Script? No thanks, I'll just wing it.

If the title has you confused, the script I'm referring to is the one for the world famous musical: Life. It's not something that you have to see on Broadway or even have to reserve seats for because it's a production that all of society is a part of. Everyone has a role that they play, and and that is the Gender Role.

In the book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Sociologist Ervin Goffman compared social interaction within our society to that of a theater, saying that everyday people are actors performing in a play, and that everyone plays some sort of social role when they are around other people. There are roles to be played, fronts to be put on, and props that are used. In the context of gender, people have to decide if they want to read the script that they know conforms best to stereotypical society, or of they want to be the authors of their own script and risk being labeled as a social deviant.

Which role do we take?

The ideas of how gender codes work in Goffman's book closely relate to that in a film called The Codes of Gender by Sut Jhally in that they both have a similar concept of how gender is acted out in American Culture. The summary of Goffman's book supports the Codes of gender in terms of what is acceptable and what is not in our society. We see that like a play, when actors deviate from the gender script, such as a man who likes to cook and clean, he gets labeled as gay or queer for participating in a front or scene usually reserved for women in our society, and the same thing applies to females. In Groffman's analysis, sometimes people don't want to conform to certain roles of gender and they decide to break abandon their current role and take upon a new role with new lines, props, and characteristics. If that is to much for some, there is always the opportunity to remove your social mask when nobody is around or if you are with a group that shares your same code. 

Society makes this seem weird. 

Association with a specific gender starts at a a very young age and is influenced by parents, institutions, friends, and the mass media. We are quickly put in a gender box and are told that that is our role and that breaking it will not be accepted. Both Jhally's and Groffman's views are supportive of this stage like reality that we all live in and both seem to agree on how individuals express, change, inhibit, and hide their ideas of how one should behave in public. 


Personally, I grew up in a family with a lot of girls, and because of that, I happen to be different than most men my age. I am more emotional, have a decent sense of how to do household work, and I happen to like TLC's What Not To Wear. I don't really like sports and I know when a girl has had their hair done. So, I may not be the worlds idea of what the manly man should be like, but that doesn't mean that I'm gay ( Although some people think I am.) I just happen to to be not be the modern stereotypical macho man, but I'm cool with that. But if you want a Hollywood example of what a REAL man looks like *sarcasm* just watch this clip from the Boondock Saints 2! 

    

Does she come with the product?

When I was younger, I would always ask my day why there were almost naked chicks in ads posing in front of cars, well dressed men, guns, ect., and he would always tell me the same thing every time is asked. "Absolutely Nothing" he said, "But I doesn't matter because you stared at that ad a few seconds longer than you would have if there was no girl there." It wasn't until I got a bit older that I realized what he meant.

 Unfortunately, that mindset has gotten a bit out of control and Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly and Sut Jhally's The Codes of Gender only convinces me further that pop culture, business profit, morals, and lifestyles have been blended into a dangerous way. Advertisers still continue to display women in humiliating ways, not allowing their strength or independence to be displayed such as in this ad here for a fancy clothing line.

Woman has been "saved"

In this picture we see six men and one girl (a common theme in clothing ads nowadays, and most of the time they are in poses that suggest gang rape.) She has no clothes on, is white, thin and pale. She is also clutching onto what appears to be the alpha male of the picture/ group, the one holding one of the most phallic objects of power: a gun. This image is also a scene of man's ability to kill others males in the name of power and in doing so, becoming the center of the woman's innocent and passive affection. Her eyes and posture suggest a sense of innocence, longing, naivety, and lack of balance and stability.
The woman has been deprived of everything that could make her an individual and instead is reduced to an co-dependent organism.

In tearms of an ad featuring a strong, independent, confident woman, I could not find one. The all take women and their bodies and sexualize them in ways I couldn't even think were possible. It seems that this generation has had the concept of what women should be like nailed into our heads and we can't even see that we are allowing corporate agenda chasers pull us around on the leash of fashion, youth, and pop culture. I could rant for hours about some of the things I have seen and learned in the past few days, but i'll save it for another time. Instead, ill show you this image and hopefully leave you all on a humorous note. (Not implying reverse discrimination here. Its just funny)

LOLZ! 

So after learning about the Frith Analysis, I am going to reassess the reason why the old spice commercials are so popular. Since there are quite a few old spice commercials, I am going to choose this particular image to analyze:

Creepy right?

So now that we have had a nice look at this ad, lets answer the first question in the frith method: What is the surface meaning in this picture? Well, the first thing that we notice is that there is a guy on who appears to have half of his body missing with another guy living inside him. The bigger guy looks a bit nerdy and overweight and the other guy looks like a rockstar.

Alright, next thing we need to look at is what the advertiser's intended meaning was in this ad. What are they trying to tell us? To put it bluntly, old spice is telling guys that if they use old spice body wash, they too can smell the way that men are supposed to smell, because old spice magically unleashes this inner "man". 

