Jorge Espitia
English 114
May 16,2012
Journey
through English 114
I can’t believe I got
through my first year of college and of course my first year of English. Between
both semesters I learned a lot but there was two different topics between the
two semesters that I enjoyed. This semester there was two essays that followed
the topic that I enjoyed and in a way they connected to society in general.
First semester flew by and I thought it was going to be a
much harder transition between high school to college but to my surprise it
wasn’t that bad. During the first
semester we went over different concepts such as… But my favorite assignment had to have been
the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos these concepts were used to influence people in
many different ways to get your audience to support you. This means that all three are different
methods or strategies that a writer or advertisement uses in order to get your
support. Ethos is the strategy that uses the writer or any person that the
writer uses and questions their creditability.
You see this a lot in advertisements that use celebrities to promote
their product. Now sometimes you got to
ask yourself how much knowledge or how credible is the figure on the particular
subject. Pathos is the method that plays
to the audience’s emotions convincing them to feel bad and ultimately into
supporting the authors cause. I
especially like this method because it is the most efficient and misleading. A great recent example was Kony, a tyrant
dictator that is controlling south Africa, Facebook had a widespread of videos
showing all the devastation he is causing and at the end of the video it shows
a foundation that you should donate to stop Kony. This video had a great impact by playing to people’s
emotions and had people ready to donate; the only problem with this was that
the foundation was not really a credible foundation. The last method is Logos which leads people
to believe that the author’s choice is the most logical one.
Second semester really only had a couple of themes and
the rest of the themes were used to build upon them. One exercise I enjoyed was the idea of
identity this caught my attention because I never knew that people had a wide
variety of observations that they can construct your character without even
knowing you. This took judging a book by
its cover to a whole new level now I know that people don’t even need the whole
cover to begin to judge. One great
example is the fridge exercise were we examined different fridges and had to
try to connect them to their owners. This
tied back into the idea of space and how people get an idea of an area or a
person by minor details.
Off of the main themes of this semester we were asked to
write two papers one paper to analyze one of the first readings and the second
to cover one idea discussed throughout the semester. For my first paper I chose to compare the
advertisements in Surrogates and Gamer to real life ads. With this paper I expressed how society has
let magazines or media mold us into creating a “standard” or “norm” that everyone most meet
or be labeled an outsider. The second I showed
how the identity of hip-hop has changed therefore people can’t give the same
label to the listeners as they once did.
They both tie together under the theme of identity and how people label
one another based on their preferences.
Jorge Espitia
English 114B
May 5, 2012
Constant
Changes
Have you ever changed
your whole wardrobe in order to look like a celebrity or athlete in order to
look cool or hoping that this would help your social life? If you answered yes, then you fall under the
theory of socialization argued by Emile Durkheim. This is due to the fact that we have an
economy highly based on consumption, the advertisement business has
flourished. You now see ads anywhere
from billboards to animations in created societies. That’s just the two places that I want to
compare the advertisements used in The Surrogates and in modern day society.
One
of the sides in the debate of how individuals are influenced by society is
socialization. This side argues that we
have a fixed society and that it such a strong influence on an individual that
it makes them have to change to fit in.
In other words society already has the “norms” and everyone that’s
coming in has to change in order to fit in.
Probably one of the biggest distributor of society’s norms is the mass
media. They play a big part in letting
society know what to wear, how to act, and what they should be doing. But are their displays of our society really
an accurate reflection of our society?
I have argued before that advertisements have gotten more
and more controversial and have really lacked focus on the actual product
itself. I even think that ideology has
become the norm to use the concept that sex sells to create a good
advertisement. So if you take a look at
ads, specifically clothing ads, you see that the strive for perfection in the
human body is the main focus. Unless you actually pay close attention you won’t
catch what the ad is selling. They pick models that fill their “look”. As you can see I added some actual pictures
of clothing companies that are supposed to advertise their clothes but yet they
barely include any of them. Photographers use these models with perfect bodies because
that is how males in society are supposed to look like. What happens if they fit the look then they
are supposed to buy their clothing line because that is how they will end up
like the model in the other ad with a hot skinny blonde girl. This leads people to buy magazines to see ads
on what is in and what they should be wearing in order to get the girl.
In “The Surrogates” the ads were an extreme depiction of
society norms however, there are many similarities between ads. The whole concept of the movie is almost to
joke at the fact that society is falling deeper and deeper into the fantasy of
becoming “perfect”. The book and movie is
a based in the future and has the idea that people will create and control
their perfect image of themselves. This
is an extreme example of what is happening to society by allowing people to
shop for their perfect body. One of the
advertisements in the book has two models with the seductive look in their eyes
but the strongest message is the writing in the ad. The ad says “Choose yourself…
and “life only better” this sends the message that in order to live life better
you need to look good. This would
ultimately bring you happiness and success.
