Into the Wild

            Into the Wild, a movie and book about a college graduate who leaves everything behind in order to show his distain of Corporate America and promote the ideology of the great writers, such as Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, H.W. Davies, and Henry David Thoreau. Chritopher McCandless, other wise known as a leather tramp- Alexander Suptertamp, goes on a journey that shows his prejudice towards those in the world who are caught up in their goals and their lives. His belief is that they do not truly see what is going on around them, and have become robots in an organized society.

          As McCandless goes through his own journey of self-fulfillment, he goes against society and categorizes all those in it. He talks to a man he met named Wayne Westerberg, he explains to Wayne his distain of the life he came from and the people he knew,  “You know, parents, hypocrites, politicians, pricks.”  Along the way, he finds “watered-down” societies in the Slab City of the Imperial Valley, Salvation Mountain, and the outskirts around the Salton City of California. McCandless never finds comfort anywhere he goes and decides that he will find the world we need in Alaska, The Last Frontier.

            McCandless’ judgments give off the feeling that we all suffer from disillusionment, are all selfish, and need to drastically change our lives or else live a life full of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. His main goal was for  society to understand that its need for judgment, control, and the whole spectrum of people being mean to each other, is not needed, that we all can escape and attain a greater joy in life if we would just be in the moment of freedom and simple beauty. Aside from his want, McCandless had put everyone that had a job, or lived in a big city into the category of society, and as seen above, he believes that those in the society are in serious need of their eyes being opened.

http://www.christophermccandless.info/

Mean Girls

During our years in school, we meet a lot of different and unique people. But sometimes, we tend to put people into these kind of categories that make them stand out in a good or bad way. This especially happens in high school, a place where being the jock or cheerleader puts you on a spotlight, while being a nerd or freak results in ridicule or humiliation. Whenever high school is displayed in popular culture, the statuses of students are always expressed in the same ways. Like being popular is the way to be, and if you do something out of the ordinary, you're considered an outcast. Sometimes, pop culture goes far enough to target different races; like how white people are usually the popular ones, and Asians are nerds, the black people are "gangsters", etc. For some reason, the media likes to portray high school as a place where everyone is placed in groups according to their status. One particular movie that does this is Mean Girls.

In Mean Girls, we are introduced to a girl named Cady Heron, who recently transferred to a public high school after being home schooled in Africa. On her first day of school, she is exposed to different high school groups; like the jocks, the Asians, the sexually active band geeks, the desperate wannabes, the burnouts, and last but not least: the Plastics. She meets two friends, Janis and Damian, who teaches her exclusive details about each group, especially Regina George and her “plastic” friends. After being unexpectantly invited to eat lunch with the them, Cady and Janis thought it would be funny for Cady to pretend that she was their friend. She tries to bring Regina down, to make her reveal all her secrets, tries to convince people that she’s not a queen everyone thinks she is, but actually a cold, heartless person that spreads false rumors in her Burn Book. But soon enough, Cady begins to act like the Plastics to try and fit into the high school scene. She ditches Janis and Damian, tries to get Regina’s boyfriend, and throws a party that backfires; which makes her realize that this is not what she wanted.

Watching this movie, it's easy to pinpoint where each character belongs. By the way they act, to how they dress. Even though these movies show that high school is always like this, in reality, some high schools are not. So why does the media do this? In the movie, the Plastics, or the popular girls, dominate the school. Everyone looks up to them and thinks they're legit, but behind all of that, they're just brats. I think the reason why pop culture does this is to show an image of popularity is everything. That it will get you into the hottest parties and will land you a date with the hottest girl/guy. In the beginning, Cady wasn't intending to think like that, but the more she hung out with the Plastics, the more she wanted to be like them. Time passed by and she realized that this was not what she was expecting. Most of us know that once we get out of high school, the popularity gained doesn't matter anymore. We all start from scratch the time we enter the real world.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/

Th Breakfast Club

A rebel, a princess, a jock, a geek, and a basket case -- all the characters needed in an average movie filled with teen angst, and no movie highlights them better than The Breakfast Club. Each character fits their label so perfectly that they identify themselves with their titles. The movie is also sprinkled with other definitive qualities of a teen film. The supposed "truths" of a teenage life, such as drugs, relationships, defying authority, and even manages to dabble with sex as well. The movie, while being highly entertaining and often considered a "classic," reinforces the stereotype of teenagers being rebellious, and also categorizes characters based on their behaviors and appearances.

