A
This page will explore themes of the relationships between men and women in entertainment media on the big and small screens. From screwball comedies to modern-day sitcoms, men and women have been presented as opposing forces. This rivalry becomes the impetus of the story's plot and inevitably its timeless comedy. [This opening is fine!] (anna) Only in America can the subject of destructive sexual passion be presented as slapstick...(not perfected) [This is a very questionable proposition--do you
know British, French and Indian comedy?] (cameron) Although gender roles are being mediated differently
since the advent of screen-based media [?do you mean film as well
as TV?], the intriuge remains. [Too
vague--"the antagonism between the sexes remain"] How
do the fundamental relational differences between men and women create
the comedic yet artistic depictions in modern romantic sit-coms? Stereotypical aspects of each sex [Gender stereotypes]
serve to drive the narrative and the comedy of this type of television
program. While wholly
different from depictions of men and women in screwball comedies
[this does not seem true to me; I would consult with Anna on this],
modern sitcoms draw from stereotypified personality traits in order
to create an intriguing and comedic
[humorous] plot.
This is a fair beginning at describing your topic, but you don't develop any questions for investigation; I assume you will do this by the time you have studied more examples of screwball comedies and sit-coms.
There is as yet no time-line; no page of annotated links and bibliography (I found interesting links to reality tv and board games under "battle of the sexes"; there will be lots on sitcoms and screwball comedies; and you don't list and describe the examples of the two genres you are studying. All this is basic to your page. You may need help linking to other pages--but this should be done sooner rather than later. You will also want to offer your web page visitor a clear but concise definition of both the screw ball comedy and the romantic sit-com. I recommend you do this on the overview page so
The opening page is annoyingly enigmatic…you'll get sick of it quickly and it will also annoy those who come to your through google searches. Title: you might want to change it to: After all, the battle of the sexes is a huge topic. For the overview page, you should figure out your navigation scheme; identify yourself by name, and link to this course. Design critique: your color scheme works quite well--especially with black-and-white photographs. However, I I would get your title centered over your text and images.
This is an excellent topic; but you will not really develop any interesting comparative ideas until you do more research and watching. There is not enough done online yet to offer a provisional grade. (Although I hope you have lots of material off-line.)
Censorship and Cinema
[Not enough up to critique; I’ve emailed you] Superbowl: Missy, Sean and Meghan
Every year, millions of Americans sit down with family and friends to watch the Superbowl, the most watched tv event, the end-all be-all of football games. The Superbowl began as simply a championship game between two of the top teams of the year. Somewhere along the way, however, the focus shifted from the game itself to the now superior elements involved [the elements now gives inordinate emphasis:], such as the pop stars and entertainers and the [much-] anticipated commercials weaved throughout the event. This website explores the links between the Superbowl and contemporary media culture.
Critique: this is a good beginning toward an overview page; however, you need to tell your reader much more about what you are going to do on your site. Are you offering a history of the game's development, an analysis of the economics of the game (how much it makes for the NFL, for advertisers), the way it has become the occasion for parties (this is an important part of the game--and separates it from other kinds of championship games). At a conceptual level, are you critiquing or celebrating this "spectacle"?
Design: I like the design of the font page as well as the Budweiser ad page, but the print might be in a more modern font, larger size, and put into a table so it does not go to the edge of the screen. Also the navigation bar might go on the side, so we can see it when the page loads. You should identify yourself by name and
It is fine to embed a time-line for the Superbowl in the "history" page--where I assume you will offer a short account of the start and the expansion of the media event. It will be easy to develop a links bibliography to sites focused on the Superbowl. You need some sort of analytical framework for your images/media: thus a short reading of the Budweiser ad, and date it was first played, will give the image and audio file some sort of useful context.
What is a little startling is how little content you have up; you don't even have titles and accounts of what each of you will be working on for your papers.
This is a topic full of potential, but you need to get together and develop it! There is not enough up to give you a tentative grade. Queer Media: Eli, Genesis and Carolyn:
Opening page: Your opening page is very flashing, but it might be good to pair the kiss with some question or idea. I don’t think this kiss can be very shocking, or causing resistance to “accepting homosexual media”, given the wide appreciation it garnered.