This seems appealing, why work for it when you can just buy it? That model you see in the ad becomes the
normal identity for society to the point that it is unusual to see an ugly
robot or even see real people.
That is the exact thing that happened in both Gamer and
Surrogates society stopped seeing real people but instead saw robots. Everyone was inside playing as someone else
and nobody really saw anyone. This played
a huge factor on their social values they played with no regrets and no conscious
of actions. The results of that created
a society were clothing was bare minimum and sex was very public even having
public display of porn. People were so
lost in their fake world that they neglected their personal lives.
So do ads really reflect on society itself? Since you see nothing but fit people in the
ads you figure that America should be in shape right, wrong according to the
CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7% of the American society
is overweight. It’s funny how even in
movies or books ads still follow the norm. I also love how companies are trying
to bring back skinny jeans while Americans are having weight problems. Well I guess the American public is going to
have to keep changing their looks in order to stay trendy.
Society is very much influenced by ads through time it
has even changed values of the American public.
In the 1960s women portrayed as beautiful exposed very little parts of the
body and weren’t as skinny as the ads show.
Another example are the bathing suits which were once just one piece not
as exposing as the ones worn today. This
wouldn’t have been accepted during their time period but since society was
molded into this norm we have adapted it.
Jorge Espitia
English 114B
Progressive
Genre
Have you ever felt that
you have been discriminated based upon the music you listen? Believe it or not music is considered to be a
space and a “space”, which is any part of your surroundings, can help define a
person. So I ask myself what message
does Hip-Hop send? To get a better
understanding of hip-hop and the message it sends or tries to send I will
analyze the history of hip-hop. I will
also be looking at the main figures in hip-hop and their influences on both the
industry and society. Finally I will
show the progression of hip-hop in present day.
The story of hip-hop includes major events,
controversies, and talent. The story of
hip-hop begins in New York specifically the Bronx in the early 70s by a
Jamaican DJ known as Kool Herc. (Chang 21)
He was trying to incorporate rhymes over his reggae beats. “Unfortunately New Yorkers were not into
reggae” this lead him to replace the reggae beat with beats of one sometimes
two songs that were popular at the time.
This blending created a new style and a new way to produce what would be
a new genre of music. There were five
new elements brought into the Hip Hop game beat boxing, mc, DJ, graffiti art,
and breakdancing. Not only were the
sounds different but for the first time global view and issues were being
incorporated into the lyrics. Leading
artists from the island at the time Bob Marley and The Roots were rapping about
the struggles Jamaica faced while trying to receive its independence from Great
Britain in 1962 (Garrett 53). Such
struggles included political turmoil and reconstruction and intensified street
violence. The struggle for power leads
the streets of Jamaica to become a battle ground not only for corrupt politicians
but for gang members as well. Bob Marley
sung the following about the early music: “Some are leaves, some are branches,
but I am di roots.” The rapping about current events and harsh living would
later strive in hip-hop.
Although rappers weren’t facing hardships, such as a
battle for independence, but they were battling being part of a minority group
and facing the recession of the 1980s.
The period of the 1980 was considered to be the Golden Age of Hip-Hop
because groups and artist arose and began to speak out not only against society
but to the government as well. Hip-Hop
was influencing society to try to create the identity that was being portrayed
by their role models. Powerful groups at
the time were the N.W.A and Public Enemy which already had created an image of “Gansta”
rappers. According to the Planet Rock
documentary this harder image was created due to the impact of cocaine. This was because the music grew in the
ghettos but rappers were poor because they couldn’t get jobs due to the
recession their only customers were drug dealers because they were the only
people with money. This lead drug
dealers to become sponsors for rappers that they liked motivating them to make
music that they would like to listen to.
If they weren’t making music for drug dealers they were
becoming drug dealers. Many role models
such as Snoop Dogg, B-real, T.I., Ice T and members of Wu Tang Clan admitted to
using drug money to keep their success in underground hip-hop going. They were making thousands of dollars weekly
and continued to put out their cds.
Dealers liked to hear music about aggression and frustration of the
rappers struggles in society. Many
rappers told stories of their loses due to gang violence and abuse they face
from government officials. Many began to
argue that music was a cause for violence.
A quote was taken from the trail of Ronald Ray Howard, a man who was
executed for shooting a state trooper, “He grew up in the ghetto and disliked
police, and these were his heroes… these rappers… telling him if you’re pulled
over, just blast away” it meant to show how music took a negative effect on
society. (David Carson pg.33) Many
rappers were taking sides in the gang life and started claiming sides were
better from others. These negative views
had no limits on targets even police were attacked lyrical the most
controversial song Cop killer. Cop
Killer and Fuck the police were songs made in response to the police brutality
that citizens in the ghetto faced daily.
