Quay's Feedback on Dan: Two & A Half Men: "The Soil is Moist"

Overall this was a great post and I understood your analysis even though I never watch the show.

Things you did well:
-I think you hit the analysis right on the nose and you did a good job in connecting Pozner's and Lull's pieces to your own.
-Also I liked the structure of the post because It was easy to read and the flow was good.

Things you can improve on:
- The analysis part of this blog post was great, but for a person that never seen this show it was to try to connect to the characters. I think you could have put a little more detail about the show itself and the character before you went into your analysis.
- Other than that everything was good!

Sam's Feedback on Danielle's Patriarchy and Hegemony in "That '70s Show"

All in All I think this was a great post. I've seen a lot of That '70s Show and after you explain the different examples of Hegemony and Patriarchy I was very surprised on how different that show can be seen. I really enjoyed reading this. Here are my comments:

Things you did well:
- Although I have seen this show before I like how well you explained the show as though no one has seen it before. You explain each character you are going to use well and if I hadn't seen the show I don't think it would have made much of a difference.
- I very much liked how you included both how Donna fights Hegemony but is also bound to it because of everyone around her. This contrast made the post very interesting.

Things to improve on:

- Although I think the contrast between the fight between counter-hegemony and hegemony itself was a great idea, I also think you have to be careful with how you write it because if read the wrong way it can almost seem as though you are battling against yourself and your thesis

- Other then that and the occasional grammar error I think your first blog went very well!

Kevin's comments on Sarah's post on gender within The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Nice post Sarah! Here are some thoughts...

Ways in which you excelled:
-You do a good job of speaking to audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with the show. I, for one, have never seen the show, and when reading the first transcript from the episode bout the miscarriage, I could not figure out how the interaction had anything to do with socio-economic oppression. However, in your analysis, you introduce the characters well and make your point quite clear. By the end of post, I felt I had a good grasp on what the characters Ben, Adrian, and Amy were all like, and you introduced them without ever losing focus on your thesis, so that was impressive.
-You connect the TV show to the week's readings quite well. Ben certainly seems to embody the principles of Lull's definition of hegemony, and identifying Adrian as the "sista with attitude" at the end is spot on. You demonstrate a keen understanding of these readings by being able to contextualize them this way.

Ways in which you could have improved:
-Your analysis of the hegemonic oppression of lower-class characters is thorough and seemingly accurate, but I did not get a clear idea of what it means to be man or a woman on this show. Rather, I learned what it meant to be wealthy or poor, or white or "ethnic."
-A minor error, but some of the punctuation in your excerpts from the show seems incomplete or a little confusing. It was not a terrible issue to work through, but made reading in these sections a little choppy.

Sarah's Comments on Kevin's Blog on gender within Manswers

Kevin-

To begin with, your blog post was incredibly well written. I found all of the information within it very interesting and pertinent to class topics.

• You're article made really good connections to the rejection of homosexuality by the normative heterosexual masculine community
• All of the text quotes you used within the blog post were appropriate and well utilized
• I found your idea of analyzing commercials between show clip segments was a really creative and innovative way of further examining gender roles within the premise of the show.

• I would have liked to see the more blatant constructs of gender within the show, although you did state in your conclusion that masculinity and femininity was portrayed with varying degrees of subtly, I just wanted it brought out a littler further
• Although helpful, the second paragraph may have been condensed slightly, due to the fact that it was only giving background about the show.

Really well done Kevin, I enjoyed reading your blog.

-Sarah

Archie's Feedback on Kristi's: Louie's Masculinity Struggle

Your blog post was very well written. And I really enjoyed you having the Hulu episode up since I have never watched this television show.
The positive feedback is:
-Your post was very organized and well thought out, I felt the ideas progressed in a logical order.
-Each situation from the television show was backed up with analysis. This is a very thorough analysis of the episode.

Ways to improve:
-At points the wording was a little awkward, and there were a few grammatical errors.
-Personally I feel like the last paragraph has brought up the situation of Louie smiling with his daughters, but I think it deserves a little analysis just to tie it in. At this point I don't quite see how it is relevant.