Overview: you need a clear statement of the topic of your page, key questions you will be asking, and the scope of your page. You should identify yourselves by name and link to our course page. Design: I found it quite classic and lucid and intuitive: bravo! However, perhaps you should expand the size of the folder so you have space for more writing.
History/time-line: This is labeled as being about the “press”, but then it ads film and TV; why not write “media”. Clearly you will probably want to include something earlier than 1970…and then where are episodes like the Ellen coming out (Ann Heckt’s girlfriend)? I urge you to write a short intro to the time-line offering a way for us to interpret these dates.
Media page: first question: is this your writing or drawn off the net? (You should attribute it to the page where you found it). If so, just put the initials of the author of the description (e.g. GM for Genesis Matthews) at the end of the paragraph. Also, the account of the two shows don’t have any critical dimension: do you think these shows are offering a way for mainstream viewers to accept homosexual
Works cited: I am not asking for a “works cited” page (except on your individual papers), but for a collection of annotated links to sites that contribute to the question of “queer media” and the acceptance or lack there of. I would
Essay: Eli: I'm disturbed that you included text from the Web without attribution. The description of the Celluloid Closet under your own name was copied from http://www.tellingpictures.com/films/1.html; you must clearly attribute text you find on the web to its source (in this case the web-link I've given above--the first one that comes up on a Google search). On the same page we have personally composed text by Genesis and Carolyn. Have you figured
out what you are doing for a paper?
Genesis: This is an excellent beginning for an overview for the entire website. I recommend you edit it down a bit, and pose some questions and use it for your overview (if Eli and Carolyn agree). “There is much
controversy and debate regarding the portrayal of gays and lesbians
on television. Although queer media is finally in the mainstream,
there are questions if television is unintentionally
[or intentionally] reinforcing
gay negative stereotypes. Are television sitcoms and films that have
gay and lesbian characters a step forward or a step backward for queer
media? It is argued that, “Television audiences rarely see real stories
about gays and lesbians dealing with the complexity of their lives”
(Boon, Marshall
[B1]
). Although
there are shows that have recurring gay and lesbian characters, such
as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Will & Grace,” etc., they
do not portray their characters as real people living everyday lives.
“Queer Eye” is a reality TV show with five gay men making over heterosexual
men, and “Will & Grace” has two gay males who do not have any
serious real storylines and lives revolve around Grace's life.
[B2]
Even though
there are little to none sitcoms with realistic portrayal of homosexual
life on basic television, the cable network Showtime airs two shows,
“Queer As Folk” and the “L Word,” which I believe has characters who
are real people with real life situations, obstacles, issues and problems
that any homosexual person [might have to] deal with. Carolyn Newey “The Homosexual,
the “metrosexual” and the female: it is a battle that has just begun
to take center stage with television as its primary battleground.
A war [what war: you should specify it more clearly—who
is fighting and about what; e.g. this war about gender roles] waged
decades ago, it floundered without a medium in which to fight until
radio brought about a flurry of promise in the form of mass advertising.
Feminists were the first to see progress made, now enjoying the same
rights, and social privileges nearly
[cut] parallel to men. Homosexuals have seen much more resistance
to their attempt for these same opportunities and were forced to use
new media as a means to send subliminal ideas to the public which
would have been dangerous to convey outright
[directly]. This type of unconscious gay
agenda
[strategy] has been used for almost 100
years but is still today seen in contemporary movies like "Fight Club," with homoerotic undertones.
[too vague!] Slowly the
small screen made room for gay characters, as with many minorities,
working them into the comedy
of a show [for the sake of comedy?]. While it is now acceptable
for gay characters to be leads in television and film their portrayal
is all alarmingly similar and stereotyped, especially on network shows
which differ significantly from the characterization typical on premium
cable channels. The “metrosexual,” now slowly emerging on the TV and
in society has been the result of both the feminist and the gay movement.
