Assignment 3-1

Twilight started out as a series of six books by author Stephenie Meyers. The series is popular mainly among teenage girls. The first book came out in 2005. The movie came out in November 2008 taking the opening slot of the latest Harry Potter movie which was postponed until spring 2009. These books were compared to the Harry Potter series and by taking over this opening day the comparison only became stronger. Both series of books are geared toward the same age group the Twilight books do not have nearly the following that Harry Potter does.
Twilight is the story of a vampire, Edward Culler, who as a crush on an average teenage girl, Bella Swan. Bella is not an ordinary teenager not worrying about fitting in and instead looking for something different. Edward seems to be a great guy, witty and handsome. However, as it turns out he is a vampire who has not aged in almost 100 years. He comes from a clan that does not feed on human blood, instead choosing to hunt animals to satisfy their need for blood. This causes a problem because while he does not want to hurt her, the closer they get the harder it gets for him to resist the urge to kill her for her blood. The story follows them as they learn to deal with the problems caused by their romance. When another group of vampires comes to town they also cause an obstacle for the young couple to deal with.
The studio had very low expectations for this movie only hoping to cover the $40 million that it cost to make the movie in the first place. However, the movie made almost $70 million on its opening weekend and $100 million in its first ten days. The director, Catherine Hardwick, set a record for the highest grossing opening-weekend for a female director. This was enough to cause the studio to green light the creation and filming of the second movie in this series, New Moon. Because of the success of the first installment the second movie will receive a larger budget and therefore will include better special effects than its predecessor.

Assignment 2-1 Social Networking Sites

Myspace and Facebook are social networking sites that allow people to network both socially and professionally. My Space is a free site that allows people to keep in touch with friends and business associates, maintain a blog, upload music, join groups, and share videos. There is also a news section, classified ads, polls, and forums. My Space grows 230,000 new users per day. They join for many reasons – because their friends maintain pages that they want to view, to network with other professionals, to create a blog, or to view sites that celebrities have created.
Recently, many news articles on sites such as CNN reference MySpace and Facebook pages of people involved in crimes. A news article currently on CNN is about a mother who was convicted of three misdemeanors in connection with the suicide of a 13 year old girl who killed herself because of cyberbullying. Megan Meier thought that a boy she liked was the one posting mean comments when in reality it was the mother of one of Megan’s classmates. This is only one example of using MySpace as a way of harassing classmates, sometimes with lethal consequences.
Another article on CNN talks about the deaths of Jennifer Hudson’s family references the MySpace page of a suspect in those murders. Major news sites have started using these sites as sources of information on victims and suspects. This article uses the MySpace Page of William Balfour to determine the relationship of him to the victims. While this information could have been obtained from other sources the article references this page.
An article on Mail Online discusses a court case where a lawyer references a Facebook page as evidence. The defendant’s lawyer said that the judge should use leniency because while the victim claims she has been traumatized her Facebook pages show her as happy. They are using pictures that she posted in years since the attack as evidence that she is healing and must not have been as traumatized as she is saying.

Many people post freely on social networking sites not thinking about how this information can be used in the future. Prospective employs have used this information in employment decisions, news stations have used the information for stories, lawyers use the information as evidence. Others have used these sites to bully or stalk other people. While these sites allow people to stay in touch with friends and colleagues they should use caution in posting personal information in order to protect themselves.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/10/24/illinois.shootings/index.html?iref=newssearch
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1076965/Rape-victim-upset-Well-shes-smiling-Facebook-said-lawyer.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/26/internet.suicide/index.html?iref=werecommend

Assignment 1-4

Reality television has been a large part of pop culture for many years. Reality television dates back as far as 1948 with the creation of Candid Camera. However, it has now become such a part of our television viewing that with the beginning of each season there are fewer scripted shows and more reality shows. Many people wonder why we have started watching so much reality television especially because so many people find it a guilty pleasure that they spend hours each week watching these shows. But it seems to be that people watch reality TV to see something relevant to their own life on these shows. People like to know that they are not alone. They watch shows such as The Biggest Loser because it is encouraging to know that other people struggle with the same problems as they do – and many times they are much worse off. They enjoy watching shows that teach how to make their own lives a little better. Shows such as What Not to Wear show people how they can change their lives to make them better. There are also shows that people watch because they want to believe that their dreams are possible. Shows such as American Idol take “regular” people and help them make their dreams come true. Everyone wants to believe that their dreams can be attained and by watching other people have their dreams come true it makes it seems as if your own dreams are within reach.
People have a variety of reasons for watching reality television shows but no matter what the reason is these shows are becoming a staple among our viewing habits. Many weeks 2 or 3 of the Top 10 shows, based on number of viewers, are reality shows. The last week reported by Nielsen Media includes 2, Dancing with the Stars and the Dancing with the Stars results show. People become very invested in these shows and their “stars”. Many of these people go on to participate in other reality shows or have special shows created about them. Several marriages of reality stars have been made into television specials. People become invested in the lives of these characters and want to see more about their lives. It gives them a chance to become engaged in other people’s lives as an escape from their own.

Assignment 1-2

What is popular culture, and what does it mean to you?

Popular “pop” culture is the culture of the masses and is often dictated by the mass media. It includes items that are widely accepted by most of a society including books, movies, television shows, and music. It can often take on a negative connotation because it does not include the classics or the high culture that many people deem acceptable. Pop culture plays a large part in my life because most social gatherings revolve around what is currently in fashion including current movies and television shows. Many people host parties revolving around popular television shows or awards programs. Pop culture is often discussed at work.

Why is an understanding of popular culture relevant to you in a business environment and in your present and future career?

Pop culture is very important to me in my current business environment because I work for a residence hall on the campus of the University of Illinois. Pop culture is a very easy way to engage with students which is important in my line of work. It is necessary for me to be able to relate to students so that they become comfortable talking to me and other staff members. That way they feel like they can come to us in case of an emergency or any type of problem.

What would you consider to be an example of a pop culture artifact? And why would you choose it?

The first example of pop culture that comes to mind is Madonna’s cone bra from her “Blonde Ambition” tour. My siblings and I all listened to Madonna growing up and this is one of the first pop culture items that I can recall. My brother had a poster from this tour on his wall for several years. I was only 11 at the time of this tour but I still remember the stir that Madonna frequently caused with her shows and her behavior in general. This tour caused much controversy because it incorporated Catholicism and sex as its central themes. The combination of these elements caused much controversy which even involved the Pope asking for a boycott of the show in Italy.

Welcome!

Welcome classmates. I hope you find my blog interesting and I look forward to getting to know each of you during the next 6 weeks.