Can You Even Critique The Office?

The media plays a big role in creating social norms in our society, whether it’s through advertisements, television shows, or movies. According to the Nielsen Company, 96.7% of people own a television, this shows why TV shows have so much power in our society. They have the power to emphasize and reinforce stereotypes or they have the power to change social norms. More often than not we see shows reinforcing gender stereotypes. People watch so much television that a lot of the times they believe and think what they see. A show that has become widely popular over recent years is The Office. The Office is an American TV series that aired from 2006 to 2013 and has won several awards throughout its airing, including 5 Emmy Awards. The Office depicts the everyday lives of office employees in Scranton, Pennsylvania who sell paper and printers while also going in depth into their personal lives. While The Office does continue dominant gender stereotypes and ideologies of woman as being sex objects, seductresses, and dependant on men, The Office uses satire to show real life issues going on in the workplace and bring attention to major problems that are taking place.

The Office has a lot of characters that continue the social norms in society that women are sex objects and seductresses. While doing this, it also objectifies women and degrades them to a lesser role in society. For example, Michael Scott, the boss of The Office, gets into a relationship with his corporate boss, Jan, but later breaks up with her. Later in the show, Jan comes back with new breasts. Jan uses her looks and her new breasts to seduce Michael into thinking that she is the perfect person for him. She controls their relationship and controls all the power in it. Jan is the typical gender stereotype for women because she is a controlling, attractive, and a powerful woman. While Jan is a seductress, she is also used as a sex object because all Michael wants from her is her sex. Throughout the show, Jan and Michael have sex everywhere and he does whatever she says to be able to keep that up. He tries countless times to break up with her but he cannot do it because of her looks and sex, not her personality. In fact, Michael tells other people in the workplace that he wants to break up with Jan, but he always falls through. Later in their relationship, Michael realizes that he only cares for her sex and breaks up with her. Michael’s associates were the ones who pushed for Michael to break up with her and he finally did.  Here, The Office uses satire to show relationships that happen in the workplace and how they affect everyone around them.

Another example in the show that continues the ideology of a sex object is with Meredith. Meredith is an office worker that constantly has sex with anybody that’s willing. All she does is fulfill male’s sexual needs. One time, she had sex with an Outback Steakhouse worker for coupons and sales deals. She carries on the stereotypes that women are “sluts” and dependant on men. These two examples show continued social norms and gender stereotypes that are seen in this show and everywhere in our society even though they might not even be true. While continuing these gender norms the show also shows that women do not have to be restricted to the homelife and can do things outside of caring for the family.

The Office has consistently had five female leads in the show: Pam, Kelly, Phyllis, Angela, and Meredith. Throughout the show, these woman represent strong and dynamic workers that are involved all over the workplace in places such as accounting and sales. Although some of these women do possess some typical female gender roles such as being emotional, they were given enough development and they were very complex characters which allowed for them to be more than just average stereotypes. Many shows have a big male cast and a very small female cast, The Office is an exception. TV shows and movies continue to cast men way more than women which does not accurately depict the real world. In the real world, women represent 51% of our population and The Office enforces that statistic. The Office usually always has 6 female characters and 6 or 7 male characters depending on the season. An example of this is seen in the episode "The Beach Games".  In this episode, Michael has received job offers at a new office and he needs to decide who will be his predecessor.  He created four teams to compete in various games with four male leaders who are the obvious candidates for the job.  Michael assigns Pam the job of being a note taker to help him decide.  Throughout the episode, Pam acts as a valuable source of insight by completing all the tasks, showing off her leadership skills, and shows her plans for the future office.  While Pam is obviously the best candidate for the job, Michael still over looks her for her male counterparts. This episode gets at a real issue with the treatment and fairness between men and women in the workplace. The show uses this strong core group of women to show that they can have success in the workplace and compete with men in the same fields. It is defying the sense of a patriarchal society because men are not dominating the office place.

