Blog #10: Harajuku Girls, the Blending of Cultures!

Globalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness among nations, cultures, and people. Which is supported and accelerated by technological developments. These interconnections can be seen through a concept known as Hybridization. Hybridization is the blending of cultures over time, that have blended from separate cultures. This blending occurs when one culture adopts another, and a great example of this is Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Girls.

The Harajuku Girls were first imagined by Gwen when she took a trip to the city of Harajuku, Japan. She was amazed by the difference in the culture in Japan, and immediately fell in love with it's foreign nature. Of all the new cultural experiences she was fascinated in, she found a particular fashion style the most interesting. In Harajuku there is a group of teens who dress in brightly colored, and 'anime' like fashion, and they call themselves 'Fruits”. These fruits have started a wave of fashion in there city, and Gwen immediately loved it. She took this idea of 'Fruit fashion' and brought it over to America with her new musical movement that she calls “Harajuku Girls”. She garbed four young Japanese girls in a similar fashion and turned them into a marketable cultural product. This 'Fruit fashion' was now being sold in America as perfume, and clothing, and music, when it once was just simply a way of teens to express themselves. This hybridization of two cultures shows that foreign ideas and things are much more marketable when combined with something that our society is comfortable with, like Gwen Stefani.

(The 'Fruits' of Harajuku, Japan)

(Gwen's 'Harajuku Girls', America)

Gwen Stefani is a marketing wiz, she brought a cultural practice from Japan to America and blended it with music, and American fashion and now she is even richer and more successful for it. This is merely one example of how Globalization works and effects our culture and society indefinitely.

Blog #9: Mac and PC Ad Appeal

  

     A commercial that I found to be quite successful in grabbing my interest and appealing to me are the Mac and PC commercials. These commercials personify the Mac and PC and give them human bodies and characteristics. These ads present two men, Mac is a young, casually dressed, and 'hip' looking dude, while PC is an old, balding, suited, and timid older man. These commercials try to appeal our ego's and represent achievement appeal. These ads are saying that if we use a PC then we are 'uncool' and will be unsuccessful, but if we switch to a Mac then we will gain achievement and acceptance just for owning one. We all want to achieve and feed our egos, most of what we do is inevitably to achieve great things. They are quite persuasive because they point out every human's greatest fear, not being 'cool' or young. We all want to achieve and be accepted by society and people who we find 'cool', and the Mac commercial's definitely accomplish this. I believe these commercials are very clever and the advertisers know their target audience well, and how to appropriately appeal to them. The only downside is that Macs cost a lot of money and are not easy to get if you are not at least upper middle class. I think I'll stick with a PC for now, but as soon as I get the money I'm throwing my PC to the curb and getting myself a Mac.

Blog #8: American Me 3 Act Structure

   The movie American Me, which I watched fairly recently has a good solid three act structure. The story is about a young Mexican American named Montoya Santana and his life growing up in prison and then afterward when he is released. The acts are divided like so; Act 1: Montoya's life from birth and then in prison, Act 2: after Montoya has been released from prison and tries to sell drugs to make a living, and Act 3: after several people overdose on drugs, eventually Montoya is arrested again.

     The first act begins by introducing Montoya. He is a young Mexican American who was the product of a brutal rape that was shown in this first act. Years later Montoya forms a gang with his friends, but they are soon arrested for breaking and entering. They spend the rest of their lives in Juvenal Hall, and then fifteen more years in prison. While in prison they join a large gang that is run by Montoya, and they begin selling drugs in jail. Eventually their gang starts to become divided and Montoya tells a new recruit to kill the other gangs leader to prove a point. This is the first major plot point of the film. Once the recruit kills this other man the story escalates into the next act. The first act introduces Montoya's gang and suggests that the gang might split up, and at the end we Montoya kills the man trying to split the gang to prove a point. But did his actions really stop this division?

