Vampirism!

Vampire Culture:

Vampire culture seems to be everywhere, at first I thought Twillight was just for young middle school and high school girls but even some of my friends and their moms are obsessed with it. On a personal note, I am not into science fiction at all so maybe that’s why this obsession seems to be a little weird for me. I found five articles that dealt with vampirism obsessions. The first two articles are from two journals. The first article is called “Cultural consumption of History and Popular Culture in Alternative Spiritualities” in the Journal of Consumer Culture and the second article is called “Vampire Gothic” and that is from the American Literary History journal. The last three articles are all found online.

The first article found in the journal of consumer culture was really interesting. It discussed how new age healing centers and other spirituality ‘products’ led to what is called consumer religions. It also talked about the church of scientology and science fiction religion and how religion plays a role in things such as the popularity of vampires but in a different way then we might think. Science Fiction as a genre stared in the nineteenth century with such books as Frankenstein. Teenagers and the society as a whole are now reading these types of books not just for scare but also for entertainment.

The article also mentioned some interesting facts, in relation that this obsession with monsters is not just an American thing. In the article it discussed a Star Wars Appreciation Society in which they had some sort of religion/theology moral compass called “A way to the Force by Yoda of Dabobah.” This group is located all the way in Australia and tried to ambush the 2001 national census.


I think that the more exotic, ‘vodoo’ type of entertainment attracts people because it is outside of the mainstream, or at least it once was. Our society is learning to accept things that were not once mainstream into our mainstream culture.

The second article I read was a little bit stranger but also a good source of information. Before doing this project I did not realize how much information there is about vampires and culture out there. The second article called ‘Vampire Gothic,” opened with a news story about a vampire cult, in which case had four of its members went to Florida to murder one of the girls’ parents. A local station that reported the incident also ran a special report on ‘the soul.’ This article also discussed growing popularity of such things as Halloween and movies like Silence of the Lamb and Stephen King films and such people as Jeffrey Dahmer. Also it is important to note about how sexuality plays a major role in the erotic horror of vampires.

The Newsweek article was an interview with True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard. One important idea that I got from this article was that Skarsgard is from Sweden and there and in Europe vampirism is popular. The “Love Bites” article mentioned some good points as well about how the “Twillight plot arc sells a pseudo-empowering fantasy (men as the sexual and moral gatekeepers, leaving women free to express their desires) while wholeheartedly embracing patriarchal norms.” (Seltzer). Lastly the New York Times article discussed similar topics of the history of the monster and what makes the vampire so special in comparison to other monsters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsyemJj7LzI 

Please respond with comments/questions in regards to the following questions:

A.) What is your favorite monster and why?

B.)Why do you personally believe that Twilight and other vampire shows are at an all-time high right now?

C.) Do you read Twilight or watch any vampire shows? Why or Why not?

D.) What do you think this obsession with vampires and monsters means about popular culture today?

21st Century Pop Culture

Popular Culture and Education

Popular culture has taken on a new meaning in the last fifty years. Popular culture has seen this change with the advancement of new technology. Things like radio and television have made it possible for ‘fads’ or music to catch on faster and reach larger amounts of people. Throughout history there have been games, clothes, and other things that have defined popular culture along with social ideas, restrictions, attitudes and other phenomena. Popular culture is an important to all aspects of our lives and especially as teachers as we interact with popular culture and our students. An important part of popular culture in the 21st century is technology and how we choose to interact with it.
I think as teachers it is important for us to try to stay technologically ‘savvy’ in order to keep up with our students and also to enhance the classroom experience. In order to have my students understand popular culture in an educational sense. Popular culture has changed over the years in the United States, changes have been because and through social, political and economical situations. As a teacher, I think there are many ways to introduce popular culture into the classroom. One of the ways that I find very interesting is to have the students do a history presentation of cultural changes of a certain subject, for example, in our class we read about the history of toys. Students could report on how the change in toys has affected the generations.



Another way that students could integrate popular culture into their education is by taking normal everyday assignments and adding popular culture to them. For example, if they are reading The Scarlet Letter they could think about how Pearl, Hester and the other characters would react and be perceived in the 21st century. How would our culture react to such a situation compared to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s generation and culture. With the world drastically changing and with technology we, as a whole are becoming much more aware of other cultures but it is also important to understand our own culture and how that affects us.

