13. Bonus-Discuss how the three waves of feminism are each trying to build on, and address shortcomings in the earlier waves' treatment of gender politics.

When it comes to gender politics there have been many waves in the thought of how women should be treated. In the first wave women were fighting for equal rights such as human rights or civil rights. In this classic ad the words "We can do it!" unites women together to fight for what they deserve. Later on the second wave developed. The second wave was based on recognition, how society looked at women. Some saw women that wanted to be politically involved as self-deviant, rebellious and downright unpatriotic. Because of this ad many women were seen as obtaining boyish qualities. The third wave took in the three waves but mainly rethought about the second wave. Those involved with the third wave still wanted to feminine but still wanted to have a voice that stood up for themselves. In comparing it to this ad, women may have thought yes "we can do it" but i still want to look pretty doing it.

12. Bonus-Discuss the South Park episode, "The Snuke" in terms of its construction of race in terms of whiteness and the Other

This episode of South Park displays how Muslims are portrayed as being a terrorist. The aesthetic is found through flattening discourse and simulation. The critical breaks down the ideals and breaks down meta-narratives which are the differences between the concept and the object. The ontological is based on performance. In the case of this episode it starts off as blaming the Muslims for being terrorist after finding out information of the Muslims they find more information about other attacks. The critical is seen when the boy in the red sweater is kind of apologizing to the Muslim kid. The aesthetic is seen throughout the episode because there are constant remarks telling the boy that this is not what is going on, that he is just over reacting. The ontological is seen when they look up the Muslim boys "myspace" and it doesn't reflect what the boy had said in school which starts this whole conflict of being attacked. The construction of whiteness is seen as powerful, they show Bush who is the president and white, and the British because they are white but are in the end defeated because they are considered as the Other.

11. Find two critical texts from the semester and discuss how they relate to or expand the arguement of your overall topic for the semester.

In Garnham's article he discusses the two developments in the history of cultural stuides. "First, the question of ideology has been immensely complicated by developments within the analysis of textuality...Secondly and crucially, the concepts of domination and subordination have widened from referring only to class to also include race and gender" (p. 619) Garnham's article relates to my topic throughout the semester because my topic talks about women and how they are dominated by the male gaze. Stuart Hall's article "The Whites of their Eyes" supports Garnham's article because it talks about the construction of ideology. "Three important things need to be said about ideology in order to make what follows intelligible. First ideologies do not consist of isolate and separate concepts,...Second,...ideologies are not the product of individual conscious or intention....Third, ideologisies 'work' by constructing for their subjects...positions of identifaction..." (81-82). This is important to my topic because it discusses how a person can not just look at one object of the ad, it is important to consider what the whole message of the ad is saying. For example several of the ads in my magazines had to be looked at from a bigger picture. I was to identify what the editor was trying to say from using the ads. Specifically in my ad I found out that there seemed to be some kind of fetish with countries at were in poverty. The women were seen with very little clothing, rips and tears, and the background indicated poverty as well. However this potentially was not the intention of the photographer or editor so they put "beautiful women" in the ad instead.

10. Using an image or video you find online, apply three critical texts we read during the semester and discuss how they are related to and build on one another.



This ad from Maxim can be used to explain the following articles: Ouellette’s article "Inventing the Cosmo Girl: Class identity and Girl-Style American Dreams", Sharp's article on "Disciplining the Housewife" and last but not least Rakow's article on "Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture." In Ouellette's article she discusses how the recent articles of Cosmo-Girl have now become part of a "sexualized symbol of pink-collar feminity." How these women that read Cosmo are targeted towards ads that emphasize sexuality and the advice articles about careers are more towards secretary jobs where they are seen as not doing much just to sit there and look pretty. In Rakow's article however she discusses the concept of "The Recovery and Reappraisal Approach" where the "recovery process has included searching for the lost voices or women and construction a matriarchal creative heritage." This concept is basically how women recover from being suppressed after so long. In Sharp's article she discusses how the media, in particular Desperate Housewives, portrays women of this stay at home mom who can handle working at home and taking care of the kids, and become sort of like a super mom. Women sometimes identify themselves as one of the characters from that show which brings me back to the purpose of using this ad. In the ad we see a woman showing a lot of cleavage becoming what is considered "sexy." Looking at this ad in Rakow's perspective you can think that the model is becoming this "sex symbol" because she feels empowered and is not afraid to be put down from other remarks that people have said about women. In Sharp's perspective it is a mere sense of self identification, which maybe some women out there can relate to being like this model.

9. A "news" story from the Onion News Netwrok and compare it to contemporary news story or clip from a "real" news source

Macbook Wheel

Real Apple news
These two videos are very similar in the fact that they use "branding techniques" as Jamie Warner as stated in her article. these "branding" techniques are the "techniques of commerical marketers to just sucn an end, in the hopes of persuading the citizen/consumer to trust their "product" to the exclusions of all others." In both of these "news" stories they are emphasizing the use of Apple products and that they are the best items out there on the market. In the case of the "Macbook wheel" will simplify the use of your hardrive, and that even though "it won't come out for 3-15 months" people already have them on their "wish list." They use actual people to emphasize that "hey it doesn't matter what the product does as long as it's an Apple product they are willing to buy it. In the other news story they use the same techniques. In this news story however they emphasize the fact that this is something that you need in order to make life easier for you. These two stories may seem like realistic news casts like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart but they are not. They have the same layout with headline news running across the bottom of the screen and speak in basicially monotoned voices that would be found in a "real news story," but they are not. They are just trying to sell their audience something.