        In the second act right after the recruit kills that man, Montoya is let out of prison. Once he is let out he is introduced to the drug world outside the prison. He resolves to sell drugs for a living on the outside. While he is doing this he learns how much things have changed while he was in prison. He is also introduced to his love interest of the movie, Julie. The two of them go through a romantic montage of sorts, but meanwhile in the prison things are not going so smoothly with their gang. The gang begins acting on their own and start to divide once again. They rape the son of a prominent drug lord that is competing with Montoya's gang. In retaliation the drug lord sends out pure uncut heroine to the Mexican community and over 30 die. One of which was the younger brother of Julie, who finds out that it was because of Montoya's gang that the rival gang retaliated and let these drugs out. She leaves Montoya, and all he has left is his gang once again. This act ends with the death of Julie's little brother, and afterward at the funeral. From this the film transitions into it's final act. Where Montoya learns of the rape of his mother and starts to questions his actions in the gang.

          In the final act Montoya is told by his father that he is a bastard child and the result of a rape. After this the recruit from earlier is released and marries. Montoya attends the wedding and gives the recruit cocain as a gift. However Montoya is eventually caught by the police and is sent back to prison. Thus the climax begins as the gang decides now to kill the recruit for getting Montoya in prison. Montoya tells them to forget about it and not kill him, but they set it up anyway. In this final act the gang goes against Montoya and kill the recruit using his own brother. The recruit is killed, Montoya is stabbed to death by the new leader of the gang, and several kids begin to set the cycle in motion again by forming their own small gang. The climax ends with Montoya and the recruit dead, and the gang starts over with a new leader.

       American Me wasn't the best movie, but it did have a solid three act structure and followed the formula well. Each act escalated the stakes, transitioned into the next, and implied complications for the rest of the film. If you want a recommendation for this film however I say no, but I'll let you watch it on your own and develop an opinion. After all it wasn't that bad, just really slow.

Blog #7: The Venture Bros' story structure.

There are three different types of Narrative Fiction programs in terms of the typical TV sitcom. Series, Serial, and Episodic. Of these the most common among sitcoms is an episodic story.

An Episodic story means that each episode ends with some sort of resolution and in the end the characters are all back to normal. There is not much character arc in this format, and even if a character “learns something”, inevitably they will just go back to their old ways in the next episode. Almost as if the events in the previous episode never happened. In fact it is rare that the characters will bring up past adventures in an episodic story line. For the most part all problems seem to be solved within a thirty minute time period, and then never referenced again. There are however some TV sitcoms that started as episodic and can either present features of a series or turn into one. One such example is my favorite animated TV show, The Venture Brothers.

The Venture Brothers is a story about a washed up 'super scientist' and his two sons, and all of the exploits and adventures they go on. This show started out as more of an episodic storyline. Each episode presented a problem, like the titular characters Hank and Dean Venture being captured by a super villain and their bodyguard, Brock has to save him. Each episode presented these conflicts and solved them, more or less with-in thirty minutes. However, after the completion of Season 1 the show adapted into more of a series. The episodes still resolved within the time frame of the show, but events and plot devices stayed with each character. Some characters began to die off, and did not come back, while other characters really developed throughout each episode. We the audience get to see this constant development of the characters, especially that of Hank and Dean. This show is as of yet not completed, with still just one episode left until the finally. So it is not known if the show was all heading in a single direction from the start. If the finally sums up the events that have happened and ties all lose ends together then yes, I would say it truly has become a series.

If you haven't guessed by now I am a huge fan of the Venture Brothers. If I could go off and tell you more I would, but I would not be following this blog prompt if I did. So I instead urge you to watch it for yourself. It is a great story, with great characters, references, and a brilliant theme of 'failure' and how we all are in a way. As for the prompt of this blog however, I would say that this is a perfect example of an evolution from episodic to series.

