Week 8: The Hunger Games & Constructions of the YA body

Thanks to Brandon, Stephanie, Ashley, Samantha, and Alli who introduced us to some key ideas in feminism and gave us examples of the types of questions on might ask to do a feminist read of a text.

For Tuesday, please read The Hunger Games and write a critical reflection paper in which you draw on feminist and/or Marxist theory. We're working on getting everyone access to the power points, but you can also consult the Tyson text for ideas about what types of questions you might ask.  My biggest piece of advice on the critical reflection papers is to focus on only one topic/question so that you can explore that aspect of the text in more depth. Close readings of quotes and specific support from the text is always valued!

For Thursday, please bring 3 representations of the young adult body. These can be from anywhere and can be any type of text, as long as you have a way to share it with the group. Also, read Quick's "Meant to Be Huge" in preparation for class. We'll use this article to talk about the intersection between disability studies and other critical theories, the construction of the YA body in literature, and what writing strategies we might take from the article to use in the final projects.

Feminist Theory Reflection

I thought that overall our presentation went very well. One thing in particular that I think we did well was to break up the lecture aspect of the presentation with activities that involved the class, such as the reading from Twilight in the middle (as opposed to at the end) of the presentation. It can be hard to sit and listen for extended amounts of time, so I think dividing up the talking with something more involved is a good method for keeping the class engaged.

There were still some long sections of just lecture, however, which I think got a little heavy once or twice. If anything, I think more activities are better, even if they're small ones.

The class seemed to get a pretty good understanding of the theory, from what I overheard in the group discussions. What I liked when I was listening to one group discuss, after the Super Bowl commercials, was that they went outside the immediate text to look at the environment of the Super Bowl itself through a feminist lens, and also drew on other examples from television and advertisement that they thought related to the content and ideas of the commercials.

One thing that I think could have been discussed a little more by us is a clearer definition of feminism. It's not something that's easy to define as it has many different approaches and ideas (which we touched on with French and multi-cultural feminism) but I think it would have been beneficial if we had taken a little time to address some of the different impressions of feminism students in the class already had. Occasionally when listening to people's comments, I felt like there was maybe some clarification needed on what feminism is as a social movement, in addition to a form of critical analysis.

Feminist Theory Powerpoint

Here is the link

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddphj4sn_5gsz59bfj&invite=389874136

If you have problems accessing it let me know.

Brandon

Women in Media

Today's lecture made me think of this awesome segment called Target Women put out on current.com by Sarah Haskins. Basically she confronts various ways that the media portrays women and is hilarious about doing it.

One of my favorites is this one:

http://current.com/items/89317322_sarah-haskins-in-target-women-cleaning.htm
I highly recommend watching it!

Teaching Overseas

Since several people seemed interested, I thought I would post some information on teaching as a K-12 teacher in international schools. [The Department of Defense (DOD) Schools are a completely different system.]

TIE on-line has a schedule that lists the recruiting fairs that are used by American International schools. My experience has been with the UNI fair.

The University of Northern Iowa job fair is held in February every year. You apply to participate well in advance, create a portfolio for adminstrators, and then do all of your face to face interviewing at the fair. UNI is known as a good fair for beginning international teachers. Having said that, most schools require 3-5 years of teaching expeirence in the States and/or a master's to be hired. If you have international experience, can speak the host country language, etc., this will also help. These schools care about the quality of education, but they also need people who are flexible!

I had a great time at AIS-Mali and AIS-Vienna. Particularly since you don't have to pay taxes if you are not a U.S. resident, your take home salary is typically higher than what you would make in the States.

Let me know if you have questions!

Safe Schools Seminar this Tuesday (2/23)

The Safe Schools group is part of our TE department at MSU. The focus of the group is on opening up conversations around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Although I haven't been as active in the group this year, I did do the ordering for the Safe Schools Library and can promise that this is a great resource!

GLBTQ Children's and Young Adult Literature

• Introducing the Safe Schools Library
• Book talks on GLBTQ Literature
• Pedagogical Strategies for Using Books!

The event will be held:

• 4:00-5:30 PM
• Tuesday, February 23
• Erickson Hall 252

Week 7: Series Books and Feminist Theory

Hi everyone,

On Tuesday we'll be discussing series books. Series books are generally defined as a sequence of four or more books that are written by the same author, include the same characters, and have either similar plots or an on-going plot through the series. (They do, in general, stand alone so that you don't necessarily have to read them in any order.) As the Cart reading mentioned, this trend in publishing for YAs really got going in the 1980s. Series books are generally valued by educators because they help readers gain reading fluency, rather than for their literary merit. Sometimes series books are examined as popular culture. As always, feel free to disagree!

Please write about the series book you have selected. Include a full citation so that we can talk about who published the book, the copyright date, etc. Possible paper topics:

• What is the relationship between the book you've selected and the rest of the series? Does the text suggest a "formula"? Is it possible to read one of the texts as a stand alone piece or does the series build on itself? This might be a time to look at the "paratext" (Gennette 1997) of the story: the front and back covers, dedication, the preview of the next book in the series, etc.
• What do you notice about the text when you read it through a critical theory? Is there any relationship between the "formula" or genre and the constructions of [class] in the text?
• Who seem to be the implied readers of the text? Who does the text invite the reader to be or value or want? How is the YA constructed in the text? What do you think of those invitations?
• Explore an intertextual connection. For example, connections between series books or between a series books and the spin off texts/merchandice.
• Feel free to write about another topic!

Although I've encouraged people to focus on small chunks of text in their papers, this might be a week where it might make sense to think about a text as a whole or even across texts. For example, if you are interested in thinking about whether the book you've selected falls into the category of "formula fiction" or whether it represents a recognizable genre, it might make sense to think about how the plot as a whole is or is not formulaic in the series. Of course, how you define the limits of the text that you analyze will always depend on what you are interested in analyzing! I can certainly imagine doing a close reading of a quote from a series book.

On Thursday we'll hear from the Feminist Theory Group!

Valerie

Rebel Teen

I find the concept of 'raging against the machine' or rebelling against corporate control extremely interesting. This concept is nothing new; I find multiple parallels with the hippie movement of the 60s and the corporate support behind that (ie. the music industry, textile, media). In my generation, the biggest rebel movement to hit was the emo-punk rock fad. Suddenly everyone, from "book nerds" to the "popular girls" were were teasing their hair and wearing skinny jeans and converse sneakers...marketed at 'rebelling' against mainstream...marketed so as to become mainstream.


"Merchants of Cool" used the example of Insane Clown Posse as an outlet for the 'rebelling'; this example is perfect. These teens were so eager to rebel, they failed to understand that they are feeding the machine as well. The following are some lyrics from Tool's song "Hooker with a Penis" which about consumerism and 'selling out.' Again, this idea of ignorant rebel comes into play.

I, met a boy, wearing Vans, 501s, and a
Dope beastie-tee, nipple rings,
New tattoos that claim that he
Was OGT,
back in '92,
from the first EP.

And in between
Sips of Coke
He told me that
He thought
We were sellin' out,
Layin' down,
Suckin' up
To the man.

All you know about me is what I've sold you,
Dumb f*ck.
I sold out long before you ever even heard my name.

I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip sh*t,
And then you bought one.

Ironic, no?

Cool killers.

Although "Merchants of Cool" was a little dated, I thought it was incredibly interesting. Maybe I daydreamed my way through my YA life, but I never realized just how complex the system of finding, marketing, and moving on from trends could be. I'd like to take a second to respond to the "Cool Hunting" section of the documentary. The film suggests that teens view around 3000 discreet advertisements every day (and this number is from 2001; imagine now with all the sidebar advertisements on sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube). These advertisements have a subtle way of influencing the purchses young adults make, the clothes they choose to wear, etc. However, just minutes later, the film recognizes that once a company has found and marketed a trend which was just "underground", the "cool" factor quickly fades and the trend is killed.

