Just finished my first Terry Pratchett novel: The Color of Magic.
From what I understand, he was praised as being as ingenious as Douglas Adams and Mark Twain. I just don't see it. Some of the things in that book made me chuckle, but there was not as much laughter as with both Adams and Twain. Also the social commentary wasn't as prevalent.
The writing just seems kind of awkward to me. I couldn't really get into the story and found myself skimming some of the paragraphs. Oh well.
My mind is open though, and I have a couple more of his books that I plan on reading: Thud! and The LIght Fantastic.In addition, I plan on picking up Morte (who doesn't like reading about Death?).
Can anybody recommend any other books of his?
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Pop Culture: Celebrities and Transformers
So here we are my first post and an excellent topic: Plastic surgery and the glory of being an underdog. This post is for my Humanities 341- Popular Culture class at Franklin University. The two questions I will be covering will be:
Why does our culture reach out for heroes and celebrities? What do we gain in our lives as a result of this interaction?
Choose one popular T.V. show from the "reality" genre. With reference to this show, what does its appeal say about society's values? For example, what does The Swan or Extreme Makeover say about society's concept of beauty and individuality? (Instead of choosing just one I am going to cover a few related directly to what I am going to call transforming)
Our culture is constantly trying to reach out to celebrities because the typical lives we lead are very boring and maybe a touch of insecurity. We look at this "shiny, happy" people and all of there woes, they seem to be "living the life." What exactly is "living the life" and why is it always them that are living it? In my short analysis I am going to connect this to what I call the high school mentality. That is the inability to get over what happened in high school. The vast majority of us were not the popular cool kid in grade school or even part of that clique. Most of the time these people were placed on pedestals and the rest of us strained to look up at their glory. So I believe it just carries over from grade school, that it is just a socially learned behavior perpetuated by what I would guess is conventional wisdom. That wisdom being that there is something special about these people, something none of us have. Of course, this is utter crap. If people would just realize how much potential they actually have and get over the lies that have been fed to them since basically birth this world would be a better place. You can accomplish whatever you desire as long as you remove yourself as a roadblock. It is not the celebrities that place themselves on these pedestals, rather a combination of both the media and our strange desire to have some kind of affiliation with the popular clique that builds them up.
So what do we gain in our lives as a result of this interaction? A feeling of belonging to something that is greater than us. Honestly, I think we should burn the pedestals and let them know that they are no better than anybody else. Since we are the ones who created the celebrities I do not believe this will ever happen.
Oh well, it is a nice thought.
Now we come to a subject that is very near to my heart: plastic surgery.
Who let this concept of beauty sneak in through the door? I would like to know so that I could torture them like they have tortured countless people with this pathetic image of beauty. It is on every magazine rack at every single store you go to: skinny, dark haloed eyes, small perky breasts, and a cute little button nose. Allegedly this is what the average woman is supposed to look like. Well I say thank god this is not true.
Although I am completely sickened by these people there are those who take this as gospel. They feel that their looks do not measure up to the pretty angels on the glossy covers. And so the demand comes creating a supply for radical medical procedures to change your looks. Who do you want to look like? I Want a Famous Face from MTV wants to know. This show is nothing more than indulgence into what should be treated as a psychiatric disorder. People who want to look like a celebrity are placed on this show and transformed into Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie (I’m crossing my fingers in hope that somebody will actually want both at some point).
So what does this show and the trend say about society? I think it is the sign of a sick, demented, self-indulgent society that has absolutely no concept of reality. Honestly, why would someone get this done? I can only come to one conclusion. The media is impressing upon the public that there is only one possible concept of beauty. We can’t entirely blame the media though. What it boils down to is a very disgusting cycle. The people desire to be popular and the media provides coverage of this idea of popular. The two feed off each other until we are fed this crap at such a rate social disorders start form. Odd diseases like bulimia and anorexia are created. People are considered hideous by what the media has established as pretty. This creates feeling of inadequacy and what do you know a quick fix is introduced: Plastic Surgery. In a country were everything is pretty much a quick fix it is no surprise that we have shows like this. Are you ugly? That’s OK, we will fix you. You’ll be instantly popular and I swear, kid, there are no drawbacks! No regrets!
