So You Want Blue Eyes? Well...I Have Hazel Eyes.

"Each night Pecola prayed for blue eyes. In her eleven years, no one had ever noticed Pecola. But with blue eyes, she thought, everything would be different. She would be so pretty that her parents would stop fighting. Her father would stop drinking. Her brother would stop running away. If only she could be beautiful. If only people would look at her."


Have you ever wished that you looked like someone else? Have you ever been made fun of or felt insecure? If so I suggest that you check out The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison. This compelling novel tells the story of a young girl who felt just that and the hardships that she faced. It will take you on a journey through all kinds of emotions. I couldn’t put the book down until I had finished it. This book is widely recognized as being a member of Oprah’s Book Club. The Bluest Eye also won the Nobel Prize in Literature, which Toni Morrison was the eighth woman and the first African American to win. Toni Morrison attended Howard University, obtained her master’s from Cornell University, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford University. Morrison has written many novels as well as children’s book. All of her novels portray African American characters and the issues they face in everyday life. I feel that Morrison is able to authentically portray these issues because she herself is African American. I know that if I tried to write a novel like this I would not be able to portray the issues and realities that are faced, because I have never actually faced or encountered them in my life being a white woman.

The Bluest Eye is a fictional novel that takes place in the small town of Lorain, Ohio where Morrison was born. Pecola Breedlove, an 11 year old African American girl, is the main character. Pecola’s story is told by others to keep her mysterious. Pecola is often picked on and made fun of at school for being ugly. She prays and wishes every day that her eyes will turn blue so that she can be as pretty as the blond, blue-eyed white girls. Although Pecola prayed for change, the change that occurs is very painful and devastating, not uplifting as she thinks she will feel with blue eyes. Pecola goes through many trials and hard times throughout the novel. At times, the hardships she faces are so tough, that I thought I could not go on reading. I kept reading, because I needed to know what happened with Pecola. After reading the novel, I felt this feeling that words can’t quite express. I felt angry, sad, upset, and knowing all at the same time. I feel that I learned a lot about the culture of the time and how this affected Pecola’s self image and hatred for herself. At the same time, it made me angry, sad, and upset because all of these things are still happening in the media today. The media picks one definition of beauty and keeps ‘advertising’ that image. Women see these images and become obsessed with looking like that. Every single person out there is beautiful in their own way, and I feel that the media should begin to portray beauty of actual images that are found in every day society. If only Pecola could have learned that beauty is only skin deep, she would not have to drive herself as far as she does.

The novel touches on many powerful issues and themes which include: race and white supremacy, women’s roles, beauty, culture, and self-hatred. Pecola thinks that if she was blond and blue-eyed that she would be pretty, therefore all of the troubles in her life would fade away. Everyone would see her and her family in a different light. Little does Pecola know that pretty and clean does not equal happy. The culture that Pecola lives in and even the culture today dictates to us what beauty is and how women should look. In Pecola’s world the media portrayed beauty as movie stars who had blonde hair and blue eyes. Even the Mary Jane candy that Pecola loves to eat has a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes on it. In today’s society the media and fashion magazines portray to us that women must be super skinny. In our world it drives women to eating disorders to obtain the unhealthy skinny that is portrayed as beauty. In Pecola’s world she drives herself crazy wanting to be a Shirley Temple look alike.

Although I did not fit the target audience that Toni Morrison had in mind when writing The Bluest Eye, I would highly recommend for anyone to read it. The novel touches on many issues that are still faced in today’s society. Any reader after enjoying this book will be able to look more closely at the issues that are faced by both African Americans and women in today’s society. I know for a fact that the images the media portrays for women today are hard to face and yet still be comfortable in your own image. I can only imagine how hard it would be to be both a woman and an African American dealing with image issues.

What is a documentary?

Before enrolling in this mass communications course my thoughts of a documentary were very limited. When hearing the word documentary I usually thought of something boring that you watched in class, usually with a lot of talking in monotone voices and dealing with ancient history. To me a documentary was not something fun to watch. Even when this class began and we were informed that we would have to produce our own documentary I was a little daunted by the project and kind of upset that we’d have to make such a boring video.

