Communist Xboxes

So the internet has been rife with this story of an impressive Xbox gamer score.  In all seriousness this should be a completely unimportant accomplishment. The achievement score on Xbox live is without value. No physical rewards are given and there is no standard currency (such as additional microsoft points or extended Live time) awarded for any level gained in this system.  First a quick reference, Xbox live is the platform through which users of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming platform connect together.  It’s an interesting network made to help players challenge each other and compare skills. What’s most interesting to me is how a pseudo-materialism has emerged within this network to define the “elite” through a materialistic method when no physical rewards are in place.

The materialism within digital entertainment is almost subliminal.  Perform a trick within a game and a small notice appears proclaiming that you have “achieved” or “unlocked” something.  The overall rating of the player increases for everyone to see and compare against.  It goes beyond just the achievments records within Xbox Live.  Pretty much any online gaming community contains a system for players to build up “reputation points” like some kind of bank account.  It’s a system that is meaningless and not necessarily a good way to determine someone’s level of ability.  So why is it so important?  People like to collect and they like to show off.  Meaningless trinkets with abstract values placed on them are the easiest methods to create something “incomparable.”  Through life people “collect” things of “importance.”  Fancy vehicles, jobs, families, houses, and various other articles.  These seemingly different actions are philosophically identical.  In both cases power is granted through a ranking system that should, in theory, be accurate (higher score means better at games and fancy cars means better at life).  I guess it’s “comforting” to know that if and or when we move into a digitized dystopia of life that materialism will still reign supreme over the hearts of humanity.

Silverman, Ben. “Xbox gamer passes half-million milestone.” Yahoo Games. N.p., 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2010.

Image is a promotional display for the Tyco Dino-Riders toy series.

Narrative Examination

The literary piece I have chosen to analyze is the Usagi Yojimbo series of graphic novels by Stan Sakai.  The basic theme is that of a classic ronin (masterless samurai) wanderer and the adventures he finds as he travels across Japan.  Sakai uses this setting to tell multiple stories.  A lot of these stories are classic legends from Japanese history and reflections of Feudal Japanese culture.

One overarching theme from the series is that of the Samurai Code of Bushido.  Quite often the protagonist, Usagi, works his way out of situations by following the disciplines and practices of this way of life (along with common sense, wit, and intellect).  A teleological examination for this narrative would be represented in the idea that each story is going to be resolved through application of the character’s way of life.  As the narrative progresses the reader becomes accustomed to how Usagi resolves situations.  While each situation is mostly new the resolution is almost always resolved with the expected outcome. 

The story is a genre, much akin to the idea of Westerns in American culture.  A stranger shows up carrying a gun.  He’s either good or bad and by the end of the story that gun has either saved the town/people/group/person or failed to save the villain.  Likewise it’s an expected result for Usagi.  A representation of the benefits of training and self discipline reinforced by this expected result.

The story is essentially driven by purpose.  To show the combination of good and self discipline while detailing a rich history within the narrative.  This brief summary of “Fischer’s Account”  asks a simple question to illustrate the point.  Under the questions fo rexamination, number 8 states: “What clash of values lead to the conflict.”  I think that, while other concepts can help (concepts in related articles I will link at the end of this post) this is the main way to illustrate a major point within the series.

1)  How or why did the conflict arise?

2) what viewpoints surround the conflict?

3) which viewpoint proves stronger in essence or is shown to be “Naturally” right?

Additional resources for further examination:

http://ezinearticles.com/?News-or-Propaganda—Narrative-Criticism&id=397864

A simple overview of Narrative criticism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_criticism

Narrative; Oct2010, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p347-366, 20p, by Hentea, Marius

Visual Examination

 

First look at the picture.  Now proceed with your emotional outburst(s) of anger, laughter, or both.  Now that we’ve moved from blood and yellow bile to phlegm let’s examine this billboard/poster more closely.  Chevrolet rolled out this ad as part of a celebration.  The description for the purchasable poster on Chevy’s Mall site reads as follows: “‘Remember when your cup holder sat next to you and wore a poodle skirt?’ Don’t remember what a poodle skirt looked like? The cup holder had not yet been invented, but the 1959 Impala was something special! Each August, Chevrolet commissions its ad agency Campbell Ewald to develop a series of billboards to be displayed in the Detroit area in celebration of the Woodward Dream Cruise weekend.”  The overt point for the ad is the idea of “memorable.”  This is an echo to Chevrolet’s memorable (for reference, I’m not a car person and even I know this jingle) “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet” advertisement.  The image of a 1959 Chevrolet Impala gives the idea of the “good old days.”  The entire ad is meant to give a “hometown” feel to entice the viewer into “buying domestic.”  Everything from the classic tail fins (who’s idea was it stop making tail fins before I had a chance to buy a car with them?) to the image of a “poodle skirt” all link back to the “classic” idea of America:  The late 1950’s.  A time where America was strong and “stood together.”  President Kennedy, the moon missions, and Marty McFly almost erasing himself from history; the 1950’s are a classic period of American culture.

