Just a Celebrity Theory

Over the summer, I had been working out a little conspiracy theory -- actors like Paul Rudd and Justin Timberlake are getting a good fan base now because of their work years ago. People are subconsciously remembering good experiences with them, thus making us want to show them more support now.
Paul Rudd was the goofy, smart heart throb in Clueless (1995), then it seemed as though he disappeared until Anchorman in 2004. After that, he was in bigger movies and even got his own shot at leading man in a few of them. People went to see these movies and show Paul Rudd his support, but how many remember him being in Clueless? It's not until people look up his past movies that they even think about it.
Justin Timberlake never really left the public eye, yet he's quickly taken himself from teen-pop sensation, to solo artist, to comedian (SNL -- you cannot deny the hilarity of "Dick in a Box"), to actor. He's succeeded in all of these fields. Is it possible that we go to see him initially because he's one of those guys from the *NSYNC who undoubtedly entertained us (in, what? Fourth grade?)? Or maybe we still feel bad about Ashton's Punking that made Justin cry...
Either way, I think that we are subconsciously supporting these two actors (and maybe more).

This is Coming from a Tavern Wench

I saw that someone wrote about Renaissance fairs... Which is a surprisingly interesting thing to bring up with the topic we have this week. I didn't really consider it to be something like Comic-Con, but it easily can be tied into that idea. People do still go to them and, although we have tools like the internet, the people still don't know anything about that era. Conventions like Comic-Con isn't a specific time nor place and all sorts of costumes and characters are welcome. Patrons will go to Ren fairs dressed up like Captain Jack Sparrow when technically, pirates like that character wouldn't be around for another century. There are also patrons who come dressed as medieval (800-1400 C.E.) warriors or even something from the movie 300 (500-300 B.C.), which, again, are the wrong time periods. People who actually work at the fair end up making fun of these people because of obviously wrong era, the clearly home-made/halloween costume (complete with authentic GYM SHOES) aspect of their "hard work," and because they willingly decided to wear several layers of material on a particularly warm day. Ask any worker who is dressed up in full Renaissance garb and they will honestly tell you that they are only wearing it because they are getting paid to do it.

Might Be Worth Watching Commercials

At this moment, I can't really think of a new television show that centers itself around one family. The buffoonish father, wise mother, and clever children roles all seem to have moved to commercials instead of being on the actual show. I guess it can be used as a form of marketing since it did so well for television shows. Have you seen these commercials? At this point, the only ones I can think of are the Go-Gurt one (where the mother and son both put signs around the kitchen to ensure the dad actually gives the son go-gurt) and another one (I really can't remember what it was for) where the father figure is in the bathtub and the mother figure is doing laundry (or something?). Either way, we can remember these commercials because of the ridiculous things the male figure is doing or by what the other characters in the commercial do to inform that figure about the product.

Just Genderly Confused

I’m in theatre. Always have been, probably always will be. One issue I have always run across is that I am not particularly “girly” enough for directors to consider me for a more feminine role. (If you can imagine the amazing amount of parts that I haven’t gotten because I am generally more masculine, you’d probably be in shock) In all honesty, I think it’s just because I never understood the big deal about being feminine. Girls doll themselves up – poking, prodding, primping, high heels, trying to suck it in for that last inch of zipper to finally go up on the perfect dress, etc. All while men throw on a button-up shirt, a pair of slacks, maybe a tie and they look “nice.” Thinking costume-wise, it doesn’t matter on the time-era for men – they just need to make sure they have pants and a shirt. For women, style, cut, color of dresses, hair and make-up all need to be considered and looked-over on several different occasions.

So where am I going with this? Not sure. Seems as though there are now a lot more masculine women around while men become more feminine. Can someone explain to me why guys wear girls’ pants nowadays? There was a period of time where metrosexuality was a thing for men (I’m pretty sure there’s an episode of South Park about it), and after watching Tough Guise, it made me wonder what happened in that moment where guys started worrying more about having gel in their hair instead rather than actually bothering to shower or not. With the guys becoming more feminine, it seems as though girls have to step-up the manliness to compensate. Which eventually ends up with the overly masculine women and sickeningly feminine men, and both have a tendency to make people uncomfortable.

I don’t know where I was going with this. This was just a random thought process that I had going on.

I love zombie video games. A few years ago, for Wii, my brother and I got a game called House of the Dead: Overkill. This game was set up to play like a grind house movie with each new level being a new title with a trailer. What made this game more interesting (and overall entertaining) was the two main characters that we had to play. The first character is Agent G. Stereotypical white male who keeps most of his information "classified." He has several awkward moments with the other character, Detective Isaac Washington. Washington is an African American hard-ass cop who is always sputtering some profanity about what is going on. These two characters give off a hilarious banter between the highly slanged tone of Washington and the awkwardly-trying-to-match tone of G. Their clothes also depict their character types- G wears a business suit while Washington wears a t-shirt and jeans.
Another character that is added to the story is Varla Guns who is over-sexualized through the clothes that the animators has put her in and even the "camera" angles that are used with her. Specifically, she wears a mini skirt that is slit up the side, an extremely low-cut shirt, and overall looks like a typical suicide girl. The two male characters continually try to offer their assistance to her, but she ends up saving them in some way.
Keeping in mind that this game is supposed to play off of grind house films, makes it a little easier to accept the over exaggerated characters. Besides, you shouldn't be getting too offended by a video game.

