Mona J. Barnes Written Analysis 5 on my topic of Facebook

            In choosing Facebook as my Popular Culture topic I have come to realize that media as we know it has changed.  In the past there were newspapers, the six o’clock news, radio, and magazines.  People couldn’t wait to get either their local newspapers for updates on what is happening in their communities, or their Sunday papers to get a more in depth worldly news summary of the past week. 

            Today there is a new way of getting that same information, still via the ways listed above but also faster and with online feeds from those same publications, and social media.  This includes Facebook, Twitter, and the other entire fast, on the go sites that give you up to the minute, as-it-is-happening news.  Today along with this, you get pictures of the grandkids that you would have previously had to wait for in the mail, up to the minute updates on your favorite television shows, and your family and friends all in one place and you can reply just as quickly.

            You can buy and sell popular culture items like Barbie, matchbook cars, so many things with online yard sales that are run through the Facebook application on your computers and mobile devices.  Things have become popular and reached far more people through Facebook than in stores.  You are actually not only reacting to popular culture, you are inventing it.  I have become more aware of the commercialism as well as the personal advantages and disadvantages of social media.  Businesses use Facebook applications to not only bring items to your attention for sale or discussion but basically create what they think should be brought to our attention and what merits attention.  They use Facebook as a tool to mold your opinions to what they want them to be. 

            I have become more aware that I need to become more aware of what I am being told, the source of the story or item, and the validity of it.  I initially thought of Facebook as a way to keep in touch with my family and friends, old and new.  Not I believe there is actually a darker or more underlying story to how Facebook presents itself, what it decides we need to see, and even the way in which we will see it.  I have learned to look more critically at these social media applications.  I believe that they can be dangerous to young minds in a way that shapes their thoughts as opposed to letting them decide for themselves.  In only getting the view the sponsors of the site want you to see, you may be blinded to what is really being done to your thought process and formation of values and morals. 

Weekly Analysis #4

  Mona J. Barnes                Weekly Analysis #4   due May 3

            Facebook has a very specific formula that they use and have been using for the past few years.  They have this formula down to a science and make millions of dollars a day due to this formula; which is based on advertising and tracking what you as a user click on, look at, like, or read.

            Advertisers buy space from a popular site to advertise their products or services and of course the more viewers or users Facebook has, the more they can charge for these companies to have their product or service advertised.

            Facebook has a computer generated program that tracks everything that every single user looks at as listed above.  They actually have their site set up in such a way that certain advertisers ads will be seen every so many minutes at certain time intervals. 

            When you click on a page that you want to follow, it will send other things similar to that page to you.  I happen to like Rick Gervais and Karl Pilkington from podcasts; TV shows they have done together, as well as their old radio show in London.  Once I click on Karl Pilkington’s page to follow him, I will get sent many other things of this type (humor, television, podcasts of other comedians). I thought that Facebook was tailor making my page for me.  They are doing that but as a means to make money by having me click on more of their advertisers information, not because they were nice and thought I would be interested. 

            They also use this formula for Facebook users worldwide to see what is attracting the main attention whether it is a product page or a subject matter that is trending.  They will make sure to include those items or stories as one of the top 10 items in their News Feed.  Once they get you interested, you usually have to watch a small video to get to the story you are looking for.  This is where Facebook makes money from us and from the advertisers, a sort of quid pro quo.  They have made millions as advertisers for mobile phones. Most companies, if you read their privacy policies, will tell you that even when you click on the “do not share my information” button, it is really not done, someone finds a way around it to get to you via advertising. 

            This formula, once they figured out the algorithm for the computer to do the tracking, it determines what we see and in what order we see it. This formula has made Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, billions of dollars. 

