...Bishara Lilia Gomez INTL 5000 (Fall Semester) The book that I am reviewing is titled The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolution. It is written by a well-known political analyst named Marwan Bishara. Mr. Bishara works for the Al Jeezera (the primary news channel for the Arab world) as a Senior Political Analyst. The book is in the perspective of an Arab and not by someone within the Western media/culture. He writes about the Arab revolutions and the history behind it. Mr. Bishara debunks several thoughts of how the Arab revolutions started and how the media (both Arabic and Western) have played a major role within these causes. Mr. Bishara’ book is self-described as an essay in which he reflects on the history of the revolutions up until present and how social media and the Arab youth population played a part. He credits the youth of being able to over throw decade old customs, governments, and regimes. In addition, he describes the rise of many positive organizations that formed because of the revolutions such as women’s groups, sports teams, and a higher employment rate. Although he praises the rise of these types of organizations, Mr. Bishara faults the lack of organization and commitment to principles as the basis of what is wrong with many Islamic groups. Throughout the book, Mr. Bishara calls the Arab movements as...
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...[pic] |Course Design Guide College of Humanities SOC/105 Version 5 Introduction to Popular American Culture | |Copyright © 2011, 2010, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This is an introductory course on modern American culture. The course focuses on the interactions between social forces such as advertising, media, and lifestyle and cultural trends in modern American society. Students are asked to cast a critical eye on current trends and changes in our culture. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common culture: Reading and writing about American popular culture (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. All electronic materials are available on the student website. |Week One: Overview of Culture ...
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...supplies they were given. However I’ve always loved creative writing, I like to think of myself as a creative person. I had my doubts about taking a class that required so much writing in a little amount of time but I took on the challenge head first, just like I do with the rest of my problems. In my first essay I wrote my argument paper about how “white feminism” isn't as inclusive as it claims to be and discriminates against numerous minority groups. I chose this topic because it’s something I’m extremely passionate about. I’ve been officers of several social justice orhinatiocs and I’m always up for rallying for human rights. The arguments that I made in this essay were showcasing a couple of ways that “white feminism” left minority groups feeling left out and not worthy of a voice within social justice platforms. Such as Patricia Arquette giving a speech about how minority groups did not help out feminism, even though many people in minority also identify as women....
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...Muslim identities on popular US series Homeland Introduction Images of Muslim and Islam have dramatically increased in the media coverage as well as popular culture ever since we have entered the “post-9/11 era”, as Elizabeth Poole observed. (2008:81) The shocking real life images from the horrifying terrorist attack in September 2011 has triggered various interpretation on the discourse of what it means to be Muslim and the image of Islam and its culture in the western media, and still have profound influence even after more than a decade and ongoing. Apart from the coverage on news media, TV entertainment, especially TV dramas also provide a powerful outlet for the popular prevailing discourses on Muslim and Islamic culture, which compare to news reports, leaves a more vivid and graphic impression on audience with its discourse and narratives. The proposed subject I am going to study is revolved around the representation of Islam and Muslim identity in the popular US TV drama Homeland. (Showtime, 2011) Homeland (Showtime, 2011) has been arguably the most successful TV series focusing on the theme of counter-terrorism and national security across the Atlantic since 2011, following its predecessor 24 (Fox, 2001) developed by the same producers. When asked what made the show distinctive compared to its predecessors, Damian Lewis, who played as Sgt Nicholas Brody, the male lead in Homeland replied, “We feel a bit differently about the War On Terror now. We’ve gone to...
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...Was IPL well marketed ?? Even in the earlier avatars of IPLs, there have been attempts to present IPL more as an experience rather than just a sport. It had been made a confluence of Hollywood, Bollywood, Dance, Drama, flesh and obviously cricket too. The huge spending by broadcasters to make IPL a success has been consistent year on year. The effort made to convert IPL an Indian version of European league has been a success to some extent. It contains all the element of entertainment that an audience can ask for. Now recently the stage performances by various artists have also started catering to this kind of need of entertainment. Though I believe, catering to the need of particular segment many a times, the marketing efforts have been gone to too much length than actually needed. As have been observed, skimpily dressed cheerleader and their dances are not much welcome to traditional society like India, where entire family watches TV together and still such a show of exuberance combined with excessive show of flesh is generally a taboo. IPL has successfully poached into viewership of TV soaps, as it was a welcome change and affect created was of mirth and merry and welcome break from Saas-Bahu’s painful saga. IPL has been successful in bringing the entire family together as it has something for everyone These classes of people, who want to see cricket along with entertainment rather the other way around, have been dithering away from this new genre of cricket. IPL...
