catescrit-blog

[catescrit-blog]

Simulacrum Notes

-          Truth conceals that there is none (simulacrum?)

-          Hyperreal – Product of Abstraction from an original idea

-          Abstraction today is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror or the concept.

-          It’s the map that precedes the territory – precession of simulacra – it’s the map that endangers the territory

-          Abstraction’s charm has disappeared

-          The real is produced from miniaturized units, from matrices, memory banks and command models - and with these it can be reproduced an indefinite number of times.

-          It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody, but rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself, programmatic

-          Feign- pretend to be affected by (feeling, state, injury); fake

o   relates it to illness

o   every illness may be considered as simulatable and simulated, and medicine loses its meaning since it only knows how to treat "true" illnesses by their objective causes

-          relates it to religion

o   divinity and authority

o   God himself has only ever been his own simulacrum, perfect simulacra

o   God can’t be destroyed?

-          Iconoclasts

-          Murdering own model

-          Representation starts from the principle that the sign and the real are equivalent

-          These would be the successive phases of the image:

o   1 It is the reflection of a basic reality.

o   2 It masks and perverts a basic reality.

o   3 It masks the absence of a basic reality.

o   4 It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum

-          Nostalgia takes over, real is no longer what it used to be

-          Disneyland = perfect example of simulation

o   Play of illusions and phantasms

o   Imaginary world is successful

o   Social microcosm

o   No one really wants to deal with the real world/ America’s reality

o   Imaginary is neither true or false

[catescrit-blog]

THE MATRIX ASSIGNMENT

In the 1999 movie “The Matrix,” Thomas Anderson lives a normal life— pays his taxes, works in a cubicle, and goes to work everyday. Neo, his double life, is a computer hacker by night. He believes something is wrong with the world, and receives messages about “The Matrix” and “follow the white rabbit” on his computer. Unsure of what happens, Thomas Anderson follows a white rabbit tattoo and meets Trinity, another computer hacker who escaped the Matrix. She takes Neo to meet Morpheus, a Zion operative in search of “The One.” Both Trinity and Morpheus know about the Matrix and are determined to help Neo know the truth. This is where a memorable quote from Morpheus comes in:

“This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…”

Neo has to make a decision, if he should keep living life in the Matrix or stay in “Wonderland.” The rabbit hole and Wonderland refers to “Alice in Wonderland,” when Alice falls through a rabbit hole and explores a fantasy kingdom. With help from Cheshire Cat, Alice has to reach the queen’s castle in order for her to understand what is happening in this world. Neo, who is Alice, takes the red pill and learns that wonderland is the real world where his planet is destroyed. Morpheus is Cheshire Cat who leads Neo to his destination.

Later in the movie, Neo is asked why he didn’t the blue pill. Of course, Neo was curious about the other world, it is his goal since the start of the movie. Thomas does the same routine everyday— wake up, go to work, eat, sleep, etc. Who wants to continue living a boring cycle, when you have the opportunity to explore a place you’ve never seen before? It is like getting a vacation and traveling to another country, risking your life if the place is sort of dangerous. Thomas was born into the world like everyone else— a slave. If Thomas was not a computer hacker, or even associated with computer programming, he would probably not have Neo as his second life.

It is important for Neo to take the red pill; it represents reality, freedom, and knowledge. Swallowing it gives a human to still live a life within the Matrix. The blue pill represents illusion, ignorance, and denial. If he did take the blue pill, he would go back to his normal routine, but will figure out the truth from the agents who are out to kill him. Taking the blue pill could be extremely dangerous because it could drive people suicidal due to their inability to adapt to the real world. Those who take the red pill may go back to the illusionary world, however they would have to make deals with agents and machines. The red pill gives Neo the ability to not only be aware of the truth, but to inject physical qualities and download resources into this body. Neo is really “The One” because the red pill has given him the speed, strength, and skills to surpass an agent.

[catescrit-blog]

SIMULACRUM ASSIGNMENT PT 2

My relationship with my Laptop

When I didn’t have my first phone yet, I had a laptop. It was thick, hard, black, and sure wasn’t named Mac. Lenovo was my laptop given to me from my dad. Since he’s a computer technician, he’s allowed to take old devices no one will use from work. Most of the middle schoolers were using a Mac, since the school also used them and they were easier to handle. However, my PC was great for the speed it ran at and its ability to play World of Warcraft. Decorating it with Pokémon stickers and colorful keys, my laptop felt like a doll I could dress up and take care of. For the next two years of middle school, my Lenovo was my trusty companion. I typed all my essays in Microsoft Word, displayed the anime I played for Anime Club onto the big screens, and held onto memories of friends and family photos all in that laptop.

