Why we care

Britney Spears is back; she opened the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards with her new single “Gimme More”. The song starts out with the interesting line of “Its Britney Bitch”, but no media outlet paid any attention to that, instead every media outlet was criticizing her dancing, singing and the fact that she had gained weight, over all trying to destroy her right after she came back into the music scene.

Now is it really fair to criticize Britney Spears about these things, without considering the fact that she hasn’t performed or sung in years and the fact that she has gained weight should not have been a surprise to anyone, because after having two children, that’s what usually happens. After her performance it was established that her dancing routine was changed last minute and during the performance her heel broke which affected her dancing, a video on youtube.com outlines what happened step by step. Unfortunately in today’s age, we live in a world where most of us do not take that extra initiative to research about what might have happened and why it was not all that great. Instead we take that first bit of information we receive from a certain media outlet and let it influence us how ever it likes.

Her singing, couldn’t have possibly been judged because she was lip singing, yet there were media outlets around the world criticizing Britney Spears about how her singing was horrible, by this misinforming people and as for her lip singing ability, it may have not have been all that great but after so many years of not performing it was expected.

Britney Spears’ weight gain seemed to be what most media outlets were focused on, but really should not have been focused on at all because after a woman has two children she usually gains weight. She may be a celebrity that has always been skinny and all but in reality she is human and is just like anybody else, who gains and loses weight. One reason that may have centered the attention to her weight may have been the outfit that she wore during her performance, which was very revealing. But did Britney Spears really gain that much weight that it deserved that much of the media’s attention, because if she was “fat”, society’s views on fat and skinny have drastically changed for the worse. In addition media outlets do not take into consideration how girls who look up to Britney Spears might see themselves because in reality Britney Spears was not fat at all; she was just not as skinny as people were used to seeing her in her earlier years.

I believe society loves to gossip about celebrities because they are fascinated about their rich lifestyles and most people really grow up with these people through the involvement the celebrities have in movies, music, magazines and so much more and they develop a certain bond with complete strangers. Magazines such as People, Us Weekly, Star, etc… in a way document the celebrities’ lives from the moment they become famous till the day that they die, and people who read these magazines learn a lot of personal things about the people whether they are lies or the truth, and some people become obsessed. It goes to extremes where people will do anything to meet this person they know nothing about, just what they have read in these magazines. The fascination with celebrities sometimes goes too far and people start to stalk celebrities and begin invading their personal lives, which then leads to court, restraining orders and even jail.

Now what does this “say” about us as people and as a society? Well in my opinion it says that we are people obsessed with the lives of complete strangers who have a lot of money. It is rather pathetic how people judge and talk about complete strangers, it just shows that their own lives aren’t enough for them and that they need to talk about others. This relates to the whole bullying issue, because people who gossip about celebrities are like school yard bullies picking on kids because they are unhappy with themselves. Over all people love gossiping about celebrities because they don’t have what the celebrities have, which is money & fame. We are a society that is run on jealousy and gossip, we need someone to pick on and talk about to make ourselves feel better because as people we will always want what we don’t have.




Outlining what went wrong





Unknown. "Britney Spears at the VMA's." Unknown. Online image.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2007/09/instapoll_britneys_vma_perform_1.html. January 14 2007

Different Media Tools

1.
· My father’s favourite media tool is the cell phone which he uses on a regular basis because he runs a small business.

· My mother’s favourite media tool is the telephone because she has family all over the world, so she does a lot long distance calling and talks for hours.

· My favourite media tool is the computer, because it has all one really, I can do homework, watch TV, talk to people and so much more, I spend a good amount of time on the computer.

· My brother’s favourite media tool is the iPod because the music calms and helps him through the day; he listens to it almost all day.

2.
· My father’s least favourite media tool is the computer because he does not know how to use and it frustrates him.

· My mother’s least favourite media tool is the computer because, like my father, she does not know how to use it either and it also frustrates her.

