Angela’s Pop Culture Blog

Hello fellow readers, I was assigned a group project within my Popular Culture class that I really had a great time being a part of. I met some amazing people in this class and created great friendships with my group members. When the assignment was first explained to us, we had no idea what we were going to do. We spent a day brainstorming until one of us just decided to rant about a law that was put in place by the state of Alabama that prohibited women to go through an abortion. We were all so upset and just began ranting about the situation and sharing all of our thoughts and opinions. After our discussion we knew what our topic was, but we were unsure on how to present it. We knew abortion is such a controversial topic and we did not want any of our audience members to get offended by what we had to present. At first we wanted to make a podcast and present it to the class, we decided not to because we really wanted our audience to engage in the presentation. If we had done a podcast I do not think we would have gotten the same level of engagement as we did with our actual presentation. So we finally decided to present our topic as a talk show.

We knew that our topic was going to be a difficult one, it is a very sensitive subject to a lot of people and we really tried our best to be open minded. We wanted our talk show to be unbiased and provide a variety of differing opinions. Since our major conflict was to avoid offending anyone, we really wanted to make sure our research was correct and that we had all of the facts on our side. We provided a visual aide to back up our facts and main points and we also each had speaking parts in our talk show which I really liked. We were all included and what I think is really cool is that my group was very diverse. We all come from different backgrounds and even as a group member I was fascinated in what my partners had to say. We all shared the same opinions on the Human Life Protection Act/ Alabama Abortion Ban. That is why I think we truly tried our best in researching and backing up our argument with factual evidence. I thought it was really important to bring up what has happened in the past with Roe v. Wade (which this act goes directly against) because history always seems to repeat itself. Which leads me to think about why we never learn from past behaviors.

Our talk show went better than we expected. I was very nervous because I did not know what kind of feedback we were going to receive and I really just wanted to get our point across without offending anybody or causing any verbal aggression. Serena did such a great job conducting the talk show and having our audience ask questions and just state their opinions. I was so surprised by the audience and all of their opinions. I sometimes forget we live in such a liberal state and I am also so happy that we can actually talk about these issues without judgement.

Group 1: I loved group one’s topic. It was very creative and informative that I am really interested in trying the herbal medicines they discussed. I also really liked how they presented their topic. The idea of making it a card game was so cool and I really enjoyed it. I liked how the game was set up as well, it was a great idea to introduce the herb and have the audience guess which card it was. The artwork on the cards was beautiful and I really liked how everyone has a speaking part. They were very prepared and clearly did their research on their topic.

Group 2: This groups topic was very creative, they discussed Portland’s culture and what they enjoyed about the city. I am new to the area and am always finding really fun and new things to do here every single week. So when this group did their presentation I was very intrigued. I really like how they all had their own focuses on what they look forward to in the city. They also shared a few cool places that I really need to visit. They also shared upcoming events that the audience may be interested in.

Group 3: Group three did such an amazing job! I really loved their topic it was so thoughtful and very informative. They talked about Portland State’s resources and how they have used them in the past. They made a podcast which I thought was so cool. They all shared their thoughts and passed experiences with the resources they used. They also talked about the importance of making students aware of the resources they are provided with. Overall I really enjoyed their presentation and thought it was super helpful to those who live on campus and can actually take advantage of resources like the food pantry.

Group 5: I was very impressed with this group and their presentation. Group five talked about consumerism. They made a newsletter about consumerism that was really cool, they passed out a few copies in class. All the group members had a chance to talk about their main concerns about mass consumerism. They made me think about being mindful about what I buy because I may not need or use it. They also talked about how mass consumerism is also bad for the planet and leads to pollution which we are all trying to prevent.

Group 6: Group six talked about the effects of social media and how younger generations may feel about it. The presenter decided to interview her little sister on how social media affects her and I thought that it was such a cool idea to actually interview someone from that age group since they will be the most technology based generation. Group six also made a very detailed blog and posted it on tumblr for everyone to see it. I really liked this presentation and think it’s so important for everyone to love themselves no matter what they see online.

Group 7: Group seven did a podcast on culture appropriation and provided examples that I had never even heard of. They defined the line between appreciation and appropriation which is so important to understand. I liked how they all gave their point of view and also focused on specific instances in their podcast. I do think that they should have done a little bit more research on Ariana Grande and how they said she had zero ties to African American culture through her music. They should have explained that even though her song writers are African American it does not mean she is given a pass for acting in such a way. Other than that I think they did a great job.