I don’t know what happened or how it came to be, but my laptop slowed down a bit more as the days past. I heard strange noises coming out of it. Was it haunted? Was Lenovo coming to life? I thought the sounds were coming from the YouTube videos I was watching. The sounds were getting worse the next times I open the front of my laptop. They were clear to me— the sounds were commercials, sometimes a few played at once. Putting it to sleep or restarting it didn’t do anything, so that’s when I had to get help with yahoo answers and YouTube tutorials.

At the same time, my dad gave me another Lenovo laptop. It was thin but still weighed like a brick. I didn’t want to stop using my first ever laptop, but something was definitely wrong with it.

Lenovo caught a sickness, one that could leave it in critical condition. As a not-so-bright kid, I fed it some Malware and anti-virus medicines, unknown of the consequences. I could feel my heart beating in a panicking manner. I took my usb out and tried to retrieve as much memory I possibly could. All the memory was given to the new laptop.

But alas, my sweet baby was unable to wake up. As a parent, I failed to bring it to a doctor to cure the sickness.

I tried hard not to think about all the things I lost in my first laptop. I moved on to the new one, and realized how easier it was to use. It was faster and able to store more things. This one, however, was not decorated. I still used it for my high school’s Anime Club and academic purposes. This laptop was smarter than the first— it was a (Sony Vegas) Pro and (Microsoft) Excelled at the applications.

After what had happened to my first Lenovo, I knew better on how to take care of it. However, it was slowing down too! There were no strange, random noises coming from the speakers, though. I wasn’t afraid, but worried it could die soon.

Again, my dad gave me my third Lenovo laptop. It’s thin, slim, and lightweight. I still have my second child, but decided to make it my backup. Lenovo the Third has a broken touchpad, but a reliable touchscreen. It’s even smarter than the two old ones combined— with the ability to use all the Adobe applications and run games smoothly makes this laptop the best.

I guess you could say I cherished all my Lenovos, but favored one as I grew up. The death of one was an experience and lesson to treat the next ones with care. They’re a part of me, keeping the memories I forget in my brain saved in virtual files.

[catescrit-blog]

FINAL: POSTMODERNISM AND REMIX CULTURE WITH “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC

Music today have a lot to do with love, revenge, politics, and other topics. One musician on the other hand took popular songs on the radio and parodied them. “Weird Al” Yankovic writes and sings about things you don’t expect to hear on the radio or rarely in your life. Two songs, “White and Nerdy” and “Amish Paradise” are parodies that integrate with remix culture and postmodernist ideals.

Weird Al’s song, “White and Nerdy,” is a parody on Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’.” “Ridin’ ” is a serious song about the African american community while “White and Nerdy” is about a nerdy white man’s hobbies and lifestyle. The song satirizes and celebrates geek culture, referencing Dungeons and Dragons, renaissance fairs, coding, action figures - anything that’s nerdy. The music video even parodies other pop culture media. Examples are: Star Wars Kid, “Carl Sagan is my homeboy” shirt (originally “Jesus is my homeboy” shirt design), and MySpace.

He makes fun of caucasian stereotypes, such as “eating all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise”, watching “Happy Days”, and drinking earl grey tea. The music video starts with gangsters (comedians Keele and Peele) stopping the car, watching a white man mow his lawn. When noticed, Keele and Peele drive away, but Weird Al still wants to “roll with the gangsters.” Instead of the stereotype of caucasians afraid of african american gangsters, it’s the other way around in this video. No african american wanted Al to join their group because he’s a cringy, nerdy, white man. Scenes in the video show Al rejected by gangsters who give him the middle finger and confused looks.

In Chamillionaire’s music video of “Ridin’,” Chamillionaire visually depicts racial profiling, police brutality, and african american stereotypes. The police abuse their powers and treat african americans badly in both the video and real life. They think Chamillionaire is a criminal and fails to find illegal actions they think he pulled. A particular scene in the video shows the police looking at whoever is in the red car. Chamillionaire and the girl in the car turn into caucasians, which is a stereotype on how the police don’t arrest white people. Going back to “White and Nerdy,” Weird Al films a scene where he’s going to an african american dealer in a back alley. You’d think he’s going to the dealer for drugs, but since he’s a nerd, inside the paper bag is a copy of Star Wars: The Holiday Special.