As women have assumed the more typical male roles outside the home
and homosexuals have been portrayed time and time again as "what
a woman wants," straight men have been left to ponder what happened
to their passing dominance. [Note:
this last sentence is well constructed!] Left to be more self
sufficient by women too busy to shop, cook, and clean for them, and
flooded with a wave of new products and advertisements aimed for a
male market- albeit a gay one, straight males have started to buy
into the softer side of masculinity-- hence the term “metrosexual.”
The term, coined in 1994 by British journalist Mark Simpson, himself
a gay man, is described as "[a]n urban male with a strong aesthetic
sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance
and lifestyle." Simpson named British soccer star David Beckham
as the poster child of this new male which has gained momentum in
the U.S. most specifically from the series "Queer Eye for the
Straight Guy" where five gay males transform a hopeless retro-sexual
male into a hip new metrosexual to the bringing adulation
of from
all the women in his life. However this popularized new male brings
with it some interesting questions as to the future definition of
all sexes, whether subsequently, or triggered by their portrayal in
the media. [What are the questions?] There is not
enough of your page to give a tentative grade.
Evolution of Minorities in Media Monica, Gloria, Carly
This site [is a work
in progress developed by three UCSB students, who for a class project
decided to](cut) explore [s] the roles of minorities in different
types of media. Specifically, this site focuses on the evolution of
African Americans from the background to the foreground. Throughout
this site, you will see how their roles have changed throughout
time [between 19?? and the present]. We will take you through
a journey of the gradual acceptance of African Americans in entertainment.
You will also see how (can
this be made more precise: the music, verbal and visual styles of)
African American culture has heavily influenced the mainstream media.
Overview page: this is effective from a design point of view, but also
rather short and light in explanation. You might list the genres you
are investigating (music, sitcoms, film), and pose a non-obvious question
like, what were the factors that enabled African Americans to become
so influential? (answers might come out of your paper: fighting discrimination;
the originality of their culture; the admiration of middle class whites
for musical styles from Motown to rap; etc. Why is music been much
more important than film? Because they can do it on their own;…etc.)
Also, you should identify the page as in English 147 with link to
your page. Add paper short titles to navigation bar, and fix it so that it does not
change size and scale on each page. (You can get help on this in the
Studio).
Genre pages: I think all three pages should have the sort of overview
statement you have on the "film" page; you have gathered
some very good links--but a few are dead, and each should have a two
or three sentence annotation that suggests what the page discusses
that is relevant to your page. For example, on the sit-com page you
have a very interesting link to an article asking why Friends (and
other sitcoms) avoid black characters. You can annotate: "This
article probes the reasons that blacks are not found among the main,
secondary or incidental characters on NBC's hit, Friends: do they
spoil the fun? Do they change the mood to too serious? Why do we segregate
our entertainment?"
General recommendation;
You have made an excellent
start on your web site! Bravo! If you keep developing in the same
direction you would get an A. For Alan, Darren and Danielle
In the mid-20 th century American pop culture was obsessed with the image of the rebel. Post WWII, American movies and music portrayed an image of a disillusioned youth fighting the conservatism and parental control that the older generation upheld. In literature as well, authors such as Albert Camus and J.D. Salinger broke the barriers of normality with stories of people who did not fit in to society, but whom readers could still relate to. In other media of the fifties, Elvis Presley and James Dean captured the teenage angst and repressed sexuality of a youth who had previously never had such rebellious idols. This image of rebellion evolved greatly in the 1960's and -70's during the Vietnam War era. No longer was teen angst the fuel for the rebel yell, but now [the target was] the establishment, political discourse, drug use, and sexual freedom. Easy Rider was a film that stood up for hippie culture, and which ultimately become one of the most powerful portrayal of rebellion in its time. In the late 1970's punk rock exploded in a hail of syringes and smashed guitars. This, or course, had an affect on the films of the seventies as well, [for example] especially with Robert Deniro's mohawked killing spree at the end of Taxi Driver . [Isn't Punk after Taxi Driver?] These examples show a changing trend [change OR trend] in the image of rebellion over a short period of time. Here, the popular image of the rebel evolved with the changing [shifting] concerns of youth culture. This site will explore the various examples sited above and explain how the image of the rebel followed the social climate of the times. Alan will focus on the ontology [emergence of] of the rebel with media supplements. Danielle will explore various presentations of the female rebel. (which ones?) Daren will concentrate on the image of the rebel in film and music trends of the 1950's, -60's, and -70's.
