social media

Sally G. VanDenburg ENGL 7760 Dr. Hixon 24 July 2013 Selected Sources on Children's Film 1. Booker, M. Keith. Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2010. eBook. 16 July 2013. In Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films, Booker uses a mixture of academic research/analysis with personal experience as both viewer and parent. The book is structured roughly chronologically, including a section on Disney movies overseen by Walt Disney himself, a section on the post-Walt-Disney era of Disney film production, a section on the movement of children's animation into digital technology, and an overview of some of Disney's contemporary competitors. Throughout the book, Booker uses numerous personal examples of his own viewings together with his three sons of various ages. Although the personal accounts and descriptions of film plots are sometimes a bit long and overly subjective for my taste, Booker provides a solid grounding in many of the ideological issues of children's film. He points out the ways in which Disney's films (and DreamWorks' films, and others) serve to subtly reinforce gender roles, racism concerns, and capitalist values -- while also looking at ways in which, perhaps, the industry is attempting to "correct" these essentialist messages. 2. Brocklebank, Lisa. "Disney's Mulan -- The 'True' Deconstructed Heroine?" Marvels & Tales 14.2 (2000): 268-283. JSTOR. Web. 13 July 2013. Brocklebank begins with a brief survey of the fairy tale's evolution from oral tale to literary tale to film narrative, and the ways in which this evolution of form has caused a silencing of heroines and a stereotyping of female roles (passive heroines or wicked villainesses). Then, Brocklebank looks at Mulan specifically (starting with the idea that Disney uses Mulan to turn a heroine into a hero), then examining "the folktale motif of cross-dressing" (270) with a compare/contrast approach of Mulan with other tales, and finally examining the depiction of gender performance within Disney's Mulan. Essentially, Brocklebank concludes that Mulan is contradictory in its possible "success" as a portrayal of a a marginalized (cross-dressing) character, because that marginal voice may lose its power when brought into Disney's mainstream. Gender performance is a favorite topic of study for me, and highly relevant to the ideas of ideology within children's texts, so I find this article worth thinking about. 3. Chaston, Joel D. "The 'Ozification' of American Children's Fantasy Films: The Blue Bird, Alice in Wonderland, and Jumanji." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 22.1 (Spring 1997): 13-20. Project Muse. Web. 20 July 2013. Despite the lasting popularity of Oz fiction, film and merchandise, Chaston's use of the term "Ozification" is no compliment. He begins by describing how the 1939 MGM film of The Wizard of Oz preempted the book in the hearts and minds of the American public, creating a new and different "original" text. He then goes on to summarize the traits he uses in his label of "Ozified," pointing out primarily that Dorothy in the film is extremely goal-oriented ("There's no place like home!"), that her quest is to return to her safe home/world (the classic home-away-home plot of children's literature), and that as a child and heroine Dorothy's character in the movie has less strength and agency than the depiction in Baum's novel. From there, Chaston goes on to explore how each of the other movies listed in his title use that same questing-for-home driving force, resulting in the same weakening of the children protagonists. This type of analysis could potentially be applied to any children's film. 4. Langer, Mark. "Regionalism in Disney Animation: Pink Elephants and Dumbo." Film History 4.4 (1990): 305-321. JSTOR. Web. 10 July 2013. In this article, Langer examines the pink elephant sequence of Dumbo as what he considers the best example of a separate animation style within the dominant Disney style. Langer explains that Disney's primary animation style is/was the West Coast style, which he describes as having a close connection to the "classic Hollywood tradition" and characterizes as striving for realism in movement, expression, and more. However, he points out that many of the key animators working in the Disney studios were originally trained in the New York style of animation, which he suggests is a less realistic, more cartoon-y style, using caricature and branching out of the comics found in newspapers. Langer's article can be useful for studies of animation style, though given the date of publication, the scholar would need to do further research to take into account the changes that have come about with the digital animation technologies that have become popular. 5. Neff, Heather. "Strange Faces in the Mirror: The Ethics of Diversity in Children's Films." The Lion and the Unicorn 20.1 (1996): 50-65. Project Muse. Web. 20 July 2013. Neff separates her article into four sections. The first, "Envisioning Division," discusses how American film in general has seen a need to clearly distinguish racial depictions, using an us-versus-them concept of identity and race. The second section, "Staying Inside the Lines of the American Coloring Book," argues that films in general utilize stereotypes both to reinforce and deny racial differences (mentioning "buddy" films and social comedies such as Sister Act as examples), while children's films portray the marginalized other as childlike, innocent, and harmless (read: inferior but "cute"). In "Creating an American Self," the third section, Neff points out how rarely children's films depict a protagonist of any non-white race, as well as Disney's tradition of light/white equaling good while dark/black represents evil or wickedness. The final section, "Out of Africa," brings Neff's argument firmly into her specialty of African-American literature/culture, with a focus on