REFLECTION

            Before taking this critical thinking course, I was not aware of how much media controlled my life.  I find myself constantly on my phone, watching TV, or surfing the web.  Being surrounded by media so much has acted as a huge influence over my life.  One example of this is through celebrities and social media stars.  Because famous personalities have large followings, their posts have the power to alter someone’s mindset.  Say Kendall Jenner posts a picture in a certain outfit, girls all over the world who look up to her would want that exact outfit so they could be like her.  I know that I unconsciously draw inspiration from celebrities, as do many others.

            Now that I know more about the advertising industry, I’ll never watch a commercial the same way.  I find that I analyze every ad I see, searching for advertising techniques or rationalizations.  Just today my mom was watching a soccer game on TV, and I noticed that there were ads surrounding the whole perimeter of the field.  Although it may seem like a dumb placement for ads because people are obviously going to be paying attention to the soccer game, it wasn’t.  I noticed it, and I’m sure the thousands of fans at the game did as well.

            I do not think my media consumption has changed this semester, although I hope to spend more time away from technology this summer.  I honestly forget about the world around me, and all that there is to do without my phone.  Not only this, but technology is a huge distraction to me, and keeps me from being efficient.  I hope to become more focused without my phone.

            Being an educated consumer is important because it keeps us from making unneccesary purchases.  Now that I have learned various advertising techniques, I feel like I can see right through all of these biig name brands.  They don’t actually care about you or want what’s best for you, they just want your money. All people should take a critical thinking class at some point in their lives; it would help out a lot.

            I had no idea how big of a role media played in, essentially, everyone’s lives.  In both positive and negative ways, media influences us.  This semester has taught me to find the good and the bad in media.  One needs to learn to take in the happiness that media can spread and stay away from the negative stereotypes and body images it shows.

WONDER WOMAN

Just four days ago, Wonder Woman hit theatres.  Just after its opening weekend, Wonder Woman broke box office records.  Cashing in at 86 million dollars, Wonder Woman broke the box office record for film with a female director.  Women comprised just 7 percent of all directors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films in 2016, so for a female director to be so successful, it was groundbreaking.

When looking at all of the various superheroes, I noticed that most of them were male.  Wonder Woman is one of the first heroines that I can remember having a major film.  Most of the time if women are present in Marvel movies, they portray the damsel in distress.  They are only there to be saved since they apparently do not have the strength to do it themselves, and are highly sexualized as well.  These characters are often portrayed as naïve, helpless, and delicate.  What they lack in intellectuality and strength is made up for with appearance.  This gives young girls who look up to these "role models" the idea that how you look matters more than anything else.

Another thing I noticed about Wonder Woman is that her attire is extremely revealing.  Her boobs and butt basically hang out of the miniscule leotard which she is expected to save lives in... I believe that part of why she wears this is to attract a wider audience.  If Wonder Woman was overweight, ugly, and dressed in sweatpants, male viewers would be nowhere to be found.  However, you throw her in a revealing one-piece and give her an unrealistic hourglass figure and suddenly you've got every guy in America hooked.  This leads me to believe that a lot of people who watch these movies are there for the wrong reasons.

BON APPETIT

Latest hit, Bon Appetit by Katy Perry has been circulating the radio over the past few weeks. While I was with my friends the other day, we watched the music video for fun. Never have I been so horrified in my life. During the four minute duration of the video, Katy Perry managed to make me want to vomit in my mouth.

First off, the whole concept of the video is to show Perry being prepared and cooked like a piece of meat. Quite disturbing if you ask me. She is featured being seasoned, boiled, and seared. There is also a shot of her literally on a platter, garnished with vegetables, just sitting on a table in the middle of a party. Through the concept of this music video, we can see that women are being compared to meat.

Some lyrics from the song that further emphasize this idea are, "Got me spread like a buffet," "Fresh out the oven," and "I'm on the menu." All of these lines are, again, connecting women to a piece of meat. We currently live in a very visual society. Our culture constantly displays image after image  of women depicted as food for men's consumption.

