December 2012 Archives

Entry 1: Welcome

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Hi all:

Welcome to the winter quarter, 2013, blog for  Writing 2 ACE.

I will ask you to make comments on this blog.  These will be used as sources of class discussion and as a repository for quotations for writing.

Please note: this blog is out in public space.  Anyone can access it.  If you do not want your name on this blog, be sure to use a false name when you post a comment.  Be sure to let me know what that name is...and we will go from there.

In the meantime, once again: Welcome.

Nick
Hi all:

This is a pretty easy and straight forward read on the early stages of consumer society.

Sort of interesting to realize how long the basic elements of it have been around, since probably the 18th century.

But, as we will see, it wasn't until the 20th Century that it came to full flower.

The reading points to a number of issues basic to an understanding of consumer society: the difference between want and need (if we can figure that out); the role of advertising; the social construction of desire as infinite.  A whole bunch of stuff.

Pick a quotation from the reading, type it into comment box, and write about why you picked it.

Thanks.

Nick
Hi all:

This reading is a bit long, but not hard, mostly facts, history, mixed with analysis.

It's about the development of consumerism in the early part of the 20th century.  That was an amazing time.  Much like our own.  Very rapid changes and adjustments, of course, for human beings as a result.

Hard to believe but back then Henry Ford said he was going to make just ONE car, and it was going to be a damn good one.  But then a man named Sloan, who worked for GM, came up with the idea of different models for different years and economic groups.  Today we take that for granted, but it was not always so.

For this entry pick a quotation (could be a paragraph long), type it into the comment box, and then say why you picked that particular quotation.

Nick
Hi all:

"Why the Self is Empty" is an academic article.  It's too long, the print is too small, it's full of citations and names you won't (and don't have to) know.

Forget that stuff and read for the main idea.  Cushman is trying to talk about how consumerism shaped identity as older and more traditional forms of identity formation slipped away.

Or to put the matter another way: Cushman is interested in consumerism as a psychological rather than economic phenomena.

Do as you did with the last blog comment.  Pick a quotation you find interesting and then write about why you found it interesting (you agree/disagree; something you had not thought about before; important to over all argument; no clear or confusing).

You might end up using this article or parts of it in some way in your paper 1.  Clearly it ties in with parts of the other readings that all, so far, mention the role of consumer society in the creation of identity.

Thank you.

Nick
Hi all:

This article is by Zygmunt Bauman.  I have never had any heroes (except maybe for Micky Mantle and Bob Dylan).  But now Bauman is my hero, not so much for what he has to say about consumer society, but because he is still saying lively, interesting stuff at 85 years of age.  I can only hope my brain works as well as his at 85.

He is an acute observer of the consumer society; in this long-ish piece he distinguishes the act of consumption from the consumer society and begins to discuss the psychological implications of the latter for the life we now live.

You have to take time with his writing.  It's not fast food; you can't just swallow it down on the go.  You have to sit down and chew a little.

Again, as with previous posts to the blog, pick an interesting quotation, type it in, and write a few lines about why you picked it.  Or try to paraphrase his line of thinking.  You can of course include a quotation in this too.

Nick
Hi all:

This is another piece by Zygmunt Bauman.

He elaborates here on some of the themes in the previous article with special attention to the question of happiness.

Are we happy, he asks, in the consumer society? How can we be, he seems to ask, if consumerism depends on exciting ever new desires?  How then can we ever be satisfied?

Again, as with previous posts to the blog, pick an interesting quotation, type it in, and write a few lines about why you picked it.  Or try to paraphrase his line of thinking.  You can of course include a quotation in this too.


Nick
Hi all:

Sometimes it's good to read old stuff.  This piece was written in 1928.

It's sort of an eye-opener.  The author says things that few would dare to say today (at least in public).  We are so polite.  But he makes no bones about it.

This is Edward Bernays on the uses of propaganda (advertising).

Pick a quotation, type it into the box, and say why you found it interesting.

Nick
Hi all:

Susan Linn covers a good deal of territory in her book on advertising to children.

Pick what you think is the most interesting quotation from the article.  Type it into the comment box and indicate why you picked it.

Nick
Hi all:

Write a paragraph or so on your view of advertising to children as based on our readings last week and for today,

Think of the paragraph or two as a potential start on your paper 2 should you decide to write on advertising to  children.

Nick
Hi all:

Please type in for this comment your response to the Kilbourne video, "Killing Us Softly..." as viewed in class last Thursday.

You can find the video, I think, by clicking here.


Nick
Hi all:

Using the notes you took and the comments you wrote after viewing The Truman Show, write a plot summary of the film.

You can write as much as you like but try to make it at least a 100 words.

See you..

Nick
Hi all:

Pick a scene or incident from The Truman Show.

Describe the scene or incident, and then say why you think it is important for our understanding of the meaning of TS.

See you...

Nick
Hi all:

Write two paragraphs as a start on your paper 3 about the Truman Show. 

Remember, while it is important to know what happens in the film, your main goal in paper 3 will be say what you think it means.  So you will be writing an interpretation.

Get started on that....in two paragraphs.

This is your last blog entry for W2ACE, winter, 2013.

Farewell!

Nick

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