Vampires, really?

After reviewing several pages, blogs, websites, articles, and opinion pieces, I’ve developed a few thoughts on the prevailing philosophies about the popularity of vampires. Five of the articles I read are linked and briefly summarized below and will contribute to my thoughts on this topic:

This article considers how the introduction of sexuality into the vampire figure has helped the popularity of vampirism to snowball to what it is today.

A doctor of philosophy makes some interesting points about the versatility of vampires to accept our projected hopes and fears.

The idea here is that there are more vampire movies and popularity during democratic terms and more zombie media out during republican terms. I find the logic laughable but interesting.

The essence of this article focuses on the versatility of the vampire symbolism. We are able to assign good/evil to the issues we are fighting in our lives.

The part of this article most interesting is toward the end when the author talks about how there has been an increase in vampire popularity since the events of 9/11. The primary philosophy on this increase is the mortality of our typical heroes has been damaged, and women in particular turn to immortal heroes.

First of all, I don’t have an opinion on vampires or vampirism as it stands in our pop culture. I haven’t read any of the Twilight books or any of the other historically important vampire texts. My students love the Twilight books, and because it makes them WANT TO READ, I don’t ask questions about what or why! I am not able to require vampire literature to be read (several Christian families would fight that despite the assertion of Christian principles in the text).

Going into this week, I wasn’t sure I would find anything of value; I’m happy to say I did find a few ideas that are interesting (if less than earth shattering). Vampires in ‘western cultures’ are much older than most people think. It seems to be agreed that American obsession with vampires in earnest started sometime in the 1920s and has been a roller coaster from decade to decade.

With these articles as a foundation, the reason I like best for the popularity phenomenon is what these characters represent in our lives. For many female teenagers, the men in the Twilight books represent that safe, sensitive, attractive man who is interested in them because of who they are. This is also the attraction for many adult women as well; it is an innocent escape into a romance with someone who is never going to leave or die. Finding a man like that is tremendously alluring.

Stepping away from the Twilight books the logic still holds. Vampires (since the introduction of sexuality with “Dracula”) are people who are not subject to the laws of humanity and mortality. Vampires, especially males, have immortal desires and are not chained by emotion or even monogamy. They are able to commit more than a lifetime to giving someone whatever they imagine. Vampire romance for adult women is a very popular genre these days.

The article above that focuses on the increase of vampire texts and media since 9/11 makes sense. Our human heroes (military, police, firefighters, etc) are limited to human rules and mortality. We were shown on that day what happens to those men—they can be killed. The vampires in fiction can be our everything and not face a day of reckoning.

Another concept that was touched on in one of the above articles as well as other blogs and articles I came across is that of known immortality. On a deeper level, one of the reasons we are interested in vampires is because they know their fate. The concept of ‘after life’ known to many Christians is intangible. Those who are steadfast in their faith know there is an afterlife if they accept Christ, but they do not know what it looks like. Being around or ‘knowing’ someone who knows how they will spend forever is attractive to many people.

No one seems to know much about the exact reason vampirism is so popular today, but like every other fad, it will fade for a time only to resurface when the culture market can bear it.

You're Going to Wear THAT?!

There have been several times in my literature discussions that students didn’t have the first clue what era we were discussing simply by looking at the photo (period dress). This week’s article got me thinking about how our clothes really are a sign of the times and of social movements. I did more searching on the topic and found that clothing has long been a product of a person’s status and the activities of which they are a part.

In the name of connecting clothing to history through research, writing, planning, and speaking, the students will be arranging a “Fashion Through the Decades” runway show. Here is the rough outline of the project:

Purpose: To connect the relationship between clothing and culture and historical events through research.

Project: Students will connect the clothing of the times by hosting a fashion show that is well researched, planned, and narrated.


