Internship Blog #8 At the End

This is my last blog for this internship, as now the semester is coming to a close. I cannot believe that so much has happened in the last semester, it has truly been an incredible experience. Working with Cressen Books LLC has been the internship of a lifetime!

The marketing and growing of a small business, manuscript editing, (especially those editing tricks in Microsoft Word), and the understanding of the importance of good constructive criticism have become such essential assets to my skill set.  Every meeting that I met with my supervisors had allowed me to experience much personal growth. I can honestly say that I am not the same person I was eight months ago.  It has been a most challenging semester for me and there have been many personal obstacles that I have had to confront. I really have had to take a look at my past work experiences and examine what kind of person I am going to be in the workforce. I have had to reevaluate my worth, and what I can bring to an employer, which has proven to be difficult, but also something very important. I thank you both for the encouragement that helped me overcome many of the challenges I faced.

I know that as this internship ends, it is only the beginning of my new author relationship with Cressen Books LLC. I can now say after this semester that I am a published author, which means more to me than I ever knew. Working on this novel has really given me a better appreciation of what authors go through when writing and trying to get a novel published. I look forward to many more times of working with them and watching their  business reach its potential.

 Not many people can say that their internship was life changing, but I certainly can. I cannot truly express the immense gratitude that I have toward them and to the internship program at Shepherd.

Internship Blog # 7 The Penultimate Post

As most of you all know, for the past semester and weeks before that even, I started working a intern with a publishing company, Cressen Books LLC. As a senior at Shepherd University, an internship is such an important part of higher education at Shepherd, and for me it was like a certain coming of age, and a signifier for the beginning of the close on my time here at Shepherd. I cannot express fully, just how amazing this experience has been. I know that when most student go for internship, it is not nearly as wonderful or helpful as my experience has been for me.

At first I was a bit unsure as to what to expect, since I had never had arranged an internship like this before. So by scouring the newspapers and the internet for editing and publishing near this area. And all I can say is that I never expected the outcome that unfolded. I cannot thank Cressen Books LLC enough for taking me under their wing for a one of a kind experience that goes way beyond a typical internship and I can say that I have learned so much and gained experience and opportunities that have seriously changed my life.

If someone would have told me six month ago that I would be publishing a book by January, I would never have believed it, and as an individual, it is the most challenging and rewarding journey I have ever taken. As a young writer, I had always suffer with a block that would prevent me from finishing long works when I started them, but now I can say that I have pushed past that block and have really grown. I think that this is so important in an actual business setting. I think that as an employer, you need to be willing to nurture and encourage your employees. When someone is responsible for helping another's potential, there is a great care and vigilance that needs to be applied. How can you expect the employees to bring out the best in your company if you do not try to bring out the best in them? I really have had to take a look at my past work experiences and examine what kind of person I am going to be in the workforce.

I have had to reevaluate my worth, and what I can bring to an employer, which has proven to be difficult, but also something very important.

Online Comics, the next new thing in comics?

Online comics, like the ones depicted in Scott McCloud's The Right Number One and Two and The Superfogeys by Heasely and Lapierre do fall into the genre of comics. I think that as the progression of other media such as newspaper and books have started to integrate into the internet, I think that is a natural progression comics to do the same.

The Superfogeys 

Most online comics such as The Superfogeys are just publications of comics only online. I think just because it is up a digital screen doesn't make it not a comic. In the Superfogeys, we read the online comic just as we would any other comic in any other format. Our conceptualization of the idea comic does not change, just as our digital graphic novels are read any differently than a printed version.

from The Right Number

However, Scott McCloud's The Right Number One and Two are different from the Superfogeys in the fact that it is not a static webpage upon which a comic is presented. These comics are interactive and engage the reader physically in the presentation of the comic. We get to choose when and how the story is displayed to us. The juxtaposition and movement of the frames is very active in the comic, and though I thought that it was very distracting at first, as I continued to read there was a flow that formed and became very natural. And the presentation include frames of its own, like style frames within frames. The idea of frames was not lost, only presented differently. If anything, it allows the viewer more artistic freedom in how they want to interpret the work and maybe they will get a whole new meaning from the work. I think it is important for comics, just like any other form of media, to remain intriguing and exciting has to take chances. The Right Number doesn't lose it's comic integrity, rather it doesn't limit to what comics can be, rather what they can't be.
I think like everything else, there is room for experimentation in every genre and media whether it be comics or television or video.

Internship Blog #6

Just another update on my internship and looking back on everything that I've done so far. Working on this novel has really given me a better appreciation of what authors go through when writing and trying to get a novel published. The writing and editing process can actually be long and intensive, especially when you have other look over your work. However, that review is so super beneficial because I think it fosters writers to be better and present the best possible work.

