Review of Communication 497AJ

Overall, I found Communication 497AJ to be one of my favorite, if not my favorite class at UMass. I feel as though it rounded out my education at the university and in the Communication major perfectly. The class explored many of the ideas that I have been introduced to over my past four years here in a different way than I am used to and I think that the class model itself proved extremely successful. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing what all the members of the class had to say as well as hearing about their personal experiences with the topics discussed in class and I think it really benefited my experience with the course material as well as others in the class. Many professors aim to run a class on a discussion model and are unsuccessful at either inspiring students to participate or allowing the students to participate and I think that Professor Yousman was very much able to prove that this model is both possible and extremely successful when done right. Some of the things I think were especially helpful for me were the discussion leaders as they help to synthesize the readings for the class and bring about key points that maybe the individual would not have focused on otherwise. Also the online discussion board, though tedious at times, was great because it allowed the class time to post their thoughts on the readings in a more formed manner than an in class discussion. Sometimes people benefit more or learn better from reading and writing than listening and speaking and the combination between in class discussion and online discussion allows for all individuals to thrive in their learning style and challenge themselves in a learning style that does not best suit them.

I think we would all agree that this class was not a light course load, but it is so different when you take a class that is challenging and you are learning as compared to a class that is challenging and you are not learning. Everything that I read this semester was applied to discussions and assignments and while that may seem like common sense, anyone who has taken a college course knows that is not a common feeling for all classes across the board.

I have not taken a class in a very long time where it is hard for me to decide my favorite reading/topic and for this class it is actually quite difficult for me. But, I stick by my review from mid-semester and still say that my favorite reading was Gerber and the topic of the Mean World Syndrome. I think that analyzing this thesis closely has hugely beneficial to my own media literacy but was also equally beneficial in my understanding of topics in my other classes. I have not taken a semester of classes that related so well together since the last class I took with Professor Yousman when I was a Sophomore…so maybe it isn’t the classes and it is actually just one great class that makes the semester…I guess I’ll never know. Haha.

It’s funny, filling out the end of year evaluations for all my classes I always get to the box about “How much did you learn in this class” (or however it is phrased) and I always feel like it is average or below average. For this class though I actually feel as though I learned “Much more than average” which is really refreshing as I am doing my closing interviews for my loans and finding out exactly how much I owe for the past four years. Some classes seem worth it and some don’t but I feel lucky that I am able to end on a note in my major where I feel like what I studied was both challenging and enlightening.

Thanks all for a great semester and CONGRATULATIONS 2012 GRADS!!

Review of the Power of Nightmares: Part III

Part 3 of Adam Curtis’ series “The Power of Nightmares” focused largely on the September 11^th, 2001 attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon and how these attacks led to the culture of fear that we are saturated in. I found this series to be both informative and interesting and I thought that “The Shadows in the Cave” was particularly interesting because I was able to relate not only the discourse but the key players back to my own experience with 9/11 and it allowed me to check my own mentality in some respects which was quite eye-opening.

One thing in this segment that just left me speechless, that I had no idea about before viewing the film, was that out own government is responsible for the creation, or rather fabrication of the group “Al Qaeda”. The film explains that Osama bin Laden and Aymen Zawahiri had tirelessly attempted to create a group that they could rely on to carry out their missions to spread Islam and ban western ideology but had failed miserably time and time again. However, after the bombings at two U.S. embassies in East Africa, the U.S. government decided to attempt to prosecute those who carried out the attacks which proved to be very difficult. The FBI realized that they needed each “terrorist” to be unified into a group of terrorists and out of that idea Al Qaeda was born. Just to be sure we are on the same page, American officials were actually the ones who created Al Qaeda, not the terrorists who were “a part of it”. After hearing this in the film I had to take a break from the film and think for a few minutes, I just needed to process this idea…which I still feel as though I am processing as it is not easy to swallow the fact that this major enemy that we have been running scared from for years now…was created by us!

Watching how the film explored the unfolding of the Neoconservative agenda following the 9/11 attacks was equally disturbing however, as I mentioned above, this is less of a shock to me as I am more aware of the actions of Bush, Wolfowitz, and Rumsfeld. I believe that this series did an amazing job exploring the discourse of good and evil between the United States and the radical Islamists. The in-depth exploration of the history of the issue as well as the development of the culture of fear through this particular conflict has been eye opening for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I only hope that eventually we, as a society will learn from our mistakes and begin to be more critical of those in power, because at this point, it is really all that we can do.