The Office uses satire to play on issues that exist in actual corporate offices such as gender, race, sexism, and other stereotypes that they address through humor and and different storylines.  The Office represents a very diverse cast, but the show still reinforces gender stereotypes for the sake of humor.  Some episodes where this occurs is the "Sexual harassment" episode, where Michael and his friend poke fun at a scandal that is going on in the office. While the episode is obviously blown a little out of proportion for humor purposes, it still gets at an issue that a lot of people face in the modern workplace.  Another episode that we satire in is, "Gay Witch Hunt". In this episode, Oscar is offended by one of Michaels comments where he uses an offensive word,  Michael later finds out that Oscar is gay and proceeds to tell the whole office about it. This episode, while being hysterical, talks about an issue that many people face in our society and have trouble dealing with. While it might seem like The Office is reinforcing stereotypes and dominant ideologies, it uses those ideologies combined with humor as a gateway to express real life issues that a lot of people would not pay attention to without humor. There are countless episodes in The Office that use satire to get at real issues, stereotypes, and ideologies in our society which makes is so good.  Satire is used in countless shows but it stands out in The Office because of how it expresses things going on in the country.

In our society, the media controls what people think and what people believe in because everybody watches TV and movies. A lot of people do not realize that these shows are reinforcing dominant ideologies because they are so used to seeing them. If our society is going to change the typical gender stereotypes and ideologies to what our society is actually like, it starts with the media. In particular, The Office puts women in the workplace and uses satire to express societal issues but continues ideologies and stereotypes in the workplace that are seen as normal even though they might not be true. A lot of women in society have power and work outside of their homes but the media does not portray them that way. The Office uses satire to criticize todays culture and how it translates into the workplace. The Office uses satire to demonstrate the ridiculousness of discriminating by gender, race, or sexual orientation in a comedic way while also bringing attention to real life issues going on in corporate offices.  

The Humor and Danger of Female Body Standards

The concept of 'the perfect woman' is no secret to human society. All over the globe you see a wide variety of what is considered beautiful about the female body. Thigh gaps, cinched waists, big in some places, smaller in others. So specific and precise, no wonder most females are unhappy with the way they look. A sad reality can, however, make an interesting satire.
A Reductress article titled "Dying Woman Finally Achieves Body Acceptance" humorously responds to this concept by telling the story of a woman who finally loves her body, as she's dying. Martha Stanley finally accepts her body image right before she dies. Throughout the essay other woman speak on how proud they are of Stanley, as they physically highlight a part of their body that's not accepted. This is a example of situational irony, as they are promoting self-love by "squeezing their muffin top and frowning". Another example of situational irony is when Stanley speaks of when she went on a diet during the Great Depression. This could also classify as dramatic irony, since the readers clearly know no one went on a diet during that time to look skinnier. Though a short satire, this article is clearly heightening the feelings from females to look desirable and perfect. Yet from a girl's perspective the essay is much funnier. In order for a women to finally love and accept how they look, they must be on their death best with nothing else to lose. Just going to show that a perfect female body is impossible and ridiculous, and really shouldn't be to die for.

"Nosedive": A Social Media Obsessed Society

Charlie Brooker, the writer and creator of the television series “Black Mirror” explores the dark side of technology intertwined in our modern day lives. Black Mirror has three seasons on Netflix, with a fourth planning to air sometime in the beginning of 2017. Often taken to the extreme, the satirical manner of this show exposes the devastating possibilities of our nation involved with today's modern gadgets and technological products. The first episode premiering in the third season titled, “Nosedive” explores a world locked in a perpetual cycle of faux Facebook pages, likes, star ratings, and competition for acceptance.

This unsettling society is not too far off from the typical American experience today. Although highly exaggerated, the characters in the episode are dependent on “star ratings” from others. Every time you buy a cup of coffee, or engage in small talk, you hold your phone towards them and give them a rate out of 5. This point system reveals the shallowest impulses of our society. Not only does this point system affect your social impact on others, but it can limit you from being accepted from gym memberships, exclusive high end housing, etc... A society where the internal instant gratification social media allows is now outward and external. This episode shows how interactions with others can be highly superficial. The protagonist of the episode, Laci, is a social climber willing to do anything for a higher rating, until it eventually consumes her life leading to her downfall.

