Progress - Health Deceptions

Research -

In looking at the patterns across various kinds of television shows, the 'television world' is a relatively healthy one, in that everyone is thin. But those patterns leave us with a very misleading message. “Although most characters are not shown having particularly healthy habits (eating responsibility, regularly exercising, and getting medial checkups to prevent illnesses), most characters appear health, fit, and thin.” (Potter p.90) According to the American Obesity Association, 64.5% of Americans are overweight or obese. Here is where the misconception is; only 2% of women and 6% of men are shown to be heavy. When we see characters drinking and eating on TV, they do not gain weight and the food they eat is usually pretty unhealthy. As Potter states, fruit is accounted for only 4% to 5% of the episodes we see. It’s no wonder over half of the American population are obese! Audiences think that they can eat whatever they want and not gain weight based off of television shows like Gilmore Girls. This is just one of the health deceptions.

Source
Potter, James. “Media Literacy” Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. 2005.

A possibility for I.C.

It seems like a lot of teachers junior year are giving us the freedom to choose a topic we are passionate about and write about them. In U.S. history, I’m writing a paper about women’s rights and the differences women faced between the 1800s and now. In mass media, I am either going to be writing about violence or sexual behavior through the media lens of Grey’s Anatomy. I love that topic and I know it won’t get boring. So now I just need to pick something out for this one.

Honestly, I’m not completely sure what I’m passionate about. This is a tough one. What do I want to write about that will divide my audience?

What about if I did my paper in reference to how health is portrayed in the media? Definitely something I would be interested in researching because it seems these days on television you can eat anything and not gain weight. Take for example Rachael Ray, a Food Network cook, and the Gilmore Girls, who eat tons of food per meal but still happen to remain thin. We never see them working out. Obviously, doing a topic like this would mean knowing things about the media and how it works – which is why I could use references from my mass media class! (gasp!) I actually kind of like this idea now and it could be an interesting topic. The only bad thing about it, that I can think of right now anyway, is how it will divide my audience. I suppose I could go back and forth between reality and how the real world is portrayed. Some might not agree and think I’m totally wrong.


What do you guys think of that idea?

Hosts and Tips

The proposal argument given about hosts and tips was effective. Laurel Wilson addresses the problem, a solution, and justifies herself professionally. She is definitely aware of her audience and this is shown by how forthcoming she is in the tone and voiced used. Wilson has a clear purpose of her letter to the CEO of Stone’s End restaurant. I thought it was effective in that, she was aware in her choice of ‘pathos’ and ‘ethos’. Wilson showed she cared about the company and said that if they tipped their hostess 1% of tips given to severs, it would reduce the turnover rate. She states that the company would have better employees if the business was more competitive. Wilson also looked into other companies, which I feel makes her argument very strong. She gives more than one solution to have better hostesses – tips and a clothing allowance. Wilson looks at the problem from different angles and justifies herself professionally and accordingly.

C.P. Ellis

Ellis’s story offers a credible way of overcoming misunderstanding and hatred between races. He talks about how easy it is to hate a group of people because most of the time it is just a group of people who want to be a part of something. Once he goes on to become a school board member he meets with an African American woman, Ann. Ellis’s realizes they aren’t very different and organizes the labor union to unify the lower working class. He also comes to understand that the involvement he is doing with the women, is actually helping him see past their racial divide. Because he was able to realize they essentially had the same problem (with their children) and they were different races, I think that offers a credible overcoming of his hatred of different race.

I think this is possible on a large scale, but it would be a difficult task. Before I went down to the Lord’s Pantry, I never really wanted to help the poor – not because I hated them or anything, but just because I don’t know them. Obviously once I went down there and helped out, I came out wanting to go back. If people had a chance to get to know the other side, those they aren’t fond of, I think it would be possible.

Mainstream

Edit: I'm not sure why this did not post yesterday, but here it is (redone, ah!)

Yoshino says that ‘the mainstream is a myth’ because to be mainstream you have to be normal, and no one is completely normal. Everyone is unique and that is why being mainstream is myth. The term “mainstream” is also difficult to define considering nothing can be based off of the myth itself. I would define mainstream with what is popular or the majority of what people like. It is hard to define mainstream because most of the time people are covering or pretending to like something simply to fit in. There can’t be a concrete mainstream because people aren’t always themselves.

I don’t find his reasoning to be very well backed up. Yoshino uses the example that “straights are more mainstream than gays”, but I don’t see much to that. It would have been nice if he had gone deeper and appealed to pathos. Although I do agree with his point to a certain point (see my definition above), other might not be persuaded because of his lack of evidence.

Freedom Attained

Linda finally attains her freedom through Mrs. Bruce, who buys her freedom for $300, because she wants Linda to be a free woman who can have the ability to do what she likes without being in constant fear of being captured. However, even with her newly attained freedom she feels as though she was bought and felt as if she were being passed on to another owner. She feels as though she was purchased because the Dodges and Mrs. Bruce wanted her, and she had to be negotiated. Ultimately she is freed on behalf of Mrs. Bruce buying her freedom and this is a good thing in the end. Linda won’t have to feel worried about some capturing her children, and that is a huge stress reliever for her.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Ch. 1-9

If Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were not true it would not be credible or believable, and it would not of made as big of an impact on its readers. It is important for the events that happened to Linda to be the real deal to connect deeper with the reader and for them to realize what life was like for a slave girl. It’s authentic knowing this is a story of what actually happened during that time period. If the editor were to have cleaned up the language I feel that would of taken away from the realistic ness and rawness. It would have also taken away from the personal tone and the appeal to pathos. This book was able to touch its readers by allowing amount of emotion show through the word choice and credibility.