Self-Critique

I have enjoyed the majority of the blogs assigned throughout the semester and always tried my best when writing them. At first my style of writing was very formal, but as the semester progressed I became more relax and my writing became more personal. As far as my best blog, I believe it was the Writing about Learning blog assigned early in October. While writing it I didn’t think I had done that great of a job because I didn’t understand the prompt very well. I just gave it my best shot and wrote about my opinions concerning the nature of learning. The comments I got for this particular blog were very positive and I was proud of my work after reading the praise. All the blogs we had to write about our experience in a hybrid course were my worst blogs. Writing five hundred words on that topic was a little difficult from time to time, but I understand why we had to write them so I still took them seriously.

Blogs were similar to homework assignments and I viewed them as a necessary task. Some were very interesting, such as the Challenging Media blog which discussed the nature of Disney movies. I truly enjoyed watching that video and writing that blog because I had no idea about the true intentions of Disney. I learned from the blogs that made us discuss controversial topics such as this Disney blog. I do not plan on blogging outside of this course, but I do plan to continue to write in my journal. I’m too old fashion to continue a journal online and prefer to hand write certain things. My relationship with writing publicly has not changed much, simply from being formal to casual throughout the semester, as I mentioned earlier.

Annotated Bibliography

I have decided to change my original response essay topic, movies against promiscuity, due to a lack of sources. I am now expanding on the essay titled Teenage Pregnancy and Single Parents: 16 and Pregnant. While being raised by a single parent can lead to young pregnancies, my response essay will state that there are other reasons for teenage pregnancy besides a lack of parental guidance

           

          Source 1: This article describes five reasons for teenage pregnancy. The first is a lack of parental guidance, which is what the preliminary essay described. The second is adolescent sexual behavior. The third is an inadequate knowledge about safe sex. The fourth is exploitation by older men. The fifth reason is socio economic factors.

           

          <http://health.top54u.com/post/Causes-of-Teenage-Pregnancy.aspx>.

           

          Source 2: This article describes the reasoning behind teenage pregnancies in America and in other countries, mostly third world nations. In third world countries early pregnancies are a result of traditional and early marriage. Being fertile is a gift therefore; being pregnant is seen as a good thing. The in-take of drugs is also mentioned as a reason for young pregnancies. Also, sexual abuse is a main cause for teenage pregnancies.

           <http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-The-Causes-Of-Teenage-Pregnancy?&id=753619>.

           

          Source 3: This source discusses not only the causes of teenage pregnancy, but also the effects and consequences. Some of the causes were long term relationships, carefree sex, and passion. These are not very strong reasons however, they are still relevant. The effects include early responsibility, changes in body, and life-style change. I’m not sure if I can use these effects of this source just yet.

http://pregnancy.ygoy.com/unplanned-pregnancy/causes-and-effects-of-teenage-pregnancy/

Response Essay

The topic that I have chosen to write about is Natalie’s essay titled Losing Virginity to the Big Screen’s Lies. Her argument states that due to big budget movies dramatizing sex and one night stands, without displaying any of the consequences, makes promiscuity acceptable in today’s society. Although I agree with the basic complaint and understand where she is coming from I also think there are many movies that show true hardship concerning this problem which audiences can learn from as well. I read quite a few of my classmate’s essays and found Natalie’s entertaining and something that I could counter well, as I found myself creating counter arguments while I read. Although I do agree with her, as I did with most of the essays I read in class, I can think of a well written counter argument that would make for a perfect response essay to her preliminary essay.

 The main point I would like to make in my response essay would be that not all movies promote promiscuity in young adults. Some even teach viewers the consequences of such actions by creating story lines about hard working single mothers, determined single fathers, desperate pregnant teenagers, and depressed HIV patients. These recent and popular movies that present such admirable characters include Waitress, The Pursuit of Happiness, Juno, and Rent along with so many others that teach viewers the value of safe sex. Waitress shows what it’s truly like for a woman to raise a child alone, The Pursuit of Happiness displays the lifestyle of a single father with no money, Juno leaves nothing out in teen pregnancy, and Rent brutally shows the darker side of contracting HIV and AIDS. There are millions of movies and each one can send out many messages, so to state that all movies today send out messages to encourage having sex at a young age is extreme.

Another point I would like to make is the fact that it is a parent’s responsibility to teach his or her children to practice safe and appropriate sex, not movies. Movies are for audience’s entertainment and not to be viewed as a lesson to learn from. I understand that people act certain ways based off of what they continuously see and if they continually see movies that have promiscuous characters in them then audiences begin to think this is ok. This is especially true if viewers look up to the actors and actresses as well and would like to be them. However, if a teenager is old enough to go see a movie that has promiscuous behavior, then they are old enough to know that it is wrong and inappropriate to act the same. This is where parents must step in and guide their children in the right direction when they begin to stray. There are also other means of media that can influences children and young teenagers in the wrong directions, not just big screen movies. These media’s include television (notably reality television), advertisements, and music.

Challenging Media

I thought the video Mickey Mouse: Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power was very interesting, however, I found it slightly overly analytical. I will admit that Disney has an enormous obligation to fulfill as story tellers and movie makers for children of all generations all over the world. Every child at some point will watch and unconsciously interpret a Disney film and it is the job of the creators at Disney to make sure that the messages sent out are ones that are appropriate for children to learn. Disney truly shapes our children’s imaginations. I was very taken by the comment made by Dr. Henry Giroux who states “it has a certain romance about it that allows us, in some way, to treat Disney as the ultimate form of fantasy, a fantasy that never needs to be questioned.” I could not have said that better myself and agree with this statement wholeheartedly. I believe that it is this exuberance of fantasy that keeps children watching, and re-watching, Disney movies throughout the years.

It is clear that Disney has tremendous influence over the youth of this generation and past generations and I understand that some people argue against Disney as teaching dangerous lessons to these children. One women in the video stated that the message of Beauty and the Beast was that girls should stay with a “beast” that harms you because all you have to do is find the “prince” within. Another women stated that Chinese people were put down in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp because of the, clearly Chinese, evil Siamese cats. I think that these views are too overly critical and overly analytical. I believe that the message for Beauty and the Beast is completely different from what this lady makes it out to be as Belle was a well-read, intelligent women who didn’t put up with characters like Gaston. I also think that Mulan is a great movie for children to watch to appreciate and learn about Chinese culture. That movie was very respectful to Chinese traditions. There are many more types of media that send worse messages to children these days, such as the lyrics to modern rap and hip-hop music. I believe the music industry is infinitely worse than Disney in the values and morals it teaches. All you have to do is turn on G105 on the radio to understand my conclusion.

Even though I defend Disney’s ethics, I was very disturbed toward the end of this video when I heard that the view of Disney was as follows: “we have no obligation to make history, we have no obligation to make art, and we have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.” I find this statement hard to believe as each and every Disney movie has defied the test of time and made history, the animation is considered to be art, and each storyline told will make a statement. Based off of these conclusions it is clear that Disney has a much greater obligation than the selfish objective to make money.