Kristi's Feedback on Tarah's Analysis of Pretty Little Liars

Tarah-

Your post was incredibly interesting to read, and it is clear that your have very critically examined this episode with much effort. I might even have to tune into this show, because I have never seen lesbians portrayed in a "normal" way on television before.
-The detail you have included really helps the reader create an image of what the episode is trying to depict.
- The second quotation from Lull you have included defining hegemony relates very well to this episode and topic, especially since this series is geared toward young adolescents with minds still open enough for impact.
-I did notice a few grammatical errors, however they were only minor and did not distract from your message.
-The last comment I have is that though your detailed descriptions provide an excellent image of what the television show is about, I do not think the information about the series in the second paragraph is necessary, as well as the series recap in the last paragraph.
Overall, you did a great job with your analysis of Emily as a non traditional female model in the media.

Danielle's Feedback on Sam's Post: Blog Post Assignment 1

I thought picking “The Big Bang Theory” was a great idea due to the obvious dichotomy between the female character and all the male characters. I also thought you did a good job linking the show to the readings, especially Pozner. Penny is a really good example of the lack of intelligent women on television because she is directly compared to the brainy male characters.

The only things I noticed that could have been improved on were some spelling and grammar mistakes.

Alexis' Response to Brendan's Blog Post: "Constructs of Femininity and Masculinity in a TV-Based Aspect of Pop Culture"

I was so excited when I saw that you chose to analyze Californication for this assignment! Having had previously watched this series, and even this specific episode, I would have never thought of analyzing it but it worked out very well! 

In regards to your analysis, I really liked how you chose to focus on Hank’s stereotypical heterosexual male image that is being portrayed throughout this entire episode. Hank really does go to the extreme in a lot of his gestures to assure that others can see his heterosexuality. It is a shame that the mass media must continually demean homosexuality in such a way because it influences the viewers to behave in a similar manner, which will only continue the negativity that is projected onto homosexuals in the real world.

I also liked how you incorporated Newman into your analysis. Prior to completing this assignment we were told that doing so would be more difficult but I think you managed to fuse his ideas into your paper very well

On the other hand, I think it may have been a little more relevant if you included Lull’s piece in your analysis and referenced it to the idea of hegemonic masculinity. Though you did talk about how Hank’s character emphasizes the traditional masculine roles that are being created by the mass media and society, referencing hegemonic masculinity would have made these points more specific. 

You also could have incorporated Johnson’s piece about patriarchy into this paper. Though you mentioned that Hank is a father, you did not mention whether his standing as being a father adheres to or challenges America’s patriarchal values. 

Nevertheless, I think you did a really good job with this overall analysis! I look forward to reading your next post!

Dan's Reply To Quay's Blog Post

Strengths:
That episode is definitely a good example of TV shows trying to promote a certain image. You did an excellent job of relating Hegemony and Pozner to this episode. Your points were clearly stated throughout the post and explained well. You also did a good job of pointing out the general gender roles portrayed in that show.  All of your points supported that main theme of the piece that you were trying to convey.

Weaknesses:
I did notice a few spelling and grammar mistakes throughout your blog post like missing commas. I also noticed a few run-on sentences in your post, which made the post a little hard to follow at times. Besides that, I enjoyed your blog post.

Brendan's Feedback on Alexis' Link Hunt Blog Post

     Nice job with your selection of blogs.  All of the links contained blogs that were full of substance and dealt directly with topics that were covered in class.  They were formatted correctly and easy to access.  Desperate Housewives is probably a great topic to analyze in a feminist or gendered way due to the large role it plays in the households of millions of Americans and foreigners around the globe.  The articles dealing with Lynette’s struggle and with “appropriate motherhood” were especially interesting.  The idea of the male gaze and women being the objects that are gazed upon is a great point made by one of the blog posts.  Maybe next time have one or two blogs not relating to the show Desperate Housewives.  I think I’m on overload already.  Awesome job though!

Quay's feedback on Dan's Brainstorming and Link Hunt Assignment

QuayBrooks said...