*just thought this was funny, coming full circle on the blog from Night of the Living Dead to Week of the Living Neoconservatives

Review of the Power of Nightmares: Part II

The second section of the series “The Power of Nightmares” investigates the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and those parties involved in the grueling battle in Afghanistan who believed that they had finally ousted the Soviets and were in turn fully responsible for the victory. The radical Islamists who had come from all across the Middle East, urged by their religious leaders, had begun to form a powerful group who believed their mission was to enlighten the people of the Middle East of their religious ideals and warn them of the pitfalls of consumption and of the dangers of lack of belief in all teachings of the Quran. The film puts forth the interesting idea that the “defeat” of the Soviet Union was never really a victory for anyone because truly the Soviet Union crumbled under its own societal pressures, it was a society rotting away from the inside out and it never really needed anyone to defeat it because it eventually proved to be capable of that itself…

The idea that both the Islamists and the neoconservatives held that they had defeated evil led each party in very different directions, both bursting with confidence and in search of their next venture. The Islamists decided that they needed to continue to spread their religious ideals and continued to develop the idea that if Muslims were not following the Quran then they were subject to murder and they continued the religious war across Algeria, Egypt, and many other countries and they had zero success in toppling the regimes like they had planned, this led to a lot of confusion and anger amongst members.

Meanwhile, in America the neoconservatives were having a but if a rough time coming up with their new target for a mission of good v. evil and they began working on building myths within their own infrastructure itself in order to impose some control on the people. This venture mostly manifested itself in religiousness, the pressing ideals of getting rid of multiculturalism, homosexuality, and women’s rights to their bodies, these were all platforms of Bush Sr.’s campaign for re-election. At first this seemed to be spreading about but people quickly realized that it was too harsh and peoples support seemed to wane and shift toward another candidate, Bill Clinton. People seemed to support Clinton because he was the antithesis of the Bush administration and people supported a serious change. During Clinton’s presidency the neoconservatives, especially Paul Wolfowitz, worked tirelessly to bash and malign the administration until it crumbled. As we all remember, the crumbling happened when the Lewinski scandal broke and neoconservatives began to push for impeachment. They finally had the details they needed to crush the liberal agenda once again. In turn, the second part of the film concludes with bin Laden and Zawahiri’s beginning plans for the attack on the source of all their problems, America.

While I have enjoyed watching both sections of this series so far I think that it is odd how much they leave out regarding finances and financial benefits to be had by choices made by both parties. I believe that the series is lacking some sort of real motive other than just the fact that neoconservatives wanted to rebuild and rebrand America as a source of “good” in a battle of “good v. evil”. I think that the deep historical account for how we ended up where we are is great and it definitely provides some background on many key players in history that I did not know much about and that in itself it great but I feel as though the whole story is not quite there however, maybe it will be summed up in the final chapter…

Here is a funny video of a Dana Carvey stand-up show that I saw years ago--I couldn't find the clip where he talks about "evil-doers" but this is almost as good!

The Power of Nightmares: Part 1 Review

I found the first part of The Power of Nightmares to be very interesting. I think that it is the beginning of a series that sheds a great deal of light on the American Military-Industrial Complex and the history of war that we have built in our country. At the beginning of the film I was having a little bit if a hard time following who the main players were and keeping them all straight since the film skips between the Soviet Union, Egypt, the U.S.A and other countries. By the end it made a bit more sense who the key players were and I felt more prepared to watch the second part which I was worried I would be confused for. It is an interesting film that offers commentary from all different kinds of people from varying backgrounds and political affiliations which is nice to see in a film about such a controversial and unclear subject.

Before watching this film I had never heard of Sayyid Qutb or any of his theories. I found it very interesting to hear about the way that he viewed American gluttony in the period of American industrialization and booming growth. The moment that is described in the film about Outb’s feelings when he was at the dance (I believe it was a dance) and they played “Baby it’s Cold Outside” and while it was the typical symbol of lust, love, and American freedom, Qutb felt that it was actually an unmistakable sign of being trapped by their own “selfish and greedy desires”. The clip and commentary just made me think about what it might be like to view something like that from a more ethnographic standpoint or from an outsider’s standpoint—I am sure that the people did not look as free as they felt.

            I was a bit confused about how Qutb ended up in prison but the description of the torture that he endured was sickening and not that I could ever condone it but I can somewhat understand how a person in that situation could develop such deep hatred and disgust from America after that. The film mentioned that his experience in prison being tortured helped him come to the further realization that Americans were infected with a disease called ”barbarous ignorance” and this disease was spreading around the world, and much to his disgust and surprise it had spread to Egypt and was running rampant. This was the disease of feeling free and being much less than that, it was really an act of being sold out by one’s own politicians.

            The film went on to discuss Leo Strauss and the group of students that he formed in which he planted the seed of the two myths in society; 1) religion, and 2) they myth of the nation…this was the idea that America had a specific mission, a destiny to be the force of good that brings down all forces of evil, starting with the Soviet Union.

