Gatson CAPs #5

As usual after reading the blog prompt and the chapter I started to really think about the way pop culture effects our views of other ethnicities or cultures more in depth.  Popular culture refers to cultural products that most people share and know about, including TV, music, videos, and magazines.  This whole week my roommates and I have been watching Prison Break. When I watch Prison Break with this prompt in mind I definitely feel as though it enhances stereotypes with its characters to create the story.  “Negative portrayals are remembered more than positive portrayals, are more arousing and therefore are more influential in the development of stereotypes (Martin & Nakayama 2012, p.371)  If someone from another country were to watch prison break their thoughts would probably follow the previous statement. 

·      Michael Scofield is the well educated leader of the group, who actually wanted to go to prison to break out his falsely accused brother.

·      Fernando Sucre is a very religious rosary wearing Puerto Rican with a thick accent, who is either constantly praying or bringing up a religious figure anytime they do something wrong.

·      John Abruzzi is of Italian descent and runs a mob family.  He has connects everywhere and is extremely wealthy.

·      “C-Note” is an African American in prison after being caught transporting drugs.

·      T-Bag is a racist southern man from a trailer park in Alabama born out of incest.

Every single one of the main characters back-story is based on stereotype after stereotype.  White man= Intelligent, Latino=religious, Italian=mob boss, African American=drug dealer, Southerner=Racist, inbred, redneck. Some aspects of their characters do break the common mold but the majority of the time they are dead on. 

As far as resisting goes towards this show I would say it is a very unique situation since the show is about inmates it is showing the worst of the worst.  In some ways they did balance stereotypes because they didn’t make every inmate an aggressive black male and they showed contrast within a certain race.  Out of all three white males in the show each had a different story, one was labeled a genius while the other is labeled as stupid.  The background stories they assign the characters also gives a better explanation as to who they are and why they turned out how they did so you don’t make snapshot judgments.

References

Martin, N. J., & Nakayama, K. T. (2012). Intercultural Communication in Contexts. Chicago: McGraw Hill .

CAPS 5 Haugen

            Unlike most college students, I AM awake before 7 am to squeeze in my morning workout before work and class. It’s an odd crowd of people that convene at the gym during that hour, let me tell you. The privilege of consciousness in the early morning, as Sara pointed out, is that I can actually see the music videos accompanying today’s popular music!

That being the case, I chose to use my morning mash of music vids as a cultural text for analysis. Fortunately for me, but perhaps unfortunately for society, stereotypes are easily identifiable in these 3-4 minute clips. Martin and Nakayama define ‘stereotypes’ as “widely held beliefs about some group of people,” (210) and these beliefs are quite effectively perpetuated “through the lens of popular culture” (370). Stereotypes are particularly troublesome, however, when we’re consuming cultural texts about cultures with which we are not familiar. For efficiency’s sake, I’ve chosen three music videos, each of which clearly demonstrates a distinct stereotype.

            Nicki Minaj is responsible for a plethora of excellent running music—always upbeat. Her song “Pound the Alarm” is no exception. The video, whose link I have included below, was shot in Trinidad and features shots of Nicki prancing about in the teeny tiny costumes typical of some festival in the region.

The video, like many of her other works, is heavily sexualized and provocative. The problem with sexualizing this video, however, is that it paints an unrepresentative view of Trinidadian people by exploiting one particular festival as an overtly provocative practice. One could easily walk away from this video thinking, “This culture is pretty sleazy. So….spring break in Trinidad?!” When it comes to minority groups and unfamiliar cultures, Martin and Nakayama warn that stereotypes “tell us how ‘we’ value and judge these other groups” (373).

            Playing to the tune of more advert racial stereotypes, we have Flo Rida’s new “I Cry” video. The man is wealthy, no doubt. With his fancy car and glitzy attire, he rolls into what appears to be his hometown, where the children who rush to greet the sports car are visually poorer than their icon. The rapper expresses disdain for the high levels of poverty and crime that continue to run rampant, which is an admirable enough motive. The depiction of the community itself, however, perpetuates the negative racial stereotypes about African Americans that Martin and Nakayama address in Chapter 9. Have a look for yourself.

