Analysis 5 Assignment 1-3-6

Analysis 5 Assignment 1-3-6

Jamie Hunter

Franklin University

ECON210 - H1FF

Professor Omar Alomari

February 7, 2011

Analysis 5 Assignment 1-3-6

Popular Beliefs, Myths, and Popular Icons best relates to my popular culture topic because people picture many different images when they hear “The Walking Dead.” They may think of something scary, something not believable. The Walking Dead fans may visualize the fictional zombies as something supernatural. The dead walking the earth is a little revelation of a parable of how people feel as they proceed with the daily ins and outs of their own lives. Zombies are popular icons because they are the bad guys that the heroes can easily kill without sending a vivid message that actual people are being slew.

In research of the show “The Walking Dead,” I found that it has a large following of viewers. People like scary stuff with a message. Although it is frightening, the show also has heroes, villains, and damsels in distress. It has morals, lessons, and strategy plans. The show can show an extensive range of commercials because the audience is broad as in; it is watched by the old, the young, males, and females. Every age group and gender can visualize them self as one of the characters, because the show has survivors that fit in all age groups and gender groups. It also has the law abiding and the lawless, the miracles, love and heartbreak.

I look at the show “Walking Dead” as a consumer product now that I have completed the Pop Cultural class. The writers are very clever. The writers realize that people are programmed by what they watch. For example, the characters on the show often have to acquisition vehicles, weapons, long shelf life foods, etc... People watch this and subconsciously get the notion they need these certain basic things in order to survive. A SUV truck commercial is plugged in alongside bottled water commercial. Not only does the show sell by its commercial, it sells by the contents of the show.

Journal Article Paper – Assignment 1-2-2

 Journal Article Paper – Assignment 1-2-2

Jamie Hunter

Franklin University

Professor Omar Alomari

HUM240-E1FF

February 1, 2012

Journal Article Paper – Assignment 1-2-2

Monsters entertain people because it relates to their culture. Monsters offer close scenarios into people’s everyday struggles, doubts, worries, discriminations, and worst problems. The appeal for monsters in movies says a lot about a person. (Combe, K., 2010) Kirk Combe’s term ‘‘postmodern monsters’’ puts together two approaches and theorizes what fictional beasts are interpreted as. Combe believes them to be “anti-Truth, that is, as the opposite of whatever illusion of modern stability we are trying to tell ourselves or sell ourselves at the moment.” (Combe, K. 2010 p. 934)

            Combe talks about how people convince themselves that they are enlightened until a monster or threat comes along in their world. People are then not so accepting to the truth of their lives. Combe points out that Americans are compared to the Martians invaders in the movie War of the Worlds. Other countries like Iran view Americans as, in an extorted way as invaders. (Combe, K., 2010) Combe wants to know if Americans want change. Combe also in his article compares two sides of American people, those that have, and those that have not. 

The article suggests that the working middle class is the backbone of the country, because they are willing to fight for what they believe in not in what they can buy as insinuated of the upper-middleclass group in the article. If all Americans are their own champions against unjust they may be more compassionate to others. (Combe, K., 2010)

            The article speaks about how a working class father was the hero in the end and that his children gained his respect because he saved them from the invading chaotic slaughter. He showed them that you do not have to have all the money and all the things to be a good person (a hero).

I agree that people should be more aware that all the things they have not are what makes them good. Monsters do not have to exist to make people realize family and values make them human. 

         I also agree with the author Kirk Combe that children should be taught the value of family. Parents should not have to buy them things to make them feel wanted or loved. Combe sends an important message. Americans are greedily consuming all there is to consume. They buy, buy, and then buy more. Americans teach their children that it is okay to have everything, when they should be teaching them to make do with less. When people have everything they want, they do not have anything to work for when they grow up and leave on their own. 

For example, children use to get a part-time job working after school and save up for when they can buy a car. Now-a-days children are given cars to drive to school even if their grades are bad, just because they ask and their parents obliged. Children do not move out on their own, they live with their parents and pay do not bills. Parents allow them to do it because they want to give them everything they feel they (parents) should have. Children have no drive to go out and work for what they want or even need. 

            If American’s eyes were truly opened to what other nations faced, not enough water, not enough food, not enough shelter…etc., they may be a little more grateful for what they do have. Every American should be required to see real poverty. Then maybe the American people may be looked upon as the heroes by the standards of Combe’s article about Spielberg’s movie War of the Worlds and not as the invading Martins. Combe puts it best, “In the end, Spielberg’s sci-fi epic confronts domestic audiences with a hard choice. What kind of America do we want to be?” (Combe, K. 2010 p. 938)

References

Combe, K. (2011). The journal of popular culture: Spielberg's Tale of Two Americas:

Postmodern Monsters in War of the Worlds (Vol. 44, issue 5) Retrieved from http://0-

journals.ohiolink.edu.olinkserver.franklin.edu

Formulas - Assignment 1-3-5

 Formulas - Assignment 1-3-5

Jamie Hunter

Professor Omar Alomari

HUMN240-E1FF

February 01, 2012

 

 

 

Formulas - Assignment 1-3-5

 

The time and place of the hit television show, The Walking Dead is present day after massive amounts of people die from a mysterious illness then come back to life. The dead have no other instincts except to walk the earth in search of flesh to eat. Some people survived the illness and they now must find a way to fight the dead, find safety, and restart the human existence.

