THANE'S THOUGHTS
BLOG POST #5 - PRODUCTION 7
The article by Pollock and Giroux that we read in week 4 states, "The glamorous multiple of multiple selves provided by Hannah Montana suggests that average kids can morph into the superstars they really are, simply by acquiring the right accessories" (Giroux and Pollock, 2010).
I chose to do a Hannah Montana remix style comic where she realizes that pretending to be someone she is not is not the right thing to do. Instead she comes out and tells her fan the truth in order to be a great role model for children.
The reading by Wendy Varney states; “Children use play to form affiliations in the local peer culture where they strategically use popular media as cultural capital (Varney, 2002). This made me think of a video game series called “NBA 2k”, I thought of this because there is a mode where you can create your own player and you get to live the lifestyle of a pro basketball player. This mode is strictly geared towards males who are black or live the perceived lifestyle of a black person. The slang, the clothes, the music, the food are all very stereotypical and your player gets major status if he can get good looking women. In my practicum class I see students discussing this video game all the time and many of them even talk like their character and say inappropriate things to girls in the class because they hear these things in the video game.
In her article, Karen Wohlwend writes “I suggest that Disney Princess dolls also “talk,” not through pre-recorded audio but through their sedimented film plots, scripts, and songs.” (Wohlwend, 2009). Girls who play with dolls are not usually only playing with dolls, they are most likely watching the shows and films associated with their Disney Princess, and probably also have clothes and posters of their favourite Disney Princesses. I find children who are obsessed with 2k also have a strong desire for all the products they see in the video game. Magically their favourite drink becomes sprite and the only clothes they want to wear are Nike or Jordan brand. My little cousin recently started playing the game and last time I saw him he was wearing a Nike sweatsuit and Jordan shoes, I asked him where he got his new style and he said, “2k”.
Toys and videogames are not just things that people play with, in many cases these things become a lifestyle for certain people. Children are so impressionable that these companies know that once they plant a seed with a toy like Disney does with their princesses or with a video game like the 2k series does, they can use those seeds to profit in so many other areas. Disney is able to profit on videos, shows, clothing and merchandise and 2k brings in a ton of sponsorship money from major companies like sprite and Nike. Consumers of these products are all in and once they get hooked they start to model their lifestyle through these products.
BLOG POST #4 - PRODUCTION SIX
BLOG POST #3 - PRODUCTION 5
Academic literacies can be a great thing but a problem is arising and becoming worse and worse because these literacies are not able to be related to the everyday life of our students, which makes it hard to use these academic works in schools. Based on my learnings from the class so far I would define critical literacies as; going beyond the text, taking what you have read and thinking about how it relates to what is going on around you and, or, challenging what is being read and offering words or ideas on how it can be improved. In his article, Morell states; “In a pedagogy of dissent, however, students can acquire the skills they need to “succeed” while also developing a powerful language of critique of systems of social reproduction” (Morell, 2007). The education system should provide the students with the best of both worlds, they should be able to learn and develop skills to help them to succeed in and outside of school and be given the opportunity to challenge what is being taught to them.
In their article, Michelle Stack and Deirdre M. Kelly state that, “The media are a central, if not primary pedagogue. Children and youth spend more time with media than any other institution, including schools” (Kelly and Stack, 2006). Having a critical lens, is essential, especially for children because the media feeds us so much misinformation that if we do not challenge it we will fall into their hands and believe everything they say which is never beneficial. Popular culture should not just be what the media feeds us, children should be able to take skills learned in the education system and use them to develop their own messages of popular culture.
Morell writes that; “Cultural theorists also see popular culture as a site of struggle between resistant subordinate groups and dominant forces that seek to capitalize upon and co-opt this resistance” (Morell, 2007). I do not believe that popular culture should be a site of struggle where dominant groups look to capitalize. Dominant groups have much more access to resources and finances that they can use in their favour to win these struggles. When we have societies like Disney conducting million-dollar studies on how to manipulate a nation and convince them to consume their product how are the subordinate groups ever going to win? The best way I see is through education, through education people can learn how to not fall prey to the tricks used by the big companies and use their critical lenses to see the real messages behind shows and movies such as Hannah Montana and High School musical.
