Maheshl22's Blog

Wonder Woman

maheshl22 — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:47:22 +0000

I think showing the Wonder Woman movie was appropriate for this class. The movie is about a strong female character who was able to play a role of a strong super hero just like a male character would. The movie swaps the roles of male and female. In spider man, a male superhero saves a girl. In Wonder Woman, a female is playing the hero and a man is the one being saved and playing the sidekick. She breaks through stereotypical gender roles. The movie was animated because if it were real it would have been to detailed with violence. The movie still contained violent images but its a cartoon and that’s where these thing should take place and not in the real world.

Super Heroes!

maheshl22 — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:03:13 +0000

Almost every superhero wears tights, capes boots and their logo/icon. This is the super attire. Clothes that show every muscle and colors that scream pride or justice is what sets these people apart from the average civilian. This is not a costume like Chip Kidd explained. Superheroes wear uniforms when they have a mission to do. These clothes are the identity of superheros just like a firefighter or policeman. Characters are associated with these types of clothes and anyone who is to dress up like that is considered to be one.This construction of clothes gives an identity to the person. In society, classification of people is done by their clothes. Tight clothes, a cape and logo/icon would be a superhero, dark, grunge clothes would classify the individual as a goth and big baggy clothes would classify the individual as a thug or someone who is into hip hop rap music. Clothes create a style that has an identity to different groups. When we see a superhero they must have a double life and in that double life they are someone who is quiet, different from society. Many superheroes like Neal Gabler explains in his article ” Inside Every Superhero Lurks a Nerd” are from different planets or a rich handsome man like Batman. However this has changed. The stereotype of a superhero having to be strong muscular is no longer. Now a days we see heroes such as spider-man who is a wimpy kid who got bit by a spider and the movie Kick A** takes normal teenagers who are inspired by their comic heroes ans turn them into superheroes. The movies follows typical stereotypes of superheroes with the tight clothes, cape and logo.

Diversity

maheshl22 — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:32:24 +0000

When we hear the word diversity we are most likely to think about skin color or racial background. When it comes to Colleges we usually see them advertise something about how diverse their campus is. They will show an image of people of different skin colors all laughing and get along. This to me is not diversity. I believe that skin color or racial background no longer has an effect on the word. A new way of defining diversity would be defining someone by their environment. Everyone personality is created by their environmental situation and that creates diversity. Everyone acts and thinks based on how they were raised and react to past events in their environment. We cannot keep the definition of diversity to the only being based on color and racial background. The whole concept behind it is variety and when it only has two categories we are just limiting it. There is more to a persons diversity than just their skin color.

Abstract For Freestyle Assignment

maheshl22 — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:46:39 +0000

Abstract

Using a series of images an artist can narrate a story without words. For my Freestyle assignment I have chosen to create a mix media narrative consisting of images that I have created myself that were inspired by the early life of my grandfather. When my grandmother first told me about his childhood I created a series of images related to a specific event in his life. I always find myself drawing weird horror styled work. In my assignment I will be using this event and turning it into a story with a horror like theme. I will write a reflection on why did I create these images and how is it that they relate and interact with the text. I will also speak about how each image can tell a story without words. The assignment will assimilate into the class readings and offer a dialogue with our other texts.

“Grant Wood: American Gothic” by Jane Yolen

maheshl22 — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:36:06 +0000

The first lines of this poem by Jane Yolen sound as if they are suggestion or warnings of what not to do. The first line pulls out specific things within the image that most people would stare at and try to figure out what the image is trying to say. The second line talks about something that is not the in the American Gothic. It talks about a farmer counting cows and saying it does not define you as a farmer on how many you have in your herd. The first two lines are metaphors and the last line is straight forward and an argument.