One event that sparked everyone was the beating of Rodney King which was
caught on video. This was happening on
both sides of our country a genre that was originally created to express
African roots and blending of styles turned into another way for “beef” to
initiate.
That is exactly what happens the term beef is used to
define the problems between to individuals or in music record labels. The industry began creating groups such as
Niggas With Attitudes, Public Enemy which were represented by record companies
such as Death Row records and Bad Boy Records.
These two powerful record labels each had their face rapper with Tupac
Shakur representing the west coast and Biggie Smalls representing the East
coast. Both major cities, New York and
Los Angeles, had a growing number of gansta rappers that liked to bad mouth
each side. But to understand the
greatest feud in hip-hop you have to read about the influences the record
labels had. Critics argued that “this is
the music for sociopaths, just look at their icons.(Marriott) In the beginning the two were friends but
after certain events it lead to controversial songs that would later influence
certain members in society to act out exactly how their role models rapped. Tupac young into his career faced legal
trouble in New York and ended up in jail.
Death row records offered to bail him out in exchange for him to sign a
deal with them which he did. Suge’s, the
owner of the record label, had launched a campaign against Bad Boy records and
Tupac was ready to carry through with it because he believed that they had set
him up to get shot in Times Square the year before. (Garrett 225)
The beef between East and West coast would lead people to
wonder what effect the music was taking on society. A showdown between both labels occurred
backstage during the Soul Train Awards and Suge continued to antagonize Biggie
and Puffy. (Garrett 225) Shortly Tupac
released his single “Hit ‘Em Up” which took a shot at Biggie and his
entourage. This lead to more artist
insulting the other sides through different songs, but unfortunately this would
lead to violent act that passed song lyrics.
One day while Snoop Dogg tried to shoot his New York New York music
video in New York his crew was shot at.
That wasn’t the only acts of violence that would occur everyday fights
and threats of war were taking place and another artist Ice Cube, another
gansta rapper from Compton, created a hand signal that stood for west coast
also now stood for war. Then we started
to see icons fall on September 7, 1996 Tupac was killed in Las Vegas this event
lead to the death of Biggie Smalls.
Finally government officials decided to intervene and
began creating unit dedicated to rappers and their actions. That and the different interests in society
had hip-hop growing and changing.
Instead of gangsta rappers rapping about drugs, sex, money, bitches and
hoes the rap game began to expand. It
opened the way for a cultural change white and even Chicano rappers started to
emerge examples of the new figures Eminem and Kid Frost. Hip-Hop has gone mainstream and became “radio
friendly” the blend between pop and hip-hop created hits that people could
dance to like MC Hammer in 1990 releasing “U Can’t Touch This”. This was the mentality that Hip-hop would
have until present day. Now you see diversity in the rap game great examples
are Honey Cocaine an Asian girl rapper and Drake a rapper that has a lot of
hype who comes from Canada. The music
has changed as well the genre really has no boundaries now songs have beats
from other genres and includes instruments from others as well. Many hip-hop song include collaborations
between rappers from both sides of the country and can even include rapping and
singing. This blending of Hip Hop and
other genres such as R&B allow rappers to make songs that sound good with
women singers.
I believe this is due to three factors: The War on gangs,
economic improvement, and civil rights progress. Operation Hammer was first to hit gangs after
the shooting of Karen Toshima in Westwood Village ,CA on January 30, 1998.
(Marsh 211) This allowed police chief
Darryl Gates to add 650 officers and emergency funds to be used. However the city got mixed reactions all of
the higher income homes favored the new war on gangs but for the citizens of
the ghetto they took it as an insult because people were dying on their streets
and didn’t get recognition until it happened in a richer neighborhood.(Garrett
212). Then as more people started
getting opportunities to make money and started to gain equal opportunities the
rappers didn’t really need to be the voice of the struggling people anymore.
Hip-Hop has certainly gone a long way from reggae DJ's in
new York. But the perception has also
changed now people don’t believe that people who listen to hip hop aren’t just necessarily
gang members or drug dealers. Now rappers
send almost a positive message by telling their stories and discouraging drugs,
gangs, sex. For many such as T.I music
saved his life and donates money back into music programs to encourage kids
with talent to strive for a better future.
So next time someone tells you that you are a thug because of the music
you listen to you tell them about the change its gone through.
Rose, Tricia. The Hip
Hop Wars: New York, Basic Books.2008.print
“Planet Rock.” Vh1
Planet Docs: Vh1, Lowe, Richard. Direc. Torgoff,
Martin
,California. 18 Sept 2011.
Chang, Jeff. “Sipple
Out Deh,” from Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, pp.21-39. Picador/St. Martin’s Press.2005
Garrett, Glen. Hip Hop
Samples A Historical Anthology: California, Cognella.2010
Marriott, Robert. The Vibe
History of Hip Hop: New York, Three rivers press.1999
Marsh, Dave. Village
Voice: 1989