The ironic nuances played out in the episode critique the extent our society judges others based on looks a popularity. American culture is obsessed with beautiful celebrities, as well as our own likes and status updates. With constant gratification with the click of a button, we become trapped in our phones and social media accounts. The episode tries to show how Laci realizes that life is more than just a screen and artificial relationships with shallow conversations. Perhaps a world a little less self absorbed and dependent on the number of likes would be beneficial. How far is our society from the one depicted in the episode?

Creating a Fake Identity in a Post Modern World

You can find anyone through social media these days, and how could that be a bad thing? Social media has given us ways to connect with so many people in a variety of different ways. People can spew out their opinions on anything through Twitter, share a picture for a short time on Snapchat, put basically anything on Facebook, upload picture to Instagram and videos to YouTube. 

And yeah, staying connected is great. But social media only shows the highlights of people's lives. We see images of friends, friends of friends, the people that you never talk to but you always pass in the hallways, celebrities promoting brands and their own images, and companies promoting themselves. Which is okay, but eventually people think that the highlights is that person's everyday life. 

But, as a social species we need validation, so we try to compete with every single image that comes our way. Some people don't feel this need, they're perfectly fine with who they are. Others post anything wanting to get the most comments, the most likes, the most views, or even the most shares. They only share their best to their own friends and followers and the cycle just continues on.

People  begin to make themselves up to be greater than they actually are. Can we truthfully even know someone through social media? Because while people are not exactly lying, we are not showing our daily life either. 

Postmodernism in American Culture

Postmodernism is prominent in American culture in 2016.  Technology has given people easy access to different cultures from celebrities to everyday people. Nowadays, people are able to show their experiences and culture all over social media, which gives everyone a chance to see more than their own perspective. Social media lets people express their ideas of what makes something "art," and it allows people to admire others works of art. 

There is no longer one standard of what makes something better or worse because it is all based on opinion. Although there can be ads showing the "best" things to wear or do, people are always trying to achieve something even better or different. Specifically, celebrities and artists are known to break away from what is usually done, making their own idea of art. Before, there were standards and everyone followed the rules and what was to be expected of them. In our culture, it is important to be an individual and have unique opinions and actions. The control that people have over their lives is what shows how much of a postmodern world we live in.

Living in postmodern America impacts how we've have grown up. It impacts how we see ourself and others, it impacts things so complex as the uncontrollable thoughts that cross our mind. We don't realize it, but everything around us, the people, the internet, the media, it effects everything we call our own. 

Do we truly like a certain article of clothing? Or is it just that a person we think is pretty wore it and now we unconsciously like it. But what makes that girl pretty in the first place? Ever sense we were born we've been fed descriptions and images of what a girl or guy is suppose to look like. So is what we think is truly our own opinion, truly ours? Because if ever sense we were born we've never been given a real chance to just look at something, with no background knowledge at all, and just say how we feel about it, or what it makes us think of. 

All of our thoughts, judgments, and opinions our based off of someone else's, whether it's disagreeing with someone or agreeing, it's never truly our own. I don't think that we ever will truly get to have a completely genuine experience, of our very own unbiased opinion on anything because the world we live in will always have something to say about it before we do. 

So once you except the fact that your opinions aren't truly your own, you must try to swallow the fact that truth itself is a relative term. If all of our thoughts aren't our own, then who truly decides what is true and what isn't. 

All in all, the postmodern society we live in, forces us to be okay with ultimate uncertainty, as there is no way to ever truly know what are solely our own ideas. Every single little thing we see or hear impacts how we see the world whether we realize it or not. 