I also received and signed my author's contract this past week and I cannot relay how excited I am about it. I never thought that something like this could come from an internship, but I think it also shows that if you are dedicated and work hard enough on a project, that you reap what you sow.  It also shows that employers or in my case (internship supervisors) recognize your contributions and are willing to work with you as long as you are willing to put forth the effort.

With my novel's impending publication, I can only say that this has not been a class for me, this internship has literally (though cheesy) changed my life, in ways I never expected. I can now say after this semester that I am a published author, which means more to me than I ever knew.

I have seen so many different aspects of the publishing company, and from the super positive to the super negative, including what bad editing is and how important proper editing and proper presentation really mean to an author and a company's validation.

Reflection on the completion of Essex County

As some of you who have been keeping up with our Graphic Novel class this semester know that we have been reading Jeff Lemire's Essex County. I recently finished the entire three-story collection, and as a class, we were asked to discuss how we felt each story was tied together. What were the overall main themes, characters, or sequences that brought the collection together as whole?

For those of you who have not read Essex County either at all, or in it's entirety, I strongly recommend it, because it for me, Jeff Lemire is an excellent storyteller! For Lemire, the story isn't complex in the way that it makes it hard to understand, but complex in the way of subtlety. It is the responsibility of the audience to piece together and gather the information to complete the overall "big picture."

For Lemire, the themes of family, redemption and loss weave the three stories together just as much as the characters' connections do. All of Lemire's characters strike at our hearts, because just like his characters, often in our own lives we are faced with complicated and heart wrenching situations, often with circumstances that we cannot control.Often times as a family, people talk about the threads that hold them together. Lemire examines these threads and then stretches them, pushing them to their limits and really showing us that there can be redemption through forgiveness, and the chance to rebuild.

 In the first book, Tales from the Farm, we experience Lester coping with the loss of his mother living with his grief stricken uncle, to the second book Ghost Stories where Lou copes with losing his dream of hockey glory and the estrangement of his brother Vince. Which left book three, The Country Nurse to try and pick up the shattered pieces of lives and reconcile them.

I think one of the most important lessons that Essex County tells the reader is that life goes on, and that it is never too late to forgive the ones we love, even if it the damage seems too deep, even if we have to forgive ourselves first.

Internship Journal #5

These past two weeks have also been some of the most difficult for me, as now I am half way in and nearly halfway done, the stretch is becoming harder and harder mostly for time, but also the semester is starting to sap my energy.

Though now I have a completely finished cover for my book, which is pretty amazing and provide a little bit of fuel to keep me going, but everything seem a little weighing.
However, I also got the opportunity to start reading and provide comments on another Cressen Books's author, which was really great. It actually put me in the mindset of an actual editor, and I cannot wait to see what I can learn this week from Ed and Wendy about editing. I've helped edit their writings, but I have never edited anything else by a legitimate author.

I have some ideas, but I really think I need Ed and Wendy's direction. I know that it is one thing to have advice and revisions to give someone, but it is another thing entirely to explain it to the author. I know that I can be a little tactless and a bit too colloquial in my editing, and that really needs to be fine-tuned or rather I need to stop being lazy.

I've also started so many rewrites and revisions on my own novel, something that I really despise, but it is a necessary evil. I am finding it to already be a long and difficult process, and one of the most challenging things that I have ever done. I am proud of the time and effort that I have spent so far and I hope that the milestones that I reach will help me when I feel like there is no end in sight.

Frame Compare/Contrast, Essex County Book 2: Ghost Stories and Blankets

Today's scoop:

Craig Thompson's
full page characterization frame
for the character of Craig.

In our Graphic Novel class, we were asked to read three graphic novels in addition to Jeff Lemire's Essex County as part of the required reading. For my first novel, I chose Blankets by Craig Thompson.

For those familiar with the world of comics and graphic novels, you will know the significance of frame usage and design in these kinds of publications. Frames, as we have been taught, are more than simple containers that hold the text and pictures on the page, they themselves are part of the storytelling and help subconsciously relay information to audience just as much as words or photos do.

Jeff Lemire's full page
characterization frame
for the character of Lou.

 In Essex County Book 2: Ghost Stories, Lemire uses frames very similarly to Craig Thompson in Blankets. Both include framing panels that are mostly rectangular and provide action-to-action based transitions through the story. I also noticed that both contain high-impact large frames sometime enveloping the whole or most of the page to provide emphasis, usually for personal character reflection, especially in characterizing the main characters of each story.

Frames as
hockey arena

  In these frames, each author symbolizes the main desires of their characters. For Lou, it is the desire and remembrance of memory, and catharsis and rebirth for Craig. I also noticed for both Lemire and Thompson that they both abstained from using color within the frames of their novels, but rather used shadows and shading to give depth to both frames and photos.

