October Blog Post

For this blog post I decided to talk about the controversies and cultural concerns surrounding Disney. For starters, anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Disney and anything that has to do with it. Disneyland is probably my favorite place ever. With that being said, I definitely respect other people's concerns with certain aspects of Disney and it was very interesting to hear all the different opinions. I always considered Disney to have a wide range of culture and representation, and I feel as though the corporation is striving towards that now. However, it hasn't always been that way.

In the documentary we watched titled "Mickey Mouse Monopoly", many different individuals pointed out different aspects of Disney movies that didn't represent, or misrepresented cultures. Something that really stuck out to me was the way Disney seems to portray the African American community, as though every character played/voiced by an actor would be a stereotypical animal. This disappointed me because I never thought of it that way. Another thing that stuck out to me was the fact that people felt as though their cultures were not actually represented throughout Disney movies. For example, the movie, "Pocahontas", is based off a true story. In the movie, Pocahontas falls in love with John Smith. However, in real life, that is does not correlate to the real history of Pocahontas' life.

On the other side of things, when I was watching this documentary I couldn't help but think about the fact that Disney movies are generally geared towards kids, even though most adults I know love the movies just as much. All of these aspects that people are analyzing in depth go right over a kids head. It is only when you watch later that you can actually make something out of the movies other than the  obvious story.

I didn't realize how much a bunch of Disney movies could relate to communication and the way people interpret things so much. I chose to talk about this in my blog post because it really opened my eyes to all the different ways people are affected by things, and not everyone is going to react the same to certain things. It makes me more aware and it makes me analyze things a little bit more as I watch movies, T.V., etc.

October Blog Post-Coby Carlson

October Blog Post

        The topics that stood out to me most this month were the types of advocacy. Before this course I thought that there was only one way to be an advocate. I thought that way was to speak out in front of a crowd of people or through a social media platform. Through the course I was able to further understand that there are six different types of advocacy and they are as follows: through dialogue, reflexivity, critical literacy, listening, speaking up, and alliance building. Prior to the course I understood advocacy as speaking up or alliance building. I believe the alliance building advocacy type is very prevalent in our society today. Through the social media platform many people are building alliances by either supporting each other via social media posts. A huge example of this is that many celebrities or "Instagram famous" individuals are choosing to advocate for a cause through their posts. From these posts individuals or fans are either building alliances for or against the causes or problems that these celebrities or individuals are advocating for. Below I have attached an example. Taylor Swift used her social media platform in order to show who she supported and voted for, along with encouraging individuals to see the importance of voting for local elections. This is the perfect example of alliance building in our society today.  I believe this topic is important to understand because all of the types of advocacy are very prevalent in our society today. Another prevalent advocacy type in society today is critical literacy because there are many individuals who are using their writing abilities in order to have people read their research and studies in order to see the greater problem which calls for a greater need of advocacy in order to create change. Dialogue is another form of advocacy that we can see today because many individuals are sharing their opinions an beliefs with their friends and those around them because they are so highly passionate about the topic they are an advocate for. Overall advocacy is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in our society today for a variety of different problems and causes. Therefore, it is vital to understand the six types of advocacy in order to create a greater understanding of the intentions of individuals as advocates. 

October Blog Post

In class, we have talked about interpersonal communication which the book defines as , “the interpersonal or exchange that occurs between people who are in a independent relationship.” In other words, a relationship where a person relies on the other person to fulfill a need. The book then goes on to say how all contents within a relationship are marked by a time and our perceptions on how we build and sustain our relationships. For example, I met most of my friends in high school through my high school dance team when I joined my senior year. All of us had a common bond and wanted the same goals and aspirations as a team and worked toward those goals together. When I left high school, I realized that because I had graduated and moved on from high school, I wasn't in the same “frame” as everyone else anymore, or mindset for that matter. Because of this,the girls who were still on the team did not feel to engage with me anymore and distanced themselves .

With talking about Interpersonal communication , we talked about Baxter's Relational Dialectics that consists of, “Connection vs separation, predictability vs novelty, and openness vs closedness”.  One example where I experienced the “openness and closeness” part of a relationship is a conversation I had with my boyfriend one time after he had a tough day at work. Since I am the kind of person that wears my heart on my sleeve, I usually like to vent my emotions and get them out right away so they don't bottle up because If i do that I just get anxious about it. My boyfriend on the other hand brushes almost anything off and has a different mindset when something is bother him. After he got done with work and I asked him what was wrong, he just was short about it and said I don't want to talk about it. Me being me, this made me worry even more so I started to ask questions to get the gist of what was making him so upset. This didn't work out so well as it made him shutdown even more. It turns out me almost forcing him to be open with him about it actually made him more closed off towards me, which was the opposite of what I wanted to do. I think it's important to know these aspects of communication within a relationship because, as Baxter state , “Social life is a dynamic knot of contradictions, a ceaseless interplay between contrary or opposing tendencies.” (https://www.businesstopia.net/communication/relational-dialectics-theory)

October Blog Post

Something that stood out to me this month was our discussion on cultural appropriation. Learning about the media effects about this really sparked my interest. I was also very intrigued when we watched the movie about Disney and how they portray gender and ethnicity in their films. These are things that I would have never even caught if we did not discuss them. Going back and watching these Disney clips as an adult, I realized things that I never picked up om before and may not have picked up on them if they were not pointed out to me. I felt the idea of social construction fell into this since Disney is a media that we typically watch as children and grow up with the ideas and mannerisms that Disney enforces on children. While I did feel that some of the movie was a little dramatized, I understand the points they were making that there is not enough representation of different cultures in these classic Disney movies and when there is, they are tend to be represented in a stereotypical way.

