Blog Assignment
In the United States, women in politics, business, media, and in many other positions are present, but rare. This is especially the case the higher up the ladder the position is. Popular culture and media plays a strong role in this demographic as it may send the message to women that they are not fit to be in a position of power. Because women are not “fit” to be in the workplace, women are often pressured to be qualified exceptionally so that they would be taken seriously. Women may feel that they have to excel in many aspects just so that they are not looked down upon by men.
The idea of popular culture is debated by some scholars to have been post-industrial, having arisen beginning in the late 1800s, while some argue that it traces much farther back. After all, the definition of popular culture is “of the people.” This is usually associated with the likes and dislikes of the hoi polloi, or common people, rather than that of the elites of society, as far as literature and the arts are concerned. Women’s role in popular culture has been diminished in such a way that they are only seen as the domestic, simple house wife that television and other media have shown since its inception.
http://carlislehistory.dickinson.edu/wp-content/uploads/hswf.gif
This advertisement discriminates and isolates women as being primarily domestic and does not consider that women are capable of more competent roles such as those in politics and business.
This is yet another stereotypical cartoon playing on the idea that all women in the medicine field are nurses who assist the predominantly male doctors.
Through all types of media, including movies, television, and advertising, the stereotypical representation of women in popular culture pervades throughout society. The reason that women are represented this way in media may be simply because of the fact that males overwhelmingly dominate the media industry from writers and editors to directors and producers. This means that women have been represented and classified into roles that men have designed them to fit in, or in other words, their expectations and desires.
In present popular culture, women can be seen in other aspects than just a housewife. It is not surprising to find women in power on television or other types of media. For example, actor Kyra Sedgwick plays the leading role of Deputy Police Chief in “The Closer.” However, men are often linked to women in power either by role of a mentor or guide, a boss, or some other kind of superior. For example, in “Bones,” Dr. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist that conducts investigations in murder. However, Special Agent Seeley Booth often has to rescue her when she gets into trouble with criminals. In this case, although the woman does have a powerful and intelligent role in the TV series, she is still subject to danger and distress and sometimes has to be saved by a more “dominant” male figure.
The popular culture "items" that this blog is focused on are cartoon images that portray women as subordinate. The first is of a typical female housewife cleaning a stove, and a second of a scene in which female nurses and male doctors are divided by a literal "gender line"
ReplyDeleteRhetorical Awareness
Does the blog attract your attention? How or why? Does the blog have a unique main idea? Why or why not?
The blog does attract my attention, especially with the images it includes. You have chosen excellent images to analyze. However, I feel that the main idea is not all that unique, because in a sense it is a general discussion of feminism. Try to tie in specifics of the images more into what you've written. Make the popular culture items the central topic of your blog to add uniqueness to it!
Stance and Support
Restate the main idea in your own words. Is the support sufficient? Does the author prove his point using specific examples?
The main idea of the blog is that our society is built off of men's expectations of women, and these images are examples that express this. However, the author presents the fact that although times have changed, women are still portrayed as subordinate through their thoughts and actions, rather than through their explicit roles. The author has great use of specific examples, with the images along with the example from "The Closer". Possibly include a link to a scene from this movie that expresses what you are discussing?
Organization
Identify how many paragraphs the author has. Do they each focus on one idea? Does each paragraph relate back to the main idea? Note anywhere the blog gets off topic.
The author has four fully written paragraphs, along with short 1-sentence statements that comment on the images. On the whole, the blog is very well organized, but I highly suggest expanding those 1-sentence statements about the images into full-blown analysis of details in the images that contribute to the effect you are discussing.
Conventions
Has the blog author used appropriate language for an audience of his/her peers that are reading a blog? How could the author improve the language choices or readability?
The language is formal, written int he proper person, and includes appropriate vocabulary. Great job with this!
Design for Medium
How could the blog be more visually appealing?
I'm not completely sure what the limit would be, but I'd say to use a different font that's nicer but still legible, and add some color. The spacing is alright, but be sure to indent each of your paragraphs (the first couple aren't indented) but I'm sure that this was only because of copy and paste formatting errors from Word or something similar.
1. The author uses two images as references. The first one is an advertisemnt, and the second one is a cartoon.
ReplyDelete2. The blog is very interesting, the author makes really good comments and claims. The images make the blog very interesting. The main idea is pretty vague, since the author makes several claims. I think he should make a more clear relationship between each claim and round them up in one main claim.
3. Main Idea: In a male-centered popular culture, women are portrayed as men want to see them. The main idea is well supported and the examples relate to it. However, I think the main claim should be a little more clear. He makes reference to other media but there are no links nor videos.
4. The blog has 4 paragraphs and 2 extra phrases under the images. It is well organized and consistent.
5. The author used appropiate language in my opinion. It is easy to understand and doesn't take away credibility.
6. The blog is visually appealing, the images catch the reader's eye. One way to make the blog more appealing is adding video references on the last media examples he listed ("Bones", "The Closer", etc).