Frames as
 a scrapbook

In Essex County: Book Two, the frames become something else entirely. They become not only a way to tell the story, but they are integrated into the story. The frames become a scrapbook on which we are able to see into the past and learn about Lou and his brother Vince through their mother's clippings, or a hockey area where we see Lou and Vince obtain their hockey prestige.

Snow metaphor  

 In Blankets, however frame usage does not put us in a physical place,  rather Thompson taps more into our emotional and conceptual reactions to things. The frames become metaphors for themes throughout the story. We see the patterns of Raina and Craig's quilt actually weave itself through the pages, so that it is always lingering in our thoughts and emphasizing the emotions and the time and effort and dedication that Raina and Craig used to have for each other. But then we also get frames of white and snow, that is the metaphor for Craig's quest for purity and peace.

Blanket metaphor

Internship Journal #4

The final cover for A Veil of Shattered Dreams.
Cover photo and design by Danielle Gesford.

This week, in my internship journal,  I'd like to discuss a few things that have been on my mind for the past few days concerning the different things that I have been working on. These past few weeks I feel I have been most in touch with my novel, A Veil of Shattered Dreams, the one that I am working on for my internship. What seems so strange to me is that in my wildest dreams, I never saw this kind of story escape from me, it is definitely different than anything else that I have ever written and definitely the most difficult.

I think that putting out my cover and realizing the amount of time that I have left to put this novel together has really put the pressure on me to get my writing done. I think that after I finish this story, it may be awhile before I write again. The decision to publish is also something that I have struggled with immensely this week. I never thought that I would publish something like this, especially not in college, my of my writings are for my enjoyment or shorter works that are not ready for publication. However,                 as much as I want to publish it, I want everyone to know that this was never a money making endeavor. Writing is something that I love and something that I want to share with everyone. Reading and the gift of reading is something that I don't believe should be denied to anyone. It is my love of reading, even over writing that propels me to editing and publishing. A belief I hope to retain while I continue even past internship. Secondly, as much as I love the story and the characters, I am no acclaimed author, anything that someone reads from me, published while I am in school, is I think student work. Unless someone sees something in it that I do not see myself.
What I also recognize is the fear that I have in exposing so much of work and writing for everyone to see. It is difficult to have people not only judge your work, but judge you as the author of the work. It should not matter if others like it, I know, as long as I like it. But, if writing has been the one thing that people have anticipated from you, then you do not want to let those people down.

As I start my fifth chapter ( now half-way through) I take these thoughts with me, and I only hope that I can influence my own writing so that I give myself and others the story that they (/I) expect.

Internship Journal #3

A Veil of Shattered Dreams Cover Version #2.
Still a little more work to be done.
Photo by Danielle Gesford
Model: Caity See

These past few weeks have been the most exciting yet in my internship. At the beginning of the semester, I was learning all of the technical and instructional aspects of the publisher/author, but as time has gone on and I have developed even more of my own project, things have shifted over to the more creative outlet.

Last week alone, I completed another chapter of my novel, now titled A Veil of Shattered Dreams and worked on creating a cover for the novel with help from my two friends. It has been a wonderfully crazy process from setting up a photo shoot, processing and creating all the elements that go into a cover of a book. Though this is only a student project, I can hardly imagine all the revisions, time and creativity that must be put forth to come up with not only the content of the novel, but also how the cover attracts the audience to the novel as well. Design plays a huge role in laying out a novel's format.

I have also spent time with my supervisors helping them with the plots in their own work. I am finding more and more that publishing and novel creation is much more of a collaborative process than I first recognized.

As far as my writing is concerned,  the writing process of Veil is definitely a more challenging endeavor, and I understand why, as most authors do, have so long dates between publication. There is hardly anytime to write. With daily lives and resources and the little unexpected tribulations that pop up,  it is a drastic feat for me to have a decently penned and edited novel in six months. Wow. Writing is actually going to be my major focus for my next journal, as my crunch time approaches and I begin writing very heavily in the next few weeks.

Lester vs. Vladek, Character Showdown

As those of you who have been keeping up to date on my Comm blog, in my graphic novel class we've been studying different elements of graphic novels and how each element has been contributing to the overall purpose of the comic. Most recently, we've read Art Spiegelman's Maus and the first two books of Jeff Lemire's Essex County. This week, we discuss the characterization of Maus's main character Vladek in comparison to Essex County's Lester.

Art Spiegelman's Maus

We are first introduced to Vladek in Maus through his own recollections and his conversations between himself and his son Artie. Everything that we find out about Vladek are inferences from other characters in the story. Vladek's character is actually presented to us first through the filter of Artie's reactions and dialogue with him.  The way that Artie feels about his father ( overbearing, somewhat ridiculous) influences the way that we as an audience begin to view Vladek. We also understand his compulsive waste-not and thrifty ideals, and his family central lifestyle. Spiegelman illustrates many times  how Vladek came to be who he is, we experience and discover him through his own storying telling. Not only do we come to understand Vladek through Artie, but also through Vladek's own actions in his memories. We hardly ever hear or see Vladek's internal thoughts or feelings. This creates a division in his character, Vladek the narrator and Vladek the father. We are told everything that happens to him throughout his years in the Holocaust, he recalls every memory and therefore we can judge him and understand him based on what he has been through.