the African trickster character and the ways that American children's film has Americanized the character almost past recognition. Neff's article provides an insightful look into racial coding within children's film that could be applied in numerous ways. 6. Neighbors, R. C. and Sandy Rankin, eds. The Galaxy is Rated G: Essays on Children's Science Fiction Film and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. Print. This collection of essays provides a wide variety of views on the science fiction genre within children's media. The first section, "D is for Deviance," looks at ideas of identity, covering gender, race, and more. The second section is called "S is for Structures of Power," and has a very Foucaultian feel in its examinations of social and political power as depicted in children's science fiction. The final section, "F is for Future Shock," focuses on science fiction that depicts future societies and draws connections between the fictional worlds depicted and the ideologies of the cultures within which those worlds were created. Since our course focuses on film and excludes television, only certain essays from this book are directly applicable, but those essays are an interesting examination of a genre. 7. Ross, Deborah. "Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination." Marvels & Tales 18.1 (2004): 53-66. Project Muse. Web. 20 July 2013. Ross seeks to point out, using Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty & the Beast, the inconsistencies within Disney films -- specifically as relate to imagination. She suggests that due to Disney's (both man's and company's) by-now mythical emphasis on maintaining control, the ideologies within the films subvert the surface messages of female agency and the empowerment of an active imagination, instead positioning the "transformative" power of the imagination as evil, useless, or out of reach. For examples of this, she cites the dream nature of Alice's adventures, the fact that Ariel dreams of leaving a fantastical, magical underwater world to become what the viewers might see as "the girl next door" (this is problematic, admittedly, since Ariel remains a princess and few of us live next door to a princess), and that Beauty & the Beast not only reinforces gender stereotypes but also the traditional marriage plot and all of the accompanying domesticity. Though overall useful, this article could be stronger if the author were to return in the conclusion to the earlier-mentioned idea of Disney's need for control and how that relates back to her argument. 8. Street, Douglas, ed. Children's Novels and the Movies. New York: Ungar, 1983. Print. This book is a collection of essays exploring adaptations of children's literature into film. Though admittedly a bit dated, the essays provide critique on several films from the early 20th century through the early 1980s, examining the films in relation to the novels from which they were adapted. On the whole, the essays acknowledge the challenge involved in an adaptation -- how to create an effective and engaging audiovisual narrative that "relates" accurately to the source text while still involving enough dramatic interpretation to make the retelling worthwhile. Although only a small portion of our class is addressing the sub-genre of adaptations within the broader area of children's film, and despite its publication date, this book can potentially be very useful due to the recent proliferation of adaptations in the film industry (The Hunger Games, Where the Wild Things Are, the Harry Potter books, the Percy Jackson books, etc.). 9. Wojcik-Andrews, Ian. Children's Films: History, Ideology, Pedagogy, Theory. New York: Garland, 2000. Print. An ambitious book, Wojcik-Andrews' Children's Films attempts to cover a vast amount of information in less than 300 pages. The first section explores various points of view regarding the definition of "children's film." The author acknowledges that just as children's literature is often difficult to define, so is children's film, and briefly looks at example films from a personal view, a textual view, a cultural view, and more, eventually concluding that there is no consensus. From there, Wojcik-Andrews provides a broad, shallow overview of criticism, history, ideology and pedagogy of children's film, "survey[ing] the landmark works" as he puts it. This book can be a useful starting point for studies in children's film, suggesting viewpoints and providing a general framework for further research. 10. Wood, Naomi. "Domesticating Dreams in Walt Disney's Cinderella." The Lion and the Unicorn 20.1 (1996): 25-49. Project Muse. Web. 20 July 2013. Wood uses her experience in teaching fairy tales to elementary education majors as a launching point for her argument -- that the scholarly community needs to produce critical studies of each Disney retelling of a fairy tale, examining how those films work and "reading" them as distinct narratives rather than as whitewashed versions of the oral tales. She then goes into a relatively in-depth exploration of Cinderella, considering the animation style and ideologies ("middle-American normative experience" (33), as well as the emphasis on dreams and dreaming that is in such focus within the film. Wood finishes with a tentative conclusion that Disney films are more complicated than they are usually perceived, combining patriarchal and normative morals with chaos and perversity. Even if a scholar is writing on some other film and has no interest in Cinderella, Wood's article might provide an example of some of the ways a children's film can be examined for form, content, and subversive ideologies. Project 2 Assignment: Annotated Bibliography & Research Analysis Objective: Research a topic of your choice—an aspect of your field major, your intended career, a hobby or interest—compiling a list of relevant and reliable source material. Read/view/consult these sources