Taxi Driver is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I know how almost every scene looks exactly, and can quote it perfectly. However I had no idea that angles and shots had so much power, and part of the reason I love Taxi Driver is because of it's brilliant use of shots and angles. Three in particular really stood out to me, the High Angle Shot, Medium Shot, and Close Up.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCDXRTbXd2Q) <-- (Go to 5:15 for the shot.)
The best example of the High Angle shot in the film Taxi Driver is right after the climax, when Travis kills the gang members and sits on the couch sure that he will soon be dead. The police enter the room and the camera pans high above the actors and slowly moves out of the room and follows the path that Travis took to get up to the room. This scene shows that Travis has lost his power, He tries to kill himself after he kills the last gangster but, he has no ammo left. He also lost all four of the weapons he had, and now is back to being a ordinary man. The scene really evokes just how small humans actually are, despite how powerful we can be. In the end we are all helpless, and guns only give you power for so long.

My favorite Medium Shot is when Travis is talking to Iris in the restaurant. Travis invites Iris (a 14 year old prostitute) to get breakfast with him. Travis really wants to help Iris get out of the life of a prostitute and move back in with her parents. This whole scene uses medium level shots, which help to develop these characters' relationship. Travis feels that he has wasted his life and has nothing to really give to anyone, but he feels that maybe if he helps Iris he might feel better about himself for making a difference in someone's life. Iris has never had an older man like Travis treat her so nicely and she really comes out of her shell in this scene, despite the fact that she declines Travis's offer to help her. These two characters develop a lot in this one scene, and the viewer finally sees Travis's true motives as being good.

My favorite Close Up shot occurs quite often while Travis is driving his Taxi. Every time he looks in his rear view mirror we get a close up of his eyes. This is always a powerful shot because we see Travis's genuine reaction to what is happening around him. The first time he meets Iris she gets into his Taxi and tries to escape from her pimp. We see a close up on Travis's eyes staring at her through the mirror, which evokes to the viewer that this is important. Once Iris's pimp catches her he throws twenty dollars into the taxi and tells Travis to forgot what happened. We once again see this close up and Travis stares at the money on his seat. This whole scene tells us that Travis desperately wanted to help Iris but in the end was to slow to make a decision and wasn't happy with the outcome, without Travis having to say one word.

Taxi Driver uses shots and angles masterfully, and each one ca tell us something about the scene and the character without any lines being said. I hope to learn more about the use of these tools and master them just as well as this movie has.

Blog #6: The Star System, Sheila Buff

In the classic Hollywood era and even somewhat today, when an actor becomes prominent and popular they will tend to reprise similar roles in different movies. This has been true of actors like Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, Will Smith, and more recently Sheila Buff. When these actors are cast in a particular role (in this case let’s say action movie) and gather a lot of fame, they tend to casted in more movies of the same nature. Bruce Willis and Samuel Jackson are almost always action heroes, hardened criminals/cops, or super powered beings. Because of their continued success within the studio system they will keep being casted this way. Looking at new stars like Sheila Buff, we can see the evolution of his roles in the film industry as he has bounced from family comedies, action/thrillers, and perhaps more dramas in the future.
With his first starring role in “Holes” the young actor really took notice of the public, having really branched away from his initial role in the television show “Even Stevens”. Although Holes wasn’t the type of genre he would eventually gain fame for, it is important to note his major debut. Afterward he had yet another major role in the movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, which was a family movie like Holes. However, his real breakout role into the action/thriller world was in Disturbia. This movie upped his personality even more, by showing a much more mature and romantic Sheila. However his awkward mannerisms stayed with him, making him the perfect type cast of the ‘awkward guy that gets the girl’. It’s from here that eventually he went on to what he is best known for, “Transformers”. From here any movie that needed a young kid in a major role would go to Sheila. He has starred in such roles as “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Eagle Eye”. The studios seemed to cast him in the same role in all these movies. There is some variation like in Indiana Jones, but although he was supposed to be a Greaser he still seemed like the same old Sheila.
The studio system has not changed in the last 90 years, stars become popular, and they remain so as long as they remain acting in movies that people expect from them. Perhaps Sheila may break out in a different role staring soon with movies like “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, but we can’t tell as of yet. Will Sheila remain popular and become the Will Smith of this generation, or will he fall and be forgotten?