Cover of Jeff Lemire's  Essex County

However, Lester in Essex County is presented to the audience in a very different way. Instead of developing his character through the other characters, Lemire gives the audience bits and pieces of information about the character, through memories and facial expressions and his reactions to others. He leaves it up to the reader to fill in the gaps and make their inferences about Lester. Lemire's approach to characterization is a bit more subtle and makes his character feel more relatable. Unlike Vladek, Lester is a bit more complex and difficult to understand. He does not give every detail about his life away to us right away but we must rely on his surroundings and environment to reveal his character.

Internship Journal #2 My Novel Progress

These past two weeks  at my internship, I have really been experiencing the writer's end of editing. In this journal, my focus will be about my own writing and the progress and experience that I have gained.    We started off the week, by doing a business lunch at Beasely's Books and Eccentricities in Charles Town, WV.  The atmosphere of Beasely's is the perfect place to come together and brainstorm as writers. The walls are lined with libraries of novels and have little reading nooks tucked in quiet corners for the ultimate curl-up spot. My supervisors and I found a great location inside to meet over a small meal. It was definitely a high-light of my week. We set up our laptops and had an editing session.  We also began start analyzing and monitoring the progress on my novel.
Though I do not want to write or be an author,  I have such a greater appreciation and understanding of the different types of writing styles.  I've realized in these past short weeks that you have to have such an open mind for a writing style that is different than you might expect. Proper editing does not change or alter someone's writing style, but it's a balance of finding and interpreting the writing style and seeing how it affects a certain audience. When you are writing, you have to keep in mind your audience and you have to be aware of everything you're writing. As I've seen, that editing is extremely useful for those ideas that don't quite make it outside of your head. Writing helps you recognize the way authors write, and as editors you know how to improve on any writing style.  So far, I have completed my first chapter and am in progress of my second chapter. (of ten chapters)
Web design and the basics of E-publishing also played a role in my activities for the past two weeks. Uploading manuscripts for E-publishing actually requires some knowledge in web design because websites such as Amazon and Nook require some form of HTML coding.

Comic Transitions and Maus

In Understanding Comics, author Scott McCloud lists six different panel to panel transitions in comics. He defines six transitions from one panel to the next:
1. Moment-to-moment, where relatively little change takes place between the two panels.
2. Action-to-action, where the actions of a single subject are shown.
3. Subject to subject, which transitions between different subjects in the same scene.
4. Scene-to-scene, which "transports us across significant distances of time and space."
5. Aspect-to-aspect, which "bypasses time for the most part and sets a wandering eye on different aspects of a place, idea, or mood."
6. Non-sequitur, "which offers no logical relationship between panels whatsoever."

These transitions help us to understand the relationship between each panel and how we as readers are supposed to view them and interpret them. In the novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman, these transitions are not always obvious to the reader because our brains are  synthesizing their information without even thinking about it! And Spiegelman's work often has panels that are relatively all the same size and shape, which doesn't automatically signal to us that a transition has occurred. We as readers fill in the gaps already!

Moment to Moment transition.

Take these panels here (right), which depicts the main character Artie having a conversation with his father. As you can see, this panel shows moment to moment transition, where there is the subjects Artie and his father hardly change position and there is little left to the readers to have closure on.

Subject to Subject transition

Other times, in Maus, there are subject-to-subject transitions (left), such as  the scene when Artie's father is describing how it was to be a POW of the Nazis. The panels include how they passed the time while imprisoned, which for Artie's father included playing chess with the other prisoners and writing letters to his wife Anja.

Most common in all graphic novels are action to action transitions (bottom center), which are the actions in progression of a single subject.  In Maus, on of the more memorable action-to-action sequences for me was in the POW camp when Artie's father has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. However as he goes outside to pee, he is shot at by guarding soldiers and must quickly go back inside before he is shot. The sequence of showing all of these actions together draws your mind to show you how actions and time has passed in this scene.

Action to Action transition

All images from Maus by Art Spiegelman, for educational use only. Taken by Rachel.