You're Not Perfect in The Eyes of The World

Postmodernism is the theories of how people see art differently. In our lives today we are surrounded by this, that we are subconsciously affected by it. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, there is some form of postmodernism. In these ads, and pictures is where we “find” ourselves, and determine who we are, and how we should look.

One example of this can be seen in TV ads. An ad for a certain medicine to cure psoriasis depicts happy, energetic adults who have been cured of this ailment. In the ad, as these people are doing youthful things, the words “Let the real you shine through!” are played in the background. These words make those who suffer from the disease feel as if they are not them self with coping with the disease, and therefore demote them. In actuality, we should applaud these people for having to cope with this issue.

Another example of this can be seen through social media. In today's world, you can open an app, and instantly find pictures of models. With these pictures you begin to judge yourself, and it makes you want to change in order to be more like these pictures. Instead of focusing on one's individuality, one focuses on how to be more like everyone else.

Memes in a Postmodern World

There is no single way to define postmodernism, but it is safe to say that almost everything I read, see, consume, or create is done in  a postmodernist fashion. Ideas about culture and the ways it is conveyed in media are the basis for today's American society. Whether addressing race, politics, religion, or just about any topic that has somewhat relevance there is always some sort of comedic joke or ironic twist on the internet. What is especially interesting is the way internet “memes” have taken over social media and created widespread phenomenon. Internet memes are truly an example of how our postmodern world addresses serious and some not so serious topics.

Memes can be many different things; gifs, text posts, images, and are all frantically widespread throughout all platforms on social media. Memes have a way of taking very serious, edgy, and provocative topics and making light jokes out of them, relatable to all. For example the news and reality of the new President elect has hit America hard, and created controversy and tension all throughout society. In response, a popular strand of Joe Biden memes have take over the internet. These Biden memes all have a common running joke about how Biden is going to sabotage Trump before leaving office. The joke of this meme is that Biden is sabotaging in a childlike and cute manner. Whether Biden is planning on hitting Trump with a football, loosening the screws in the presidential chair, or how he is going to change the wifi password to “I love Mexicans”, the memes reflect the way Americans are dealing with the turmoil and confusion of the new changes that are going to take over political life.

Comedy and jokes in society have become more cruel, scrutinizing, and harshly honest. Arguably, this boldness in joking is just another reflection on how our postmodern society is completely different than ever before. Jokes and comedy are another way people mask themselves in a society that looks down upon outward emotion and expressing feelings. Adolescents, especially males, are conditioned in society to not express emotion and simply to deal with problems themselves. Joking is a mechanism for dealing with society’s new ideals. It is easy to laugh at a meme about race, politics, religion, etc.. rather than to actually think and deal with the actual topics personally

These dramatic changes in comedy and satire are a reflection on how our postmodern society operate and thrives. Provocative and outrageous internet posts not only help people in a postmodern society cope with change and immense problems, but they also offer an escape from the harshness and realness of real life. Memes also reflect the way people have become desensitized to topics and learned to laugh at topics that perhaps should not be joked around about. Next time that you see a funny internet post or meme, take minute to examine why you think it is so funny. Is it the silliness of it? Or is it the intense and real honesty that it conveys?

Postmodernism In Media

Postmodernism is the general ideologies and theories of how people view different types of art forms. We view postmodern material constantly in our daily lives without even realizing it. Everywhere you look you will find some type of art form that you are unconsciously forming an opinion on or trying to find the meaning behind. Especially in today's media.

For example when you are scrolling through any type of social media you are seeing millions of images of how life is supposed to be, what you should look like, how to dress, and what you need to do to have a good time. As we look through images like this we are shoving all of these pictures in our head and then later comparing reality to what we see in media. The distinction between reality and media has become extremely blurred.

Postmodernism has allowed us to take all of these things we see in media and help us to form our own opinions on what we like and what we don't like. It allows us to choose what TV shows we watch, what kind of music we listen to, and just how you want to represent yourself in society. It helps us to form parts of our identity or at least the version of our self we want to show others.

