Wherry's Popular Culture

During class today, we have discussed the evolution of man in popular culture. What we have discovered is that their is no Average Man. This man does not exist. What does is exist is multiple personas of men, tons and tons of archetypes that one man can be under multiple examples. The masculinity of men has changed. Our American culture has adapted to the changing man. Stores in malls have had to open up more clothing outlets that are appealing to the multiple sides of the man. In the reading "Boys will be Boys", Tyler Thoreson, the executive editor for Men.style.com, the leading men's fashion site, has stated that "...media depicitons of men is either hyperfeminist sissies or testosterone-soaked brutes..." Thoreson also states that "...the whole metrosexual thing is a bit of a media construction...it's a bit of a fake trend. I mean, sure,guys are spending more time concerned on how they look, but they're still guys. They still have the DNA of men...

During this weeks class, we studied the topic of media violence progressing and changing into a more advanced epidemic throughout the United States. One of the most famous researchers behind this was George Gerbner. One theory created by Gerbner and his colleagues in the study of media violence was the Cultivation theory. The idea behind this theory is that the more we see something in the media, the more the view of reality starts to align with the version we view the world. In John Oliver's skit on torture, we see how our own judicial, CIA, and citizens revolve around the Cultivation theory on Torture. One example used by Oliver is that 57% of Americans believe waterboarding and torture will help stop terrorism, even when it is proven and confessed by former CIA agents in reports of terrorist, that the suspects confessed before the torture began. The biggest piece of evidence that American citizens fit in the category of Cultivation theory is the former Supreme Court Judge Anto...

During class, we had watched a TED talk by video game creator Jane McGonigal about how putting effort toward fixing real life problems would be easier if we had the same mentality as we did when we put effort towards video games. Americans currently invest 3 billion hours towards video games a week. To be able to fix all of the worlds problems, it would take 21 billion hours per week. This seems quite impossible, but the way McGonigal puts it, if we all work together instead of butting heads, it is possible. In the outside of class reading, "Why We Play" by Rusel de Maria, we have learned that games, whether simple games or virtual video games, we are learning valuable life lessons and developing many valuable skills. Some examples of these are we are able to tackle obstacles to "achieve the epic win" as McGonigal had put it. De Maria says that video games present a difficult challenge that players must use strategy and critical thinking to achieve these goals or ...