Group 8: Group eight’s topic was very interesting and was a topic not many people like to discuss but it is in fact such a huge issue. They talked about minorities in hollywood and how they are often portrayed by white people. They provided different perspectives in their podcast and it was interesting to hear all of their differing opinions. This group was very diverse coming from different backgrounds which I thought was also very cool. This topic definitely needs to be brought up more but I can see why it is controversial in many forms.

Hello readers, In this week’s blog post I will be reviewing and discussing video games that I played over the week. The games that I will be reviewing are called When Rivers Were Trails, and Father and Son. The game When Rivers Were Trails is an educational game that was made to teach people about how Native Americans would travel to relocate when Allotment Acts were taking place. The game is an exploration game with choices that impact your player, in each location you travel you will find another Native American. Each Native American belongs in different tribes but on occasion you will run into those who are a part of the same tribe as you. You are able to communicate, trade, and hunt with these tribes for a better chance of survival and also gain well being from listening to their advice. What I found most interesting about the game was that each story in the game was actually told by an individual from that specific Native tribe. I did not finish the game, I played as long as I could and used my better judgement to choose which option was best for my chances of surviving the travel. The game seemed to never end, I always had food and medicine but often found myself running out of well being. I’m not even sure how the game ends or if it ends, all I know is that along your journey you will learn about multiple tribes and will be put in realistic scenarios that were likely to happen during that time period.

Moving onto Father and Son, at first I was very confused on what the game was about. I found the game under two different categories which were history and empathy. This game was an exploration game for sure, I was not exactly sure where I had to go or what I had to do. At one point I did notice a recurring theme which was constantly being asked for coffee and hovering over a balcony for long periods of time. It took me a very long time to figure out where I was going and once I reached my destination the entire game kind of flipped its script. I thought my goal was to go to a museum and look at the artwork that the characters Father left behind for him to look at, but once I was able to click on the artwork I was taken back to the time it was being created and his Father did not even create the particular piece of art. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this game, It could have been a lot more organized and straight forward than it turned out to be. However, I do still think that it was educational in some ways. Once you were able to click on a specific piece of artwork it would provide a description of when it was made along with the meaning and backstory of the artwork. In that aspect I do understand why it was under the history category but I was still confused on the empathetic part. In this game the Father has left his son before he was even born to pursue his artwork and once the Father dies he asks his son to visit the museum where his artwork is located. Every single time my character was asked for coffee the subject of his Father was always brought up somehow which was very weird to me. Each time there was an interaction you had two different response choices one choice often was respectful toward the characters late Father and the other was very blunt and made it seem as if the character did not really care about his Father. It was all very confusing to me and I most likely will not be playing this game again.

Overall I really do like the idea of  creating games that can be used to learn about sensitive subjects. I am a visual learner and have to be very involved in whatever I am learning at the time to fully understand the topic and I really do wish that these types of games existed when I was in elementary school. I think it’s such a great way for kids to learn while having fun as well, I would love to play a board game that covers sensitive history topics because when you play a game like that you are fully involved and go through different emotions that can capture what the lesson was all about instead of having to sit in class for an hour taking notes on a lecture that you aren’t interested in. I would really like to see these times of games implemented in elementary schools, I think it is a great way to learn.

Hello readers, today I will be discussing an anime movie that I recently watched titled Princess Mononoke. For those of you who have no idea what the movie is about here is a short summary; it takes place in the 14th century when people heavily relied on hard labor and natural resources. During this time humans and Gods lived in peace until the start of Iron Town, the town produces iron and constantly ruins the forests around it. The workers in Irontown, along with the Woman in charge take part in deforestation. This makes the Gods furious having some turn into demons destroying everything they touch. Once a demon makes its way toward an Emishi village, prince Ashitaka destroys the demon and is left infected with the demons print. He must leave his village and never come back as he is in search for what caused the god to turn into a demon. It is up to Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke to save life itself.

Before watching the movie I was very hesitant, I did not think I would enjoy it whatsoever. I have never been a huge fan of anime but I did occasionally watch Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon when I was younger. I was pleasantly surprised after the movie, I really enjoyed it and clearly understood the message that was being interpreted. I would definitely watch it again and other anime movies similar to it. I really do think that animated films are important and truly make a difference in people’s lives or at least affect someone’s understanding. I have watched one other anime film titled Ponyo that was not directly made to bring awareness but it did make people understand how dangerous tsunamis are. I have not watched many animated films that are used to bring awareness about conserving our planet but I have watched other animated films that are used to bring awareness to social issues. For example, Zootopia was used to interpret racism, animal cruelty, and discrimination.  