Weird Al visually stays similar to Chamillionaire’s shots, such as the outfit, red road flares (Pacman vs a chameleon), and the white background with a featuring member (Donny Osmond/ Schrödinger equation vs Krayzie Bone/Chamillionaire). Both songs deal with two different ethnic communities, except Weird Al raps it in a hilarious way.

Another song Weird Al parodies is “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, but his titled  “Amish Paradise.” It’s another example of two different communities’ lifestyle in two different videos. The Amish are a group of Christians that still do everything traditionally. They do not associate with technology and communicate with outsiders, so they are never found in big cities.

The beginning of the video displays the environment the Amish are surrounded by, and that being nothing but nature. A horse and carriage go by, a first read that the Amish are still behind on transportation. Al looks menacing posing in black clothing until he starts to sing the first line. The long beard and loads of hair around his face is what an Amish man looks like. Everyone is dressed in plain, black clothing that hides most of the skin. Because they “shun electricity,” the the scene shows Amish stomping on telephones, laptops, and a Slim Whitman LP album. The next scenes are of Al milking a cow (but milking it into a bowl of Corn Flakes cereal), a friend feeding chickens with pizza, and another plowing the field. In a dark barn, a scary looking Amish woman appears in front of Al and sits on a chair. It’s the same style with “Gangsta’s Paradise,” when the woman in Coolio’s video sits on a chair and listens to Coolio speak. The chorus in both videos are similar - Al and L.V.’s (from Coolio’s video) side profiles are filmed while they sing the chorus in a steamy, dramatic atmosphere. Next scenes parody other things Amish do. A man looks at his stone-made watch and then up at the sky, because watches are another part of technology the Amish don’t have. Behind him is a person playing golf. “We sell quilts at discount price” plainly shows women selling quilts at a wooden booth that advertises, “our prices art insane!!!” It’s a parody on the Crazy Eddie advertisements. Next scenes are about the tourists and how they treat the Amish. A kid kicks Al, the obese tourists laugh and point, and two Asian tourists are bored as hell. The traditional phone is covered in webs because, “we haven’t even paid the phone bill in 300 years.”  Instead of road signs seen in the city, the signs in the video say “sin free zone” and “no fun.” The Amish do not live in luxury, but a plain life like Al said. Two Amish boys look at a parodied version of a porn magazine called Amish Babes, and inside is a centerfold of an Amish woman showing her leg up to her knee, which is considered a scandalous act among the Amish. In verse three of the song, Al states the Amlettes (a pun on “omelette”) want to be like him, and in the video it shows young children with beards sitting on his lap. “On my knees day and night scoring points for the afterlife” shows Al taking off his hat and his hair resembling his album cover “Bad Hair Day,” which both are a parody of Coolio’s hairstyle. The Amish woman who was sitting on the chair pushes it to the ground, like the lady in Coolio’s video does. The dramatic side view shot becomes humorously entertaining when water is poured onto Al’s face. The end of the video is interestingly filmed with Al syncing and walking forward but everything around him is in reverse motion. For this to perform correctly, Al is lip syncing while walking backwards, then the video is played in reverse. This is an inspiration from The Pharcyde's “Drop” music video.

“White and Nerdy” and “Amish Paradise” challenge the subject of stereotypes. These songs are a part of the remix culture due to the original songs turned into parodies, making fun of a community or using hybridity to compile multiple artistic references into one video. “Weird Al” Yankovic is became a celebrity because he made fun of other celebrities’ songs. It’s postmodernist because he is identifying societies and changing music in a hilarious way. Especially with “Amish Paradise,” the song displays traditional views of one community rather than the modern, city-life aesthetic. He’s making fun of certain groups, but we are learning about who and what these groups even do through song. That’s what makes “Weird Al” an artist who stands out using these styles.