All I can really say is, it is a blessing that not everybody feels this way. Not everybody agrees with the media and often enough we can throw it back. I believe that shows that there is some hope for the future of society. Hopefully 10,000 years from now people will remember Rosa Parks and not Paris Hilton.
Why does our culture reach out for heroes and celebrities? What do we gain in our lives as a result of this interaction?
Choose one popular T.V. show from the "reality" genre. With reference to this show, what does its appeal say about society's values? For example, what does The Swan or Extreme Makeover say about society's concept of beauty and individuality? (Instead of choosing just one I am going to cover a few related directly to what I am going to call transforming)
Our culture is constantly trying to reach out to celebrities because the typical lives we lead are very boring and maybe a touch of insecurity. We look at this "shiny, happy" people and all of there woes, they seem to be "living the life." What exactly is "living the life" and why is it always them that are living it? In my short analysis I am going to connect this to what I call the high school mentality. That is the inability to get over what happened in high school. The vast majority of us were not the popular cool kid in grade school or even part of that clique. Most of the time these people were placed on pedestals and the rest of us strained to look up at their glory. So I believe it just carries over from grade school, that it is just a socially learned behavior perpetuated by what I would guess is conventional wisdom. That wisdom being that there is something special about these people, something none of us have. Of course, this is utter crap. If people would just realize how much potential they actually have and get over the lies that have been fed to them since basically birth this world would be a better place. You can accomplish whatever you desire as long as you remove yourself as a roadblock. It is not the celebrities that place themselves on these pedestals, rather a combination of both the media and our strange desire to have some kind of affiliation with the popular clique that builds them up.
So what do we gain in our lives as a result of this interaction? A feeling of belonging to something that is greater than us. Honestly, I think we should burn the pedestals and let them know that they are no better than anybody else. Since we are the ones who created the celebrities I do not believe this will ever happen.
Oh well, it is a nice thought.
Now we come to a subject that is very near to my heart: plastic surgery.
Who let this concept of beauty sneak in through the door? I would like to know so that I could torture them like they have tortured countless people with this pathetic image of beauty. It is on every magazine rack at every single store you go to: skinny, dark haloed eyes, small perky breasts, and a cute little button nose. Allegedly this is what the average woman is supposed to look like. Well I say thank god this is not true.
Although I am completely sickened by these people there are those who take this as gospel. They feel that their looks do not measure up to the pretty angels on the glossy covers. And so the demand comes creating a supply for radical medical procedures to change your looks. Who do you want to look like? I Want a Famous Face from MTV wants to know. This show is nothing more than indulgence into what should be treated as a psychiatric disorder. People who want to look like a celebrity are placed on this show and transformed into Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie (I’m crossing my fingers in hope that somebody will actually want both at some point).
So what does this show and the trend say about society? I think it is the sign of a sick, demented, self-indulgent society that has absolutely no concept of reality. Honestly, why would someone get this done? I can only come to one conclusion. The media is impressing upon the public that there is only one possible concept of beauty. We can’t entirely blame the media though. What it boils down to is a very disgusting cycle. The people desire to be popular and the media provides coverage of this idea of popular. The two feed off each other until we are fed this crap at such a rate social disorders start form. Odd diseases like bulimia and anorexia are created. People are considered hideous by what the media has established as pretty. This creates feeling of inadequacy and what do you know a quick fix is introduced: Plastic Surgery. In a country were everything is pretty much a quick fix it is no surprise that we have shows like this. Are you ugly? That’s OK, we will fix you. You’ll be instantly popular and I swear, kid, there are no drawbacks! No regrets!
All I can really say is, it is a blessing that not everybody feels this way. Not everybody agrees with the media and often enough we can throw it back. I believe that shows that there is some hope for the future of society. Hopefully 10,000 years from now people will remember Rosa Parks and not Paris Hilton.
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