Journal #1 Internship

Spanish Intrigue, the first volume of the L&L Mysteries
by Wendy Lohr, one of my supervisors

I’d been planning my internship months before I started it and actually had several opportunities to me with my supervisors ahead of time which was so helpful in working out all the details for this semester. Where I work is a small editing and publishing company out of Gerrardstown, WV called Cressen Books, LLC. Operated out of their home office, Cressen Books, LLC was incorporated in 2010 and since then has published several novels from multiple authors. In my experience, I have been meeting with my supervisors not only to help them edit manuscripts of novels, but also with editing and help to write my own novel. My supervisors thought that it would be important for me to write a manuscript so I would understand first hand what authors go through in novel development all the way up through the editing process. Already, the have been showing me how to use different editing techniques and other programs such as Adobe InDesign, which the Wycloff article mentions is key in a career in Desktop Publishing. As of this week, I am still learning the editing process and how to use Microsoft Word more efficiently for novel and text editing. I have been working many independent hours to write and develop my own novel. I also attended a marketing seminar with my supervisors to gain new skills for their small business. Through these first experience, I have only confirmed that this is definitely the career path that I want to pursue, but I also realized that there is a definite level of professionalism that must be learned in our very relaxed environment. This internship requires alot of personal dedication and hours because I am producing a very personal product.

Let's Talk about Maus

Just from day one of our Graphic Novel class, I 've learned there is so much that readers and audiences have to learn about comics. There are so many misconceptions and preconceived notions about comics, that a general audience does not realize that the appeal comics have and their role in our lives is so much more apparent than what we know. As Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, notes that comic appeal to us because humans have a tendency to assign identities where none exist, and how not only we make out our world in our image, but how we can project that image on to other symbols and images to better understand the human experience.McCloud argues that audiences pay too much attention to the messenger (of an idea or story) and not the message. In Art Spiegelman's Maus, a novel depicting one experience of the Nazi regime around WWII, Spiegelman uses the idea of assigning human identity to his 'mice' characters, in an attempt to make the audience focus more on story events, rather than the characters themselves. 

Art Spigelman, author of Maus.
Photo by Nadja Spiegelman, 2006

In Maus, all characters are personified mice (though some are other animals, but mice mostly) , though they do have distinct personalities and character traits, I found as a reader that I focused more on the text of the frame, rather than the image to understand what was happening.  I wasn't as focused on their facial expressions, which I think helps me as reader take away more from what characters say. Main character Artie's, father's recollections of the first Nazi takeover in Germany create more of an environment for a reader to lose themselves in, rather than a character's specfic thoughts or motives. The readers do not care that the characters are not human after awhile because it doesn't matter. We've all heard stories about the Nazi regime, and anyone can tell what a Holocaust victim was or looks like. We know as humans the differences in the appearances of our race and the qualities and characteristics that each person is supposed to have. We know what Jews look like, what Aryans look like. But what does a mouse Jew look like? What do we care? All mice look the same to us. We look at the events that Artie's father is retelling, but our lens is different.  Identity is challenged, we are forced to revist our concepts of race, of character. Maus is successful because of the environment that the author has put the reader in. Almost all of the time, readers are forced to make connections with the characters, because we empathize with them as humans do to each other. Very rarely are we forced to make it through a setting or through events by ourselves,  because we can rely on the characters to help us or to guide us. But if we experience it ourselves, we understand what the story is about, what it is trying to present without out filtering out character development or influence, because then it is like "we" experience it
.

Reflection on The Persuaders

As I watched the The Persuaders, I was absolutely engrossed. The ways in which advertising has become so integrated and assimilated into our culture is startling. I was so fascinated with how ads are marketed to people. There is such an amazing depth in which advertisers try and sell a product. Advertisers capture the very essence of people, they get under their skin, and never before have I seen human emotions and interaction analyzed in such a way. For me,  it is a shame to find out so much about people, and only use that information to sell something. One thing that really surprised me, was the role that brands and brand loyalty play in peoples’ lives and also how advertising is integrated into entertainment. Not only are there commercials, but the advertising is also inside of the entertainment that we watch.

I'm more than a car, I'm a Chevy. That means something to you, right?

In order to create brand loyalty, advertisers in The Persuaders actually studied cults in order to know how to create a deep, loyal following to their own brand. How crazy is that? And even crazier, it worked. Brand loyalty plays on the human and societal need to belong. The brands just don’t try to sell a product they try to sell meaning. Brands provide a ready made identity and provide people with a transference of feelings from the emotions about an idea to the product. One advertiser went as far as to create a lovemark, or a brand with loyalty beyond reason. These lovemarks create emotional connections, and move from a brand to an experience.  This was one of the methods used by the airline company Song.

Song’s advertising would have exploded today, I believe that Song was on the right track with using the brand as an adjective, as an inner state of mind, but with the advent of Facebook and apps and the whole social media / app sensation, I think that Song would have had more of a chance to become big. Today,  I think that Song would need more, as hard as they have worked, as much as they have researched, and as good as what they campaign is, I don’t think that in 2012, 8 years later, that it would suffice. Airlines are increasing in price, and I don’t know if Song could maintain their promises and advertising in today’s world.  Though there are so much more advertising opportunities (social media/ hyper façades), they have to do it first.

