May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor...

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple years it's almost certain that you've heard of the Hunger Games franchise. Originally it began as a dystopian trilogy written by Suzanne Collins however, with the release of four movies so far the franchise has reached new heights. To summarize, the Hunger Games is based on the idea of an annual competition where kids, or tributes as they are called, are forced to kill each other for public entertainment purposes. In addition to this, the tributes are able to receive aid from "sponsors" throughout the games.

Now this idea of kids killing other kids may sound absurd and extreme but what many people don't realize is that this concept is already a part of our lives today. No of course kids aren't being forced to kill each other but this idea of kids competing against each other is nothing new. Nowadays teenagers are competing against each other in terms of how many likes their profile picture gets or how many Instagram followers they have. There's this constant need and desire to get more likes, followers, reblogs, etc... Kids are beginning to base their worth on this form of validation from others. There's this idea in their minds that success on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram equals success in real life. Therefore its interesting to see to what extent people will go to in order to gain this idea of success and popularity. For example, some people have resorted to spending actual money to increase the amount of followers they have on Instagram. This example perfectly demonstrates teenagers' need to be or at least appear to be successful in social media.

Also as seen in the Hunger Games, the importance of having people like you is highly emphasized in today's society. This idea that people liking you can be transformed into power is seen through the "sponsor" figures that provide the tributes with supplies when they are in the arena. In social media today this same idea is true and can most clearly be seen on YouTube. People on YouTube with many subscribers and high video view counts have a unique form of power. They are able to connect with a very large audience and in many cases this can be used to sell products or ideas.

As you can see we haven't quite reached the level of sending children into an arena to slaughter each other, but there's no denying that we live in a world where young people are constantly being pitted against each other through social media. 

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A Critique of Little Mix's "Salute"

Little Mix, a recently famous all-girl group released their song "Salute" and its accompanying music video in 2014. The lyrics of the song quickly single out the sole audience with phrases like "Women all across the world listen up we're looking for recruits". So from the lyrics it is obvious that this song was meant to empower females and call them to arms in the war against gender inequality. However while the lyrics of the song may do a good job of inspiring this idea of female empowerment, the music video was found lacking in its portrayal of this message.

The video begins with a short scene for each member of Little Mix however instead of being shown in authoritative positions they are shown hiding behind objects or sprawled over objects such as chairs. The video is set in a construction yard of sorts with various construction equipment and abandoned/empty buildings. The next scene shows one of the members of Little Mix dancing with two men. However these men are on leashes of sorts which shows the dominance that she has over them. This song was very clear with its message about men "We don't need no man" however instead of just portraying both genders on equal terms they had to go a step further and show women as being in control of men.

There are many dance scenes in the video and it's important to note on the style of dance. The dancing shown in this video is very aggressive with lots of stomping and jerky movements. This aggressive behaviour goes along with the lyrics "If you're ready ladies, better keep steady ready, aim, shoot". These lyrics depict the struggle and fight against gender inequality and encourage women to join this fight "Sisters we are everywhere, warriors your country needs you".

While both the song and video are working to promote female empowerment, the video in some cases goes against this. Throughout the video we continuously see the members of Little Mix and the other women in the video wearing provocative clothing and in some cases they are even being portrayed in a seductive manner. Now why would a music video for a song with the sole audience of women need to portray women in this sexual/seductive manner? The answer of course is that there is no answer. There was no need for these women to be portrayed in this degrading manner and it's interesting to see how even in a music video for a song about female empowerment, women are still depicted in this manner. This depiction of women simply suggests then that the power women have is from their sexual allure and their ability to seduce men.

While the message derived from the lyrics of this song is encouraging to women it seems that the person producing this video was unsure about what female empowerment and gender equality actually looks like. 

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FOA Reflection

I recently completed my first further oral activity which was based around the question of "What does advertising reveal to us about society?". The topic I chose to explore for my FOA was racism against African Americans in advertisements throughout history. To explore this topic I chose four different advertisements from varying time periods. The first advertisement I chose was a recent advertisement from computer technology company Intel. The second advertisement was from a recent Nivea advertising campaign. The third and fourth advertisements were both from many years ago, one being an ad for Cream of Wheat and the other advertising Aunt Jemima pancakes. My presentation analyzed the racist aspects of these four advertisements and proved that throughout the years racism against African Americans has remained a part of advertising.

            In my presentation I was able to meet the learning outcome of "Analyze how audience and purpose affect the structure and content of texts" through the analysis of my advertisements. For example I looked at how pre-existing stereotypes of the target audience may have an effect on the design of the advertisement.

            Overall I feel like my presentation was rushed and not as thorough as it could have been. While I was able to complete an accurate and detailed analysis of the advertisements prior to the presentation, I was unable to communicate all of my ideas in my actual presentation.  I feel like I was somewhat successful in my presentation however it was definitely not as successful as I would have hoped.