Fashion-Popular Culture

Clothing and appearance is something that is becoming more and more important to generation of kids. Fashion and looks has always been important dating back to the Middle Ages and on throughout history. It is without a doubt that much more emphasis and importance was placed on clothing to everyday people with the invention of television, especially Hollywood glam. There are many aspects of life that affect clothing and fashion. Things such as economic and political situations play a major role in how clothing is portrayed in the media, (in the 20th and 21st centuries).

Clothing and appearance has become very important in the last sixty years. Clothing can relate to many different expressions to our lives. How we dress is also a symbol of the times and power status. Many CEO and Wall Street business people dress extremely professional. During times of war and economic hardships clothing styles may change to fit not being able to have all the materials or be short of materials. As stated in our reading, the Reagan administration made the saying ‘dress to impress’ placing heavy emphasis on career and appearance. After the turmoil of the sixties and seventies, the eighties became a decade of a wide mixture of conservativism of Reagan and punk rock. The clothing varied one person may be in a leather jacket while another in a business suit.

With the feminist movement of the previous two decades, the eighties were a time for women to start to have an equal playing field with men in the business world. I do, however find this to be quite the coincidence has the Reagan era and the eighties and even now supports women in the same field as men yet place heavy emphasis on how they should dress. Whenever I hear the words ‘dress to impress’ I assume it means that the woman should dress up while the man already always is dressed up. Of course, women are assumed to wear more provocative clothing in the workforce, whereas men always wear the same suits while women wear heels, skirts and dresses. This also leads to the question of when women go to get hired is it based on their clothing and looks rather than skill.



Women’s fashion has also played up in the media. Take for example the famous celebrities of Hollywood and politics overtime. Many of the wives of the Presidents have been fashionable for their time period. More notably women such as Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan and most recently Michelle Obama are in spotlight and almost pressured by the media to make sure they are dressed a certain way, whereas the Presidents themselves are hardly analyzed for their clothing choices.





Clothing also plays important role in the social world of schools and students. Once students enter middle and high school appearance becomes a really big deal. Kids judge either based on appearances and whether or not the other kids around them have the ‘popular’ clothes. I grew up in the suburbs and my high school was very stereotypical in how the kids dressed, the preppy kids who wore Hollister, the punk kids who wore skinny jeans and black and so on and so forth. I have noticed though as I have been doing some volunteer work in a Minneapolis public high school and I noticed that the students there, even the ‘popular’ ones do not dress as ‘preppy’ as they did in my school but more alternative. By this I also think that the area in which the school is located also plays a role in what types of clothing the kids are wearing.

I think an assignment for students related to clothing could be a really fun task for them to do, at the very least interesting. What I would want my students to do is to pick any time period that they found interesting, anything ranging from medieval times to present times. I would want my students to show how the fashion of that time period related to the political, economical or social situation. It could either be here in America or any other country or culture in the world. I think that fashion says a lot about a culture and it would be interesting to learn about the different fashions from around the world. The students would have to discuss the fashions for all ages and how that related to what was going on in the world. One example would be why did people of the 1950s dress so ‘leave-it-to-beaver’ perfect. Why would the women be seen vacuuming in pearls and pencil skirts? How is this significance to the social and political situation in America?

Here are some brief discussion questions to respond to:

A.) What affect does clothing have on students' social life?

B.) How important do you think clothes are in today's society? What does this say about our society?

C.)  Briefly write up a description as the CEO of your clothing line of what you would want your own clothing line to look like? Who would you target? Who would you get to model your clothes? Would they be expensive or cheap? What implications are you adding to your target and to society?

Toys: Social Impact

This is a very interesting and fun topic in terms of pop culture. Toys have a major impact on all areas of development. Everything from children’s emotional attachment to toys to the financial impact on the parents of the cost of the toys is important to the toy culture. Clearly, there are many factors that have played a role in the development of new and creative toys. I happened to find this subject of toys and culture quite interesting has it is important to child development but also in terms of marketing and advertising.