White and Nerdy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Ridin’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwJvgPJ9xw

Amish Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

Gangsta’s Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPO76Jlnz6c

Drop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqVsfGQ_1SU

[catescrit-blog]

FIGHT CLUB ASSIGNMENT

Fight Club left us with an unexpected ending about the life of Jack, a single businessman living in a condo full of IKEA products. The theme of fight club would have to be questions of identity- the twist of Jack (the narrator) and Tyler Durden being the same person left us in shock. On the journey to finding Tyler, Jack ends up at a restaurant, meeting a bartender who notices him as Tyler. I was expecting Tyler to have gotten plastic surgery to look like Jack, because a previous scene showed Jack and two other men conversing about how no one knows what Tyler looked like. Jack was not aware of his imaginary friend at all. His insomnia led him to believe he had someone who’d help him after he lost his condo. It explains why Jack doesn’t know about Project Mayhem and all the things Tyler does at night. Jack repeatedly states that he has sleeping problems and staying up on most nights. When Jack sleeps, or tries to, Tyler will come out and do the dangerous stuff which Jack is afraid to do. The scene when Tyler holds an Asian convenience store boy at gunpoint is an example of Tyler doing the dirty work while Jack is awake but scared of the actions. Tyler says, “People think that you’re me, because you and I happen to share the same body… Sometimes I control it, and you imagine yourself watching me…” Flashbacks of Jack speaking Tyler’s dialogues and setting a building on fire with the army are when Jack isn’t aware of reality. Fight club is gone and Project Mayhem takes over, just like how Jack’s insomnia is taking over his mind and corrupting it with Tyler’s personality. Jack denies the truth of Tyler all in his head as much as he could.

“Sooner or later, we all became what Tyler wanted us to be…” As the movie progresses, Jack becomes more like Tyler, screaming and talking back to other people violently. Jack, exploring a new life of violence, goes to work with black eyes and bruises. This would hold the theme of anti-consumerism, with the ideas of fight club and project mayhem to occur. Jack starts a conversation with Marla Singer with, “Why are we both...caught up like this...with?” He was hesitant to say Tyler’s name- “I could feel it vibrate inside my mouth”- but no one would know who Tyler is. This goes back to the rules of Fight Club and Project Mayhem. First rule: don’t speak about them. First rule for being Jack: don’t speak about Tyler. Jack screams to Marla, “He’s not here! Tyler’s not here anymore! He’s gone away!” Marla was not disappointed in Tyler’s disappearance, but confused on what the hell is going on with “Tyler”, aka Jack. Of course Marla would call Jack about the lump in her breasts, because she believes he’s Tyler, just like everyone else. Project Mayhem is Tyler’s war against the consumerist ideas of America, which is why he wanted to blow up three credit card corporate buildings. It is also his escape from Jack’s normal, boring life. Tyler also wanted Jack to stay away from Marla because she is the dose of reality, the only woman that worries about Jack’s existence. At the end, Marla and Jack hold hands while watching the buildings collapse, Tyler’s plan was a success.

[catescrit-blog]

Postfeminism Assignment

“Feminist, the person who believes in the political, social, and economic equality of the sexes.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From what I’ve learned in class, 5th term feminism is basically feminism in today’s society. Since the 1970’s, Fifth term feminism expands on the first wave to fourth wave feminism, adding

new ideologies that were absent in previous waves, such as supporting “pro-woman” without being “anti-man” and including women of color into the ideology.

Post feminism is everywhere today - politics, pop culture, and companies are hiring women to boost business and open opportunities for them.

Just a Girl by No Doubt- https://youtu.be/PHzOOQfhPFg

An example of post feminism through music is No Doubt’s song, Just a Girl. The song is about Gwen Stefani’s life growing up as a girl. In the video, she is on a road trip with her band, which is ¾ males and herself as the vocalist. “Take this pink ribbon off my eyes, I’m exposed and it’s no big surprise,” means….While singing this verse, she is standing in front of a broken car and later riding inside it. The relationship between the verse and the car in the video shows that Gwen is not a girly girl, but a grungy, punk rock tomboy. The band stays at a hotel with separate gender rooms. The men carry their music equipment to a dirty restroom and Gwen brings luggage into a clean, bright room with maids waiting inside. “I can’t do the little things I hold so dear, and it’s all those little things that I fear,” relates to how Gwen’s dad got upset when she came home late at night after staying with her ex-boyfriend, Tony Kanal. Gwen is stuck inside the room with her maids while the boys play music on the other side. Snippets of gender restroom signs appear on the screen, emphasizing the separation of sexes. Near the end of the song, the band breaks into Gwen’s room and throws a party with a bunch of other women.

