Struggle- if you focus on the positive you won't see the negative, work through it and in the end it will pay off. my mom is always telling me I will face many struggles/challenges through my life and I will have to tough it out and fight through it myself. although I may have some help to solve my problems. People all around the world are dealing with struggle, from war to economic differences. People tend to bury their struggles, trying to focus on the positive and hide the negative, but that sometimes makes the situation worse. Struggles are hard to deal with.
Family- it is important to love your family, if you ever need help your family will be there, they will support you. I have been taught that my family is a huge part of my life, even when you "hate" your family there is still some sort of unconditional love lingering. Even if I say I "hate" my family, I still end up talking to them five minutes later. I forgive them or my anger wears off.
Art- be creative, different, unique. when you make something that is art, art is what you make it, define it for yourself. I am told everyday to do what I want to do, think outside the box, be creative. But I find it more difficult to express myself through my art when people tell me how to do it. If whatever I see or am creating it should be unique and very "me." My art teacher is constantly telling me "Don't show them you are good, show them you are amazing." -ms. kaye
Balance- mom says be happy, do what you want to do in life (art, travel, etc.) but try to do well in school, pass classes so you can have fun, have balance in life. Balance is something parents say to their kids, what I feel is a "peace-treaty," ex: you can play soccer but I want to make sure you are doing well in school, in order to continue to play. Or in my case, art is one of my main focuses but my mom also pushes me to do well in school so that I am able to continue to study art in college.
Ethics- Do ethics help or keep you from having everything? Be "true," honest, to have good karma. Sometimes if you have ethics you miss out on a chance to break a rule, to do something very mischievous.
Death- peaceful, it comes in time, everyone dies, sad but not sad forever, a part of life, you will be gone one day too, who will remember you?
Love- painful, amazing, hopefully something you will experience in your life time, there is a difference between loving your mother/family, and loving another person, "significant person." Love is not forever, sometimes it wears off and sometimes it grows.
Friendship- difficult, you can have really strong & good friends (best friends/acquaintances) you make friends, lose friend. I feel I have learned more about friendship from folk culture than any other major focus of folk wisdom. People tend to talk/give advices about friendship, their books & online sites give/offer information telling us how friendship is a part of having a good and meaningful life.
Entertainment- t.v., ballets, plays, street performers, etc. Entertainment is fun, occupying, and engaging. ex: the "Simon Says" game (with the light pattern) a simple invention but entertaining, keeps people occupied for hours at a time (video games) sometimes it seems people use video games as an escape into their fantasies, their dreams as war heros, stunt men, etc. Like in movies, I would know I do it too, when I see a great film I sometimes wish I could live the way they do. (Slumdog Millionaire, for example, carefree, living in a beautiful city, amazing culture, so much to experience, adventure & danger, finding their destiny, true love, etc.) I think about that a lot. I wish my life was better, more meaningful, the day I stop wishing my life was like those in the movies, is the day I understand my life, it will be a good and meaningful life. Music is another form of entertainment.
Work- boring, try your best to find a job that you like, otherwise you may feel miserable.
Jan 23, 2009
Jan 21, 2009
1/21/09 Folk Culture's Messages on the Good and Meaningful Life - Online advice from regular folks
While online, you can easily view advertisments that people have posted for other websites, mostly online sources where regular people give advise on "life" finding the best "beauty secrets," "relationship advice," etc. Online people can post just about anything they like, whether it is wrong or right, its just their personal opinion.
On wikiHow you can read about questions people have put out on the internet in hopes that other "regular people" will respond with some usable advice. For example "How to Think of Conversations to Talk about with your Boyfriend?" was a question asked. When people join the site they can add/edit answers and give their personal advice to help answer the questions. When regular people pass on their own knowledge to others that is passing on their folk culture, what they have learned from experience and from people before them. Most advice given is from personal experience, the person giving the advice have most likely been in the same situation and are now helping others by passing along their knowledge.
On wikiHow you can read about questions people have put out on the internet in hopes that other "regular people" will respond with some usable advice. For example "How to Think of Conversations to Talk about with your Boyfriend?" was a question asked. When people join the site they can add/edit answers and give their personal advice to help answer the questions. When regular people pass on their own knowledge to others that is passing on their folk culture, what they have learned from experience and from people before them. Most advice given is from personal experience, the person giving the advice have most likely been in the same situation and are now helping others by passing along their knowledge.
