Method/Summary

The method I am going to be using is ideological criticism.  I believe that this is the best method to use for my paper because of the lyrics through out the song.  Since it is about women and the way they look I can look deeper into the lyrics and talk about some oppression that goes on.  I want to look into see if there a group that tries to make sense of these lyrics in some way through his criticism.     My second choice would is Logos, ethos and pathos.  I think that Three concepts that appear in the lyrics of this song are logos, ethos and pathos. Logos being the basic logic that people can gain from something, ethos is the credibility of the piece being discussed and pathos the emotional factor and touching people in some way, good or bad.  I believe this method could be appropriate for this song because there is a lot of logic that people can gain from this and credibility but there is mostly emotion that comes from this song to the listeners.


The theme of this song is to be who you want to be, its okay to be yourself without all your makeup and hair done etc.  You don't have to go by society's norms to be beautiful.   

For my final paper, I will be focusing on the Ideological Criticism method throughout the song try.  I will start my paper off with  an introduction to the song, what the song is about and a little bit about the artist.  The first section will also be about why this artifact is significant and relevant to today's society and this type of critic.  I will also talk about why people have chosen this song for certain events i.e one that I had seen here on campus and why they chose to open up with this song.

I will also talk about the type of artist and the songs that Caillat writes along with the age group that her songs are directed to.  While doing that I will be looking into see if there has been any groups/chats that have formed because of this song and who it has effected.

I will then get into more detail about the artifact and the method that I chose to use for my paper. I will also being focusing a little on oppression that goes on because of the method that I am going to be using for this paper. . I will focus on a couple of different main points and use some lyrics and pieces from the scholarly article that I had chosen.  

The research question I came up with is "Why do you think women try so hard to fit into society's norms."

Blog Post 2

The song Try is a song about women, their self esteem and how  you should be confident with yourself.  That its okay not to always have make up on and to just be yourself you are beautiful just the way you are.  This song reaches out to a lot of women because women care so much about how they look just to impress others.  This song says a lot about peoples self esteem, and how its no what you look like on the outside that matters because you are beautiful on the inside which is more important.  It is saying they are changing to be accepted by others but the most import type of acceptance is self acceptance.   Any type of media has a big impact on the way that people feel about themselves, so to have a famous singer make a song like this can really impact people.  
Body image also plays a role in this song and looking at articles about body image, many women are unsatisfied with their bodies and that leads to women having an eating disorder.   

In the scholarly article that I found about self esteem and body image it is saying how some people have high self esteem while others have low.  Some people may perceive themselves “highly” and others may perceive themselves as “worthless”.  Through this song Caillat is trying to say that no one is worthless. 

 

In this blog that I read I believe that it is criticized very well, on this blog they believe there is nothing negative about this song.  I agree with what they have to say because it is a beautiful message to women everywhere.  It is important to be confident with the skin you are in.     

This song has gained a lot of positive attention but there are also some people that have viewed this song and video negatively.  Some say why should I have to take my makeup off if it's my body and it makes me happy? 

The method that was used by these critics I believe is Kenneth Burke’s Pentad (Dramatism).  One of the critics is agreeing with this song and the other critic does not agree with it at all.  

Act: The lyrics of the song Try 

Scene: Listening to Try
Agent: Colbie Caillat and feminist 
Agency: Feminist that are offended by this song 
Purpose: Many people enjoy this song because it is saying its okay to not wear makeup, you are beautiful just the way you are.  There are also feminist that are offended by this song because they are thinking why should I have to take my makeup off if its what makes ME happy, its not about pleasing others all the time its about making yourself happy.  So this song is viewed two different ways.  