Blog #5: All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm

All in the Family was a family based situation comedy created in the early 70s. It was one of the first shows to cover risqué topics such as race, sexuality, gender roles, abortion, and religion. In comparison to contemporary shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, these same issues have become normal topics and people no longer are surprised by their presence in today's shows. There are many similarities and differences between All in the Family and Curb your Enthusiasm.
One such similarity is obviously that they both cover much of the same subject matter. All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm have both dealt with subject matter like racist attitudes, gender roles, sexuality and even make fun of serious things like death and abortion. However there are a few differences. Archie Bunker has been described as a 'lovable bigot' and as such expresses his conservative views and ideals, but is still liked by audiences. Larry Davis on the other hand is not a bigot at all. He is just a selfish individual who will gladly set up other people to take his fall, or resort to racist ideals or behave in a different manner then usual just to get his way. Although Archie is selfish as well, Larry is not a stubborn conservative. When Larry does or says something it is likely that he is lying. Curb Your Enthusiasm did deal with subjects that were not covered in All in the Family. Like drugs and prostitution for example. These particular issues might have been too risqué even for Archie Bunker.

Blog #4: The Evolution of the Radio

     Within the history of the radio, technological change has helped to shape it greatly. These changes improved the radio by increasing the distance in which they can broadcast, creating more uses for the radio, making them small enough to keep in each and every home, and with the formation of industries like RCA it helped regulate the radio and turn it into a successful media format. The end result of all of this change is the radio we all listen to today.

       The way that technological change works is as years go by our technology advances. People invent new ways to solve everyday problems, or they take inventions and improve upon them. When a creation is improved it gains multiple new uses. The radio changed in this exact way. For example Guglielmo Marconi created the radio telegraph system, a new kind of telegraph capable of transatlantic transmission. This new telegraph helped him to establish the British Marconi and American Marconi two way radio businesses. One of the biggest impacts this invention had was it's use during the Titanic incident. It is said that the Titanic used this radio to report their disaster in 1912. The man who was said to have relayed this fateful message was the same man who would later develop the commercial radio industry, David Sarnoff.

       Sarnoff was the director of the RCA (Radio Corporation of America), and his corporation would later create radios that people can keep in their homes. Before these radios were mainly used as two-way communicators during WWI, but by the end of the war radios were returned to the public and their use would change yet again. By 1922 their were over 500 radio stations and radios became for sell for everyday use. Soon almost every household would have a radio and families would gather around it and listen to their favorite programs. Amongst these stations there featured live music, heroic tales and adventures, and news of the goings-on in the world around them. Even though the television replaced it as the a main media source around the 1950s, radio still prospered as a source of music, and secondary source of entertainment and news.

       From distress transmitter, to two-way radio, to an entrainment source in the household; the radio has evolved greatly throughout American history. In fact if not for the radio, would anyone have thought to create televisions and computers? I believe that radio was an important stepping stone in technological evolution, and without it we might not have the luxuries we have today.

Blog #3: Can Media Make Us More Paranoid?

When I was a child I would always try and watch movies with my parents, regardless of the content. They would check out a movie every weekend, and I plead with them to let me watch it. They would always say no because the movies they rented were rated R, but that didn't stop me. I would wait abut ten minutes until they got situated on the bed and sneak back into the room. I would crawl until I got to the foot of their bed, and then I would lay underneath it, face the TV and enjoy the rewards of my deception. I don't really remember most of them, since the plot of grown up movies were boring and hard to follow for a four year old. However, there is one movie that I remember so vividly that it still gives me goosebumps to this day. One night as I crawled into my spot under the bed I noticed the tone of the movie this night was a lot darker. Before I knew it I was watching in the middle of “Salem's Lot”.

I was immobilized with fear as I laid there and prayed for it to end, but unfortunately for me it was a long movie. Later that night I could not sleep. I was too afraid that a vampire would come knocking on my window and ask me to let him in. I threw my blanket around my neck and laid awake hoping my blanket alone would be enough to stop the blood suckers from getting me! Even to this day I still sleep like that. I am not still afraid of vampires, but if I don't cover my neck just so I get those same goosebumps I got when I was four. This irrational fear I had of vampires can be better explained using the cultivation theory.