· My least favourite media tool is the cell phone because I have a tendency to over talk and text people and I get charged a lot on my phone bills, which I don’t pay for myself, making my father who pays for them very upset.

· My brother’s least favourite media tool is the computer because he complains that it hurts his eyes, even though he barely spends anytime in the computer.

3. Yes, I believe that children of different ages prefer different items because certain items are much easier to use for different age groups. In addition, almost every age group has that one item that they are attached, because it satisfies their needs at that certain time in their lives.

4. In my family the item that is used the most is the TV because it is the easiest to use and most preferred for entertainment purposes.

5. In my family the item that is used the least is the cell phone because only my father and I own one and I rarely use mine anymore do to my very high phone bills.

Photo Manipulation: Where's the line?

Photo Manipulation is the technique of manipulating a photographic image by altering it in order to create an illusion or deception, or just too simply enhance and correct the image to your standards and/or desires. Photo Manipulation can be done either through analog or digital means, yet digital is the preferred technique because it is fast and results can be seen instantly, with programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Photo Manipulation has been around since the invention of photography and has greatly increased since the invention of digital cameras, because most digital cameras now come with a photo manipulation program that people use on a regular basis. The most commonly known photo to have been manipulated was the mug shot of O.J. Simpson, by Time magazine, which many believed had crossed all ethics towards photo manipulation.

Matt Mahurin, an illustrator for Time magazine manipulated the mug shot of O.J. Simpson and caused an out burst of criticism towards Time magazine. To defend the Time magazine and himself, Mahurin stated “wanted to make it more artful, more compelling”. This statement by Mr. Mahurin shows how the Time magazine’s illustrator would rather have an eye catching front cover image, to sell more magazines, and to communicate a specific thought when someone is to look at the cover. The manipulation of O.J. Simpson’s photo was extremely unethical because it crossed all borders of photo manipulation.

Although photo manipulation may seem very unethical, there are certain photo manipulations techniques that are accepted and allowed, such as brightness and contrast adjustments, colour correction, cropping a frame to fit a layout, retouching of dust and scratches etc... Now the photo manipulation techniques that are considered unethical and are not accepted are adding or removing objects within the frame, changing colours rather than restoring the original colours, flipping a photograph in any way and basically anything that will alter the image to change the reader’s opinion. Although all ethics of photo manipulation have been crossed, the Time magazine had misled their readers by publishing a false image. The exploitation of O.J. Simpsons has been known for being racist and insensitive because of the effect on the magazine readers. In addition to that the magazine had taken a coloured man’s photo and made it darker making him seem more evil, which directly leads to Us vs. Them, where they have given him the image as the bad guy and in his case the murderer of his ex-wife and her lover. The difference between the News Week cover and the Time magazine cover was obvious, for News Week’s magazine had left the mug shot of O.J. Simpson as it was, where the Time magazine had change the photo, in order to sell more copies and alter the publics opinion about Mr. Simpson.

Photo manipulation, which in today’s world is very well known and dealt with on a regular basis, has shown the world just how much a person would digitally manipulate an image, to make a cash profit. Other media cases of photo manipulation include the doctored photo of Lebanon which had additional smoke clouds added to the original and was darkened, News Weeks cover of Martha Stewart had her head placed on someone else’s body and hundreds of others. Race, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic background, play a strong role in how a person would interpret a image and because most people don’t take the time to read about the images they see they judge by what they see before knowing what is really going on in the image. This was the same with O.J. Simpson’s mug shot on the Time magazine that was darkened; it made society believe that he was a murderer. The Time magazine is not a cruel and racist magazine because it is not the first media magazine to take an image of a black man and make it seem evil. In fact, the interpretations that people in today’s world have range from the misinterpretations of Muslims and Arabs in the news to black people in the media. Altogether “the art” of photo manipulation is acceptable to a certain extend, but this certain extend is different for every person.

