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.