POST #1

Power relates to patriarchy, which is another point that Bell Hooks explains such as “men hold power over/dominate/silence women.” This power that men hold over women is a superiority that they need, such as white supremacy, when white men feel greater than minorities. It also can be seen as the power that so many things have over us, such as publicity. We don´t realize sometimes how much advertisement influence us day by day, that we buy something (we definitely didn´t need) and think we should or even need to have it!

The Power of Media

A consumer is someone who values the acquisition/purchase of goods above all other values, which is part of the “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” that Bell Hooks talks about in her interview of Cultural Criticism and Transformation. She also states that Popular Culture is so influential in our everyday lives, no matter what the topic is that we talk about, it is relatable and it can reach people all over the world. We all are part of the creation of Pop Culture, right here, right now, and we are all consumers, sadly, we don´t notice how we over consume and make this attitude into another important part of Pop Culture, it seems to me like it´s a vicious circle, and we might never get out of it.

                                                               (Consumers)

(Pop Culture)

Something that is being defined as authority and as a superior class, is able to do so, and acquires power by manipulating others in our society, this is called hegemony. I can also relate this to Bell Hooks when she talks about the white supremacy over minorities. Media controls so many aspects of our lives, is there even a part of our life media isn´t involved in in some way?

Stereotypes and discrimination against women based on sex are everywhere, all the time. It is being advertised everywhere, on T.V., on the streets on billboards, on the internet, etc. We need to think critically and think twice when we watch a commercial that involves sexism, do we like that? Do we agree with that? Do you feel the need of buying a certain kind of shampoo because a beautiful woman advertised it while she was almost naked? Because a person says you can´t drive well (or not at all) because you are a woman?

Last night a style I saw in a commercial caught my eye, I felt like I really wanted to have it, because the woman who wore the clothes I liked, made me feel in a way that I thought I could relate to her, without knowing her, and probably never going to meet her, in a couple second I was convinced I wanted/needed those pants, shirt and shoes she wore, that is a Gaze. After I saw that woman wearing those clothes, looking very good in them, I saw myself wearing it too. Being able to relate to the person who “sells” me the product is a very powerful tool that people in the publicity business take advantage of to just sell more and more of not needed things.

(Yes, if you want to look like a guy with too much gel in your hair, and like the fancy version of MIB, buy Dolce&Gabbana clothes!)

Pedagogy is guidance that a person (teacher/instructor) gives to students. For Bell Hooks the process students go through when attending a course is completely different, the students that attend Yale is completely sure that they are the best of the best, and is motivated to achieve more, but students from a college in Harlem just have a different background, which is why their motivation is different, they don´t believe in themselves as much as the Yale students do, they don´t have the imagination, even though they might be equal or even more intelligent than the Yale students.

A spectacle is an image or images that influence us therefore have a relation to our society and it has gone that far that a spectacle is being treated as the illusion of how our view of life and society is supposed to be, guided always, by those spectacles that surround us every day.

(You are what You have)

The description of a fantasy, something that is not real, is an action that publicity can do very well, and it´s called representation. There are illusions that make us feel in certain ways. Media wants us to believe that if we buy a perfume from VS we, women, will be desirable and attractive, and because we relate a VS perfume with that, we buy it and actually believe we are more attractive and desirable than without owning that perfume. We are all little puppets controlled and used by media with all those (miss) representations.