The Breakfast Club is about five high school students that all end up having detention on a Saturday for differing reasons. They all have different backgrounds and labels which are pretty much used by the others to define one another. They are all forced to write an essay in which they describe who they think they are. Throughout the film, they begin to question each other and discover more about one another. They begin to see past their different backgrounds, form friendships and relationships, and ultimately create an unbreakable bond you can only form during Saturday detention.

The film makes no effort to address the teenage stereotypes and cliques subtly, and outright labels the characters accordingly. Even by their clothing, the characters' roles were pretty obvious. Claire Standish, dresses in a pink top and a dress, eluding to the fact that she is the prissy "princess" of the group. John Bender on the other hand, dresses in a jean jacket, flannel, and boots, showing his position as the "rebel." The film also touches upon stereotypes of high school girls and sexuality, when Allison, the aforementioned "basket case," asks Claire whether or not she has had sex. When Claire hesitates, Allison states how "it's kind of a double-edged sword," where a girl is either a slut if she has had sex, or a prude if she had not. Another stereotype addressed in the film is that a girl needed to be a "girly-girl" in order to score the guy. Allison, seen as eccentric and odd throughout the majority of the film actually ends up with Andrew, the "jock," but only after a makeover courtesy of Claire. Teenage stereotypes are heavily reflected in the film where two of the most famous scenes from the movie involve smoking marijuana and disobeying authority, activities which are widely attributed to teenagers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breakfast_Club

Smoke Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZMt5jCdxOA

Dance Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRMrMzw0t20

Speedy Gonzales

Speedy Gonzales first aired in 1953 but then got disbanded in 1999 when Cartoon Network decided that the show contained too many stereotypes about Mexicans. Some found these stereotypes to be very offensive for the cartoon depicts Mexicans as being drunk, lazy, and always chasing after women.
In one of the episodes some Mexican mice decide that they want some AJAX cheese but in order to get to that cheese they have to cross the international border line which Sylvester the cat guards. In order to get pass the cat they call upon Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all of Mexico.
This episode clearly reflects the real life issue of illegal immigrants, crossing the border in order to enter the United States. Within the cartoon the pussy cat that is found guarding the boarder is commonly referred to as the gringo pussy cat. Gringo is a word coined by Spanish speaking people as a put down towards whites mainly from the United States. Another problem about the show is that the characters often don’t speak Spanish at all. Instead they speak a language of gibberish, which can be interpreted as a form of mockery. Although the show has made many enemies it has made many fans to. Both sides agree that it is stereotypical but some believe that’s what makes the show so humorous. By Shana Bishop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjze2-_Pp3Y&feature=related

16&Pregant and Teen Mom

The shows 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom have been raging cultural phenomenon since they first premiered in 2009. According to the Guttenmacher Institution of Public Education, 750,000 American women from the ages of 15 to 19 become pregnant every year. Shows like 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom demonstrate the difficult lives of teen parents struggling to balance their child, social life, finances, work, and sometimes school. Some might say these shows encourage teen pregnancy and the stereotypes that come with it but it could also show just how unappealing this life is. There are always notions that float around the idea of being a teen parent.

16 & Pregnant illustrates the lives of girls who are already dealing with their own stressful lives are now confronted with having another person to take care of. Audiences follow the teens from the time they find out that they are pregnant, throughout their pregnancy, and end with the birth of their child, or even children. Teen Mom follows four selected families from previous 16 & Pregnant seasons into parenthood. Viewers witness the hard times of teen parents trying to adjust from an unrestricted life to one where all your priorities lie in your child.

On the shows 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom, the common stereotypes of being a teenage parent are both reinforced and resisted. So far there have been three seasons of each show. Audiences are welcomed into the lives of pregnant teenagers and teenage parents, documenting both happy and intense moments. Every couple on the shows has struggles any parents of any other age would have. There are always many stereotypes that arise with the topic of teen pregnancy. Teen parents are high school dropouts, teen parents are bad parents, teen parents use drugs, and all teen parents are single parents. On both shows, most the parents have finished high school and some have even continued onto college, whether it be in the traditional sense or through online classes. One couple, Catelynn and Tyler, put their baby up for adoption against their own parents will. They both understood that they were not fit to raise their daughter, Carly. The couple now has an open adoption with their daughter and her adoptive parents. Catelynn and Tyler are so far one of the few parents on the show that have given up their child. Most of the parents do not use drugs however the most famous mother on Teen Mom that smokes and does drugs is Jenelle Evans. She has been arrested myriads of times due to public fighting and drug-use. As seen on the show, Jenelle constantly leaves her son at home with his grandmother while partying with friends. On MTV blogs, she is easily pinpointed as the worst mother from the Teen Mom experience. It cannot be said whether or not this ‘reality’ show encourages the stereotypes of being a Teen Parents. It seems each stereotype can be proved and disproved based on the lives of the parents on this show. All in all, not all teen parents are bad parents. All teenagers, parents or not, are irresponsible and just want to have fun. Instantly becoming a parent turns your life around 360 degrees. 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom show the lives of teenagers adjusting to the tussles of parenthood and just how complex each family is. There are no hard facts that can be said about every teenage parent.

