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.