Assignment 1-3-6 Written Analyses Analysis 5

Assignment 1-3-6

Written Analyses

Analysis 5

Theories about Pop Culture topic

After all the theories and analyses that we’ve studied in the class, I can say that the theory of Heroes and the Cult of the Celebrity best relates to Bob Marley. With no doubts, Bob Marley is a great example of a hero. His contribution to his country and to worldwide society made him a national hero. Bob Marley was recognized as a great artist who inspired many people through his words. His goal was to unite people in one love and to live in peace. We call a person “hero” because of unselfish and exceptional deeds, and person who truly deserves to carry that title was Bob Marley. When we talk about Cult of the Celebrity, I can say that it affects many people around the world. Media shows celebrities as they live perfect lives in wealth and popularity. Therefore people look at them as their role models, and inspiration who they want to be. There is a big difference of being a hero and being a celebrity. People can be celebrities just by being heroes, but they cannot be heroes just because they are celebrities. Bob Marley was a hero and celebrity whom people respect even 31 years since he died.

The most interesting findings from all the analyses that I wrote about Bob Marley is that he was really positive and unselfish person who had big heart for all people. Marley was a warrior who was fighting through unpredictable life in order to achieve greatness with his dedication. No matter how life is tough, we should fight to achieve our goals, and Bob Marley is a good example of that. Now some people accuse him that he was smoking too much marijuana and living like it was his last day of life, but he said, “that’s who I’m” and that’s what he believed in. So overall he was amazing legend who made impact on people around the world.

My thoughts about Bob Marley based on my analysis are much wider than they were before. Now I feel like I know and understand him much more. Since I researched a lot about his life, work and his view of the world around him, I can say that it made impact on me as well. “Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality” (Bob Marley).

Since I learned about characteristics of popular culture, I realized that I need to work on not stereotyping other people from different cultural backgrounds. Also about Icons and Cult of the celebrities, that if we want to be or look like some famous people, we should make a difference between real heroes and celebrities which are portrayed through media as perfect ones who are good only on surface. Pop culture is following all trends and technology which is newer day by day, which is very difficult to follow. Therefore we need to focus on the right things in our lives in order to achieve our goals.

References

Rasta-Man-Vibration. (2005). Bob Marley quotes. Retrieved from http://www.rasta-man-vibration.com/bob-marley-quotes.html

Assignment 1-4 Group Assignment Culture and Society: Interactions

Assignment 1-4
Group Assignment
Culture and Society:
Interactions 1935- 1960


Following power point presentation will show Culture and Society Interactions in period from 1935 till 1960.

Assignment 1-3-5 Written Analyses Analysis 4

Assignment 1-3-5

Written Analyses

Analysis 4

Bob Marley’s Formulas

Formula is a process which is developed and characterized through conventions and inventions. Conventional formula is standardized formula which has predictable outcome. On the other hand inventional formula doesn’t have predictable outcome. Bob Marley’s life was combination of both formulas. Marley was an unbelievable man who shared his music with the world. Through the music he showed his emotions, believes and wishes, which were his formulas to reach hearts of the people. He was able to gain the attention of people from all walks of life by showing his love. He putted his country and his people on the top with his inspirational music and his work. His inventional formula and unique restful melodies made him one of a kind called “The First Third World Superstar”.

Marley’s formula was hard work, dedication, sincerity, and self-expression through his lyrics. The message behind his music is very clear because it shows Marley’s heart. Whatever he wanted to say, he said through his lyrics, which were very powerful. His life and his work were characterized through inventional and sometimes conventional formula because it showed his reality. Marley’s life was tough and inventional because he shaped the route of his life. On the other hand his life and work was conventional because he had influence on many people in a good way. All his life he was trying to make the world as better place and even he knew that it’s hard, he believed he can influence on it. His best quality was his awareness because he was aware of reality where the world is, therefore he wanted to do something good in order to unite people in one love, as his lyrics says, “One love, one heart, let's stay together and feel all right”. People became his followers by recognizing themselves in his lyrics which were inspiration to do good and to fight for the rights of justice. Marley was a warrior who was fighting through unpredictable life in order to achieve greatness. He made an impact on society by being their example and role model, and because of that he was recognized for his outstanding contribution to his country's culture.

The insights that I gain from Bob Marley’s formula are his dedication and awareness. Even the life is not easy we need to fight and to dedicate ourselves to achieve our goals. In order to progress in our lives, we need to be positive and optimistic as Bob Marley.