The final jam on the treadmill playlist was Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City’s “Good Time,” which depicts carloads of young people venturing out into the woods to drink, dance and have fun. What could be more stereotypical of college age kids? Take a peek at the video if you aren’t already sick of music videos at this point.

The image of young people being irresponsible and reckless in the name of having a good time is one that’s been developed by sociological greats from Ke$ha to Gaga. The image isn’t necessarily detrimental as is the case with the previous examples, but it still provides a slanted view of American youth. While in studying in Spain in 2011, I can’t tell you how many Europeans would make party jokes or binge drinking jabs upon learning that we were American students. At first we were puzzled by the remarks because to us, these hit jams about drinking and having fun are just part of culture, not necessarily a depiction of our real lives. For this reason, cultural perceptions of stereotypes are extremely important in intercultural communication.

            As we’ve discussed today, pop culture plays a tremendous role in conveying aspects of different cultures. The stereotypes presented in various cultural texts matter because they provide information shortcuts to those unfamiliar with a group. We might mitigate these stereotypes by encouraging individuals to pursue diverse sources of pop culture or by suggesting that individuals do research on cultures that interest them. The result would presumably be a better-educated population when it comes to cultural matters.

Works Cited

Flo Rida - I Cry [Official Video]. YouTube. N.p., 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLuWHr6-0YQ>.

Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. Sixth ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2013. Print.

Minaj, Nicki. Pound the Alarm. YouTube. N.p., 31 July 2012. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdrqA93sW-8>.

Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time. YouTube. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HmzwI67ec>.

Sueverkruepp- CAPS Blog #5

If you were to ask a group 14-year-old girls to create lists of what they believed to be "cool" and "popular" to them, there would likely be a high correlation of answers between their lists.  Answers like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Seventeen magazine, Twilight and the Hunger Games would be found somewhere in the mix of cultural texts to catch the attention of their young consumers.  Popular culture  can be described as "a new name for low culture, referring to those cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines." (Martin & Nakayama, 2012)  As I initially read the blog prompt for this particular CAPS assignment, I instantly knew what outlet of popular culture I wanted to analyze for stereotypes.  My husband and I have been, well, addicted to watching the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation.  Since we fall into their 18-34 year-old demographic, it makes a lot of sense especially after reading this chapter that I would find this show so hilarious.  So, without further ado, I will discuss three of the major character stereotypes of the show Parks and Recreation: Leslie "the feminist", Ron "the overly manly man", and April "the lazy intern".

The main character of Leslie Knope is portrayed by the wonderful Amy Poehler of Saturday Night Live fame, and makes the often negative stereotype of a feminist look cool.  Leslie is a hardworking and determined woman, who is a strong supporter of woman and government work.  She consideres herself to be the future of Pawnee, Indiana, and eventually the United States.  In her office, she even has framed pictures of influential women in politics, including Hilary Clinton, citing them as her inspiration.  Leslie's relationships with men are nonexistant, unless they possess knowledge of Margaret Thatcher, and have a heart for helping those who are less fortunate.

Leslie's boss in the Parks and Recreation department is Ron Swanson; a middle-aged white Libertarian who has a diet of probably about 80% steak and bacon, and who happens to have (in my personal opinion) the best mustache since Burt Reynolds.  Ron has two ex-wives named Tammy whom he hates, and a strong belief that the government is utterly useless and should be privatized.  His "overly manly man" characteristics are shown through his love of the great outdoors, killing animals, woodworking, eating all meat (except Vegan bacon) and helping the next generation to not be wimps.

(Here you can view Ron's belief on Vegan bacon...)

