Chapter 49 & 50

Chapter 49:

In this chapter, Debord talks about modern industrialized societies and how life has changed.  He says that life has changed from experiencing it directly to experiencing it through representations.  Debord believes that images have just begun to take over our lives.  I do not agree. I believe images have always dominated our lives.

Chapter 50:

In this chapter, Stuart Hall talks about "difference". He talks about difference because that is how peope have been able to define themselves.  " Things don't have essential meanings but relational ones." Everything is defined by differences, instead of being defined by similarities.

The reality show that I watch the most is The Hills. I like it because they live a more glamorous life than I do and I like to admire all of the nice things they have (except for the large amounts of drama included of course).

Chapters 47 & 48

Chapter 47:

This chapter talks about the question "What is art?" which has been asked over and over again for centuries.  It talks about what all is included in art and then it talks about Gowans four functions of art. 

1.) The four functions of art are substitute imagery: works such as photos, painting and so on that capture reality; illustration: works that tell stories or help tell stories; conviction and persuasion:works that show beliefs, sell products; beautification: works that please the eye or gratify the mind

3.) All of the connections make sense between the functions of art and the theories of art. Substitute imagery is mimetic since it is taking place of an image.  Illustration is objective because its telling a story with the object. 

4.) Illustration and beautification dominate the media because our society is all about having narratives and making things beautiful.  Nobody wants to see and advertisement that isn't pleasing to the eye.

5.) An artist can create reality by using substitute imagery.

Chapter 48

In this chapter they talk about the creation behind art. They bring up the latent and manifest function again relating to art. They also talk about how creativity and art doesn't just come from a mindless state. It comes from experience and what you have viewed. So they talk about how film students study art history and old films in order to have creative ideas.

1.) She says the old style is insistent but respectful and modern style excavates and while it excavates it destroys.

2.) She calls Freud the manifest content and Marx the latent content. And she says that they only seem to be intelligible.

3.) She says that because however someone wrote something doesn't mean that the reader is going to interpret it that way. Everyone is going to interpret things in their own way. 

4.) I don't believe we can be exposed to a text without interpreting it. Everyone has their own ideas about what they read.

5.) I think they would say that everyone is going to interpret things they're own way but none of their ideas are going to be original because everything has been thought of before.

Chapters 31 & 31

Chapter 31

Picture 1: post modernism- sharper edges, new

picture 2: modernism - soft colors

picture 3: modernism - harmonious, soft colors

picture 4: post modernism - sharp edges, blocks, bright colors

picture 5: post modernism- bright colors, original, new

Chapter 32

Solomon talks about how our lives are decentered because of postmodern societies.  He says that narratives are able to give order to our chaotic lives and if you take those narratives away, like postmodern societies do, then everything becomes sort of off in this new society. He thinks that life becomes meaningless without the narratives there because narratives are so important to our lives. 

Keywords

postmodernism: movement in the arts and literature during the 1970s that was rebelling against the modern times, used playful illusion, decoration and complexity

narratives: stories with beginning, middle, end

simulacra: a representation or image

hyperreality: the inability for a conscious to distinguish between reality and fantasy 

Chapters 45 & 46

Chapter 45

In this chapter, Berger talks about Fry's theory on humor.  He states that because of past experiences, we know that when we go to see a comedian, they usually mean what they say when they are insulting someone or something.  Others believe that humor takes place when someone has made themselves look ridiculous and that it is a sense of superiority. Berger's study is to figure out what make people laugh rather than why people laugh. 

Chapter 46

In the beginning of the chapter, they talk about the catharsis theory and how it is believed that when violence is seen on television or in a movie, the person watching it is bound to act more violent than they may have if they hadn't watched the violence.  Then they talk about the relation between tragedies and comedies and how everything is opposite:

TRAGEDY COMEDY

high status low status

serious not serious

pessimism optimism

pain pleasure

Chapter 36 & 37

Chapter 36

In this chapter, they talk about smart mobs and how they are taking over the technology scene.  Smart mobs are groups of people who do their organizing and planning through mass texts, for example "thumb tribes" in Tokyo. They would send out huge text messages from their phones to plan raves or events to stalk celebrities. 