“I’ve had it up to here,” is Gwen’s take on feminism. She’s tired of being treated like a woman from the past, when women obeyed their husbands and couldn’t do things they wanted.

Bayonetta Trailer- https://youtu.be/TAqtig_EI-c

Video games today do not have a princess to save, but a woman saving the day. The video game, Bayonetta, is about the fight between angels and witches. The main protagonist is a tall, hourglass beauty name Bayonetta, an umbran witch fighting angels on Earth and through time.

Bayonetta’s “you want to touch me,” and explicit shots of her body makes the guys (and women) go wild. This game is pretty much some sadomasochist stuff- Bayonetta will kick angel ass and enjoy their pain while looking sexy as hell. She is one of the powerful video game women of all time.

Women are working in video game industries such as Blizzard and Ubisoft as directors, animators, and concept artists. Girls can understand video games, too!

Totino’s Pizza Roll Commercial Parody- https://youtu.be/A4kpVO56OBU

This SNL skit parodies the pizza rolls commercials. A wife is ordered to make pizza rolls for her husband and his friends while they watch the football game. She already “knows her place”- staying in the kitchen to make her husband food. Her husband claims that she knows nothing about football. One by one, more male friends come through the door with drinks in hand. The wife looks happy to be making pizza rolls until a friend’s sister shows up. Kristen Stewart (the friend’s sister) becomes the girl’s love interest. They flirt, make pizza rolls together, and later make out, like a romance movie. The men are confused but kept watching the game (still waiting for their pizza rolls). This commercial serves the purpose of making fun of women’s roles at home and lesbian couples, but also bringing attention to the topic. SNL isn’t trying to hurt anybody from this skit, because clearly it’s a parody about Pizza Rolls. It’s still a good example for women from the past to today’s postfeminism.

[catescrit-blog]

Remix culture assignment

What is a remix culture? A remix culture/rewrite culture is a society that encourages imitating and blending of two or more original works together, combining or editing such materials to create a new product.

The word “remix” appears mostly through music, especially in the 90’s when hip hop artists sampled melodies from previous songs.

It may be confusing to see a difference between remixes and covers. Covers could be remixes, but in some way they are still not remixes. A cover is like taking a song and singing it with your own voice; you’re not the original owner of the song, therefore it is a cover. A remix could be like a cover, except you’d take the audio track and changing the tune or beat a little to make it sound new.

Aside from music, television can remix other content to appeal to viewers. An example would be South Park, an animated sitcom shown on Comedy Central. The show is known for the dark humor and profanity aimed for adult audiences. Most episodes would touch on an event going on in pop culture or politics, making fun of celebrities and politicians like Snooki, George Bush, and feminism.

In 2006, South Park released an episode in their tenth season called “Make Love, Not Warcraft.” From the title alone, we know the episode involves the best massively-multiplayer online role playing game of that year, World of Warcraft.

Here is what happened in the episode. In the WoW land of Azeroth, Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny are tired of getting killed by a griefer- who is an obese, nerdy man living through Monster energy drinks and chips, a depiction of how all World of Warcraft (or every mmorpg) player might look like. Eric brings together the boys of South Park together to kill him as a group. They all log on at the same time and raids the griefer. However, the griefer summons an army of giant scorpions and easily kills the party. The four boys remain in game to defeat him.The creators who monitored the griefer say that the griefer has reached a level like no other, allowing him to kill his own allies without consent. They also noticed how quickly the boys level up to level 54 in a matter of weeks. Determined to help the kids, they decide to give the boys the Sword of a Thousand Truths, a weapon so powerful that it was removed from the game and stored onto a 1GB USB drive. However, the executives were unaware of the boys’ seventeen hour battle against the griefer. Stan’s father, Randy, gets addicted to the game and is also affected by the griefer’s killings. The executives then arrive at Randy’s doorstep to give him a 1GB USB with the Sword of a Thousand Truths inside. Randy, unaware of where the boys are, drives to the nearest Best Buy to log onto a demo of the game. The boys are playing the game in Eric’s basement, a joke on how gamers stay in their mother’s basement. Twenty-one hours a day of gaming led them to become obese, acne-ridden children like the griefer in real life. Inside the game, Randy approaches his son to trade the sword. Luckily, Stan retrieves the weapon right before the griefer kills Randy’s character. Stan stabs the griefer, ending the 1 vs all war. The griefer is shocked and never seen again. The other players and the citizens of Azeroth celebrate.