Finally, the character of April Ludgate is an apathetic college student who works as the office intern (and later assistant to Ron) at the Parks and Recreation department.  She's lazy and sarcastic, and can often be found at her desk either texting or sleeping.  In an early episode, it is revealed that the only reason she received her internship is because she overslept on the day she was supposed to sign up for class.  April is often annoyed by her co-workers, especially Leslie and Jerry.  However, April begins an almost father-daughterly relationship with Ron, where they bond over their hatred for the government. When April eventually becomes Ron's assistant, she excels at preventing others from reaching Ron to help him do as little work as possible.


Marin, J.N. & Nakayam, T.K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed).  Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.  

Freeman CAPS #5

"Popular culture is defined by Martin as cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines."  I am personally a person who loves popular culture.  I find myself constanly watching different television shows and reading magizines to find out what is happening with celebrities that I will never meet.  One of my favorite show to watch is Keeping Up With The Kardashians. 

The show centers around the Kardashian family that consits of Kim, Khole, Kourtney, Kris, Rob, Bruce, Kylie, and Kendall.  The family has become iconic with the family featured on anything and everything.  The show follows the family around during their daily lives and I find it very interesting to see the reactions of people when they see the Kardashians out around town, people follow them everywhere just trying to get a picture.

Their success has lead to them having multiple stores and different cities and many shows like Kourtney and Khloe take Miami.  They also have a show in New York and wedding specials that have featured both Kim and Khloe.  I think that one of the most notable things that I think proves they are pop culture icons is an episode in which Kim went to Dubi she could'nt go anywhere with out getting hownded she was almost more famous there.  Proving that popular culture does go internationaly.

Hilgemann - CAPS Blog 5

Hilgemann – CAPS Blog #5

                Popular culture is likely the most efficient way to perpetuate a stereotype in today’s world of constant bombardment of information by the internet at TV. Popular culture is defined by Martin as cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines” (page 361). The very fact that these sorts of media are indeed shared by so many people is what makes them so proficient at spreading stereotypes. One of the more stereotypical shows on television today is CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. The show follows the exploits of four socially inept scientists and an aspiring female actress. Stereotypes of nerdy scientists, clueless blondes, and awkward foreigners are perpetuated throughout the show.

                At the forefront of the show is the nerdy scientist stereotype. The plot generally revolves around the exploits of four male graduate students in science and engineering. Two of them are roommates and another character still lives with his mom. The show plays on the stereotypes that the scientists are socially awkward, unable to find a date, and obsessed with comic book superheroes.  One of the main characters, Sheldon Cooper, is the epitome of this stereotype. He sees most of life outside of his theoretical physics work to be unfulfilling, harsh, and generally worthless. Sheldon also has issues understanding and utilizing basic social skills such as small talk and sarcasm.

                The role of the clueless blonde is taken by a character named Penny. Penny moves to California from Nebraska to pursue an acting career. She is introduced the group of scientists because she ends up moving into an apartment across the hall from Sheldon and his roommate, Leonard Hofstadter. Penny and Leonard pursue an off and on relationship throughout the show. Penny general has unrealistic hopes for her stalled acting career, and works as waitress at the Cheesecake Factory. She has trouble understanding basic scientific concepts introduced to her by the boys. She also maintains a, shall we say, colorful social life. Her multiple ex-boyfriends make multiple appearances in various episodes. Interestingly, she also portrays the typical Nebraska stereotype in that he loves college football.

                The awkward foreigner in the show is named Raj Koothrappali, another of the quintet of scientists. He is a transplant from India and has a number of interesting quirks. He is at least as socially inept as the others, but arguably more so because he refuses to talk if there’s a woman in the room. Unless, of course, if he has alcohol in his system. Naturally, Raj doesn't pick up on all of the uniquely American social customs and sometimes needs thing explained to him. The stereotype is most apparent when he has discussions with his parents, who are very conservative and traditional Indians. They generally pester him about finding a wife. At one point, the two go so far as to set up an arranged marriage for Raj.

