The Title of our Blog

Hey everyone,

Just in case you were wondering, the title of our blog comes from a Lily Allen song called "The Fear."  The line goes: "I am a weapon of massive consumption, but it's not my fault; it's how I'm programed to function."  If you are interested, take a look at the song and give me some feedback about the lyrics as they relate to the terms we've studied during the media unit.

The Fear

Crude violence in Videogames

I’m a videogame lover I love playing videogames and interacting with online players, playing videogames is entertaining and doesn’t have any explicit reason behind it but to entertain the player with a variety of different tools and methods. For example good graphics and controller’s game play are ideal characteristics for game. Violence in videogames is quite seen; in now days 9 games out of 10 have explicit violence. Lately violence in video games is not the only concern, now there are videogames that include drugs, prostitution, torture, a lot of blood, and not the least swearing all the time.
My post shows a list of 10 videogames that are truly controversial, in terms of violence, the content in this videogames is absurd and there is no apparent reason behind the amount of violence used by the player to achieve the end of the game.

Do you think that any of these games should be produced?

Are those video games insanely violent for your tastes?

What would you do if one of your friends, relatives, family plays those games?

Can you think of one effect that such games have on the players?

Those are just hints of what you might say or discuss I would want to hear your free opinion on this as well ;-)

Funny Racist Commercial

What was your impression after watching this video?
Is this video a good depiction of what is going on in the real world?
How would you handle such a situation (in your unique way)

In the real world, all black people are portrayed as being aggressive because of what we hear in the media about some of their violent reaction toward others and acting a bit irrational compared to other race in public. Due to this, parents advice their children not to mingle with them; the black people. Also these parents make sure they fmove away from black people when they come across them. Normally by going the opposite direction. I was trying to address such an issue once and for all because i have been discriminated against more than once in my building by a different race who found me to be fearful. "NOT ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE EVIL"

Character Roles

Media is the number one way of putting out stereotypes, for sure! Especially through actors playing certain roles given to them. In movies, we often see black males play a character that is funny, outgoing, etc. They are hardly ever put as the main character, but rather the main character's friend who is creating a calm and funny atmoshpere. That's not a bad perspective of showing black males in movies but shouldn't they be given a leading role?

Donkey in the series of Shrek is dubbed by Eddie Murphy, who is a black individual, accompanying Shrek in his adventure to save Fiona. Why accompanying?

Then there is Chris Tucker with Jackie Chan in the movie Rush Hour. Did you notice how Chris Tucker plays a character that is funny, whereas Jackie Chan plays a character that wants to get stuff done fast. It is shown in the picture that Chris Tucker has a more playful character, and Jackie Chan is the more serious type.

The issue is not how black individuals are given a more funny character to play but how they're hardly given roles that are more serious. This shows that these individuals are carefree, all they care about is making jokes and distracting others rather than helping them in a more serious and professional way.

So, a few questions I'd like for you all to answer are:
1) Does race play a role in the type of character actors are given?
2) Should black individuals be given a more serious and funny role?
3) As of yet we don't see any effects of this seterotype, do you think in future we might?

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad...

Russell peters , the stand up comedian is back... Here's a clip from one of his performances called outsourced where he talks about white parents who do not beat their kids. It's unlike other parents who beat their kids all the time. I'd like to ask you a few questions :

1. What do you have to say about the video ?

2. Do you think white parents should actually beat their kids ?

3. Would you want your parents to beat you anytime in your life ? Why or why not ?

Racism In America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRfjLfyXYlA&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVtF8b_0tts

In the first video, a young black man stepped in the elevator. He’s judged so fast and the lady immediately holds on to her purse tightly and steps to the corner away from him as soon as he steps in the elevator. He notices that she’s racist and he was angry, offended, and he was quiet towards her. By holding on to her purse and stepping away she assumes that he is a thief, thug or just a bad person. This is a stereotype that black people always rob, mug, sell drugs, or what ever comes in the mind of the person who believes they are a victim. The fear in the white women’s eyes as soon as he stepped in the elevator showed that she is terrified as if there was a gun pointed towards her. The whole elevator ride she is starring at him as if she is waiting to be attacked. In the end of the clip he scares her and says “Boo”, screams and tries to give her purse out to the man.

In the second video there were two friends, one was a young white man and one was black, and they were deciding on what movie to watch. The black friend said let’s watch Madea Goes To Jail but the white friend didn’t want to watch it because he didn’t like Madea movies. The black friend assumes that the white man is racist and believes that he also thinks black people aren’t capable of making good films. They name a few more black films and the white man doesn’t like any of them not because he’s racist but because really doesn’t like the movies. He proves a point when the black man starts talking about black struggle. Neither of them experienced any type of struggle that could compare to what happens in films. Its funny how the black guy was the one who was actually was the one being racist and this happens a lot.

1) Does racism still occur everywhere around?
2) Do black people over react and believe the slightest thing could be racist?
3) Are we judged as soon as quick as stepping in an elevator, if so why is it always negative?
4) Is this video racist to white people in general?
5) How do you feel about the double standard that black people can make comments on white people but it’s sort of racist if white people make jokes about black?
6) What do you think about the media using racism comedy?

LFL (Lingerie Football League)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OJXBnS7fY&feature=player_embedded#at=79

For the most part men dominate women in all sports. Why is this? Through out history it is viewed that woman are the weaker sex and this impacts the woman in our society. Men are usually portrayed in the media as strong, fast, and even if a female fits into those categories she is labeled as a man. Sports are usually categorized into male and female and very few are considered unisex such as swimming, tennis, and more. Female sports are volleyball, figure skating, softball; these are some stereotypes of woman sports. Sports for men are MMA, Boxing, and football. Now let’s talk about women in football because recently there has been a sport called LFL (Lingerie Football League) and this is similar to NFL but not quite. I believe that these women are degrading themselves for many reasons. Firstly the clothes that they wear consist of few such as bras and panties, and the rest are equipments such as helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and knee pads. These women are not being forced to expose themselves rather they choose to but I believe that they are being encouraged to expose themselves to attract more viewers and make it seem like a successful sport. Also they are not getting payed to play this sport and yet it is a league. The only thing that is getting paid is there expenses such as plane tickets, hotels, uniforms, and other things of that sort. They have to pay for their insurance if they get injured and we all know that football is a dangerous sport. I believe that this Lingerie Football League is degrading woman and is using sex to sell their league and attract audience. Also this league is accused of fining players for wearing too much clothes and this alone shows that it encourages women to be more exposing.

This is what one of the players said during a report on the NBC station in DC tonight, one of the players said she didn't have a problem with the uniform. In her words, it's no different than beach volleyball or track and field.

In my opinion I think that this "LFL" should not be considered a league or sport rather it is just a way of woman exposing themselves and getting attention. Also if this is a sport these women should take it more seriously by wearing full football gear (covering up), getting paid, and getting selected based on skill rather than sexual appearance. If kids watch this league especially girls than they will think that it is normal for them to expose their bodies like that publicly and that is wrong. I feel as though children should watch all sports to get physically active and stay fit but this is one sport I would never let a child watch. Also the founder of this league Mortaza has admitted that the league is marketed toward "mostly beer-drinking college students aged 21 and up."

Now my questions to you are:

1. What impact do you think this league has on children or young teens watching this both male and female?

2. Do you think that these players should get paid like other athletes in other leagues?

3. What do you think is the purpose of this sport?