Barbie vs. Fulla

We all know what a Barbie is, considering the fact that the plastic doll has been around for an astonishing 48 years and is the top-selling fashion doll ever made! Barbie, who’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, is given the personality of a beautiful blonde, who is perfect in every way and lives the all American lifestyle. Yet some people don’t approve of the blonde, because of her “revealing clothes and shameful posture” but there’s no worry they have found a replacement! Fulla is the Muslim replacement version of Barbie, which is marketed to children of Islamic and Middle-Eastern countries to replace the western life style of Barbie with the more realistic life style of a typical Islamic woman. The doll was created by Manar Tarabichi, a Syrian entrepreneur and is produced by NewBoy, since November 2003 the doll has sold 1.5 million copies. The doll has been very much approved in the Middle-Eastern countries, because of her conservative and respectable clothes such as a black abaya, wide variety of head scarves, and clothes that show no bare arms, legs or cleavage. In addition to her clothing, she also has black hair, and has had her breasts flattened, these small factors are very important to the consumers of the doll, Shahira Kashlan has said “I don’t mind buying Fulla because she’s closer to Arab culture’ and she added “Her clothes don’t expose”. Fulla is a role-model to some Muslim people and shows how many Muslim people would prefer their daughters to dress and behave, however Mr. Abidin has said that the company never intended to design an Islamic doll, but just one that Arab girls could identify with.

MacKinnon, Mark "Barbie meets her Muslim match." The Globe and Mail 27 Oct 2005: A1, A21.

Unknown. "Barbie and Fulla." July 14,2007. Online image. http://saneed.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/fulla_narrowweb__300x4920.jpg. November 18, 2007

Why I couldn’t remember and what I remember

On September 11, 2001, the towers of the World Trade Center were hit by one hijacked plane each. When I was asked the question, where I was that day, I thought hard about where I was but my mind was blank! I went home that day and asked my mom, and everything came to me! On September 11, 2001, I still wasn’t in school because I had just moved to Canada on July 12, 2001 from Norway, and my brother and I were not aloud to attend school with having some medical test done, due to Canadian laws. Although I don’t remember a lot about that horrifying day, I remember that I didn’t find out about the plane crashes until around 8 o’clock pm, and even when I saw them on the television I didn’t really understand what was going on because I didn’t know English very well, being new to Canada and everything but I knew that something was wrong. That evening my parents and their friends were watching the devastating replays of the planes crashing into the buildings, over and over again, they all looked so shocked and could not believe what had happened. I just watched the television as if it was a movie because when I asked what was going on no one would tell me, I don’t really remember when I found out what had happened on that day but I know it was a couple years later.

Shortly after I had found out about what had happened that day Alan Jackson came out with a song "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning? In the song Jackson states in one line "I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell you the difference between Iraq and Iran."
With this line Jackson made very good statement about media coverage and how they really don’t care about the people in the middle-east, and how the news considers all middle-eastern people to be the same. This is diffidently not the case because if you were to compare Iraqi and Iranian people you would discover that they have a completely different culture and values. I think that with this song Alan Jackson tried to get people to remember all the people who lost their lives that day, and he did a very good job of it, even though he was criticised for awakening the grief of 9/11.

Soon after Alan Jacksons song was starting to be forgotten and more and more accepted movies came out for the even of 9/11. The movies that came out were “World Trade Center” and “United 93” just like Alan Jacksons song the movies were both criticised for once again awakening the grief of 9/11. In my opinion I think the movies were an alright idea, but they didn’t really focus on 9/11 all together, but instead they chose one part of 9/11 and focused on that in both movies. So over all the movies weren’t that bad but the world really wouldn’t have been much different if they had been made.


Alan Jackson - Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning



United 93 Trailer



World Trade Center



Amy Zalman. " Two planes carsh into the towers of the World Trade Center." Unknown. Online image.http://terrorism.about.com/od/homelandsecurity/ig/Airline-Security---Terrorism/CNN911scrn.htm.November 16, 2007.