Source: http://remotecontrol.mtv.com/category/shows/teen_mom/

Frito Bandito: "Donde esta el Frito Bandito?" Hispanic groups said "no mas!"

The Frito bandito was a cartoon man from 1967 to 1971, he was thought up to advertise Frito's chips. He would sing:
“Ayiee, yie-yie-yieeee,

I am dee Frito Bandito.
I love Frito's Corn Chips,
I love dem I do.
I love Frito's Corn Chips,
I take dem from you.”
Many people found him controversial. The main arguments were about how he spoke broken English with a heavy Mexican accent, and how he was always stealing! The Hispanic community said it was giving a negative stereotype.
This took place before we really had cartoons like Dora, or Diego, so people were not used to it at all. They didn't like the Frito Bandito.

They tried to tone the character down and changing his song he would sing, it became:
“Ay, ay, ay, ay, oh,
I am the Frito Bandito.
Give me Frito Corn chips
and I'll be your friend.
The Frito Bandito you must not offend”

In November 1969 Frito’s company had announced that that Bandito was officially retired. A year later, the commercial was still being aired. The companies, NMAADC and IMAGE filed a 610 million dollar lawsuit against Frito in federal court for “malicious defamation of the character of the 6.1 million Mexican-Americans in he United States.”
Statements were released about people having, psychological damage from the frito bandito because of the negative stereotype! Newspapers and magazines were also releasing statements such as “Chicanos have become the medias new nigger.” In January 1971 the frito bandito was retired permanently.
Even though it was most of frito lays most successful campaigns of the 1970s it was wrong. The could have made a lot of money off of him if they would have toned him down before the commercial was aired.
Today people are still trying to buy Frito Bandito collectibles.
The commercial is available on youtube,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkO9fVBky0I.

Bring it On

A popular movie, “Bring it on,” portrays a common stereotype of a cheerleader who wishes to always look pretty and skinny. Early in the movie, it encourages teens to worry about their physical appearance. The image of a teenage girl is a big problem in society because it can lower self esteem, lead to unhealthy habits, and create jealousy.

The storyline of this movie is simply cheerleaders getting jealous of other cheerleaders when they are better than the other. It can range from a prom scene of who wins homecoming queen to a cheer competition of which team cheats to win. This movie contains a lot of drama, because of dishonesty and jealousy which causes contention between each high school cheerleader. By the end, people forgive others and become friends again, and everyone is happy. It just takes a lot of fights and arguments to get to the happy ending.

In this movie, one of the cheerleaders tells another cheerleader that she has a big butt. She may not have meant to offend the “fat” cheerleader, but she took it as a hurtful comment and caused her to be a little more self conscious of herself. She looked around the cheerleading team noticing that they were all very skinny. Her body image moved to the top of the list of things to worry about. She started not to eat which caused her to be very unhealthy. In turn, it made her sick during a cheer competition. The rest of the team beforehand didn’t notice that she wasn’t eating, but after they saw her pass out, they all went up to her and ushered her that she looked fine before. They comforted her by telling her she didn’t have to stop eating to look pretty. They said it is alright to have a little chub. After this incident, she started to gain back her confidence that she used to have. She went back to perform at the cheer completion and unlike before, performed at her best. In society, you imagine cheerleaders always wanting to look their best, and always worrying about how skinny or fat they are. This movie is evidence of how we perceive not only cheerleaders, but a teenage girl to be emotional recks when it comes to appearance. Teenage girls always worry about what other people think of themselves, but they can’t accept who they are. This movie is also a perfect example of how friendships could get ruined, by words they say that could be hurtful, and by how they look. There have been many problems involving teenage girls of eating disorders and jealousy in today’s society. If everyone were comfortable with the way they were, all this emotional distress and unhealthy habits wouldn’t occur.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490822/