Killing us softly. Really softly.

So this was a pretty crazy documentary. I think that this is held as such an eye opening piece because it takes dozens of advertisements that derive their value from the shock value and put into one short segment. All of these ads are peppered throughout magazines but when put into one place like they were in Killing Us Softly 3, each ad compounded on the other and multiplied how disturbing it was.

While it does seem like that a lot of those ads were handpicked and definitely not the norm, there were many that seemed like they could be very common place. The documentary definitely showed extreme cases, but it did show a trend within American advertising.


http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/43aveda/43aveda.jpg
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/images/fitch.jpg

These are a couple of advertisements I found quite easily online that definitely enforce what Jean Kilbourne was trying to say in the film. They both feature women either portrayed as
1)not wearing clothing
or
2)being in a vulnerable sexual position

http://www.knowtebook.com/uploaded/2008/09/89320618_1008a70f5d.jpg

While this advertisement may be a little more subtle, it definitely carries sexual connotations. Hopefully I'm not reading too far into this when I point out these things: the women is leaning back, the man is leaning in, and the "face" on the women features a fairly worried look.

I think this advertisement shows that while there are certainly obvious sexualization of women in ads, it's also very easy to be more subtle about it.

The Blog Thief

So here I am. A little more than 1/4 way into my "choice" novel. I chose The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, an historical fiction told through the perspective of Death. It centers around a girl named Liesel who is growing up in Nazi Germany. After losing her brother to disease and her mother to the communist cleansing of the current regime, she must move in with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, a married couple whose children have already moved out. Hans quickly becomes a friend and ally in this new situation and forms a close bond with Liesel while teaching her how to read.

Liesel is at first uncomfortable in this atmosphere. As she is not able to read at first, the school places her in a grade below where she should be. Evetually she causes enough trouble in the younger grade for the teachers to bring her up. Along the way she accumulates a certain troupe of characters who walk the line of friends and rivals. One of the more colorful characters is Rudy Steiner, a mischeivious boy who seems to have a crush on our protagonist. One of the most memorable parts Rudy has had in the story is the time he spread charcoal all over himself in order to look more like Jesse Owens and therefore run faster. This taking place in Nazi Germany, Rudy's father did not take too kindly to this interest.

While the cast of the book certainly makes the book more entertaining and engaging, the thing that draws me as a reader into it is the voice. Markus Zusak uses the story telling style of Death to the stories advantage. Verbs are used in most visual and graphic ways. Right from the beginning, color is mentioned as being extremely important to Death as it keeps her sane throughout the aeons of her morbid work. While color is certainly highlighted in the most important descriptions, it seems that Death perceives this world in avery different way that we do and will often use descriptions of sight, smell, sound, and taste interchangeably. She speaks of footprints having a smell, and I'm not quite sure whether she does this on purpose or if that's simply how she knows the world.

Bloggin' with Holden

I really appreciate the discussions we have in class. Being able to talk to other people about what they're getting out of the book as well as having to verbalize what we ourselves are thinking really gives us a more in depth look at the book. It really does. And it's not at all fake conversation stuff either. It's in depth and not phony and all. I needed to say that before getting into talking about those scenes. You'll see what I mean.

So we have a person like Caulfield in New York City, late at night and horny as all get out. He's really raring to go and get out there. So what he does is he goes down to some crumby little club in a hotel. Not the kind that you'd take a nice girl to have a good time. The kind of club that you'd go to if you wanted to find some crumby old girl looking for a crumby old time. The band that's playing isn't that great either. The guy who's singing sounds like he thinks he's on goshdarn Broadway or something. A phony. A real phony. You wouldn't believe it.

Anyway Holden gets there and being horny and all notices first off three women sitting in a booth together. Except these aren't the type of women you think of when you describe a girl being a woman. These are like giggly little broads who barely moved out of the house. But Holden didn't really know that at the time so of course he goes right into and tries putting the moves on the one who seems the most attractive, a blonde. Giving her the eye and finally when he starts talking to them directing the conversation at her and all that. He asks this blonde to dance and when he's out there he starts to realize what an airhead he chose to lay the moves on. She's the kind of girl who won't really be paying attention to what you're saying, making intelligent conversation kinda hard, and when she finally realizes that you've been carrying on the conversation without her she lets out the most innocent airheaded "What?" These girls make it out like they're half deaf or something. Like these phonies think that if they act spacey, some guy's going to think they're mysterious or something.

Anyways, Holden is putting up with this dumb broad so he can get into her pants, but he starts getting the feeling that it's going to be a bit harder than expected. Mostly because he's going to have to teach her how to unzip them before he gets anywhere. He moves onto the other two and realizes that he chose the wrong bar to pick anybody up in. One of them's a broken record with stupid sarcastic comments about Holden's age, and the other is even more of an airhead than the blonde. Jeeze. You think that'd there be at least one decent girl in there but the place might as well be empty with all the phonies in there. They're either trying to come across as dumb, which frankly I don't find attractive at all, or they're acting all uppity to try to seem smarter.