I thought that this worked the best because there are two different views on this song, although most of them are positive there are definitely some people that do not take this song the right way.  

http://emilycparons.weebly.com/blog/analysis-of-try-by-colbie-caillat

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=dc6f21a3-999f-4773-ae2e-4dbf7a2713a6%40sessionmgr4002&vid=5&hid=4109

Try

Colbie Marie Caillat (born May 28, 1985) is an American pop singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist from California.  The song Try by Colbie Caillat is very inspiring and it is a song that can relate to many people.  This song has such a deep meaning to it.  The lyrics in Try are saying that you are beautiful the way you are and you don't have to try so hard to be good enough for people.  You don't have to be the thinnest or the prettiest to be beautiful.  You also don't have to wear tons of make up or fake eyelashes to impress others.  One part of the song says "You don't have to try so hard/You don't have to give it all away/You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up/You don't have to change a single thing."   Try is about how us women feel like we need to change ourselves in so many different ways for people to accept us and like us," she said. "As much as we all hate that we allow that to happen, we still do it. Every day we wake up and change the way we look just so that we feel better about ourselves.  Colbie and her producer were talking about that and it made her want to create a song that could touch people and that was honest and vulnerable.  She was getting a lot of pressure to be someone she wasn't both musically and image wise.  She wrote about exactly what people were asking her to do; whether it be to lose weight, or wear more makeup.  To be a girl in todays society it is really hard to please people.  We are always feeling like we are not good enough.     
This song is definitely directed towards women.  In the music video there is all different race of women, different body types and just all around a variety of women.  They start of wearing make up and having their hair done then by the end they take it all off and are natural.  It is directed towards women more because they are so much more harsh on themselves to be good enough, men just kind of go with it and don't think too much into their appearance ( for the most part).  Its saying that for women its okay to wear make up and feel beautiful but its also okay to be natural and free which is hard for a lot of females to do.
To promote Try Caillat had female fans and other well known female artist make a lyric video without any make up on to give emphasis to the songs message.  In just about two months the song had 27 million views on youtube.  It is to date one of her most popular song she has had.  I believe this song really speaks to women of all ages and races; it gives us a little hope and confidence.  It's nice to finally hear a song with these type of lyrics.    

FM & AM Radio

Personally I have never been a huge fan of AM Radio the only time I really would listen to it was when I would be in the car with my dad listening to a sports game.   I find listening to FM radio way more entertaining because I would much rather listen to music while driving than people talking about sports or news.  I chose to listen to 92.5 WXTU, which is a country station from the Philadelphia area, and for the FM channel and ESPNS 1230 AM station.  While listening to 20 minutes of FM radio the content was 40% commercials.  The commercials that were in between each song were mainly promoting concerts that XTU is hosting.  When the commercial breaks were longer they were about car dealer ships and Steven Singer jewelry company.   By listening to XTU I learned what concerts were coming up and when they were so for me that was informative because I will be attending some of them.  While listening to AM radio for 20 minutes I was a little confused.  Since I never really listen to this kind of radio I wasn’t sure what was a commercial and what was not because the commercials were all still about sports and the radio station.  I soon learned what was and what was not.  Throughout my time listening to AM radio they had less commercial breaks.  The content of the AM station was at 27.25% of commercials so it had a lot less than WXTU.  The commericals on the AM station were about upcoming baseball and basketball games.   AM radio was way more informative than FM radio.  They were talking a lot about the Mayweather and his history with domestic violence so that was more informational and informative than learning about what concerts are coming up.  It was almost as if I was listening to a documentary on the radio.  I learned a lot about his past with domestic violence and what his future entails.   I thought that AM radio was mostly about sports and the games that were coming up or on at that time but I soon learned that is not necessarily true.         

