Blog Post #7

1. Explain the following basic sociological concepts: bureaucracy, role, alienation, anomie, class, functionalism, marginalization, mass communication, mass media, post modernism, sex (gender), socialization, status, stereotypes.

Bureaucracy: A bureaucracy is a group of people who follow a guideline of rules and structure in running organizations.

Role: In sociological analysis, role is relating to the concept of social role. One's social role can be determined by the place they hold in society. The older we get, the more we learn our role in by growing in experience with the various roles.

Alienation: Alienation is the feeling of isolation, or not belonging. In other words, referring to the root of the word, it is when a person in fact feels like an "alien". These feelings can often be linked to the bureaucracies within an environment or society.

Anomie: Anomie is when an individual or groups desires no longer are determined by the rules in place, but these groups or individuals lack moral guidance from society. Groups that are anomic are typically formed by those who are trying to avoid alienation.

Class: In the sociological context, “class” refers to a person’s place in the classes of the society. Such as, upper-upper class, lower-lower class.

Functionalism: Something is seen as functional when it increases the stability of a unit.

Marginalization: Marginalization is when individuals and their beliefs are different from what is referred to as “normal” within a society, these individuals are seen as beneath those who are normal.

Mass Communication: Mass communications is the study of how people and companies use the mass media to relay information to the population at large at the same time.

Post Modernism: Postmodernism is essentially our study of the media, typically including explanations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism.

Sex (gender): Sex/gender within sociological concepts commonly refers to the roles they play. Gender roles are commonly stereotyped within the media.

Socialization: Socialization is the process one undergoes to learn the rules, roles, and values of society.

Status: Status refers to the place one holds within an organization or group of some form, and the standing of that specific position.

Stereotypes: Stereotypes are a collection of beliefs and impressions held about a group and its members. Stereotypes can be negative or positive, and can take many forms from racial to gender roles, etc. 

Blog #5: Psychoanalytical Criticism

Psychoanalytical criticism revolves around one’s mind. The roots of the criticism stem from psychologist Sigmund Freud, concentrating on the conscious and unconscious processes within a person. These processes can affect how one interacts with others, how they think, their attitude, moral judgement, and their behavior itself. According to Freud’s structural hypothesis about mental functioning, the mind can be broken down into three entities: id, ego, and superego. The id is really all about meeting one’s needs or wants instantly, commonly in reference to sexual desires. The ego deals more with reality and serves as the mediator between the superego and id. In other words, it tries to meet the desires of both the id and superego in a more realistic way, mainly aiming for self-preservation. It tries to find a balance between our desires and consequences of those desires. The superego on the other hand is based on the conscious which solely reflects on moral judgement: right or wrong.

Another major part of psychoanalytical criticism is defense mechanisms. These are techniques used by the ego to regulate one’s drives while discouraging worries. Among these defense mechanisms are: ambivalence, avoidance, denial, fixation, identification, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and suppression. For the most part the word themselves describe what type of defense mechanism is at hand.

The psychoanalytical criticism is very complex because it has so much to it, but when applied to actual media you gain a better understanding of it. In closing, as the textbook says, “Psychoanalysis is, remember an interpretative art. It seeks to find meaning in the behavior of people and in the art they create.” 

Blog #4

Many times when Marxism is brought up in conversation or into a person’s thought, the reference to Karl Marx is made. However, in this system of Marxism which pertains to literature and the media, it’s essentially a perspective revolving around the economy and social status/beliefs. The entire point or better yet goal of Marxism is how media emphasizes existing social/power establishments as a norm to society. To give a better understanding, I’d like to highlight a few essential terms within Marxism such as: ideology, hegemony, and false consciousness. These terms help shape Marxism, and help with the way a viewer/reader establishes their ways of thinking to conform to the system. To begin with ideology deals with beliefs and way of thought and values of a group of people. Next there is the term hegemony which refers to the favoring of a main crowd’s ideology over that of another crowd’s. For example, men tend to be seen as more empowered the women, wealthy override the needy, or those whole look even the slightest amount of different are less empowered than those who are seen as “normal”. It’s basically saying one group beliefs matter more than the other’s. False consciousness, I feel is a major term to highlight, especially with the society we live in today. It makes people believe that “whatever it is, is right”. We see this today because people feel like if we don’t look like the people we see on television, magazines, or wherever within the media then we don’t meet the status quo of “beauty”. Marxism is a perspective that I feel is important due to the media’s portrayal.

