Journal Article Analysis

A Million Little Blogs: Community,

Narrative, and the James Frey Controversy

This article talks about how someone can misrepresent themselves when using social media such as blogs and what types of issues this could cause. This story begins back in 2003 with the story about James Frey, a man who published a book about his life struggles with alcohol addiction and how he was accused of misrepresenting himself.

This story about James Frey also involves Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and the online community. After Frey’s book got published, he made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about his book and his addition. After the appearance, a news site started doing some investigating on Frey’s past and on their website they published a story called “A Million Little Lies: The Man Who Conned Oprah”. Soon after, Frey made an appearance on Larry King Live with this; more and more viewers started reading Frey’s blog. From this a website called BigJimIndustries.com was developed that attracted other readers who were also struggling with additions which became somewhat of a support group for Frey. All of these events led to became somewhat of a scandal story because Frey misrepresented himself. As a quote from this article says, “the question becomes not a matter of what James Frey did or did not reveal or convey, but rather: how does the media event that propelled these communities establish and maintain a set of culture values and concerns (Nunes, 2011, pg. 357). In reference to the James Frey story, Elizabeth Bird made a comment saying “scandal stories, like other stories, bring changing more into sharp focus through media narratives and the popular discussion that takes off from those narratives, whether in homes, workplace, or on the Oprah Winfrey Show” (Nunes, 2011, pg. 351)

There are several other stories this article references about someone misrepresenting themselves online to deceive their audience is the Kaycee Nicole story, and the Joan/Julie story.

This article also references two different understandings of online communication. One being that online communication is a tool used for users to communicate with each other and be able to “speak from the heart” and used as a mode for self-expression. The second being that when communicating online you shouldn’t trust anyone because you don’t really know who you are speaking with, anyone can pose as being someone else. “We might think of this event as marketing a conflict in narrative within popular culture, a conflict that did not originate in or limit itself to the world of blogs, but which is best understood within this communicative context” (Nunes, 2011, pg. 357).

            I do agree with the main points in this article. I agree that it is easy for someone to misprepresnt themselves online through social media and blogs. I also agree that when it comes to celebrities like that of James Frey, the media can easily turn stories or events around to make them seem something more which in turn leads to misrepresenting the other person. For James Frey, he might have come out and wrote a book about his struggles with addiction but it was the media that turned it around and make it a scandal.

I think this article is important for the online community to learn from, both for those that may have misrepresented themselves to their readers through blogs or other uses of social media, for the readers of these articles online and anyone that may be may create an online blog about themselves. This just proves that everyone does need to take caution in what they read and write about themselves and what they believe to be true online.

Reference Page

Nunes, M. (n.d.). A million little blogs: Community,. (2011). The Journal of Popular Culture,

44(2), 347-363.

Body Image The Cult of Celebrities and Heroes

The cult of celebrities does have an effect on body image. A majority of Americans desire the perfect body image and they look at celebrities for this. The theory that celebrities are more widely covered by the media because of their seemingly perfect appearance than any other normal person; however, these celebrities don’t really look like what they do in magazines because they are airbrushed (Angelmother, 2008). Kate Winslet is one celebrity that stood up against her airbrushed look in magazines and said she feels no one is perfect and its more important to look like your true self (Chadwhick, 2011).

If we look back at the comic book characters who are heroes to young children, their body images have changed as time has changed, and this has an influence over children. In the earlier years, these characters were made to look a little heavier through the arms, legs and stomach and not very muscular. They were basically made to look like the professional athletes during that time. Now the comic book characters are made to look more muscular and fit with the unrealistic body types (Blum, 2012).

            There are some celebrities that are against the common unrealistic body image and they have voiced their opinions about it. To some people they would be considered an inspiration and heroes. One celebrity is Johnny Diaz, he is a Christian singer who wrote a song called “More Beautiful You.” The message in this song hit home for several women specially when its coming from a male (Chadwhick, 2009). Eleanor Roosevelt is also considered an inspiration to women during her time. Her popular statement to women was “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” She wanted to remind women that it’s only what you think about yourself that matters most. Gloria Steinem was also an inspiration to women. She wanted to remind people not to let the media or others tell you how you should look or that you need to look younger that what you really are (Chadwhick, 2011). 

Reference Page

Angelmother. (2008, March 26). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-cult-celebrity-its-effects-society-1319247.html

Blum, J. (2012, March 7). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://nudistnaturistamerica.org/nudism-body-image-comic-books

Chadwhick, D. (2011, March 13). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youd-be-so-pretty-if/201103/body-image-heroes-

who-are-yours

Chadwhick, D. (2009, June 9). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.youdbesoprettyif.com/2009/06/an-unlikely-body-image-hero.html

Body Image Stereotypes

The media has a bad habit of creating the stereotypical body image for both females and males. It affects men and women differently on how they perceive the body image. So how does this affect us, and how do men and women differ when it comes to the media’s perception?

