Horror Film.. or a Porno?

SEX & VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA

I was inspired over Thanksgiving Break for my next blog post, so as to not forget what I wanted to write about, at first I posted some pictures and a title as a work in progress. While watching this movie that came on HBO, I honestly could not believe my eyes. The transformation of the movie of this movie was baffling. Since then, I have gotten a lot of feedback about people intrigued to see where exactly this blog was going. I hope not to disappoint.

If any of you have seen or heard of the 2009 remake of Friday the 13^th, you will know that depending on the time you tune in to the movie, it could be conveyed as a horror film or pornography. In some scenes, there are two people engaging in extremely graphic intercourse, and in another is a masked man impaling a knife into a girl’s head through a lake dock. How on earth do these two images combine cohesively into one film? First of all , they don’t. The reason why they are put together is because that sex sells, violence sells, and so together the movie is intended to be a big success.

As shown in the picture sequence, the movie starts off light with teenage shenanigans, and then slowly evolves into an extremely violent and graphic movie. Even as the violence continues, the characters remain highly sexualized as if that is normal behavior while acts of this nature occur. The combined images of violence and sexual imagery are not a coincidence but rather strategically place to arouse viewers. Movie directors will place an extremely sexual scene followed by an extremely violent scene on purpose. This is because during the sexual scenes, viewers are fully attentive and aroused, so when the violent scene comes they are still allured in to watch. The problem with these methods is that because viewers get pleasure from watching the sexual scenes followed by the violent ones, they may confuse where the arousal is originating from. The mixed signals continue to be a problem because viewers want more arousal that they often feel can come from violence. This is completely the fault of the media because of how they present the violent images. They attract in followers to graphic imagery by providing other imagery that is alluring and hard to resist.

A particular example is when a teenage girl is water skiing topless around the lake, and then all of a sudden Jason, the masked killer, shoots an arrow into the boat drivers head, and then the boat proceeds to hit the water skiing girl. Jason follows the girl to her hiding place under the dock, where he stabs her straight into her skull, pulling her up through the dock and exposing her breasts (combining imagery).

This also relates to censorship because of how violence is broadcasted. Film makers feel that incorporating humor and sexualized images “make it okay” to show other extreme violence alongside. In the “Social Role of Advertising”  by T.H. Qualter, he said “bland is safer than controversy and is more conductive to maximum sales.” I would completely disagree with this point because although I do not feel that this type of movie is appropriate, it certainly still sells. I also think that considering the teenage demographic they are trying to target, this age group isn’t looking for what is “safe” or “bland”.

If all along we have discussed that “medium is the message” (supported by James Reston’s article in the NYT), what exactly is the message here?  That violence is supposed to arouse you? This a problem with our generation’s advertising and censorship tactics. People are more concerned with sales than the influences on our generation 

Facebook Police

I have been avoiding doing a post on facebook for as long as possible, but since last week's presentation was about facebook, I suppose I cannot avoid it any longer. Facebook, such a contradicting subject. With this topic, I want to talk about what is known as "status updates" as well as the over all concept of censorship and how that connects to how you are portraying yourself.

I will not lie about the fact that I post far too many unnecessary "status updates" than a person should, but that does not stop me from posting. In one regard, some people will say, why would I ever need to know that about this person, but on the other hand the person reading the status update will probably say to a friend-- did you hear so and so is doing this right now. Whether or not we wanted to know that Becca is "cleaning her room, homework, then watching gossip girl at 9!", we still want to read it and engage with it because of human instinct to gather as much knowledge as possible. I would never go out of my way to gather that information, but now that I read it, I know exactly what Becca is doing and when- just from this there are so many different types of information I can gather- for one more analytical piece of information, if Becca doesn't pick up her phone from 9-10 on Monday, I will now assume she is watching Gossip Girl. 

Ironically, in George Orwell's 1984 classic novel, the characters had to hide their thoughts from the "thought police" in case anything they said was controversial. Characters would quiver at the thought of Big Brother and how he was always watching. Now, in 2010, people are craving for people to watch them ("stalk" in facebook lingo). If I want to find out what a person is doing, my first reaction is check their facebook status. What has the world come to that we are relying on other's to post their status on facebook to stay up to date on their lives?