The last thing that we need to look at is the cultural setting behind the message. Starting with the surroundings of the add, we see the two men standing in what appears to be a fancy library or place of knowledge, a place usually popular among middle/upper-class intellectuals. This setting is also one of prestige, something most humans desire to attain more of.

 In the center of the frame, we see the two men. Or is it one man? Judging by the slogan, it appears that it is just the ONE man, and that the other is the man that is waiting to be unleashed from the prison that is the bigger, nerdier man. Looking at them both, they both are polar opposites of what is perceived as cool in our society. The first guy is overweight, wears glasses, plays the saxophone, and carries a messenger bag with pins and superhero logos from his favorite comic books. He is the uncool one, the unsexy one, and the unmanly one. 

On the other end of the spectrum, we see what a "real" man is supposed to like. He is fit, muscular, tattooed, wild, and judging by the lipstick marks and female undergarment hanging from his double necked electric guitar, sexy. This is the American rockstar that all little boys wanted to be when they grew up, and that gives this particular advertisement it's allure. When guys see this ad, this image tries to connect with their inner rockstar spirit, and if rock and roll is not their cup of coffee, then there is also this ad in manly, no fear soldier form.  

Personally, I find this ad a bit shallow. Who says playing the saxophone is not sexy?! Have they never heard of the sexy sax man?      

Yay! I get to build a website!

You can learn to play these!

Even though I have zero website building skills, I get to learn how to make one thanks to COMM 352! My subject matter for this project will be drumming oriented, with the emphasis  on how to pick a drum set, styles of playing, tutorials on different techniques and playing styles, and a possible a music gallery of me playing a range of drum genres. As a drummer, I had and still have moments where I could have more information or examples of particular products or actual demonstrations to answer my questions. I want my site to have pictures, videos, and music files, so that way guests can focus less on reading and scanning for information, and spend more time observing and learning all the drum basics at one source. So psyched!

Hello, Ladies...I am not the old spice guy.

One of the men of the Old Spice world

Hello world of blogging! I am back from my Christmas Break adventures to bring you information regarding my favorite add campaign, the Old Spice Campaign! There are not that many people that I have meet that have not seen an old spice commercial featuring Terry Crews, Isaiah Mustafa, or Fabio Lanzoni, and most would agree that they are total attention grabbers.


 Each commercial features one of these three men explaining why old spice body wash is the best body wash on the market. In Terry's commercials, he yells at the audience and tells them that Old Spice Oder Blocker Body Wash is so powerful that it can block out the sun. But then it gets to cold, so it makes another sun; DOUBLE SUN POWER!!!! Then the screen explodes!

The real appeal for these commercials though is just how absurd they are. They are so detached from reality that it is literally funny. I actually went to the store the next day and purchased the stuff just because the ads were so funny, not because I thought the product worked or was even good. Even if my mom thinks that they are just plain stupid, you just can't help but grin when you hear that old spice whistle tune on TV.

The product definitely targets both young men and women simultaneously; the men love it because it appeals to our desire to be loved by the ladies, and it appeals to women because of of the men who advertise the product. All of these are reasons why I love the spice! The video down below provides a montage of the best of Terry Crew's, Isaiah Mustafa's, and Fabio Lanzoni's Old Spice commercials. Enjoy!

The Final Countdown

Well, the end of the semester is finally here and it's been fun. Having the opportunity to take COMM 203 was truly a privilege and a great learning experience. During the semester I got the chance to learn about media in our society and it's technological integrations, 5 rules to assist in the comprehension of media and the techniques it employs, graphic novels and narrative, and also film editing.
As this class comes to a close, my blog will remain active, and I will continue to blog about more interesting communication related material. This coming fall, I will be taking five COMM classes so I should have plenty to write about than. If anything happens during the summer thats worth writing about I will be sure to let everyone know. I look forward to sharing my future thoughts with you! I hope your summer will be as great as mine, but while you wait, check out my other blogs and i'll see you soon!

VALS and me.

Most people who have taken a college level psychology or sociology  course have heard about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (See Below)

This shows the list of "needs" that an individual needs in order to function, starting from the bottom up. The basics here would be things like food, water, and shelter. From there, it starts to be emotional and social needs, and eventually, you become the master of your life. You know who you are and what your purpose is and things of that nature. The VALS system has a similar chart, but it's use is more for  commercial and motivational  purposes than Maslow's.

In this model, everyday consumers, you and I, are placed into the different categories that appear on this chart. Just like the hierarchy of needs, this chart places us where we fit in the business world; Starting from the bottom, branching of into one of three groups, and ending with the top. To see where I belong on this chart, I took the VALS test and got placed into the strivers and the experiencers spots.

Based on my personality and mindset, I think the system did a great job at accurately placing me. Since I dont make to much money and am in the age group of young adults, thats what earned my the strivers spot. I'm not poor or homeless, but I still have a ways to go before I reach the achievers category. My secondary spot was the experiencers category. Since I am young and prone to try new things, I tend to lean more towards expression and experience. I wan't to learn new things and have fun, and at the same time work hard to achieve my goals. Overall, this has been a great way to see where I stand in terms of what my motivators are.