The Adida's Panty-Drop

Advertisements have used sex to sell products for thousands of years. Everyone knows "sex sells". But have advertisements gone a bit overboard by over sexualizing ads?

In the advertisement above we see a man and woman from the calves down. The woman is in high heels with her panties around her ankles. The image is black and white with the adidas logo placed in the middle and the phrase "The first thing see notices... are your shoes."

The purpose of this ad is to sell you adidas. The advertiser is telling the viewer that if you wear these shoes she will know you're hot stuff. She'll be captivated by your adidas shoes and immediately drop her panties for you. Long story short, wanna be cool, wanna get laid, then buy this product. 

In American culture black and white is often interpreted as vintage or classic. Adidas have been around for many years and is a well known brand that has formed a lifestyle around their shoes. The fact that we can only see one of the man's legs makes it phallic, representing the mans penis and his masculinity. The fact that the man is completely covered shows that he can't be dominated by other woman. There is no possible way he could lose control, keeping his head clear to choose which lady suits his fancy. 

In our culture women are seen as dainty damsels who can be easily controlled by a strong masculine man. To conquer a woman is simple all you have to do is capture or control her. Although the woman in the adidas ad is not physically bound she is captured by the ever so attractive shoe. The first thing she sees is the shoe and then its game over for her, she is captured by the shoe and under its control. She looses all physical restraint and allows lust to take over on the shoe wearers body. By doing this the ad is dehumanising the woman, we don't see her as someones daughter, we see her as nothing more than a sexual toy. 

In this advertisement there are many signifiers but the one that sticks out to me the most is the panties. The panties signify sexual drive, femininity, and vulnerability.

The Effect of Music

How many times have you been watching a movie where in one scene you notice the music and suddenly you become engrossed into the world of the scene? Suddenly you're experiencing an extreme emotion, then once the music is over or you've been interrupted you stop and break out of the trance.

Adding music to a scene in a film or playing in the background to a painting can completely change the mood of the scene. For instance, if you are looking at Starry Night by Van Gogh while listening to Scary Music the mood of the painting becomes creepy. With the music playing the viewer can assume that there is something amiss in the town and that horrifying events await the poor unexpecting people. The viewer can almost see the lights inside the small homes and church turn out creating a sense of fear for what is to come.

Now if we look at the same painting but with relaxing music our mood toward the painting completely changes. It is almost as if the viewer is on top of a hill overlooking the old peaceful town with the calm night breeze giving a cold yet comforting chill to their body along with a sense of freedom. 

We can see the same effects occur in movies. In horror films music is used to build the audience up, making the scare dramatic. But if you watch a scary movie without sound the audience has nothing but the visuals to create the effect. How else will the audience know that the hero is heading directly toward eminent danger without bluntly showing it? Thus, making the scene significantly less dramatic and sometimes not successful. 

If you remove the music and the auditory signals the audience will pay more attention to the special effects. This is because all they have to rely on now are their eyes to feed them information about what is going on. We can see a prime example of this in a scene from The Eye once the audio is removed. When watching the clip please remember to mute the video so you can experience the affect.

 Without the music and auditory signals the viewer does not become engrossed into the scene. But once they are added it becomes so much easier to feel the actors anxiety. By adding the music we are taking away the viewers safety net forcing them to become one with the scene and to experience what the character is experiencing. 

As you can see the music makes a difference. Without the music to enhance the film the scare factor is lost. With music added a piece of art a painting can take on a completely different meaning. 

What if technology took over?!

On September 9th of 2013 the Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology was awarded $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation "to study how the brain creates intelligence and how that process can be replicated in machines." This was brought upon by the technological advances we have made in the past recent years. Google's self-driving car, [IBM's] Watson, and [Apple's] Siri are all examples of technology with human personification. They can all do specific things that the normal human being can accomplish. For example: Apple's Siri can take orders, "listen" when spoken too, then respond to tasks given to her or to what is said. Its almost like she can cognitively think for herself then respond to the user, which can be seen in this Zooey Deschanel iPhone 4S Siri commercial. 

With this technology we could see creations like C3-PO, R2-D2, or other intelligent self thinking droids come to fruition and be integrated into our everyday lives. Which would be really cool! Who doesn't want their own personal droid? Heck with this technology maybe we could take Walt Disney's frozen brain and put it into an android! Hooray for more Disney princesses! 

But when embracing this new technology we should remain cautious. For what if an event occurred where the technology gained too much intelligence? How would we know when enough intelligence is enough to give to a computer? What will happen if we decide to give the technology free will and it takes over causing the human race to be terminated?! Oh the humanity! 

