Popular Culture

Retell
 Framing Class:  Media Representations of Wealth and Poverty in America
Diana Kendall

Diana Kendall's piece got my blood boiling like no other reading in this book did. She speaks to the fact that the media literally shows us rich people and how they live constantly.  We see them on TV, we see them on magazine covers as we try to buy food, we see and hear them on talk shows.  We know where they live, what they drive, where they go on vacation, which other rich person they are marrying this time, what amazing party they went to and the fabulous free products they got just for showing up.

The problem is that the majority of us, the working class, see all this and feel like failures in our own lives.  So, we buy things these famous people have to feel like we belong in the same group as them.  Adults aren't the only group feeling the pressure to belong.  Children are buying into the need to have what the wealthy have too.  "More children [in the United States] than anywhere else believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status.  American kids display more brand affinity than their counterparts anywhere else in the world; indeed, experts describe them as increasingly 'bonded to brands.'" (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 452)  Advertisers spend millions of dollars making sure to keep the pressure of, belonging by having the right things, on.


React/Recall

First of all, I have never seen the show The Simple Life (which must have been on years ago), but I am pretty upset about it.  How can two of the richest kids in America go around getting help, kindness and resources from those who have little or nothing?  Being from a family who tries to help others as much as possible and who also has limited resources, this really pisses me off.  Do these girls find poor people a joke?  They obviously do or they wouldn't have ever agreed to do the show. 

If the television CEOs need something to do with their money, they should contact William Wimsatt and get involved in one of his groups.  He is a kid with money trying to do something good for the world through social change.

 Maybe they could start a show in which people get together to change perceptions of the poorer Americans.  They could stop bombarding us with shows about how awesome it is to have a lot of money and how fun it is to waste it when we have literally starving children in our communities.  How about a show building and planting gardens in poorer communities and hiring real people to take care of it.  They could show how to get it done, and how it benefits us all.

 
Rethink

I believe that we need to teach our children how to watch TV, "read" covers of magazines and really listen to interviews.  We need to make sure they understand the message that is being presented and who is delivering the message.  Not just the actors and actresses, but the CEO's of news organizations and magazines.  Children need to learn how to take a closer look at what is being offered by the media.

I am reading a book right now by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts called Falling in Love with Close Reading.  It talks about close reading as not simply the practice of re-reading in order to understand the text.  Close reading is actually re-reading to find patterns in the message and then using the patterns to develop a new understanding.  I am so excited to teach this to my class.  I am even more excited  that I can use it to teach critical thinking as well. 

In order to understand what the real message of a TV show or commercial is, we need to have critical thinkers.  I am going to start by using songs to teach close reading.  I think I will try out other things like magazine covers and TV shows as well.