You did a good job in finding blogs that reflects on the main topics of the course such as women, race, and gender. Also I like the fact that the blogs are about popular culture that most can relate to such as Jersey Shore, Kanye West, and sports.

Danielle's Feedback on Sam's Link Hunt Assignment

Good job on this assignment. All of your choices were interesting and relevant to gender and pop culture. The fourth link is a journal and not a blog. But other than that nice job.

Kristi's Feedback on Tarah's Link Hunt Assignment

Interesting topics! Your post is formatted correct and all of your blogs are relevant to themes of pop culture in the media, as well as gender and sexuality. I found the blog about Dr. Drew Pinsky to be amusing, because it does seem that he may have once held good intentions for facilitating rehab, but now Pinsky seems to be a media sell out. As stated, many celebrities return to Pinsky’s show season after season without recovering. The post about Marriage Evolving was also very informative and provided a critical representation about marriage developing under the media spot light. This statement struck me as I was reading through the post,“recent progress reminds us that marriage is an evolving institution and that not everyone fits in the neat boxes that existing tradition offers.” Good job on the assignment!

Kevin's Gender & Pop Culture Blog: Link Hunt

Nice selection of articles. All of the blogs selected were relevant to class topics, especially feminism. However, the blog Weekend Arts Section: Dear Leslie Knope of TV's "Parks and Recreation" came off a bit too informal, it was peppered with a few too many "likes" or other colloquialisms. However, the writing in the other blogs was really on point, as well as the subject matter within them all. Good Job.

-Sarah

Sam's Feedback for Danielle's Link-Hunt

Link-Hunt Feedback
-Your interest in movies and television shows and their affect on teens and feminism is clearly shown. Each blog looks good, they all show an analysis of something we've talked about in class, or I hope to talk about, good job!

Alexis' Feedback on Brendan's Link Hunt Assignment

You did a good job with your link hunt! Every blog was formatted correctly and were each relevant to your topic! I especially found the blog entitled “Women Objectified by the Media: A Cause for Date Rape” to be very interesting. Prior to reading that blog I never thought of the media’s causal effect in such a way. However, I did feel as though the blog entitled “My Middle Class Struggle” was more of a blog that allowed this woman to express the feelings of difficulty she is dealing with at this time in her life rather than it being a truly analytical blog post. Nevertheless, it was still very interesting and I could see why you included it in your link hunt.

Dan C's Feedback on Ashley's Link-Hunt Assignment

You found some good blog posts relevant to gender in pop culture. The television advertisements blog had some pretentious statements regarding gender inequality that you don't really notice at first glance, obviously highlighting the biased marketing strategy. Good job on the assignment.

Kevin's Feedback on Sarah's Link Hunt

Nice work on this assignment. I found all of your links to be relevant, and they seemed to address a wide range of female character types in pop culture. In browsing through them, I was particularly struck by the blogger discussing "Toddlers in Tiaras." She argues that TLC, by perpetuating the show for 5 seasons in an attempt to milk all the potential profit they can from the series, is equally guilty of distorting and exploiting the children in the show as the mothers are. I thought this to be a bold and interesting claim, and I have to agree that - to a degree - the blogger does have a real case against the network.

Dan's Feedback on Quay's Link Hunt

Good job finding links relative to race and gender in pop culture. I liked the sports theme that you had in all of the links.

July 8, 2011 4:23 PM

Archie's Feedback on Kristi's Link Hunt

Your links are formatted correctly. Also the blogs seem to be relevant to the class topics of gender, race, and class in pop culture. I found the blogs about commercials catering certain foods based on gender to be incredibly interesting, I never really noticed that trend.

Ashley's feedback on Dan C's: Topic Brainstorming and Link-hunt analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture

Good job finding topics related to the course. I thought they were all interesting readings. I especially liked the cartoon one. The third one is more of an academic paper, rather than a blog, even though it is posted in a blog.

Tarah's feedback on Archie’s: Link Hunt!

Archie,

All of your posts look good and are formatted correctly. They all seem to be blogs that deal with race, gender, or class in the context of some form of pop culture. I particularly liked the video found on the blog about gender in Disney. It was a good visual for what the blog was trying to communicate. Also, your last blog posted was very interesting to me. I didn’t know Snookie wasn’t even Italian (even though I know that wasn’t the main purpose why that blog was posted, haha)!