Overall postmodernism in media has both helped and hurt out society today. We are very lucky to be able to view any type of art form anytime we want through the media. But the things we view can also change our outlook on life in negative aspects.

Why has American politics become a exchange of insults?

American politics, a stew of chaotic insults. Why do presidential candidates focus so much time and resources on bashing the other candidate? One might think that the struggle for power in becoming president is a higher priority for these candidates than focusing on their goals and ambitions for when they get into office. Do they really have America's best interests in mind, or do they just want their own room in the White House?

When did many Americans start valuing a candidates ability to tear down the image of their opponent greater then valuing what they believe America needs to build and grow? This can been seen many times this election, through ads on TV to the debates between Clinton and Trump. Many ads are funded that just to make a candidate look bad. In a ad called "She knows Putin too well", the video presents facts of what Clinton has done to help the Russians, questioning what more she might do to aid the Russians if she becomes president. In another example, Clinton released an ad questioning what Trump might do to the daughters of families if he becomes president. It shows a series of shots of young women, in between footage of Trump saying insulting thing about women. Why are resources spent on these kinds of ads?

 Why are people debating the scandals of the candidates, instead of the ideas that each of them has for how they could help America advance? A example of this could be seen in Hillary's private email scandal, or Trump's woman abuse scandals. News seems to be absorbed by these scandals as well. The internet is swarmed with news articles telling the new exciting scandal that they may or may not have found on a person. In contrast, this is the sort of stuff that many people want to see, and therefore more and more of these stories are released.

Candidates now need to spend much more energy making sure they don't trigger anything that could cause another rumor, taking away from arguing the issues and solutions they want to bring to America.

Boondocks

The cartoon, Boondocks, follows an African American family and their daily lives. One character by the name of "Uncle Ruckus" is African American male who constantly bashes and degrades other African Americans. Uncle Ruckus is a dark skinned, African American male. Physically, he fits the description of an African American but, mentally, he feel that he is too sophisticated to be classified as an African American.

He feels that he is too superior to be classified as an African American. Boondocks depicts this by using situational irony. This is situational irony because he is an African American and he down talks other African Americans. He feels that African Americans do not fit the criteria to be accepted in society.

Boondocks criticizes society because it shows the possible mindset of some African Americans. Some African Americans may feel that the actions of other African Americans may separate them. Others may feel that they are too educated or superior to be classified with other African Americans. In today's society, African Americans still face many stereotypes. Some feel that they can rise above this, while others cannot.

Birdman: A Commentary on a Post-Talent World

 Alejandro González Iñárritu's Academy Award-winning film titled Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) appears to be a parody of blockbuster action hero movies but is actually a postmodern narrative describing the life of an actor in a world where "being relevant" is all one can strive to do. Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thompson, an ex-Hollywood movie star who has achieved a lifetime of fame from playing the lead roll in the Birdman superhero trilogy. The story starts with Thompson writing and directing a broadway show 20 years after turning down Birdman 4, and his confidence in this play being his triumphant return to the mainstream wanes over the course of the movie, fueled by characters calling him "old" and "washed up" and with hundreds of fans recognizing him as the hero he wants so badly to be separate from.

Riggan Thompson is old-fashioned. To him, making a comeback as someone involved with theatre and film merely means putting on a good show. To everyone else, a "good show" has nothing to do with it. Everyone in the crowd is at the play because The Birdman is attached to it. Tabitha Dickinson (played by Lindsay Duncan), is a top theatre critic who is predisposed to give Thompson's new show an awful review. Not because she doesn't have faith in the show to be good but because she has seen so many actors desperately put out shows to come back and she doesn't feel like watching another.