Jan 20, 2009
1/20/09
Barack Obama is officially the President of the United States of America. During his Inaugural address I was listening for a few things and it was interesting what I heard him say, we predicted he would in class. Currently we have been talking about Obama and what he has promised this country, CHANGE, but will this change happen? Will things get worse before they get better? How and when will this change happen? What do the people need to do in order to help? (What will he mention in his address to the public?)
SACRIFICE
A web article from Yahoo News is titled, Barack Obama's Inaugural Address: Humility, Gratitude, Sacrifice. After listening to his speech again I was waiting to hear some sort of message that he could be giving the people. "We have chosen hope over fear, Unity of purpose over conflict and discord. We come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas that for far too long have restrained our politics. We remain a young nation..." [His message] "...but the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward the gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation, a God given promise that all are equal, that all are free, and all deserve that chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." Once we end our childish ways of living we are able to make a change in the world.
SACRIFICE
A web article from Yahoo News is titled, Barack Obama's Inaugural Address: Humility, Gratitude, Sacrifice. After listening to his speech again I was waiting to hear some sort of message that he could be giving the people. "We have chosen hope over fear, Unity of purpose over conflict and discord. We come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas that for far too long have restrained our politics. We remain a young nation..." [His message] "...but the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward the gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation, a God given promise that all are equal, that all are free, and all deserve that chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." Once we end our childish ways of living we are able to make a change in the world.
Jan 19, 2009
1/19/09 - MLK Day
Thoughts crammed together, doesn't make much sense.
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the public about following your dreams and trying your best to accomplish your dreams. But this year seemed different. MLK Day seemed to be less important as a holiday its self because of Barack Obama's Inauguration. This year, Obama began to over power MLK Day, anytime Martin Luther King, Jr. was talked about on television, Barack Obama was also mentioned and he was then continued to be talked about instead of Martin Luther KIng Jr.
On t.v. I noticed that there was only one show on about MLK and his accomplishments, I believe it was called, "Still Living the Dream," and most likely talked about the history of Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream. But then connected MLK's dreams and ambitions to Barack Obama and this "historical moment in time," where an African American is elected president.
Unfortunately, I predict the next few years Martin Luther King Jr. Day will seem less important in some ways because our new president is "Living and continuing 'his' dream" as President of the United States of America, a man in power. MLK Day will seem like another holiday, nothing special.
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the public about following your dreams and trying your best to accomplish your dreams. But this year seemed different. MLK Day seemed to be less important as a holiday its self because of Barack Obama's Inauguration. This year, Obama began to over power MLK Day, anytime Martin Luther King, Jr. was talked about on television, Barack Obama was also mentioned and he was then continued to be talked about instead of Martin Luther KIng Jr.
On t.v. I noticed that there was only one show on about MLK and his accomplishments, I believe it was called, "Still Living the Dream," and most likely talked about the history of Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream. But then connected MLK's dreams and ambitions to Barack Obama and this "historical moment in time," where an African American is elected president.
Unfortunately, I predict the next few years Martin Luther King Jr. Day will seem less important in some ways because our new president is "Living and continuing 'his' dream" as President of the United States of America, a man in power. MLK Day will seem like another holiday, nothing special.
Jan 15, 2009
1/15/09
Deconstruction of a Dominant Holiday:
Columbus Days is just like another holiday, a day off from school or from work. But no one really seems to know or understand why Columbus Day exists or why it was made a holiday (this was observed by asking a few friends). I personally only know that it is a day to celebrate Christopher Columbus and his arrival to the "Americas," but I don't know the date of the holiday. When Columbus Day rolls around, I might it on my calender but the idea of the day of celebration does not register in my mind. Its just another day off in my school year.
While doing some research on this widely celebrated holiday in the United States, I found some interesting information, Christopher Columbus arrived in America on October 12, 1492 but the date is different for other calenders. Columbus Day also has different names but in the United States the day is celebrated as Columbus Day.