Blog Post #3: Marxism and Media

This class has taught me to analyze media rather than just watching with a blind eye. It’s gotten to the point where I’ll analyze a television show or movie without even noticing, it just happens unconsciously almost like breathing. It’s almost annoying because I’ll catch myself doing it and try to stop, but won’t be able to. I guess this is a good and bad thing however, we need to be able to analyze the things we see instead of just being blind to it. We need to see those signals, codes, connotations, intertextuality, etc. This week, while moving into Marxism we watched Freaks and Geeks, a television series that came out in 1999. I think this show has a major highlight on social roles, because you have the “freaks”, the “geeks”, the smart kids, and the popular kids. You can see a lot about the economy and the way things were during this time period. Lindsey, the main character of the television show, seems to have the typical 90’s family. Her family eats dinner together, talks about their days, typical annoying little brother that she looks out for, and a family that wants her out of trouble. Lindsey used to be one of the smart kids but she alienated herself from that group after her grandmother died. Now, she’s trying to be one of the “freaks”, but struggles fitting in. I this show was a great way to introduce Marxism and I look forward to learning more about it.

Blog #2

For this week's post I will be analyzing episode one of the "Sherlock" series on Netflix. Many of us have seen the actual movie "Sherlock Holmes" and even in the show some of the same characteristics of the movie character are in this Sherlock. The show is from a British television network which is important to include while doing an analysis of the show due to the fact that the British culture will be reflected from the way the characters talk, dress, even their cars.

The show opens with the audience being introduced to Dr. John Watson whom we quickly find out is a soldier returning from war, and dealing with the emotional and physical trauma inflicted on him during the war. Though we find out that instead of being damaged and ruined by war, he misses the life of thrill and is bored of the one he is currently living. Dr. Watson is pictured in a basic room, dimly lit, plain colors, almost reflecting the military style. The lighting of the room especially adds to the setting giving off the emptiness Dr. Watson feels. We can see that the military is still a part of his life from the style of his home, to his plain haircut and clothes. He is essentially a reflection of the military. The boredom of John's life becomes clear as ever when the therapist begins to talk to him about his blog and how writing about everything that happens to him, but he simply replies "Nothing happens to me.

Not too long after meeting John, the show introduces us to Sherlock Holmes whom turns out to be exactly what John has been needing in his life. Sherlock Holmes is the complete opposite of boring. From his messy curly hair, to light eyes, to the way he is dressed, it is evident that Sherlock isn't someone you see in every day life. When you place the two side by side, you can see how extraordinary Sherlock is compared to John. This becomes more important as the episode goes on because while the two work on the crime together, John begins to signify and take on the role of a sidekick. The hero is always more appealing to the eye, while the sidekick is more casual. Sherlock almost instantly analyzes Dr. John Watson and his past just by paying attention to the smallest detail. He invites John to be his flatmate right off the back and from there a match is basically made in Heaven here. When John arrives at Sherlock's flat he sees that unlike him, Sherlock is messy. The room has items scattered everywhere and is quite cluttered, but the catch is that although the place is a mess, Sherlock still notices when the skull isn't in it's place. Sherlock's living space in turn can be viewed as a metaphor of his mind. Sherlock is a fast thinker, instantly analyzes, and always has something going on in his head. Though his mind is everywhere everything still has a place. Prior to meeting Sherlock, John uses a cane to help him get around. However, the more time he spends with Sherlock solving the murder case, we see John using his cane much less. At one point he forgets the cane in a restaurant. The cane signifies John's safety blanket and symbolizes more of the emotional torment he feels inside. By the end of the episode we learn that John doesn't even have a wound in his legs, he was actually shot in his left shoulder.

I feel like this episode was such a great example for semiotics, there's a number of signifers, symbols, intertextuality, codes, icons, etc. found in this episode. The more you watch it, the more you seem to notice them and see things you didn't before. Once again, I've fallen victim to binge watching a show on Netflix introduced by Professor Johnson. I also feel that we can learn a lot from Sherlock, because the way he pays attention to detail is how we need to analyze things especially in this class.