Category: Critical/Cultural Studies
-
3D Printing: The end of consumerism?
We’ve been contemplating acquiring a 3D printer at my university for pedagogical and research purposes. As part of this contemplation, I have had to learn more about the technology and uses of desktop manufacturing. And in doing this, I began thinking about how the diffusion and integration of 3D printing into everyday life could change…
-
What’s the Impact of Political Memes?
This political season has been fraught with them: political memes. Pictures and videos combined with political messages to comment on and/or parody some aspect of the various campaigns engulfing various parts of the nation. From “binders full of women” to “the 47%”, people have been using social media and the phenomenon of Internet memes to…
-
The Rise of Hentai in America, Part 3
[This is the final part of the women studies paper I wrote on hentai. You can find Part 1, on the definition of hentai, here, and Part 2, on the comparison of hentai to live action pornography, here.] While it may not be as prevalent or have the same tradition in our society that live…
-
The Culture of The Fail
As a society, as a civilization, even as a species, we like to celebrate success. With the Summer Olympics under way in Ye Olde London Towne, we have one of the great examples of how much we humans celebrate success. We give people medals, trophies, money, cereal endorsements, all for outrunning, outgunning, outswimming, outsynchronizing their…
-
Representations of Women in Japanese and American Pop Culture
(From a 2004 paper on a cross-cultural examination of the superheroine) In their article on children and role models, Anderson and Cavallaro (2002) say that superheroes are “larger-than-life symbols of American values and ‘maleness’.” (p. 162). From a socialization point of view, is there reason to be concerned about…
-
Television Showrunners & Their Fans: Does the Internet Make Them Friends?
Dan Harmon has been replaced as the showrunner for the NBC sitcom Community. The replacement came on the heels of the series being given a fourth, and final, half-season order to let the show wrap-up it’s ultimate question of: will the Greendale Seven actually ever graduate from their community college? Harmon is being replaced by two…
-
That Whole Abortion Thing? Just Kidding!
When Buffy Season 9 Issue 6 came out, I applauded it. I even wrote a whole essay on why I think the story and Buffy’s decision worked. I defended Buffy’s decision to get an abortion as it reflected the struggle modern women have to balance family and career, and I defended Whedon’s decision to have…
-
Raging Bull: Sounds of Obsession
The academic society calls cinema a visual art because it captures moving some slice of reality and from it creates a piece of art through manipulations of time and space. Rarely is cinema referred to as an auditory art because the main focus in experiencing a movie is commonly in watching how the film represents…
It's Playing, Just With Research 