Dominant Corporate Messages

You open up a magazine and see a skinny pretty girl dressed up stylish, you turn the next page and see a well known celebrity, looking better then they really are with a product of some sort, like perfume or cologne, in their hands and a catchy name. In every page you turn to there are messages being sent to you, to look better you need to be skinny, and a curvy nice body, beautiful stylish hair, and in style clothing and by doing that you're life will be more meaningful. The people who make the magazines purposely aim to make people self-consciousness, and persuade them into wasting their money, just so they can fit into society more, be more "popular".

Also in movies like twilight, it influences girls to fall in love with the dangerous guy, the one whose dark, smart, and handsome. It influences girls to fall into a "forbidden love", get with someone whose from a different status then you, who you're parent mostly wouldn't approve, and yet movies are always showing the boyfriend and girlfriend, holding hands with their family, everybody's happy, which goes against the whole fall in love with a dangerous guy. Also it makes girls believe that to have a more meaningful life, you need a dangerous type of thrill, one which most people would go against, because we value our life more then other things. Which goes to show you can really trust one thing, because theres always different side to it, a "bad" side.

Thanks Giving-Black Friday-Walmart guy

Insights i had about thanks giving was that, its just a holiday that people celebrate, while not really knowing why their celebrating it, or what for. Most think oh because the natives gave the pilgrims food and they shared a meal, the day is a day to give thanks for the food they got, while none really acknowledge the fact that the pilgrims killed the natives. So in the end they're celebrating a day where people ate the natives people's food then killed them. So some people just really try to find excuse to celebrate and have fun. They find pleasure in being around friends, family, having the day off, and having fun.

Black friday i dont really see what is so meaningful about it, unless you're poor and dont make much money, then i guess it serves a bit of purpose, but its just a day where people waste their money on things they dont really need, just to make their life seem better. Also about that walmart incident, its horrible, people value wasting money, rather then to save a person's life. People always complain about how little money they have, and how they want more, and yet they're spending it on meaningless things, which they people will make their life more meaningful based on the influence of corporate culture, that you need certain things to be more happy.

The election

My opinions about the elections are really that big, I'm not really that affected cause political stuff dont really interest me, I just hope that Obama does good things for our country. He talks about all these changes, I just hope he actually keeps those promises instead of getting us even more screwed then we already are.

Also I was kind of surprised at first people were saying Obama will win for sure, since i thought watch much news I wouldnt have known, but based off what my mom mention about McCain having more experience then Obama, since he was in war before, and is the senator of Arizona, I would've thought people would pick McCain since he has more experience, but I guess not. After hearing that I wondered why people picked Obama, and then that made me wonder about people who picked just for the sake of him being black, which is pretty screwed up, instead of picking him for all his promises/plans, they just pick him because he is black. All im concerned about is that Obama doesnt screw us over, I dont think any of this is going to change my political views.

Comments for music video analysis

Jace - i agree with you that it was saying that to have a good life you gotta have looks. I also like how u pointed out that no one in the video was ugly i didnt focus on that.

Vincent - I agree with how they were saying that love is what makes a meaningful life, and i like the connection u made with "love makes the world go around" you just made me remember that quote.

Katherine - I agree with you and the whole shes saying that to have a good life you need to be popluar and have boys coming after. I didnt really think much on the jealousy part, because no one in the video was really luking jealous, but i can see where u get the idea, yah and i agree with what marco wrote about the whole no one can admire someone thing, since thats how jealousy is, u start disliking the person b/c u want to be them.

Music Video analysis

1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life? Paraphrase the main idea.

The video of the Beatles "all you need is love", is saying that in order to have a good life, all you need love. That loving one another makes life better, that the main thing in life is love, without it life would be meaningless, and not great. Also that whatever you can do, can be done.

2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.

Well the part of that all you need in a happy life is love was based on the part of the lyrics where they sing "All you need is love, all you need is love, All you need is love, love, love is all you need." The part where it looks like its saying is whatever you can do, can be done is fro the quotes like "There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung." its like saying you can do whatever you want or put your mind into, kind of like there is nothing you cant do.

3. How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics? Analyze.

The images in the music video helps support the idea that love is all you need, because a bunch of people are like joined together in unity, which is sometimes used as a symbol of love because people think unity has to do with people loving each other. Also decorations are usually used for something happy, like flowers and colorful balloons make people think in a positive way, which goes with a happy life, since bright colors are usually seen as happy warm things, and since people like colorful things.

4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared.

About the thing i wrote earlier about the quote "there's nothing you can do...can't be sung" I find that kind of ignorant/arrogant because not everybody can do a certain thing, like people who are disabled might not be able to do certain things that non-disabled people can do, like playing soccer, for those whose legs are paralyzed. Not everyone in this world can do just anything. Also for the love part, its also kind of ignorant/arrogant because love isn't the most important thing in life, sure it might be important, but its not the only thing we need for a happy life. Like money, we need money to buy food, clothes, and to pay our taxes, our bills, I find that money is more important then love, to have a better life, because we need food, water, and clothes more then love. We need food to survive and not die from hunger and clothes to cover our body parts. Love is just a feeling people think they can't live without, but its not like you're going to die if you don't have love in your life. So love isn't like the most important thing in life, so you can still live a good life without it.