BLOG POST #2 - PRODUCTION 3
Growing up I played hockey so as someone who is half black; I was often subject to ‘imposed’ representations. So many times I was told I should be playing basketball or told that I should have full white skin since I liked hockey so much. I never really challenged these things at all; instead I just did my best to fit in with both sides; the white people I played hockey with and the non-white people I hung out with at school and in my neighbourhood. I know the NHL is mostly white players so I thought that was the only reason for the comments but I see now that the media plays a large role in this as well.
The article by Stack and Kelly states; “The media are a central, if not primary, pedagogue. Children and youth spend more time with media than any other institution, including schools” (Stack and Kelly, 2006). The things children see and learn through the media are likely the things and values they will carry with them throughout their lives. So, if the media portrays things a certain way, children will adapt that way of thinking. This leads me to think of a Disney trilogy I loved as a child and still do called “The Mighty Ducks”. Of course, it was the one black kid on the team who had an attitude and who would constantly trash talk and clash with the coach. In the article by Appleman, he writes; “As school populations become more diverse, the task of helping students see themselves in the literature they read becomes more challenging for teachers” (Appleman, 2009). Although this is not an example that is about literature I believe it send the same message. Any child who watches these films are going to think they that player does not fit in. I have seen pretty much every hockey movie ever made and I can think of two characters that are black.
In the movie Reel Injun, we are shown a scene where an episode of Bugs Bunny is very discriminating towards Native American Peoples, and this absolutely shocked me. We constantly see Native peoples making the news for all their wrong doing but how come we never see shows and movies getting shamed on the evening news for their discrimination towards them? The article by Stack and Kelly states; “Understand that the major media will not tell you of all the acts of resistance taking place every day in the society, the strikes, the protests, the individual acts of courage in the face of authority” (Stack and Kelly 2006). Due to the way media portrays certain ethnic backgrounds it can be hard for people of those backgrounds to do certain things. While I went through years of comments playing hockey that was nothing compared to what Native peoples had to go through and continue to go through. The articles and the movie inspire me to want to help make a difference and challenge these norms and embrace different ethnic groups in every area of life. Hopefully one day we get to a point where discrimination does not exist and where western values are no longer considered the right values.
BLOG POST #1 - PRODUCTION TWO
After reading the article by Alverman and taking some time to think, I believe that new literacy are things that have become popular or are becoming popular due to the rise of technology in society today. Some of these new literacies are blogs, texting, imessage, WhatsApp and podcasts. The article states; “Intersections such as these between popular culture and new literacies have become quite common, particularly among young people with access to tools for integrating knowledge from multiple popular culture texts across different media platforms and then disseminating the remixed product through cyberspace” (Alverman: 2011). I think this quote is spot on because as a young person I believe that these new literacies play a large part in popular culture. My preferred method of getting news is by listening to various podcasts, or from social media. I dislike talking on the phone and would much rather text or imessage.
The article states; “The autonomous model, which characterizes reading and writing as neutral processes that are largely explained by individual variations in cognitive functioning and the motivation to achieve a literate status in life, assumes a universal set of skills necessary for decoding and encoding mostly printed text” (Alverman: 2011). New literacies differ from models like the autonomous model because there is less of a focus on reading and writing. New literacies allow for more creativity where expression can be shown through voice, or video or pictures and not so much old school reading and writing.
Debate number 2 in the article talks about whether the participation of young people in the pop culture world can translate from informal to formal education. Many people believe that there needs to be a bridge to lead the new literacy culture into formal education, I also believe that is the case. For example, me listening to sports podcasts everyday is not going to help me in my formal education but why can’t some school readings be in podcast form? There is so much technology available to us these days that I believe formal education needs to adapt and be open to incorporating new literacy and pop culture into its practices.