Action Steps (in brief):

1. Students are PARTNERED (or small groups) and assigned a decade (1900s-2010)
2. Focusing only on the United States, each group RESEARCHES the era, the major historical events, cultural events of the time, political movements/actions/leadership, and the clothing and style (hair, shoes, etc) popular in that time (men, women, blue collar, white collar, children, and teens)—this will be the longest part of the project
3. As they are compiling their research, they are to select 3 looks from their era that are most representative of the events/era/attitudes of the time
4. COLLABORATE with the theater department (through the teacher) and each other to find clothing that will be wearable in the show
5. LOCATE students/staff not in the class period to be models for the clothing
6. WRITE fashion descriptions for each of the looks to be read as the model is going down the runway.

Example: Here we have Rosie the Riveter. She was an active part of the 1940s during WWII. She is sporting rugged denim clothing that could withstand the hard labor she was doing each day as the men were off to war. She was in pants which was uncommon for the era, but we couldn’t expect her to work in a skirt, could we? She wore a bandana most days while working…etc

7. These descriptions must be written clearly with a factual yet fun TONE designed to teach the audience as well as be entertaining.
8. The show will be arranged by the teacher—there will be a total of 33 looks that will walk down the runway.

Again, this is just the basic concept of the activity—the teacher would need to do pre-teaching to be sure that students learned to wonder how the events of the time >were/weren’t reflected in the clothing of the time. The change in clothing would be investigated as a chicken-egg relationship. Why did things change/did things change?

It would take a lot of work, but it would be a fun activity to coordinate and to share with other students and staff in the school. The research, writing, and collaboration activities would blend well together in an effort to reflect on the culture and clothing.

Toys

Thinking about toys as popular culture is both obvious and yet they are so ingrained I found myself needing to purposefully take a step back to consider their impact and development. I enjoyed reading (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/toys.html) and considering the development of toys through the decades. My reflections on toys and their place in our culture will be painted by my own toy experiences and the time I spent working in a toy store during college.

It makes sense that the technological advances in toys would parallel the media and the ‘major events’ in history. The article we read for the week (referenced above) focused on the highlights of each decade—as most decade by decade lists usually do. I remember both my mom and grandma talking about toys they had as they were growing up. Though I can’t remember the specifics, they weren’t these ‘mainstream’ toys, but both women spoke of them with smiles on their faces. Toys evoke lots of great memories and for everyone; the happiness of a ‘simpler time’ is apparent when they look back on their youth.
I was a child of the 80s and early 90s. Born in 1981, I remember a lot of the great cartoons like Gummy Bears, Rainbow Bright, GI Joe, Care Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all the marketing that went along with them. I was from a family, however, that didn’t often follow those product trends from year to year. I was able to have one or two ‘current’ items in my toy arsenal. We were much more a family who liked board games like Clue, Monopoly, Pictionary, and the great classic toys like Lincoln Logs, Light Bright, Etch-a-Sketch, and a Barbie from time to time. My sister and I would spend hours building items with Lincoln Logs and coming up with our own pretty pictures with the Light Bright.
The attitude toward toys today seems very different from when I was young. Perhaps that is a product of the kind of parents I had. I was taught to be thankful for what I did have and amuse myself with the toys we had. We had plenty of toys, but WANTING something wasn’t enough to merit a purchase.
I spent three and a half years during college working at Toys R Us. 95% of my time there was spent at the ‘customer service’ area of the store. I got to learn a lot about the marketing of products, shipping cycles and parent attitudes toward toys. Toy placement in a store is very well researched and purposeful. Sections of the store are designed to lead into each other, and the most highly advertised merchandise gets prime placement. Shipping cycles and locations are based on city demographics and store performance. Highly sought after toys are not equally distributed between stores. I don’t know the equation that was used, but our store in South Dakota often had to request additional popular toys like Elmo dolls and the return of the Cabbage Patch Dolls.

Parents turned into demanding, mean spirited people when we couldn’t meet their every need. We referred to it as the “Disney disease” because when they entered the store, they were under the delusion that everything would be sunshine and lollypops for their children’s toy wishes. When we couldn’t provide the toy they wanted or if something broke after purchase, we were often faced with frustrated people who made it seem as though the world was conspiring against them. You’d think I was exaggerating, but I’m not! Over and over, parents were flat out ANGRY when something was unavailable or malfunctioned. I believe the trend of ‘my child first’ is one of the worst parts of the advance of toys and their impact on our culture.