            While I feel like I performed decently in all the criteria, there were some criteria that I did better in than others. I felt I was weak in criteria D as I sometimes had trouble communicating my ideas in my presentation. I feel that in my initial analysis I was quite strong in criteria A and B however I feel that much of this analysis was not carried over into my actual presentation.

            From this further oral activity I learned that preparation truly is the key to a great presentation. For future presentations I will be sure to prepare more thoroughly than what i did for this presentation.

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Written Task 2

       The advertisement I will be looking at for this task is a recent advertisement from computer technology company Intel. This ad is obviously directed at a specific audience due to the subtle racism that is present in the ad. From the scene in the ad it can be deduced that the target audience of this ad is white male business owners. If this advertisement was aimed at a different audience, such as an African American audience for example, it would be designed in a much different manner. The man in the image who is portrayed as the authority figure or the position of power would most likely not be a Caucasian but instead an African American. The reasoning behind this being that it would be easier for African American business owners to relate with the image and the scene being portrayed. People are more likely to look at an ad if they are able to identify with it.

      Something else that would also be different would be the portrayal of the six workers. In the original advertisement all of the workers appear to have identical features and be in identical positions/poses. However if this ad was being directed towards an African American audience there would most likely not be this generalization of the workers. They would all be given different features to make them unique from one another and to identify them as actual people instead of just the role of workers. Or better yet there would be some diversity among the workers for example there would also be some Caucasian workers instead of them all being African American. The original advertisement subtly hints at the idea of African Americans being inferior and therefore in that context it makes sense that they would be shown as the workers. However with African Americans as the target audience this inferior portrayal of their race as the sole working class would be heavily frowned upon and therefore not a smart marketing decision. It is clear that the audience of an advertisement plays a huge role in the actual design of the advertisement. Once the conscious decision of the target audience has been made then the smaller and more subtle aspects of the advertisements are shaped to suit that specific audience. 

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Advertisement Analysis

Recently we've been looking at the practice of advertising and also what it says about our culture and society. In order to investigate this further we were divided into groups and given an advertisement to analyze.

This is an advertisement from Marlboro - a popular cigarette brand - which was produced in the 1950s. At the top of the ad we see the tagline "Escape from the commonplace" and underneath we see an image of an attractive and happy couple. In the image the man is lighting the woman's cigarette and they appear to be in an exotic location which is identified as Guatemala. Below the image in large font is the phrase "Enjoy something different...Try Marlboro Cigarettes" and also a small section of text describing the cigarettes quality. We also see a picture of a cigarette box and text which says "Beauty Tips (red)".

As mentioned before this advertisement is from the 1950s and by analyzing it we are able to gain a better understanding of what the culture and social ideals were like at that time. This ad demonstrates the importance of appearances and looks at the time. This is seen in the attractiveness of the couple and also the exotic location in which this scene is taking place. Another example of this emphasis of appearances at the time is the "beauty tips" style of cigarettes. The idea behind the beauty tips was that the red filter would prevent your lipstick marks from being visible on the cigarette since the colour would be the same (red). Therefore the designers of this advertisement were obviously trying to create a link between their brand of cigarettes and beauty.

Focusing on the happy couple I mentioned earlier, this advertisement demonstrates the idea of trying to sell happiness. From this we can assume that at the time happiness was a very important thing to not only achieve but maintain. What this ad is basically saying is "With these Marlboro cigarettes you too could be as happy as the couple in the picture!". While we know that this isn't true, that picture and the idea of linking those particular cigarettes with happiness will remain in the viewers mind and might subconsciously affect their decision to buy those cigarettes later on.

After analyzing this advertisement I would say that no groups in particular are ignored or marginalized. However there is the fact that the advertisement contains only white figures which is simply a reflection of the racist attitudes at the time that it was published. 

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Should the practice of using Photoshop in the media be banned?

For many years Photoshop has been used to "re-touch" images portrayed in the media however recently people have begun to notice just how ridiculous this practice has become. Models and celebrities are now being altered almost beyond recognition in order to promote an unattainable idea of beauty. Just looking at a few examples of this one must ask themselves "How many more waistlines will be slimmed or wrinkles removed before someone bans this unhealthy practice?".

Studies over the years have shown that there is a direct relationship between the self esteem of young girls and the advertising they're exposed to. These girls are constantly having pictures of these supposedly perfect women shoved in their face and told that this is what they need to strive for. This idea of perfection can lead to very serious eating disorders such as anorexia. Don't believe it's that serious? Let's take a look at the facts:

•         95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25
•         91% of women surveyed on a college campus had tried controlling their weight through dieting
•         Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents
•         In a survey of 185 female students on a college campus, 58% felt pressure to be a certain weight, and of the 83% that dieted for weight loss, 44% were of normal weight.

