Miss Representation Blog 7

I am thankful for documentaries such as Miss Representation.

I believe that lying in the depths of women’s thoughts is confusion. We have so many mixed emotions of angst, guilt, anxiety as well is of a keen understanding of our strength, power and will to succeed. How can a woman be blessed with so much beauty and power and yet succumb to the temptations of constantly trying to satisfy a world ruled primarily by men? Suffering in sacrifice does not only come to women however, It comes to us all. The advice for women at the end of this film is solid but I believe it should be advised to all.  I agree that women have a powerful voice in the world and can definitely make a change.  However we have seen the challenges that we face in the nature of change.  People react severely to it. 

Humanity experiences so many temptations that keep them from making mindful choices for their future.  A change in our educational structure early in the stages in the development of life needs to take place, in my opinion.  We wait too long to become aware of the consequences of our choices.  The structure of education should be to empower the young with the strength to believe in themselves and to be able to stop with time and value for the choices they will make and what they will mean to her future.

Messages such as the ones in “Miss Representation” bring to the surface should be used as mantras to educate our youth. 

Confederate Flag - Blog 8

The power of the media today is radically disconcerting. There are so many “hot button” topics that stir up the vocal majority. When the button is pushed all “hell” breaks loose. Every time I turn on the television, or access a news site, it’s a boiling pot of negativity in commentary.  

This week the Confederate flag is subjected to the “ax.”   These contagious reactions are getting out of control.  The getting rid of flags is not going to get rid of racism.  It is a higher level of thinking and a mindful thought process with which news should be reported. Currently, the media seems to be feeding the fire of negativity what is should be doing is dousing the flames.   For every negative affirmation there should be a positive one instead of creating continual negative feedback loops.  Negative feedback loops create toxic energy and remain in the conscious mind …sometimes for generations.  People are important. People are intelligent. We can be valuable to society. We understand symbolism and can analyze it appropriately.  Positive energy creates a positive environment.

Kristen Stewart - Blog 5

photographed by Alexi Lubormirski.

I really love fashion advertisements and the covers of fashion magazines.  This month the UK version of Bazaar Magazine features Kristen Stewart.  She has recently been all over the media due to engaging pictures of she and her personal assistant that have surfaced on the web and news media.  All if the media attention about her sexuality means nothing to me. I believe a person should rejoice in a relationship that allows your happiness to shine. Time is precious! Being slave to attitudes that aren’t important to you are a waste of precious time and should not even be remotely entertained.

Back to fashion:The cover of June 2015 Bazaar Magazine is given to Kristen Stewart.  She sits upright on the sand on a brightly lit day. The sand is semi-moist. She wears a heavily textured, two piece sequenced skirt and jacket ensemble. It is a sweet, delightful pastel pink. a light weight fabric chiffon pink bow is tied around her collar and rests gently on her breasts.  Her hair is shorter and edgier that we have seen in her past films and her facial expression, in my opinion demonstrates a hint confident rebellion. Her skin is tan, healthy and beautiful.

She is a young successful, glamorous, feminine, yet edgy woman who is ready to explore whatever life puts in her path. The bow may be symbolic of the love she currently has in her life. The heavy textured sequence of the clothing may state that she is strong enough to carry the weight of her life and the sequence shows the ability to organize it all.  She sits as is pensive and alert.  Harper’s Bazaar did a great job convincing me with this images that we are all aware of what is going on in the media and Kristen Stewart is completely owning it!

Mina -Blog 6

Once upon a time, in a desert village near Rajasthan, India, I saw a beautiful, young woman crying in the corner of the plaza while shopping in the market for fruit.  Her pain, I noticed, was deep as she sobbed into the palms of her hands.

I asked if she needed help or wanted a shoulder to cry on and she accepted my generosity.

Here is the story she told:

She was raised by her most handsome and charismatic father whom she loved more than life.

She did everything for him and he for her.  He had recently passed away and she was devastated. Her life would never be the same. 

She was married to a man with so many of the same qualities of her father; however, she shared that this man was very self centered and wanted everything to revolve around him, his car, his clothes, his work, his sexuality, his time. I asked why then did she marry him?  She replied that he reminded her of her father. She explained that her husband was also very charismatic, worldly and cultured like her father and she was seduced by those qualities. She felt that he would become like her father and be good to her one day.  When her father passed, she became very sad and no longer had the energy to pay attention to her husband because of overwhelming grief. Her husband became intolerant and overbearing and requested her to attend to him. He ignored her time of pain.  She refused and he left her in search of another woman to provide him with  attention.  He said he did not need her love what he needed praise and motivation. 