I was born in 1988, so as I was growing up video games, cell phones and technology was already fairly popular. However, I did not always play video games or with technology advanced toys. Some of my favorite toys were the classic Barbie dolls, although I must admit I also have a collection of Britney Spears and N*Sync dolls/action figures, littlest pet shop toys, my little ponies and care bears.


Something that I noticed was that although I played with Barbie dolls, most of my toys were in some form of pet animals, like beanie babies and littlest pet shop toys. When I was little I wanted to be a vet and I think the toys I played with had to with in some ways. I think the simplest toys are sometimes the best to play with. I am also a child psychology minor and I have studied the impact of toys on children.
Child development is something very interesting to me and the impact of toys and with the newest technology including things like baby Einstein. From my readings and research baby Einstein and other toys similar to it have not always proved to be best for babies.

I would have to agree with this article, toys can be proven to increase cognitive awareness in some aspects but an increase in an IQ score is almost impossible from the toys and videos alone at such a young age. This TIME article brings up some good points on early infant interaction with toys. With all the media changes, TV is perhaps one of the most influential ‘toys’ or products on children and takes away from their interactions with real physical objects and/or people. I also think with technology of TV and video games that kids are becoming more over stimulated as also mentioned in the article. Kids are, in general, used to getting entertained and not being able to occupy themselves when they get bored with the TV show or video game. I personally think it stunts creativity in children.
As kids get older, toys take a different form, especially in today’s society. Many toys, as we get older, are cell phones, ipods, and laptops. This is different then twenty years ago. I think things like this that used to be prized are now common day items, i.e. cell phones. I know that my cousin who is in third grade now has a cell phone and some of my students at my school that I worked at also had cell phones in fourth and fifth grade. I remember I got my first phone in eighth grade and I could only use in case of an emergency but now kids use these ‘toys’ at a much younger age.
I also think that with mass production assembly lines toys are much easier to produce and reproduce. For example, the classic Barbie still exists but there are many replicas and copies such as Bratz, which have also caused a lot of controversy.
Toys such as Bratz and Moxie Girls, I feel, promote materialism, many of these dolls ‘need’ accessories such as different clothes, purses, and even cars. Young girls who play with these dolls assume that they as well may need these things as well. Overall, I think that toys are an important part of our development. Even the simplest toys are important to the creative, social and motor and skill development. I also think that toys, especially nowadays has an important social impact in social circles of kids.


Brief Discussion Questions to Respond to:

A.) What were some of your favorite toys growing up?
B.) How have toys changed across the decades?
C.) Do you think these changes are having a positive or negative impact on society?
D.) Design an advertisement(write out what it would be like, you may also add pictures if you would like) of your favorite toy growing up? The target should be of kids of the 21st century.   Is it similar to the advertisements you used to see for it?

In the World of the Food Industry

This blog is posted a bit a late, so I am sorry for that. However, I do find this topic of food and health issues to be a very pressing issue in all aspects of our lives including teaching. There are a few different ways I want to approach this topic since it is so vast. On a personal level, I feel that food infiltrates all aspects of our lives. I never realized how much food and eating habits affect our daily lives until my freshmen year of college, when I was warned about the freshmen fifteen. Ever since then I have kept or at least tried to monitor what I eat and to try to exercise regularly. But as with most people, my weight and eating habits fluctuates with stress and other life factors.
With all the recent controversy and the House passing a Health Care reform bill, I feel as though it is our job as teachers and citizens to keep informed on the food culture and to teach our students to keep informed about their decisions regarding food and exercise. A recent article that I found in the New York Times, helps to give a better understanding of the tensions of health have come to. It is much more than a health issue; it has become a political and social issue as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/health/policy/08fat.html?_r=1&ref=health

I think to better understand the social context of food and popular culture we need to understand the huge change that has occurred in popular cultural since the invention of television and such models as Twiggy. The 1950’s classic case was a typical family, in which the mom stayed home to cook dinner and the family ate together every night. Grant it, this may not have been true for every family but as a whole this was the situation. Fast forward fifty years, to two career-oriented parents and kids playing in different sports and activities every night, there is just not enough time for the parent, most likely the mom to sit down and cook a meal and instead they have family dinner in the car going through McDonalds. Today’s lifestyle is clearly much busier and more complex then fifty years ago.