and write concise summaries of each. Present your summaries in the form of an annotated bibliography. See Chapter 10 of Research Matters for examples of annotations. Once your list is complete, write a research analysis which provides a brief overview of the current discussion on your topic. You should also explain your research methods so far, how you feel about the sources you have gathered as a whole, and what further research you anticipate needing before you can move on to Project 3. Length: Annotated bibliography: at least 6 entries (2+ pages, typed, double-spaced with proper header, see RM 124-127). Research analysis: at least 2 pages, typed, double-spaced. Sources: At least 4 different types: books, chapters in books, encyclopedias, pamphlets, scholarly essays, newspaper articles, magazine articles, websites, documentaries, personal interviews, advertisements. You can use up to 2 essays from our textbook, They Say, I Say. Due: Tuesday, Oct. 27th or Wednesday, Oct. 28th (whichever day your class meets) For this class, 1020-049, final due date is Monday, Nov. 2nd. Percentage of Final Grade: 20% Criteria for Evaluation: 1. Is the bibliography complete (6 entries) and in the proper format? 2. Does the bibliography identify a specific focus within your topic? Is it narrow enough to cover in an essay of 5-7 pages? 3. Did the researcher make good choices with regard to source material? Do the sources pass the CRAAP test? Is there enough variety and depth? 4. Is each annotation thorough and yet concise? Does the writer tell too much, too little, or just enough? 5. Does each annotation make clear how the source can be used in a research essay that is argumentative and/or informative? 6. Does each citation include all the necessary information, with proper formatting and punctuation? 7. Do the annotations contain errors in grammar, punctuation, and/or spelling? How Social Media Affects Relationships Najoud Albalushi MTSU English 11/02/2015 Social media is a collective word that describes the platforms that are supported by various websites through which people can interact and communicate with one another (Delva, et al., 2014). There are several examples of social media platforms where people can interact, these are; YouTube, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Digg among many others that have been innovated in various countries. Social media has an impact on relations because it is the nature of human beings to socialize and to continually communicate with other people (Chambers, 2013). As much as there are positive impacts of the social media to relationships, there are also notable negative impacts on the same. Statistics has shown that people with fewer social attachment die earlier as compared to those with many social relationships (Mansell, 2015). However, with the increased evolution of the social media platforms, it has been seen to be substituting the physical contact of people and strengthening the online connections. This has led to neglecting the people around and focusing on those in the online making the people around us feel lonely and less needed. However, a social site like Facebook has over one billion users globally; this gives one a big audience for communication. It is easy to manage and hence people who are based in other geographical locations can still keep up the communication. The internet connection has helped strengthen and rekindle relationships that could have otherwise been forgotten. Most of the people have joined various social networks, and one can easily look for a longtime friend and chat. This will help one in knowing what has been happening since they changed locations. Through the communication, friendship will be restored. In addition, online connections have helped businesses to market their products and to get clients from every part of the world. It has helped many businesses to blossom and to open branches in locations that have greater chances of opportunity. The positive side that media has in relationships which research has shown that many of the couples who are married today have met through the social media interaction (News, 2013). It all begins with accepting a friend request, or following a person after being followed. After that, chatting begins, and the two strangers began sharing what they do and their interests. This continues, and they become friends and with time they will hook up and start a relationship that could probably lead to marriage. Although, chatting with strangers may seem risky but it has helped many people get their soul mates. Social networks have helped save relationships from breakups and divorce. When one partner relocates to another geographical area due to education or job opportunity, there is usually the communication gap that is left between the spouses. Online communication has made it easy for the spouses to continue communicating and updating each other on the progress (Delva, et al., 2014). Communication is the key thing in relationships, and once it is cut, one can lose their loved ones. Therefore, social networks have helped save many relationships that could have otherwise ended due to the long distant. It is easier to make new friends than before. Social media helps one to interact with many people from every part of the world and countries (Brooks & Gupta, 2013). People have massively connected and build friendships that are worthy. Through posting personal ideas in the social media, it will attract people who share the same interest, and they will be interested to know more. Additionally, globalization has made it easy for people to move from one country to another. When you have friends in the foreign country, they can help you in adjusting to the new culture and locating places in the area (Mansell, 2015). It becomes easier to operate in a foreign land because one already has friends who they met online. One will be able to get the online