Chapter 37

In this chapter, they talk about how audiences react when they watch "theatre", which includes television, actual theatre (plays) films, videos.  They say we interpret it based on our education, social background and knowledge base.  We can all interpret them differently but most of the time they are similar. 

Chapter 40 & 41

Chapter 40

This chapter talks about the use of narratives in the media.  They use the story line of the beginning to the end of the day so that we can related to them more like the example they use, soap operas.  Even though it is a bit more dramatic, we can still relate to some of the things going on in the show.

Chapter 41

This chapter talks about how dominant television is in our lives and how it is the major leisure activity that takes up our time. They also talk about how people try and connect themselves to characters or even think that they know and are friends with the characters in the shows but of course they are parasocial relationships.

My favorite show is Cities of the Underworld and on the show they do what they say in chapter 41. They create a narrative behind the whole "city" that they find below ground level and the try and let you connect with it.

Chapter 38 & 39

Break down

Sleep: 9 hours

School: 3 hours

Homework: 2 hours

Leisure: 3 hours

Commitment: 7 hours

3 Favorite TV Shows

Cities of the Underworld: It's interesting to learn about the history of underground tunnels and cities beneath ground surface. The purpose of the show is to inform people of these things.

Ghost Hunters: Its exciting and I'm not just watching it because I'm bored, I'm actually interested in the subject. The purpose of the show is to inform people that ghosts may be real.

Days of Our Lives: I watch this show because I'm usually bored at this point in the day and its just fun to watch because its so dramatic.  The purpose of this show it to entertain and that is it.

Chapters 30 & 33

Chapter 30

Hot Media Cool Media

CNN News

Hyundai Santa Fe SUV

Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy

Chapter 33

This chapter first talks about our thoughts not being our own which goes back to being an individual and being self-made is impossible because everything has been thought up of before.  Then they talk about individual vs. society and that relates to the idea that society precedes the individual.  This all leads to the question of where do any new ideas come from?

Chapter 27 & 28

Chapter 27

Overview:

In this chapter, I believe Barthes goes to a very extreme level trying to find a deeper meaning to very ordinary thing.  He talks about the myths behind soap powders and detergents. I really do not understand this chapter.

Keywords:

myth

ideology

semiology

sign-systems

Chapter 28

Overview:

This chapter talks about books that are written that turn into cultural myths.  Books such as Don Juan, and Don Quixote are brought up as examples of myths.  The chapter also talks about how an author does not make a story a myth, but the public/society makes it a myth because it involves some kind of cultural values.

Keywords:

myth

idealism

hero

symbolic

society/public

values

Chapters 25 & 26

Chapter 25

 

Overview:

This chapter talks about women in advertising and how the image ultimately comes out not being the real woman used for the ad.  They talk about the provocateur and how that image can only be achieved artificially.

Keywords:

femininity

provocateur

cultural ideology

ultimate image

ingredients

packaging, promotion, marketing

Chapter 26

Overview:

This chapter talks about the advertising in our society and how our bodies have been turned into an object to sell a product.  And because of this, we have broken away from our bodies, creating an estranged relationship with our bodies.

Keywords:

capitalist societies

consumers

sexuality

advertising

correct packaging

humans-objects

estrangement

commodities

Chapter 23 & 24

Chapter 23

Overview:

In this chapter, Milton R. Sapirstein talks about how a woman defines herself by the way she decorates her house.  However way she decorates her house describes her personality.

Keywords:

Biedermaier

protuberances

masculine identification

reaction formation

Sassure

Freud

Chapter 24

Overview:

This chapter talks about the myth behind Miss America and how she has been idolized by little girls for so many years, but now little girls are starting to idolize more sexual stars like Britney Spears or Madonna.  Our society's morals are changing and little girls are picking up on it.