An interesting argument and idea that is mentioned in the New York Times article but also mentioned in Tooning In is that how do we make our personal choices. Some overweight people, as in the court case mentioned, sue or blame McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants for their weight problem. On the other hand, you have diet program after diet program being pushed into our culture every single day. It seems to me that the food industry pressures us to binge eat by getting our drink super sized and then to take these diet pills that will help us lose ten pounds in ten days. The marketing of food and health issues contradicts itself in the media and as consumers it is hard for us to reject this unhealthy pattern of eating. I feel it is our job as teachers to try to the best of our ability to help our students understand the importance of balance between eating and exercise as well. I remember it was either last year or the year before the Minnesota Daily published an article about over-exercising, which is also another issue related to unhealthy eating patterns. http://www.mndaily.com/2008/01/24/overexercising-potentially-dangerous

I think the key is to help students and ourselves understand that balance or the ‘gray area’ is very important. Excessively exercising and dieting does not help your body and healthy issues but also eating unhealthy and not exercising doesn’t fix the problem either. It is central to our lives that we find a healthy way to go about eating and exercising but it is hard with the media pressure along with political and medical pressure as well.

Interacting with CPAs

Interacting with Computers

The content of the two articles “Conversational Agents and Their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction” and “When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent” offer a deep psychological, philosophical and social understanding of teaching and culture within today’s society and advancement of technology. After reading and thinking critically about these articles I became much more aware of how technology affects students in a very negative way. I also learned about the concept of having a conversational agents and the benefits and disadvantages.
I would first like to discuss the idea of a conversational agent. Before this article I had never heard of this specific type of learning style or technological use. In very basic general terms I believe that the idea of an instant online support system is really good idea for students. Students will have more flexibility to complete assignments whenever they want. This made me think of how school flexibility has changed over the years. Schools and teachers used to be very limited to how much time they spend with their students, before it was only during the school day and even then class may not have met every day. As phones, internet, computers and a wider view of education in general increased so did the amount of access to and from students and teachers outside of the classroom. Online blogging, aim and even facebook helps students communicate to each other and to their teacher outside the classroom. So when reflecting upon the progress of education and technology it is not that big of a surprise that the conversational agent has been invented and used with students.
The results of the study were interesting. On a personal level, I believe that one of the best ways to learn is through personal contact and interaction. Humans offer human feeling that cannot be replicated through a machine, despite how close these CA’s came. There is a certain uniqueness and lack of control when talking to person, by this, I mean when talking to a person you never know where the conversation can lead to and how the student could develop a different viewpoint by walking into new territory. There is also a flip side. For basic questions regarding the assignment the CA is a good thing but for a replacement or even side of a teacher the CA does not compare. For an open discussion of ideas and concepts I don’t think that the CA is a good fit for it could never be as open as a discussion with the teacher or another student.
I would like to say that the use of inappropriate language shows another aspect of popular culture and children; their maturity rate. From my own experiences I can say that in the elementary schools I have been at students tend to talk more aggressively and sexually even in front of me as the teacher. I think this is an important aspect when it comes to school and society. I think the media plays a huge role especially these days with the ‘sex sells’ image everywhere. Students are learning things at a very young age. I think as teachers it is important that we are keeping up with the trends of the time and what goes on in popular culture that way we can adapt our thinking and teaching to our students.

Video Games and Education

Video Games/Learning:

I think this is a very interesting topic to discuss in regards to education. After reading the Henry Jenkins article it made me think more logically and critically about the idea of video games and learning in terms of education. I feel that the Henry Jenkins article breaks down the issues in education and related them to the classroom. Some main points in the article that I found to be helpful is one; the discussion of the Labyrinth and how it can be used as homework. Also, how this relates to the bigger picture and bigger ideas. The development of strategies and problem solving skills can be applied to any aspect of learning not just in video games. The article states how Labyrinth “also promotes writing.” While playing video games kids will have to read the clues and think logically about the clues in order to solve the problem or advance to the next level. Overall, I think this article has good points that reflect the changing culture of students in relation to education and video games.