In today’s world where media is always changing, the documentary is evolving as well. Documentaries now range from 3 minute clips you can find on YouTube.com, television reality shows, and of course what I only used to think of a documentary as—films. The whole point of a documentary is to tell someone or something’s story. Anyone who makes a documentary has their own agenda, so each documentary varies in style and how the story is presented.

After discussing in class exactly what a documentary is and viewing various documentaries, I now have a completely different view of documentaries. Watching 30 days (a reality show), A Class Divided, and many other short clips of documentaries such as Campus Ladies have showed me the various forms and views that a documentary can take. Now that I understand the genre of documentaries, I am beginning to value and even enjoy them. I can now watch a documentary critically. I try to understand what the producers are trying to tell me and whose story they are telling. I’ve begun to notice some of the techniques that documentary producers use to engage their audience. Music is a big thing that can bring emotion and feeling into the documentary, which is a tool most producers use often and effectively. One thing that I still do not like about documentaries is when a person is being interviewed and they talk for a majority of the documentary with no pictures/video clips. Talking is fine and necessary, but I feel that a good documentary shows pictures of the subject to help tell the story while they are talking.

Webster's defines ‘documentary’ as: of, relating to, or employing documentation in literature or art; broadly : factual, objective .

I define a documentary as some type of ‘thing’ that can be viewed which informs you or shows you about something that you’ve never seen before. This ‘thing’ could be the actual subject talking, a picture slideshow with music, still pictures with a narrator, a television show or any combination of these. In producing our own documentary I feel that my group should strive to include a few important aspects. Our documentary should be unbiased—we should present the voice of our subject and not our own. If necessary, there may be a bit of narration or an introduction, but the subject’s voice should be heard more throughout the documentary than a narrator. Music should be included to share the emotion of our documentary and the subject. With all of these aspects, I hope that our documentary, when finished, will inform our viewers of something new or maybe change some of the previous pictures they had in their heads.

"No Human Being Is Illegal"

Tired of the long summer days? Sick of boring reality shows that seem scripted? Well, the cure for you is an original reality TV show. FX Networks presents their original reality series, “30 Days” on Wednesday nights at 10pm. According to the FX website for “30 Days”, the show “places an individual in a living environment that is antithetical to their upbringing, beliefs, religion, or profession in an effort to examine real societal differences that Americans face everyday.” Some of the issues that the show has tackled are immigration, outsourcing, jail, and pro-life/pro-choice. Morgan Spurlock is the series creator of “30 Days”. You may also know him as the Oscar nominee for his production of the movie, “Super Size Me”. Spurlock and his crew produce this show to reach out to all of the diverse viewers who watch TV. The show has been aired on Oprah’s talk show for some of the issues it tackles and has even been shown in more than 15 countries around the world.

In the episode of “30 Days” that I viewed, a minuteman, Frank George, was packing up for 30 days to live with a family of illegal immigrants. Frank believes that “illegal aliens are a plague on the country that need to be removed.” Frank is a legal U.S. citizen although he did immigrate to the United States from Cuba. He speaks fluent Spanish which helps him during his stay with the Gonzalez’s. All members of the Gonzalez family are illegal immigrants, except for two children who were born in the United States. For Frank to become an ‘illegal alien’ he had three rules to follow: leave all of his personal identification behind, move in with an illegal family and share their cramped space, and be put to work as a day laborer.

Frank spends time with the Gonzalez’s by eating, talking, and working with them. His days are spent by visiting areas around East Los Angeles, working as a handy man, separating recyclables, and going golfing. Armida, one of the Gonzalez children, also takes Frank to a vigil of illegal immigrants that is supporting a new bill from the Senate that, if passed, would give all of the Gonzalez’s documented status. Another thing that Frank did during his 30 days was to visit Mexico and see some of the Gonzalez family and their condition of living before immigrating. At the end, although parts of Frank’s stay were rocky, there is a tearful goodbye.