Stefani’s Harajuku Girls nothing more than accessories?

Gwen Stefani has come a long way from being the lead singer of No Doubt. She has become an idol to millions of North Americans and others around the world, for her music and style that she has adopted from numerous cultures. With all this power Gwen Stefani has created her own Fashion line that is called L.A.M.B. which has her own trendy edge to it. To advertise her fashion line, she has hired four women, which have been introduced to the world as Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls”.

The term Harajuku Girls originates from a district in Japan, where women and men (Harajuku Boys) dress with an outrageous style daily. According to an online source, the way to wear Harajuku style is to “be creative; be theatrical; mix and match; look cute; have a sense of humour; be confident wearing clothes that have weird shapes; if you go for bright colours, make sure you have unusual, fun contrast; if you wear make-up, wear it black; be confident in your chosen look; and above all, be stylish”. Altogether, Harajuku Girls are known for the spirit of freedom for the way their style is produced, since it is based upon their personal views and opinions.

Now calling Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls”, Harajuku Girls, is very unacceptable to many critiques and original Japanese Harajuku Girls because they believe that they are not real Harajuku Girls. Instead they are part of Stefani’s Marketing “Scheme” that has the world believing she has created this term and style herself. Stefani, who has also named her “Harajuku Girls”, Love, Angel, Music and Baby, has strengthened the belief that this is all a marketing scheme by using the first letter of each names given to the girls to spell out, L.A.M.B which is her Fashion Line, making these girls walking advertisements. And also the “Harajuku Girls” always stand in the order “Love, Angel, Music, Baby”, to spell out L.A.M.B. In addition she has even made dolls of the Harajuku Girls and her self that are sold for money, and by this she is telling people you can also own your very own Harajuku Girls. It is also believe that Gwen Stefani has used the four Harajuku Girls, Maya Chino, Jennifer Kita, Rino Nakasone, and Mayuko Kitayama as props, just to reach higher success and fame, in the music and fashion industries. Although some Japanese Harajuku Girls don’t approve of the Harajuku Girls other Japanese women greatly believe that the appearance of Japanese women in the media is an extremely wonderful opportunity for the North American society to view more Japanese women in the present media, and more to come.

Many problems have and are occurring in the present regarding the works of Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku Girls; this is because there are two sides to this, on one side many Japanese women do not want to see people like them, becoming accessories to the Western lifestyle and society. Then on the other hand there are Japanese women who want to see other Japanese women on television because “it brings hope to others” says a Japanese women on a blog. With all these problems regarding Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku Girls, its is noted that there have been legal documents signed by both Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku Girls, outlining what they can and can’t do, because in the end of it all, being one of Stefani’s Harajuku Girls is a just a job. In addition Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls get paid a ridiculously large amount of cash for being on tour with her, being at her fashion show, having dolls of them made to be sold, being in her music videos, being at concerts, and just being there in her shadow. Altogether if both Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku Girls are satisfied with what they are doing and how it is being done, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that Stefani has these four Harajuku Girls working for her, a job is a job, when money is involved.

POLL RESULTS

After writing the article about Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku girls, I set up a poll. The poll question was “Do you believe that Gwen Stefani, is using the Harajuku Girls as props?” and the choices were Yes and NO, the results that I got were not very surprising because these are the results I was expecting. Out of the 5 people that participated in the poll, 60% agreed that Gwen Stefani is using the Harajuku Girls as props and 40% said no she wasn’t. I wasn’t surprised with these results because after reading all the other articles on this topic, there was always two different sides to the story and in the end, it all came up to the persons beliefs, values, culture, gender etc…

Knight, Magda Harajuku Girls - the heart of modern Japanese fashion. Unkn. Online. 17 Oct 2007. http://www.mookychick.co.uk/style/harajuku_girls.php.

Lorenzo Agius. " Gwen Stefani's and the Harajuku Girls." Unknown. Online image. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,1554848,00.html .October 18 2007.