So, the brands are influential.
And also, the brands kill the trends and perpetuate further change.

I'm sort of confused.

If the marketing of trends by large companies quickly makes them uncool, why and how do the advertisements work? Are the advertisements that influence young adults formulated around themes (ie. drinking, sex icons, high fashion) or specific brands (ie. Budweiser, Britney Spears, Marc Jacobs).

I think I'm leaning towards the latter. Although I do believe the brand is worth the money to many young adults, it seems that a trend as an overall concept is the more important transfer to make. This is prominently portrayed in a lot of YA magazines for girls. Pages are devoted to "look-alike" items, with pictures of celebrities in the latest fashion trends side-by-side with pictures of clothing which look similar but are available at affordable prices from stores like Target, Forever 21, etc.

I would be interested to get into the minds of current YA's and understand the way the subtle advertising affects their style, their money, and their relationships.

The Gravy Train

It doesn't take a documentary to see what's happening in regards to the media's influence over popular culture in the minds of millions...

it's sad to think of the obsession of material power.

the one thing that is forever real is the individuality of mind...

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."-Ralph Emerson; "Self Reliance"

Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" from their album "Wish You Were Here" reflecting the minds of the media and producers

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar

You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high,

You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try;they're gonna love you.

Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.

The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.

Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

We're just knocked out.

We heard about the sell out.

You gotta get an album out,

You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.

Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?

It's a hell of a start, it could be made into a monster

if we all pull together as a team.

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

the Gravy Train... it's all around us... it's up to you to stay true to yourself

Merchants of Cool

I was really surprised by this video. I had no idea that all of these TV stations were owned by just a few companies. I was not so surprised to hear that MTV and Comedy Central were owned by the same company because they seem to target the same audience and feature the same type of "characters" (the "mook") but other companies seem to own channels that span a wide variety of age groups. I had also never really thought about how marketing companies find out what is "cool". The cycle of things being "cool" seems so much more clear to me now. I had never really thought about how something is marketed basically until it is dead.

Merchants of Cool

The most curious question posed by Merchants of Cool was whether or not these companies are following what teens like, or whether teens are following what the companies are saying is cool at that specific moment. Interestingly enough, there was a movie called Josie and the Pussycats (that I am slightly ashamed to admit I own) that came out in 2001 that tackled a similar question while ironically using mass amounts of corporate sponsorship. In the movie, teens are subconsciously being brainwashed through underlaying tracks in “cool” music to keep them buying the latest cool thing on the market (i.e. - Red Bull, Big Mac’s, specific fashion trends). Unlike Feed and Merchants of Cool, Josie and the Pussycats wraps up nicely and the bad/"bad" guys are vanquished.

The whole idea that huge corporations hold sway over our likes and dislikes is nothing new to me. Nonetheless, the bombardment of “cool” that all three sources confront is quite disturbing and makes me wonder how much of what I’ve done and bought throughout my teenage and young adult years is indirectly because of mass media despite my unwillingness to conform to passing fads.

Lesson? ( - death and apocalypse) + (Merchants of Cool - ) =

Oh, I'm so funny...

The Mook Within

One piece of "The Merchants of Cool" that caught my attention was when the documentary outlined the concept of a "Mook". I've spent a good deal of time since seeing Jackass for the first time in eighth grade, side-splittingly laughing to Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and the rest of the show's cast and their incredulous antics. What I found striking was that MTV's Mook was admittedly not a portrayal of the American teenage male, but a caricature. "It's about understanding John(or any teenage male) as a customer," the narrator says. Ok, so now the Mook has a little more defined purpose. I think his purpose is to please all of us who once thought of doing something wildly moronic, like the clip in the documentary when a guy dons snorkeling gear and hops into a sewage tank. That kind of television is hilarious, and because it is off-limits to us normal folk we enjoy watching it. MTV cracked the code.

Ugh

I'll be honest. I can't hardly watch things like this anymore. It's so discouraging to think of how much we are controlled by the "market." We're taught what and how to think in so many ways. I can hear Tyler Durden from the movie Fight Club screaming in my head: "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off" (imdb.com - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes). But as much as there is a part of me that is like, that's it, I'll just fall off the grid and not be influenced by anything a la Tyler Durden, I know that is simply not realistic. I'm going to be a teacher. I'll be fingerprinted for my job. That's about as on the grid as you can get.

So with that course of action firmly off the table, from an educator perspective I think that this is exactly the sort of thing that we should expose our future students to. They should be conscious that the world they live in is a world that markets to them; what they should wear, eat, drive, and simply consume in general. Messages (tv, print ads, newspapers, internet, etc.) should all be looked at from a critical lens: who is paying for this, what do they want me to think, what is the author's intent, what are the unintended messages that we can expose, what is the purpose, the point? I think critical theory does an excellent job of posing these sorts of questions. I would definitely show this in a classroom someday, and I think it fits in very well with the Marxist critical theory and the book "Feed," which discusses similar ideas of who is in charge of how we think in society. I can see a book like "The Giver" working really well in such a unit as well, especially for a middle school audience.

yes, but so what?

The proliferation of market research and advertising, be it misleading or offensive, only startles me to some extent. I understand, or at least can acknowledge the fact that the world is a market place, and much can be gained from manipulating that marketplace. So the fact that teenagers are targeted only makes sense, and in fact, I think it's something that is in some ways defensible. I don't believe for a second that culture can't be improved by guiding hands. Perhaps not to the extent that MTV tells us to buy certain albums and see certain concerts, but influence should not be ignored. For a society to embrace something, it needs widespread attention. The reason why Britney Spears outsold The Insane clown posse is not really a secret. Yes, one was embraced by the media and put into our minds, while the other was discovered in a more underground fashion. But I really can't say that I feel bothered by being told by Mtv what is and isn't popular. In fact, I think it is an effective way for kids to make connections with their own generation, and if MTV makes a profit, it is a power rightly granted. I rarely regard it anyway, but I believe that money is the most common impetus for art. This is depressing. I realize this. But keep in mind, Michelangelo was COMMISSIONED to paint the Sistine Chapel. Edgar Allen Poe was pulling in checks for his works. If you ask me, art is created in large part for profit, be it great art, high or low or trash or nothing. MTV happens to do it better than the ICP did. And frankly it's an art form in itself.

The Influence of The Media

After watching "Merchants of Cool", I hadn't really thought of how much the media tried to cater to me as a teenager. Looking back, that was the "richest" time of my life considering I had no bills, and could spend all my paychecks on anything I felt like buying. I never really bought into the whole MTV TRL scene, but I definitely remember going through different fads and feeling the need to fit in. I thought it was interesting how the episode talked about Britney Spears and the Mid-drift being a form of empowerment for women even though they also talked about Mooks and how males don't have to care about what they look like, but females are shown in media to be obsessed by appearance. I guess I've never really thought of exposing my mid-drift as empowering considering all the derogatory comments and gossip there has always been toward female icons such as Britney Spears. I also found it interesting how ICP first talked about how the teens could feel they were a part of their music even though they later decided to get a record label and fit in. Overall, I thought the episode brought up some interesting insights into the minds of the media and advertising toward young adults. I had not thought much about the symbiotic relationship between the two.