Keywords:

cultural behavior

symbolic heroes

paradigmatic figures

desexualization

Chapter 21

Overview: 

In this chapter, Johan Huizinga talks about the "deeper significance in ordinary things".  She talks about religion in the Middle ages and how everything had a connection to God, no matter what it was.  There was "meaning and significance in everything" because God was found to be everywhere.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Keywords:

Middle Ages

religion

symbols

Freud

unconscious

commonplace things

manifest function

latent function

Chapter 22

Overview: 

This chapter talks about the meaning of symbols and how they are created.  They state that we tend to understand symbols unconsciously and subliminally.  They also talk about the use of symbols in religion.  Its like when we do not completely understand a topic, we put a symbol towards it because we don't know what else to do.

Key Words:

symbol

unconscious

dreams

subliminally

Icon/Resemblance/Picture/Can see

Index/Causal Connection/Smoke-fire/Figure out

Symbol/Convention/Flag/Learn

Chapter 16 & 17

Chapter 16: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Abraham's essay agreed with Tannen's because they both were studying the patterns of speech.  Even though Abraham was looking at Black Speech, and Tannen was just looking at the speech of female and male.

2.) They use rhymes just in regular conversation like Abraham said the saying "See you later alligator, for a while crocodile" or they'll use it as comebacks like "what I said cabbage head".

3.)  He's saying that its a lower way of speaking, because they learned it when they were children and they still use it.

4.)  Well, apparently people are saying that it is considered black speech, which I had never even thought to relate it to.

5.) Cannot think of any right now, but I'll add some if I think of any.

Chapter 17: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) I do agree, I think people are starting to see how much more important it is to incorporate the different races and how it is more interesting if we do.

2.) I'm not sure if I understand what she means by the "otherness".  I think she means the other races other than white but I'm not completely sure. 

3.) Commodifying otherness:  

4.) It brightens things up, it makes things more interesting, and without the "spice" it is not viewed as interesting.

5.) I don't want to agree with her, but it seems natural to think that way. I don't like that people think this is a "white suprematist capitalist patriarchy" but it just seems that is what surrounds us.

6.) She thinks that there could possibly be some resistance to inviting the "other" and that it is a big possibility but if we do invite the "other" than it could be a critical interevention.

Chapter 15

Summary

This chapter talks about the different conversational habits of boys and girls while in education and men and women in general.  Berger talks about the dominant voice of a male and how women tend to hold back usually.  

Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Yes I believe the media has changed the conversational style of men and women because just like Berger said, women are becoming more in charge and masculine while men are starting to step back.

2.) When she studied the conversational styles of boys and girls, she found that boys are very competitive with each other and that is how they talk to one another but girls talk in groups and conversations were full of secrets and gossip.

3.) I do believe he is right because women are becoming more powerful in our society and this is because women have more opportunity than they used to and they are taking advantage of it.

4.) Boys are more aggressive in the classroom giving the girls a reason to hold back and that is why girls to better in an all girls school.

Chapters 12, 13, & 14

Chapter 12:

Summary

This chapter discusses the the four elements that are involved in a piece of artwork. Abrams states that there is the work, artist, universe, and audience and it is all based around the work.
Berger writes almost the same thing as Abrams, but a little more updated. He uses the terms: artist, artwork, medium, audience, and America (society). Berger also talks about how these two models also relate to Laswell's formula: Who, says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect?

Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) The four "coordinates" involving works of art for Abrams are Universe, Work, Artist, and Audience.

2.) Work: The artistic product itself
Artist: Human product-Artificer
Universe: the feelings towards the work
Audience: listeners, spectators, viewers

3.) I'm not sure, I don't really understand why he says this.

MY QUESTION: Is there an example where it shows that most theories only concentrate on one coordinate?

4.) First he tries to use all A's to catch the attention more, then he adds the point of the medium because thats how the theories get to other people, then he changed the Audience to America or the society because that is really what Abrams was going for anyway.

5.) He meant that how the message gets there is more important than the actual message itself.