Unfortunately, the advertiser made a similar mistake, either purposely or deliberately, to one made by the mindset of 1950’s American (and worldwide in varying forms) culture.  The ad reminds people of the unfortunate viewpoints that society took towards social standing during the 1950s.  Obviously the ad is targeted at men a group that, while they may or may not be offended, wont’ be put off from purchasing vehicles from the company for this, ahem, “oversight.”  For the sake of a joke it places women on a lower scale — as an accessory.  Although this is a trend with the stereotypical idea of a car fanatic (provided you look at car magazines anyway).

To summarize:  The ad is targeted to men, it wants you to buy domestic, and it reminds you that they are “all classic American” which means Chevy is on your side.

Advertisement taken from Chevy Corporation

Discipline of Miyamoto Usagi

So I’ve been given an assignment in my Communications class to write a research paper.  The paper entails a critical examination of some aspect within the media.  Personally I enjoy graphic novels for the combination of sequential art and thoughtful narrative.  Out of the methods of critical examination that we’ve addressed in class I find myself more drawn to cultural and narrative review of media works.  Stan Sakai’s sequential art series “Usagi Yojimbo” is a story of anthropomorphic characters in a culturally rich rendition of feudal Japan.  I believe this to be an excellent piece to examine in a cultural mindset.

One major point of feudal Japanese life was the strict disciplines maintained in personal and societal life.  While the number and extent of disciplines at the time might be considered extreme; discipline itself is something that more and more Americans are allowing to degenerate.  These same disciplines are a major portion of the Samurai Miyamato Usagi.  My hope is that I can present an enlightening view of why even “unnecessary” disciplines should be practiced to maintain one’s own personal level of ability to remain disciplined.  One of Stan Sakai’s reasons for writing this series has been to present cultural stories from Japanese mythology and history.  In my opinion he does an excellent job of presenting these stories which can be an enlightening view of cultural differences between the two nations based on their respective histories.  I believe I can use a literary and cultural examination of his stories and presentation to show advantages to a life of personal discipline.

A Summary of Criticism

The 3^rd chapter of Barry Brummett’s textbook , Rheotric in Popular Culture (third edition), is entitled “Rhetorical Methods in Critical Studies.”  The chapter itself is an overview of critical examinations of differing texts within society.  The mean idea within the chapter is that a critical eye takes a powerful position or empowers others by closely examining a text or texts and making the concepts understood fore more than simple surface value.

The basic process consists of finding, examining, and explaining a text.  Brummett writes, “they [critics] refuse to accept easy answers to the question of what texts mean” (pg 117).  A critical eye is one that digs into the more detailed version of whatever they see.  Critics are concerned with the power of messages within texts.  They examine the setting for each text.  Ever alert for how something is presented, the history behind its presentation and the history of each person who creates the original text.  Moving from the overall presentation; the concept of what is shown is also analyzed.  How do the concepts within a text interrelate?  What matches to or leads into what else?  How does the author address the issue or issues contained?  Examinations for what is both contained in the text and what is absent.  The final step is how to present the information to others.  Addressing the issues within a text and trying to create a deeper understanding of the text.

For my own personal methods it’s a great tool and process for examining fiction.  Not necessarily for carrying an agenda but at least for trivia examination and understanding of mindset.  One scenario I enjoy is censorship for children’s cartoons in the 1990’s.  In an episode of Spiderman the Animated Series (1994) there is a scene where a monster is on the rampage.  A mother and her child lose control of their pet dog as they escape.  In the scene the mother runs back to save the dog which places her life in severe danger.  An odd situation since classically it would be the child who acted that way.  Censorship for children’s cartoons in the 1990s maintained that no child could be placed in a situation of extreme danger.  It’s a simple case but this is merely an example of how further examination within something can reveal interesting facts and mindsets.  A critical examination of children’s media can reveal insights into how people think in relation to children and, in some cases, society itself.

Image taken from Universal Studios “Back to the Future” //

Schrödinger – Mint in Box

Questions help us define our world from first to last breath.  One question would be “do we get the right answers?”  Many people have wondered about the nature of truth and how it is to be found or proven.  Erwin Schrödinger once came up with a theory that if you placed a live cat in a box it would be impossible to know if the cat remained alive or dead once the box is closed.  Inside the box is contained a system that might randomly cause the cat’s death within an hour (through the use of a Geiger counter and a vial of poison).  In a quantum sense the cat is both alive and dead at the same time at some indeterminable point.  Outside of quantum physics the cat is determined as “dead” once we perceive it to be dead.  As far as we can tell the cat could be in either state throughout the hour and each person natively assumes one or the other until they see the end result.