American Born Chinese and William Hung

I thought the connection Yang made to William Hung in American Born Chinese was interesting. I have been asked to post this and hope that for those that did not see the connection will see it! The panel when Chin-Kee is singing She Bang on the Library table seems to come from an actual person named William Hung. He was a contestant for American Idol in 2004. He is Chinese and not a very good singer, but he seemed to capture the attention of the American public and became super popular. I have put up a link for you to see the youtube video of his audition so you can see how it connects to the graphic novel.

William Hung Audition

Young Adults and Advertising

It is pretty interesting to me how well "Feed" plays into the idea that teenagers and even society as a whole will completely play into and allow themselves to be manipulated by the media. Often, I am not the type of person who puts much thought into the so-called influence of the media, because I typically like to believe that I am not easily influenced. However, after reading "Feed" I realized just how much impact advertising and the media has on my buying trends. The parallels between the feed in the book and advertising in real life is so similar in that we are confronted with advertisements, commericials, web pages, books, movies, and TV shows every single day that attempt to sway our thoughts, opinions, and consumer trends. We are programmed in the same way that a feed programs the brain. Between the government and the media (which may be one in the same) we are caught in a never ending parade of attempted sway.

Merchants of Cool

I was very interested but not surprised at the extent to which companies are willing to go to find out what is "cool." How can they make (as much) money in the society that we have created today or sell anything if they don't follow the people who spend the most money, and figure out what they are spending it on? Which a lot of times can be anybody's guess and changes so frequently.
Having said that, I think that this whole idea makes kids feel really lost. (young) Adults don't have so much marketing being directed toward them, but if we think back to when we were teenagers, we wanted to be special, we wanted to be the ones telling the media what WE wanted, and I think after watching that a lot of the kids interviewed felt like the media was telling them. But in a lot of ways this can't be helped, I mean "cool" is so fleeting that it is almost pointless to market something that teenagers already have. That is why bands such as ICP are becoming increasingly uncool.

Ramblings about Merchants of Cool

I, too, watched Merchants of Cool with a cynical eye. Sure, I remember when Dawson's Creek and TRL were cool, but I haven't heard about any of them in years. This documentary was made ten years ago, about content that was relevant 20 years ago. If "cool" changed daily in the book Feed, then imagine how much has changed since 2001. I have heard, although not really recently, that MTV isn't cool anymore because they are more about reality TV shows than the music. I never watched MTV, so I ask others who have - is MTV still cool? Or are they so corporate that they're audience no longer appreciates them?

Also, another thought I had, I was a teen growing up in the nineties, so this documentary was about me. Sure, I listened to Brittany Spears, but I didn't watch MTV, nor did I go to Cancun for Spring Break, nor did I turn into a model at 13. Does this mean I am abnormal? Or, in their search for cool, do they only look at, and therefore attract, the "extreme" teenagers. Like when the correspondents were taking photos of people with tattoos - that was not me as a teenager. In fact, that wasn't anybody I knew. Maybe growing in rural Michigan meant that I wasn't cool? I think, as much as my opinion counts, that cool is not universal. Cool to me is completely different than cool is you, which is completely different than what is cool to my younger brother. How do the corporate people decide which cool to go with. They grabbed the "average" teenager for focus groups, but who are these "average" kids? They weren't me. Is there such thing as an average teenager? I don't think so. So what these researchers are doing, is finding a certain kid and then advertising to a certain kid. They catch other kids along the way, who think they are acting cool because MTV is showing them this, but really they are just seeing one personality type. I feel like I am talking in circles here. If I don't make sense, feel free to comment and let me know.

Thanks for listening!

TRL? LOL!

I never really bought into MTV or TRL as a teenager, but looking back, I can remember how big of a deal Limp Bizkit was. These days, at least among people I know, they are considered one of the biggest jokes of the past decade. Fred Durst was an absolute turd and yet was arguably the biggest rock star around the turn of the millennium. The problem was that he was almost entirely a manufactured product of MTV. His music was produced, packaged, and promoted as cool; he ruled the air waves. The great irony is that he became a victim of the cycle himself, becoming so cool that he was eventually uncool. As for his record-breaking album? When is the last time you heard "Nookie" or "Break Stuff"?

Now I'm sure Fred Durst and the rest of Limp Bizkit laughed all the way to the bank, but their status in pop culture 10 years later is non-existent. If their music and videos were good enough to own MTV for 3 years, why don't they have staying power? Shouldn't the same kids that voted over and over for their songs still have a soft spot in their hearts for "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog-Flavored Water"? Now granted, taste changes constantly (after all that was kinda the point), but I think the saddest part to me was the fact that kids don't even really care about what the cool thing is as long as they can fit in with it.

In closing, consider these lyrics from the immortal Limp Bizkit.

"You think you're special You do
I can see it in your eyes
I can see it when you laugh at me
Look down on me
You walk around on me

Just one more fight
About your leadership
And I will straight up
Leave your shit
Cause I've had enough of this
And now I'm pissed"

LOL.

Coolagraphy

Marketing and Advertising have never been this responsible for culture. It's interesting to see the mechanics and systems that MTV and other corporations have developed to get inside the minds of teens. When I was watching the film, I thought about how I was and perhaps still am a target for the teen market's interests. Although I don't follow too many mainstream pop culture trends, I am still a customer. This puts me as well as everyone else into pools that categorize us by everything from age to hair color. 3,000 advertisements a day flood our heads that plant seeds for recognition and response.

Just last year, I was one of the final top 12 male candidates to be on MTV's The Real World: Cancun. It was really interesting to analyze the questions and interviews I had. They asked what my favorite alcohol was, how prone to fighting I was, how much I listened to certain bands, etc. The purpose was to find another cast member that would stoke ratings and attract more viewers. Obviously, I did not make the cut (which I'm really glad about) but it did give me a different perspective about how screened, scripted, and critiqued media is before it ever reaches anyone.

Media giants like MTV are successful because of this in-depth research, however I personally see "cool" as something that can't be studied- it's too fluid. Studying the demographic is definitely the best way to angle your advertisements but lately, I'd have to say that MTV is heading towards a big problem. You can't thrive on reality TV and cash in ultra-tanned Jersey Beach kids for too long. That. is. NOT. cool.

Merchants of Cool Response

I had a lot of reactions to Merchants of Cool and I wanted to say something about them, so this is going to be a little long.
The first segment of the show reminded me of Scott Westerfeld's novel So Yesterday (I realize this is the second time I've written about him). The story starts with a teen "coolhunter" and the job he does. However, it's a teen novel, so it develops the teen into something a little different.
One of the segments describe Sprite as "selling a lifestyle"; which sounds like something from the essay "Advertising on the Edge of the Apocalypse". The essay talks about how companies get you to buy their products because having those products will supposedly give you the life you want. It's a scary thought, because in reality, products aren't substitutes for life.
Some of the quotes I heard were a little ridiculous. For example, "Smuggling messages to kids" sounds creepy. I realize that is what the companies do, but I don't like the idea at all. "Natural habitat"? What are we? A new species? It's frightening to think that this is just going to get worse, because teens are so volatile. And finally, "Teens are like Africa." They compared it to colonization, but I thought that sounded odd.
So overall, I found the movie to be very interesting, but a few parts were a little too odd. I saw that they liked to show how the media generalized teens. For example, the show said teens talk about sex. Well, that's true, but they talk about other things too. I was wondering if show like "Dawson's Creek" talked about things other than sex. They also say that mooks and midriff don't really exist, but with the feedback loop, they do. Teens act like they have been told they should act, without knowing it. The subliminal messaging is intense. It's a crazy world out there and so many people buy into it.

What I Never Noticed Before...

