post-class/Kid Nation optional 9/26

Any thoughts about kid nation? The ethics? The "plot"? How "real" it is? The entertainment value?

pre-class Sept 26: Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy

Make sure to watch The Simpsons because that's what the essay is on. South Park and The Family Guy were other cartoons we discussed. Make sure to watch at least one of these two. I will watch Family Guy and try to see why some of you like it. Sigh.

But The Simpsons is now canonical.


Write on this blog about the reading and your watching. Have fun.

post-class 9/19 Will and Grace

Jones

Connolly argues that Will and Grace are always discussed as an almost perfect heterosexual couple and that this makes "homosexuality on television" more acceptable to right-wing critics and mainstream viewers. I actually thought that Connolly’s argument was pretty flawed—she had a conclusion in mind and then tried to tweak the facts to make them fit. What did you think? What were her most valid points? Any points that you thought she used sloppily?

Will and Grace

Talk shows leave openings . . .

"Talk shows leave openings . . . more than elsewhere in mass culture, for honest expressions" (Gamson, 94).

The "reality" of talk shows

Gamson argues that shows are both coached and "real," both familiar and unusual. He states that producers seek out the weird, the bizarre, set up the conflict, and then attempt both to control the unpredictability of the guests responses AND hope to catch a "real" moment. Did any of the descriptions of back-stage orchestrating suprise you? Do you think that Gamson's statement that "much of the appeal of the genre is its claim that audiences are witnessing something nonfictional" is true? And if so, do you think that most viewers recognize the various unrealities as well--the coaching, the baiting, the surpising?

And if this line between nonfiction and fiction is blurred in talk shows in this way, is it blurred everywhere? Any time there's a genre, is there a human tendency to conform to the genre? Is there any pure nonfiction--in news, in interviews, on The Actor's Studio?

suggestions: what to watch

Ok. You still need to watch some talk shows. I would suggest the ones that you are currently writing about.

What about a cartoon for next week? You have to watch an episode of The Simpsons. Other suggestions? South Park certainly changed the adult cartoon forever and I know your generation likes The Family Guy (which I find mostly unclever but am willing to try again).

Also: tell me what reality show you suggest we watch. I'm for Kid Nation but there's a new Survivor and who knows what else starting up soon. We'll vote soon so get your suggestions in.

9/16

icons

I was annoyed by "The Mythic Characters of Popular Culture." While I thought the discussions of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis were sometimes enlightening, the editors were just plain wrong about Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. And frankly, though I don't like the guy myself, I think it's unfair to lump Trump with Jessica Simpson. And could they not have mentioned a single admirable female icon? Must we have Paris Hilton always popping up? What about Mia Hamm? (Okay. She's not Elvis, but she had her day as icon . . . )
What did you all think?

Trash fever

Okay. I read Gamson's chapter on how the talk show changed and I think he's MORE than fair about the upside of the trash talk tv genre. Indeed, he gives quotes any number of people who argue that it gives all of American a voice, no matter what their race, class, genre, or education level. However, I watched an episode of Maury yesterday and I'm not sure that any of the people I saw were worth giving a voice to. And I'm not sure that you're giving people a voice when you just bleep out every other word.
My sense was that it was all very cheap, over-sensationalized bad behavior and that furthermore the whole show reinforced race and class steretypes. I didn't see one redemptive moment.

celebrities who aren't . . .

Here you can comment on smellebrities if you wish--the Linda Tripps and the William Hungs of the world.

(I might argue that Linda Tripp was very briefly in the news and that William Hung deserved to be a celebrity--he was entertaining and in some odd way very appealing . . . ) But what are your thoughts on talent-less celebrities?

post-class blog 9/5

So what are some ways we define girl/boy male/female man/woman in this culture. Things that have nothing to do with biology (like playing with Barbies, as Matt said. Or opening doors for women as Mike said).

Think particularly about lines that you can't cross without getting made fun of . . .

I'll have paper guidelines for you all on Friday so that my workshop people don't have to wander in the dark . . .

Oprah

So, I presume you've watched Oprah. Did you see anything that explains or justifies her position as "probably the most celebrated and powerful black woman in U. S. history"?

On the other hand, did you see anything that would make you classify her show as "trash"?