My critique: On the positive side, you have a very cohesive and promising topic. When you get to sustained analysis of particular texts, you will be able to isolate the different coordinates of the rebel and teen rebellion. But, you have a lot of work to do:
Will your time-line touch on the way rebellion is the founding act of the American (as well as the French) nation….? Have you found web resources in this area so you can have a page of links relevant to your project? The images on Darren's page are very low quality: I know you can copy better images off the web. I don't understand Danielle's two images at all. Your opening page is quite visually inviting, but I have these suggestions:
If I were forced to grade this very early beginning, it would not receive a high grade! Divinations from the Entrails of Media
------Film, radio,
and television can be held
up against [compared to] the internet to help define
it [the internet] in comparative terms (cut)
and thus help make predictions about the its future. The media's (cut) histories
of ownership, advertising, and government control especially illuminate
possibilities for the future of the internet. Consolidated ownership
along with pressure from advertisers and the government has controlled
media content in the last century and still does. How will the internet's
content be controlled by these factors, if at all? ------On a more
intimate level, these [three] media are related to the internet in
that the internet has absorbed these media; its content is largely
presented in the established modes of film, radio, and television/video.
For example, some websites [DEAD LINK] call themselves broadcasters
of "internet television" and "internet radio".
Even films are downloadable and should be accessible to mass audiences
within a few years. Comcast, for example, will soon offer downloadable
films from their library in their proposed "video on demand"
service. What films they own will determine the content they offer.
just as Ownership, along
with advertising interests, have greatly determined the content of
television, radio, and film throughout their
pasts [the last century]. ------However, many
web masters use the internet in an attempt to free these media from
the constraints of the profit drive associated with consolidation
and advertising. The internet, then, is redefining other media just
as they are shaping the internet. Will the internet be owned in large
consolidated portions? Will it be driven by advertising? Or is it
fundamentally different from film, radio, and television and inherently
immune from those constraints that control the content of other media?
Finally, as these media evolve through their interactions with each
other, how will we, the users, evolve?
Design: compelling and readable. This is an excellent overview; however, you need a couple of more sentences to say what you are doing on your page: e.g. "On this page, we have developed time-lines (with links) for radio, film and television. These time-lines, with their short introductory overviews, suggest the central factors shaping the development of media. They prepare for the more urgent question addressed in our papers: whether or how the Internet might avoid the commercialization that has been central to the three other media forms."
Time-lines: I like the clean style and continuity between the time-lines. The film time-line is engagingly introduced; I would like your annotated (with a separate window popping up) to be marked so we know we get another window of information if there is a link. Also, do you want on occasion to include web links in your annotations? Do you want at times to just have a link? [for example, the ratings system.] While the Radio time-line emphasizes the rebirth of radio with the coming of the Internet; I would also emphasize that earlier rebirths (when, in the wake of TV it becomes a teen top-40 vehicle, or in the 1970s, it delivers stereo in FM, etc.).
TV head note is very effective.
Obviously, the Internet is supposed to be the hero of this page, so how you develop that will be important. I would recommend your looking to the Tim Bernes Lee quotes I have on our syllabus under Jan 15: http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/WarnerTeach/E147/WebWorkshop.htm
Bibliography: very impressive, though you may want to trim this to works you've actually consulted.
General suggestions: It would be good to develop a general navigation scheme, so your user can navigate freely among the overview page, the four time-lines, your two papers, and the bibliography. A simple line with these words will do:
Overview Film Radio Television Internet Spencer paper Julius Paper Biblio Also, you should offer a link to our main course page on your first page.