Riggan Thompson's relationship with his daughter Sam Thompson (played by Emma Stone) worsens throughout the course of the movie, with Sam becoming more and more disgusted by her father's lifestyle. Sam delivers a rant during an argument with her father complaining about how Riggan doesn't understand the world he lives in. "Let's face it, dad, you aren't doing this for the sake of art. You are doing this because you want to feel relevant again," she says. "Well guess what, there's an entire world out there where people fight to be relevant every single day, and you pretend like it doesn't exist."

The most striking element of the narrative is the character of Birdman that reinforces the postmodern theme. Birdman exists for most of the movie as a disembodied voice in Riggan Thompson's head, always reminding him of what could have been. Birdman tries to convince him and Riggan Thompson are one and the same, and Thompson is constantly trying to shut him up. Sometimes this leads to Thompson throwing tantrums using his "super powers" to throw posters across the room with a wave of his hand, or walking outside and flying up to the roof. All of this adds up to a clever way to blur the line between Riggan Thompson as a person and Riggan Thompson as he is known to everyone else: Birdman.

Birdman is an incredibly clever postmodern commentary on the world of film and how one's image can affect their life. The movie was filmed in a way that makes it feel like one continuous shot, with a soundtrack consisting almost entirely of jazz drums. This combined with a fantastic narrative, memorable performances, and a fantastic ending creates a film that deserves the Academy award for Best Picture in 2014 and a spot among the most relevant postmodern works of this era.

Film Clip

Yemen's True Forgotten War Story

BBC News recently published an article "Inside Yemen's forgotten war" which discusses the most current events in Yemen regarding the airstrikes. In the article, they also posted a video where a BBC writer interviews Yemen's frightened citizens who give insight on the bombings.

One particular story was the bombing that killed a 13 year old boy, his brother, and 11 others. The 13 year-old, Ahmed Al Beyna, and his brother, Mohammed, set off to work at a close-by water bottling plant on the evening of August 29th. Just as they finished their night shift, a missile struck the factory. The men who discovered them tell BBC News they "found men burned to the machines" and that many "bodies were in pieces." Saudis try justify the bombing by claiming it was a weaponry factory and a training camp for African mercenaries, yet there is no evidence of any kind to support their "justifications."

Yemen's citizens are absolutely terrified of the constant air bombings, saying that they hit any and everything. In the video, one Yemeni man points to some rubble and says that it was a building where families inhabited, "families...NOT an empty building."

The BBC writer, Gabriel Gatehouse, pursued this story to shine light of the recent events that are being forgotten or noted as not as important. These airstrikes have been occurring for over 6 months, there are thousands of stories just as the one of Ahmed's. Each of them just as disturbing and unsettling as this one. These stories seem too surreal to be true, how can someone just bomb factories or homes without thinking twice? Every day, the airstrikes become more damaging and it's said that an impending advance of pro-Saudi forces. This story is an example of the extent to which war reaches. It reaches to the point where water bottling plants are bombed to demonstrate a point to further their own agenda. 

A True Global War Story

I recently read several articles ("U.S. Willing to Accept 10,000 Syrian Refugees Next Year" and "Europe's Refugee Crisis") regarding the refugee crisis in Syria. Each article describes refugees' journey from Syria's civil war-stricken state to safer environments, such as Germany, Lebanon, Hungary, Australia, and the U.S.

The story of the Kurdi family, in particular, provides a profound example of a truthful story. Exploding with popularity, a picture posted on social media shows 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying lifeless, washed ashore after drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Aylan, his brother, and mother all tragically died during the treacherous migration journey; Aylan's father, Abdullah, was the only one in the family to survive the trip. The Kurdi family planned to travel to relatives in Vancouver, Canada. The boy's aunt, Tima Kurdi, posts on Facebook her condolences, "Where is the humanity in the world. They did not deserve this."

This recent event made headlines, and brought a lot of awareness to the growing issue of excessive amounts of refugees pouring into overwhelmed European countries. The story of this poor family can be labeled "haunting" and "a turning point in the debate over how to handle the surge of people heading toward Europe."