orientation before landing, and they will have a clue of what they will be expecting. Many people testify that they have many friends in the social media whom they haven’t met yet but when they get the opportunity to meet them, then they will perhaps meet them and have the physical interaction (Flores, 2014). The social platforms help people to share their good and bad times of life. One will always get encouragement from another person who passed through the same situation and made it (Farrugia, 2013). As one shares their experiences, it help in the emotional healing of the individual and will get support and empathy from other people who are online. That is why research has shown that people who have less connection with the online communication die earlier than those with more social networks (News, 2013). People are encouraged to interact and to share their personal experiences. Dealing with a life situation alone is quite difficult, one will need a friend to help in the situation. Through the sharing, friendships and relationships are strengthened. Social platforms speed up communication. In like 30 seconds, one will have communicated to masses through just posting a status or twitting. Before the online networks were established, it was challenging for one to call more than one person and greet them. It was also expensive to make international calls, and many relationships were becoming dormant because of the less communication (Chambers, 2013). Thanks to the online networks because now people can chat in a group with more than one person and pass a message. This is how friends who are in different locations communicate and encourage each other. Negative effects of the social media on relationships The social media gives a virtual sense of connection between people. Nowadays it is challenging to distinguish between real and fake relationships because everyone seems to be communicating right. It has been challenging to maintain a relationship that has been founded on social platforms although there are some that make it to stable relationships. There are so many people who are flirting in the social media, and it is challenging to tell who is being honest. Cyber-bullying is one of the negative effects on family relationships and friendships. Communicating with anonymous people who have a bad intention is dangerous. They might end up posting pictures and chats that were meant to be secret hence reducing the personal confidence and self-esteem. Some cyber-bullying can be very serious leading to the mental torture and some young people have even committed suicide (Farrugia, 2013). As much as the social media is important, one need to be careful when communicating with strange people. It had reduced the relationship bond between people who are around us. Most time is being spent in online communicating and chatting and tend to ignore other people. In families, children are so much in networking and chatting that has limited the parental care and bonding. Parental care is very necessary because it determine the behavior of the children. When this part is missing, the children will adopt moral behaviors that are negative, and they will begin to perform poorly at school (Brooks & Gupta, 2013). It is because the social media has taken away their concentration in classwork. There is no privacy in social media. It allows people to post issues concerning their personal lives to the public. The increased flirting in the social platforms has destroyed many relationships and marriages (Chambers, 2013). Continuous chatting with strangers has not been fruitful for the existing relationships. The faithfulness of many spouses has been challenged because many of them think they can just snoop around with the online friends and never to be caught. One forgets that there is no privacy in the online platforms, and anyone is vulnerable to cyber-bullying. The obsession with the online communicating has destroyed existing relationships as it builds other relationships on the Internet. However, the social media is good and has many advantages, as there are negative ones. It depends with how an individual balances between the physical contact and the online interaction. Everything should be done in moderation to ensure that relationships are not destroyed at the expense of others. The self-esteem of people has shifted from being built by the daily achievements in career and studies to the number of followers one can get online (Flores, 2014). Self-esteem is been defined by how many messages one gets in the social media or how many likes one gets after posting a photo. These are the things that should not be defining a person because they are temporal. Social media is effective and it should be used wisely to protect the existing relationships and to learn from other people. References Brooks, H., & Gupta, R. (2013). Using social media for global security. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Chambers, D. (2013). Social media and personal relationships: online intimacies and networked friendship. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Delva, R., Eiman, A., Engert, M., Naiman, B., Orellana, G., & University, C. (2014). Satisfaction and the Use of Social Media in Geographically Distant Relationships. Distant Relationships, 25. Farrugia, R. C. (2013). Facebook and Relationships: A Study of How Social Media Use is Affecting Long-Term Relationship. Thesis/Dissertation Collections, 50. Flores, S. E. (2014). Facehooked: how Facebook affects our emotions, relationships, and lives. California: Reputation Books. Mansell, R. (2015). The international encyclopedia of digital communication and society. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. News, D. (2013, March 27). Social Media Impacts Real Relationships. Retrieved from Desert News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865576858/Social-media-impacts-real-relationships.html?pg=all