Question 11

This ad comes from an American football magazine in Germany, which is a primarily masculine sport. This ad has the premier elements of masculinity. The ad is trying to make the comparison between American football and European football, also known as soccer. It is trying to make it seem that American football is the more tough and strength related game, between the two footballs. Since soccer is quite popular in Germany, they sell football by using the idea of strength and masculinity to sell it. They even photoshopped the muscle in the picture to look like a football. This is all the ad has really. It is just a man’s bicep that is shaped to look like a football and has the tag line “American Football, The Tougher Football” In the Stabile article, he talks about how Nike uses different sports to sell different products, such as, for example, their kind of under armor for cold weather training. Some NFL teams are actually endorsed by Nike and all their apparel bears their name. The fact that this is true about Nike makes selling their product to football fans easier. They use the idea of masculinity in their ads, just as the German football ad does, to make fans want their product.

Question 10

This ad comes from an American football magazine in Germany, which is a primarily masculine sport. This ad has the premier elements of masculinity. The ad is trying to make the comparison between American football and European football, also known as soccer. It is trying to make it seem that American football is the more tough and strength related game, between the two footballs. Since soccer is quite popular in Germany, they sell football by using the idea of strength and masculinity to sell it. They even photoshopped the muscle in the picture to look like a football. This is all the ad has really. It is just a man’s bicep that is shaped to look like a football and has the tag line “American Football, The Tougher Football” In the Stabile article, he talks about how Nike uses different sports to sell different products, such as, for example, their kind of under armor for cold weather training. Some NFL teams are actually endorsed by Nike and all their apparel bears their name. The fact that this is true about Nike makes selling their product to football fans easier. They use the idea of masculinity in their ads, just as the German football ad does, to make fans want their product.

Question 9

For the Onion news clip, I used a “news” report about Paul McCartney’s eventual death and I used a story on a football player from ABC news. The news stories in themselves are out of the ordinary and a bit on the absurd side. In terms of gatekeeping and agenda setting functions, both stories show a little elements of each. With gatekeeping, they don’t tell us the whole story for either one and with agenda setting, they both make us somewhat emotional on different levels. Baym talks about the fact that the current generation does not watch normal news. Instead they watch The Daily Show or The Colbert Report to get their news, since it gives them the info, while delivering it in a comedic manner.

Question 8

These films both have signifiers of political economy and cultural studies and they are good examples of each. They both talk about how Disney and how they use political economy, which generally is when something, can be controlled by money. The films also mention cultural studies, where Disney uses their image to control the culture. In Grossberg’s article, he says that, “cultural studies believes that culture matters and that it cannot simply be treated (dismissed) as the transparent public face of dominative and manipulative capitalists.” Grossberg is basically saying that in a sense, Disney should consider culture and not dismiss it.

Question 7

In the video, the woman who is shown tries to seduce the repairman who she calls, by showing off her breasts, but he takes no notice to her. She uses elements taken from early pornography to try to make the repairman notice her. She tries talking in a husky voice as well as showing off her breasts, which is an appropriation from the older porno’s. Then, the video shows her wearing special clothes and bras to make her breasts look bigger, which is a reappropriation. She is also shown wearing clothes that accentuate her breasts as well as wearing jewelry that bring attention to her bust. Once the repairman sees her with all this, she no longer has to act to get his attention, he just sees her and says, “Want to have sex?”

Question 6

The advertisement for Conan is quite similar to the article about the Cosby Show. In the article, it shows the Cosby Show as being very globalized, just as Conan is being shown. It seems that everyone in India knows who he is and he knows him or her in the same respect. The ad itself portrays all the Indians to be quite exotic. The fact that the Indian people make their clothes and such by hand is what makes them exotic, since us as Americans just buy them from a store. This is what makes the ad itself more interesting to the viewer.

Question 5

The meaning of ideology is in laments terms, using common sense. The meaning of hegemony is the reification of ideology, or the treatment of common sense as something real. In the Urinal game, you take a quiz on proper male restroom etiquette. Using ideology, you make decisions on where to take a piss while someone is using one or two of the six urinals shown. The point of the game is to pick the urinal farthest away from other men using the others. In doing this, you are trying to stay as anti-gay as possible, and not invade their personal space.

Question 4

At first glance of this piece by Magritte, people would think that it is a pipe they see. However under it, it reads “This is not a pipe” in French. What Magritte is trying to say is that the image is more than just a pipe. It has underlying meanings, such as that it signifies high class and wealth. Magritte wants his audience to think about what they are seeing.

Question 3

Each video is portrayed through the eyes of the African American community. In the Delta commercial, a white man is portrayed as the black stereotype, almost making fun of black people and their own stereotypes. Meanwhile, the Everest commercial portrays an educated black man trying to get other African Americans to be like him, educated. He talks about the stereotypical black man as well, mentioning how they sit at home and watch TV and such.

Question 2

Audience fallacies are misconceptions created by the audience of something and authorial fallacies are misconceptions created by the author of a paper. These are usually found in generalizations made by the author, such as saying that steroids ruin your life, without having any actual proof that it is true. This dampens the argument made in the paper and makes it less believable.

Question 1

The cultural studies theorists make the letters capital to show their importance. Capital letters can show possession of someone. In some cases, such as a father, you would say my Father, using a capital letter to show he is ‘your’ father. This is significant because when used, it shows the ownership of someone or something.