The show remixes the game World of Warcraft and collaborates with Blizzard Entertainment to create an episode I found funny and relatable. They took the concept of a video game and parodied how the real and video game world deal with the “troll” players and how normal people view the gamers. The use of machinima creates movement for the video game personas that the game cannot do, such as mouth movement to match the voices of Randy and the kids. As a WoW player myself, I related to how the kids were playing WoW and laughed when they casted actual spells from the game. A remix is not always going to be in music form, but also created in an adult audience show.

[catescrit-blog]

ASSIGNMENT 3 - POSTMODERNISM

POSTMODERNISM - BLACK WIDOW BY IGGY AZALEA

Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” music video featuring Rita Ora is an example of a postmodern short form video. The video begins with a shot of Rita Ora and her older partner walking inside a restaurant named Big Wanda’s Killer Burgers, which is intertextuality and a parody to Pulp Fiction’s Big Kahuna Burger. The man looks stern, pushing the door a bit too hard and showing a close up of him stepping on a spider (a black widow). Fox, played by Iggy Azalea, takes their orders - or shall I say the man’s orders. The loud man does not let Rita Ora have her own meal or time to choose food on the menu. When Fox brings in an displeasing order, the man complains and the manager comes in climbing over the tables. The manager yells at Fox (makes a “what does the fox say? joke) and flirts a little with the man, making Rita Ora uncomfortable. The restaurant’s logo appears again on the back of Fox’s uniform as she goes into the kitchen. The next shot is of the song’s album poster behind her. A side view of her chopping the lettuce transitions into her dream.

The setting is based on old karate movies and Tarantino films, remarkably Kill Bill, hence the jumpsuits and storyline. Iggy and Rita are on a snowy mountain with cherry blossom trees, setting the scene somewhere in Asia. Iggy receives a photo of her target after practicing with her master, while Rita receives it through an HP tablet after a lucky card game. The HP tablet is product placement. They both travel to a bar to find the person, who is the man from the start of the video. Although the setting is in Asia, the bar has a western aesthetic with the neon cowboy boot signs. Even their target is dressed in a cowboy-like style. The bar would be like a saloon in the old wild Wild West days, when the cowboys would meet their enemies and have a gunfight outside. Iggy and Rita fight off his henchmen and run outside to confront the target. He pulls out a gun, only to be bit by a black widow spider in a second. He faints, the ladies watch in confusion, and Iggy’s dream ends. It goes back to chopping lettuce and still being yelled at by her manager. Iggy looks at the camera and smirks at the audience, breaking the fourth wall.

The lyrics tell a story of how a woman will get her revenge on her lover by becoming a dominant figure, referring as a black widow spider. Black widows devour their male partners after sexual intercourse. Rita Ora sings the chorus indirectly to her partner because he mistreats her, so Iggy’s story is also Rita Ora’s revenge on her lover. “You used to be thirsty for me, and now you want to be set free,” is, again, Rita Ora talking about her relationship. Her man used to be infatuated, but wants to leave. “This is the web, web that you weave, so baby now Rest In Peace,” means that he can’t escape the “black widow’s web,” Rita Ora’s plan. Near the end of the video, the man runs out the back of the bar at a gate, confronting Rita and Iggy. He did get “caught in the web” because there really was no way he’d get away from the ladies and the black widow spider that bit his hand.

[catescrit-blog]

Beyonce - “Pretty Hurts” Music Video DECONSTRUCTION

“Pretty hurts, we shine a light on whatever’s worse. Perfection is a disease of a nation, it’s the soul that needs a surgery.”

Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” music video portrays her beauty pageant life and the sacrifices she made to aim for victory.