Stereotypical Community

The TV show Community took several different moments to really hit making fun of different stereotypes all throughout the first season. All of the characters specifically match a stereotype: An older, senile, racist Caucasian man; a religious middle-aged motherly African-American woman; a socially-awkward, pop-culture-crazed, Israelian kid; a semi-anarchist, buzz-killing Caucasian woman; a perfectionist girl who got pushed over the edge; an ex-lawyer; and an African-American football jock. They all fit into their stereotypes, yet do what they can to also be different.
Throughout the show, ex-lawyer Jeff Winger gives the group several different pep-talks to help them get through whatever conflict that has arisen in the episode. Mostly for his own benefit. He use of words and ability to read those around him is exactly why lawyers are generally hated.
Another character is Senor Chang who acknowledges the fact that he doesn't fit into his stereotype: "Every once in a while, a student will come up to me and ask, "Señor Chang, why do you teach Spanish?" They say it just like that. "Why do *you* teach Spanish? Why you? Why not math? Why not photography? Why not martial arts?" I mean, surely, it must be in my nature to instruct you in something that's ancient and secret, like, oh, building a wall that you can see from outer space! Well, I'll tell you why I teach Spanish. It is none of your business, okay?"
Another example is when Jeff is trying to convince Troy to join the college's football team. Jeff gives Troy reasons to be a football player, where Troy responds by saying that Jeff's comment is racist.

Antici[This Movie Would Really Suck Without Audience Partici]pation

In this week’s reading while Allen was talking about television commercials making an impersonal experience, such as watching TV, an interpersonal experience, all I could think about was Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Since 1976 (according to the official fan website), audiences have been shouting out random obscene remarks back at screens and/or actors performing Rocky Horror. The original musical and later film were not initially meant to be such a large phenomenon of audience participation, but the overall campiness of the show and well placed pauses that practically beg for a response have made it into one of the largest cult classics known today. Now, there are theaters all over the nation who willingly play Rocky Horror once a week to once a month to draw in perhaps the strangest crowds anyone will ever encounter. Going to a showing of it really seems to be quite an event. First of all, it is highly encouraged to dress up (or, given the costumes used in the show, dress down due to most of the costumes being just lingerie), then you need to bring your own props. These things include: rice, toast, hot dogs, toilet paper, rubber gloves, noise makers, newspaper, confetti, some sort of light (flashlights and cell phones are preferred over lighters), playing cards, and other random items depending on where you are going and what is allowed in the theater. All of these items are merely used to enhance the movie-watching experience because it forces you to interact with all the other audience members and makes you feel like you are interacting with the actors on screen. Aside from the props, audience members are encouraged to shout out at the screen, sing, and dance throughout the movie. This entire experience takes something as impersonal as watching a movie in a dark theater to something extremely interpersonal like asking the actor on the screen a question and they answer appropriately or throwing rice at the people around you.

Americanized Reality in Dancing

I am going to inform everyone at this moment that I truly hate reality television. I had my doubts before, but after being in a reality tv course and having to watch different shows for homework, I have learned that I truly need a good-ol' cup of intelligence after watching even half an hour of something. But that's not what I'm here to write about.

After reading the article about The Simpsons and discussing what all television producers needed to do to make shows appeal to different cultures, I considered what all I watch and what has been changed for American viewing as well as what would be changed for other countries. Take Dancing with the Stars for example. This show came to American minds after a British show called Strictly Come Dancing. The exact same thing would occur: Professional dancers were paired up with a wide range of celebrities and they would compete on television. There would be judges who give scores and the viewers at home could vote on who their favorite pairing were. What all did the producers have to change for Americans to enjoy the show? Obviously, they would have to choose American celebrities to make them even remotely care about who they were voting for. Strictly Come Dancing strictly focused on ballroom dancing -- Americans wouldn't be interested in that. We need something new and different each every time! So, they added the contestants doing the Cha-Cha, the Jive, or Quick-Step. Lastly, and what they have learned from the American Idol transfer, three quirky judges: Two that seem much more upbeat with one that will give honest criticism that the audience will boo even though the judge is absolutely correct.

It seems as though it is much easier to transfer other countries' shows to American cultures. The Simpsons article expressed many issues in trying to make the secondary characters relatable to different cultures that one would imagine it would be just as difficult to change their shows for American viewing. I'm trying to figure out if it is because of the fact that we like to make fun of everybody else or are we just that easy to entertain.

"Zombies" turn "Walkers" and Overall Just Confused

I haven't had much time to watch television in the past few weeks. Trust me, I feel awful about it. But thinking about hegemony and ideology also stumped me because I honestly no idea where to go with those two thoughts. I considered talking about Community, but then saw it had been done (that's what I get for procrastinating, right?), then I thought about one of the other shows I have completely engross myself with: Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead is based off of a comic series about a zombie apocalypse, but the point of the books and series is more of human reaction rather than the actual epidemic. I learned that within to world of the series, George A. Romero's zombie movies and anything basing off of that don't exist. The entire zombie ideology has been wiped clean. There are dead people walking around eating live animals and other humans and we don't know how to kill them indefinitely or even what to call them? Talk about terrifying.
The lead in this series is Rick Grimes, who was a sheriff in a small town before this whole thing occurred. Although he is the main character, he does his best to not take the lead and be in charge of who he is around to survive, but he also wants what is best for his family. The safety of his family is the main thing that drives him, which gives him the best ideas of how to survive, ultimately making everyone assume he's the leader.
Rick's deputy is/was Shane Walsh, who has been trying to maintain leadership status while Rick was supposedly dead. Once Rick comes back into the picture, he and Shane have power struggles trying to figure out what is best for the group. Even then, when they've agreed on leaving camp to find a new place, the group splits up between who is going and who is staying.
Through out the season, the group has issues they all have to agree on together and, even then, people have to compromise, but they usually stick with what Rick has to say. That's hegemony... Right?