-Tarah

Cosmetic for Teenage Girls: Conforming to Societal expectations of ideal beauty.

Cosmetic for Teenage Girls: Conforming to Societal expectations of ideal beauty.


Just as much as women feel societal pressure to look beautiful, so do teenage girls. Compared to adult women, the pressure to look good and conform to society’s ideal look have been greatly heightened in teenage girls. Teenage girls feel under increasing demand from the society to live up to material and sexual ideals, leaving them vulnerable and unhappy. Just the other day I was shopping online for my sixteen year old girl, Naraj. After hours of looking for the perfect sweet sixteen gifts, it all came down to cosmetic and fashion. I was happy that I had various options to choose from but I could not help but notice the underlying message of cosmetics for teenage girls. The craving to feel attractive and look good is blatantly seen in early teen years which All of a sudden then the world of makeup and fashion starts looking extremely interesting.

According to Kilbourne, “girls are told by advertisers that what is most important about them is their perfume, their clothing, their bodies and their beauty.” At such a tender age, they begin to lose their strong, confident personality and begin to adhere to society’s expectation. They are told to keep young and look beautiful and that is their noble service. Society and the media are far away from reflecting reality of oppression against these young girls. As girls grow into woman, they’ll have the perception that in order to be accepted by men, they have to conform to the norm. Achieving this almost impossible ideal look, they turn to cosmetic as a remedy.

As a sixteen year old girl, Naraj has to fit into this social construction so as to avoid being looked at as different. In today’s society, great emphases have been placed on a female look. If she does not use makeup, she is not seen as being attractive to men. Young teenage girls such as Naraj are surrounded by images of female beauty that are unrealistic and unattainable. Then again, it all comes down to making profit off these susceptible young girls. Hesse Biber stated that, “Convincing certain vulnerable groups that they need to purchase goods and services to feel good about their bodies is very profitable” (189). Through the media Girls are being bombarded with images of sexuality, often dominated by stereotypical portrayals of women and girls as powerless, passive victims.



Work Cited Page

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy. The Cult of Thinness. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Kilbourne, Jean. “The More You Subtract, the More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text- Reader. Eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication Inc., 2003. 249-257. Print.




Work Cited Page

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy. The Cult of Thinness. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Kilbourne, Jean. “The More You Subtract, the More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text- Reader. Eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication Inc., 2003. 249-257. Print.

Amy's Feedback on Christian's Sex Room the Real Mix!!

Amy Pontrella said...

Overall I think you guys did a great job with the re-edit of this video. I think it was a good idea to shorten the beginning images of what Ludacris and Trey Songz originally wanted to get out of the song. Additionally, the images you chose to add, or that were already in the video, were very good for displaying your point. A couple of minor issues I had: The text that was in the video went a little fast. I'm sort of a slow reader and i had some trouble keeping up with it. Also, I like that the works cited was put to music, however I feel like you could have added several more images to make your point clearer in that time. Perhaps you could have finished the song with more images, and then put the works cited at the end with an excerpt from the song instead of taking away that valuable time. Overall I really like the way your guys improved upon this video! Great Job!! -Amy

Saturday, July 31, 2010 10:54:00 PM EDT

Stewart's feedback on Amy's: Miley's been tamed

amy your group did a excellent job on improving the video. your strengths were quite clear in the video, firstly i love how you including subtitles to help the viewers understand what your message was. i really loved the new pictures that you pt up especially since it show us how Miley has actually been transformed (tamed) by the music industry. the changes from scene to scene improve it flowed much better and much more fluid. some weakness was that some picture were to short it seem like at points that they we there for only 2 seconds or shorter. also the part with conversation scene, the subtitles there were two fast and hard to read at one point with the pink front. and lastly i would have like if you introduce the video with a subtitle introducing the message earlier. but great job Amy!!!