The integration of advertising in entertainment also shocked me. I think that for advertising, that it is BRILLANT.  Yes, it is product placement, but in movies such as Cast Away (Fed-Ex) and I Am Sam (Starbucks), The Persuaders argue that we grow to see brands as heroes and characters, they take on human traits and we care about them as we would other humans. We have that transference of feelings and emotions. As we personify our pets and our cars, we personify other products and through that we give them significance.

Advertising, I have to disagree with the movie by saying that it does not destroy our society, but it defines us.  Some people may view that as a bad thing, but I see it for what it is. These products are no longer just products, they are a part of us, we give them meaning. It doesn’t matter that the meaning is fabricated, or that it is intended to appeal to us in the first place. It only matter how people see it, products have no inherent emotional qualities, but now they are a part of who we. It is not a surprise to anyone that to be American, is to be in a consumeristic society. But is it? Just because ads aim to sell, or are fabricated, doesn’t mean that the ideas they carry or the concepts they try to sell aren’t real. 

In Summary....

The article that we read, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is just an extension of what we learned in Codes of Gender, which are both laced with the ideas of Erving Goffman.  In the article, it is mentioned that The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life describes social actions in relationship to how actors perform on a stage.

In relation to the Codes of Gender video, I think that out of the main concepts that Goffman describes in his article that manner and appearance encompass the ideas presented in Codes of Gender.

The concept of Appearance portrays the to the audience the social statuses of the performer. He says that appearance also tells us that dress and props serve to communicate gender, status, occupation, age, and personal commitments.  Appearance was often a focal point in Codes of Gender, because props and dress identify actors in the ads to us. Therefore we recognize the appearances attributed to each gender and how they are used to marker ads to a particular audience or are made to make the audience relate/ feel emotions about the advertisements. Even more so, I think that even Appearance can go even further in the direction of not only dress and props, but even inherent physical traits as well.  In stage and screen acting, actors who often look naturally like the part that the appearance is being ascribed to often are more accepted to the audience. The more that a person fills out a social role ( especially that of appearnce) the more there are accepted in any society.

In the article, Goffman presents the idea of Manner, or how an individual play the role and functions to warn the audience of how the performer will act or seek to act in a role. As example, Goffman says that adjectives like dominant, aggressive, receptive. Goffman also says that Manner can have inconsistencies and can be contradictory, when one does not present him or her self or behave in accordance to his social status or position. This was projected in the video when the ads of men in women’s usual advertising positions seemed to us as weird or unnatural.  Goffman also says that our appearance and manners are often contradictory, when was also apparent in the film, when the clip from the video showed the different ways in which the man was walking.  Even though the man performed the ultra masculine walk of John Wayne, he still was in controversy with his appearance with his already perceived femininity.

Walking Like John Wayne




The Birdcage

— MOVIECLIPS.com

Killing Us Softly? One Ad Would Have us Fendi(ng) off Predators

In Comm 406, we watched the most recent part of the advertising video “Killing Us Softly”  and "Gender Roles", videos that represent the role of women in advertising and also how masculinity and femininity are represented in society.  As the videos tell us, the treatment of women in advertising is absolutely horrible. Women are seen as second- lass inferior beings that only matter if they have ethereal beauty and a flawless body image.  As upsetting this is to me as a woman, on a different level as an advertising student, it provides an interesting perspective on how society and the media define the roles of women to people in said society. 

Though, one would think that if such a terrible thing like this were happening, that people would notice. One would hope that they would speak out against the advertising companies who have shown them in the negative light for so long, but unfortunately no. Until I watched "Killing Us Softly", even I was unaware of the insidious effect that negative advertising toward women, not only do I view it and am innocuous to its meaning, I am a product of it. I don't think there are any of us women who are not products of it.
As Gender Roles states, Advertisements are presented as commercial realism,  and present the world in the ways it could be real. Their ( the ads) seeming normality tells us about ourselves.

Fendi advertisement in Elle Magazine.
Photo found here.

I found this ad in the newest edition of Elle Magazine:

What does this ad seem like it is trying to sell you? What if you didn't know what kind of company Fendi is?

Obviously there is an attractive model, but where is she? Why is she standing on a dark street corner at night? At first it might be a innuendo to being a prostitute, however, the model is in conservative clothing, and carrying a handbag. So, the idea of prostitution is unlikely. 

With her close-cropped haircut and Photoshopped face, the model has a very young, almost childlike appearance. She is very slim and has slender, and almost shapeless legs. Perhaps if her lips and face were a little fuller, she would look positively cherubic.As "Gender Roles" notices, Females are often subjected to infantilization, women never leave girlhood. Girls and women are presented the same. Childhood is mixed  with adult sexuality.