While reading "Feed", I was not really able to relate to the idea of constant advertisement. However, when I watched The Merchants of Cool, I realized that I was wrong. There are so many things in today's society that focus on ads and who to gear those ads towards. The clip that I found most interesting was "The MTV Machine". I remember watching TRL when I was in middle and high school, but never even noticed that EVERYTHING is an ad. I really enjoyed watching when an MTV exec went to "a typical teenager's" house and conducted research. I guess I never really thought that TV stations such as MTV had to do research and found it interesting that company's think of children and teenagers as customers. Now, I understand why MTV was so successful. However, it is scary how much advertisements and TV shows effect our society today- shows such as "Jackass" and "Real World" are entertaining to watch, but they dont necessarily send the best message to teenagers.

Merchant of Cool Response

From the moment the documentary started, I could tell that it was slightly out dated. I was surprisingly not that shocked to learn that the teenagers are the biggest market to companies, spending over 150 billion dollars in the year 2000. What did surprise me though, was the way that the company's attained their research and their drive to market to the teenage population without having them know that they are being marketed to. I feel that if a company was confident enough in their product then they wouldn't need to "trick" kids into liking/wanting it.
I was not happy at the idea of (even though not any longer a teenager) being a player in some companies money making game. They idea that we are exposed to over 3,000 ads in a single day just boggles my mind. I didn't realize the amount of ads that people are everyday exposed to, because I feel like we have become so immune to seeing them, that unless it is a newly released ad that catches the eye, we process them by second nature without even realizing what is going on. I forget the name of the company, but one of the businessmen from a certain company used the term "smuggling the message in" to describe his advertising. The word smuggling in itself is repulsive enough to understand the sneaky nature as to what they marketing giants are doing to their targets. As if this wasn't enough, then the documentary moved into the "feedback" loop. The way that teenagers are portrayed on television shows makes me sick. I completely follow how society has gotten slightly out of control with the need for all these new shows such as "Teen Mom" becasue when all the teenage population has to see is sex, then they are going to assume that it is the norm and soon find themselves in trouble. Another example of a television show taking teenage sex to the extreme is "Secret Life". On that show this 16 year old girl has a baby and gets engaged twice before even graduating. Does that sound like the average life of a girl in the high schools that you all went to? I know for me the answer is no way! These television shows are making it seem normal for teenagers to do these things and therefore putting pressure on today's society to keep up and follow along because what is on television is what is "cool". Marketers need to fully understand the impact that they have over these teenage minds just waiting to be molded, and therefore maybe take more percaution before releasing anything that could come back to "bite them in the butts".

Merchant of Cool

I found this program very interesting. I think that in a world where adolescents are constantly exposed to media, commercials, etc. that the feedback loop is unavoidable. As much as it bothers me that old executives and advertisers control youth I do not see how we could escape it. The media sells us what teens are, or what they should be. As a viewer we see these images and live up to them so as not to be out of the loop. It is a big circle. That is exactly why they created young adult archetypes of the "mook" and the "mid-drift." Although teens may not actually be like these characters we see them as cool on television, and therefore we idealize them and want to act like them. By acting like them this perpetutates the cycle and means that the media has to always keep pushing the enveleope. The media has to make these archtypes even more crude, crazy, risque, etc to keep up with the youth. The question is when do things go to far? The show seems to think that it has already gone too far because even the act of rebellion has become commercialized and marketed. Although this is a interesting topic to discuss I do not think that this is by any means a new phenemona. Ever since there has been advertising, and media it has affected youth culture. I do not think the report shows how past generations have been affected by the same kind of commercialism, etc. In the 50s there was a show American Band Stand, which promoted songs and bands through a television show much like TRL. That affected what the youth was listening to. You always have bands that do not just sell music but sell an image. During Madonna time period you had girls that wanted to dress like her, and in turn companies sold things that modled after her style. I do not think any of this is new...maybe it has just become even more of a big business with more people getting paid and benefiting(the artists, execs; not the youth).

On another note I was kind of shocked that a program that is fighting against how youth have no voice and no control did just that. The only real people interviewed seemed to be old people. There were very few interviews with the youth and how they felt the media affected them. I think that maybe the youth should have had more of a voice in this report.

Cool, 2.0

Clearly a victim of the same elusive, fleeting nature of “cool” it attempted to pin down, The Merchants of Cool seemed to me, above all, dated. After almost ten years since it first aired, I’d go so far as to say it seemed “uncool,” as the kids like to say.

I say this respectfully, of course, with real appreciation for the fact that Frontline cared enough to give average viewers of public television (very much not YAs) a glimpse into the foreign, hyper-consumerist culture of which early-2000s teens were a part. In fact, the “TRL generation” the documentary sought to describe is very much my own: I can’t remember a day coming home from fourth through seventh grade without being greeted by Carson Daly, and, although I can remember all their lyrics, I still wonder what was so appealing about Limp Bizkit. (I suppose Merchants cleared some of that mystery up, since it appears even a rock with an effective-enough marketing campaign could find some measure of success!) MTV, Limp, Britney, Sprite -- all of these were big figures in my formative years, and, I would guess, helped shape me into the consumer I am today. Any adult unaware of how children lived in 2002 would surely have his eyes opened after a viewing.

Nonetheless, whether or not it’s a result of my familiarity with this culture, which extends far beyond what was portrayed onscreen, I found that much of what the documentary had to say broke no new ground. Adults are always a few steps behind the young, but with enough money, new techniques, and advertising outlets, their corporations can weasel their way into the psyche of many YAs. It used ubiquitous cultural figures (who hasn’t gossiped about Britney Spears?) to make this point, plus a tired symbol, MTV, to represent a phenomenon that actually spanned much further, into choice of stores, food, clothing, etc. It seemed, frankly, that the producers had only a vague, conceptual definition of "cool," as articulated by Malcolm Gladwell and big-name CEOs, without many cutting, groundbreaking examples of it at work.

But because I understand the need for a dissection of a youth culture that can seem so cloudy to outsiders, what I’d really appreciate is an updated Merchants of Cool. Britney has been talked to death, but the revival of Disney (High School Musical, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus) and the Twilight juggernaut are fresh, pervasive figures in today’s elementary/middle school culture -- so fresh that such investigative journalism has yet to lay into them. Further, since I’m not as directly involved in this movement, I’d be curious to know how the same ad execs have encouraged their popularity, and how current subject matter has run counter to the angry, crude, and over-sexualized adolescent idols of the late 90s.

In addition, the mention of cool being killed as soon as it reaches the mainstream begs the question of the indie music scene (and accompanying fashion trends), which relies on older YAs competing to discover obscure artists of increasingly innovative/strange (take your pick) genres. As someone who’s actively interested in learning about this music (I work for the campus radio station, the Impact), I know first hand the bittersweet feeling that comes when a favorite band is no longer “mine alone,” even if they are gaining the fame and recognition I know they deserve. I see this subculture as having an even touchier relationship with media and corporate advertising, so I’d be curious to learn how consumerist trends are propagated via blogs, magazines, television, in more subtle manners than MTV is capable of (maybe MTVu?).

Hopefully, then, the producers of Frontline will take it upon themselves to update this documentary someday soon. It will be to the enlightenment of both adults and aging YAs like me, who may need their own “cool hunters” to keep themselves in the know.

Marxism Group: Final thoughts

We felt that our theory presentation on Marxism went well and that the class learned and comprehended the main points we were trying to teach. We began with a class discussion that focused on what the class already knew, or what they thought they knew, about Marxism. We thought that this would be a good idea because it would help generate ideas from the class and get the students thinking about the topic. Getting the students to talk about what they knew started off a little slow at first. However, when students did speak up, their ideas generally focused around political ideas and communism.