            The film continues to discuss the way that the war played out in the Soviet Union and how the neoconservative agenda helped to shape the way that Americans viewed the Soviet people. This topic investigated Strauss’ first myth, religion and how the Christian religion was used by neoconservatives to push their particular, “force of good” agenda further. The big point that neoconservatives continued to push was that the Soviet Union was the force of all terrorist evil in the world and their time was up, they had to answer to the forces of good, America. What happened next was very interesting, there was a huge push to prove the claims against the Soviets and so the CIA was told to prove their theories and at that time it was uncovered that the CIA would not find any information on the matter because they had made it all up…The shocking part for me to hear was that Casey, the new head of the CIA did not believe that any of the claims had been false and thus he went on with his search to prove that the Soviets were indeed terrorists…and eventually he found the information he needed in order to launch a full out attack on the Soviets.

            The film basically ends there with a perfect segway into the second part of the series where we will surely see the aftermath of the attack on the Soviets. I think that this film fits in very well with the reading and discussions from class as it seems to provide a different discourse/a new kind of context for the history that we call our own. I myself can admit that I have been so unaware of the entire story that explains the war that we have been fighting in my country for over ten years and it is actually very embarrassing and shameful that I know so little about why it is even happening…I think that the first part of this film, while hard to watch is critical to understanding the history and I look forward to the next section!

Review of Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes is a film created and directed by Byron Hurt, ex-quarterback turned gender and sexuality activist and educator at Northeastern University. A longtime fan of hip hop music, Hurt decided that this film was a critical step in his investigation of hip hop music and its values and the stereotypes that it promotes. Hurt takes his time with the film, collecting interesting interviews from artists such as Mos Def, Chuck D, Jadakiss, Fat Joe and many other interesting members of the hip hop community. The overwhelming sentiments from most involved, revolve around the fact that there has been a great shift in hip hop music and its values, which the former president of Def Jam records, Carmen Ashhurst says is a direct correlation of the biggest record companies buying up all the labels in order to create a different kind of music and it resulted in “the shift from Fight the Power to Gin and Juice”. Ashhurst and Hurt along with the other people who were part of the film make it clear that good, meaningful rap music is still being made all over however it will never sell and it won’t get them famous. This idea is seen in action in film when Hurt goes to the Hip Hop Power Summit and talks to one of the aspiring artists, who does a short rap about societal problems but them comments that that kind of thing does not sell and that is why he can’t talk about those kinds of things in his music and instead focuses on being hard, killing people, drugs, bitches, etc.

"if their ass is showin', we gonna slap it!"

I found it very interesting in the film to hear what some younger, white folks had to say about rap music and its messages. One female interviewee takes the time to explain that she likes rap music because she comes from a primarily white, suburban community and the music gives her and people like her a chance to look into a community that they might not normally ever get to see. The problem here is that, like Oz and other programs that promote unrealistic representations of society’s core issues, this music is not exactly exhibiting the real problems and everyday life that black men (and women) are exposed do on a daily basis.

I also thought that the discussion about hip hop music and its homoerotic tendencies was excellent. I thought that Tim’m West did an excellent job explaining where homoeroticism can be seen in mainstream rap music and also explaining the way that these images conflict with the primarily homophobic mindsets of rap musicians and avid fans. The discussion about the use of “me and my boy” or just “my boys” in general and its relation to homoeroticism was also intriguing. It is very interesting to think about the very strong homophobic tendencies in rap music and culture but also the complete disrespect and disregard for women in any way other than sexualizing them, and yet the deepest connection is with one’s “boys”.

In conclusion, I thought that is film was valuable and helped to explain the fact that “Hip hop is completely subservient to white power structure”. I thought about the way that we are educated in college to do the right thing, to be better than we could have ever imagined ourselves being and then post-graduation we are working for the systems that we have spent 4 years learning about the problems within them but yet don’t know how to change them and don’t possess the tools needed. There are metaphorical similarities between white and black cultures in this respect. Obviously it is different in that for a great deal of white men they learn about the power structures that exist in society and the inevitable power that they possess and instead of being able to apply that knowledge and make change they play into the structure (for many reasons) and end up working their way from the bottom to the top and forgetting about all the systemic problems that they learned about in college. For black men, they know that there are huge problems in rap music and most of them do not really hold the values that they are singing about, but yet they play into the system because they don’t believe that there is a real way to change it. They know that they either need to play the game or be labeled a “pussy, chump, etc. As Hurt points out “REAL MEN are lacking in the representation of black men…a real black man stands up for when something is wrong”. This conclusion is true not only for black men but for white men as well—and women too!—it seems that we are just generally lacking real people.

" BET is the cancer of black manhood,  it one dimentionalized us…made us a one trick image"

Review of Edward Said On Orientalism

I would like to start by saying that I have enjoyed most all of the films from this course so far, however this film left me with a bit if a different reaction than the others. While I enjoyed listening to Edward Said talk about his roots in Palestine and I fully agree with much of what he presented I found the structure of the film to be very difficult to follow, un-engaging, and generally difficult to understand and follow. I was left disappointed in many ways because I am interested in Said and his ideas but I just couldn't seem to get all that much clear information from the film and I ended up reading about Said and his theories later and feeling as though I got much more from that than the film itself.