She sat and wept.  I wept for her.  Her beauty was brilliant yet she could not see it. Her mannerisms were gentle, yet guarded for fear that she would not be enough for her husband.

She chanted over and over how she could not survive the pain.  Each week I returned, she sat in the same place; she wept and chanted “I will not survive this pain.”  A young girl happened to walk by and had a mirror in her hand.  I stopped her and asked if I could to borrow it.  She obliged me and I passed it to the weeping girl, her name was Mina. “Look in the mirror” I asked,”What do you see?”  She said, “ I see my father’s love. I cannot see myself.”   The young girl that lent her the mirror then said, “Keep my mirror. Weep no longer.”  The next time I saw the Mina she was standing tall and beautiful. Her strength and honor regained. I asked her “what of your life now?” She smiled, rolled up her sleeve and showed me a beautiful tattoo of  woman dressed in a black flowing gown, soaring high over the desert sands with her hands firmly on the reign of  her dragon.  She giggled quietly and gently and claimed, “All is well.” Mina lived happily ever after.

Oppression In Orange is the New Black - Blog 4

One of the prevailing themes in Orange is a New Black is the pervasiveness of oppression. Our political system has evolved to the point where it oppresses people who break the law—they put them in prisons. Oppression becomes a  synonym for punishment. The show’s underlying message is that oppression occurs everywhere. 

The depiction of this oppression in this film gives us examples that we can reference to better understand the concepts we are being taught in class.  Highlighted in this particular episode of Orange is the New Black called “Tit Punch”  are the almost, fatal adaptations that occur in a prison environment. One inmate is thankful she has cancer; making her an unlikely target for cruelty. Another more elaborate example is when Chapman, the main character is prevented from eating for commenting negatively on the prison food within earshot of the head kitchen manager, Reds.  Reds instructs the obedient cafeteria line employees to refrain from serving her any meals until otherwise notified. They comply out of fear of her ability to control people. Chapman, after four days of no food becomes weak and desperate for ideas to regain acceptance by Reds. It's not invisible to Chapman at this point in the film, but she is technically being manipulated to behave in ways against that she clearly has not before.  Chapman is forced to utilize the only resources she has available to her to make amends with the person who has power over her. This results in making her look submissive to Red's power, which in turn may or may not affect her future during her prison sentence. This remains to be seen in future episodes. Nonetheless, she has been forced to adapt to a new way of behavior. An ideology is produced; the idea that the strongest and smartest survive and the weak are demoralized.  

Analyzing the film with Marxist theory perspective gives the opportunity to see what is happening in the world around us more clearly. Oppression is everywhere. Google ”Current oppression news”, over 6 million hits will appear for the current year.  

National Veterans Wheelchair Games - Post3

A coworker of mine peeked into my office just to say hi. She knew I was working full-time and going to school full-time and asked how it was coming along.  We chatted for a bit and talked about our plans for the future (retirement).  She had retired and actually got bored and came back to work.  I hear that very often. She mentioned that she volunteers for the Veteran’s hospital and told me some incredible stories that some of our war heroes have shared with her.  Some stories were sad and some so incredibly humbling.  She also mentioned that the National Veteran’s Wheelchair Games needed volunteers for their annual Paralyzed Veterans of America Event where veterans compete against each other in particular sport categories. There are 18 different events. It happens June 21- June 26 at different venues throughout Dallas. So many volunteers are still needed.

I looked up the website and their Facebook page to review the media and I was elated to see the media content was clean, noble, and informative, motivating and emotional. 

As I studied the site, I saw organized content signifying structure and pride, the background was white, symbolizing purity and goodness and a grand logo depicting strength and courage. The You Tube Video, link was also engaging and informative. The music was compelling and motivating and gave you the feeling of national pride.  The images of our veterans competing in wheel chairs demonstrated their undying will to survive and live life to the fullest .I t was incredibly moving to see such perseverance.  I feel overwhelming gratitude for their service and of course a desire to give back.  I signed my whole family up!  See you there, I hope!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlwLhcf5zag

http://wheelchairgames.org/

https://www.facebook.com/wheelchairgames

Ying and Yang -Blog 2

The modern Netflix series of Sherlock Holmes defines curiosity, eccentricity, energy and intellect. The pilot for the modern version of Sherlock Holmes merges extremely well with any version from the past. The expectation of delivering an adventurous ride through the criminal investigation in “A Study in Pink” is immediately confirmed after the character of Sherlock, played by  Benedict Cumberbatch is introduced. The series is world renowned and is know for a dynamic partnership between Sherlock Holmes, a British consulting detective  and fellow countryman assistant John Watson.  In this commentary, I will address how I see the perfect magnetic attraction between Holmes and Watson.

