Comm 101- Stoner/Steele Lecture

In Professor Stoners lecture on new media and students study abroad experience, she discussed the potential impact that new media technologies has on students experiences when studying abroad. Though I have never participated in a study abroad experience, I did partake in a trip to Mexico in which we traveled to some of the poorest parts of Country. When she spoke of this idea of Culture shock I was somewhat able to relate to it because I was only in high school and it was my first time traveling to a foreign country and I remember how frustrating it was to travel to locations where everyone spoke only Spanish. Everything from asking for directions, to asking where the nearest bathroom was, and ordering are food was extremely difficult and discomforting. We were even faced with a situation where we were been stalked by a man in Mexico City and being the only male in the group, trying to ask for help when we didn’t know how made things very scary for me. During the trip I had refused to use my cell phone because I wanted to gain the whole experience of being in foreign country, therefore I wasn’t able to use my cell phone (which I didn’t have on me) to get help. In regards to the experience, minus that incident, I believe I had a much more worthwhile experience without the use of my cell phone. I know the rest of my group did use their cell phones, and even used local computers that were in our hotel to keep in touch with family and significant others. They themselves have looked back and agree that this detracted them from having a holistic experience, and they now wish they hadn’t.  

Something that I think would be interesting to research is to combine Professor Steele’s research in cultural studies with Stoners research. It would be interesting to research how Black students experiences are while studying abroad, and if their experience is different due to their race. For example, if they face challenges while studying abroad in regards to their race. Also, to examine how many black students actually participate in study abroad programs and whether or not they have adequate access to study abroad to the usual members of such programs that tend to be upper to middle class white students.

Meraz Lecture- A "gamers" world

In Sharon Meraz’s lecture, she discusses the gendering of the internet and of the computer science field. She explains that the internet and the computer science field alike have seen a major gap in women’s participation in these areas. There has even been a decrease in women’s participation in these categories, which is truly quite astonishing.

One of the biggest areas in which we see a huge gender gap, is the video gaming world. The gaming world has seen a very low proportion of women and is affecting the ways in which women participate in gaming and create games themselves. When we think of the name “gamer” your mind goes directly to one image, no matter what the person in your image is wearing, or what their physical features may be, one aspect of the gamer that is universal is certain; they are male. They are male because the games themselves are highly “male” orientated games. We see extremely (stereotypical) masculine, male characters, that kick ass and take names or we see very intelligent, sly, and “smooth” male characters like James Bond. All the games are created by men and for men. Women, in the games themselves, are overly feminized even if the character is the lead role. Women are usually the ones that are being saved in games, or, like in grand theft auto, being murdered and raped. When women are in leading roles, like Lara Croft Tomb Raider, the character has overly large breasts and buttocks , and are of course, very, very beautiful. You never see an overly masculine/butch female character, because that isn’t what guys want to see when their character is kicking ass. They want to see a half dressed bomb shell.

Children’s games are also highly gendered. When a parent buys their daughter a game, you don’t find them buying them the Power Rangers Ninja game or really even Mario Party. The games that parents buy for their little girls are games like Barbie and Friends or the Hanna Montana sing along game. Girl related games do not test them on their gaming skills nor are they intellectually stimulating. Girl’s games are highly dumbed down because their creators apparently feel girls are not able to play games that are controller dexterity heavy or intellectually difficult. This notion that female children aren’t interested in what is normally male orientated is problematic. Game creators need to become female orientated and more females need to become game creators. I would love to see a diehard female feminist become a game creator and create a game that is total feminist. That is a game I would love to play.

Rojecki and Politics: "These People are Out of their Minds"

Just this past semester, I had the privilege of taking Andrew Rojecki’s framing seminar class, in which he discusses many of the issues that he discusses in his presentation. Andrew Rojecki discusses what he calls “politics of insecurity” in which a new wave of political discourse is taking place. Rojecki discusses that shortly after 9/11, and the failures of the Bush Administration, the economy began to blunder, consumers and citizens became scared of the economic crisis, and globalization had increased massively. With all these factors taking place Political discourse changed, in which, as Andrew Rojecki States “there is a disconnect between politics and the economy, there was an absence of solutions, Politian’s began to have ‘no prisoner attitudes, and ideology vs. solution became key competitors.” What Rojecki means by ideology vs. solution is that politicians are choosing their ideology’s, whether it’s big government/no government or pro-choice/ pro-life, to neglect making solutions in regards to the economy. His presentation is highly potent today with the upcoming senate and presidential elections. People are becoming panicked because nothing has been done in the past four years (that is of substantial importance) to better the economy, thus they are becoming more and more disapproving of the Obama Administration.

I recently wrote a paper about the decline of the materialistic myth, which is a deeply rooted Republican philosophy. In my paper I discussed how the Republican was in such decline that they have become so desperate that they are doing everything possible to build up their parties cause. Though the party is doing exactly that, my paper was proven wrong because I believe the Republican Party is actually rising again.  The Republicans were so successful in blocking every measure to pass a bill to create jobs and/or to better the economy and were able to blind citizens from this fact, they have increased their number of voters by the masses, as we saw in the Wisconsin Governor’s race, where the conservative  Governor Walker held his seat. Rojecki also points out that Fox news increased by 50 points in viewership, which is also a sign of such a switch.

 The rise in the Tea party, the media’s reroute to conservative viewpoints has changed the tides of politics because of the immense fear and doubt that people have for our Country. Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney has completely flipped his political views from moderately conservative to die hard conservative in order to completely disassociate himself that could be seen in the slightest way a democratic view. He has even overtly lied about his position on topics like health care and gay rights, just to fit the staunch conservative mode. As a diehard democrat, I am becoming more and more worried of what is to come in our politics. Little is getting done and, in my personal opinion, if the Republicans take office, both in the Senate and the Presidency, I believe that it will continue. Andrew Rojecki put it perfectly “… these people are out of their minds.”

In professor Bui’s lecture on Vietnamese women and their representation as Vietnam in prewar/ pre-communist era, she describes that the Vietnam women were used to represent Vietnam as this Garden of Eden, a place of beauty, and exoticism that forever changed after the communist takeover and break out of war. The women in Vietnam were objectified by western eyes, and thus creating an image of Vietnam women that were prostitutes, and escorts. Though many women of this time were in fact escorts, the women were objectified by western troops, many of which were already married. Professors Bui’s research does more than just speak about Vietnamese women as sexual objects and sexualized bodies, but it also speaks for an even broader issue; that is Asian women as a whole. The Vietnam War took place over 50 years, and movie makers like those that Bui talks about in her lecture, tried to show Vietnam women in a certain light and from a certain view point. This representation of Vietnamese women, one could argue, became the representation of Asian women as whole. Even today, in a much more liberal society, Asian women are objectified in television and film, which has carried its way through time. Movies like Memoirs of a Geisha, that does not take in place in Vietnam, have created similar images to that of the Vietnamese women, and have created stereotypes that have carried into today’s society. Particularly in Fraternity college life, I have noticed a popular trend of college fraternity brothers that objectify Asian women as sexual objects, women of apparent exotic nature, and apparently overly sexual. It seems to be in the college discourse that one must sleep with an Asian at least once in their lifetime. This ideology is quite problematic for Asian women and the notion that all Asian women are used as sexual bodies and seen as exotic is the pure definition of orientalism. Professor Bui’s research does not only speak of the past or simply Vietnamese women specifically, but it even resonates in today’s society, where Asian women as whole are objectified and seen as exotic, sexualized bodies. Orientalism is still very present, though many would argue against that.