I also feel that some video games can promote positive social interactions such as teamwork when trying to figure out the answers to the questions or puzzles. I think that video games and other TV interactive games are the new way kids learn and it will only keep increasing and I think as educators we need to adapt to this style of learning and the technology it brings with.

Along with the importance of video games and how students can learn from them, it is also important to realize some of the consequences that video games have on students as well. The article that we read called “Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames” brought a few of the very important issues that are surrounding video games. Stereotypically, boys are more likely to play video games, at least when video games first came out they were thought to, (although now this may be untrue). Many of the females in a lot of the video games are depicted as what a normal female would look like, same situation as with a Barbie doll. As the article discusses many females are depicted as sex objects or ‘dumb’ in the game.

The discussion of Tomb Raider brought out a very good point of what kind of influence video game depictions of females can do to both sexes. Many girls who often play video games are younger and may feel that they have to be that skinny or have certain body shape to be cool. This is not an image that our culture should be sending out to young girls. Growing up I too have noticed the skinny waist, blond hair and big breasts of Princess Peach of the Mario Brothers. As a whole I found the article to be very true, unfortunately and feel that video games are becoming important ‘fun, social’ interactions for students at home they can also be used as tools in and outside of the classroom.

Lastly, the article by James Paul Gee was also very interesting and took a different approach to kids, education and video games. The article makes the reasoning behind why video games are so popular somewhat simple but yet hard to do. I think the first few paragraphs bring up some major points that are needed in education to better help 21st century children. “Underground teach children not only how to play but how to learn, and to keep on learning” is very good statement that should be and is needed to apply to all aspects on teaching and learning in both a very vague sense but also a very specific sense. I think the idea of children relating to ‘strong identities’ is a very good point. In the interactive video game WII kids get to design what they and their friends and family members look like creating a strong personal relationship to the game. I think kids see themselves on the screen and what to look good and not mistakes and most importantly they want to learn how to solve the problem or beat their old record. Also, like the article says making it more personal adds a “real sense of agency, ownership, and control.”
The way the article is written, especially the section about the cycle of mastery has a direct connection to how students learn. I think that if video games are used properly they can drastically increase many areas of learning for students.

Brief Questions for Discussion:
A.) Did you play video games growing up, why or why not? if so what was your favorite one?
B.) Do you think video games are helpful or harmful..why?
C.) Write a brief persuasion article about why video games should or should not be allowed in a classroom? Give examples from the links and from your own personal experience.

Mall Identity

Transforming Social Spaces: Female Identity and the Mall was a very interesting article. I previously had read some other articles about malls and shopping but nothing this in depth. I found it to be very interesting and accurate to some extent. I find this topic to be really interesting especially from a woman’s point of view. As we all know women get target for consumer goods more than any other type of person. One statement in the introduction I found to be very accurate is “As a result, the mall has become the symbol of escapism, information, and socialization for Americans.” (2). I feel that although women’s rights has drastically improved over the last twenty years there is still the stereotype that the women should stay home and raise their children. From what I have observed in the malls during the day are a lot of mothers pushing their kids in strollers. I also feel that not only are middle aged mothers target but all ages of women raging from young elementary school kids with their Hannah Montana backpacks to teen girls all the way up through college and on to family life.
This subject of marketing and shopping and how it relates to kids and therefore how it integrates with their education is a very interesting yet challenging topic. As it says in the article “through the process of purchasing, Americans are encouraged to assume a ‘consumer self’ identity, or to identity themselves with the commodities they consumer”(3). I agree that this is true but especially as a female, beauty products and what we wear defines who we are. Relating this to education and students it is very obvious when walking down a hallway of any high school or m idle school to distinguish the different groups of kids by what they are wearing. The popular kids tend to wear Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister while other groups such as the skaters or punks tend to wear Quicksilver clothing or other name brands.
Once children reach middle school what they wear and how they look becomes one of the most, if not the most important aspect of their life. Social circles are built in middle school and usually do not change much entering high school. As a female, I feel that there is more pressure on girls to look a certain way compared to boys. From my point of view I remember if some girl who was in the popular group wore something that was not ‘in’ it was the talk of the school that day. I also don’t remember boys having to worry so much about what they were wearing. For some items I do feel it is more important for boys to have rather than girls such as maybe technology things like the newest video game or bike or basketball shoes. The mall aspect and shopping is a huge part of school. Take for instance the week before school starts all the major stores and malls aimed at high school students or younger all have sales for going back to school and the malls and stores are still busy at nine at night. I feel that with all the new technology such as TV and the sex appeal that Hollister and similar stores offer teens especially girls feel pressure to wear certain clothes. I remember in high school I would always shop at Abercrombie & Fitch or Hollister or Express and many of their clothes require the girls to show a lot of skin and my parents were never happy. I do not shop at those stores anymore but I went with my younger sister once, and I was very surprised to see the large number of parents in these types of stores supporting their daughter or son to wear such scandalous clothing. The music and smells in these stores are often very loud techno like music and there is a very strong smell of perfume that could be smelled from outside the doors.
I feel that Americans are very easily swayed by commercials and what is ‘in’ or being cool. I feel that this is even true for adults to some extent. One of the things that the article mentions is the flip side of spending so much time at the malls that citizens are not being created. I think this is the real issue with spending so much time on superficial things such as shopping and making our appearance look good is it takes time away from ‘public discourse’ and evolving as citizens. I think that this integrates very well with education and students. The students feel that how they look and what they buy is more important, to some degree, than their education. Girls will sit and talk about what clothes or make up to buy while the boys will talk about who won last night’s football game.
Overall, I think this article, as a female, was very accurate and brought up many good points. Not only did it reach the subjects of the cultural, social, and political impacts of mall shopping but also went into great detail about the set up and marketing plots of mall designers.