Throughout the episode I noticed two really important issues that were highlighted. The first was illegal immigrants. Frank George had some very strong views towards illegal immigrants. He stated that he saw America as an ailing country and the sickness was illegal immigrants. He described how he protests illegal immigrants after becoming involved with the minutemen after 9/11. Frank would travel to the U.S./Mexico border every weekend with his wife and his 9mm handgun with ammunition and would report any illegal immigrants to the U.S. border patrol. Frank had some very strong views about illegal immigrants, but after staying with the Gonzalez’s for a while he seems to be faltering a bit in his beliefs. When Franks is saying goodbye to the Gonzalez’s he says, “There comes a time when you love people for who they are, all politics aside.” I feel that because of his stay he got to actually know the Gonzalez’s and saw the poverty that they left behind in Mexico; I think he actually understands why people do cross the border illegally.

Another important issue is that Frank is Cuban and a minuteman. On the show while the Gonzalez’s were waiting to meet Frank they were talking about how they hoped he was blond and blue-eyed. They felt it would be acceptable if he was white, but not acceptable if he were Latino because he would be going against his own ethnicity. The Gonzalez’s were shocked when they saw Frank and heard him speak Spanish. A heated debate developed because of this. However, Frank explained that although he is Latino, he is a legal citizen. He supports people immigrating to the United States; he just wants people to do it legally.

I thought it strange that Frank had these hard set beliefs about illegal immigrants since he is Cuban. I feel that Frank was influenced in his opinion of illegal immigrants since he did not join the minutemen until after 9/11. Frank probably only got the pictures he had in his head from the news that the media supplied, which depict negative aspects of illegal immigrants in our country. Walter Lippmann states, "Thus there can be little doubt that the moving picture is steadily building up imagery which is then evoked by the words people read in their newspapers. (50)" I believe this means Frank saw all of these images that the gatekeepers applied through the media and let them build up in his head. When he finally saw an ad or an article for the minutemen in the newspaper, all these pictures came rushing into his head and he figured by joining he could help to make a difference.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was almost brought to tears at the end. The show was very interesting and helped me to understand some of the US Immigration issues. I would give the show an A+ because it is thought provoking and has a specific purpose. I would recommend for anyone to watch the show. The show was produced to give the average American more insight into an illegal immigrant’s life and examine real societal differences these immigrants face everyday.

Stereotype, Typecast, Label, Pigeonhole....It's your call...

When a person says the word stereotype, the pictures or thoughts that used to come to mind were either racial or negative stereotypes. I’ve recently come to change my thoughts and opinions on what I thought a stereotype is. The actual definition of a stereotype from dictionary.com is:
“a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.”
I used to feel that a stereotype was something derogatory about a group of people. After discussing stereotypes and their meanings since the beginning of the semester in various classes I now have a completely different understanding of stereotypes. A person can surely say that they are not racist or they never think about stereotypes when talking to or discussing other people. Where in reality, to me a stereotype is:
any type of thought or action that is thought about a single person or a group they belong to based on seeing the person, knowing a certain group the person belongs too, or by some action that person does.
A stereotype is not necessarily a bad thing, “what matters is the character of the stereotypes, and the gullibility with which we employ them (Lippmann Ch. 6 Part 3).” To me this means that if you believe and make stereotypes out of every little piece of gossip you hear, then in fact you are making the stereotypes negative. Whereas, if you hear a bit of gossip for example that some organization on your college campus is “smart” or “nerds” or “the brains” it could be true. I feel that what each person needs to do in this situation is if you hear something about someone or an organization, research it. If you’ve heard that this organization is full of smarty-pants research their combined GPA and compare it to other organizations on campus. If it’s true, it is a stereotype, but a positive one. If it’s not true than you might just find out something about that group of people you would have never known before.
The way I see it now, is that a stereotype can be positive or negative. It is the way that you let it affect you, how easily you believe it, and how you treat those people in that group based on that set stereotype.

