Twilight

To be truthful i could not sit thru this movie in its entirity. I do not like the whole vampire love stories. however, from what i have seen this movie does portray a lot of the dominant themes often presented with teenagers. For example Bella seems to have a disconnected relationship with her dad. The first scene opens up with Bella's dad talking to her and Bella's face portray a blank and absent look as if she was not connecting with whats cming out her mouth.

 Even the relationship between Edward and Bella continues to partray dominant ideologies of teenagers. In most teenage movies we see the girl conform to life of her byfriend to fit into his world. Thats beyond true here. Its sick to think about Bella wanting to apart of the vampire world just for love. Bella's character by definition is what the author of "Being a Good girl can be bad"  is talking about.

To build on Dierdre's post:

In her post Diedre talks about the changes in Bella's personality after meeting Edward. Its sad to say that that transition is expected of females in relationship.Relationships in modern days are like relationships of the old days. Fathers use to pay bridal fees like its a burden to marry her. Now its like women pay with their state of being.


Deidre's outlook is awesome and sad to say the least. Edward does have an unnatural control over Bella. Edwards abusive tendency incomparison to real abuser is that Eward in my eyes its not possesion thing. I think Edwards feelings towards Bella are completely genuine and is why he fights so hard to keep her safe.

Extending Comments of Ron's Talking Point 9

I love how Atalanta and Alice steps out of the generalize ideal of a woman. The movie Mulan tried to do the same thing made Mulan actas a man to do so. Both Atalanta and Alice refused to carry out the life that others made for her. They did so in such a big expression. Atalanta competes in a race filled with only men. She beats all but one man who she tied with. She proved she can be just as good or better than any man. 


To build on Ron's analysis on Valerie of Beverly Hills 90210; Valerie comes on screen protraying the ultimate good girl image. She takes the room of Brenda in the Walsh's house. Fans of the show knows that Brenda's character went through many phases as well as troubling ordeals as a teenage girl fitting into the lifestyle of Beverly Hills. Whereas Valeria is the "perfect" child in the Walsh's presense. Shes polite, helpful and studious. However, in reality shes doing drugs, having casual sex and trying to seduce Brandon. In connections to the authors viewpoints on how being a bad girl is bad for them. Bad girls have their sexuality thrown at them when it comes to sexual assault. In the series there was a storyline where Valeria was raped. No one but Brandon and David believed her. In court the first thing the lawyer did was bring up her sex history.



The author talks about an ideal women begin a virgin and pure. In Degrassi the Next Generation, Drew cheats on his girl friend Ali with Bianca(school slut). In result Ali leaves him. In the next season Drew has trouble finding a girlfriend. It is latewr revealed that no girl wants to date him because of his time spent in the boiler room with Bianca. I find this as an interesting storyline because Drew was a star basketball player who did not have trouble with girls before and now no one wants him. this is the complete opposite of the normal portrayal of basketball players in high school. I love this storyline. No double-standard here.

Final project idea

For my final project I was thinking to compare and contrast the characteristics of teens on popular t.v shows in the past and present such as "Degrassi" and "Degrassi: The next generation" or "Popular" and "Pretty Little Liars".

  










In this I will compare and contrast social problems such as sexuality, pregnacy, popularity status, and social problems within family and friendsbetween the past and present.

Hip- Hop vs. America

The videos below are from BET's 3 part panel series debating hip-hop. Negatives and positives are debating. I find it interesting. I tried to get all the parts to this but there are some missing.

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

Pt. 3

Pt. 6

Pt. 7

Pt. 8

Pt. 9

Pt. 10

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these videos also contributes to Raby's opinions on the five dominant discourses. Mainly social problems and pleasurable consumption.

Hip-hop

I'm not really sure if I properly understood what this article is about but I will write based on my understanding of it:

While reading this piece the first thing I thought of was a tv speacial I saw on the rap group formally known as N.W.A.

Although I do not agree with must if the group's antics I do however think they are a very inspirational group. They were the epitome of rebels. The article talked about the power the administers had and repercussions that followed disobedience. This group did not give a damn about repercussions. The had something to say and they wanted to say it no matter who liked it. They did believe in shutting up because they were told to. The group's 'Straight its compton' record was so controversial fit that exact reason. The story behind the song was a story that some believed should not have been told. That only fueled the fire.

This article is interesting because it further proves that there is no such thing as freedom of speech in the media.

The limitations on what is displayed in music helps to keep the "elite" in power. It prevents new cultures and behaviors to form which ultimately take away their power. This elite has a say in what's acceptable and what's not.

Let's take the N.W.A for example.  In my opinion the group's message in "F*** the Police" was their done being discriminated against because of their race. The lyrics of the song is very explicted and the title demands attention. Attention that the elite will shun. Now anyone can reasonablly agrue the violence behind the lyrics. Now because of that the message is lost. This song basically is saying they refuse to continue to be controlled by anyone. Every stereotype is talked about. They called out cops for all ttheir wrong doing. They did not care if the cop was black or white.

The song was banned on radio stations across the world. The group had a story to tell and stopped at nothing to make sure of it. This group is the epitome of what the "elite's" does not agree with. N.W.A fights against power and does not care about what any one person has to say or think about it

RI Coalition for the Homeless

Hey everyone,


My name is Jessica Knight and I am a volunteer with the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. I am here to discuss the importance of homeless prevention and affordable housing issues in Rhode Island.


As you may have read, at the beginning of this winter we had 175 Rhode Islanders sleeping outdoors across the state. You may also be interested to know that:

• 53% of those who are homeless this year are homeless for the first time
• 40% of RI’s homeless are families
• 27% are children
• 12% are employed

The good news is we can do something to help these people find a safe affordable home!


We are asking for your support! You can make a difference by signing a letter to your local representative and your senator urging them to make affordable housing and homelessness prevention a key issue this legislative session.

Thank you!
Have a great day!


Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless
(401)721-5685      www.rihomeless.org  

Please follow this  LINK and take action. RI Coalition is only asking for 250 signitures. At the moment there are only 18. It takes literally 30 seconds. Lets work together to help end homelessnes.