Part of the change in toys is marketing and rapid availability. Anyone with a credit card and the internet can order anything delivered to their front door in a matter of days. There is still joy in toys today for kids, but there is so much change so quickly that kids and their short attention spans only play for things for a bit until the next bigger/better item comes along. Manufacturers also take fewer risks today due to the threat of lawsuits. Kids are no longer encouraged to learn through ‘natural consequences.’

Maybe I’m being too hard on the trends of today, but I do believe that kids today are not as appreciative of the things they have because of the general rapid availability of the next item. Families are generally demanding on stores and products always expecting the best at every end. Perhaps we should go back to simpler times of toys in an effort to teach contentment.

Food Unit

In response to the chapter about food and popular culture in Tooning In, I have developed a unit with concepts inspired by the major points in the text. The target audience would be grades 9 & 10 in a social sciences class (psychology, sociology, etc). The unit is in outline form with the purpose of each activity, the mystery question to be considered and resolved (if possible), and the basic activities. Many of the “activities” would be the ‘final project’ for that part of the unit—there would be lots of discussion and teacher provided notes along the way before arriving at most of these projects.

Food as Cultural Currency Unit

Part 1: Saturation

Purpose: To become mindful of how/where food and body image inundate us

Question: How long can you go through a day without a message relating to food crossing your eyes/ears?

Activites:
A. Find 10 examples of ‘food message media’ and create a basic collage
B. Journal 90 minutes of after school time minute by minute noting ANY food related image you find
C. Reflect: Where did most of the food images come from? What were the messages in the images? Did they impact your thoughts or actions? (how) What did you realize by doing this activity?


Part 2: You Are How You Eat

Purpose: Consider how people eat and how our personalities may be reflected through our food behaviors.

Question: What do someone’s eating habits say about their personality and ability to connect with others?

Activities:
A. Choose 3 people you eat with fairly often. You should know their personalities as well. One person should be a peer, one an ‘adult’ and the third anyone you choose.
B. Observe their eating habits (without telling them) and record your observations. Include notes on what they eat, how quickly they eat, do they mix the food on their plate, and where they eat.
C. Read the short article from Divine Caroline
D. Respond in a short reflective piece: Did their eating habits match the article? What are you more aware of after this activity? Do you think food behaviors/choices are reflective of personalities? Why or why not?


Part 3: The Ideal

Purpose: Consider how the ‘attractive female’ has changed over time and what cultural changes are a part of that.

Question: How and why has the image of the ‘attractive female’ changed?

Activities:
A. Find a picture of a woman of ‘western culture’ in the 1400s, the 1700s, the 1800s, the 1920s, the 1950s, 1980s, and today
B. Reflect: what are the similarities and differences do you see? (T-Chart or ven diagram)
C. Answer: What is likely the major reason the shift from ‘curvy’ to ‘skinny’ happened?
D. Read the article summarizing the ‘desirable woman’ in western culture.
E. Create a digital piece (PP, edited movie, digital poetry, etc) that shows the shift and at least one cultural reason for the shift from the 1400s to today.

Part 4: Talk Back

Purpose: Critically analyze a commercial and respond with other messages

Question: What messages are in mainstream commercials and what message do you want to send?

Activities:
A. Read “The Guide to Body Image”B. Find a commercial that is on TV today (Youtube, etc) that has ‘body image messages’ in it
C. Watch the piece several times noting the hidden messages and overt body image messages
D. Download the commercial and create a talk-back piece:
a. Over ride the audio (pick some of these options)
i. Say what you think of their portrayals/messages
ii. Be witty, serious, thoughtful, etc
iii. Change the commercial to be sarcastic
b. Add other images to convey your thoughts or change the meaning of the commercial
E. Present the piece to the class

Sample Assignment

Continuing my fictional geography teacher-self, I have created a "Cultural Image" project. Below is the assignment write up that would be given to the students. It lacks a certain amount of specifics because it would need to be relevent to today's topics, but the general concept and assignement stucture is there.