Beyonce represents herself as Ms. Third Ward at a beauty pageant. Girls look too skinny, eat cotton balls, and seculde Beyonce. Beyonce comes out of a restroom stall, and the next cut shows her sitting on the floor with her crown and sash. Scenes go back and forth with her being in the workroom, restroom, stage, trophy room, and the couch. Before she gets on stage, we see her competition, Miss Shaolin- an albino woman who was trying to fit in her dress in earlier shots. Beyonce goes out and sings the chorus of “Pretty Hurts” to the audience. They applaud, not knowing what the song is about, while Beyonce smiles and later looks distressed. This is where her song begins to play. As her song plays, we see Beyoncé cycling, cat walking while being yelled at a stylist, and not getting along with the other girls, either because she’s too pretty or doesn’t understand how pageantry works. When the host calls Miss Third Ward forward, he gives her the question: what is your aspiration in life?” Beyoncé is speechless and having the feeling of drowning (which explains the scene of her underwater). She answers, “to be happy,” as if she hasn’t been happy at all throughout her pageantry. She knows she went through pain and suffering just to get on the stage. She gets plastic surgery on her face so she’d look prettier. If you look closely, she is wearing a straight jacket, like she is trapped by the beauty standards. She is seen throwing up in the restroom from the beginning of the video. Beyoncé loses to Miss Shaolin at the end of the video. She looks down, realizing all her efforts to look flawless was for nothing. She breaks her trophies, a symbol for breaking away from the beauty standards she fell into.

In an interview with Beyoncé, she states, “my message behind this album was finding the beauty in imperfection. I had this image of a trophy and me accepting these awards, and kinda training myself to be this champion and at the end of the day when you go through all of these things, is it worth it? You get this trophy, and you're like, 'I basically starved. I have neglected all of the people I love, I conformed to what everybody else thinks I should be. And I have this trophy. What does that mean?”

Beauty pageants usually want pretty-face, skinny girls competing. Beyoncé explained that she sacrificed friendship and her health to win trophies. Being pretty is intimidating, because people would use it as an advantage to get a job or make a guy fall for them easily. The video is a great example of how being physically beautiful could take you so many places, yet you could lose who you really are on the inside. Thankfully, society today does acknowledge intelligence and good heart. It’s hard to live up to people’s expectations of “beauty,” but don’t worry, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[catescrit-blog]

Assignment 1: Advancing Aesthetics? Creative Culture?

Kurt Andersen’s article, You Say You Want a Devolution?,  discusses and interesting topic- does the 2000′s have an aesthetic, which we can identify that it is from the 2000′s? Every 20 year gap tends to bring new trends and look distinct, like how the 60’s and 80’s have noticeably different design philosophies, to bring innovations to entertainment. In other words, he is complaining that this era today does not have a certain aesthetic that defines our culture.

70’s was the hippiedom, 80’s was the retrowave. 90’s was most memorable for pop culture - Britney Spears, the boy band wars, and introduction to the internet were a thing. “Branded” is how I would label the 00’s to now, because consumers are interested in buying branded products. Paul Frank and Ed Hardy were the notorious brands people bought in the early 2000′s. Nowadays anyone can get their hands on a Louis Vuitton bag, most likely the fake ones because they’re accessible and affordable.

Could anyone access such high quality brands in the past? Were people allowed freedom of wearing whatever they wanted? Nope, because each decade had strict rules for a certain group of people in the US. School girls back then were only to wear skirts or dresses in able to distinguish gender. Women who showed too much skin in their swimsuit or bikini would get arrested in the 1920s or be slut-shamed in the 50’s. Men who wore skirts were seen as “weak” or “feminine.” Only models, actors, singers, and the rich could have these great things. Thankfully, because they inspired many people to follow their aesthetic, these laws slowly broke over time. Our current year has anyone wearing anything at their affordable price range.

I must note that the article was written in 2011, so what was in at the time is now outdated. It’s 2018, and we have SoundCloud rappers with their purple drank and colored dreads. We also have EDM and dubstep. Coachella populated by non rock bands. Chivalry is dead. Supreme, Yeezys, and Off White are the ‘hypebeast” clothing. If you are not wearing brands, you do not have swag and you are not going to fit in. We have a rapper repeating “Gucci Gang,” surprisingly making millions of dollars and a platinum certification from it. Society pays more attention to the Kardashians rather than impeaching Trump right away. Meals are too much- a pound of cheese plopped onto spaghetti, various sweets in a milkshake, huge bowls of pho, and rainbow unicorn everything - our trends are getting carried away. 

In the end of his article, he implies that this era will end in a “nostalgic whimper”; We will be wanting past styles making a comeback. We may have our furniture designed like the 50’s, our fashion choices like the 90’s, and our music tastes from the 80’s. However, we are surrounded by the new 21st century environment where branded names and memes reign. This is our aesthetic. Women have dominance, same sex marriage is legal, technology has advanced. This is our culture.