MEN: AT TARGET

For this exercise I went to Target to do pick up some things for my house. I went to the Target in Coon Rapids on a Saturday morning around eleven. I would have to say it was fairly busy with a wide variety of people there. The first thing I noticed about the men that I saw there was that many were with a girlfriend or their family. I only saw two sets of guys that were together and they were around my age (21) or younger. The first section I went to was the outdoors section, which is somewhat between the housing (rugs, cabinets) section and the little infant/children clothing section. One thing that I did notice with the men who came with their families was that they were also having some sort of conversation with their wives usually. For instance, one man was trying to pick out a mini fire pit that is above ground that goes outside. He would bring one over and then ask his wife if it was ok and then when they finally picked one out he went back to the section and started looking at other things. He then motioned that he was going to look around the store for the other items they needed while wife seemed to stay in the clothing for infant’s section.
Another thing I noticed was that when the men would walk into the store they would walk right pass the dollar corner and other women products and knew exactly where to go. Also, Target is set up so the purses and jewelry and go straight in the back to the men’s or housing sections. On the other hand, the women did the opposite they sat and looked around at everything. This is just in general, there were some women who went straight for what they wanted and some men who stopped and looked at the dollar corner.
I also noticed that when the men were with their wife or girlfriend they were often lagging behind while the woman was ahead of them. At the Target I was at there are two doors on the same side but at other ends. When you walk into on of the doors, the first thing you see is the purses and women’s accessories and the other door is at first beauty products but then food and housing. I saw more men walk in through this door than I did the first door. A few observations that I have made are that men more often than not came with someone else rather than alone. They also stayed very clear of all the women products that were placed in front of the store when you first walk in.

Sex Roles!! Right or Wrong?