I think it’s great that animated films are speaking up about issues like this. It is now more important than ever. The article “Why Princess Mononoke is More Relevant 20 Years Later”  by Erica Russell goes on to explain why we can still learn a lot from Princess Mononoke. In my opinion it is very important especially now to take action and help our planet be better. Climate change is real and is currently changing our planet for the worst. It is our job to help our planet and fix what we have done. Climate change is destroying the most beautiful places and killing our wild and marine life. Many animal species have already gone extinct due to climate change and many other species are at risk. We need to do everything we can in order to help our planet.

With everything that has gone on this week with the release of Avengers: Endgame I would like to talk about my two most favorite comic books from the Marvel Universe and subsequently, my two favorite Avengers. My two favorite comics in the Marvel Universe are definitely Black Panther: An Nation Under Our Feet and SpiderMan Miles Morales. These are my favorite because they are the most popular of comics with the main character being a person of color. I really enjoyed SpiderMan’s Miles Morales a bit more than I did with Black Panther just because I can relate to it a bit better. Miles Morales comes from an African American background as well as a Puerto Rican background. I am not Puerto Rican but I do come from a hispanic background, My parents are both Mexican so I also speak Spanish. I really enjoyed the comic, a troubled teen looking for acceptance of who he has become. Culturally it is very significant, in many hispanic/latino households it is odd to break away from your cultural norm and if you do, you either have the support of your family or you don’t. I had watched the film SpiderMan Into The Universe before reading the comic so I was expecting a lot more but the film did not directly follow the comic. I still really enjoyed the movie and believe it contained some of the most important aspects of Miles. Moving onto Black Panther, I really liked both the comic and the movie but like I said before movies tend to not directly follow the plot of the comic book. I also really like Black Panther because the main character is a person of color and so am I, I’m seeing a pattern of only liking the comics that I can relate to but hey that’s perfectly fine. Although, I am not as familiar with Black Panthers culture I think the movie expressed it a better way then the comic, maybe because it gave more detail about Wakanda and because it is a movie not a comic where it can actually provide a better illustration. I also really like these comics because they express diversity. It is so important to show diversity because you have a larger audience and more people are able to relate to these characters. My whole life I have always been exposed to characters who I could not identify with because they were all lighter than I was and either had blonde or blue eyes when I have brown hair and brown eyes. In this day and age change is long overdue and we are finally witnessing it. We now have Female superheroes and people of color being represented, we are not all white and people need to understand that. We are not being over sensitive we’re just tired of being underrepresented. Popular Culture is now leaning toward representing people of all races and that’s a huge success, we still have a lot to overcome but are surely striving to achieve diversity.  

Hello readers, in this blog post I will be discussing my thoughts on the graphic novels Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, MARCH #3 by John Lewis, and JOURNALISM by Joe Sacco. This was my first time ever reading a graphic novel and I honestly really enjoyed all the novels and plan to read more. In my opinion March #3 was the most difficult to read not because of its comic format, but the content that came with it. I am huge on civil rights and social justice/change, I have a passion for it and have always expressed myself and stood up for others. However, when reading March #3 I was torn. The story itself is inspirational but the hard work and dedication expressed through Lewis’s perspective is absolutely breathtaking. A story of not only working towards equality but a story that truly captures the vile acts of white supremacy in America. The comic strips help this book come to life, there are so many arrests, beatings, killings, bombings, and overall tragic events that have happened and some of the events have not even been heard of. The book was amazing, but it hit very close to home and gave a perfect illustration and representation of what striving for a better world looks like.

Moving onto Persepolis, I also really enjoyed this novel. The story behind a little girl that is trying to find her voice but still has so much to overcome. I had little to no knowledge about what had gone on in Iran until reading this graphic novel. The novel does a great job of balancing the focus on the problems in Iran and the recollection of young Marjane. She gives outstanding illustrations and text throughout the entire book, although young Marjane seems very rebellious and often goes through so many different phases, she has always known that she was going to do whatever she believed in.