After, we presented a PowerPoint presentation that included information from the book, along with YouTube videos that we thought would help the class understand the concepts and ideas that we were focusing on. The PowerPoint, especially the YouTube videos, really seemed to help the class get a better hold on what Marxism. The clips from Aladdin really seemed to resonate well with people. After the PowerPoint, many students pointed out various concepts of Marxism that they saw within the movie. Some of these ideas included: “the power struggle and that the upper class/ ruling class held the most power”, “no mix between classes”, “potential idea of marriage as a possible economic institution”, “Aladdin had no power because he was a “street rat”. Idea goes back to what class you were born in”. These ideas proved to us, as a group, that the students seemed to be understanding the basic ideas of Marxism.

Following this exercise, Lauren did a read aloud from the popular series, “Gossip Girls”. This seemed to help students a lot because many students could easily comprehend the difference between classes and what specific views and actions separated the members of each class. Some ideas that students expressed were:

§ Consumerism and Capitalism

· Blair does not want to be part of anything but the upper class

§ Labels- associated with the upper class

§ Blair separates herself from people in her own class- depending on where your money comes from and how you spend your money also matters.

After this read aloud, we divided the class into small groups, each focusing on one group and one idea: i.e. some of us brought videos, others comics, read alouds, and advertisements. Each group member’s recollection and evaluation of their group time is talked about below.

After groups discussion we came back together as a class just to regroup and review the main points discussed.

The things that we felt worked best in our presentation were the videos and modern examples of Marxism. These examples seemed to help students better relate to the concept, even if they really had no introduction to it before.

The things that we would have done differently would have been to have a few introduction points to help students “get the ball rolling” at the beginning of class so the discussion did not start off as slowly.

Sheep

This is what The Merchants of Cool prove. Teenagers are willing to follow whatever fad comes there way. It is a shame this is what our country has came too. Teenagers are shown following trends that are over marketed and give into peer pressure. Why blame the marketers. We are all marketers especially us that are going to become teachers. We our marketing our subjects, our lessons, our way of thought. We should not blame the marketers for doing there job they just caught on to the way teenagers think. Teenagers are followers and not leaders.

Cool hunting

This video reminded me of Feed the entire time I was watching it. While reading the book I could not imagine being bombarded by so many advertisements within my own head and wherever I went. After watching The Merchant of Cool I realized that I am confronted with more advertising than I could ever realize. I'm looking around my room right now and seeing that I am trapped in a world of merchandizing. It's an incredibly sad thought to me that almost everything I watch or read is full of advertising and commercializing.

I also found it interesting that once a company exploits what is "cool" it immediately kills it. This search for cool is a never ending cycle that to me seems a huge waste of time, since I have no interest in the workings of the corporate world. It's just sad that a company has to go through so much and try so hard to appeal to us just to sell their products. Yet, we buy into it. And, honestly, it seems to be irreversible.

Is anyone else saddened by this fact?

I'll buy it.

The idea that the work done by the coolhunters ultimately “kills what it finds” reminds me of an entomologist who, in cataloging all the beautiful insects they seek, must pin them down in lifeless grids. Moreover, I am reminded of the nature of fashion in Feed, which mutates not over the course of years or decades as we tend to think of currently (e.g., 80’s or 90’s fashion,) but rather hours or days, probably because the Feed is constantly indicating what is in style and thereby putting it out of style within a twenty-four hour period.

The second segment of the video conveys the notion that kids begin to see marketers as “the enemy,” which cannot help but remind me of Violet. While she is a minority character in Feed, I feel as though this kind of persona is more ubiquitous in the present day; after all, you would have to be blind to ignore the looks of contempt on the faces of the young men in that research panel. I was forced to consider the possibility that these boys were being Violets—that they might have been deliberately misinforming the researcher due to their resentment.

Let me warn you in advance that I’m about to go meg scientific on this—far more than Feed dared to, at any rate.

Still reading? Okay. So, perhaps you are familiar with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which, in laymen’s terms, states that the act of observation inherently modifies the state of the system being observed. Of course, the Uncertainty Principle applies most properly to the state of atomic particles; Immanuel Wallerstein, however, elucidates in his 1999 essay, “Social Sciences in the Twenty-First Century” that these principles do in fact operate at our macroscopic level. For example, the subjects of sociological studies, because they are aware of the fact that they are being studied, are not acting in their most natural state—this is exactly what we are seeing in Merchants. Violet’s rebellious shopping habits demonstrate that same desire to throw the proverbial wrench in the cogs of corporate marketing. Just like the Juggalos, it is clear that Violet is trying to “break so many rules that [she becomes] indigestible.”

In reality, it would seem that the feedback loop and our dependance upon it

are not something we can effectively resist—after all, Violet is not saved by the Feed companies because they cannot market to her, and even the Juggalos themselves arepackaged and sold (yes, literally). What we really face is a compromise between controlling our own experience, and having that right completely delegated to corporations. Fortunately, companies do include (some of) us in their process, so it is not as though they are arbitrarily mandating our desires. This is not to say that we should abandon criticism of their actions, just be mindful of what we would and would not have without them.

The Feedback Loop

I have always seen programs on television emulating high schooler and college students lives and thought "that is not how it really is in high school and college." People do not look like Gods and Goddesses every day in school, or have this huge perfect house which always seems to be empty, or throw massive parties where big breasted women end up duking it out in a swimming pool filled with jello, mud, or some other weird substance. That is just not how really life is (at least in most cases).

After watching the video I became intrigued with the idea of the feedback loop. I had never thought about the fact that the media companies study teenagers to portray them on television, to just have teenagers try to emulate what they see on TV. The question as to whether teenagers have a culture that is just their own left is a very valid question. With all the advertising for clothes, music, technology, "coolness" it is no wonder there is nothing unique left out there. Everyone wants to be cool and cool is currently being mass produced. I don't think teenagers have their own culture anymore. I think it was completely taken over by the media and is now being sold to teenagers for a price; that is their new culture and most of them do not even realize that it is happening.

"Mooks", "Midriffs", and real-life Feeds

I thought the documentary was really, really interesting. Although the images of teenage males and females that they discussed (Mooks and Midriffs) are ones that I've recognized in the media, I hadn't necessarily seen them as products of the MTV-style advertising. It was interesting to see how the research the corporations did lead them to those models; when they were showing clips from their research interview with Jeff (?) and then they cut to the "Mooks" I was confused how they could make the jump from one to the next logically. The question the narrator posed, however, of whether MTV was trying to research Jeff as a person or as a consumer made the distinction clear: they create what they think teenagers want to be, which in turn creates the image teenagers try to emulate, and so on (not so unlike the consumer profiles the feed creates for each individual in the novel).

The narrator called this a "feedback loop," and the connotations of that, in light of our most recent reading, were almost too close for comfort. Isn't it a little shocking to find just how closely our reality parallels that of Anderson's novel?

Week 5: Intertextuality, Science Fiction, Marxism & Feed

This week we'll be drawing on Marxist theory, intertextual connections, and criteria for evaluating science fiction to inform our readings of Feed by M.T. Anderson. Remember that we'll be working on-line for the first part of the week and then will have our face-to-face discussion on Thursday.

For Tuesday (on-line):

• Watch the Frontline "Merchants of Cool" documentary on-line. (~1 hour)
• Write a short blog post that poses a question or suggests a idea you would like to discuss related to "Merchants of Cool", marketing to YAs, or a related topic. (If someone else has already started a strand related to what you want to discuss, just write a comment, rather than doing a new post.) Be sure to label it "Merchants of Cool" so others can find it.
• Respond to at least 2 other people's posts by Thursday. 

