Assignment 9-1

Zombies, a staple of traditionally horribly cheesy horror movies. In the last decade zombies and associated media have seen quite a resurgence in popularity. Most zombie movies fall pretty clearly into a few categories. Category 1: Zombie movies that are meant to be serious horror flicks (and pull it off). Category 2: Zombie movies that are meant to be serious horror flicks (and don't pull it off). Category 3: Zombie movies that make fun of zombie horror movies.

Category one includes movies like the Resident Evil series, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, and The Rage. Category two includes movies like I Am Omega (which was an attempt to capitalize on hype surrounding the big budget I Am Legend) and Wicked Little Things. Category three is movies like Shaun of the Dead and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

Zombies have also featured prominently in games such as the Resident Evil series and the new Call of Duty: World at War as well as books like The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z.

Why does America seem to like zombie movies so much? According to Max Brooks:
"First, I think the survival element is VERY strong in American culture. We are a nation of individualists. We beleive with the right tools and talent that we can survive anything. And sometimes that's right, but not always.
Second, I think we are, at our core, a moderate country. It scares most of us to think of our calm, rational society degenerating into anarchy" (2006).

I also think that as time has passed people have gradually become more accustomed to seeing the gore associated with such movies and it has become more acceptable to society. Parents don't try to shield their children from horror and gore as much as they did a few decades ago. People that grew up playing horror and survival games as kids are also now enjoying movies on similar topics.

Why so many spoofs recently? People like their comedy as well as their horror and if they can get both with zombies then why not? Spoofs have always made fun of what was popular and if zombies are the new popular thing then people will write spoofs about them.

Brooks, M. (2006, October 6). Zombie Wars - washingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/10/03/DI2006100300686.html.

(All films discussed here can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_zombie_films)

Assignment 1-3

I chose the Journal Article "Back in My Day, Son": Dialogical Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice because I found the song interesting and was curious to see how it would be analyzed as a form of popular culture.
This article is written for a well educated audience interested in analyses of popular culture. Phrases such as “These words, when performed, dialogue with other texts; the song thus constructs discursive texts” (Jensen, 2009, p. 91) are complex and take time to interpret and understand. Words like “semiotically”and “discursive” (2009, p. 95) are not words that are usually known or understood by an average high school graduate. A basic familiarity with the concept of imagery is assumed as well as familiarity with historically popular cowboy films such as High Noon (2009, p. 92) and The Virginian (2009, p. 93).
The article opens by saying that, although cowboys have done little directly for country music, the popular image of the cowboy has been highly successfully adopted by country music artists. The popularity of the song Beer for My Horses is not due to a literal interpretion of the lyrics so much as it's due to the “...narrative intertexts invoking a heroic image of the Wild West,” according to the article (Jensen, 2009, p. 91). Jensen explains that the lyrics to a song cannot be studied in isolation. The lyrics to a song must be studied in context with the cultural background present in the performance. In the case of Beer for My Horses the lyrics must be studied with an understanding of the popular image of the cowboy.
Much of the context for the song comes from films like those mentioned earlier (High Noon and The Virginian) where the cowboy is presented as a heroic figure that will do what is “right” even without the (democratic or lawful) support of the people he is protecting. According to Jensen, the songwriter and director have purposefully taken the image of the cowboy and used it to support the implicit approval of “provigilante justice” present in the song Beer for My Horses (2009, p. 93). More popular culture examples of support for the vigilante cowboy as a good thing are covered in the following pages of the article. Jensen states that the cowboy as we know it today is not the historical cowboy but the “...mythic film counterpart” (2009, p. 95).
According to Jensen the song Beer for My Horses “...intentionally manipulates the song’s text and contexts to dialogue with the cowboy’s mythic West” (2009, p. 95). The opening lyrics imply that modern law enforcement isn't up to the task and the independent justice of the cowboy where justice is black and white and there is not middle ground is how it should be. Jensen goes on to explain that “'the long arm of the law' for the cowboy sheriff serves to compare modern slackness with the old fashioned cowboy values...” (2009, p. 96). The song then espouses the moral values of the cowboy and celebrates justice done cowboy style. Jensen notes that, although the word cowboy is never used anywhere in the lyrics, the popular concept of the cowboy is so embodied by the lyrics that it obviously the intended interpretation.
The video presents the older man (Willie Nelson) as a cowboy, and a young man (local cop) as a representative of modern society. Nelson lives in the country, wide open spaces with horses and wears a “cowboy” hat. He also has pistols, a tin star, and pictures of cowboys. According to Jensen, Nelson himself “evokes the cultural cowboy” and “the song – video presentation engages in an ongoing dialogue of new country versus old country” (2009, p. 99)
“The recognition of the duet by the country music community parallels the recognition of the aging marshal’s expert abilities in the video” (Jensen, 2009, p. 99). In the article Nelson both represents and is the older generation that has wisdom the younger generation should learn from. The whiskey symbolizes the younger generation learning to respect and appreciate the older generation. In the beginning the young man “can't hold his whiskey” and by the end of the video he has both learned respect for his elders and to drink his whiskey. Also noted is the fact that the characters in the video are given no name “a fact that reinforces each character’s iconic and symbolic function” (2009, p. 100).
Jensen finishes the article by arguing that the song and the artist have a mutually supportive relationship. Toby Keith was already well known as a heroic figure from prior songs and football and Ford advertising campaigns, the song both builds on and supports this heroic cowboy image. According to Jensen, the fact that the combination of the heroic country singer (Keith) and the cowboy implying song (Beer for My Horses) can make an idea like lynching socially acceptable in a popular song “shows the power of the dialogical texts in popular culture” (2009, p. 101).
After taking the time to read through the article and think about what the author was trying to convey the article was fairly interesting. To summarize the article in a sentence: the song Beer for My Horses is an excellent example of the power popular culture imagery has when presenting controversial ideas, exemplified by the popular image of the cowboy and “strong justice.” The article was not easy to read due to the complex phrasing and extend vocabulary noted at the beginning of this paper, but was well organized and transitions between sections were well handled.
References
Jensen, K. (2009). “Back in My Day, Son”: Dialogical Constructions of the Cowboy Code of Justice. The Journal of Popular Culture, 42(1), 90-102.