-in new york, government offices and public schools are closed but the stock markets remain open...why is that? What does this say about the importance of the holiday? the importance of the stock market? Society?
*****will continue when finished with exhibition***** unfortunately I have to finish that first.
www.wikipedia.org search Columbus Day
Columbus Days is just like another holiday, a day off from school or from work. But no one really seems to know or understand why Columbus Day exists or why it was made a holiday (this was observed by asking a few friends). I personally only know that it is a day to celebrate Christopher Columbus and his arrival to the "Americas," but I don't know the date of the holiday. When Columbus Day rolls around, I might it on my calender but the idea of the day of celebration does not register in my mind. Its just another day off in my school year.
While doing some research on this widely celebrated holiday in the United States, I found some interesting information, Christopher Columbus arrived in America on October 12, 1492 but the date is different for other calenders. Columbus Day also has different names but in the United States the day is celebrated as Columbus Day.
-in new york, government offices and public schools are closed but the stock markets remain open...why is that? What does this say about the importance of the holiday? the importance of the stock market? Society?
*****will continue when finished with exhibition***** unfortunately I have to finish that first.
www.wikipedia.org search Columbus Day
Jan 12, 2009
Jan 6, 2009
People base the meaning of a good and meaningful life on their personal experiences and what they view around them. Everyday people are exposed to different points of view on what is considered to be a good and meaningful life. The media has a huge impact on what is socially accepted as a “good” and/or “meaningful” life. No one person can help but to be influenced by the world they live in to think a good and meaningful is to be "successful and rich" or to "be oneself," it is those types of "brainwashing ideas" from birth that makes a person think they know what a good and meaningful life is and how to live one.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
Another movie we are currently watching in class is called, "Pump-up the Volume" made in the 1990's by New Line Cinema and S. C. Entertainment. In this film there is a teenage boy who has a pirate radio broadcast in which he presents an illegal talk show. On the radio he goes by "Hard on Harry" and tells his listeners what he beleives is the truth about life and the world they live in. He talks about his day and all the things adults, parents, and teachers expect from teens such as themselves. His first statement on his radio show goes something like this: "Everything in America is completely fucked up...violent...schools, government, environment" everything is corrupt. He also says to "eat ceral with a fork and do you homework in the dark." He offers the marginal thought(s) and message(s) on how someone could live thier life. On his radio show he, in a free-form way, informs and educates the teenagers in this "sleepy town" about life behond school; the lives they are living. "HoH" says that the "life" everyone expects, the good and meaningful life, is to "get happy, get a girlfriend and write a best seller." That is the equivlent of living in the suburbs married with kids; in a big house with a white picket fense. It is the "life" being presented by coporate culture in thier society. "Life of a teenager...you have parents and teachers telling you what to do, movies and magazines and t.v. telling you what to do, but you know what you need to do, purpose in life, get a cute girlfriend and think of something great to do." "Suicide→ the uncomplicated, simple solution." "At least the pain is real." Unlike most things in life, feeling some sort of emotion, like pain, is proof that there is some real aspect to life.
HoH has a solution to teen problems, NOT to go out and kill yourself, but instead he says to "do something crazy, go nuts, get crazy!"
Many people believe the holidays are a time of the year for families to get together. Over break I was able to spend time with my cousins, on Christmas my mom, brother and I went up to Mamaroneck to visit my cousins (on my mom's side of the family). It is interesting because we live in the same state, yet we do not see each other unless there is some "family" event going on or on most occasions a holiday. I feel like my family uses holidays as an excuse to get the whole family together, when it is possible to arrange time to see each other anytime we like.
We also do this cousin gift exchange, which has been introduced to our family's tradition due to our corporate culture. The message corporate culture tells us is to buy gifts for people/family for the holidays. People think buying gifts for family members will somehow make their lives and relationships with those people stronger. Instead of getting to know that person on a closer level people give gifts, in hopes that the gift will make the relationship stronger. I feel like this idea of gift giving and spending money during the holidays, getting the best sale available is a way to fill a hollow space people have between each other.
