was thinking I would use images that make me happy such as the ocean because it reminds me of home, or chocolate because I love chocolate.

Blog 4

The way the media portrays body image really interests me. The fact that "plus size" models are only a size 4 in the modeling industry really bothers me and this has a lot to do with the body image issues for young women. The media portrays men and women falsely in magazines, advertisements, and even films by using unrealistically thin or "fit" actors and models and by heavily using Photoshop. I think I would like to focus on the issues of body image and the effect it has on my generation in my photo journal.

Blog 4

The main things that really interest me are running and working out.  These two things are very important in my life and I loving doing them.  I like seeing how far I can physically push my body.  Running and working out constantly gives me a challenge.  Seeing my improvements and meeting my goals is so rewarding. Doing these makes me happy and makes me feel good about myself.  Also, running and working out are great to do when I am stressed out or in a bad mood.  Clearly, running and working out are two of my favorite things.