Assignment 7-1

The netbook, what exactly is it? The netbook is a lightweight computer typically smaller than an ordinary laptop (less than 14 inches) and less powerful. However, they usually have battery life in the 8 hour range and weight significantly less, often only a couple of pounds. The light weight small size and reduced cost compared to a regular laptop means they are creating a whole new market segment.

Netbooks have a wide range of uses, many of them are in places where a laptop was either awkward or just plain not feasible. I have a friend in the military who has been known to carry a netbook around in the cargo pocket of his uniform. It is also much more feasible to slip a netbook into a carry-on bag for a flight than it is to carry a separate laptop bag. The relatively long battery life also means it can last an intercontinental flight without dying.

Linux has also received a boost from netbooks. Most netbooks can run Windows Vista but the performance would be very poor and Microsoft has placed significant restrictions on selling XP. Many Linux distributions are much less resource hungry than Vista and many are even less hungry than XP. Given the common uses as internet portals and media watching Linux does fine. Gaming is not as feasible for Linux but most big name games require much more powerful than a netbook has anyway which makes for much less of a limitation.

Assignment 5-1

The new Fox TV show Dollhouse follows in the traditional vein of shows by Joss Whedon by being something different. Joss Whedon's first show was Buffy The Vampire Slayer which, despite its cheesy name, is a show with quite a bit of depth. He also created a spin-off series based on Buffy called Angel. His next show took a very different tact and combined science fiction with westerns. The movie Serenity is based on the show Firefly. His latest creation is the show Dollhouse.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of those shows that some people are almost afraid to admit they like. Most fans of the show tend to be quite passionate, but because of the name and the movie that preceded it, it tends to be looked at as geeky and cheesy. The show, however, is excellently written and has the ability to not take itself too seriously much of the time. Despite the world being such a horrible reality the show also has a fair amount of humor. In the episode Hush from season 4, where everyone has their voices stolen and cannot talk, Buffy mimes staking a vampire which is misinterpreted by her friends as masturbation. Until she pulls a stake out of her purse and mimes staking a vampire again that is. The show does have its serious side though and explores many different relationship issues from the case of two people that absolutely should not be together (Buffy and Angel), to same sex relationships and experimentation in college (Willow and Tara). I could go on for a long time about Buffy and much has been written about the show, but on to the next show.

Angel, the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is about a vampire who had his soul returned and now feels horrible guilt about all the things he did before his soul was returned. In the show he takes on many of the issues that occur in large densely populated areas like Los Angeles where the show is set. Some themes include the wannabee starlet, and the urban gang trying to protect their own. Angel also has its share of well placed humor and witticisms like the show it came from.

Firefly is another show with a premise that initially doesn't seem like it would work. The show is often described as a Western set in space. Firefly however is really the story of a group of individuals who prefer to be just that, individuals. The best way I can find to tell what the show is about is with this quote:

Simon: Are you always this sentimental?
Mal: I had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... Half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.
Mal: Well, we're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.

Unfortunately Firefly was canceled before the first season even finished production. Fan support for the show was so strong that. even being unfinished, it was still released on DVD. Fan support continued to be so strong that thousands of dollars were donated in an attempt to get the show back on the air. Unfortunately the show did not come back. The money, however, did go to charity. Incredibly although the show didn't come back it was actually made into a movie. How many shows can claim that kind of fan support! NASA has opened a vote to name the new section of the ISS and Serenity has over 80 percent of the vote and has kept it for over a week! http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/index.html

Joss' latest show Dollhouse is set in a world where an organization has the ability to wipe a person's personality and replace it with whatever a customer wants. The people who have this done to them are known as Dolls and their personalities are wiped after each occasion. Despite the fact that only three episodes have aired the show has become quite intriguing. One episode involved a high stakes hostage case where the Doll was created as the perfect negotiator. However, in a twist, one of the personalities used to create the Doll had actually been kidnapped by one of the kidnappers she was dealing with and recognized him. She realized that he did not intend to go through with the exchange and when he failed to do so actually managed to track him down.

