Hebdidge

“Ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense”. If you think about this quote by Hebdige, it truly makes a lot of sense. Ideology is flawed in the sense that it is not applicable to everyone in every situation, and is constructed in certain ways. Common sense in the same way is flawed, because it is not necessarily true, but is widespread and assumed to be common understanding. Lets take the ideology of opportunity for example, in reference to the American dream. This is a false ideology, but it is common sense around the globe that the United States is the land of opportunity. How is such a message so misconstrued and believed falsely by so many people? In reality it is a myth, the ideology of equal opportunity in the United States is 110% myth. The ideals of equality and acceptance play the exact same way in this country, they are seen as common sense by much of the world, however those ideologies are false. Another aspect of this concept is the Things that go ‘unsaid’. Common sense often goes unsaid because it is in fact not real, but to question it would be to question widespread assumption, and furthermore order. For instance, in Winter Park people say don’t travel between New York Ave/Morse/17-92 at night. Why? Cause it labels “the other side of the tracks”? Because the people who live there aren’t wealthy, and the majority are African American so it must be dangerous? This is something that I’ve seen go unsaid, and is looked at as common sense, but is as far as I know a complete myth. This comes back to a fundamental issue in our society, and that is that people believe everything they hear to be truth. Ignorance sucks.

Baudrillard

One of the most interesting quotes from Jean Baudrillard is the following: “the media are part of the event, they are part of the terror” (229). Media manipulates images; they can make a bake sale look like exploitation and a massacre look like a fight for freedom. The power that the media has in our society today is incredible, and is at a point where it can change anything. Baudrillard talks about how terrorism would be nothing without the media. Its all and illusion that the media creates, when in fact they are just as much a part of the terror as the actual terrorists because they are helping them. For example, and I know this is extreme, in The Dark Night, the news network shows the public the tapes from the Joker. What does this do? It fuels the fire and makes people more scared then they should be. Why do we deem it necessary to take something terrible and give it more publicity than the super bowl? Can’t we see how much that hurts us? The prime example here would have to be the events of 9/11. It was nothing short of a spectacle, like an action movie….and guess what, it did exactly what the terrorists wanted it to do; it inspired fear and gave them credibility.

Habermas

Habermas is very interesting because he talks about how we define our culture today. He believes that modernity isn’t complete yet and that it still survives very strongly in post modernity. “The project of modernity has not yet been fulfilled”, he states, in describing how modernity has not yet finished. He believes that when you position modernity and traditionalism against each other that they yield anti-modernity, which looses both the historical notion of traditionalism and the progression of modernity.
One of the most interesting point in Habermas’s theory is when he talks about how consumerism has taken the place of democracy, and therefore choice. This is interesting because most would assume that consumerism yield a lot of choice, however he argues that the idea of choice that consumerism offers, isn’t really choice at all, but more a cloud of smoke. The choice between different types of toothpaste isn’t a real choice, because you’ve already gotten to the point of choosing between products. He says that the real choice comes in the form of whether or not one participates in consumerism, and that that choice is a product from how democracy has changed.

Macherey

“It is this rupture which must be studied” (23). Here Macherey is talking about the gap in the text. The rupture is the idea of a gap in the meaning of the text and the understanding. As humans our minds fill in gaps independently, whether or not they are in accordance with the original point of the author. This leads into Macherey’s point of how they reader and the writer are equally distant in their understanding of the text. Macherey says that the most important thing in the text, is what’s not being said. Understanding what is not being said is crucial to understanding the greater concept. This really makes me think about my interpretations of text, and the visuals I see in my daily life. It also shines a light on the erasure of events in our history. For instance, we all look at the holocaust and study it throughout high school, however what is not said here is what is actually most interesting. What is left out is the fact that the US had containment camps for the Japanese. While they were not slaved to death as the Nazi’s did to the Jews, it is a relatable concept. The difference in understanding also comes into play here in a very large way. What I understand the gap as may be completely different than my peer, therefore, can we every obtain a true, legitimate and valid understanding of what any text is trying to say? This is Macherey’s theory of the ordinary critic, or someone removed from the idea behind the text who expresses his or her knowledge of what the text is trying to say. We are in a sense, all ordinary critics.

Jameson and the "Impulse of Capitalism'

Hobby

Tuesday, December 2nd class

Our discussion from Tuesday sparked my interest and really had me thinking for the rest of the week and weekend. Jameson’s interest in the "impulse in capitalism" is significant to today's society and media. Our society and media really emphasize this impulse in order to continue the conventional wisdom of the American Dream that is orchestrated through all media outlets in American society. People consume, consume, and continue to consume in order to continue this conventional wisdom and to keep up in this materialism crazed society. In particular, we discussed in class advertising and the role it has on consumers. The example posed in class was Victoria's secret fashion show. This sexually charged program utilizes sexuality as a business means to capture attention and reel in money. Some people watch the show and therefore have an impulse to buy Victoria Secret lingerie. Seeing the lingerie as well as the reactions on the men’s faces I’m sure is recognized by many women and therefore they will have the urge to go out and purchase this lingerie to produce the same effect demonstrated in the fashion show. Victoria’s secret has become such a huge conglomeration thanks to their extremely eye catching, sexually provocative advertising. It makes the women look dominant and targets female audiences as well as male audiences. Women want to buy this type of lingerie in order to project these images that are advertised. This impulse in capitalism is prevalent everywhere since we lived in such a image and status conscious society. Also, our discussion of nostalgia really captured my attention in terms of movies and TV shows. Many movies depict the Americans past like Pearl Harbor, or Titanic. By making these movies really can spark nostalgic moments and memories in people’s lives. Therefore, this idea of nostalgia really has been prevalent in our media and still plays a role in major communication outlets. Bringing people back to the past really emotional and somewhat satisfying. Our media understands this and therefore uses this idea of nostalgia for movies and TV shows.

Jameson and Nostalgia

One of the concepts we talked about with Jameson was the notion of nostalgia, and how it is created as a longing for the past and a response for missing something that is happening in the present. Our media and popular culture today is filled with this concept. Movies and tv shows use this and they are considered unique. We have tv shows like "That 70s Show" or movies like "Marie Antoinette" that glamorize ages and popular cultures of the past. We watch shows from the past like "Leave it To Beaver" to connect us to different times. Why do we do this? It's different, and its not our normal lives and culture that we see each day. Ask most people and they will recall a past decade that they relate to and they wish they were a part of. They like aspects of it that are not things done today and seem attractive to them. Anything from dress, situations, and people are things that people can relate to and seem better than their own lives. It is for this reason that the media continues to use Jameson's idea of nostalgia in an effort to gain more followers.

The Plague is 9/11

As I was reading Foucault's, Discipline and Punish for my final paper, I made a connection that I wanted to share.

In the beginning of his article, he describes the plague that hit a nineteenth century town. All the people were to stay inside their homes, fearing death if they disobeyed. Everything that happened during this plague hold up was recorded by officials who would come by the houses daily to see if anyone had died, was deathly ill, or was still healthy. This event gave the officials the right to take over the power of the people. Foucault says that the plague is a type of dream for those who are in power because it gives them free reign to govern over the people how ever they please.

I related this to a modern day event, 9/11. I feel as thought the terrorists represent the plague. They was led into our country unknowingly. After that day occurred, we were scared, didn't want to travel or leave home. The Bush administration told us that we were at a code red and that everyone should look out for people who looked like "the terrorists". The people of America did not think twice when Bush told us that we were going to war to fight the terrorists. He had total control. He dreamed of this situation. Any thought?