I think this is a scene that shows clearly how Holden is just surrounded by fake people, and that frustrates him. He sees the fakeness around him and responds to that by lying and spinning a web. It's like he feels that that's his only option or something, being a phony to the phony. I also think that the sexual frustration he shows in this scene is something that can be seen in other parts of the book as well as explaining a bit about Holden. I mean, this guy is obviously pretty crumby but I think that this concretes how he thinks. He has a pretty negative view on people in general and psychoanalyzes them accordingly. Of course, he isn't a shrink or anything, but the way he gets in people's heads and labels them on the type of phony they are. It's kind of sad. Honestly.

Catcher Contd.

Sorry. This follow up post took a bit longer than expected to get up. Anyway, at this point I have read farther in the book and have a slightly different view of Caulfield.

While the beginning voice and actions of the main character suggest that he doesn't care much for following social norms, I think it's obvious at this point that Holden has something seriously wrong with him. What I like about this book is that it doesn't necessarily say that explicitly or at least not in the beginning. If you think about it, this makes sense. Holden is the one who is telling the story. Surely he wouldn't want to come out right in the beginning of the book and say that he's a crazy creepy dude. Instead, he paints a picture of the well known slacker, multiple time drop out (or kicked out) archetype. However, slowly but surely, the reader is introduced to a compulsive liar with psychological complex upon psychological complex.

His reluctancy to speak or think about his past is something to note as well. As of right now I can't tell if there is a specific memory or experience that he wants to keep secret or if the entire general experience of his upbringing is being repressed. I think either way it would be interesting and I think at this point that's the main thing that's drawing me into the book, not to say that his current situation isn't of interest. Oh well. I guess I'll have to read more to find out.

Catcher in the Rye

First, I must apologize. You see, I'm a busy boy. I have gotten home around 9:45 these past two days on account of Track and Drama. While this is a lame excuse it's all I have to explain why I haven't gotten my readings done in a timely manner.

I've heard about Catcher in the Rye quite a bit before this. It has usually been attached with phrases like "American literary staple", "must read", or "poignant piece of writing". To tell the truth, I would have most likely read it myself if I had not taken this class; however, I am glad that I will be able to share this reading experience with you people. It should be generally a good time.

So what I've gotten from the first 26 pages in this book is that Holden is a slacker, capital S. I suppose he would be a Slacker then. While it sounds like the kid isn't all that dumb, he just doesn't seem to see a point in school. The only class he wasn't failing was the class that he had already done the curriculum for at another school.

Oh crap. Class just ended. I'll finish this up later. Thanks dudes.

It's been awhile

This blog has been here for awhile. I started it last year when several of my friends decided to take this class. They eventually sucked me into the blogosphere where I decided to follow the class as well as I could. I may have failed dismally. I may have succeeded wonderfully. Either way, I am back, and it has been awhile.

My name is Sam S**#$^@% and at this point I'm in College Literature. This is the third class (second elective) that I've taken with Mr. Kunkle, and I expect that I will enjoy it just as much if not more.

Something that people should know about me is that I like things. There are very few things that I dislike including bad music, bad movies, and people who live wantonly. Oh, and my Creative Writing class. I enjoy good music, good movies, and people in general. This also pertains to my views on literature. There are stories that I like. There are stories that I feel so-so about. There are even some stories that I love; but outside of my Creative Writing class, there are very few stories that I dislike. I'm pretty flexible as a reader. I'm not bothered by weird styles or choices of format or plot.

Now I guess I should mention my... shudder... favorite book. I can't say this without feeling as if I were leaving all the other books I like to sleep in the basement. But if I were at gun point at this moment, I would most likely say that Winnie the Pooh, and the series in general, is my favorite book. The word play and nonsensical manner that A. A. Milne employs is absolutely marvelous and tickles my brain when I read it. For some reason the blog isn't letting me copy and paste a passage but if you happen to have time, I recommend looking up some Winnie the Pooh quotes. They're always a good time and second only to reading the book itself.

Anthony, no longer a Mystery

This might be my last post in a very long time but I have to get the truth out.


Anthony Mystery is a terrorist in the very clearest sense of the word. I don't know what he's planning next but I'm pretty sure that it's something big. If you follow his blog, he's fallen in with some old "friends" (a terrorist cell named Blue Laser coughcough) who I suspect need an ace in the hole. And little Tony is it. I might not be able to write about what's happening while it happens in case he gets suspicious, but I'll try to keep you posted when it's old news.

This new development means that I'm going to have some travelling to do. He's like a modern day Carmen San Diego. I hope I can find a computer to keep in touch with all of my faithful readers, that's you. Until then, keep a sharp eye, you never know who might be watching...