Meagan's Feedback on Henry's Blogpost #3

I thought the video was beautifully executed. The message of young gils taking drastic measures in order to fulfill an unobtainable body was very clear. I also loved the fact that you included the very ugly side of anorexia. It shocked me when they appeared and I believe that if young girls were to see the negative effects of trying to be something they aren't then they would see their true beauty. I also loved the fact that you includedpicturea of hope by showing what is true beauty and its not a stick figure like shape.

I guess the only negative thing I have to say about the video is I wasn't apart of the video!! But overall I enjoyed your work...Awesome job!!!

Sara's feedback for Jon's "Blog Post 4: Subverting the Message of 'California Gurls' by Katy Perry"

Jon, you guys did a really great job revising this video. I'm glad you kept the same song. The message you were sending about how images in the media cause girls to go to drastic lengths to achieve an "ideal" appearance was very clear. I'm also glad that you chose to still incorporate the choreography because it makes the video fun! The use of text was really helpful as you shifted from one topic to the next. Just a couple of minor things I would suggest that may be improved: Some of the images at the end when you were showing "real" California girls were a little confusing, such as the pictures of Barack Obama, Sarah Palin. Also your works cited went by a little fast, and I liked the cool effect you had in your last video. Overall, this was a huge improvement. Good job.

Derek's Feedback on Hannah's Blog Post 3

I think your group did a very good job for the remake of this video. Your use of text makes the point your trying to make much clearer. I think it was a very good idea to show how Miley has changed over the years and how she influences teens today. The only weakness I could find is that some of the texts/pictures appeared for a short period of time. I think that they could have been shown for a few seconds longer so people get a better chance to see the texts and images.

Ola's feedback on Cara's---Binge Drinking & Date Rape: Subverted Version of "Say Ahh"

Hey, Cara ok so watching the first video and then the remake, i can clearly see a great deal of improvements and also a couple of areas that can still be worked on. Withstanding i enjoyed it and commend you guys for doing a great job subverting the message.




Areas the video did well in,

-compared to the first video, there was clearly a subversive message in this remake. Watching it, it made sense as to what message the video is trying to convey

- I also really liked that you kept clips from tylin rapping which clearly depicts typical rapper's attitude towards women.

-i liked the theme where the women continued to drink and then the pictures diverted to them actually needing help. Instead the rapper kept singing and encouraging them to drink more.



Although you did a great a job but some areas that can be improved

- same as the old video,the rappers words were not matching with the lyrics of the song which made it kind of hard to follow.

-I liked that pictures were incorported into the video but some pictures seemed unecessary for example (the ripped guy and the girl on the table) i was tryna figure out what that had to do with binge drinking or date raping.

overall, you guys did a great job considering the amount of work we had to do within a short period of time.

Mike's Feedback on Tylin: "Binge Drinking and Date Rape: Subverted Version of Say Ahh"

Strengths: Great improvements!  The biggest improvement I noticed was that the revised video actually carried a subversive message instead of just being a remake of the video.  The majority of the pictures you added were very effective in illustrating the date rape theme you chose to go with, and this was an important strength to your revisions.  I liked that you kept clips of the rapper from start to finish.  As the progression of pictures went from people drinking to drunk and passed out girls, the rapper kept doing his thing and was just as energetic and enthusiastic as he was in the beginning while showing no regard for the state of the women in the pictures.  Hey kept asking them to "Say Ahh" and drink more even though the women in the pictures clearly didn't need any more to drink.  This seemed symbolic of how a man might behave in a real case of date rape involving an excessively drunk woman.

Weaknesses: This video was much improved from the first cut, but there were still a few areas that could be improved.  The message was much better in this version, but a few slides of words explaining the message would make the video more clear to a general audience.  While the majority of the pictures were effective in conveying your message, a few in the beginning seemed out of place and didn’t really contribute to the message or the buildup towards the message (i.e. really ripped guy on table with girl).  Lastly, I thought that the title could have been more creative.  It was definitely a good, descriptive title and left the viewer with no questions as to what they were about to watch, but I think a clever title describing the subverted version may have been more appropriate.  On a minor note, I know video editing is not easy and is not part of the rubric for this video, but the lip syncing was a bit off and made certain parts hard to watch.

Overall, great job improving the first version.