Then again, what if we keep technology at arms length? What if we only program them with the intelligence they need to perform the task they were created for? What if we turn all technology into our personal slaves and create a automaton for every meaningless task?! Humanity could become lackadaisical and float around in hovercraft chairs eating cheese puffs and watching tv causing us to become fat and antisocial! Then we would become to heavy for the earth to handle! 

Truthfully with this technology at any extreme it probably wouldn't have a very good outcome. But with that said I believe we should progress with technological advances. How else could we grow as intelligent humans? Maybe my opinion is bias because I like Star Wars and would love to have my own R2-D2. 

Doritos Superbowl Analysis

Doritos- Goat 4 sale

The Surface Meaning: In the Doritos Superbowl commercial a man is selling an adorable goat eating Doritos. The man, who also enjoys Doritos, purchases the goat and takes the goat home for more delicious Doritos snacks. But after the 42^nd bag the owner starts to become irritated with his new cheesy corn chip loving friend. Once the goat has consumed 156 bags of the cheesy corn chip goodness the owner, whilst in bed, has decided that he has had enough with the goat. The commercial continues into the next morning where we find the goat in front of an empty cabinet screaming because all the Doritos are gone! In a fit of rage the goat destroys the photo of his owner as well as the popsicle stick bridge he has worked so very hard on. The goat finds the owner in his bedroom stashing the remainder of the Doritos while writing up a “Goat 4 Sale” sign. Still angry due to the lack of nutrition from his favorite snack, the goat shuts the door behind him leaving the epic battle between goat and Doritos lover to the audience’s imagination.

The Advertiser’s Intended Meaning: The ad is really trying to embed the idea that their product, Doritos, is so good that you can only share your Doritos so much. The deliciously cheesy goodness can only be shared for so long until the crunch of losing your delicious treat literally drives you insane.

The Ideological Meaning: We as the American culture tend to not want to share. We don’t like sharing our money, our space, or our toys; why would we want to share our Doritos? Although this commercial is an American commercial I feel that it would still be just as effective in other cultures. The type of humor, irony, is used often in our culture. In the beginning of the commercial we see a man who is beat up selling a goat. By the end of the commercial the new owner is preparing to sell the goat and is about to be beat up. This use of irony is not only specific to our culture but explains our social norms. 

Systematic Oppression

Supremacist Ideology + Discriminatory Acts + Structural Dominance = Oppression.

Rosie the Riveter, an American icon that represents feminism and the power women have on economic progress. While Rosie the Riveter inspired women in America during World War II, which lead to women suffrage, there are still billions of women in other countries who suffer from systematic oppression.  

Systematic oppression has always been around since the time of man began. Systematic oppression enroots itself into a culture when an individual or group of persons, such as Hitler and Kim Jong Il, take control. When trying to keep control over the culture the individual or group of persons wish to rule they use systematic oppression. 

Some forms of systematic oppression are racism, sexism, colorism, ect. With systematic oppression come consequence. 

Usually these consequences are civilian rights removed, psychological complications, physical obstacles to overcome, and even death. 

So how do we overcome systematic oppression? In order to abolish systematic oppression an effort must be made with many like minded individuals to gather and protest against the inhumane treatment. 

Niveen N wrote in their blog titled "Systematic Oppression" at Prezi.com "Systematic oppression is most commonly felt and expressed by a widespread, if unconscious, assumption that a certain group of people are inferior. Systematic oppression is rarely limited solely to government action. Individuals can be victims of systematic oppression, and in this case have no group membership to share their burden of being ostracized."

If we take it upon ourselves as individuals to fight against our cultural norms of stereotyping and treated all human beings as equals no matter what their color, nationality, class, or gender might be then we could be a bit closer to becoming an unbiased, non judgmental, non prejudice nation.

The NSA Leak

After reading the Article 'The US government has betrayed the internet. We need to take it back' I found myself agreeing with the writer Bruce Schneier. I do believe that our government has betrayed us and that they are now untrustworthy more than ever. How can we live in a free country where we are treated like criminals before we commit the crime? 

Yes, I do see and understand the "perks" of the US government seeing everything we have in our possession and innermost thoughts.

However, that does not make it right. When SOPA came out everyone was up in arms about the unfairness of this issue and even though the public clearly responded negatively to the internet restrictions and rules the US government felt we would be okay with them invading our privacy. I'm sorry but don't you need a warrant with probable cause to search through my stuff? Not when you're the US government you don't! 

I'm glad someone like Snowden stood up and said "No this is wrong!" and risked everything to speak up and warn the public of the government we have so blindly trusted. It also pleases me to see someone like Bruce Schneier ask for the insiders to give their stories and collect them. With enough stories and information behind this movement there is no way the government, or the public, could ignore the betrayal and anger left behind by not only Snowden but the countless others who are brave enough to speak up. We are not China, we are not communist, we are a democracy and reserve the right to surf our internet freely.