Cultural Image

We’ve all seen the clips: “Wildfires rage in California…” “Thousands feared dead in Indonesian earthquake…” “Four feet of snow blankets Buffalo…” “Palestinian militants bomb Israeli outposts…” Each of these stories gets their 30 to 90 seconds of coverage with dramatic images brought to us on the TV or webpage we are viewing. We are shocked, saddened, surprised…and then it’s over. The story bleeds into another story and new images fill the screen. But what is going on just off screen? Have you ever been misrepresented? Only had a part of your story told? Somewhere in the middle of all these questions is where the study of media and geography collide with cultural portrayals.

Goals: Analyze how the media portrays world cultures and events. Consider the media’s motivations and how our understanding of places and cultures is shaped in relation to these portrayals. Then, create a portrayal that is complete. You will tell the story of a PEOPLE and a PLACE—not an event.

Project: Create a multi-media presentation with images (pictures or video) with no text or spoken audio. Your project may take whatever form you prefer (use whatever program you wish), and must be a fair and accurate representation of a culture residing in a specific geographic area. Your final piece will be a ‘modern song’ (not older than 10 years) that will accompany your images.

Project Steps (Each will be checked for completion)
1. Choose a major world event not older than 1 year
2. Watch 3 to 5 clips of that event from the internet or TV media
3. Write 10 words that describe the CULTURE, the PEOPLE , and the GEOGRAPHY as portrayed
4. Research the region to find out “the rest of the story”
5. List 10 words that describe the CULTURE, the PEOPLE, and the GEOGRAPHY as you now know it
6. Collect Images and create your multimedia document that represent those 10 words
7. Create your multimedia document with the images (total of 2-4 minutes)
8. Select a modern song as the soundtrack and layer it into the document

On presentation day, you will show us one clip of the world event. We will list 3 words (as you did in step 3). Without introduction, we will then watch your presentation and write down 3 words at its completion. Discussion will follow.

A reflective paper will be due at the completion of this project, but it will not be assigned until all the presentations have taken place.

This Term Will "Pop!"

The tone for this blog is a brief persuasive letter regarding the use of Pop Culture in the classroom. I have decided to be a fictional geography teacher writing to my students' parents. Here is a letter I would send home early in the term.

Dear Parents:

I am excited to have your daughter/son in my Geography class this year. We will be learning many things this term through many different activities and experiences. Central to geography and our studies will be the use of “popular culture.” There is rich depth to be explored in an area many think is too shallow to merit attention. By using aspects of popular culture, students will be asked not only to consider the course content but to analyze it in relation to events and people they are familiar with. Learning is brought to vivid reality and is engaging for students in a way inaccessible through a textbook. It is impossible to know what events will occur that may find their way into the classroom, but below are some examples of how popular culture may be used to focus on certain areas of study during the term.

Focus Area: Mapping
The most basic concept in Geography: where are countries, rivers, continents, etc located? Students will learn the basics of the world layout then will select a style of music or musician. They will follow that style from its roots, through its influences, and finally to its present form. If they select a musician/group, they will study their tour stops, their routes/movements, as well as the scheduling of events. By plotting a subject that is interesting to them, they will be interacting with the map in a way that is meaningful and expands their current understanding. Additionally, we would also work on mapping distribution and supply chains for major merchandise (like Coke, GAP clothing, etc) in an effort to understand mapping as well as consumerism and global markets.

Focus Area: Cultural Image
We will spend a great deal of time analyzing cultures. This area of ‘cultural studies’ is rapidly changing in the face of media and technological advances. One project that will incorporate popular culture and media texts will be the ‘Cultural Image’ project. The primary analytical consideration for this project is how the media’s ‘spotlight’ approach causes distorted concepts of an area. To analyze and combat the effects of these short clips that they are bombarded with, students will be asked to create a multi-media presentation with no written text that conveys the richness of a location and its relationship with the geographical and culturally specific aspects unique to it. They will need to select a ‘modern’ song to be the soundtrack to their images. By balancing their selection of images (picking photos requires a high level of analyzing) as well as having the ability to communicate in a medium that is fresh and creative, students will be challenged to learn about a place and its culture in an in depth way while considering the media’s presentation of these areas and their cultures.