If a person really wanted to, they could post false status' to perceive a different self. This is the problem with facebook. You must be able to account for the fact that some of the information posted may not actually be real. If I really had the desire, I could post status' saying I was backpacking across Europe and google images to post as mobile uploads-- do i know anyone that would do this, no, but it could certainly be done.

To identify a different element of facebook, but on the same note is photo uploads. The first thing that comes to mind for me is why on earth people enjoy posting photos of themselves on toilets or peeing in public places. I cannot tell you how many "toilet" photos I have seen on facebook. To me, if I wouldn't want to actually do this in front of the 1,800 people I am friends with on facebook, why am I posting it for those people to see. This absolutely baffels me. What is it about this particular pose that is so appealing. Photos are a great thing to be able to share, but you have to be careful about what type of photos you are putting out there and what you are sharing.

It is impossible not to generalize a person about what they post on facebook because that is the information a person is putting out for their friends to see. In fact, I would bet you that most people post the status updates and photos they do because they want people to think a certain way about themselves. Censorship is a huge part of being a part of this site and if you are not able to master the concept you could ruin your reputation for longer than you may think.

Although it would absolutely be awful to have Big Brother, sometimes I think Facebook police wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Frost Yourself

Jewelry is an important part of everyone woman’s wardrobe. There are different types of jewelry depending on how you want to represent yourself. I feel like simple things like this in our society our recognized as different, but never actually analyzed.  For example, what I mean by this is the jewelry you wear on a day to day basis, is clearly different than the jewelry you may wear for a black tie event. A person may not always be able to describe how the jewelry differs, but can definitely be distinguished by look. Below in the pictures I have provided, it is a person’s natural instinct to make assumptions based upon what accessories a person chooses to wear.

There are different types of jewelry to wear to tell someone your relationship status. For example, a clatter ring is worn different depending if you are in a relationship or not. If you are part of the Greek system, in a serious relationship a girl can wear her boyfriend’s letters to tell everyone she is taken and by who. Everyone knows that a diamond ring on a women’s left hand indicates that she is married. These are all ways for a person to say something about themselves, without actually saying anything at all.

Relationship Status

Claddagh Ring

Greek Letter Lavaliering

Wedding Ring

Different groups of people tend to wear different types of jewelry. For example, someone who is preppy typically wears pearl jewelry, vs. someone who is “hipster”, “scenester” or “emo” may have several dark metallic piercings or even gauges. These are all generalizations that we can conclude just from the jewelry that a person chooses to wear on their body.

Lifestyles

Edgy

Hippie

Many cultures have specific customs that require followers to wear jewelry in a certain way.

Culture

In the same way, a person can definitely tell when jewelry is geared toward a younger audience. There are specific stores such as The Icing or Claires that target youth jewelry. These types of jewelry are cheap material, usually brightly colored and fun shaped. A business woman in her 30s would never wear the cupcakes earrings shown below to a business meeting. Jewelry can define different age groups.

 Age

When a person is wealthy, you can often see it through flashy accessories or brands. David Yurman and Tiffany’s are top jewelry designers because they will only use top of the line materials to make their products and everyone knows that. Because they have built their brand, they also have a “look” to their jewels that the jewelry connoisseur can point out at ease. A person who does not have a high income would not be able to afford top of the line jewelry.

Wealth

Lastly, a bracelet, necklace or earrings is another way to represent a person’s specific interests or extracurricular activities. For example, the sorority I am a part of, one of our symbols is the key. Because of this, there are always girls wearing a key necklace to represent their pride in being a part of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In the same sense, if a person loves to play basketball, they can wear basketball earrings or something alike.

Interests

Kappa Kappa Gamma's Symbol, The Key

Charm Bracelets represent different interests

Charm Bracelets

In conclusion, a person does not always realize that everything we do says something about who we are. Like McLuhan said, media are extensions of the man. Jewelry can say so much about who you are or what you believe in so you must be careful about how you share this information. With all stereotypes, generalizations can be made about people who wear certain types of jewelry, so wearing a particular style will give off a message of some kind about you. Over the course of the semester, I have strongly changed my opinion to think that everything we do is an extension of ourselves. Media is the message.