October Blog Post

October Blog Post

The biggest learning moment for me this month was learning about Barber's Four Reasons to Study Relationships. This topic has been talked about in my Interpersonal Communication class, and hearing it this time interested me more than when I heard it the first time. It also was a good reflection on the self as stages from when we talked in a previous class;front stage audience and backstage choices. This determines how much we disclose to those we are close to, and those we are not close to. This was a topic I talked about in the last blog post which is another reason why it caught my attention and liking. Continuing on, the relationships that we talked about were family relationships and also long married couples interactions. In families we see characteristics that make it a special connection because of the rituals that take place. Rituals meaning "recognizable patterns that inform our interactions". An example of this is setting up dinner every night, which tells a lot about the family and their actions because they share moments together that may bond them together. This ties to how couples interact because they also have a different way in which they interact with one another which then influences their rituals. In certain couples the man may be the leading person of the conversation, or vice versa which may tell you who is the most extroverted one of the couple. This makes it the ritual for long-term marriage in how they talk not only with themselves, but also their friends and families.

I've experienced multiple accounts of both of these relationships. The rituals that have happened with my family involve dinner time and helping whoever was making dinner, setting the table, and eating the meal as a family. It would also follow with a movie which then became our ways of interacting and creating bonds between each one of us. I've also seen my friend's parents who have been married all their lives, and I've noticed who talks the most while the other partner will listen to them. This kind of interaction can also be seen between friends who have known each other for long time which may look like being sarcastic with one another, or having inside jokes. Relationships can be made like this once we come to the front of the stage and interact with our audiences by disclosing information that may form bond.

Both of these interactions can be very important to our interpersonal communication. Rituals and listening to those who we are connected to us builds our relationships with others. This then shows the Four Reasons to Study Relationships; there's something unique and important in relationships, it's fluid and unpredictable, there's an ethic of responsibility, and this all happens because we have to meet the other person in order to start it all. Each bond we have with every person in our lives is going to differ in every aspect which overall makes them each unique. In every relationship there is always an unexpected moment or conversation that might happen which makes it so exciting. There's also an effort that needs to come from either side which gives each individual some type of responsibility. And lastly, meeting new people and new family is the reason to start it all, and make our lives a new day to meet another people of the world we live in and create a sense of belonging.

October Blog Post

Stasia Newton

Professor Christina Ivey

Comm 160

Date: 11/1/18

October Blog Post

A topic I thought was very important that we learned about this month was the three rhetorical proofs, ethos, logos, and pathos. They are essential to rhetoric, argument, and basically any conversation. Ethos is the ethics, credibility, character, and charisma a person has and displays. Logos means logic or proof it’s a way to persuade a person or people with logical communication, or proof, and information. Finally pathos means emotions or affect. A person uses pathos to convince a person with an emotional argument that affects the other person or peoples emotions. People use a combination of the three rhetorical proofs everyday.

An example of ethos in the world could be toothpaste, or gum commercials. In many commercials they will conclude with a statement about how 9/10 or 4/5 dentists say this one is the best. They are trying to prove it’s the best by using the recommendation of a credible source. This use of ethos with proving credibility has probably convinced people to try a new brand of toothpaste or type of gum. An example of logos would be debate tournaments. Individuals try to use logic and facts in order to prove that they’re correct or the other side is wrong. Logos is also used for most academic papers because people rely of facts in logic in order to inform others about various academic topics. Pathos examples are prevalent in pretty much every conversation. An example would be a confession of love when trying to convince someone to date them. It might not be rational or make sense but feelings hardly ever do. And that emotional argument would most likely convince someone.

Therefore, I truly think that the three rhetorical proofs have been one of the most important topics we’ve learned about this month. They are prevalent in every conversation and discussion. People use them separately and combined everyday to communicate with each other.

October Post

In class we were introduced to the quote by Thich Nhat Hanh, “Putting images inside your head is just like eating”, this quote really struck me. I grew up with conservative grandparents that would often reference that children’s song many may have learned in church, “O Be Careful Little Eyes”. This song was used for so many times as a reason why we should be careful of certain shows that we watched. This song was often used to shame my family for our want to partake in certain pop culture. However, there is something here, I by no means want to suggest someone should be careful of what should be watched just because God is watching and will judge you, but I simply want to talk about the importance of being careful of what we feed our mind.  

We watched Mickey Mouse Monopoly in Class, and although there was much more than I disagreed with, or found too extreme, they did have a point. We are in a society that is shaped heavily by the media we consumed, and if not properly talked about, we can turn a fictional situation into our perceived reality of the world. It’s not as drastic as what the documentary suggests, little girls are not going to grow up feeling ugly just because they do not look like the princesses they have grown up watching, but certain tendencies may begin to show. We talked about it in class, little girls play princess, always waiting for a prince to come to save them, this was an issue that I remember many people trying to change. They wanted to show that little girls can save themselves and be the hero. Luckily there are now more movies with female Heroines that are saving the day, like Merida and Moana. The imagery we are starting to see is changing the way they want to world to view itself. It is our jobs as consumers, however, to ensure that we are keeping media true to what we want to see represented.