Despite the fact that The Big Bang Theory is very stereotypical in a number of ways, it is difficult to argue that the show is dangerous. I think the show is excessive enough in its stereotyping, that most people would recognize that it is not meant to be an accurate representation of life.  However, the possibility still exists that people from the outside looking in may interpret the show differently in much the same way that foreigners may consider American sit-coms to be accurate portrayals of American life (Martin, 2012, p 363). It can be argued that the stereotyping in the show really only becomes a problem if you are looking for it. Even though it may not be directly harmful, the show still enforces common stereotypes of scientists, blondes, and foreigners (Gender Identity, 2012).

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Gender Identity on "The Big Bang Theory". (2012, January 14). Retrieved from http://mediaandidentity.wordpress.com.

Nurul CAPS Blog #5

        People learn about other cultures through various type of medium such as movies,  dramas,  advertisements, music videos, magazines, and songs. Popular culture often is seen as populist, including forms of contemporary culture that are made popular by and for the people (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 351).  The most recent popular culture is the Korean Wave (Hallyu), a phenomena ignited by popular Korean dramas and songs. The Korean Wave (Hallyu) has demonstrated the profitability of South Korean popular culture (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, 368). There are three cultural stereotypes associated with the Korean Wave: tourism, advertisement, and cosmetic industry.

Korean Wave (Hallyu)

          Korean idols or celebrities act as important figures in their country to promote Korea to the world. Most of them become popular after their songs or dramas are well-accepted by outsiders. One of the reasons why people want to visit Korea is because they want to see their idols by their own. I have a lot of friends whom went to Korea because of Korean dramas and idols. After becoming fan of a Korean band, my friend used her own money to attend a concert in Seoul, South Korea. The Korea Times reports that "according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the nation exported about $1.4 billion worth of entertainment products last year" (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 368-369).  Because of Korean dramas and idols too, many foreigners are interested to learn Korean language and to try Korean food. Most of the time, foreigners always associated Korea with popular dramas and idols because they indirectly gain a lot of information about Korean cultures through those dramas and idols. 

One of popular groups in South Korea, Girl's Generation.

Gangnam Style phenomena. The singer, Psy has been invited to Ellen Show and to teach Ellen and Britney Spears how to dance.

           Many big companies in Korea such as LG and Samsung use music videos and dramas to promote their latest products to customers. The most popular product being promoted  through Korean dramas is cellphone. As an example, Samsung has sponsored a drama, the King 2 Hearts where all the actors and actresses in the drama use Samsung's latest invention, the Galaxy Note. People who are living outside of Korea know about Korean's technology through the drama and as a result, this kind of marketing helps to boost up the economy in the Korea. In addition, Korean dramas and music videos are actually influencing the viewers to buy products made in Korea. 

One of the actresses  is using the Galaxy Note in a popular drama, the King 2 Hearts.

Samsung's latest product, the Galaxy Note.

       Korea and cosmetic is always together. Korea is also popular because of her huge cosmetic industry. Most Korean celebrities portrayed in the music videos and dramas are looking so flawless and perfect. Through dramas and movies, people come to know that Koreans are very obsessed with perfect and flawless skin. Many actors and actresses in Korean have undergone plastic surgery in order to look perfect in front of their fans. In fact, plastic surgery especially eyelids surgery, is very famous among Koreans. Celebrities have helped to drive the trend, as they scramble to keep ahead of digital technology that mercilessly exposes not only their physical imperfections, but any attempts to remedy them, said Rando Kim, a professor of consumer science at Seoul National University (Choe,  2011). 

Some of popular cosmetic brands in Korea.

Nam Gyu Ri, one of popular actresses in Korea confessed that she did plastic surgery to look likes a Barbie doll. 

 Men in Korea also take care of their skin to achieve perfect looking.

             These three cultural stereotypes: tourism, advertisements, and cosmetic industry always become the main topics when people are talking about Korean wave. In any case, the international circulation of Korean popular culture has important implications for the production of Asian standards of beauty and relationships, as well as international trade (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 369).

References

Choe, S. H. (2011, November 3). In South Korea, plastic surgery comes out of the closet. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/world/asia/in-south-korea-plastic-surgery-comes-out-of-the-closet.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

Alex Pieper CAPS #5 Blog Post

Popular culture has an extremely large impact on people’s understanding of other cultures.  In fact, the authors of our textbook, Martin & Nakayama, admit their “knowledge about other places…is largely influence by popular culture.” (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 363)  People need something to base their opinions about other places and people off, and since we are constantly exposed to popular culture it makes sense that they would use popular culture as their “learning” tool. 

Popular culture is truly all around us. 

It is the TV shows we watch

The music we listen to

The things we read

                          

                                     The things we talk about

Unfortunately, much of popular culture is controlled and produced by culture industries.  These cultural industries’ only interest is to exploit the people of a capitalist society.  They feed us products that we might see as “popular,” and in turn, hope we purchase these products for their own economical benefit. (Martin & Nakayama, 2010)  Since these industries are solely interested in making money, they do not care if they wrongfully portray people in a negative light.  They are not worried about creating and endorsing false stereotypes. 

The Office has been one of the most watched TV shows over the past 9 years, drawing up to 22 million viewers for one episode. (Gorman, 2009)  The show, which originally aired on the British Broadcasting Network, is littered with stereotypes and satire.  All of these stereotypes are enforced and cultivated by the conductor of the show, the boss Michael Scott.  However, it is up to the viewer and the way they decode the show, or interpret the text’s meaning, whether or not the viewer will see the show as a satire or as a show reinforcing popular stereotypes.   (Martin & Nakayama, 2010)  For this blog post, I am going to be writing from the stance that the viewer does not understand the satirical connotation behind the show.

In one episode, Michael attempts to educate his office mates of the different racial stereotypes.  He has everyone place a notecard on their forehead.  Each card has a different nationality written on it.    Michael tells everyone in the office to interact with each other according to the stereotype of the other person’s appointed race.  Rather than educate everyone about how hurtful and wrong stereotyping is, Michael declares that people should use racial stereotyping to label people. This episode is not the only case of racial stereotyping, though.  Michael is constantly picking fun of Oscar for being Mexican and Stanley for being black.  

 

Michael also often exemplifies sexual stereotyping throughout the show.  Once he finds out one of his workers, Oscar, is a homosexual, he constantly makes attempts to treat Oscar differently.  During an episode where Michael discovers that Oscar is gay, not only does he call him “faggy,” but he also decides that it is in Oscar’s best interest if Michael announces to the rest of the office Oscar’s sexual orientation.  Now, not only does Michael treat Oscar differently but so too do the rest of his co-workers.  So, this episode reinforces the stereotype that homosexuals are vastly different from heterosexuals, and they should be identified and treated differently because of that. 

Again, Oscar’s coming out episode is not the only episode where The Office uses the homosexual stereotype for humor.  Here a clip from another episode.  The precursor to the clip is that Jim, the office funny guy, sends Dwight a package in the mail.  Jim tells Dwight the device is a “gaydar.”   The man in the pink shirt is Oscar, the guy I previously talked about who is known to be gay throughout the office.

 

                  One over lying theme of almost every Office episode is that men are better than women.  The authors constantly portray this stereotype.  The men in the show are shown to be good workers, smart, and productive.  The women, on the other hand, are depicted as passive, worthless, and even drunks.  Even Michael’s boss, who is a woman, is not respected or listened to.  Michael often disregards her orders and acts off his own intuitions.  The show obviously goes along with the stereotype that women are a step below men.    

                    The Office is such a great show because not only can a person watch the show and interpret it as supporting stereotypes, but another viewer can watch the show and use it as a way to resist normal stereotypes.  People might watch the show and realize how stupid these stereotypes really are.  The writers of The Office make being afraid of a homosexual seem comical and stupid.  They make racial stereotypes seem worthless and without merit.  For this reason, The Office is a very interesting show, depending on how the viewer decodes the writers' messages will dictate whether the show is seen to support or to resist normal stereotypes. 

Gorman, B. (2009, February 02). Updated: The office draws 22.0 22.905 million viewers following the super bowl. Retrieved from http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2009/02

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural communication in contexts (5th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.