I’ve learned quite a few things about Fairfield County and
its values during this observation time period.
For one, us Fairfield County citizens love our personal
space. On the train very precarious cautions are taken to avoid the
catastrophic elbow touching of the person next to you, and even when everyone
is squished by the door trying to get out, we really aren’t that squished.
There is always that two inches of personal bubble around each person.
Now that I have observed and recognized this very singular
way that everyone navigates Fairfield County, I will try harder to observe who
breaks this custom and what is the result. I am curious now as to what would
happen depending on who were to challenge this personal space bubble with
little communication norm.
In a more grand scale, through my two blogs about television
shows I have noticed that television likes to use the stereotypical molds of
girls for their characters- fashonistas, weak, reliant. This starts at a young
age and continues throughout the teenage years and demographics, which is
really appalling. If we are making TV shows geared toward girls, wouldn’t we
want our female protagonists to be strong and act as positive examples?
Both “Sofia the First” and “Pretty Little Liars” were equal
in creating shallow female protagonists. Sofia is walked all over and doesn’t
mind, and the PLL girls cant seem to realize that their boyfriends are the ones
that are doubling as serial harassers and killers. They give girls little
credit in taking action and having any ability to do so, which is parallel to
my train observations of women. Upon observing their behaviors, I noticed that
women were more likely to take any seat and be indifferent towards who they
would be sitting next to or in between, showing they were sensible and rational.
My observations of real life disproved what is portrayed on
television of the qualities of women, which makes me wonder even more why we
then portray the stereotypes? Does someone somewhere want there no progression
in the view of women? And to what effect does this portrayal have on the actual
girls who watch these programs if this is not at all what its like in the real
world?
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI really really liked your blogs. Your examples were great and really insightful, especially the train one. You opened up new aspects to these TV shows that people watch without really thinking about what's actually going on. I like how you ask questions at the end, but I think it would be even better if you could answer them just because that would be really interesting. The only thing I would say is to connect your two TV shows to specifically Fairfield County. To me it seems like you're connecting them to more general stereotypes. Otherwise I really loved everything.
Ello Olivia!
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting how you connected all of your blogs together since I really didn't know how you were gonna do it. I found the intro to be a bit..out of place since personal space seemed like almost another observation that was unrelated to the rest however the rest of your blog pointed out an interesting connection which was that women aren't like they are on Tv. Now the question is do women admire these women on TV and just cannot live up to their legacy (hope not) or is it that society finds these women entertaining? Or both?
Wonderful, thoughtful questions in your reflection, Olivia, and overall, these blogs were specific, analytical, and extremely well-written. PLL was hilarious; Sophia was terrifying (what IS this show??), and the train serious food-for-thought about how men and women are socialized differently. Great work!
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