The character development for John Watson begins immediately with the opening scene. The camera close-up shots during the dream sequence signify a personal and intimate value of insight into Watson’s past. Watson is dreaming about a military battle that he himself is in.  His facial gestures are of angst and fear. He is tossing and turning signifying discomfort with that sequence of events in the dream.  John Watson wakes up from his uneasy sleep. The uneasiness is clearly depicted by his facial expressions caught by the camera, the tossing and turning signify that he is plagued by these memories.  As he wakes, the camera angle changes to a wider view allowing  the audience is to see how he lives alone, hanging on to personal items such as his weapon and coffee mug with what looks to be a military insignia upon it and a cane, a signifier that he has been wounded in battle and is either healing from an injury or permanently handicapped. He seems lonely depressed, and utterly bored to me.  Later he actually says the words to his psychologist(another signifier in the movie), “Nothing happens to me.”  Allowing the audience another clue that he is bored and possibly depressed.

In contrast Sherlock Holmes is depicted with as a vibrant astute tall fellow, full of energy and curiosity and attentive to detail. When Watson arrives and is introduced by a mutual acquaintance (who also had interesting facial gestures signifying to me that introducing Watson to Sherlock was purposeful). Sherlock is attracted to Watson. He interacts with him immediately  and asks  him only a few personal question alluding to already sizing up his new acquaintance.  The camera angle is busy giving the audience wide angle  and close-ups perhaps to let us know that is how fast Sherlock processes his thoughts.  Sherlock reads Watson like a book! His hyper state of speaking and revealing what he thus far understands about Watson, to me, signified a childlike quality in Sherlock. His verbiage affected my  cognitive abilities and required full attention to be able to understand the process of thought he was literally vocally downloading within 60 seconds.  Watson is dumfounded, amazed and intrigued. Ahhh, there it was, the magnetism needed for the start to a perfect relationship, ying and yang. The perfect connection between Sherlock and Watson!

Works Cited:

Berger, Arthur Asa. Media Analysis Techniques. 5th ed. N.p.: Sage Publications, 2014. Print.

"Sherlock Quotes from A Study in Pink (1.1)." Planet Claire Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June

      2015.

Breaking the Ice: Blog 1

Here’s wishing everyone a productive and happy summer!  My name is Nancy Bouton.  I am an EMAC major and an employee of UTD. The campus may as well be my home, I spend so much time here and enjoy it.  My studies initiated in linguistics, particularly the study of foreign languages and culture.  During my studies, I took several photography courses and fell in love with that too.  I currently seek to merge the two passions somehow with my current studies.  

I am a very curious person. I consume media to satisfy my urges to seek and understand life. My artistic and cultural background fuels this fire.  Life is spoken all around us in countless avenues of media.  My pursuit of these avenues starts with the road that leads to film, then photography and design.  The social psychological elements of media and its influences are incredibly intriguing to me. I am often teased for watching a film many times!  The questions I ask myself when watching a film are, “How do the characters in the film relate to each other?”, “Why did the producer use the particular style, color, angles, music, location for the film?”, “What intrigued the producer, personally, about the script so much that he/she chose to make a movie of it?”  These are just a few of the questions, I ask myself.  I wonder to what end media affects its viewers and how it plays a part in the life one lives.  What value it gives and for how long?  

My likes; people are amazing!  Everyone intrigues me.  As an aspiring photographer, I try to find the uniqueness, and sometimes the commonalities of an individual in comparison to me and others. I feel that everyone gives off an individual signal of energy and I seek to translate it to into a photograph, through my lens; the result being a form of beauty!

My dislikes, running out of time, and diseases.  

My favorite shows are several. I loved House!  I currently watch Vikings, Allegiance, House of Cards, Empire, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones and Reign.  I don’t possibly have he time to watch all of them so I am very thankful for the invention of the DVR!   

I am excited to know each of you, if even through your writings. What color is your energy?

Happy summer everyone!