Focus Area: Mapping Technologies
Creating maps and studying where people live are key areas for geographers. While studying these techniques, students will be utilizing popular culture tools and events to study and map people and events. Using GoogleEarth, looking at Census techniques all around the world, website counters, demographic collection techniques they experience, and the uses for this data students will study a process they are already a part of. Because they are actively involved in these processes already, they will have a higher investment in understanding the process and be more engaged.

As you can see, popular culture doesn’t always mean the study of tattoos and the latest trends in rock bands. There are aspects of students’ everyday lives that are ‘popular culture’ and should be brought into the classroom as a way of learning applicable knowledge in a meaningful and engaging way. I encourage you to question your student often about their engagement in this course, challenge them with questions about current world events, and be in contact with me should you have thoughts or questions on the course content.

Thank you for sharing your student with me this term!
~Mrs. Holton

Digital People??

This week I will focus on the use of ‘digital conversation agents’ or ‘avatars’ or ‘talking heads’ or… you get the idea. There has been a lot of progress in this area since I last checked—ala the 80s’ Max Headroom. I had no idea that so much discussion and study had been focused on the use of this technology. Here are a few thoughts after doing the reading assignments for this week.

In the Veletsianos article, I was surprised by several things: “students converse with agents” was a statement that caught me off guard. They are able to CONVERSE with a digital agent, really? I’ve had minimal exposure to these “pedagogical agents” in online help tools. The idea that I would be able to freely interact with this ‘being’ is interesting and a bit scary. The way students interacted with this agent is shocking! Their language and lack of appropriate conversation does not seem within the realm of normal interactions. I believe Veletsianos is on the right track in acknowledging the lack of inhibitions that tend to happen when students are using digital platforms to communicate, but that isn’t enough. I believe there are also factors including the teen/student wish to push the limits to see what the ‘machine’ is capable of. That is not an excuse, however, for the behavior and conversations these students were trying to have with the avatars. It is a sad commentary on our culture---alas, that is for another post.

Another piece of the Velentsianos article that got me thinking was how the researchers mentioned how there MAY be a human/machine power differential. Really?! How couldn’t there be a difference in power? By pointing that out, I became aware of my own assumption ‘against’ computers. I am of the belief that machines will never have the complexity and master the unpredictability that is inherent in human-human interaction.

With that in mind, I read the Doering, et al, article. I have had Aaron as a professor, and I enjoyed his style. This article was much more ‘approachable’ and the study more useful because it was well developed and focused on a population that is likely to be patient and appropriate. I found it very interesting that this article used the term “Conversational Agent” as opposed to “Pedagogical Agent.” I think Conversational Agent is a more appropriate term than the dry ‘pedagogical’ approach taken by the Velentsianos research.

While reading Doering, I kept picturing my experience last week. I was on the phone trying to get help with an insurance question. There was a digital gatekeeper before I could get to my account information. The question was simple, what is your ID number? I answered it 8 times..EIGHT TIMES and it still didn’t understand me. My frustration level was palpable! With that in mind, I understand what the students were referring to when they tried rewording or restructuring their questions and the conversation agent still didn’t understand what they were talking about. That exemplifies the limitations of the ‘machine’ answering questions even with the best algorithm guiding the response. (then again, I’m still FLOORED that the agent in the Velentsianos article knew to respond to the inappropriate questions).

How would I apply this to my classroom? I don’t think I would. I played around with making a digital version of myself, and it was silly. I didn’t have much fun with that particular program, and I don’t see it being useful with my students. If I work with deaf/hard of hearing students, the inaccessibility would make it pretty useless. If I were working with hearing students, the interaction of a ‘moving’ person who seems to be active and knows what is going on could keep their interest, but I’m not certain they would learn that much more.

Another thought as it pertains to this class—I always felt that “pop culture” were those things that we shared (somehow) with another person (online, texting, in person, etc). Why would someone use an informational/glorified ‘tour guide’ as a chat buddy for popular topics? Isn’t the draw of these topics that you get a human response that is unique to that human? I’m not sure these ‘people’ have a place beyond an interactive FAQ approach. We shouldn’t be in a hurry to push humanity out of learning and living.