Monowi, Nebraska

I thought that this blog assignment was very interesting, although I never knew there was anything like this on wikipedia I enjoyed reading some of the articles.  I really had a tough time finding an article to write about even though there were so many options on there.   The article that I found the most interesting was Monowi, Nebraska.  I found this to be the most interesting because the population of this town is one person.   I have never heard of such a thing and honestly didn't even know that was possible.  The town was founded in 1902 and only had a post office, after that shut down there was really nothing to it.  In the 1930's was when they had the peak of their population at just 130 residents.   The village has a total area of only 0.21 square miles. Monowi is located in the far eastern portion of Boyd County, in the northeastern region of Nebraska.  After Monowi lost its younger residents due to them moving to different towns for better job opportunities the population was at just two.  The two residents were a husband and wife, Rudy and Elsie Eiler.  After Rudy passed away if was only Elsie that lived there.  She now has a library in the town and a Tavern that she owns.  Residents from almost 80 miles away come in to her Tavern to eat.  The library and the Tavern have been on a couple of different T.V shows such as the today  show, CBS Sunday morning and also appeared on Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy.  Larry announced on a radio show that he was going to be having a hot dog roast in order to raise money for Elsie.  Although the town is so small over a 1,000 people showed up and they raised an overwhelming amount of money for Elsie.  Elsie is the Mayor of Monowi since she is the only one that lives there.  She also granted herself a liquor license and pays taxes to herself.  In order to secure state funding she also has to produce a municipal road plan every year in order to keep the four street lights that are in the town.  Personally I did learn a lot from reading this because I didn't know that it was possible to have a town with only one person, I just can't see how that would work.  I had no idea that it was possible to pay your taxes to yourself, but I guess since she is the only one there she can't pay anyone else.  I'm also a little confused by it, I'm curious as to who she pays her bills to.  I had never heard of this story before which made it more interesting for me to read.  The only way I can see this information being useful is if you are doing research that has to do with towns with a small population, otherwise I don't really think that this information is important.  Considering the wiki page I found this on is called unusual articles I am not surprised that it was on there because this is a very unusual situation.  Since it is so unusual it definitely deserves to be on wikipedia, I believe that more people should read this since I'm sure not many people know about this.  You can't find just about anything on Wikipedia that is another reason why I wasn't surprised this was on here.  I doubt that you would be able to find this anywhere else because it isn't really anything important, although it is interesting it isn't that important.  I would love to be able to visit it here, it has to be one of the only places in the world that only has the population of one.  If I am ever in Nebraska I will definitely make sure to drive through this small town.           

Product Placement in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Throughout the seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia they use a lot of product placement.  On season five episode three "The Great Recession" there are many different times where this is product placement.  To me this episode had the most product placement throughout the season.  There were also many times throughout the episode where products were shown but I don't believe it was for product placement.  During this episode they are in Dave and Busters a couple of times.   In the very beginning Mac, Charlie and Frank are at Dave and Busters eating dinner.  I believe this is product placement because Frank says how the steak isn't that good and Charlie says back "If you're looking for a better steak in an arcade setting, you are shit out of luck"  to me they are saying that Dave and Busters has tasty food and people should go try it.  Also during most of this episode Mac is wearing a shirt  that has a gT logo on it and under it says Japanese Automotive.  I wasn't really sure if this was product placement or not it could be because he has it on for more than half of the episode but since its a show based in Philadelphia you would think they would be advertising American made cars.  Another very obvious product placement is with coors light.  At the bar they have little logos with coors light on it, then mac and Charlie ask for a drink at the bar and she pulls out a Coors Light bottle.  They say no they want a mixed drink and Deandra says "but this bottle is cold activated look at it doesn't it look delicious, but the mountains they turn blue".  Also Mac says "first thing in the morning I turn on the coors sign to let people know we have nice delicious coors".  This is definitely product placement because they keep saying how amazing the beer coors light is so that the audience will want to go out and buy it.  Also during the episode Charlie is wearing a Magna shirt which is an old cigarette company, after him wearing the shirt it became really popular and was for sale for a little while.  It is no longer on sale but another company made a shirt that is just like it.  Product placement is a great way to get your product out there, especially on popular tv shows.  If you have an audience that really loves the characters on the show they are going to want to do whatever the characters are doing.  Especially if it is a younger audience they are going to want to be like their favorite character so they will do anything and go buy the product they are advertising.      

Blog 1

My name Is Erica Spencer I am a junior here at Kutztown Univserity, I am from Bucks County.  I am majoring in Communication with a minor in Public Relations.  I have really been enjoying my experience here at school.  I have met some awesome new friends and I have been a part of the Communcation Club and the Public Relation Club.  I'm not exactly sure yet with what I want to do when I graduate, so I need to figure that out soon.  In my free time I love to dance and hang out with my family and friends.  I also love doing new things whether it be eating something new or going somewhere I have never been.  Now after reading your blog I love that you said change is constant.  It really is the only constant thing that is happening.  Now I know that media has taken over but I am one who loves social media.  I am on my phone a lot and they keep me entertained.  It is also nice to have social medias like Linkdin because that can help us with our future.  That is one social media account I need to set up because I heard that it really helps people a lot.  People use social media for all different reasons whether it be to get a sports score or to find out your local news, it is always right there.  I don't really see social media going anywhere if anything I believe it is just going to grow.