The goal of this ad however, it that and more. Young looking girl alone in a dark alley, with a worried expression on her face. She is supposed to signify vulnerability. From society's view these days, advertising tells us that females are dependent and emotional. From her petite stature to the open position of her body, we are meant to see this woman as a defenseless, meek creature. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, if you look into the ad slightly visible in the upper right corner are two shady looking males, coming out of the shadows. Fendi might have you believe that perhaps they are just admiring the girl or the 'fabulous' Fendi bag she happens to be carrying. The bag is the only thing the girl is in control of, however, her environment is less secure, more obscure and dangerous.

However, if two strong, shadowy men encountered this vulnerable girl at night, I can tell you not many people would think that they just wanted to compliment her on her fashion sense. Actually in the original ad in the magazine, there are four men in the shadows instead of two, in most pictures online, the other two men are cropped out of the photo.  

Granted, perhaps the ad makers were supplying another use for their product, if the men were to try and attack her, she might be able to use the bag to Fend(i) them off. 

Jokes aside, this is a very serious kind of ad. This is exactly the kind of ad that was discussed in the video, designed to make women feel incompetent and weak. I am appalled to see this in a magazine, especially one that is so available to all kinds of women. Elle caters to so many different age levels at girls, in fact I think I first read an Elle Magazine at a hair salon before I was a teenager. It frightens me, that images as blatant as this one are prominently displayed as acceptable.

Also, if I haven't already mentioned it, Fendi is a world famous accessories and handbag designer. 

Frith Analysis - Old Spice

As consumers, advertising in a blast of text, sounds, movies bombards us everyday, All of it along with influence knits up in a convenient little care package for the masses. However, behind advertisements, behind all the glitz, humor, and controversy there is an underlying message(s) that all people should be aware of. By taking ads that we see, even our favorite ads, we can see how they affect us. We can be aware if they are manipulating us, or we can centralize and make generalizations about our society in general. Ads can directly identify a population of they are marketed correctly, and advertisers have a pretty good idea of how to get consumers to purchase products. Though this may be, it is still wise to see an advertisement for what it is. For analysis of my ad today, I used the Frith method for basic ad analysis as specified by the class instructions. Frith’s analysis analyzes ads on 3 different levels, its basic (or face-value) level, its advertisement level, and its cultural level or how we interpret how it shapes and projects the society in which it is a part of.

Last week, I blogged that my favorite advertising campaign was the *new * Old Spice ads, also known as “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, more specifically the one used at the Superbowl.

Using Frith analysis, this ad on the surface level has a man with a deep voice talking to the female audience about their love interest. The man at first is seen in the shower wearing a towel, and then his clothes change and he is on a luxury sailboat holding and showing off the product, from then the product changes and an oyster appears in his hand. The oyster opens and it has tickets inside, after a second the tickets disappear and a cascade of gemstones flows from the oyster. The oyster then disappears along with the boat, revealing the man sitting on a white horse. For additional dialogue and details of the ad, you can watch the orginal video here.

The advertiser, going along with Frith’s analysis is making the statement that by using their product men will feel manlier and feel better about themselves in the eyes of women. This product is beneficial to men.

A photo from the "Smell Like A Man. Man" campaign.

In a cultural or ideological sense, returning to the third and final aspect of Frith’s analysis, Old Spice’s tag line for these commercials, “Smell Like A Man, Man” enforces the idea of specific and total gender roles.  Their attitude states that you have to be more masculine and that men should not settle for who they or be comfortable in perhaps a more feminine gender role.  The idea of sexual identity and gender orientation are not new, however as of recent these issues are becoming more and more relevant to a our expanding society.

SOPA, why it matters

Let me first off say that this is not a blog that deals with any of my current Communications classes, so this is not a blog for any of them, however it does matter in the great realm of communications and the internet.

SCOOP OF THE DAY:

As many of you may or may not know, there has been legislation come about in the recent about a new law that has yet to signed into effect called, SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act. Now, at first glance that seems like a pretty good idea. Considering that there are millions of people online that illegally pirate media such as music, movies, software, etc, it seems only aligned with our own justice system to hold those who do such deeds illegally just as accountable if they were stealing physical or intellectual property.

Though as a Communications student, I will admit that I am torn. If there is one thing that the United States government has done in the past that I am happy about is having limited regulatory power over the Internet. To me, the power that the Internet has, not only nationally, but globally is one of the most powerful symbols of freedom to ever be. Censorship has long been an issue in the freedom of speech debate, and though I like to consider myself liberal on the idea of censorship (meaning that I think censorship should not be federal or global centric, but a responsibility to individuals), but seldom is it that something uncensored is considered unlawful, (notice I did not say unethical).