Chapter 13:

Summary

This chapter is about the two way aspects of communication and dialogues. They talk about the anticipation during a conversation and what you need to remember while having a conversation. Intertextuality is mentioned, which is the strong relationships between texts being produced at any time.

Questions for Discussion and Further Research:

1.) He asserts that the word is born in a dialogue because everything in the dialogue shapes what else could be said.

2.) Dialogic means it was characterized by the dialogue. Dialogism focuses on the two-way aspects of communication.

3.) It is understand because of the other language being spoken, and the actual meaning is picked up amongst the other utterances being spoken.

4.) Intertextuality is the strong relationships between texts being produced at any moment in time and other texts that were previously produced.

5.) I think it would be hard for a work to never be intertextual because we discussed before how there are hardly ever any original thoughts because everything has been thought of before.

6.) This affects media because there aren't too many things they can do to surprise society and they have to stay within certain boundaries or nothing will seem real.

7.) I believe that conversation and dialogue are the same thing. They're both the interaction between a certain amount of people.

MY QUESTION: How can having a conversation/dialogue come so easy to us at such a young age?

Chapter 14:

Summary

In this chapter they talk about Labov's rules during a conversation and also the rule of narration how there has to be a beginning and an end. There has to be an order when there is a conversation or a story being told.

1.) Labov's six rules and examples are abstract (a fight), orientation (phone with mom), complicating action (I yelled, she yelled...), evaluation (we were both mad for no reason), resolution ( we both apologized), and coda (we're fine now).

2.) The order of events cannot be changed without effecting the meaning because the person hearing about the conversation or story would be confused.

3.) They can be considered a glorified conversation because it is like a longer conversation, just someone narrating what is happening in the story.

4.) I believe they do follow Labov's rules, but its just an elongated process.

5.) We tend to compare narratives to what is going on in the world. When we think of love, we think of the basic stories we were told when we were little.

6.) Narratives are very important for the mass media because it is kind of the understructure of everything else that is hitting society.

MY QUESTION: Why do we base everything off of narratives?

Chapter 10 & 11

Chapter 10: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Jakobson's six constitutive factors involved in verbal communication:
Context: either verbal or capable of being verbalized, the part that is viewed or written
Message: communication containing information/context
Addresser: the person who is sending the communication
Addressee: the person who is receiving the communication
Contact: a physical channel in which the message is to travel through between the 2 people
Code: a system of communication

2.) Emotive is expressive when referential is denotative or specific.

3.) There is definitely a difference between a message and a meaning. A message contains a meaning, so, for example, when I send an e-mail it is considered a message but what I am actually trying to say in the message is the meaning.

4.) People have different meanings for codes so it can be confusing to somebody who understands a code one way and they're talking to someone who understands the same code in a different way.

Chapter 11: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) A formula is a fundamental true statement. It is different from a model because models can be shown graphically and are abstract.

2.) The Laswell formula is pretty much the structure and basics of the Jakobson model. It asks, "Who? Says what? In which channel? To whom? and With what effect?".

3.) Some communications have attacked it because it has certain desired effects and persuassions. Also, they're not sure about how powerful the effects are.

4.) Phatic communication is used to express emotions and not communicate information. An exmaple could maybe be like a guy whistling at a girl.

Chapter 7 & 8

Chapter 7: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) To say that "the mind works through form" means that everything we take in comes in a different form. For example, in the book, it says that any experience is received through a structured form.

2.) I disagree with Claude Levi-Strauss when they say that the way the mind works hasn't changed over history. I believe that our mind works the same way in some senses like with our emotions, but hundreds of years ago, our ancestors saw an animal and thought to hunt it, and obviously MOST people don't think that way anymore.

3.) Claude Levi-Strauss believes that everything comes in form into the mind, and that the form comes in pairs of opposites but I really don't understand why this statement is made.

4.) Separate units have no meaning in language because there are no polar opposites. In our society we usually speak using opposites like hot and cold or light and dark. We hardly ever use separate units because there's nothing for it to compare to.