Besides the fact that this event did actually happen, knowing that such tragedy occurs can make one angry and uncomfortable with the way these situations are handled. Additionally, countries' aide proves help is near, as the U.S. plans to take 10,000 refugees and Germany plans to shelter 800,000 refugees within the next year. Factual evidence makes it difficult to believe that such falseness would come from this story. Hardship similar to this type of grief goes far beyond Syria's internal conflict but towards an inner depth of how war affects vast amounts of people worldwide.

See More Kim- Save the Data

The Super Bowl is known to air funny and memorable commercials during breaks. It’s the one day of the year where companies step up their game to make the best commercial possible. This year, T-Mobile released a commercial featuring Kim Kardashian. The commercial is a parody of the ones made to raise awareness for things like animal abuse and the destruction of the rainforest. Kim talks seriously about how each month, millions of gigs of unused data are taken back by wireless companies. Sad piano music plays in the background while she explains how everyone will miss out on seeing her makeup, her backhand, her outfits, her vacations, and, her outfits. Tragic.

This ad is funny because it’s making fun of something that is actually a huge part of our society, and although it’s not meant to be taken seriously, many people really do care that much about social media. Kim Kardashian is a cultural icon, and is famous for, well, being famous. She is huge on social media with 28.5 million followers on twitter and the majority of her tweets are exactly what she said we would be missing. In this commercial, Kim pokes fun at not only her own selfie obsession, but the world’s. The sad thing is, this ad will probably get more attention than any other ad for a genuine cause that needs the help. But hey, it’s 2015, and social media is the most important thing in our lives right? So please, answer Kim’s pleas, and save the data.

A Perfect American Family for a Perfect American Audience

Saturday Night Live has always been good at observing the way our society works and reflecting on it through humor and skits. One particular skit, “The Dudleys”, is about a family sitcom that goes through several changes. The sitcom begins with a typical white nuclear family as its main characters, but after several complaints surface on twitter about how it’s 2014 and one of the characters should be gay, suddenly Mrs. Dudley is replaced by a gay man. All is well until more complaints pop up because there aren’t any black family members. Next thing you know, Mr. Dudley is replaced by a gay black man. The show and its characters continue to evolve as more complaints come in until finally they end up back where they started with the white Mr. and Mrs. Dudley.

This skit shows not only the influence of social media over entertainment but also that in an time where being “politically correct” is held in such high regard, it is difficult to achieve that “correctness” in the media and in everyday life. No matter how much is done to please the public, there is always someone who will have a complaint. Some will say that things need to be more radical, others will think things need to be more conservative. There is no doubt that shows today receive complaints just like “The Dudleys” received. It seems like every show on television recently has at least one gay character and one black person. However, these characters often take on supporting roles, or are just there for comedic relief, and the incorporation of them into the shows sometimes feels forced.

The role that these characters play in T.V. and films should no longer be a stereotyped one. Blacks, gays, and other minorities shouldn’t only be represented in the media as the “token friends” or sidekicks.The entertainment we consume on a daily basis constantly shapes ideologies of what it means to live in America. If the media were to be politically correct in a responsible and truthful way, rather than a sugar coated way, perhaps the perception of American life could then be an honest one.

The Post Modern World of "The Social Network"

When learning about post-modernism and the structure of meta-stories, I was reminded of a movie I have watched more times than I can count. “The Social Network”, a film about the creation of Facebook, completely embodies the concept of post-modernism.

It is told as a meta-story, in a non-linear fashion. Throughout the movie, the main character Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of Facebook, is facing two lawsuits. The film tells the story of how Facebook came to be, what went wrong, and how it was handled by the law. One scene shows a moment from the past and in the next scene characters comment on the previous one during different depositions.

One scene in particular does this brilliantly. It begins with Eduardo Saverin, the CFO, walking into the offices of Facebook and being greeted by a lawyer. The lawyer presents him with papers to sign, and although you don’t know what they say, his expression, followed by an angry verbal attack on Mark, tells you it can’t be good. Then, it cuts to the deposition of Eduardo and Mark. Eduardo is telling the story of what happened that day; how he was cheated out of all of his stock in the company. It cuts back again to the offices where Eduardo tells off Mark and gives him a look that that could kill.