However to fully explore the debate it is prudent to understand the nature and provisions of SOPA and its partner bill Protect IP Act. Now, I don't know where you like to do research, but for my writing purposes, I Googled SOPA, and found an interesting article on CNET by Declan McCullagh, that gives some tidbits of information about how SOPA would affect the internet and day to day website interactions.

First and foremost, McCullagh says that the legislation describes SOPA as a way to rid cyberspace from "rogue sites" or sites that host and sponsor copyright infringement from other countries where copyright infringement laws are not as strict or where they are nonexistent in foreign countries. 

McCullagh also posts : "How would SOPA work?
It allows the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear. It's kind of an Internet death penalty.
More specifically, section 102 of SOPA says that, after being served with a removal order:

A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order...Such actions shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order."

And although this seems at first reasonable many internet companies and sites are opposed to SOPA, because they feel that it might be a gateway to more government regulation.

He also gives a specific details about the implication of SOPA under US law : 
"A little-noticed portion of the proposed law, which CNET highlighted in an article, goes further than Protect IP and could require Internet providers to monitor customers' traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.
"It would cover IP blocking," says Markham Erickson, head of NetCoalition, whose members include Amazon.com, Google, eBay, and Yahoo. "I think it contemplates deep packet inspection" as well, he said.
The exact requirements will depend on what the removal order says. The Recording Industry Association of America says that SOPA could be used to force Internet providers to block by "Internet Protocol address" and deny "access to only the illegal part of the site." It would come as no surprise if copyright holders suggested wording to the Justice Department, which would in turn seek a judge's signature on the removal order.
Deep packet inspection, meaning forcing an Internet provider to intercept and analyze customers' Web traffic, is the only way to block access to specific URLs."

For this reason, I think that the free internet market is deathly afraid of abuse. And in some ways rightfully so, with any power given there is always a chance of abuse. So now it is time for Congress, and for us as people to choose what is more important..

The sanctity of the freedom of the Internet or the justice of anti-piracy? 

I know that there is for me, not always an easy answer, and compromise will definitely prevail, I'm sure. One thing that I am sure of it that no matter the decision, its effects will certainly be felt throughout the internet community.

Keep an eye out on Wednesday, for anti-SOPA website blackouts in protest against SOPA legislation including : Reddit and Wikipedia

Right Up My Alley!

A website about bowling? How exciting!
Photo by Jonny Keelty

                Bowling has always been a significant part of my life. Ever since I was little, and even before I was born, my parents and grandparents went bowling every week. They had their own bowling team on a bowling league in Baltimore. Then, we moved to West Virginia, going bowling was always a weekly outlet for family time. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I got my first job at a bowling alley and still keep that job currently. In high school, I joined a youth bowling league that bowled every Wednesday. My parents even bought my sister and me our own shoes and bowling balls. So, creating a website about bowling was definitely an obvious choice. In my site, I would like to include information such as how to bowl with the proper technique by tutorial videos and also how to keep score (not electronically). There are so many details about bowling, such as the companies, ball types and weight, history and so much more. What many people do not realize is that bowling is actually pretty legit, with its own specific league rules and regulations, many of which I will explain and keep up to date on the website.

This Lady Loves Old Spice!

The Old Spice logo

I would have to say that of all the advertising campaigns I’ve seen over the years, I have definitely loved the new "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" Old Spice television ads.  As I’ve grown up, Old Spice was the deodorant that my father used and still uses. It provides a sense of warm nostalgia to see that Old Spice is still thriving, meaning that my dad still buys it. When I see it or smell it, I am automatically reminded of him.

When I see Old Spice I am reminded of masculinity and Americanism from its simple red, white and blue packaging with a sailboat picture. The packaging always makes me associate of the glory days of the 1950’s when nationalism was at its peak for America.  Men were returning home from overseas after World War II, starting families and becoming dads. So now, every time that I see or hear of Old Spice, I think: DADDY!

Masculinity is still the prominent theme on television Old Spice ads. They (the ads) are designed not only towards the female audience, expressing that they should buy the product because Old Spice makes their “man” smell manly, but also to men directly with the tagline "Smell like a man, man.” 

Actor Isaiah Mustafa as the Old Spice spokesperson

As of recent the ads have featured the sex appeal of attractive “manly” actor Isaiah Mustafa, they are exciting and entertaining. They feature the glitz of retail, jewerly, exotic locations, and even alluding to the Old Spice sailboat, showcasing everything that men feel should attract women to them. They show Isaiah as the epitome of manly man, and therefore must do the epitome of what manly men should do. And in my case, it makes me smile since my father is one of the most (if not the most) manly men I know.

The Old Spice ads have now gone on to spawn fan response YouTube videos,  and Isaiah Mustafa has been featured on many daytime talk shows such as Ellen Degeneres. All of the commercials are available at the Old Spice website under Videos.

The first Old Spice commercial I saw from the Super Bowl and the very manly "Questions" video: