Incorrigible Perfectionism [Engl 1101] @phoenixera42-blog - Tumblr Blog

Dear White People : A Fearless Comical Satire

The movie, “Dear White People” is the story of an African American community in an Ivy League college that presents a satirical view of the racial disparity, that still exists today, through its interesting mix of characters. Dear White People addresses the basic issues of the community by supporting its plot using real-life incidents where students hosted a “Black-Themed Party”, which is a completely obnoxious and disrespectful idea, in itself. It opens with a politically aware film student Sam White’s radio show, titled “Dear White People”, where she sends across satiric messages to the white community of the college, making them aware of their racially hypocrisy. The opening makes it prominent that this movie is about racial and social issues with a tinge of humor. The most interesting part about the movie is how its characters address almost all issues standing in the society and college social life today. While, Lionel – an aspiring nerdy journalist - feels alienated from the African American community due to his sexual orientation; Sam is portrayed to be extremely involved with her community. Considering Sam is half-white and half-black, she is constantly trying to prove herself to be a part of the African American community, in the college. This grows to an extent where she is ready to lead a rebellion against mixing of black and white students in a residential house. These are only a few examples of the character stories; the movie itself has a plethora of characters whose individual stories address various social issues such as parental pressure, popularity, college politics, etc. The only disconcerting aspect of the characters in the movie is that they do not act like college students. However, this does not affect the movie as a whole, for it still manages to convey its message. Though the movie, “Dear White People”, makes an extremely serious argument, it presents itself as a fearless comic relief.

#dear white people #ENGL 1101 #movie review

When Blogging Makes You Learn

Blogging was always about personal expression, for me, and I did not give it much thought. Hence, my first blog post on Smooth Criminal wasn’t up to the mark and I understood that I had a lot to learn. Throughout the semester, we wrote a number of blog posts, both for credit and expression. They helped me understand that a blog can be used to make a difference. It made me realize that concise and clear language is better when one has to make a point. The second blog post for the class was meant to act as a foundation for my close reading paper on Beyoncé. This blog post pointed out the importance of drafts. It helped me understand that it is perfectly fine to change anything from grammar to the entire thesis, when editing. These blog posts didn’t just teach me basics of communication, but also taught me how to analyze others’ posts through commenting and using another post as a base. By the end of the semester, we started using the blog post as a method of conveying research which is core to any engineer’s life, including mine. This was my first class that involved writing blog posts and it was extremely fruitful.

#blogging #engl1101 #english assignment #learning

The research blog paragraph is in a different post

The Annotated Bibliography is in a different post.

She Wasn't "Asking For It"!

“The fury over Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” cover and the widespread apologetics practiced for nude photo hackers are thus part of the same story. They are part of a story about the female body, power, and control. In this story, women can be virtuous or victims, but they can’t be agents. Women can be exploited or they can be vigilant, but they can’t be resistant voices. Women’s bodies can become symbols of the power and desire of men,but they can never have an independent existence. Men can display women’s bodies and, even if it is tasteless, it is inevitable, boys being boys, the right of free speech in America. Women cannot display their own bodies without being dismissed as talentless sellouts or failed role models”

--Dr. Melissa Sexton

The article presents an argument that women are negatively targeted whether or not ‘body exposure’ was their choice, due to the patriarchal beliefs that women exist solely to entice men. “Anaconda” plays an important role in the argument as even though Nicki tries to break all the patriarchal norms in her video, she faces criticism from media and community for essentially being in control of her own body. Dr. Sexton refers to the infamous leak of nude photos and points out how the culprits weren’t judged as much as the victims in the situation. The women in context were considered as failed role models for taking those pictures even though they were taken privately. Adversely, the act of disrespect committed by the culprit, was dismissed as a generic masculine trait of female objectification. In contrast to this, when women oppose objectification by acting as the patriarchal society expects them to, for themselves, instead of a man’s gaze; they are subjected to societal outrage.

In her video, Nicki breaks male fantasies by changing them according to her will. When she performs a lap dance for Drake, in the end, he tries to touch her and she swats his hand away, clearly indicating that she is not “asking for it.” Thus, the video portrays her using her body as she wills without the intention of alluring a man. In response, the men who view her, inappropriately, are not criticized but she is deemed a ‘talentless sellout’. In both cases, we see that for no fault of the woman, she is victimized and pressured to be the socially accepted definition of ‘virtuous’. The article basically highlights the double standards created by the society asking women to look beautiful and sexy for man’s gaze while shaming them for stepping out of the norms by dressing or acting as they will, for themselves

#nicki minaj #anaconda #feminism #media studies

ksmith383

Part 1 : Tupac v. Biggie

Compare these two covers from Vibe magazine. How does the cover on the left construct Tupac? What about Biggie in his cover? How do they differ? Provide details of mise en scene and framing to support your analysis.

The cover on the left is more darker colors and is monotonous, making Tupac out to be more serious. The glasses that he’s wearing give him a look of intelligence or of a person that should be taken seriously. They also make him look a bit like Ghandi. He’s the only one on the cover and only half of his face is being shown. This cover makes Tupac out to be someone that has something important to say and that you should be listening. The cover on the right has more vibrant colors and a playful type layout. The car gives off the ‘live life in the fast lane’ vibe. Biggie is also in it with his wife, Faith, showing that he does everything he can with her. These covers show how Tupac cares mostly about how he views himself while Biggie cares about how his loved ones view him. Also, Tupac, through the lack of colors, is saying the world is currently a darker place that needs to be fixed while Biggie, with his bright colors, is saying he has gotten out of that dark place and has moved into the light.

phoenixera42-blog

I really love how your analysis is about how the two artists perceive themselves and their attitudes. It seems like an extremely unique theory and an interesting one.

The only suggestion that I would like to make is that you change the spelling of 'Gandhi' from 'Ghandi' because that might be politically incorrect!

Other than that, awesome analysis and post!

phoenixera42-blog

neostarman

(Note: This is a response to both parts, but I can only reblog one post at a time.)

It’s important to make note of the overlay of a cover - things that aren’t a part of the actual image, like text color and font - and you did that well. In addition to the seriousness (or lack thereof) of Tupac’s and Biggie’s covers respectively, the text emphasizes whatever message is to be made in the article. I also like how you emphasize the importance of the message itself in art. After all, that was indeed the point Hobson was trying to make; even though art can be entertaining, the audience ignored the message that Jay Z was trying to convey with his performance.

phoenixera

Thank you for you comment! I feel that the layout of the cover speaks as much as the images and thus decided to focus on those.

As for the art related blog post, I was just hoping that the reader would get my interpretation of the quote so I am glad that you did!

In All Seriousness

The two covers of the VIBE magazine reflect the musical and personal characteristics of Tupac and Biggie significantly through the use of different orientation of text and the cover pictures. The font display on both the covers is extremely distinctive. While’s Tupac’s cover is bold with his name as the most prominent part of the textual representation of the cover, Biggie’s name features after the title of the article in a much smaller font. This shows that Tupac’s story has a much stronger message and affect on his life than Biggie’s. This, also, directly reflects their music as Tupac’s music has a stronger and bolder message related to societal issues in contrast to Biggie’s easy-going fun music with a message. Similarly, Tupac’s cover is more serious than Biggie’s. Only one side of Tupac’s face is visible, representing the fact that there is a side of him that we do not know about. The light on his face in contrast to the dark background adds to the serious nature of the cover. In comparison to Tupac’s picture, Biggie’s picture is more laid back and presents him with his lady in a luxurious car depicting that the article about him is not very serious and is more likely about his life’s luxuries instead of the struggles. The colors on Tupac’s cover are in darker tones and color combinations and even the white font color used on the cover emphasizes the dark tones of the around it. In contrast to this kind of display, Biggie’s cover has a much brighter mix of color tones and eccentric ladder-like font display. This makes his story appear more enjoyable that Tupac’s serious statement. The difference in the visual effects in the two covers portrays the difference in their stories and their personalities.

Art: Synonymous With Fluid

Through analysis of Jay Z’s performance art piece “Picasso Baby”, Hobson puts forward an argument that the definition of art is fluid and depends on the artist and the audience’s perception by putting forth the analysis that Jay Z glorified his African American culture in his performance even though it was meant for people of all color. She argues whether a performance such as Jay Z’s interactive hip hop art performance, later converted to a music video, correctly represents art. The quote presents an assertion that since he is not automatically perceived as a performance artist, the intended message might go amiss.

The quote suggests that perhaps due to his significant presence as a rapper and the violent nature of his previous art, his attempt to make a statement through “Picasso Baby” will fail. According to the quote Jay Z is trying to authenticate his colored culture through art while critiquing the dominance of the white in the field of art. However, the question that the quote poses is if his viewers will perceive it as intended. Art is a considered a medium of communication. It is often used to send across an important message to the society, in this case, the lack of colored artists in the industry. However, if the intended message goes amiss, is it still considered art? The quote’s purpose is to introduce this dilemma and provide evidence to support the conclusion. It does not make any assertions or provide the answer. It simply analyses Jay Z’s “Picasso Baby” to propose a simple question: Is art considered ‘art’ even if the message does not necessarily reach the audience?

This is the first draft before peer review.

Thesis Statement : ENGL 1101 (We Run The World)

The rapid change in Beyoncé’s expression from a smile to a snarl, coupled with a low-angle shot and left-biased lighting focused on her face re-enforces that women can be embodied as strong beings who can be both seductive and ferocious, as and when the situation requires.

#beyonce #run the world #english assignment #engl1101

Spiraling Down! - Lady Gaga Paparazzi Analysis

The sequence that follows the scene where Lady Gaga’s ‘lover’ pushes her off the balcony, is a series of shots consisting of a black and white spiral background and Gaga in the center of the screen. It starts with a close-up shot of Gaga who is dressed in white clothes, thus providing a contrast to the black and white situation depicted by the spiral in the background and making her the central subject of the video and concept. As the camera pans back, the scenes are cut in a disjunctive manner, which allows her to rapidly change positions and expressions as well. This creates an illusion of Gaga falling into a black and white abyss. To add to the effect, the spiral background is rotated and the camera is set in a distance shot ; this aggravates the feeling of confusion and falling depicting Gaga’s situation when she is falling down from the top of her career, in a flash. The use of black and white background and rapid cuts creates an impression of a camera flash, which can be closely related to paparazzi or media, in general. Gaga’s movements are edited to directly oppose the movement of the spiral behind her and the music in the background, thus making her the key subject of analysis. In the final shot, the spiraling speeds up, rapidly, depicting the quick fall of a star when they encounter negative media. Thus, this ,metaphorically, sets the base for the story in the video by portraying how paparazzi can result in the fall and rise of a star.

#lady gaga #paparazzi

phoenixera42-blog

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ksmith383

The opening sequence of Bad uses the setting to set up the story and mood for the video through colors, camera angles, and conversations with other actors. The black and white color scheme in the beginning gives viewers the feeling of being out of place due to...

#Comment on Kristin's post

phoenixera42-blog

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR VIEWERS

To comment on any post, please click the “notes” section on the right and scroll down to the end.

For viewers on mobile device, please use the comment icon.

jschutz3

The video for Smooth Criminal combines a bar setting, with standard gangster outfits, to create a cool, tough, and sexually charged video. The instant Michael Jackson walks into the bar, the silence takes over, and suddenly everyone directs their attention to the “King of Pop”. Michael is...

phoenixera42-blog

It's amazing how your perspective made me understand that MJ isn't just being portrayed as important considering he is a video subject but there is also focus on his career and it acts as a metaphor to most of his videos.

However, did you notice how both the long shots and the close-ups catch his persona as a central character? He is usually in the centre of the frame or moving towards the center. I though that was interesting!

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Incorrigible Perfectionism [Engl 1101]