The poem seems to be talking to a viewer of the painting. This is my take on the poem and painting. When people tend to look at images created by an artist they tend to look to hard. The begin observing it for subliminal messages when the artist’s intention of the piece was to create what is exactly on the image. In the poem the lines suggest that we do not focus on the pitchfork or anything else or try to wonder if the farmer in the image is trying to become a successful one through how much he produces from his cows to plants etc. The last line says ” look behind the eyes”. This line could imply that we are the one being looked at from the character view that this image is judging us and we should take a look at ourself in order to understand this painting.
The image on page 514 is similar to that of Grant Wood’s painting but its a 1942. In the image we see a African-American holding a broom in the same way the man was in the American Gothic. She is alone and is wearing the same type of glasses. Instead of a farm with Gothic religious style there is an american flag behind her.

How Mali Lost Her Accent

maheshl22 — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:14:29 +0000

The image with the young girl standing in the center of different educational options speaks a lot. It seems as if she is being force-fed this new lifestyle while trying to keep her old traditional life. Being an immigrant in America is difficult. It is a lot more difficult when you are young and have two different cultures. From this image I get the sense that Mali is going through some major changes. She is making the transition from her old culture and about to embrace the American Culture. Her awkward position and facial expression show there is an inner conflict that is cause much confusion. She is aware of the opportunity ahead of her but they come at an expense of letting go of her culture.

Does humor reinforce and/or subvert gender training?

maheshl22 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:01:04 +0000

Humor reinforces and subvert gender training. The Nature Vs Nurture cartoon shows a father trying to change his daughter playing habit with that of a boys. However, he fails to do so because its natures law for a girl to be nurturing instead of rough housing with toys. It saying that a girl will always be nurturing. However, sometimes humor can be used to subvert gender training. In today’s society children play with toys that aren’t made for their gender and its a bit humorous but acceptable.

In what ways does the ad on page 402 reinforce or subvert gender roles?

maheshl22 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:43:01 +0000

The advertisement on page 402 is really retarded to me. It’s humorous in a dry sense. It enforces gender roles which is the humor of this joke. I thought an Army advertisement would promote equal gender roles but this advertisement is putting down woman more than bringing them up to an equal level of a man. The advertisement says ” You’ll find yourself doing some very familiar things. Like getting into aerobics, going to the movies or just being with friends… The point is a woman in the Army is still a woman”. This isn’t the Army at all. This advertisement is saying that woman do not play a significant role at all in anything which isn’t true. In the photo the female soldier is wearing make up -__- and in the bottom left corner she is in the arms of a male at a social gathering. This is an old ad that probably was supposed to get woman to join the army without doing combat work. Back then Woman weren’t expected to fight but to do simple things. If this ad was to been seen today’s society they would laugh at it and find it offensive because the woman of today can do anything a man can.

Jane Slaughter’s Essay HUMOR

maheshl22 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:26:17 +0000

Humor works at many levels depending on the person ability to understand the situation and relating it to the witty comment or joke the person made in relation to it. Jokes come in a variety of ways. Humor is used to insult someone, or to make a smart joke that requires further understanding on what was said and a joke that is just simple. It works by understanding. If someone doesn’t care about a joke that insults them and doesn’t take offense, they will find it humorous. It’s always used to make the best out of a bad situation but it always comes back to how the audience takes the humor. When it comes to stereotypes I think humor subvert them if someone is able to laugh at themselves. If the person takes it personal than the humor isn’t doing anything but reinforcing the stereotype.

Keep The Story With Kodak

maheshl22 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:46:48 +0000

The picture on page 322 is very old-fashioned and it is an advertisement for the Kodak company. The image is of a grandmother reading to her grandchildren. We know this because it is given to us in the description under the photo. When we look at an image without a description we can guess a lot of different stories from it. The slogan ” keep the story with kodak” means that we can keep these stories forever if we take a photo of it and it will live until you decided to throw out the photo. The photo with the description helps us understand that photography can be changed with a single sentence. The advertisement shows us that in our culture photography is there to document family moments that show the family growing or other things in life that we can come back to with a photo. The power of a photograph to me is the ability to take a single moment and let it live forever. In the description, it says ” a well illustrated little book that will help in picture-making at your house”. This shows photojournalism can be used for families and is for recording a family as it grows.