 This is the problem with perception; it fails at being truth but it is how we interpret truth.  Plato wrote about, in his book The Republic, a situation wherein a person is restrained within a dark cave, limited in his sight of things.  All of his information is granted to him through shadows and assumptions based on restricted information.  Likewise; Walter Lippman discusses, in the first chapter of The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads, how our perspective of reality is based on the limitations on the information presented to us and how we process that information.

 In both Plato’s analogy of the cave and Lippman’s paper they show that perception does not necessarily equal reality.  To the person who is perceiving it may as well be.  As King Solomon wrote, “The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly” (Bible, New King James Translation, Proverbs 26:16).  The problem this presents exists even today.  How do we know we’re seeing enough?  When it comes to decisions deemed “important” some turn to friends, others to news, and still others to personal research.  Each finds a different perspective to work from and so finds a different answer regardless of what the truth may or may not be.  We claim that hindsight gives us and advantage for the future; this may be so but it might also blind our eyes to the action we should take.  We can easily become trapped in one way of thinking or a single source for information.  Boxed in by our own fears of what has happened or what may happen. 

 The exercise given by both author’s is that perception marks our beliefs.  Since people still have both perception and beliefs this remains true.  It’s not something that can be changed as no one can truly set himself outside of his own perception to see the “bigger picture.”  The best we can do is to act when we discover ourselves to be in the wrong and correct what we can.

Beyond (as in Past, as in Previous) Rhetoric

Chapter 2 of the book Rhetoric in Popular Culture, by Barry Brummett, gives a basic overview of the progression of rhetoric throughout history and how the foundations laid in ancient Greece relate to present day beliefs in regards to what constitutes rhetoric and the strength of rhetoric as a tool.  One theme of rhetoric that remains unchanged is the idea of its power.  From determining the path of government to manipulating the actions and beliefs of one person, rhetoric can be wielded in many ways. 

The author tries to show how different circumstances in the present such as population growth and technology have changed the way we view rhetoric from the concepts it bore in Plato’s time.  In my opinion, however, the only difference I see is in name alone.  The distinguishing characteristic is, of course, including other signs beyond just written or spoken word as rhetoric.  Beyond that the same concepts Plato and Aristotle spoke of still stand.  Understanding the audience, the speaker, the relation between the two, the social climate, and other such things were both concepts held by either viewpoint.  The differences are merely an issue of semantics. 

We view rhetoric as any action or medium that transmits a message.  Plato and Aristotle viewed only traditional texts because that was the medium used.  Advertisements to convince you to purchase a product were delivered by word of mouth alone.  Political concepts were instilled in people through voice.  The “differences” consist of subcategories and derivations of already existing ideas.  Instead of rhetoric being “what we say” it is now “what we say be means of some medium out of many.” 

We’ve added descriptions to portions of its philosophy such as “presumption” and “burden of proof.”  These are merely axioms that were already in place within Aristotle’s concepts of “truth being the most obvious.”  If it is most obvious then it is easiest to prove or presuppose in the first place.  Beyond all of this we still use rhetoric as a means to control an outcome.  We act to achieve goals and we speak to promote or incite these goals.  Rhetoric is a power play; Plato said it and everyone since him.

Image is copyright Back to the Futuer, Universal Studios

Employees At Their Mercy

The assembly line was a major technological breakthrough when it was discovered.  Items could be mass produced which lowered the cost and also created jobs for unskilled workers.  Why am I talking about assembly lines?  In my COMM 3300 class we watched an old episode of “I Love Lucy” in which Ricardo and Lucy switched tasks (i.e. working and housekeeping).  Two major elements I noticed from that:  aprons and assembly lines. 

 At that time aprons went hand in hand with any concept of housekeeping.  From Mrs. Cleaver to commercials any household activity required an apron.  A woman with an apron was a “good housekeep” or “homemaker.”  Today the uniform is absent with the task.  As women move into the work force (and men move out of it) the apron has disappeared as an everyday symbol of housework.  True we still see it but today the image of homemaker consists of an SUV and Clorox wipes.

 Speaking on the symbolism of workplace uniforms; a suit and tie was what everyone wore once upon a time.  The collared appearance was important enough that at one point people sold individual cuffs and collars for rapid replacement when you needed a clean white “shirt” for appearance sake.  This is actually where the terms “white” and “blue” collar come from.  Typically dirtier hands-on jobs purchased shirts with blue collars and white collars for office type jobs.  However, I digress.  Presently a lot of workplaces are hanging up the suit and tie and sticking with a simple collared shirt for a more “relaxed” workplace.