All the facts are there yet many magazine and clothing companies still try and defend their use of Photoshop by calling it harmless. If allowed to continue, this practice could have devastating effects. Already over just a couple of years our perception and idea of beauty has become so warped by the media yet for some reason we still allow this to continue. It's time for the law makers to put a stop to this before the damage becomes irreversible.

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Written Task #1

Rationale

Ever since technology has begun integrating itself into our everyday life we have been able to see and track a change in the English language and the way we use it. One technology in particular has had a significant impact on the language we use every day: texting. The first text message was sent in December 1982 and it simply read "Merry Christmas". Throughout the 1990's texting became more open to the public but still was nowhere close to its current popularity and usage. Since then this remarkable form of communication has evolved into a language of its own with its unofficial rules, abbreviations, and structure. 

Along with this new form of communication comes many complaints and this is the topic I have chosen to explore. The article I found is highly opinionated and takes the stance that texting and other forms of technology have had a negative impact on the English language and on the literacy of this generation. I have chosen to write two letters to the editor in response to this article in order to go more in-depth into this topic. I chose this text type as it allows me to explore both sides of this argument by writing from two different perspectives with very different opinions on the matter. One letter will be written from the perspective of an English teacher while the other will be written from the perspective of a college freshman. Because of this difference in perspective, both letters are completely opposite in audience and purpose. Overall, the opinionated and argumentative perspectives of my two letters will help to further explore and discuss the topic of language and technology in an informative yet interesting way.

Letter to the Editor #1

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-483511/I-h8-txt-msgs-How-texting-wrecking-language.html

Texting is ruining this generation

Ezra Fitz

16 October 2014

I know some people may think that my opinion is  a bit extreme but I have firsthand knowledge on this matter and I can honestly say that throughout my years as an English teacher I have been able to slowly observe the decline of literacy among my students. I have to stop myself from outright cringing every time I grade a paper due to the type of language and grammar that has begun to creep into these supposedly academic essays. Students these days rely too heavily on autocorrect when texting their friends which can lead to laziness and sloppy spelling when it comes time for them to perform without this crutch that they are so used to leaning on for support in their writing.

My students are used to writing in short sentences that are most efficient in getting their point or message across in a limited amount of characters. However, with this development I feel that a certain poetic quality is lost. Rarely do you find a variety of adjectives in a text and you'll be hard pressed to try and locate any form of punctuation whatsoever. This style of writing has begun to show up in their papers and this is where the real problem lies. If one were to look at a sample of essays from my class you wouldn't even know commas or anything like them existed. I mean, don't even get me started on the number of run-on sentences I have to correct every time I give out an assignment. The number of periods missing from their papers equals the number of pills I have to take in order to get rid of the headache that comes from grading these sloppy papers.

As mentioned before, students are used to having autocorrect there to fix all of their spelling mistakes. However, once this is taken away from them their spelling begins to crumble and turns into that of a third grader. It saddens me to know that some of my students don't even know the difference between "their", "they're" , and "there".

While I agree that texting can be useful and that it certainly has its advantages it also comes with many drawbacks that in some cases may out-weigh the positive aspects of it all.  We gain convenience but at what price? The illiteracy of our children? Some would argue that this price is too high and I am certainly one of those people.  So next time when you're considering whether to buy your child a mobile phone please think of the permanent damage you may be doing to not only them but also their English teachers.

Ezra Fitz

Letter to the Editor  #2

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-483511/I-h8-txt-msgs-How-texting-wrecking-language.html

A better perspective

Mary Jones

16 October 2014

I find it unbelievable that so many people who claim to be well-educated can be so wrong about something! All these statements made in your article such as " They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they must be stopped." are merely based your opinion with no real facts or evidence to back them up. However, I think that as a member of this generation that has grown up with technology I can help offer further insight into the matter. Maybe you can take the information I'm offering and use it instead of the poor arguments that were presented in your article.

Some people complain that the style and language used in texting has been showing up in places it has no right to be in such as academic papers. However, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: teenagers aren't dumb. They know the difference between a text message that will only be seen by their friends and an academic paper that will be graded by their professors. They are aware of the fact that their language and it's structure needs to change depending on who they're talking to and what message they want to send. In my opinion it is actually fascinating how a student could say the exact same thing but in two completely different ways. On one hand, you have the casual and straight to the point structure while on the other hand there is the more formal structure which is a bit more descriptive and lengthy.

Next time before writing an article it might be best to find some proof to back up what you're saying. Hopefully this insight I've provided will help serve as a future reference when you discuss matters such as these. As a final parting gift I'll leave you with this one piece of advice: if you don't like it, don't use it. While you might not have a choice about using technology, no one is forcing you to use improper grammar or any of these supposedly horrific abbreviations.

Mary Jones

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