I'll be curious to hear what people think the pros and cons of this on-line discussion format are!

For Thursday (face-to-face class):

• Come prepared to discuss Feed
• Critical reflection paper due. 
• Use Marxist theory as a lens to read Feed. For ideas, either consult Tyson or the slides from the presentation. (I'll post them to Angel as soon as I get them from the group who presented.) 
• OR
• Do an intertextual reading in which you read a specific marketing campaign or a segment from "The Merchants of Cool" against Feed. Remember that you'll need to establish the connection, but also make an argument that reading one helps us see something new in the other.

A Marxist read of Twlight

Here's an editorial on Stephanie Myer's use of the the Quileute nation in Twilight that connects to our current focus on Marxist theory. I thought it was interesting how the author discussed how the Twilight franchise benefited from the "cultural property" of the Quileute without any sort of input from or benefit to the tribe itself.

Interesting find...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2S4UqZ/blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2010/01/27/texas-schools-ban-author-for-book-he-didnt-even-write/

Critiquing vs using stereotypes/offensive language

This morning I read an article that used some graphic language for the purposes of critiquing the use of that very same language. It made me think about our discussion of American Born Chinese and the web of questions that was raised about whether the stereotypical representation of Chin-Kee was "necessary" in the text; whether it was necessary, but taken too far; how the representations "worked" as characterization and/or as an element in the plot and resolution; how different readers might interpret and appropriate those stereotypes; how the text did or did not invite the reader to take the character seriously; etc.

If anyone wants to keep talking about this, feel free to comment! 

Gary Schmidt at Bright Ideas

A little while ago I posted information on the upcoming Bright Ideas Conference at MSU. The featured author this year is Gary Schmidt. This alone is enough to make it worth attending!

Schmidt has written several young adult novels that you might want to check out. Among my favorites:

• Trouble--a coming-of-age story in which a young man struggles to make sense of his brother's accident and the social context in which it occurred (I don't want to give too much away here...)
• Straw into Gold--a retelling and reimagining of the Rumpelstiltskin story
• Mara's Stories--a collection of Jewish folklore that is framed as a series of stories that the character of Mara tells children under her care in a concentration camp

I'll make sure to use at least one or two as read alouds in the upcoming weeks.

One of the comments I heard today in class was that some people valued the edginess of American Born Chinese. (I liked it too!) I think of Gary Schmidt's work as offering a completely different type of "edginess" that is about honesty and the potential for reconcilliation. I wonder if some who found Does My Head Look Big in This to be forced might find Trouble, for example, to be more "real".

Anyone else read his books?

(I win the "How many labels can you attach to a post" contest.)

Favorite graphic novels?

I'll bring a couple of other graphic novels to class on Tuesday, but it would be great if people in the class who read them could also bring in their favorites!

I'll bring: Maus I; V is for Vendetta; Blankets; and maybe a couple of others.

Censoring authors

This article in the Huffington Post relates to an attempt by the Texas Board of Education to ban a book that they thought promoted Marxism. (Umm... except that they accidently banned the wrong book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?)

Nonetheless, the article might be interesting to us because it brings up questions around how the ideologies in books are considered "dangerous" and the subject of censorship. (It's also kind of funny in a horrifying way.)

Week 4: American Born Chinese, Intertextuality, and Marxist Theory

On Tuesday we'll continue our discussion of American Born Chinese. We'll have time for you to share what you discover as you write your critical reflection papers, but we'll also use the text as an opportunity to talk about "intertextuality".

Here's a recommendation for your paper:

• Introduce:  Begin with a question or aspect of American Born Chinese that interests you. Provide the reader with a little context related to that idea.
• Insert:  Describe the panel or series of panels you intend to analyze to the reader. Focus on the elements most related to the idea you plan to develop.
• Interpret: "Read" the text for us--tell us what we can discover by reading the text in this way!

While I don't want people to think about the above suggestion as a "formula", you may find value in recognizing and being able to draw on conventional forms.

On Thursday the Marxist Theory group will introduce us to the theory and provide us with some practice generating questions and/or using Marxist theory to help us reading texts. If you like, you might want to look at the chapter on Marxism in the Tyson text.

Building on each other's posts

Wow! I'm fascinated at the range of topics people have posted on this week, as well as how certain themes seem to have come up again and again.

One way that you are connecting posts is through your use of labels. For example, I see someone created a "Critical Theory Today" label that others began to also use. So, if I wanted to pull together posts that addressed the Tyson reading, I could just click on that label in the cloud.

Another way to make the blog into a more "conversational" space would be to use the comment function to respond to a post with a similar topic. The advantages to this would be that people would be more likely to treat posts like invitations to take up a conversation.

Finally, you can always insert a stable link to a person's blog in your own text. (This is a way that bloggers often "cite" each other.) To generate the stable link, just click on the title of the post. This will open the post in a new window and the stable url will be in the address bar.

Student Affiliate of NCTE Meeting

The Student Affiliate of the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) is meeting on Monday, February 8 at 6:30-8pm in The Writing Center in Bessey Hall.

The  meeting will focus on teaching poetry in the classroom.  They will have a practicing teacher come to share her experiences and ideas. Dinner will be provided.
 
Joining this type of organization will not only provide you will a different type of professional development than you'll get in coursework, but also looks great on a resume!

Teaching Tool

I just discovered these books on CD which are produced by Full Cast Audio. Instead of the standard one person reading the whole book they have different voice actors to play the various roles. The one I'm currently listening to is Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar. I think this would be a great way to get kids to read or get them interested in books. Full Cast Audio only produces young adult/children literature. Below is a link to the website

Full Cast Audio

Critical Theory

Although this is my (maybe) fifth English class, this is my first look into the actual study of critical theory. I feel like most English instructors expect you to be able to take a text and read and understand it as a critical theory expert (which I definitely am not).
Of course all literature has some sort of meaning, but how you choose to understand what the author is saying is completely up to you... If you get something out of a text, then that is what you wanted and were supposed to get out of it. Critical theory is all a matter of perspective; some theories are shoved down your throat, but it's really up to you on how you want to understand and accept a text, not anybody else's opinion.
So in studying critical theory I hope everyone can keep an open mind and follow their own accepted critical readings of the texts.

Critical Theory Today Reactions

Good thing I caught this before class- my post from last night did not upload correctly. Here's hoping this one is successful:

Because I am not an English major, I take the backseat most of the time when it comes to reading. I thoroughly enjoy books but I do not stress their deeper meanings beyond the text most of the time, unless challenged by peers or a class. When I saw the book requirement for Critical Theory Today, I was pretty nervous. Seeing theory and connecting it with literature seemed daunting- however I was very surprised to read the first chapter with ease. Tyson spoke of an instance where a student didn't know what "the death of the author" meant during a conversation and its affect on his comprehension of the discussion. This is typical of my own self so I was drawn in to continue discovering how theories can help make a more fruitful experience when reading a book. Of course, no one has to read every book and analyze it through theory- but it will be interesting to start looking at certain texts with a different perspective, especially if the themes make any certain theory come to mind. I anticipate going back to some of my old favorites and looking for different connections I can make to larger meanings/themes.

One quote that particularly caught my attention was "Knowledge is what constitutes our relationship to ourselves and to our world, for it is the lens through which we view ourselves and our world. Change the lens and you change both the view and the viewer." It helps motivate you to keep reading the text as well as challenge yourself.