Time Warner (AIM)

In a previous blog, I stated that instant messenger was my favorite media to use. The service provider that I use for instant messaging is AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). The company that runs and produces AIM is AOL, LLC. Ralph Hanson tells us in his Mass Communication book that AOL is one of the only 6 companies to control the majority of the media output in the United States. Those six companies are: Time Warner; Disney; Viacom, Bertelsmann, News Corporation, and General Electric. AOL made a bid to buy Time Warner in 2000 and the merger was completed in 2001 which made Time Warner the largest media company in the United States. Time Warner owns various book publishing companies, magazines, recording labels, cable networks, cable television operations, broadcast television networks, and movie studios.
I still have to say that although I’ve used various services and means of Time Warner media my favorite medium that Time Warner supplies is AIM. After researching and trying to find out a bit more on AIM and what exactly the gatekeepers do to supply me with this medium, I found out that instant messenger actually started in an early form in 1985 (neat…considering I was born that year)! Browsing this website from AOL I found out how AIM evolved from it’s origin to what it is today. The new AIM 6.0 has many features that the gatekeepers put in to allow the users to incorporate many types of media into their lives. Using AIM allows users to message, chat, and find up to date information about topics such as music or games. Users can even keep track of their business meetings and acquaintances which includes a heightened security feature. Time Warner also makes sure to provide each AIM user with the wonderful AIM Today page. This page includes various headlines, advertisements, and clips of upcoming movies that Warner has produced. This 'synergy' as mass communications likes to call it, allows Time Warner to use one media it provides to advertise other media as well—a joint effort to make sure both parts of the company succeed. Although of course the Time Warner gatekeepers are sure to monitor what content the media user is exposed to by only advertising and subjecting users to other mediums that Time Warner owns or produces. With all the built in features of AIM the Average Joe media user such as myself can keep track of all areas of their life while still keeping informed about new media, upcoming events, and keeping in touch with others all around the world.

media...what what?

i considered how i use media and i'm sure that my media use limits my reality in many ways...i never read the newspaper, i rarely watch the news, i sometimes see headlines on msn.com, really the only place i hear about any type of news is when i talk to my dad on the phone...this really limits my reality because while im here in my own lil bubble at westminster world war 3 could be starting and i wouldnt know about it because it might not be something my dad felt to tell me that was important...

if i engaged in more media i would probably be more knowledgeable about what was going on in the world as far as news goes by reading the newspapers and watching the news, but i also might not have as much time to work on my school work, hang out with my friends, talk on the phone, be on im :) but by spending more time on the phone/im/facebook i really am engaging in more media and am becoming more knowledgable by learning about what is important and what is going on in my friends and families lives

if you analyze messages, the meduim, and the gatekeepers critically you might never believe any of the news that you hear in the media....you might say o well this person couldnt possibly know this and this reporter wasnt actually there to film that story so they dont know exactly what happened...if you really analyzed the messages, meduim, and gatekeepers there would be at least one thing that you could find in each type of media that would keep you from either believing it, watching it, reading it, listening to it, etc.

i have a lot of stereotypes and pictures that fill my head that would pry take up this whole blog if i decided to type them all out...one of the major stereotypes that i have that helps me to navigate the media is that the newspaper is boring... therefore i will look through the newspaper at the pictures and ads and headlines and if anything catches my eye i might read about it (for example every friday when the holcad comes out i'm sure to snag one...take a look at the pics...if i see anyone i know or anything interesting i might skim the article...it really takes an interesting or really well written article to grab my attention to read the whole thing)...i would never just sit down and read the newspaper...also i love to travel and if i happen to see a headline about somewhere where i've been or really want to go i will usually read that article...

*MY* opinion

i had a hard time understanding the reading in public opinion...but one quote that did stand out to me was on page 24 "Privacy is insisted upon at all kinds of places in the area of what is called public affairs. It is often very illuminating, therefore, to ask yourself how you got at the facts on which you base your opinion. Who actually saw, heard, felt, counted, named the thing, about which you have an opinion?"

this kind of stood out to me because most people in the public eye try to keep some sort of privacy but anytime something gets out it is such a big deal...such as someone getting divorced, cheating on their loved one, having a baby, or blah blah...and then everyone has some type of opinion about what has happened....the thing that is intersting though is that you only have to hear this one time from pretty much any type of source a tv, magazine, internet and everyone seemes to believe it...but if you think about hearing what you believe so quickly should you really? i mean if you heard the same thing you are believing that quickly about your best friend...would you believe it or would you have to actually hear it from them to believe it? or from some type of trusted source....not just some dumb magazine...