Not only is this film post-modern because of its structure, but also because of Facebook itself. Its ironic that Mark Zuckerberg was an antisocial college student and he created the most popular social networking site in the world. He promoted a culture where people take pictures at a party, look at the pictures while they’re at the party, comment online about the party, and then post the pictures later online to “relive” the party.

You’re never more aware of being somewhere than when you’re living in a post modern world. Or are you?

What is it like to live in a postmodern world?

Because I live in a postmodern world you would assume that I know what it’s like. But when you consider the fact that I’ve only ever lived in a postmodern world, it is hard to answer the question. To me the postmodern world that older people see is all I have ever known. The mass media that I experience every day has become a normal part of life. The fact that I do not know what it is like to live in a world that is not postmodern is in itself a postmodern concept because the skewed vision I posses of what “real life” is. 

Some elements of postmodernism and the effects that they have on people, especially young people, can be avoided. The constant editing of real life and the representations that occur in social media can be very obvious.  When you are able to look past this, seeing your true self for who you are in the moment becomes an easier task. To find ourselves in the postmodern world that now exists in every aspect of our lives requires introspection rather than seeing ourselves in terms of the rest of the world. Once this introspection has been done, the fake images of life that we are exposed to have less power over us due to the separation of our true selves from the falsehoods ever present in our world.

Post Modern Technology

In today's post modern world, technology rules our life.  People are obsessed with a five inch screen sitting in front of their face.  This creates many problems in today's life, people aren't getting as socially active as they used to be.  People communicate through technology which is a good thing at times.  People able to connect with people world wide is a huge advantage to previous society's.  At other times it can have negative effects on people.  People need to actually talk with one another in real life.  Talking to someone online is completely different from talking to them in person.  Saying things to another persons face makes you cautious of what you are saying.  As a society we need to get back to our roots and become more socially engaged instead of communicating through Facebook and other media devices.

One of the most important problems is the fact that young kids are becoming addicted to technology at a very young age.  How can we expect change in our society if every generation is becoming addicted at a younger and younger age.  If we want to change we need to stop allowing kids the freedom of technology and games.  Of course everyone needs to use some technology especially for education but it can be limited.  Kids need to exercise and stop playing so much video games and watching so much TV.  Technology is good in moderation it just needs to be limited in its use.  In our post modern world, we will face many challenges and one of them has to do with total time spent using technology, because if we don't our society will be forever changed in a negative way.

Postmodernism's Form of Story Telling

Postmodernism, in my experience, is a form of unconventional story telling. After seeing show and tell today, I learned that many other people believe this of postmodernism. When I say Unconventional story telling, I mean a different or unique way of presenting an idea or story. Many of the items brought to show and tell, mine included, were examples of unconventional story telling.

This abstract form of story telling may incorporate many different forms of story telling that make it unique. One of the more widely used forms of story telling used in postmodernism is non linear plot. The item that I brought to show and tell was the film Reservoir Dogs, directed by Quentin Tarantino, was a prime example of non linear story telling as the film skips around to different parts of the film and incorporates long extensive flashbacks that provide back story over specific characters. This non linear story telling allowed the individual characters be the focus of the film rather than the immense action sequences that were purposely not filmed. Another example of non linear storytelling is the film Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, which is displayed scene by scene in reverse order. The use of non linear storytelling in this movie allows the viewer to empathize with the film's protagonist, Leonard, as he suffers from short term memory loss, having the film presented in reverse order does not give us any pretext for the any scene that we are watching so we react to the events in the film with the same confusion as the main character.

Non linear story telling is used in a variety of ways that let the viewer feel closer to the character and to better understand them. Postmodernism is way to present stories in a unique fashion that, in some cases, adds a deeper meaning to the story.