Finally- a list of my top five YAL:

1- The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

2- The Perks of Being a Wallflower

3- Kafka on the Shore

4- Things Fall Apart

5- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Recommendation

I wanted to make a recommendation for a YAL book I recently read called "Looking for Alaska," by John Green. This book struck me as very mature compared to some of the other YAL books I have read, but I respected it for that. I think any high school-er could appreciate this book for not treating the reader like a child. It deals with some mature themes like suicide, drinking, and smoking, but it presents them in a very realistic manner.
This book is very much a coming of age story. There were two main ideas that kept recurring throughout the book. The protagonists search for the "great perhaps." In other words, his step outside his comfort zone in search for the meaning of life. Coupled with a supporting characters desire to escape the "labyrinth," a metaphor for how confusing and complicated life can be, and a desire to escape life's problems. These two ideas work very fluidly together throughout the novel because there is a conflict between them. The characters want to find out more about themselves, but dont want to get lost along the way.
Also, the book can be just fun at times. I loved the protagonists obsession with famous last words, and the pranks he and his friends played while at school. All of the characters were pretty interesting, and the main cast were all very 3-dimensional. Its also a book I couldn't put down because it kept a solid pace from one event to the next. If I had to find fault with the book I would say that some of the issues the characters face are not unique to this genre (while most certainly are). I also thought that while the main characters are great some of the backup characters get stereotypical at times. Nonetheless, it is a great novel, so if you have some free time consider checking this one out.

A great piece of YAL

It's been ten years since Dave Eggers released his autobiographical novel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I remember reading it as a senior in high school and being completely taken aback by this style of writing that I had never encountered. Granted, I wasn't exactly the most avid reader back then, but there was something about Egger's ability to lay down his unfiltered thoughts as coherent words onto the page. Everything seemed so raw and true.
AHWOSG is a loose autobiography that chronicles Egger's life beginning at around age 21. I say loose autobiography because even he admits to taking creative liberties throughout the novel: creating conversations that he says would have been impossible to remember exactly, sidestepping to provide the reader with insight into his deepest thoughts, or actions in which he wished he would have taken. As described in the title, Egger's tale is heartbreaking. When he was 21 years old and a student at University of Illinois, his father died of lung cancer. Within five weeks of his father dying, his mother then passed away from stomach cancer. Dave's little brother Christopher (a.k.a "Toph") was only 8 years old at the time, and because his oldest sister Beth was consumed with law school and Bill had a full time job in Los Angeles, Dave dropped out of college to be the sole guardian of Toph.
Dave's depiction of his struggle to take on multiple roles make this novel a perfect example of YAL in my eyes. He is conflicted with with having to be a mature parent for his younger brother but also living a lifestyle close to that of his age group. I think it's a beautiful and tragic story that has the ability to make you laugh hysterically and push back tears. It is provocative but not for the sake of being provocative, only because his thoughts and emotions are so powerful, and I think, relevant to what a young person's outlook actually is.

Book Suggestion

I almost feel as if I am cheating by posting book suggestions, because reading and discussing books are more hobbies than homework assignments to me. That being said, it is difficult to narrow down my recommendations because I could type pages on young adult novels that I have read. What I would rather discuss are books that may not necessarily be intended for young adults but are nonetheless often discussed in a high school classroom. One of the few required books in my high school experience was Jurassic Park, which most likely sounds extremely boring and uninteresting to most freshmen girls. However, I ended up finishing the book weeks before the rest of the class had even begun it. It was so completely different than what I expected. A great deal of the book discusses scientific aspects of creating dinosaurs. While science has never been an interest of mine, I surprisingly enjoyed the intellectual challenge that the content posed. It made science (granted, fictional science) extremely interesting. My second suggestion would be a more traditional classroom book, The Great Gatsby. My class was learning about the roaring 20s at the time, so the book fit in nicely. I became completely enthralled with the dress and social behavior of this period. What's more is that a really great film was made off of the book which helps put a visual with the reading. While most films may not do a book justice, I felt that this particular movie held up pretty well in staying true to the major themes of the book.

Ideas for Marxist Theory

Hey guys-

I was just wondering if anyone had given any thought to what we wanted to do for our project? I know we need to email Valerie this week with our plan. I was thinking it would be cool if we could do some type of visual presentation with maybe a youtube video or pictures. Also, any ideas for getting the class involved/ suggested readings?

American Born Chinese

I finished American Born Chinese last night. I liked that the book was a quick read, probably because it was a comic. As I was reading it, I could not help but think of the boys I babysit over the summer. The oldest one, who is 13, would have absolutely loved this book, and I think it is because of some of stereo-types and references to inappropriate/gross things- i.e. peeing in the coke. Therefore, I think that this book really appeals to the 12-15 age group for boys.
However, while I think many YA, male readers would like this book, I think that it did enforce some strong stereo-types that our culture currently has about Asian people. Some examples of this include: pp 114- Chin-Kee eating cat, pp 203- Chin-Kee singing "She Bangs", this reminded my of the guy on the first season of American Idol who sang this song (he was Chinese)- I am not sure if this was meant to represent this or just a coincidence. I think that while these books are funny, they can also be harmful because they continue to enforce common ideas and stereo-types of others.

All-Encompassing post

So, I really enjoyed the Critical Theory Today chapter, because it rang true for me. I had always consumed everything I read and felt full, but never digested it...if that analogy makes sense. I really like when Tyson talks about what critical theory can do to enhance our reading of literature, and I found them to be true of my experience with critical theory; I found that I was sick of being that person that grazed over the blatant assumptions of a text without chewing on them for awhile and questioning them. I asked myself if I would rather be that person that continues to internalize everything the text has to offer, good and bad, and never stop being lazy enough to where I can choose to ignore it? The answer, of course, was a big resounding NO! As Tyson says on pg. 4, "we may not be aware of the theoretical assumptions that guide our thinking, but they are there nonetheless." I think that this is true of the social constructs that lead our reading rather than us leading it. I want to enjoy literature, but how can I knowing that it is trapping me even more than I ever knew? Personally, I think critical theory has set me free in so many ways, and I still enjoy literature, so...make of that what you will.

As for American Born Chinese, I loved it! No one knows as well as this middle school/high school girl always on the fringe of being accepted by SOMEONE but never quite making it enough to feel satisfied, that the longer you run away from yourself, the more it follows you and forces you to become the thing you're afraid of! Which, really in the end is not that bad. It was the only time I've ever felt happy; when I finally started acting like myself for a change, that is. I think it was beautiful in its simplicity, eye-opening and shocking at times, and yet somehow just said exactly what needed to be said. No wonder it won so many awards!

I can't think of any book recommendations, but I remember one of my favorite books always being The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.

Listography.

So, I'm trying to think of some sort of witty blog post and failing miserably. I looked at my bookshelf to try and start a book recommendation and thought pretty much everyone has heard enough about Twilight, so I'll give it a rest (but I am Team Edward if you were wondering). Then I thought about posting this link I found to a youtube video called "Salam Cafe", which I stumbled upon because I wanted to hear what Randa Abdel-Fattah's accent sounded like but I didn't actually finish the video. I felt stuck at this point.

What do I do when I'm stuck?

Make lists.

Top 10 Fave Young Adult Books
(or books I consider to be YAL.)
(and in no particular order.)

1. Speak- Laurie Halse Anderson
2. The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd
3. The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
4. Crank- Ellen Hopkins
5. Twilight (all 4.)
6. Catalyst- Laurie Halse Anderson
7. Diary of a Teenage Girl- Melody Carlson
8. Uglies (series)- Scott Westerfield
9. The Outsiders- SE Hinton
10. The Giver- Lois Lowry

Least Fave Young Adult Book
1. Lord of the Flies- WIlliam Goldberg
(This novel gives me the same gagging reaction as when I hear "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone" on the radio.)