5.) It is the way they are assembled that is crucial because "in both language and myths, the separate units have no meanings". So if we are told a myth assembled with separate units, it will be harder to pass down from generation to generation since we have no meanings for separate units in our language.

6.) Structuralism has the structural principle that society comes before individuals.

Chapter 8: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) E.B. Tyler explained culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." So, he pretty much gives the basic definition of culture as anyone else would describe it.

2.) The only thing I would probably add is religion, because most people in the same culture practice the same religion. Other than that, I think Tyler explains culture pretty well.

3.) We know this because our unconscious is based on our unconscious and anthropologists can study this as long as the analysis is carried on long enough since it is all pretty much the same for all minds, all the way back to ancient times.

4.) He argues this because even though there may be different cultures, our minds still work the same way. Our unconscious is still based on what our conscious is and it is all the same "ancient and modern, primitive and civilized".

5.) We are all made the same way, even though we are in different cultures, our minds still work the same way. Yes, the way we think may have changed a little but the way our brains work has not changed.

6.) Collective phenomena can be unconscious because it is affected by the conscious. For example, language we learn at such a young age because we learn from our parents or anyone else who surrounds us at a young age, but it's through osmosis that we really learn the rules for speaking so it is all done unconsciously.

Chapters 5 & 6

Chapter 2: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) When Culler says "society is the primary reality" he means that the normal things that happen in society is what people think of as reality.

2.) Society can "precede" the individual because the whole of society makes up the meanings of things. Things become more popular as a group than if it was done by one person.

3.) Society isn't the result of individual behavior because nothing comes from just one person's actions. There has to a whole group acting as one in order for it to actually become an actual society.

4.) The underlying basis of the science of semiotics for Culler is that there has to be "an underlying system of conventions which makes this meaning possible." There must be a society that teaches the meaning of semiotics if there is a society that uses them.

5.) It is incorrect to say that the individual doesn't think. The individual does think, but just because they think does not make them a society. The individual has thoughts, but its only when a group of individuals have thoughts when they can create a society.

6.) The term "self-made man/woman" is an illusion because we are all influenced by other people or things. We are not self-made, we are made from what surrounds us and what we are influenced by.

Chapter 6: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Restricted and elaborated codes affect people's lives because they help children interpret the world. However their parents speak, either in elaborated or restricted codes, that is most likely how the child will end up speaking.

2.) Elaborated code is kind of connected to the way upper-class English people speak because it is more complex grammar and it is just a more proper way of speaking. Restricted code is related to the way middle-class English people speak because it is simple grammar and it is just the normal laid back way that people speak.

3.) In the book, Bernstein talks about how if you learn a code with a low level of conceptualization then you will most likely have a more "simplistic perspective on things". I would say that I agree with this, and that could be a positive or negative thing. If you learn a code with a high level of conceptualization then maybe you will think more deeply about things. All of this could be looked at in a positive or negative way.

4.) Language codes shape future behavior because when children are young, they are taught either elaborated code or restricted code and they interpret everything they take in through whatever code they are learning. Whatever the child's parents use to speak with, the child will most likely do the same.

5.) I think the coding notion does help explain the "culture of poverty" a little bit. It may be hard to understand what they're going through or what they're trying to explain to you because of the codes but at the same time, I believe that someone will an elaborated code should be able to figure out any other code lower than the one they're using.

6.) I believe that my mom spoke in an elaborated code but my dad spoke in a restricted code. When I was younger and my mom would be talking about something, I would always have to ask her what certain words meant and give examples of those words. When my dad would be talking, I could usually understand what he was talking about without having to ask him a ton of questions.

7.) I don't believe that the mass media has affected the codes people learn because we catch on to the codes from our parents at such a young age that I think at that point, we aren't really affected by the mass media.

Chapter 2

Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Sassure defines a sign by saying "The linguistic sign unites not a thing and its name, but a concept and a sound-image." By this, he means that a sign is formed from an idea and a sound.

2.) The relationship between a signifier and a signified is random and "based on convention". Society gives meanings to words and they can all be changed.