I continually see this through advertising. Probably one of the most apparent in the many commercials that show this is the Carl's Jr. one from a few years back. It featured model, Kate Upton, and was definitely not family appropriate in my opinion. Basically, the commercial showed Upton in minimal clothing eating the advertised burger. Carl's Jr. is attempting to tell you that by eating this burger, you will feel the same feelings as when you watched the commercial.

Women are not meat and should not be compared to meat. We are human beings too and media needs to stop depicting us like we aren't.

MISREPRESENTATION

Body image. Something almost all teenage girls struggle with. This was especially apparent in the film we watched, Missrepresentation. The documentary focused on the causes and effects of how girls see themselves.

The main reason girls have such a negative image on their bodies is because of media. Nowadays, most of the teenage population has some sort of social media which means that they have access to the accounts/profiles of many celebrities. Of course these famous people post only the pictures that have been edited to perfection where they look flawless. Girls see this and perceive that exact body shape as the only one socially accepted, leading them to believe THEY must look like that. I think that models also act as a huge influence over girls' thinking. When you look at runways and advertisements, you probable have a ninety percent chance of seeing a tall, slim, white female. You'll occasionally see colored skin here and there, but for the most part, media portrays clones. The same exact body, skin tone, shape. Sure, we have slowly started to integrate SOME variation, but we definitely have a ways to go.

When teenage girls see this, they view it as the norm. I myself can say that I've struggled with body confidence in the past. I used to hate wearing super revealing clothes because I believed I didn't have the body for it. I thought that because I didn't look like Kendall Jenner, I couldn't dress how I wanted to. I'm happy to say that I've not only overcome this, but conquered it. Now, I feel as if I can wear whatever I want. I also think that since I've started high school, I have learned to just not care what others think. I dress for myself and wear whatever the hell I desire. GIVE ZERO F**** LADIESSSS!!!! <3 <3 <3

MOOKED

Have you been mooked?? Are you a mook?? If you are an immature, teenage boy who is forever stuck in their boyhood, then you are officially a mook. In more proper words, you are a male that is arrested in adolescence. You feed off of other mooks and entertainment made for mooks.

So what is "mook entertainment" exactly? Literally go on YouTube and I swear half of the videos on there are for mooks. Mooks make these videos then get more mooks to watch them which LEADS TO MORE MOOKS!!!

Mooks are taking over the world. #stopmooks2k17

DAZED

Bootlegging. Judging by its definition, it doesn't seem like the greatest thing. "To make, distribute, or sell illegally." But one individual's take on the topic may have an unexpected twist.

Twenty-five year old Ava Nirui is a New-York based artist known for her unique designs and juxtaposition between luxury brands and random objects. These random objects range from inhalers to basketballs to different articles of clothing. "The fashion world is so set in its ways. Why not change its rigidity?" In this quote, Ava expands on why she chose such arbitrary objects as the base of her projects.

"From their, I became interested in updating familiar objects with logos and iconography from luxury/contemporary designers in order to transform its worth in a humorous way." Ava's bootlegging started off as a hobby for herself, and she never meant for it to escalate so quickly. Now, people from her social media followings actually want to purchase these garments. However, Ava refuses to sell them.

"A logo is a visual symbol that is representative of a lifestyle. By applying or wearing a logo, you can completely skew and alter the meaning of an object or garment." I think this quote is really reflective of our current society. Once something becomes popular and well known (like Ava's designs) social media will eat it up. It's funny how putting the name of a luxury brand on a hoodie completely alters peoples' view on it. It's like, "Oh, wow! This sweatshirt says 'Gucci' on it! I have to have it!"

Contemporary society is so set on these name brands that once these simple company logos get plastered on something, we jump at it. Ava Nirui helps us to see this.

Give her a follow on Instagram @avanope !! She posts some pretty dope stuffff

BANG

This Marc Jacobs ad "Bang" was released in July 2010. There are a few basic appeals that this advertisement tries to hit. One, the need for attention. By using a picture of an attractive, half-naked model, Marc Jacobs is attempting to tell you to buy this cologne, and you will look like this and be noticed. Another appeal used is the need for sex. This appeal would be aimed at women as a target audience. For this, they are trying to say, buy this and your boyfriend will look like this. Aside from these appeals, the simple solutions technique is also used. "Buy this cologne, and you'll look automatically be as cool as this guy."