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...The South African Press played a fundamental role in keeping society informed. It defended and protected the freedom of expression in South Africa during the Apartheid years by providing news in which there were, “possibilities of escaping censorship and suppression of free speech” (Grotan & Svedsen, 2001: 1). Articles that liberal and Independent English speaking Press journalists wrote during these times were censored or blacked out if they did not follow or defied or even threatened the government’s policies and existence (Fourie, 2002). Regardless of the South African government's persistent claims that the media in South Africa was free, the independent media in South Africa was still prohibited by law not to report any issues of violence and hostility against black people especially the state of Emergency that happened during that time in the country. This state of affairs led to a development and growth of progressive publications known as the alternative press which were the organisations that helped in reaction to the blanket on information. Even though government suppressed media reporting, citizens were kept informed by these alternative presses regardless of the state of emergency. This essay will look at the portrayal of the liberal, independent English-speaking Press as pioneering noble entities in the battle against apartheid and its exploitations. It will further discuss issues that could obscure this outlook and also look at what the possibilities of the...
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...Role of Al Jazeera in the Arab Spring Since December 2010, the entire Arab world has gone through major political transformation. Monarchies that had enjoyed absolute power for hundreds of years have been overthrown; some are in the process to be overthrown and other state leaderships have adopted some flexibility in their system of administration to protect themselves. The public revolt against the state leadership, popularly known as the ‘Arab Spring’ or the ‘Arab Awakening’ “took everyone by surprise not because people had no reason to revolt” (Khanfer 2012, p. 2) but because it took unprecedented scope and speed. An act of self immolation by a street vendor in Tunisia in a show of public revolt against corrupt government not just toppled centuries old dictatorial regime but also became a source of inspiration for Arab masses to revolt against their governments. “The self-immolation triggered unrest in Tunisia and ultimately the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This was followed by unrest in a number of Arabian countries that the global press dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’” (Friedman 2011). So far, the spring breeze has entered into 20 countries in the Persian Gulf and the North Africa. Four countries—Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen—have overthrown their governments. Algeria, Iraq, Iranian Khuzestan, Israeli border areas have witnessed major protests. Syria has landed in a civil war. Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon have gone through protests and governmental...
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...ANT1001 Essay Topic: Discuss the extent to which arts, sports and media both reflect and influence culture. Word Count: Introduction: 24529 24530 In the world today, virtually every individual is part of a culture Art, sports and media heavily influence and reflect culture as it permeates everyday lives of society. Arts, sports and media coincide and go hand in hand with each other defining who we are today through a variety of different ways. Sport reflects and influences culture immensely and holds a variety of different meanings across different cultures. Internationally Australian culture is perceived as laid back, with hot summers, drinking beers and watching or participating in sports. It refers to “the values, ceremonies and way of life characteristic of a given group and the place of sport within that way of life” (Jarvie, 2006). Cricket is one of Australia’s most popular summer sport that has been around since the colonial days. It is one of the many sports that clearly identify our Australian culture with the influence from media advertisements in local newspapers to television, Foxtel, radio and internet, “it is part of the social and cultural fabric of different localities, regions and nations” (Jarvie, 2006). A case study that was conducted by Nathan Saad on the Sydney cricket ground (SCG), demonstrates the roles of understanding the...
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...2015 MYRON NAICKER CONTENTS: Essay Question Page 1 – 4 Reference List Page 5 QUESTION ONE: In today’s fast growing economy, technology has prominently advanced thereby compelling media to develop a sense of convergence when it comes to broadcasting news to the nation. In this essay I will firstly be discussing what is journalism, followed by the description of news is. Secondly I will show how news reporting has advanced from its traditional ways to a new and modernised method that allows people to be more involved with the news, and thirdly I will show how the internet and other phenomena such as social media has influenced news production and content through the use of examples. Journalism refers to the works of writing that informs...
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...Writing and Literary Critique of Asian/Pacific American Literature Throughout the history of the United States media, there are common stereotypes of females in films that are presented in the short story by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More. I believe that the roles of Asian Americans are limited in films, such as gender and sexuality, by stereotyping females. Asian Americans are being portrayed as negative images through various media, from books, films, plays, and even television. “The audience would realize that media views Asians and Asian Americans as others that include exoticized women, asexual men, a yellow peril threat to the United States” (Ono & Pham, 2009). Throughout this essay, I am referencing the article by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More, and Moon, a poem by Marilyn Chin, where they both talk about sexuality and gender. “Asian women, have often been depicted as almost completely sexual” (Fong, 177). In the short story as well as the poem, they can manipulate the messages of gender and sexuality of Asian American females that are being represented in both stories. Throughout Fong’s short story, there is a lot of controversy whether or not Asian American females are being portrayed with negative images, for example as sex objects. I also researched instances on the counter actions taken by Asian American females that protest the negative images, such as the dragon lady. I believe that Asian American females are being portrayed with such negative images, such as...