3.) Sassure is saying that concepts are just technical, defined mostly by what they are not instead of what they are.

4.) He says that in language there are only difference because in our language we always think in opposites. It is never "I'm happy" then "I'm unhappy", it's "I'm happy" then "I'm sad".

5.) Language is a social institution, speech is individual and social, and parole is just individual.

6.) I would have to say it is Parole because I'm wearing it to be comfortable and I'm not wearing it for anyone else but myself. If I were more dressed up then it would either be Language or Speech.

Chapters 4 & 9

Chapter 4: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Freud believes that "no" does not exist in dreams because dreams take in any element possible and anything can pretty much come out representing that element. If you hate someone, in your dreams, you may love them.  Anything can be twisted around but it all means something in the end.

2.) A word can have two meanings that are the opposites of one another because the meanings of words can change over time.

3.) I always thought the iceberg model was an interesting way of putting Freud's theories.  I do believe that it does justice to his theories because he believed that there was so much more to the mind that we could really see and learn about.  Only a very small amount of what people are thinking is consciousness, the rest is mostly unconsciousness. 

4.) Reaction formation is when a feeling is expressed, like hate, but the opposite feeling, love, is adopted.

5.) I would have to say that most people in the United States are dominated by their ids.  It seems it might be impossible not to be dominated by their ids because everything is almost always considered sexual now. You can refer anything back to sexuality if you try to.

6.) A cigar is only a cigar when it is not meant to be sexual.

Chapter 9: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) Metaphor: based on analogy and similarity - talking about one thing in terms of another

Simile: based on analogy but more with comparison

Metonymy: associating things with other things

Synecdoche: a form of metonymy in which a part is used to stand for the whole

2.) I believe that our conceptual system is fundamentally metaphoric because people never say what they mean anymore, whether it's because they're afraid of expressing themselves or some other reason.  People constantly use metaphors to try and explain how they're really feeling. 

3.) Just like I said before, people use metaphors to cover up how they really may be feeling, maybe by putting it in a more gentle way.

4.) A concept is a general notion or idea and concepts affect our behavior because they "structure what we perceive" and they help to define what happens to us every day.

5.) Depending on the person looking at the snake, they can think different things.  Nobody thinks the same way and has the same ideas when they see a snake.

6.) "Metaphors shape our notions about what we can expect, so they play a much more important part in our lives than we might imagine." Couch potato - lazy person

Chapters 1 & 3

Chapter 1: Questions for Discussion and Further Research 

1.) When language is considered a "game", they are talking about how languages have rules and people have to follow those rules in order to speak a language, just like they have to follow certain rules to play games.

2.) I do not necessarily think that a conversation is a game just because language is considered a game. Yes, you have to follows certain rules for a language but during conversation, depending on who it is with, you don't always have to follow the rules of the language.

3.) Farb says that language "has the power to shape our perceptions of the world" and that using language is just conveying information, feelings, and other things.

4.) Language is what helps shape us. He says "It is language that is the cornerstone of culture, and it is words and the rules that ell us how to use them that shape, in varying degrees, our sense of ourselves and of our place in the universe." Without language, there wouldn't be much more to life because there would be minimal ways of expressing yourself.

5.) A game has rules just like language, and over time, as the game progresses, you will usually progress. As you grow up, you become more familiar with the language and it expands.

Chapter 3: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) It would not be better to celebrate "unbirthdays" because then our birthdays would not be considered very special days.

2.) Humpty Dumpty was incorrect when he thought words could mean whatever he wanted them to mean.  This was wrong because if people want to use words to communicate, the words have to mean the same thing to people.

3.) Connotation is the secondary meaning of a word and denotation is the direct meaning of word.

4.) Dictionary makers could be considered the "masters" of what words mean just because they are the people who kind of set in stone the meanings of words.

5.) If words would mean whatever we wanted them to mean, we would not be able to communicate with others just like I said in number two.

Word that played an important role in the history of the US: Democracy

Word that played an important role in my life: Cottage

Word that has changed meaning through the years: Coke, screw, hoe, wicked