#Selfie = #Lonely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgO532TAJ9c

Reality Television

Reality television has never been something that I have been drawn to, television at all really. When I look at examples of reality television Jersey Shore is the one that stands out to me most. Jersey Shore, although may seem very real is not. This "reality" show depicts strangers coming together in the summer to live in a shore house. Jersey Shore is depicted as a place where you go to party and have no responsibilities, which isn't the case for the majority of the occupants residing there.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/08/26/is-the-jersey-shore-bad-for-new-jersey-some-people-sure-think-so/

According this the article above, New Jersey nor New York want to admit to the bad behaviors of the cast members. Although the cast claims to be from New Jersey, they come from New York. In my opinion, it gives the residents the bad impression of what people are like from New Jersey when it shouldn't reflect on them. People head there in hopes of meeting the cast and even partying with them.

Jersey Shore: good reality or bad reality television? I say bad without a doubt in my mind.

Disney: Evolving Role to Girl Power?

The one thing that I, as I am sure many others, can take from my childhood is Disney. Disney was introduced to me as a young child, and I loved all of the Disney Princesses: Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine and my personal favorite Ariel. They all represented the one thing that I now can see: you need a man, which I might add always caused them to get into trouble. Cinderella got locked into a cellar so she couldn't see the prince she fell in love with in one night. Aurora fell into a deep sleep because she couldn't live without, yet again someone she met in one day. Don't even get me started on Snow White. Even Ariel fell deep into this trap falling for a guy before she even spoke to him. Why is it that for so long we believed in these movies? Well, when Disney movies such as these came out, it was expected that women would rely on their men to help support them, and it was their duty to do the household up keeping. When you really analyze these movies they fall into the typical way it was thought of women to act according to society.

Now according to this theory, Disney should be putting out movies where females are being represented as being able to take care of themselves and do what they want to do. When you look at movies like Tangled, Brave and Frozen, you can really see how Disney has evolved. In Tangled, it depicts Rapunzel as a strong independent woman who will do what she has to. You can see it even more in the movie Brave that features a fiery red head who won't say no to what she aspires to do. The newest movie Frozen even more goes the way. Attention: a spoiler is about to happen if you haven't already seen Frozen. The movie Frozen even goes the length to make fun of the lead character at first wanting to marry a man that she had just met. How did we get here you ask? My answer is feminism. Feminism is taking hold of our society and evolving from first wave to third wave feminism, and Disney is portraying it through their films. In our society today, we are more accepting of a strong female who can take care of herself and do things on her own. So maybe we all have a little feminism deep down inside of us.

Gender Roles, Second Wave Feminism and Zombies

Sitting in my class today, mainly full of girls, a familiar topic arose. While speaking about who had done something, only a handful of people rose their hands. It was pointed out that only guys had participated in this certain thing and an interesting response was had to that: females need to beat them. This to me struck me as odd, considering that I thought no one had thought in this "boys against girls" phenomenon to help close the gap between the genders. I then reflected on our class discussion of third wave feminism. Although it has begun, second wave is not completely gone, and in some senses it won't. Why is it that everything has to be a competition between boys against girls? Why does it have to be odd that no girls had participated in an activity? It makes it no less "gender set" to do an activity. My hope is that with this third wave feminism, it makes it that this competitive nature among genders ceases to exist. 

This thought led to another thought of Dr. Watt's talk about how zombies and their phenomenon with the superior race, discussed in the part about White Zombie. This competitive fear of one specific group overpowering the other is ridiculous. Why is it that we can't just celebrate each other's success rather than see it as a race, religion, gender, etc. overpowering the other? It's rather ridiculous when you think about it, and I think back to when I was a kid. As a kid, you don't think of someone in a certain way with stereotypical thoughts, you just like them for them, and they just like you for you. Third wave feminism: you can spread your magic to everyone anytime now.

Impacting my life?

I've not always been one to keep too in tune with the trends going on in the world. I usually just go on to the beat of my own drum. I see fads as they are, an ongoing circle of what's is "in" and what is "out" that will eventually make its circle back around. So in no surprising aspect would it be weird for me to consider social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. apart of the status quo that I am distanced from until I got my smartphone. 

When I got my device a tremendous thing happened. I began living my life on my phone through these social media sites, more specifically Instagram. I constantly feel as though I NEED to look and see what is going on: what picture is Kat posting and who is that guy pictured with Sam? I feel more connected to these people through weak ties, which goes along with what Stone's theory is, and I never thought that I would be that person. What is it that brings us to these points of making us feel connected to these people through a screen? Is it a comforting fact that is easier than meeting up face to face? It's an odd phenomenon that our generation has been sucked into that is not comforting to me. 

Now I am not saying all social media is bad because it does give us that feeling of being connected to those that we have distance issues with, but where do we draw the line? When does it begin to impact our lives? It's already started on mine. I notice myself begin to dwell from the crowd that I am in because instead of me feeling, god forbid awkward, I look to my phone for comfort. I feel as though it is this thing that is permanently attached to my hand, and I can't escape it. Further more, aren't we all just trained to act in this manner? It is expected to have a phone for easy reaching out, even at a young age. It's not common for a parent to have these expectations of you through these mobile devices so that they can be apart of your lives. So maybe the impact on everyone's lives isn't for the good or maybe it is. I think it all comes down to knowing when and where to draw this line that we tend to toss back and forth over.

My New Parasocial Relationship

I've never been one to get too attached to anyone in the public sphere, but today was the day that I realized I had fallen victim to the thing that I considered silly: I had formed a parasocial relationship. Now, before I go on I must tell you that the man, if you can call him that, has undoubtedly swooned many girls before me. Before I reveal his identity, I will tell you that he is by far the best discovery that I have made in a while. He is funny and kind, and well to put it short always seems to save the day. So here it goes, I am about to share with you in the hopes that you too will feel what I have caught.

I told you when I posted this it would cause you to no longer be able to continue with any other relationship. It's not just the looks, but the voice. I often times catch myself casting myself as Natalie Portman so that I can be the object of his desire. I now am the proud owner of every movie with this gentleman in it, even The Avengers, with his minor appearance. I tend to watch one of these movies everyday. I am anticipating the next release so that I may be able to see him: Thor. So Hollywood, you've finally done it. I can officially say that this man has taken my mind entirely over, and I would even go as far to say that he is an addiction--my addiction.