The cultivation theory explains that people who are overexposed to violent media can develop the unrealistic mind set that “This can happen to me”! While it is true that violence does exist in the real world and innocent people can become victims, it is not likely that they will. Children who watch violent programs on TV will become more paranoid about being exposed to violence themselves. Like if they watch a gang movie in which a character is shot to death, they will believe that this could happen to them as well. In movies like “Final Destination” character's die in common everyday situations, but in over the top and ridiculous ways. Movies like this make people much more paranoid about these every day situations (such as working out at the gym, or going to a tanning salon) thinking that they might die as well. In my case I watched a movie about vampires and became irrationally paranoid of a creature that does not even exist. In reality the chances of me being attacked by a vampire are about as likely as walking outside and being randomly shot to death, or triggering a random chain of events that eventually leads to me getting my head sliced off.

(The link below are a collection of scenes from the Final Destination movies. These are very graphic, so if you have a weak stomach do not watch them. I provided the link to show how ridiculous and unlikely these deaths are, and yet somehow they make you scared to leave your house.)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ6WKRTV34I)

It is truly amazing that media can have such an effect on us. Even when we grow up and learn that monster's aren't real, there are still other things that television can teach us to be afraid of. How do we change this mind set? Well, I believe if we accept that media for the most part is fictional, then we can accept that we are generally safe from violent crimes and murder. As for me, I cope by covering my neck while I sleep. Yes it might be stupid to you, but when the vampires rise up and take power we will see who has the last laugh.

Blog #2: Coke or Soda? The concept of Hegemony

About 9 years ago I went to a restaurant with my Grandfather in Pueblo, Colorado. Once we were seated our waiter walked up to us and asked, “What would you like to drink”? I answered, “I'll have a Coke”, to which he responded, “Diet or Regular”? I was a little confused so I said, “Ahh a Sprite”. Our waiter then laughed and asked “What made you change your mind”? I said “Um I didn't, I said I wanted a coke and for it to be a Sprite”. He laughed once again and said to me “You must not be from around here. We refer to it as 'Soda' or 'Pop' here. But for future notice, Coke is a brand of soda, not it's entirety”. I felt so stupid after that interaction, and since then I've made sure to say soda instead of coke. But that begs the question of why we say coke to refer to all soda in general, as if it is not a brand and instead just another term for it. Countries like Afghanistan, the UK, and the United States all use the word 'Coke' as slang for soda, so this is something that has become quite dominant in the world. I believe the answer for this can be find thanks to the concept of Hegemony.


(The link below is a map of the US and there areas in which 'coke' is used)
http://popvssoda.com:2998/

Hegemony is the capacity of the ruling group that enables it to maintain its power and reinforce its ideology. In other words it is the way that one person, thing, or idea gains and maintains dominance over anything else. Hegemony has four characteristics that give things like the word coke dominance. Its control comes through consent, which means that people are not forced or tricked, but willing follow. The term Coke is not forced on people, we simply just use it as a 'slang' word. This moves into the second characteristic, the term becomes common sense. Because we refer to all sodas as coke it becomes common sense. “I'll take a coke and make it a Dr. Pepper!” We don't find anything strange about that sentence, even though we technically just asked for two different soda brands. The third characteristic makes it seem that this dominant ideology is natural. The forth characteristic of hegemony is that this is an ongoing process, however it is not permanent. So perhaps if I keep correcting people about Coke, we can all be on the same page about sodas.

1st Bolg; Why I'm taking RTF 305

I am taking RTF 305 because film and other new media forms have always interested me. This class is my first step on the ladder to success, and I am very excited to be here. Something that I hope to learn from this course is basically, how to get started on my career in film. I also want to learn as much as I can about new media and to watch all of the movies shown in class and learn from them as well. I've never done a blog before so I am sorry if this isn't very long. I will try to get the hang of this blog stuff.

And enjoy this video I made just for fun. Haha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwoKnfG7fN0