The hero of the series is Sherriff Ricky Grimes. Each week he comes up against flesh eating zombies and must find a way for him and the surviving group to outlast the walking dead. He also must keep his family together. His wife is his love interest and his son is what keeps him going. His wife and he have the same marital problems as before the zombie holocaust. Each week they work on an issue to get closer in their marriage that seems to be drifting apart. His wife has another love interest (the Sherriff’s best friend Shane) that makes competition between her husband and Shane in the show.

The wife of the Sherriff finds out that she is pregnant adding a twist to the show; she is not sure who the father of the baby is, nor if she wants to bring a baby into a nightmare of a world. She is forced to reveal her affair with his best friend Shane. After it is revealed she has had an affair, it is also revealed that she thought he was dead. Shane stepped in to take care of his wife and son when everyone thought the Sherriff was dead; therefore, The Sherriff forgives the affair. Shane agrees to bow out of the love triangle to spare his childhood friend any more pain. Shane reappears later because wants to know if he is the father of the baby. He wants to interact with the child in the possible future. The possibility that the baby may be Shane’s sets the plot for the next show.  

Heroes and The Cult of the Celebrity - Assignment 1-3-4

 

Heroes and The Cult of the Celebrity - Assignment 1-3-4

Jamie Hunter

Professor Omar Alomari

HUMN240-E1FF

January 28, 2012

 

 

 

  

 

Heroes and The Cult of the Celebrity - Assignment 1-3-4

 

            Sheriff Ricky Grimes is the hero in the series The Walking Dead. The group of survivors from the zombie holocaust looks to the Sheriff as their hero. They admire the Sheriff because he is brave when he leads them away from the dangerous flesh-eating zombies. His achievements are great; he has managed to keep the group safe while he keeps a level head. He maintains a plan a step ahead of the ever looming threat of death. Unlike the Sherriff is his Best friend Shane.

            Shooting zombie careless and with no plan, gets Shane attention, but he is no hero. He competes for the attention of the group by doing attention grabbing stunts. Celebrities get attention by doing attention grabbing things also. For instance Angelina Jolie may gain a following because she adopts kids to give them a better home. She is a celebrity because many others have and continue to do the same thing; although adoption is a noble thing it does not take a hero to do it. Jolie does it for attention the same as Shane.

            Sherriff Grimes truly wants to restore humankind to some type of normality. His actions exemplify that aspiration. Shane wants the attention of the woman he loves which happens to be the wife of Sheriff Grimes. Shane does all that he does for her to notice him. He does not care about the interest of the group; even though several of them admire and praise him for his show of heroism.

            People who follow The Walking Dead series probably watch it because it has the idea of even through a zombie-filled world someone is wiling to step up and set order back to the world; even if it means he has to make great sacrifices. Something the ordinary just will not do. 

Rituals and Stereotypes – The Walking Dead Assignment 1-3-3

 

Rituals and Stereotypes – The Walking Dead Assignment 1-3-3

Jamie Hunter

Franklin University

Professor Omar Alomari

HUM240-E1FF

January 19, 2012

Rituals and Stereotypes – The Walking Dead

             The main characters in the television show The Walking Dead are: Rick (the Sherriff) and Lori (the Sherriff’s wife), Carl (the Sherriff’s son), Shane (the Sherriff’s partner and best friend), Andrea, (the Attorney), Dale (the old guy), Glen (the pizza delivery boy), Daryl (the survivalist) Sophia (the abused wife), and T-Dog (the minority in the group). The show is about the zombie apocalypse and its human survivors. As the small group, who has formed a community and bonds fights zombies and try to maintain some type of normality, they are still faces with the same old everyday rituals and stereotypes as before the world went crazy.

They gather food and supplies as a group and then sit as a group to eat and share strategies; much like a family that sits at the table and discuss their day at school or work. It is important for the group to stay together and work together in order to survive.  Many families that eat together or socialize in some form or fashion stay together as a close knit family. Like any family or community the group still faces riffs and misunderstanding.

The characters in the show have varying opinions about each other. For instance in one episode, part of the group left to go search for a member of the group who has been separated during a zombie attack. It is the third of fourth time they have gone out and have gone without Glen (the old guy) and T-dog (the minority). Although T-dog has been severely hurt during the previous attack by the zombies, he makes mention to Glen that they were left behind on the search because he was black and Glen was old. T-dog himself stereotypically believes his race made him less capable when it was because he was injured.