Mona J. Barnes - Journal Article Analysis  I don't know why it does not do the header and separate the pages.  Sorry

 

 

 

 

Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mona J. Barnes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humanities 240 –H1WW-W15

Instructor Jenifer Garey

April 25, 20

 

 

Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture

My Analyzation

 

            Since the dawn of what is termed “grunge” music in the 1990’s along with the emergence and success of the group Nirvana, women who contributed to this scene have been pushed aside.  Grunge is a type of dark fusion of punk and metal music.  It came out of Seattle on the Sub Pop label in the late 1980’s and into the 90’s. There were several female bands that contributed to this movement.  Musicians in the grunge scene, of which many were males, had expressed an antisexist viewpoint in their music and in the grunge scene as a whole.  Riot Grrrl is a feminist punk movement that also came from the West coast in the 1990’s.  Female bands under this genre for example were Hole, Babes in Toyland, Courtney Love Band, and Dickless, to name a few of the more well known.  These bands were actually grunge music but the writer believes that these female bands and performers were put under the more "punk rock" label of Riot Grrrls so that the grunge field could be attributed to a male music genre.

            This journal paper came about from interviews with fans of grunge from Australia.  The response ratio for the interviews was 2/3 to 1/3 male to female.  They were randomly chosen by responding to fliers, underground newspapers, and music websites.  The interviewers asked questions about what the interviewees remembered about that time, and what the impact of grunge music was for them.  Even though there were a significant number of females who took on important roles in this movement, no one really remembers them like their male counterparts.  On the ten year anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, it seemed that even the media, when discussing this era in music, forgot about or minimized the contributions that the female bands and performers made to this genre of music. 

            When discussing rock and roll, men also dominate, even though there have been great female contributors. This seems more widely accepted since rock music has always been considered a “male” genre of sex, drugs, and, well…you know the rest.

            In grunge music, the whole message was about gender equality and disappointment  life for the average angsty teenager at the the time, with Courtney Love being one of the most well-known grunge female performers. She was condemned for her rejection of how genders were perceived and stereotyped; even though the whole movement was about that and other things I mentioned earlier.  When the men were doing it, it was awesome. After the grunge scene waned and without the likes of  Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain, at least in a major market sense, the women of grunge music were chastised or shunned for this very genderless message.  According to the journal report (Strong, 2011. pg. 399) these women have been either forgotten or relabeled as “Riot Girrrls”.  This relabeling allows the threat posed to patriarchal relations to be compartmentalized and contained, while the “grunge” label is reinscribed as a form of “masculine” rock”.

            Why is this done to women and what causes their invisibility?  Throughout history, women’s contributions have either been rarely mentioned or left off of the records altogether.  This happens in all societies, regardless of geographic location.  Many say it may be because women were not the ones “keeping the record” of such events.  Others think that women didn’t protect their contributions like historians did for men.  Even in more modern times where there is documentation of such events of women, they are forgotten about just because they were female.  Most music done by women is labeled pop music, because surely females cannot be taken as serious contributors to real music.  If they ARE in serious bands, it is normal for society to view them as “eye-candy” and not real musicians. 

            When it comes to the music media, most of the press is run by men; excluding women or women’s contributions and expressing information from and to a male perspective.  One of the reasons this lack of credibility is brought about is the fact that not as many women write their own music and lyrics. They are not considered “real” musicians and are not controlling their own music and destiny. Therefore, they don’t really count and are often diminished until forgotten or just plain ignored altogether.  Males identified grunge as a masculine movement that depicted the rage that young boys and men were trying to express with how things were. Most girls at the time, in society, were not into grunge music like men were so that added to the masculine media love.  According to the journal report (2011, Strong, 411-412) one respondent’s answer about listening to any women of grunge, he responded, “Hole, Courtney Love is just a dirty rock slut” (laughs).

            Every time a woman or several women contribute in a big way to music or anything else, it is like it is a new thing for women.  No one adds to the history of these events all along that women took part in, no one adds to the history, because the history was forgotten.

            I agree that most of what Ms. Strong is saying is absolutely true.  However, in the past, and I mean long ago past, women were not allowed to have controlling interest or even opinions about what was going on in society.  It used to be that most of the well-educated were only men and it was “their department” to take care of such things.  Once women came into their own, they were then, I believe, contributors from behind the scenes.  Their discussions behind closed doors with their families afforded them more of an opportunity to offer or express an opinion.  If the man thought it a good idea, it was expressed as his own in most cases. 