 Relaxation in the workplace is another way things have changed since “I Love Lucy” originally aired.  I return to the assembly line (a sentence I hope never to have to say in actuality).  In the episode of “I Love Lucy” she is hired to work at a candy factory.  One of her coworkers is represented as machine-like; doing her job with no interaction to anyone or anything around her until upset.  The assembly line promoted speed and efficiency.  Unfortunately, it also ended up losing people in the sweat-shop like conditions.  While America outsources most of its assembly line labor; the people of America do their best to avoid these jobs as well.  Whereas once it was seen as a perfectly normal job it is now looked upon as drudge work for the lower class.

Image borrowed from Back to the Future

A Not So Rhetorical Question

Dictionary.com defines rhetoric as “(in classical oratory) the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience.”  To put it simply, rhetoric is the method through which ideas are convincingly transferred. 

 The word “convincingly” is key in that sentence.  Anyone can blatantly say any thought that comes to mind.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean the thought crosses over to the intended recipient.  In every circumstance, from casual conversation to intense debate, rhetoric is how we understand each other.  It encompasses more than just words by intent of ideological transferral.  It is used to solve problems and to reveal or conceal truth.  The way that a person acts lends itself to granting ideas to those around the person.  My actions communicate “truths” about who I am and what I believe.  These very same actions can be used to convince others of things I want them to believe.  Since rhetoric is “the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience;” actions themselves employ rhetoric as a tool when used correctly.  Any system of communicating an idea can be filled with similar rhetoric; be it written, spoken, sung, signed, or drawn.

 However, using rhetoric does not mean successful subversion or conversion of another’s ideas.  Even the most efficient use of communication, leading to a perfect understanding of one’s viewpoint, will not necessarily change the mind of the recipient.  It is the intent of rhetoric to convince someone of something by presenting one’s viewpoint clearly.  As art without form can’t be understood (or according to some is simply difficult to understand) so form without art is empty.  Communication without intent of understanding is merely a soliloquy.  An example of the difference between the two would be in manners of dress.  Someone who dons a set of business attire with the intent of impressing others is conducting an action of rhetoric.  Opposite this is the person who adorns himself with whatever is clean merely to avoid being arrested for public indecency.

 This very blog post can be considered an example of rhetoric.  My intent has been to show my viewpoint that rhetoric is “the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience.”

Image is courtesy of IMDb // Back to the Future

Media: Life’s Most Used Plot Device

Media is how we receive all non-personal experience.  “The Media,” as news bearing forms of TV, print, and radio are called, attains varying levels of trust, interest, scorn, and adulation.  Books, reports, and even news broadcasts have argued and informed over the veracity of what information is sent through them.  A fair number of people are aware of the inaccuracies and agendas placed purposely or accidentally within the media.  I am and have been fully aware of the faults and strengths within the system of broadcast media we so heavily rely upon.  Media is written, portrayed, and coordinated by humans.  Humans make mistakes and power plays.  Humans are naturally biased towards a viewpoint.  The failings within media outlets make perfect sense and so they don’t mean much to me.  We make our own choices based on previous experience and acquired knowledge as we do for anything we hear from anyone.  To me, personally, The Media is a plot device; a method of advancement for fiction and life alike.

According to Reference.com, a plot device is “an element introduced into a story solely to advance or resolve the plot of the story.”  In fiction, The Media as a news source is constantly called upon to advance or make possible the situations within the story.  Take for example the tie-up ending to the movie “The Core.”  Once the world has been saved all information regarding the mission is made confidential.  One of the characters then releases all data to news sites and the internet to grant viewers a better feeling for the characters that died in the endeavour.  Another example from fiction is the classic story of Superman.  While there are plenty of examples for other possible secret identities; Clark Kent is a news reporter.  This made it easy for him to stay unchained from a desk and well fed at the same time.  Other uses for the media as a plot device include exposition of ongoing events, distractions, and absolution of a protagonist’s character.  The Media is used quite often in fiction to clean up, clear up, and fill up time within a story.

I mentioned earlier that The Media is a plot device for life as well.  It furthers our own stories as well as it does fictional ones.  It grants conversation topics that create friends and enemies.  A series of news reports, or even a single news report, can change where a person shops, eats, or even lives.  The daily activities and opinions people maintain are constantly being written by each person.  The plot of our lives is adjusted and branched by a myriad array of concepts, ideas, and situations.  The Media is both a contributed and contributing element within daily life that advances our day to day lives.  On some occasions it even brings about resolution.  When a ship or aircraft disappears with no reports from crew or passengers it is the account of The Media that we listen to for answers.  If solved, it is The Media that delivers the joyful or crushing news to citizens.

To me, The Media is just like any other manmade machination; a complicated series of faults and strengths, advantages and disadvantages, goals and decisions.  The most important thing about The Media in my opinion is that it is a tool.  The Media is a plot device to be used and integrated as seamlessly, entertainingly, or obviously as one chooses.

Image is copyright of Universal Studios // Back to the Future II