I admire the way your page takes on one of the central issues in the contemporary media moment. This is an exceedingly ambitious project. It is quite crucial that you get your Internet time-line and headnote done; but, if you don't have the time to annotate every entry under every time-line, that is not a problem. I would just try to select a few terms for annotation--the one's most central to the thesis that develops from your two papers. If you keep going in this direction, the page will
get an A. Karyn and Joaquin
I have not annotated any of this overview, because it is expertly written. Karyn, I have discussed with you the advisability of some way to offer an overview of these four perspectives on media: e.g. "There are incessant debates about the effect of media as an inciting factor in promoting violence in society. In order to disentangle the conflicting ideas on this contentious question, we are separating this issue into four distinct strata of discourse upon this question: the scholarly research of the last 80 years; the public opinion on the question; the industry perspective; and the media texts themselves, which often reflect upon the issue of violence and media." This kind of statement offers a rationale for the very creative and promising four-part division of your site.
Comments on other content: in parts of your scholarly research page, public opinion page you have selected very interesting sites. I would like you to do a short annotation for each site you are featuring, suggesting (in 2 or 3 sentences) the approach they are taking to this question. Karyn's expertise in this area will make these annotations very useful.
It would be good to have a head-note for each media text briefly defining its relation to your topic. Obviously, Joaquin, you need to get some content of your own to Karyn, so she can load it onto the site. This page is well conceived, and a potentially valuable (and expandable) research tool. If you develop the page as outlined with will receive
an A.
Your web-site is wonderfully designed, well focused, suggestive, and well-written. My response will be directed at having you revise so that it is readable for those who don't have your encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture.
Front page: I admire the composition (an arc from left middle distance, vanishing point, and then close up two shot) and wit of the page. It immediately signals your topic. However, I hope you will add two features: a title "Primitive Masculinity" as well as putting your text into a table so that it does not require using the slider bar at the bottom. Also, can you find a way to label (even if unobtrusively) the figures you have composited together. Yes, I know, it makes it less cool, but it allows everyone to be in on the image. [e.g. left to right}
[I've suggested minor editing to improve a basically good page.] Susan Douglas positions masculinity as constantly changing, often having [in order] to reconcile between(cut?) its contradictory attributes. Media's images of masculinity strive to reflect the latest aesthetic trends while reinforcing old gender roles, In an effort to stay competitive, the last symbols of post-modern masculinity prefer immediate action to conservative rationale[s]. Media's preference for spectacle shapes masculinity by needing to favor the possibly-disastrous male character over the prudent. The self-restraint Douglas attributes to post-war masculinity fail[s] to entertain. The alternative is hedonism. In a narrative framework that demands a quick payoff on a setup, reason must not get in the way of hedonism. [The well-established prerequisite of](cut?) mass appeal obligates [the] media outlet to address the male audience in broad terms. The primitive drive to advance one's own [basic] interest at all costs is attributed to masculinity by the need to depict [a] spectacle weather [whether] positive or subversive. In my project I will show a shift away from Susan Douglas' post-war masculine to one that champions physicality and recklessness. The trend culminates in a devaluation of meaning and a preference for primitivism.[spelling corrected; and simplify language by cutting marked items.]
Bibliography/ Links: this is an excellent set of links; I especially like those links where you do an analysis of the bias and concept of masculinity purveyed by the site: e.g. http://www.carlsjrcommercial.com/
Time-line: this is a visually impressive, wonderfully suggestive set of images. The way you have put all the images in a common grid makes the comparison of male types all the more effective. However, here, even more so than in the front page, I would like you to give the basic information about each image: "John Wayne in Red River, 1962"; "JFK and Sinatra, 1961" perhaps in a small caption beneath each image. Is there a way to get this time-line to scroll down rather than right? Can you provide a more coherent and readable space for text? I know this entails design compromises, but I'm interested in making your very suggestive work readable to those--like myself--who don't know who all these males are, where they come from, etc.
Finally, can you get a common navigation bar between all the overview page, time-line, and links bibliography, and to your paper page (which, of course, can use and read some of these images).
For both design and ideas (clarity, originality) this is already an excellent site. If you continue to develop the ideas and fix the issues I've raised, you will receive an A.
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nna and Darren: The Battle of the Sexes: Now and Then