I was very much intrigued with Said's description of Orientalism as "the idea that these people (Middle Eastern Peoples) do not change…they are still in time". I thought more about American representations of people from the Middle East and it really made sense. I thought about the Arab Spring and the images that we have seen from the rebellions, especially the revolution in Egypt and it really clicked in my mind why American’s have this representation of Arabs. The images and footage that we are provided with from this revolution make the Egyptian, Bahraini, Syrian (the list goes on and on) people seem as though they are savages. We see images of bottles being thrown, people being beaten, yelling, screaming, bombs, fires etc. and we are left with the thought that these people have no concept of what it means to be civilized. The interesting point that I am trying to make is that it is so incredibly progressive for these dominated groups to have the courage to get together and rebel and yet the images and discourses that American’s are provided with still tell the story that these people are “stagnant savages”. We do not see all of the amazing things that these people have done, we are not told the story of why these people are fighting or why we are seeing the images that we are seeing and so the images take on a different meaning and help to gloss over the stereotypes that American people have of Middle Eastern peoples.

Another point that I found interesting from Said was what he talked about in the section of the film titled “Orientalism and Palestine Question”. Because Said himself was Palestinian he took on a clear stance in the conflict (one of which I happen to strongly agree with) and he presented it in a positive way, with a possible solution. He talked about the importance of coming to agreement of “coexistence” which is so very important in this conflict because both of the peoples fighting for the land have experienced exile and devastation. He does not make it a question of “who gets what” but rather how the two groups can coexist and finally find peace.  As Said put it so profoundly, “Finding a peaceful, human, and just solution will require overcoming Orientalism and its ideas of difference as a threat that must be contained or destroyed”.  This is the case not only for Orientalism and the American representation of Arabs and Muslims but also for American representations of all groups who are different from themselves.

In general this film offered some very interesting commentary on Orientalism from Said but like I mentioned above I found it hard to follow—not exactly “user friendly”. However Said himself is an amazing theorist and someone that I would love to study more in the future.

Midsemester Review of Communication 497AJ

So far I would say that I am really enjoying this class. There is a lot to be said for a professor who can design a class that engages students the way that Professor Yousman is able to do not only with Comm497AJ but also the other classes that I have taken with him. The assignments seem worth it--they don't make me feel as though I am wasting my time doing busy work. I have very much enjoyed most of the readings for the class and though they are dense at times they certainly educate. I particularly enjoyed reading about George Gerbner and the mean world syndrome. Though this class is not the first time that I have visited Gerbner's thesis in college, I feel like I got a lot more out of it in this class than I have in other classes. I feel particularly affected by the mean world syndrome as do I feel many of my friends and family are in the same boat. I find Gerbner's ideas easier to understand than some other theorists and also the fact that they are applicable to me helps in building interest.

I can say that I really struggled with Hall and the different theories of representation and though I understand it better after revisiting the material for the midterm I still feel as though the ideas are hazy in my mind. I wish that I could grasp this thesis a bit better because I can see that it is important and very applicable for the kinds of analysis that we are doing in this class. I feel as though Foucault's ideas about historical context have been extremely important to our analyses since we read the chapter and I just wish that I understood the whole chapter a little bit better.

I have very much enjoyed watching some older horror films and getting the chance to break them down, especially Night of the Living Dead and The Exorcist. I think that the blog is a good way to communicate about the films with such limited class time and it seems to be pretty effective for the class as a whole. The film "War on Drugs" was much more interesting than I thought it would be--given the fact that it was quite poor quality, hard to find, and Dutch subtitled. I thought that the information was so interesting that I actually passed on the link to the film to my supervisor who also enjoyed the documentary. It seems as though the films and readings are able to give us all as students a broad understanding not only of the different perspectives about the culture of fear but also the kinds of writing and film making that are done around the topic. It really feels as though the different parts of the class mesh well together which helps keep my interest in the subject and also makes the work a bit more interesting than tedious.

As far as the discussion board goes I think that it is a good way to keep the class discussing the readings and materials from class since we only meet once a week. I am not a fan of Spark however, it seems to have a lot of problems for me--maybe I am just unlucky. I think that the concept should continue if the class runs again as a blended class but maybe at that point there will be a more functional system.

I would say in general I am very happy in this class. This is my final semester and I was really hoping to have a Comm class that I really enjoyed as my last one so that I could leave the major on a high note and I will say this is not only a good one but maybe my favorite. The materials that we have covered have influenced me quite a bit and I would say that I feel more conscious and aware of the culture of fear and what it is doing and has done to society--so I guess the class is doing it's job!