This week I watched a few different music videos about the progression of women’s rights and movements in the media. The first video by Gore showed a very conservative appearance in the music video and her lyrics were about how she was crying over a boy. I feel that this shows her ruining her own party for a man and I also think it is very submissive to the man. The lyrics were also very clean. At the time, women were still being told that they should always try to please their man and work as housewives and it was not until the late sixties when feminist movements really started to take hold of the women of America. As time moved on with more women’s movements during the seventies and eighties, women such as Fiona Apple gave women a new approach to fighting for their independence. The video provided and hinted at sex and at the time was unusual and shocking for a woman to do. I think with the creation of MTV in the eighties it generated a whole new way women could express themselves. The article mentions one of Madonna’s videos and its sexual content and this made it more accessible to the public hence making it more popular. Lastly, Lil’Kim’s video is very vulgar and contains almost all sexual content, this is groundbreaking in a way that it can be put on national television and the internet for it all to be heard, whereas fifteen or twenty years ago this would have been very obscene and unheard of. Lil’Kim’s video also shows her domination over males when it comes to being pleasured in bed. Lil’Kim reverses the roles of what happens in the bedroom.
The roles about love and relationships in regards to men and women have constantly been changing. As I stated early women have become more dominant and aggressive with their sexuality. Women are no longer afraid to talk about sex or not get married. Especially when it comes to sex, women are much more open about sex and the pleasure they want to receive from it. Also, to go along with that women feel that they can dress more openly and sexual while out in public or at a job. Some women think that they can dress like that and it gives them more power to prove that they can do whatever they want and do not have to feel hidden by a man. On the flip side I think also that when popular women’s culture dresses more seductively and is more open about sex they are also giving in to the male domination. Dressing that way might also please the coworkers, for an example, and they might just look at the woman as though she is just a sex object.



In relations to school and education there is a fine line between dressing to show independence and just looking trashy. From what I have observed in the classrooms I have been at I have noticed younger and younger dressing to show more skin. I personally do not feel that this is part of the feminist movement and I also think as an educator it will be hard to tell students what is appropriate and what is not. The role of sex education has always been and will continue to be a huge issue in public school system. Back in the sixties it was never quite a big issue as it is today. The keys I feel is how do and should educators react to the growing popular culture of sex. With all the new technology it is much easier for young kids to get their hands on something related to sex and should we as a culture accept this or should we try to stop it. How should be discuss these issues in the classroom?
There is a difference with Lil’Kim’s video which I feel a lot of young and old people would find distasteful and other powerful women figures like Hillary Clinton.

Engaging Popular Culture!?

Popular Culture and Education: Blog 1:


I read the first three chapters of the class book Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education. I am really interested in this topic and trying to emerge education with popular culture. Right after I was done reading I thought of all the TV shows and MTV and Disney shows that the kids always talk about in class. Besides the media there is also the huge amounts of technological advances. For example, my cousin a third grader at Wayzata already has her own ipod, laptop and cell phone. Also, at the school I am working at a few of the boys have pulled out their cell phones to text and play games. I wish I knew more about the history of public education systems but I feel the integrating of popular culture has skyrocketed within the past fifteen years and many older teachers are not used to or well acquainted with this technology the way younger teachers and students might be. I guess I also thought of within the first chapter of the controversy of the social movements in the 1960s that have greatly impacted popular culture.

The idea of music being important as a social movement is very true and such musicians as Elvis and The Beatles have greatly impacted our popular culture within the first ten years of when the television first came out. I also think that although this popular culture of music may be important to share and relate to students such things as the popular 1990s rap/alternative music and the aggressive lyrics with regards to women, violence and other things. I also thought in chapter two the discussion of the three approaches to popular culture in education to be very interesting. One of the statements that really interested me is on page 18 and it said “Teaching is conducted through media rather than about media.” I think this is a really important statement about the teaching approaches to popular culture and how well teachers integrate popular culture into the classroom and through what means.




I also was thinking of what defines popular culture. There are many representations of popular culture and not only do the teachers have their own view of popular culture in relation to their generation but also to their subject matter and the students themselves have their definition of what popular culture. A good example of this would be sports or politics these things to some people are popular culture and with the degree of openness and communication of these subjects. I feel that teachers have to choose according to their lesson plan and subject matter what they should stream as popular culture. For instance I think of the 1980 hockey team and what the athletic and political tensions that existed during those Olympic games and wonder if that is worth teaching or not.
Also, as in chapter three there is much discussion of what is popular culture according to the diverse populations within the schools. An example of this would be African American music transforming into the hardcore rap of the 1990s. These songs still cause controversy because of their graphic language but yet should it be considered part of a culture that should be taught in a school setting. I think it is important to teach critical analysis of media and popular culture. I feel this would help students engage in popular culture but also examine in an academic sense. The students might also be more involved because it relates directly to their ‘culture.’
Some questions that I have would be what defines popular culture and who gets to decide what should or should not be included in the classroom. I also wonder if the teachers should try to incorporate it into the classroom and what happens if they fail to make their point.