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...Morrison points out those major themes in American literature that have Caucasians playing the heroic protagonist whereas the African American plays the antagonist. African Americans are seen as the dark, or the wrong within media. Throughout history most African Americans play minor characters that add conflict to stories such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. American history of race has impacted the world and created problematic stereotypes. “I pointed out that cultural identities are formed and informed by a nation's literature. What seemed to be on the "mind" of the literature of the United States was the self-conscious but highly problematic construction of the American as a new white...
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...behaviour with that of Hall et al. This essay will explore the construction of disorder in society and the role of the media in shaping public opinions about social disorder. It will examine the theories of Stanley Cohen and Hall et al. and will identify the different approaches and key research issues concerning disorderly behaviour. The essay will show how the media constructs and defines antisocial behaviour through the portrayal of folk devils which creates moral panic. The concept of folk devils and moral panic was explored by Stanley Cohen (1973) in his case study of mods and rockers of the 1960’s. The Mods and Rockers were two opposing British youth gangs that engaged in fighting and vandalism at seaside towns in the 1960’s.Cohen’s research focused on how this the media’s portrayal of events provoked a mood of public fear and outrage throughout society, labelling the two groups as folk devils. Folk devils have been depicted as mindless, evil and deviant beings with their behaviour completely different to that of normal people. These deviants have been blamed for all the wrongs in society and have been punished brutally. This characterisation has been central to Cohen’s theory with the role of the media inciting moral panics with the dramatization and construction of Folk devils. (Kelly and Toynbee, 2009, p370) Stanley Cohen, Suggests the UK media’s representation of the antisocial behaviour of the British youths played a major role in fostering irrational fears in the...
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...pointing out at the violent cockfights and its violent influence towards the people who were watching. The similar issue is concerning our society in the 21sth century. The only difference is that the cockfights were replaced with media violence. This has been a raising concept since the invention of television and introduction of the video games. This essay will discuss the validity of the claim that media violence causes aggressive behavior on the juvenile audience. The paper will firstly show the correlation studies and experimental studies about media violence and its influence on children. It will then move to other reasons which causes the aggressive behavior. Finally, this essay will also examine the influence of aggressive video games on players. Children found a new environment of amusement after the television came on the scene. They were exposed to large number of new programs. Even if there was a potential peril to juveniles, people were not aware of what sorts of programs or what quantities of it were dangerous. At that time there was not enough proof that violence programs was the cause of aggression (Carter& Strickland, 1993). Thus, the researchers began to conduct various kinds of research and studies to prove the correlation between the media violence and the aggressive behavior among juveniles. The early correlations studies found that there were some differences between the viewers and non viewer’s outlook. Those differences did not exist before the television...
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...Understanding Media and Culture Essay Paige Pleasant HUM/186 November 21, 2013 Lisa Smith Understanding Media and Culture American culture has gone through drastic changes in the last century. Americans have not only created new ways to reach a vast audience but also have continually updated and maintained means of broadcasting different types of media across the globe. Each new and updated development has played a significant role in the reshaping of America over the past 100 years. Furthermore, the term media convergence and how it has affected everyday life is important to understand as it has contributed its own piece to why and how Americans act the way they do. In the last century, American culture has evolved in accordance with its influence of the major developments of mass media and with media convergence. One major development that has evolved in the last century is the printing press. In the mid-fifteenth century media was hand written in books. Soon after the printing press was created, media was produced more quickly, was less expensive, and each copy was printed the same as the original. Later, Friedrich Koenig connected the printing press to a steam engine that duplicated printable media faster than ever before (19). The telegraph was the first means of sending and receiving messages electronically. No matter the distance, Americans had been presented with a much quicker and simpler form of sending and receiving messages...
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...Neeley Eng 110 Jim VanderMey March 27, 2007 Argumentative Essay In the article “Tragedy in West Virginia: Did Religious Exuberance Lead to Bad Reporting and False Hopes?” by Conrad F. Goeringer, he discusses the mining explosion that occurred at the Sago mine in West Virginia on January 2, 2006. Twelve men were trapped in this mine. Forty-eight hours later eleven were found dead, and one man was unconscious. However, reports were made that a miracle took place; rescuers recovered all of these men alive. Goeringer claims that fictional outcomes were wrapped up in faith. This faith, he argues, intensified the grieving for survivors and resulted in fallacious reports by the news media. He states, “The church seems to have been the ignition point of the joyous but unverified rumor: “families began streaming out of the church, yelling ‘They’re Alive!’ The church’s bells began ringing and families embraced.’” (42) In this excerpt, he is suggesting that the people of the church are the source of the false reports in this tragic incident. In conclusion, Goeringer assumes that the exhilaration of a miracle, and faith carried out an untrue story. The news media was misguided by these believers, which resulted in false reports of these miners being found alive. In my view, Goeringer is misrepresenting the reports of these “alive” miners, claiming that their sources, with high hopes of a miraculous finding, led the media to believe this also. “‘Praying for a miracle” seemed to...
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