What other people think

All the people around me live different lives, yet their views of a meaningful life isn't that much different from each other. All the people I interviewed seem to share the same idea that friendship is an important part of their life that makes their lives more meaningful. They all seem to agree that friends are like another family to them, and because they cause happiness and are always there for them, that makes friendship meaningful in their lives. One specific interviewee, Alex, thought friendship was the most important thing for her, while others put family as number one in their list. When asked why, Alex simply replied, saying "Family is more troublesome then friends, and since I have a very small family, with no one my age and I hardly see them, to me friends are more important but only by a little".





The other five interviewee seem to think that family is more important and meaningful because they share the same blood, and grew up with them, so they have a more important bond with their families. After disagreeing and saying that friends are like family too, one interviewee, Belgica said “yes they can be, but family have the same blood as you, speak the same language, you grow up with them”. For that statement I just said “You can say the same thing for friends, I grew up with my best friend, knew her since I was a little kid and we both speak English and consider each other as family”. She agreed but argued that blood is more important because its apart of you, and that they can help you out whenever you need their blood. I asked her why family is so important in this world. She thought for a while before saying “I guess its because we were taught as kids that family is important, and to respect them, so I guess its like a habit that never ends” I found this interesting and tried to get her to explain it better, but she said she couldn’t explain it more then that.

Comments for people

-lol wicked, though the beginning luked like those commercials and i was like gahh of course hes gotta be all dramatic love the song btw :DDD - For Gavin


-lol i likey both songs

and your kitty is so cute :3 - For Rachel


i agree with kate i like how you went from color to black and white. Also i love the scenes when you and your brother are together, lol so cute makes me smile - for John li

I love your video its AWSOME, so nice and the music was nice too

lol my favorite picture had to be the blue power ranger? in the sand or the pink chairs :3 - Reiko

From watching other people's video i saw that even the slight meaningless moments were really meaningful to people, even though they were doing nothing. I also noticed that the videos that are more interesting are the ones with special effects, and with video clips, cause it makes everything seem more interesting. I also noticed some only did a video of one thing, like Jace of basketball which was pretty cool, shows that he really loves basketball alot.

Meaningful video

1. In this slideshow I included things/people that are important to me, like my family; My niece, brother, and his girlfriend and my cousin, because they're important to me, cause my family is always there for me, to help me with whatever i need and they are a part of me, since we share the same blood. Then my friends from school and outside of school because they also are very important to me, they always help me, and know how to cheer me up when I'm sad, and always treat me great. Also I put two of my friends drawing, and a piece of my artwork and some art in the art room at school, because to me art is meaningful, i love art, i think its like another way to speak to the world but instead of words, you use images and i added the music to show that music is also meaningful to me, cause its a different type of art, instead of pen or pencil you use your voice.

2. They all related to me, because they're all things that are important to me in life. I would like to 

3. What seems good about my life, is that i have a family and friends who love me, and I'm getting good education to help me in the future, and I have clothes to put on and food to eat.

What seems bad about my life is how bad we're treating our home land, we don't clean it enough and animals are becoming extinct, and a lot of people aren't doing anything about it, and also we're losing lots of trees, which is bad, cause they're homes to animals, and they help the earth's air. Also what is bad, is how people are like going against each other because of their difference, like homophobes and gays.

Something neutral in my life is, school, i like it, but i also dont. I dont mind learning and going to see my friends, but waking up early is a drag.

4. Something i would've loved to include was like video clips of times i have with my friends that aren't significant but are like meaningful to me, like me and my friends playing DDR in toys r us, and also i would've loved to add a picture of both me and best friend holding up a sign that would say "we're bi" or something like that, because even though some people might not approve of our orientation, we don't really care, we're proud to be bisexual, so I would've liked to add that in as well. Also like maybe some pictures of my neighborhood, because even though its nothing special, its still special to me, since its my home, and also i would've like to add in a picture of my parents, maybe next time they'll want to be in one.




Meaningful from Maxiel jimenez on Vimeo.

5. What seems like a general pattern would have to be going to school, coming back home, drinking, eating, going on the computer and then going to bed. Also always leaving stuff for last, like buying school supplies. Another pattern is, another bad ting happening after another, like with the storms nowadays, one right after the other, people dying, getting hurt and losing their homes.

6. They help me to see what i should do and what i shouldn't, they teach me to limit myself, and the neutral is just something thats there, its neither good or bad, just something i have to deal with. Also it makes my life seem more stable and normal, cause if i didn't think anything was good, then that'll be bad for my health and mentality, and if there wasn't anything neutral then there wouldn't be a balance between bad and good.

7. Well i guess in a way it is, because americans value their friendship and families, and they have to go to school, we're all weird and different, so i guess i am living a "typical american life", even though there is no such thing as a typical american life, because we all live differently, and there is no way one family can live just like another, there is always small differences. But if you basing it on common things, like going to school, eating, bathing, and that kind of things, then yah, but if its like my whole life, then most likely no.

8. I'd like to look more deeper into how much i love art and my family, because yah i love art a lot and its important to me, but is it really important to me, that i'll be loving it for the rest of my life, and for my family i know i love them, and always will, but when i compare them to my friends, i tend to pick my friends more, because they know more about me then my family does, which sounds weird, but since I'm always with them more, i prefer my friends more then my family, and i wonder if that will change in the future, if i'll ever end up loving my family more then my friends.

life

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