            Society as a whole has socialized women for years of what their role is and what the male’s role is and only within the last few generations have we, as a society, started to truly recognize and acknowledge in a public format, what women are doing and contributing to their communities and on the world stage.  I also think that no matter what women do in any capacity or any field, they will always be diminished in the eyes of the world.  Is it due to how we socialize boys as well as the girls? Girls need to be empowered and boys need to know that even though they aren’t allowed to fight with girls because they may be stronger; girls can be on equal footing. 

            There is a very long way to go.  Our society is not ready, even though our girls are.

 

 

References

Strong, Catherine (2011, April. Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular

            Culture, Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 44 (2) 398-416.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Weekly Analysis #3

Mona J. Barnes  Written Analysis #3

            In relation to the phenomenon of Facebook, the theory that is applicable and that I found most interesting was the thought that spending time on Facebook may be detrimental to our us and our society, our intellect and ability to think of things on a deeper level.  This is untrue.

            Facebook serves as a comfortable and fun place to fall after a long hard day of work, whether it is in a physical or mental capacity.  It gives us all a chance to glimpse who our the villains and heroes of the day.  Time is of the essence in these times and Facebook can give a snapshot of things happening in our environment.  It is just a snapshot though, and not the complete story.  In paraphrasing an article in our Profiles of Popular Culture textbook, (Browne, 2005), we as a society should not be celebrating heroes in the present but in a historical context.  The true heroes of today are those that do something helpful for someone and go on about their way, without a big announcement or expectation of reward.

            I think that viewers see who receives accolades and who receives ridicule.  This sheds light on what is perceived as good or bad behavior in our current times.  It is a snapshot of our current culture’s morals and beliefs on average.

            Facebook shares many videos and stories about average people doing kind and helpful things.  I disagree with the reading in that there could be new heroes for us to herald if someone cured Cancer or eradicated ALS, Parkinson’s disease or in the case of my Father who lives with us, Alzheimer’s.  Modern day heroes can exist today and would still be considered heroes historically.       The insight that I have gained is that who is a hero to one is not to others.  When I get on Facebook, I see many heroes and many people that make me embarrassed to be a human being. 

Written Analysis 2

      

Written Analysis 2

Mona J. Barnes

Popular Culture

Instructor Jenifer Garey

April 16, 2015

            My popular culture topic is Facebook.  With regard to the concept of ritual or ritualistic

actions, I am amazed at how Facebook has become a part of many people’s morning and nighttime rituals.  Facebook is one of the first things most young folks and some older ones, check first thing in the morning.  They check it while they are having their morning coffee or just when they wake up to see what they have missed from the night before or to see if anyone has commented on what they themselves may have posted from the night before.  This brings me to the other side of the ritual.  I find that in my own personal usage of the application that many more people are on at night.  They are posting about what they did all day or responding to other people’s postings.  Often there is chatter going back and forth as if it were a chat room as opposed to just a “wall” to post things to. 

            My theory is, that overall, people really DO need people.  We are always looking for people to connect with.  Humans have a need to connect with others.  Even people who are introverts appear to be more communicative through the veil of Facebook.  People can connect in different ways on Facebook.  It does not have to be verbally but could be through interest pages, or Facebook videos and postings like the ALS challenge that was so big last summer.  It unites people or at least gives them a place to vent or just browse and not feel so alone.  It also gives people a chance to review, remember, and share their past with people that they have been out of touch with. As they age, these forgotten or disconnected people from their past can be reached out to, found, and even perhaps reconnect after years of being away from each other.

            I think it is a valuable tool if used properly.  On the dark side of things, as we have seen in the news many a time, it can be used to do harm.  It is often used for bullying when it comes to school age children or as a defense mechanism to call out the bullies so that they don’t get to remain hidden behind the scenes playing dirty.  I think it empowers bullies but also empowers the person being bullied because they can turn it around on those who are being nasty and expose them. 

            I have realized that some social medias are just so important for people.  Everyone needs a place to belong or a soft place to fall at the end of the day, and if they do not have a significant other or a close family, they can create, find, or reconnect with one on Facebook.