Now that I am done rambling I guess I should get to the point of this post. Most people that are fans of a show Joss Whedon has done tend to like new shows he comes up with. The fans of his shows are often highly dedicated and passionate about their fandom. The shows often have long involved arcs that deal with many common social issues in a realistic fashion. Despite the often serious story lines the shows still keep an irreverent humor and trademark wit to them which makes them very much worth watching.

Assignment 3-1

Electronic gaming has long had the ability to play games socially. They have evolved from the old two player combat arcade games, which people have fed millions if not billions of quarters to, all the way to consoles that rival some PCs in processing power. Games like Guitar Hero and Rock band have melded the desire of people to game and the desire of people to play music and created an entire new genre of gaming.

Few people have the talent or time to learn to play the guitar, or drums yet what male has not wanted to play the guitar at some point in their lives. Whether they wanted to be a rock god as a teenager or whether they wanted to learn to play because they liked the sound and versatility of the guitar many people have wanted to learn. Guitar Hero took the guitar and stripped it to the bare essentials. Instead of having to place your fingers on the strings in just the right spot and move your hand up and down the neck of the guitar you simply press the appropriate colored button. Also instead of having to pluck or pick just the right string or strings you simply flip a toggle up or down. Combine this with a simple scrolling display that shows which button to hit and how long to hold it and playing the guitar has, in a sense, become accessible to almost everyone.

Many people enjoy playing the game by themselves but it becomes even more fun when you add in the ability to play with or against another person. The game can be played cooperatively with one person playing lead and another bass or competitively where each person gets “powerups” to try and make the other person make more mistakes and get booed off the game stage. This ability is what has made the game, and genre, the runaway success it has become. Newer games in the genre such as Rock Band move beyond the guitar and two person oriented play and add in the ability to have a drummer and vocalist. At this point the game enters the realm of a party game. I know of few people that would not enjoy playing music themselves and with the power of modern gaming systems and a few well designed add-on controllers they can do just that.

Assignment 3-2

The three popular culture artifacts I selected are Britney Spears, the Star Trek insignia, and the Apple iPod. Britney Spears represents the current incantation of the teen idol. The Star Trek insignia shows how long lasting an effect some things can have on popular culture. Apple's iPod represents how a single device pulled a company out of a failing niche market and made it a dominant force in the consumer electronics industry.

As noted in my Assignment 1-2 post Britney Spears is simply the current incarnation of a long running tradition of teenage idols. She represents the "ideal" teenager, attractive popular and talented. She is also an example of just how much todays society focuses on youth, the average mass popularity of a modern teen idol seems to be only 1-3 years anymore. To me her current situation and problems are an excellent example of the problems with personal accountability and the lack of examples of good life values society has right now. Don't take this as a religious rant, I'm not an especially religious individual, but people don't seem to feel they are responsible for their mistakes anymore.

I am a decent Trekkie. I am not obsessed by any means but I do enjoy reading the novels and have a collection of 100 or more currently. To some that may sound like a lot but I know many people that have far more CDs and since I buy most of them used I don't have to pay that much for them compared CDs. To me the Star Trek insignia represents the long lasting effect some popular culture has. Despite starting decades ago the Star Trek phenomenon is still going strong with new movies and books coming out on a regular basis.

My final choice is the Apple iPod. The iPod is a good example of a pop culture meme. Compared to most of the media playes of it's time when it was released it was easy to use. The interface was simple without a ton of options to confuse people and iTunes provided a convenient place to download music and manage the music on the iPod. Despite the fact that when the iPod was launched music from the iTunes store came with strict digital rights management and could only be played on authorized iPods and PCs it was a runaway success. Even now iTunes is still the only way to manage the music on an iPod but the simplicity and sleek hardware design seems to have hit a note with the modern consumer.

Assignment 1-2

Popular culture is the mass media of the time. Popular culture is financially within reach of the majority of the population unlike elite culture. Unlike folk culture it is also able to reach a large number of people simultaneously. Fads and fashion are both obvious examples of popular culture. To me popular culture is something I avoid, most popular culture requires little thought and little talent is involved much of the time. All a teen idol seems to have to do these days is have a pretty face. If the idol wants to sing, but can't sing in key, they have pitch shifters and so on.

Understanding popular culture is important for my job because it leads to insights as to why people act they do and is a very important factor in marketing. If you do a TV commercial aimed at teenager for an energy drink and it looks like the kid is dressed for church and is just walking down the street while talking it likely won't go over very well.

I chose Britney Spears as my popular culture artifact because I don't follow much popular culture. My brother gave me the calendar card years ago and I just ran across it recently. I decided that since I don't follow popular culture I may as well go with what I have. Britney is an example of the teen idol mentioned in the first paragraph and follows in the footsteps of many previous teen idols like Elvis Presley (although not nearly as well) and more recently "boy bands" like The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on The Block.