For women, the media and models usually set the standard for the stereotype of how a women’s body image should look like. The stereotypical woman is portrayed to be a tall, thin white woman with blonde hair. There are some women that look like this but it’s really not the standard image of a woman because most woman really don’t fit that stereotype even though the media makes it seem like they do because that’s what the media makes them think. Beauty magazine are one of the worst offenders because they put a lot of articles in them that tells woman what they should look like and how they should obtain that image. This also puts a lot of pressure on women who don’t look like this and think that they have to. The body image that models give to women is very unnatural, very hard to obtain and extremely unhealthy. Seeing this type of image, this causes a lot of young women to develop bad eating habits and become anorexic (Serdar, 2012).  

            The media not only affects women on body image but also men. The media also portrays men with an unrealistic stereotyical body image. There are shirt less men with perfectly fit bodies with a six pack chest, not a single hair on their chest and the perfect hair. Typically, this is not how the average guy looks. Usually people don’t think that men are affected by media body image but they are and it puts a lot of pressure on men as it does women. However most men won’t go to the extreme of eating disorders like anorexia like women, they are more concerned with the hair on their body, their odor and their muscle mass.  Magazine and advertisements are a major contributor in this, even on a deodorant commercial for men you don’t see your average Joe, you see a shirtless guy with the perfect cut body (Carefair.com, 2006).

Reference Page

Carefair.com. (2006). A man`s body image and the media – muscle isn`t always the "it" thing.

Retrieved from http://www.carefair.com/Men/Mans_Body_Image_1798.html

Serdar, K. (2012). Female body image and the mass media: Perspectives on how women

internalize the ideal beauty standard. Retrieved from

http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4795

Body Image Myths

Body image myths

            Body image can be anything from weight, size, shape, hair and skin type. How does social media portray these myths to women and what does it do for women’s esteem?

One type of social media that is mostly known for marketing the myth of body image perfection is magazines. With the modeling, and beauty magazines all portray women to have the ideal body image of very thin women whom are not physically fit and they make every women think that is what they should look like in order to look good. Social and mass media create a perfect image look to women that they have to look have beautiful skin or hair or have to be a certain size like the images of women that you see in pictures on the internet or in magazines which creates the pressure for women to want to look like this. When in real life these women really don’t look that way, the pictures are airbrushed to create that perfect image look, and this look is also very unhealthy and unrealistic (Unknown, 2012).

Some other myths about body image include; a positive body image means you’re also impervious to societal and media messages. This means that you are resistant to the messages that mass and social media are trying to tell you to lose weight. The media is a strong force which can lead consumers into believing what they should eat or drink in order to have a certain body type. The second myth about body image is; a deeply entrenched negative body image won’t budge. This means that because so many women do not like the way their body looks, we tend to think this a normal for any women to think that way no matter what her body image is. However it is not normal because it is not natural. We are made to think that way with both mass and social media leading us to think that our bodies need to look a certain way which makes it hard for women to like the way they look (Tartakovsky, 2011).

Reference Page

Tartakovsky, M. (2011). 3 body image myths we keep on believing. Retrieved from

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/weightless/2011/07/3-body-image-myths-we-keep-on-believing/

Unknown. (2012). Society, media, and body image. Retrieved from

http://personalispolitical.tripod.com/soc1.html

Icon Analysis

 

The three icons that I choose were the TV show Secrete Life of an American Teenager, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, and the Barbie doll. I choose these three icons because I felt that I can relate to these icons in certain ways. The Secret Life of an American Teenager is a popular TV show that has been on for several years now. I feel that this show does portray what a lot of teenagers are going through anymore. Over the last several years there have been more and more teenagers in high school getting pregnant. This has also happened several times in my family and in some of my friend’s families. I felt that not only is this a popular TV show but also something that a lot of American families can relate to.  



I also felt that Jennifer Lopez was a great icon for females of all ages because she does so much. She came from a poor Porto Rican family and then embraced her heritage and became a famous singer actress and producer. She does all this while also being a single mother. and also does so much for others. Currently she has produced a new TV show called the Fosters.

 

I choose the Barbie doll because it was something that was a popular icon when I was younger for young girls and is still an icon for young girls now. It is also something that in some aspects has stayed the same but has also changed with the changing society with the way the Barbie dolls look and dress. Over the years there have also been controversies over the way the Barbie dolls look, but they continue to have the same meaning to young girls all over America.  



What popular culture means to me

         To me popular culture is the way we live our everyday lives that include everything around us, this could be our beliefs, the type of life style we live, the type of music we listen to, and the way we dress. Culture is changing all the time; the way popular culture was when our grandparents were younger was different compared to what is is today. Each individual person will also view the current popular culture differently than the next person. 
         The popular culture artifact that I choose is a People magazine cover of the current president and his family. This represents popular culture because not only is this a popular magazine, but the picture of President Obama shows how culture is changing, with every president till now has been a Caucasian male and now we have evolved with the current generation to having an African American president. To me this represents how our beliefs with the current generation compared to our grandparents beliefs and views were/are (Nation, 2008).

Nation, S. (2008, November 13). Barack obama family people magazine cover november 2008

“the obamas’ new life!”. Retrieved from

http://www.shallownation.com/2008/11/13/barack-obama-family-people-magazine-