The most unique novel out of the three I read was definitely JOURNALISM By Joe Sacco. The novel contains six different stories of violence and war; I chose the story of The Palestinian Territories. After reading March #3 I decided to read an easier story from Joe Sacco that was not heavily illustrated by war. The reading was short but very informative and definitely captured my attention. The story starts off in color and then suddenly turns black and white, I believe Sacco did this to inform his readers that the devastating part was approaching. There were a lot of bullet holes in walls and piles of rubble in the illustrations, many civilians who were devastated by how they were being forced to leave their homes because of the soldiers. NPR’s Linda Gradstein’s Six Day War: Land Ownership Disputes Arise, goes further into depth on explaining the problem between territories and what lead up to the six day war while Sacco explains how people of these territories felt and the causes of the thousands of people without homes. I believe that is why his story suddenly changes color, when there was color there was hope.

Overall, I really enjoyed and learned so much from reading the graphic novels. I am surprised there aren’t many graphic novels like the ones I recently read. They bring a whole new dimension on how important and tragic the violence and wars really were. Since it provides imagery I think it’s also more engaging and informative.

References:

Linda Gradstein’s Six Day War: Land Ownership Disputes Arise :https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10801564

Hello readers, today I will be critiquing the documentary Blackfish. If you do not know what Blackfish is about, here is a brief summary: Blackfish is a documentary that was released in 2013 that shows the lives of Killer Whales (Orcas) who live in captivity by corporations like SeaWorld. The documentary captures the lives of these killer whales and how some have survived life in captivity. The film goes on to include how these killer whales got into the hands of these corporations, as well as news headlines that have shook the world. As we should all know by now, SeaWorld has held Killer whales in captivity for a very long time (since the mid 1960’s) there have been many news stories on incidents involving the killer whales and why they should be set free. In the documentary, former SeaWorld trainers, directors, and marine biologists who have worked closely with these animals, speak up about what really goes on in SeaWorld. As it turns out, SeaWorld has tried to hide multiple incidents regarding the Killer Whales. The documentary shows graphic video clips and images that capture these distressed animals and their aggressive actions toward trainers and each other. There have been a total of four fatalities due to killer whale attacks all associated with killer whales from SeaWorld. Tilikum, a male orca, was known as SeaWorld’s largest killer whale, as well as its main breeder. (figure-1)

Tilikum died in 2017 and was responsible for three out of the four deaths associated with SeaWorld’s trainers. Another killer whale that was responsible for the fourth death was Keto, a male killer whale that had been born in SeaWorld and was later loaned to a smaller marine life park called Loro Parque, located in Spain. Throughout the documentary, the former trainers expressed their feelings toward the animals and explained that they believe the animals only participated in such attacks due to the stress put upon them by SeaWorld. They blamed SeaWorld for mistreating the animals and not doing anything after all of the incidents. The public’s reaction after watching the documentary was so powerful that SeaWorld experienced a shortage of attendance, decided to end its breeding program, and in 2016 announced that they would end their killer whale shows (the last of the shows that have still not ended plan to do so later this year). However, SeaWorld will not release the killer whales back into the ocean because they would have little chance of survival. The majority of the killer whales that belong to seaWorld have lived in captivity their entire lives and SeaWorld believes they would not survive if released into the ocean, therefore, SeaWorld has planned to build ocean like habitats for these animals and have them put on display for people to see. Trainers will no longer be able to interact with the animals as they have done before. They will only feed and be there to medically treat the animals. The animals are said to be in the habitats until they have reached the end of their lives.

In my opinion this documentary has made the biggest impact on its viewers. There were no support links stated in the documentary whatsoever because there was no need for them. The documentary single handedly provided all the evidence against SeaWorld and corporations like it. Of course people and organizations like PETA have been raising awareness before the documentary, but in this case the documentary itself did not need to raise awareness because it had already been done by activists and other organizations. The documentary had every aspect possible in making people understand that the animals were not at fault. Joyful music was played while trainers spoke about these breathtaking animals, other trainers cried when asked to recollect their time at SeaWorld: the documentaries emotional aspect was incredible. Every person who was interviewed had formerly been associated with SeaWorld. There was one man that argued in SeaWorld’s defense, but I cannot recall if he formerly worked for SeaWorld or was employed by them at the time of the interview. Although the majority of interviewees argued against SeaWorld, I don’t believe the documentary showed biased opinions based on the fact that they did have a person defending SeaWorld and they had stated that SeaWorld wanted nothing to do with the documentary. After reading Alison Byrne Fields article The Downside of Measuring the Social Impact of Documentary Films, I do believe that this documentary should be measured on its impact because it did impact its viewers and it did strike SeaWorld to change. I recently watched a reality series documentary called Parts Unknown the episode I watched featured Puerto Rico and how the United States has basically left it to fend for itself. I was unaware of how bad the situation in Puerto Rico was and believe that the episode did bring awareness to the major issues there. Although, I did know that after hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico has continuously suffered and is still suffering. There can definitely be more awareness brought on the current state of Puerto Rico just like there is always news from other places circulating around the U.S.

