Journal Article Analysis

How real is Reality TV? According to Mark Andrejevic and other critics, there is hardly anything genuine. Reality has reformatted television networks with their evening programs. Before there was an array of comedy and drama sitcoms, now it is hard to view a night without reality shows in the line-up. But really how different are the reality shows to sitcoms? Has the entertainment industry construed reality into a “customized commodification that exploits the very people who willingly view and are viewed on reality TV” (LeBesco, 2005).
The phenomenon of reality TV is that people like watching real life. Viewer’s emotions are targeted to produce the intrigue that entertainment execs count on. Reality TV has changed the way Americans watch television. The illusion of spontaneous actions by real people in real places is the plot. When in reality, just like sitcoms, every aspect has been planned and positioned accordingly. “Viewers of reality television who basks in the knowledge of the manipulative character of the programming but who cannot escape its grip” (LeBesco, 2005). This is an orchestrated event that hardly seems like reality.
Reality TV is customized entertainment. In Karen LeBesco’s review on “Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched” by Mark Andrejevic explains how reality television is a culture industry. Television has a major impression on popular culture. Reality TV gives impressions on human behavior. This can be in a positive or negative. On the show Flavor of Love, a dating game show to become rapper Flavor Flav’s main squeeze. The women are vulgar, violent and rude. This sort of behavior is not how we want our children to act. Watching and learning this behavior can have a negative effect on society. On the other hand, Extreme Home Makeover, a show about home renovations or building to less fortunate people in America is positive reality TV. This show displays compassion, gratitude, and hope. The behavior of the cast members and families should be acknowledged in today’s society.
Corporate media execs know that drama sells. The more controversy the better for ratings. Therefore, they would rather put a show that does not display good character behavior to achieve high rating then in turn, grows profit. The egotistical attributes to television by corporate execs is demoralizing America’s culture.
Karen LeBesco‘s book review on “Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched” by Mark Andrejevic is projected towards a more educated group. She claims that “jargon and difficult theatrical language” used maybe difficult to interpret (LeBesco, 2005). LeBesco gives examples from the book for a potential reader to make their determination to read it or not. However, I am not convinced it would be worthwhile. The strong language used to write to book review does set the reader up for the style on Andrejevic’s writing. Overall, it was intriguing to know that others have the same aspect of reality television as I do.






Reference
LeBesco, K. (2005, November). Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. Journal of Popular Culture, 38(6), 1116-1118. Retrieved May 21, 2009, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2005.00187.x

Bottled Water, the $4 billion dollar industry has taken over how society consumes liquid refreshments (NRDC, 1999). It wasn’t that long ago when drinking from a labeled bottle of water was become a trend. Marketing towards teens and young twenty-something’s has made this industry a part of popular culture. Starting with images of young trendy athletic men and women and promising pure and natural thirst quenching spring water. By viewing ads on television, magazines, billboards, and etc. it lead consumers into believing that bottled water was better than tap water.
So is bottled water really better tasting and healthier? According to the National Resource Defense Council bottled water is not exactly what is presented. “About as much as 40% of bottled water is derived from tap water” (NRDC, 1999). This doesn’t sound like the “natural spring water from the alps” that some bottled water promises. The purity of bottled water seems to be a myth. Others that do come from natural springs have been reported that the “FDA rules exempt 60-70 percent of bottled water sold in the United States from agency’s bottled water standards” (NRDC, 1999). Bottled water companies do not have to follow safety standards compared to the EPA, who tests tap water. City tap water has to be tested for E. coli and other forms of bacteria that the FDA does not require from bottled water processing plants.
The National Resource Defense Council tested over 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water and found that one third of the bottled waters were contaminated with bacteria. This figure is concerning as a consumer. The bottled water industry is losing its reputation of the purity of its product. So next time when you go to purchase bottled water consider exactly where the water actually came from and the purity. Going back to basics with drinking from the tap really isn’t sounding so bad.

NRDC (1999) Bottled Water, Pure drink, pure hype? National Resource Defense Council. Retrieved on June 16, 2009 from http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asp

Assignment 4-1

The Daily Show on Comedy Central is one of my favorites. I sometimes catch reruns late at night, but before school sucked up my evenings, I watched it religiously. The news parody that host Jon Stewart delivers is why the show is a part of popular culture. Its humor delivered with real news. Jon Stewart uses his clever tactics to report on current events to his audience.
The show had it challenges by being taken seriously. And by no means is it a completely serious show, but it is reputable. The Daily Show has won 12 Emmy Awards. The show doesn’t follow the typical format. It’s opinionated and worthy. The show is also refreshing. All day we are surrounded with news on the radio, television, and Internet. The Daily Show puts an edge to delivering news.
This year on The Daily Show was interesting to watch during the presidential election. Jon, the political junkie, spotlighted the campaign and the candidates. He even had them as guests on his show. John McCain and Barak Obama were two of the top rated shows during the election. Their candid interviews were funny, but it also gave potential voters insight to who the candidates really are. Jon also hit them with hard questions about the state of our country and their plans to change that. The Daily Show gives something unique that combines both comedy and real news is skillful.