The show’s producers add to the stereotypes. They name the character T-dog and hint on the show that he is from a gang, although there are many white, Hispanic and Asian gangs.  They have a female character that is abused by her husband, although men are abused by women they show features a woman. The survivors many times go through the ritual of tending to the wounded even when they know the outcome of them turning into zombies once bitten is the same. The show stays with the theme that it is people’s nature to be ritualism and stereotypical, that is what makes it appealing; people can see themselves. 

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Popular Beliefs, Myths, and Icons Assignment 1-3-2

 

Popular Beliefs, Myths, and Icons Assignment 1-3-2

Jamie Hunter

Franklin University

Professor Omar Alomari

HUM240-E1FF

January 11, 2012

Popular Beliefs, Myths, and Icons

People make up monsters because they parallel the hardships in their own lives. People relate for the reason that most horror movies, science fiction movies and or movies with monsters have the happy ending where good wins over evil. Kirk Combe’s interpretation in his popular culture journal paper reads, “One great Truth being force-fed to Americans at that time was imperialism masquerading as national defense.” (Combe, K., 2011 p. 936)  He is commenting on the ideology that the Steven Spielberg movie War of the Worlds parallels this statement. In the movie people are in terror and panic because their defenses are useless against the invading monsters. (Combe, K., 2011)  American have a popular belief that some mythical government defense can and will protect them from anything foreign and invasion like; alien invasions were not accounted for.

            911 happened to Americans. Although the terrorist were not monsters the National defenses did not protect the people from the invading doom (much like Spielberg’s alien attack). Monsters are very iconic because they are big and bad just like terrorist are iconic for the very same reasons. People were angry at the government, but how can a government fight a monster it does not see coming? In Spielberg’s movie the aliens lay dormant until their counterparts invaded. A myth can be construed as terrorist cells, are living amongst us today; plotting and scheming as usual business.

            People hide from the possibility that terrorist are icons, because their actions usually mean fear and power. Monsters are always lurking around in dark corners, they are not mythical; in actuality they are a huge icon, otherwise gun sells would drop rapidly. Spielberg alien’s were defeated but not by the National defense. They were destroyed by their own lack of doing their research. A virus not compatible to their biological make-up killed them. Terrorist like the aliens usually fail because their plan fail. Bin Laden did meet his doom; he, some will say did not do his research. He did not take into account that his messenger led his assassins to him.

 

References

Combe, K. (2011). The journal of popular culture: Spielberg's Tale of Two Americas:

Postmodern Monsters in War of the Worlds (Vol. 44, issue 5) Retrieved from http://0-

journals.ohiolink.edu.olinkserver.franklin.edu

Icon Analysis – Assignment 2-1

 

Icon Analysis – Assignment 2-1 

Jamie Hunter

Franklin University 

Professor Omar Alomari

HUM240-E1FF

January 11, 2012

 Icon Analysis 

Americans are obsessed about what they eat, how they look, and whom the expert is on when, where and why. Three contemporary icons are, The Biggest Loser, Oprah, and Food Network. These three icons can relate to American eating habits. Restaurants that use to cater to hamburgers and fries for dinner have now added salad and wraps; they want to capture the ever growing industry of weight loss and healthy eating trends.

The Biggest Loser sells determination. Most people, who watch this show which promotes weight loss, are rooting for the heaviest guy/gal to win. Some people, who watch the show, may even see themselves as a contestant on the show who struggles with weight and needs guidance. When an advertisement artifact is displayed during the breaks, they are more likely to be about Cheerios or Special-K type products. Inspired people may go buy the healthier choice even if it only last the first couple of days. Next week the cycle will repeat it’s self. The thought may even be planted as a good ideal by one of the trainers on the show; after all, he is helping contestants on the show actually lose weight. 

People also listen to Oprah. Oprah’s weight in the past has gone up-and-down then back up or down again. How many times has Oprah influenced what people should or should not eat? Some people live for her word because she is a famous icon. She has followers who in turn spread her message. In other words, a person does not even have to watch her show to hear what she is saying; others say it for her and people believe. Oprah gives the command to watch Rachael Ray on the Food Network, and people watch.

Once a person is hooked on all the healthy choices the Food Network has to offer, they go and buy more items to complete their well-being. The Food Network offers a variety of good eating, “Special-K” some would say pales before the specially prepared expensive ingredients one may need to complete a proper organic-low fat-banana-smoothie. Food Network in turn sells to people the fascination of wanting to not only be a healthy eating, but also a gourmet cook. People then go out and buy the cooking utensils used, the costly pots and pans, and the lists go on.

Obsessions about eating, looks, and experts are what icons are made of. People buy what sells. Oprah sells. Shows about losers who are really winners sell, consumers want food that may or may not make them gourmet cooks. Without icons, America would not be able to promote market power. If no one is selling, no one is buying; if this happens, then in the long run no one wins.