8. Explain how, Mouse Trapper 2010 and Mickey Mouse Monopoly, are good examples of the different approaches of political economy and cultural studies

According to Grossberg(1995), he believes that "cultural studies ignores the institutions of cultural production, it celebrates popular culture and gives up any oppositional role; ...because cultural studies ignores economic, it is incapable of understanding the real stuctures of power, domination, ad oppression in the contemporary world." In the Mickey Mouse Monopoly however they do discuss the deep cultural meaning of the disney movies. How the "hidden messages" influence another person's perception about certain situations such as domestic violence. In the Mouse Trapped 2010, it shows how the economy effects them and how they are living "paycheck to paycheck;" that Disney is not really the place of where dreams come true because the people who work there are getting very little pay for all the work they do.

7. Explain how the following video is both an oppositional and dominant commentary on (or use of) gender and sexuality, and discuss the implications of the film from both perspectives.

This video approached mainly through the dominant the heterosexual, white male. The narration of the video is of a man that seems to be "white." Every time the man says bra he "coughs" in order to emphasize the fact that the woman is fixing her bra. On the other hand it is oppositional because of the woman. The woman is trying to look sexy by making her boobs look bigger and she is listening to the instructions that the narrator is giving her. Even so the body language that is seen here also makes the difference of the dominant. In the end the woman is on her knees while the guy is still standing above her, symbolizing that he is above her.

6. By drawing on the articles on the exotic and globalization from class, discuss the following advertisement

In this advertisement of Conan O'Brian the concept of globalization where things are seen from "around the world" but technically are from the perspective of the dominant. Conan makes it look as though it is easy to travel around the world and buy silk. In this ad you will also see how the "...Western "beauty myth": a homogenization of the desire female "look" as mostly young, thin, attractive, and heterosexual, wealthy, and predominately white" (Lemish, p.359) is missing. Instead they show old women with a lot of wrinkles, definitely darker than "white" people, and they seem as though they are not that wealthy. According to James Mckay and Helen Johnson "'Pornographic eroticism' is particularly prominent in media coverage...where...physiques and performances are the objects of constant gaze and are monitored for 'excess'." this is seen in the ad when Conan blows the kiss at the old lady and she is surprised to get that kind of respond directed towards her.

5. Discuss the following Flash game in terms of ideology and hegemony

Ideology is the construction of common sense. Hegemony maintains ideology. Ideology is displayed in this game by the supposed construction of common sense of where men should stand in when they are using the bathroom may it be on the end to provide the person with the "maximum amount of buffer zone" or simply leave then come back. This construction of the "buffer zone" is maintained because every time that the person gets an answer wrong it indicates whether or not it provides the maximum buffer zone. After repeating similar questions it makes the person as though well that is common sense of where the person should stand in order to avoid contact with others. This game also provides this ideology by the comments within the correct answers just as make sure to always look forward.

4. Discuss the following implications of the following image for cultural studies and the process of signification

This image implicates the difference between the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the object that we see deliberately, in this case the pipe. The signified is the concept we have behind the pipe. The signifier such as the material of the pipe and the shape of the pipe makes it a pipe but in reality it is just a 2-dimensional image that when the bits and pieces are combined create the image of the pipe.

3. The way race is portrayed in these two videos: Ghetto Delta and Everest College advertisement.

These two videos are similar in the fact that they portray black people as people that are not really educated. The difference is their approach to black. In the Ghetto Delta commercial the performance of black is done by a white cartoon. this character exaggerates the way "black people talk" and how they may act in a situation. In the Everest College advertisement however, the guy is not performing black. The setting is what sets him apart from the Delta ad. The setting of the Everest College ad is in an area that is filmed at night, in front of buildings that look as if they were in the projects or ghetto. another difference between the commercials is that the delta ad is performing the stereotypical black person whereas in the Everest ad they are trying to break away from that stereotype and get a better education for themselves.

2. Why do we avoid what I call "audience fallacies" and "authorial fallacies" in our writing?

"Audience Fallacies" are when the author makes an assumption of something that he or she believes the audience may follow. An example would be if someone was to say that all Asians do not know how to drive.  "Authorial Fallacies" are the assumed assumptions that seem like evidence, but really are not. The assumptions made through "authorial fallacies" are typically personal assumptions of the author. An example would be if the author was to present "statistics" that Asians do not know how to drive but did not cite them or the information was completely false. These fallacies are significant because they are pure assumptions. They are not based on true hard core evidence. When people do not realize these assumptions this might lead to people becoming misinformed.

1. Why do cultural studies theorists separate words with capital letters from those without, even when the words in question are not proper nouns?

Theorists separate these words such as "women" verses "Women" because they have different concepts. The concept of "Women" is used in a more generalized concept. "Women" is used to assume that all women do the same thing or think the same way. "Women" is more a socially constructed concept. On the other hand "women" is used to identify a specific kind of women.