Assignment 3-1

This week I decided to write on Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The fraternal twins have been starlets since babies and still capture interest at the age of 23. The girls started on the sitcom “Full House” as the baby sister. The twins played a part of one character on the show, because the filming schedule can be warring on babies and small children. “Full House” ran for 8 years that made the girls a household name.
Their role on “Full House” was just the beginning for the Olsen twins. After the show ended the girls went onto producing and starring in their own movies. Little girls around the country idolized them. The Olsen twins even started their own clothing and merchandise line. These items were sold in discount and departments stores. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen built an empire on their biggest fan base, girls between the ages of four years old to twelve years old.
As the girls grew up, their popularity didn’t fade. When the girls were headed off to college was when their stardom really affected their lives. As they tried to stay out of the lime light and concentrate on academics at New York University, the world still was interested with the Olsen twins (Wikipedia, 2009). Even as they avoided Hollywood, it would not avoid them. Through their ups and downs, paparazzi were there to report boyfriends, breakdowns, and party life.
Mary-Kate and Ashley have been very successful, with a report of a combined net worth of $300 million (Tresniowski & Green, 2008) all by the age of 23. The girls have lived their entire life onscreen. As we await their return to films, they are still making fortunes in fashion and image. With their Boho style and nightclub sightings, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are still impacting popular culture.

References
Tresniowski, A. & Green, M. (2008, March 3). Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Inside Their Strange World. People Magazine. Retrieved on June 2, 2009 from http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20179726,00.html
Wikipedia. (2009). Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Retrieved on June 2, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-Kate_and_Ashley_Olsen

Assignment 2-1

Trading Spaces was a hit show on TLC that helped homeowners redecorate a room with the help of an interior designer. The gimmick was that two neighbors swapped houses and redecorate a room with a $2000.00 budget. The show provided entertainment on new ideas to use and watch the revelation of the newly decorated room.
The cast of the show included Paige Davis as the host that would go back and forth to the house and chat with the designers and neighbors on their project. She would also pitch in and help with painting and assembling the room, if needed. The projects had a 2 day deadline that added tension. The main designers were Genevieve Gorder, Doug Wilson, Hildi, Frank Bielec, Vern Yip, and Laurie Hickson-Smith (Wikipedia, 2009). One designer and two carpenters were assigned to a set of neighbors to redesign the room and guide them through the project.
The show inspired do-it-yourselfers to start their own projects around the house. Trading Spaces gave homeowners new ideas on decorating all spaces in the home. The designers even had the carpenters building economical furniture that also encouraged homeowners to tackle. The unique ideas and measures of each project made the show a success. The show has been inspiring homeowners on TLC for nine years. Trading Spaces has imprinted popular culture by its diversity to outreach to both men and women of all ages, race, and social groups.


Reference
Wikipedia (2009). Trading Spaces. Retrieved May 30, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Spaces.

Courtney, I completely agree with your assessment of Target as an icon. It is one of my favorite stores. There is so much to look at and it is all so trendy and reasonably priced. I must admit though that I sometimes avoid Target because I know that I will come out with more than I went in for.

Assignment 2-2

Icons of our time have influenced behavior and impacted our lives culturally. They are easily recognized and target an emotion. Starbucks has transformed America with their desirable coffee. Starbucks has made drinking coffee trendy. With a touch of sophistication and almost five bucks for a grande mocha latte, Starbucks has achieved their goal of cultural dominance. Drinking at Starbucks makes one feel a part of an elite group, because of the social recognition of finest coffee house. While lately Starbucks has seen a decline in sales due to the economy, it is still ubiquitous.

Napster paved the way of downloading music from the internet onto a computer then transferring onto devices, such as I-Pods, MP3 players, and etc. The hold up was that all the music was totally free. This made music artists and record companies irate. The billion dollar industry was taking a major hit with Napster pirating music. The term “pirating” became known as stealing music from the internet. After all said and done, the owner of Napster and music pirates were prosecuted.
Who can compare to how Target made discount shopping trendy? With their marketing tactics, Target took it to a different level. Being stylish and affordable is how they hurdled over the competition by reporting $63.4 billion dollars in revenue for 2007 (Target Annual Report, 2007). To attain their growth Target teamed up with popular designers made style affordable. Continuing with their unique advantage, Target is still everyday life with flare.

Reference:
Target Annual Report (2007). Investors. Target Corporation. Retrieved on May 28, 2009 from http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-030795

Popular Culture Blog

Popular culture is something unavoidable. It is what we do, how we act by influences on television, radio, movies, music, books, magazines, social group or geographic location. Even though all these things, collections of tangible and intangible things, we are impacted by its presence.
Being able to connect with other socially and professionally is having knowledge of popular culture. Some of the most popular topics is sports and television. When people are talking about Brett Farve or Beyonce', it can move conversations. Popular culture knowledge on these topics can strengthen communication between a group or individuals.
By the amount of impact a artifact has on society, allows all generations to relate. People magazine is hard to avoid in the checkout aisle at the grocery store. Their zinger headlines and intriguing photos draws readers in. This magazine reports on the latest news on celebrities. It keeps the stories and photos as respectable as magazines can. However, it does like to dish out whatever they can. It also inserts heartfelt stories about ordinary people that makes the magazine wholesome. I will occasionally pick one up now and then, depending on the headlines. Go figure, I am sucker for it!

Weekly Written Analysis Wk. 1

American Idol has shaped American popular culture in the twenty-first century. The “American Dream” of a small town hopeful making it big on Hollywood has become a reality. The creators of American Idol has embraced the dream and carried out eight seasons of delivering entertainment that engages people of all ages. They have given hope to everyday, ordinary people of America and beyond, that stardom is attainable.

The popularity of American Idol is also contributed by the panel of judges and host. The personalities of Ryan Secrest, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell drew the audience in every week. They are just as entertaining as the contestants.

American Idol has certainly impacted the entertainment industry that has changed how audiences watch television. The phenomenon has given hope to the American Dream of making it big. If not, they at least on television trying.