 References:

Baecher, G. (n.d.). Robert Nesta Marley: The man, the myth, the messenger. Retrieved from http://www.angelfire.com/al/tuffsframe/greg.html

Assignment 1-2-2 -Journal Article Analysis

Assignment 1-2-2

September 3, 2012     

Journal Article Analysis

Saying Goodbye to Friends: Fan Culture

as Lived Experience

In the article “Saying Goodbye to Friends: Fan Culture as Lived Experience” Anne Marie Todd is referring to the characters of the show, audience members and fans. She is explaining how was the most popular sitcom Friends portrayed during 10 years period, and what impact had on the viewers. The Friends was a show featuring six friends in their twenties (Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross) whose lives were in center of attention as they lived across each other’s apartments in Manhattan. It is a remarkable comedy which shows young people living together and where friendship means everything. This show had very intense media attention and made impact on millions of show’s fans, especially for the last episode where everybody are saying goodbye to Friends. All together, the broadcast and online media were surrounding the end of the Friends era as media event.

Television plays a big role in the lives of people. In order to shape beliefs, attitudes and values, television “has made entertainment itself the natural format for representation of all experience” (Postman, 1985). Audience recognize themselves by watching familiar television personalities who influence on their lifestyle. Viewers are involved in television programs by talking with other fans about the show which is characterized as form of textual production. This essay provides the aspects of the finale’s influence on fans through media which portrayed end of Friends show as the end of an era in the life of fans and finale broadcast by one hour episode. Anne Marie Todd uses different techniques in this essay, such as statistics, fans experiences and personal opinions.

Statistics as the first technique shows quantifiable information in the essay. By using this technique Anne is giving support to this essay by numbers. Good statistic example Anne uses when she talks about the last episode of Friends show that began at 8:55 p.m. on May 6, 2004 which was according to Nielsen ratings (CNN) followed by 52.5 million viewers. Second time she uses statistic example in third paragraph of third text. In New York 3000 people were sitting on the blankets and watching finale episode on the screen on Times Square (Lemire, 2004). This technique showed statistic view of information supported by numbers. (p. 858)

Fans experiences as second technique, author uses when she talks about fans experiences during the 10 years period of watching the show. By watching Friends show, some fans were imitating actors and coping their hair style, outfit, behavior, lifestyle, and even by buying the same furniture that was used in the show. In that case they recreated the Friends apartments in order to live like Monica and Rachel or Joey and Chandler. The other example is mentioned in third text in first paragraph when it’s said that in the last episode, fans were saying goodbye to Friends together with millions of other viewers. Finale become spectacles intended to demonstrate a show’s place in history and viewers lives.

The third technique used in this essay was personal opinion. Anne supported her essay according to actors’ opinions about the sitcom Friends and how big impact it had one their lives. Mathew Perry said that ”it’s hard to sum up the last 10 years, but it’s basically like being involved in some magical thing that’s bigger than you are” (NBC). And the other example about show it’s said by actor Matt LeBlanc, “it’s been an education, it’s been a love affair, it’s been a friendship, it’s been amazing” (NBC). (p. 865)

The author’s main point is about the Friends finale as media event, characters and fans.  As a media event, the finale reached the biggest ratings and impact on popular media scape. Advertisers were paying $2 million dollars for a 30-second commercial on the final "Friends." The characters were for fans more than just ideas or actors, they were role models that fans identified with. Characters were portrayed as they were real, which made the show popular as it is. Show became fans’ lived experience as they construct fantasy relationships with characters online. I’m sharing the same opinion with Anne about this show as a “Must See TV Show”. Millions of people worldwide followed this sitcom which became ritual in their lives. By watching this show through 10 years period, I experienced as many other fans that Friends were part of real life. I started to drink coffee in that time because of the café place in the show which showed that drinking coffee is a pleasure. I even found similar coffee place which was had the same characteristics as Central Perk. The show was really smooth and easy to watch, which made viewers to follow up all the episodes. Each character from the show is different in their own way, which represents them as individuals with interesting profiles.

In conclusion I can say that this show was a great journey through 10 years as multimedia experience. Actors gave as through their characters the real image of true friends. The Friends was characterized as media artifact which had a big impact on viewers’ life and their social world. I started watching this show when I was in my early twenties, and it became part of my life. Now I even have all the seasons of this show in my computer, which I gladly watch from time to time. Ann was totally right in her last paragraph when she said that “fans do not watch television, they experience it” (p. 868) The six actors, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow, maintained, changed and inspired future TV shows.

 References:

Lemire, C. (May 6, 2004) Friends No More-Ross, Rachel together on series finale. Associated Press

Postman, N. (1985) Amusing Ourselves in Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin, 1985.

Todd, A. M. (August 2011) Saying Goodbye to Friends: Fan Culture as Lived Experience. The Journal of Popular Culture 44(4) p. 854-871                                                                DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00866.x. ISSN: 0022-3840

Assignment 1-3-4 -Analysis 3

Assignment 1-3-4                                                                                                                               Written Analyses                                                                                                                         

 Analysis 3

Heroes and The Cult of the Celebrity

It is not hard to see that our world is affected by heroes and celebrities. There are many theories which describe them who they really are.  Heroes are usually defined by great bravery, facing danger with no fear, showing great courage, overcoming difficulties and saving people’s lives. Heroes are role models and inspiration for people. They are ideals who and what we tend to be in our daily lives. Bob Marley is a great example of a hero. His contribution to his country and to worldwide society made him a national hero. On the other hand, the cult of the celebrity is very popular because people wish to possess everything they see what celebrities have, starting from money, property, power, popularity, and good place in society.  Celebrity’s lives are so fascinating to people because celebrities have fame and they are rich and lead exciting lives.  This makes people to follow their lives in order to see how they are successful or just because they admire them so much and want to be like them. Example for celebrity is Kim Kardashian known as reality television star, model and actress.

Bob Marley, a musician who changed music and its flow is a hero in many ways. Bob Marley is hero of many people too and also known as peacemaker. He made peace with two opposing leaders Prime Minister Bustamante and Prime Minister Manley in his live concert and prevented the guerrilla war that was going to happen between them. In one occasion people tried to kill him, but he survived and the same day he came back on the stage to finish his concert. He propagated meaning of love through his words, which people found motivating to unite in love. We call hero a person who is known to have done some exceptional deeds, and that is who Marley was. He wasn’t just famous person who enjoyed his popularity and he used that advantage to do good for society.

Kim Kardashian is a celebrity who was born rich with open door to success. She is famous and has many fans that just adore her and follow her life through her reality show. But all her popularity and power is centered on her. I was reading magazine where she made a comment that if her web site, Twitter, Facebook is not visited with high amount of her fans, she starts freaking out because it might be possibility that her popularity fades. This shows that the most important thing for her is to be popular and then everything else. But her fans love her just the way she is. They want to be like her, to look like her, and even to live like her.

The insights that I gain from this topic is a big difference between heroes and celebrities. Heroes are much more sincere and noble persons who are doing everything to achieve something good for society and individuals. So whatever they do, they are honored for that, but from my point of view not enough. While celebrities’ primary thing is their popularity which will show them to the world how great, rich, good looking and famous they are. But I guess that society likes more celebrities than heroes because they are much more shown in media. Therefore celebrities’ life becomes occupation and curiosity of the people.

References:

Oxford University Press. (2012). Definition of hero. Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hero

Assignment 1-3-3

Written Analyses—Analysis 2

Bob Marley’s Rituals and Stereotypes

Bob Marley was a musician, songwriter, spiritual leader, and political representative. As known worldwide, his life was followed by media which characterized him through his rituals and stereotypes.

Rituals

Some people believed that Bob Marley was Socialist, or that he was Marxist, but he considered himself as freedom fighter. His support of freedom for those around the world had a real purity of purpose. He said, "I don't stand for the black man's side, I don't stand for the white man's side, I stand for God's side. Viewing himself as a holy person and a member of Rastafari religion, Marley strongly believed that marijuana is a holy “sacrament” and religious ritual which spiritually helped him to become the artist. Other rituals that were known in this religion were non-usage of alcohol, and vegetarianism. The way Marley’s hair was made into dreadlocks was showing symbolism of the spirit of the Lion of Judah, which Rastafari used from the Bible verse from Leviticus 21:5, saying that they shouldn’t shave their head and beard, or to have any cuttings in the flesh. According to this verse Rastafari members based their personal appearance. Therefore Marley didn’t want his foot thumb to be amputated when doctor told him about cancer on his thumb, because it would’ve been against his religion believes and rituals.

Stereotypes

         Bob Marley was very responsible, honest, optimistic, enthusiastic, dedicated in his work and interested in helping society and others through his artistic creativity. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. Bob Marley's message was the return to the country of birth of black people to Zion, which was Ethiopia. So through his songs he was manifesting his opinion about politics and his believes. Some people stereotyped him as nonstop smoking pot and addicted to marijuana. But according to his religion he was smoking pot in order to understand scripture and beliefs of his religion. The other stereotype that people were saying was that he was sleeping with lots of women. Superstar Bob was always surrounded with many women with who he had extra-marital affairs and later many children, but many years later even he didn’t believe in marriage, he married Rita Anderson. He was shy, and when he was under stress, he would be quiet and he would respect other people opinions and needs. Most of the people around the world like him, but there were also others who thought he was bad for society. He was fearless even some people tried to kill him. After Bob was shot and he survived, he came back on the stage to perform at the concert, which was December 5, 1976, in Jamaica. Beside music, his big passion was soccer. Marley was playing soccer almost every day with his friends. Pele was Marley’s favorite soccer player. Soccer was part of his life which he described as freedom.

Combination of Marley’s rituals and stereotypes shows him as a not perfect man, but with big heart who wants everybody to live in love. His works and songs still inspire people all over the world.

 References

Karon, T. (2010, June 19). Cote d’ivoire vs. Brazil: Africa can’t lose. Retrieved from http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2010/06/19/cote-divoire-vs-brazil-africa-cant-lose/

Rasta-Man-Vibration. (2005). Bob Marley and Rita Marley: The role of Rita Marley in helping to direct the career of Bob Marley on the path of success. Retrieved from http://www.rasta-man-vibration.com/rita-marley.html