My definition of a good and meaningful life is, sad to say, mostly based on what corporate culture has told me what a good and meaningful life is, along with some folk culture. I say this because it is completely true, probably from the moment I was born corporate culture has had the largest impact on the way I live my life. Corporate culture has shown me the "good" way to live a "happy and problem free" life. I believe corporate culture has affected me through the television and the shows I watch, also through music and magazines. I watch, listen, and read about all the ways I can "make my life better..." and these various medias inform me on how this is possible.
I would like to think that I can up with this idea of how to live a good and meaningful life on my own but I was probably influenced by corporate culture to think this way, I do not know for sure. But I believe a good and meaningful life is being happy and at peace with myself. I need to understand myself in order to live a good and meaningful life. As I continue to listen to corporate culture's idea of a good and meaningful life, I, as many people may have started to notice, one of corporate culture's many messages is "to be your true self" but how can you be your true self if you do what the media tells one to do? I feel that this message can be contradicted by one's own inner thoughts. When you think about it, corporate cultures is telling you to be yourself, but in order to be yourself, you should already be yourself by not listen to corporate culture telling you to be yourself. I also feel that at one point in my life it may be necessary that I become successful in some area of my interests. I think that being successful in a area of my interest such as art would make my life more meaningful. Being successful in the art and in photography world would make me happy and I believe that would be living a good life, I would be enjoying doing what I love to do everyday. If I was not successful with my art, I think that I would still enjoy life and I would still believe that my life is meaningful, I would just have to find another way to make a living. For example I would just find another job and still enjoy taking pictures on the side, as a hobby. I believe money is important because that is how ours society functions, but if I was not able to make money with my artwork I would just find another job to support myself, even if it had to be non-art related.
To get other points of view on what makes a good and meaningful life and as a part of this class course, we went outside and interviewed people who were walking down the street. Through several quick interviews, I was able to get a brief understanding of what people believe is a meaningful life. When I posed the question: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life? Many answered back that their family was the most meaningful thing in their life. But they didn't really give a detailed explanation why family is meaningful to them. Only one man mentioned that his family is always there for him and that the purpose of family is to support each other. I believe that man is living a good and meaningful life because he knows why his family meaningful his life. He has a reason. Many of the other people I interviewed said that family was important to them as well but they did not explain further, even if I asked another question for further explanation. I think that people think family is important to them because that has been the main corporate culture messages for years. Family always comes first. So they feel they have not real explanation for the importance of family in their life because according to corporate media family is just important to your life, they don't really know why, it just is. My guess is that none of them have actually been asked that question, why is your family important or meaningful to your life? They have not thought about their family like that, with meaning or importance, people think family is just a group of people who have a close relation to you, no questions asked.
The internet is a huge corporate culture invention. The internet advertizes anything anyone could think of buying, selling, and spreading. When you search a topic on google, the right side of the page is usually a list of links to pages that may relate to the topic being searched. Corporate culture is continuously trying to spread the messages of buying things that "will make your life better." The internet advertises all types of corporate culture messages but not so many marginal messages and prohibited messages are almost never advertised. As soon as you go online, let's just say you go to check your e-mail, log on to yahoo.com and as soon as the page loads, there is a box in the center of the page with some sort of current news that the internet corporations are trying to shove down your throat by putting it right in your face. There is a moving advertisement for Visa Cards, Target shopping deals, Bluefly.com, The O. Below that advertisement there is another for popular videos, trying to get people to go on their website and watch ridiculous videos and to boost the online companies ratings. Next to that there is an add for Netflix "only $4.99/month" trying to lure people into the great deals they want to offer. All of these advertisements are on one internet page. So when you go to check your e-mail you most likely get distracted by all of they other corporate culture messages being offered you don't get around to checking you e-mail until after you have checked out the "great" offers available. Corporate cultures message here, that they advertise online is trying to get people to spend more and more money and making the consumer think they got the best deal out of it.
In a class discussion, we talked about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and we came up with the idea that Thanksgiving is "a day of genocide and people thank god for killing off all the Indians so we [Americans] could take their land." To experiment with this idea... During my family's Thanksgiving dinner I decided to pose the question, What is the real meaning of Thanksgiving? Wasn't it just a day of genocide? I was very surprised by my mother's reaction, who I thought would agree with my thoughts on the whole holiday. But instead she had other points of view. She became very defensive about the idea that Thanksgiving may have been a day of feasting and sharing food but ended in killing Native Americans for land. She started telling me that that's not true, "Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, when people gather around and feast together, not so much about killing of the indigenous people." Even though that is what the "white people" did in the end. I really thought my mom would be more open minded about other interpretations of Thanksgiving. If she is usually open minded about other topics (i.e.) why did she suddenly change her mind about thinking openly about Thanksgiving?
