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