What does your list look like?

The Golden Compass: Too young?

I received the first of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy novels, Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass as known in the U.S.), when I was around the age of seven when my mother decided I was “above my age’s reading level” (as many mothers believe of their children). I took one look at the then enormous novel and stashed it away on my bookshelf. A couple years later, I pulled it out once again only to read the first few pages. This practice continued until I was in the sixth grade and I actually found the motivation to read a bit further. By the third chapter I was hooked. I reread the novel, this time the entire series, when I was in high school and really came to understand the complexities of the story plot and what it represented. Since the Hollywood film came out, many of you may know the story plot or have read the novel itself (as usual, if you have only seen the movie, the novel is much more engaging and complex). In short, the main character Lyra ventures from home in search of her kidnapped friend Roger. She meets an Armored Bear along the way, as well as other friends and ultimately discovers that hundreds of kidnapped children are being used for ‘medical’ (for lack of a better word) experiments, ultimately conducted by her mother. She uses a ‘golden compass’ to navigate her way along her journey, as the instrument is able to mysteriously read the powers of the world. The book caused controversy as it has many hidden representations, mostly in regards to organized religion. I would recommend this series to anyone, especially adults who are more likely to grasp the hidden themes throughout the trilogy.

Here is a link to an article about the film sparking protest from the Catholic Church: http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1342

And another to a more engaging site about The Golden Compass as a movie versus a book: http://www.avclub.com/articles/book-vs-film-the-golden-compass,10156/

Image taken from: http://accordingtoheather.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/golden-compass.jpg

Book Recommendation

I have always like Scott Westerfeld's novels. The writing isn't very challenging, but the ideas certainly can be. One series I like particularly:
Uglies is written in a futuristic society where everyone is given an operation at age sixteen to become beautiful. Why? After an apocalyptic-like scenario the new leaders believe war was caused because of differences and inequalities. This was their solution. They didn't plan for people who might not want to be pretty. The main character, Tally makes a friend who doesn't want the operation. Will she change Tally's mind?
It's become a trilogy, with a companion novel as well. These books really make you think, especially in this world that is all about apperances.

American Born Chinese

I finished the Critical Theory Today chapter as well as American Born Chinese and I thought that American Born Chinese was way better than Does My Head Look Big In This?. I was not sure if I would get into it at first because the first few pages did not seem especially intriguing. After I got to Jin Wang's story, I thought the book was really good and I thought the ending was really well thought out. The interesting part about reading that book for this week, is that I actually had to read a book written by a Chinese-American woman for a different class. The book is called The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. Her book actually falls into two genres: autobiography/non-fiction as well as creative fiction because of the way she writes about her life as well as adds in stories she heard from childhood about her culture. The Woman Warrior is not part of Young Adult literature, but I still thought it was interesting to compare an adult novel about a Chinese-American to the ideas presented in American Born Chinese. Both of the books pose the issue of culture and identity. Both Jin Wang and Maxine Hong Kingston are Americans who have never been to China and yet, they still are a part of their Chinese culture so there is the struggle of which culture the characters feel they belong. I am looking forward to our discussion of American Born Chinese. See you all tomorrow!

Book Recommendation

When I try to look back on the past books I read I feel like very few were really young adult novels because in school they tend to have you read more classics.

In my ninth grade English class though my teacher picked 4 to 5 young adult novels and had a chose one that we wanted to read. We then formed groups based on the novel that we choose and had like book groups in class were we discussed different things that happened in our books every week and then when the book was finished we did a final project as a group. (I included this for those that might be interested in how these novels can be incorporated in a new way into the classroom) Anyways the book I picked was "Speak". This book is written by Laurie Halse Anderson (the same author of Wintergirls that was read to us on the first day of class). The book discusses how a young girl comes to terms with something horrible that happens to her in the beginning. It is all about how she grows as a character, while navigating through high school. It had some intense content that could be considered inapproriate in a classroom. However I thought the way it was used in our classroom was better because we really only had to discuss the issues in our groups and not as a whole class. Overall the book was very good and even was made into a lifetime movie. Kristen Stewart plays the main character Melinda.

On another note I was walking around my placement class today, which is 8th graders and I saw that one of the girls was reading Does My Head Look Big in This. I enjoyed talking to her about the book and felt like I could connect with her because we had read the same thing!

Some blogs... (?)

Describing this assignment to my room mate as he stood in my door and flipped a half full water bottle into the air... we get into the possibility of starting one of these things... he's a computer student and would... know how to do it, and we would fill it with fanatical stories, told from the point of view of one fictional character but woven together from the highlights of our college years.

(irrelevant.)

In other news... I'm staring at my bookshelf and I don't think I have any young adult literature up there. SO here's a recommendation for the last book I read, "Inherent Vice" by Thomas Pynchon. My first look into this famous author's cannon is ironically his very latest book, and one that frankly confused the hell out of me. Given the subject however, this is appropriate. You want to think somewhere along the lines of "The Big Lebowski" meets "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for this one, in which a pot head gumshoe traces what starts as a kidnapping plot and eventually comes to include dozens of characters who may or may not connect, this being dependent on the state of conciousness that our private eye is then tuned into. I never felt like I knew half of what was going on, yet had a strong sense that the protagonist was only a lick better off than I was. A more intense reading may have been more rewarding than one stretched out over a holiday break and even a few weeks into the semester. Or maybe I should have taken notes. Either way, I can't argue that I didn't enjoy the thing, and Pyncon's language alone would have me coming back. And I don't think he would object to the idea of readers of any age enjoying the novel, never mind the target audience.

watch this if you don't want to read the post... Narrated by the author
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjWKPdDk0_U

YA Author's Interactive Blog

I wrote my first response paper about a YA author's blog I found. I was searching for interactive blogs written by YA authors, and it was a bit harder to find a successful, updated blog than I thought it would be. I came across Justine Larbalestier's blog kind of on accident, but when I did, it was exactly what I was looking for. She uses her blog for a variety of reasons, from random thoughts to fan mail to reviews of other literature. I was surprised by how little self promotion there was, and how many glowing reviews she had for other YA authors. She talks a lot about her thoughts behind her novels, and a lot about her motivations. She even titled one post, "I'm Not Your Target Audience (Yes, You Are)" which related directly to a talk we had in class. She talks about the fact that she does not in any way limit her intended audience to teens, but to anyone that was young at any point in time (so...everyone). I thought this was an interesting thing to read straight from an author, and I wanted to share the blog link with you guys.

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/

Book Recommendation

Way back when (in high school) I read a book called You Don't Know Me by David Klass. I highly recommend it because the main character, John, is a humorous teenager who is not only dealing with the awkwardness of high school and "Glory Halle-lujah", his crush, but he's also dealing with an abusive future step-father. The book culminates in a terrifying twist of events that resolves itself in... Well, I can't say or else I'd ruin it, but the book is extremely well-written and, despite the serious material that it covers, is both humorous and touching. It's a great way to approach the subject of abuse in a productive manner without completely scaring off those who may be squeamish. Also, it's a bit more real than those girl-and-her-horse stories...

The book is definitely well worth the read, and I actually read it one more time after initially reading it in high school and it was just as interesting the second time around. Also, as a former orchestra/band member, I appreciated his descriptions of his band teacher and the amusing animalization of his tuba (tuba as bullfrog).

P.S. - I'll be interested to hear everyone's opinions of American Born Chinese! I wasn't a huge fan.