Corporate culture's traditions such as, Black Friday, also known as "Buy Nothing Day," has become part of corporate culture in America. It is the day after Thanksgiving when most stores have huge sales, thus luring people to go out and spend unbelievable amounts of money on items they probably don't need. It is just another made up "holiday" to get people to buy more plastic, believing everything they buy will somehow make their lives more meaningful. Why do people get so crazed over sale items? Shopping? Cheap shopping?
Movies/films are another way for corporate culture to send messages to people. Movies like High School Musical, Joe Dirt, Cinderella, Superbad, Saving Grace, Wanted.
Wanted is about a man named Wesley Gibson who works as an account manager. He feels that his life is average, boring, and he believes he is a “nobody.” One day he is abruptly introduced to an assassin named Fox, who tries to recruit him into the Fraternity. But along the way, Cross an ex-Fraternity member, attempts to separate Wesley from the Fraternity, his actions are mistaken for an assassination attempt. Meanwhile Wesley is being trained to become an assassin, but must first undergo a series of sessions with the “Repairman,” who beats him up until Wesley realizes his true reason for being at the Fraternity. Wesley ends up confessing to Fox, his reason for being at the Fraternity, during another session with the Repairman, Wesley has been asked “Why are you here?” and his response was “I don’t know who I am.” Throughout the film Wesley trains to become an assassin and along the way figures out who he is and his importance in life.
Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corproate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.
Another movie we are currently watching in class is called, "Pump-up the Volume" made in the 1990's by New Line Cinema and S. C. Entertainment. In this film there is a teenage boy who has a pirate radio broadcast in which he presents an illegal talk show. On the radio he goes by "Hard on Harry" and tells his listeners what he beleives is the truth about life and the world they live in. He talks about his day and all the things adults, parents, and teachers expect from teens such as themselves. His first statement on his radio show goes something like this: "Everything in America is completely fucked up...violent...schools, government, environment" everything is corrupt. He also says to "eat ceral with a fork and do you homework in the dark." He offers the marginal thought(s) and message(s) on how someone could live thier life. On his radio show he, in a free-form way, informs and educates the teenagers in this "sleepy town" about life behond school; the lives they are living. "HoH" says that the "life" everyone expects, the good and meaningful life, is to "get happy, get a girlfriend and write a best seller." That is the equivlent of living in the suburbs married with kids; in a big house with a white picket fense. It is the "life" being presented by coporate culture in thier society. "Life of a teenager...you have parents and teachers telling you what to do, movies and magazines and t.v. telling you what to do, but you know what you need to do, purpose in life, get a cute girlfriend and think of something great to do." "Suicide→ the uncomplicated, simple solution." "At least the pain is real." Unlike most things in life, feeling some sort of emotion, like pain, is proof that there is some real aspect to life.
HoH has a solution to teen problems, NOT to go out and kill yourself, but instead he says to "do something crazy, go nuts, get crazy!"
Many people believe the holidays are a time of the year for families to get together. Over break I was able to spend time with my cousins, on Christmas my mom, brother and I went up to Mamaroneck to visit my cousins (on my mom's side of the family). It is interesting because we live in the same state, yet we do not see each other unless there is some "family" event going on or on most occasions a holiday. I feel like my family uses holidays as an excuse to get the whole family together, when it is possible to arrange time to see each other anytime we like.
We also do this cousin gift exchange, which has been introduced to our family's tradition due to our corporate culture. The message corporate culture tells us is to buy gifts for people/family for the holidays. People think buying gifts for family members will somehow make their lives and relationships with those people stronger. Instead of getting to know that person on a closer level people give gifts, in hopes that the gift will make the relationship stronger. I feel like this idea of gift giving and spending money during the holidays, getting the best sale available is a way to fill a hollow space people have between each other.
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