References:

Blackfish (can be seen on Netflix,Amazon Prime, Youtube, itunes, Google play, and Vudu)

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (can be seen on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, itunes, Google play, and Vudu)

Alison Byrne Fields Article The Downside of Measuring the Social Impact of Documentary Films (can be found at this link https://www.indiewire.com/2014/08/the-downside-of-measuring-the-social-impact-of-documentary-films-23582/ )

Figure-1 (https://www.businessinsider.com/tilikum-breeding-at-seaworld-2013-11)

Recommended:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SotCxN7Xuc (a short youtube video by PETA on the life of Orkid the Killer Whale)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXhi_TK5iRc (a youtube video showing Tilikum’s partners and offspring ex: family tree)

Hello fellow readers, I am writing to officially introduce myself and explain how I consume pop culture. My name is Angela Santana and I was born and raised in small town in Eastern Oregon called Ontario. Ontario is the last town In Oregon before entering Idaho, It is a very small town but in recent times has grown so much. I have three sisters and recently became an aunt to my beautiful niece Ximena. I come from a hispanic background, both of my parents are Mexican and have made it their job for my sisters and I to learn Spanish and have knowledge of our culture. I am very family oriented and enjoy spending time with my family and traveling to Mexico to visit my grandparents. I am a Sophomore here at Portland State and plan to Major in Business Management and Leadership with a Minor in Pre Law. My favorite color is mint and my hobbies are working out, singing, exploring, and learning outside of college. I am a huge fan of music and movies/tv series but we’ll get to that later.

There are many ways to consume pop culture and we often do not realize that we are consuming pop culture especially with the popularization of the internet and social platforms. I consume pop culture in a variety of ways I am a huge fan of music and invest a lot of time listening and finding songs I enjoy to listen to. I also enjoy watching movies, tv series, youtube videos, and short video clips like vines. I am not huge on social media but I do often get on facebook or instagram to catch up with family and friends, however, I do find myself scrolling through twitter very often. These are all the forms in  which I consume pop culture, I engage with all of these because I simply enjoy them. I love music and I like listening to a certain sound and messages that are being interpreted. I also enjoy watching movies, there are so many movies that have summarized decades that I have not lived in like the 80’s. There are a lot of movies and tv shows that are important parts of history especially to me. For example, the movie that was made about Selena Quintanilla was monumental and meant so much to people from the latin community. Movies and tv shows have evolved and are now used to express social issues and show examples of diversity.

While reading chapter one and understanding how the U.S is a consumer based culture I think that a lot of people do what they do based on what they see. Influencers and celebrities start new trends or wear clothing that was worn in the 90’s which makes those who follow them purchase such products and types of clothing. Moving onto the marketing aspect, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold showed people how advertising is everywhere and how sometimes we don’t even know it. Advertising is everywhere, we are constantly exposed to advertising and sometimes in the smallest ways. People have mixed feelings about being so exposed to advertising due to the fact that they have not consented to all the advertising. Advertising has found a way to integrate into popular forms of media. It has always been normal to see advertisements on tv such as commercials, but now we are seeing 30 second adds on facebook, instagram, and even on gaming apps. Youtube is now full of adds before and during videos, even on the channel feed. What I found most interesting about the movie was when Morgan Spurlock had an MRI/CAT scan while being shown a variety of advertisements. When he was shown a coca cola can he immediately wanted a can of soda. So are advertisements good or bad? That is up for discussion, if we do not know how these commercials and other forms of advertisements are affecting us, should they really be able to infiltrate everything and be everywhere? In my opinion, I believe there should be a designated space for advertising. Instead of infiltrating the media and other applications, advertisements should only be present in stores where we actually buy things.

Popular Culture:

Culture based on the tastes of ordinary people