COMM 322: Final Project: The Sexualization Of Children

Brandon Reed, Josh Fern, Alexandria Larsen, Caleb Livesay, Andy Kunz, Sydney Curet, Reign Acosta

Lets Talk Fairytales

Princess culture and superhero culture are two topics recently discussed in class and though I have been struggling to make up my mind about all this, I have decided that it is harmful and deceptive towards kids. When kids grow up playing with Barbie and G.I. Joe’s and fake guns and pretend makeup kits they are being heavily influenced by the subliminal messages they present. These boys for example are familiarizing themselves with the male body, but what they comprehend about it isn’t even realistic or accomplishable. They are being lead to believe that in order to be a hero or to standout they must be muscular and broad and chiseled beyond belief and they are only going to be let down when their fantasies don’t come true. The way the media and the toy industry depict men is harmful to the emotions, confidence, aspirations and future goals for the boys that are consuming it because they are being lead to believe unreasonable characteristics of the man they are supposed to become.

In regards to the princess culture and its effects on little girls, I also feel it to be harmful to their futures. I think that from experience, growing up with a friend who was obsessed with Barbie, I developed unrealistic expectations of my own body and appeal. I remember, as a kid thinking, how is Barbie so skinny? Why are her legs so long and thin? How can Barbie be so thin and have boobs? Why don’t the older girls I know have bodies like Barbie? And these, I believe, have contributed to the lack of confidence I have in my own body today. Even if I am complemented often about my physique, I still find flaws and expect more out of myself. Now, I am not saying every kid grows up thinking like me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a large percent of them do. The characteristics that a princess or Barbie posses are very influential on little girls and the way they act, and I find it unnecessary for a toddle to be glamorous, preppy, beautiful, well dressed, or covered in makeup and jewelry at such a young age. As kids, your supposed to get dirty, get cuts and scrapes, and only look presentable when your parents make you. When girls are young they should be exploring nature, and reading books and playing outside in jeans and a t-shirt, not worrying about their hair, or clothes, or getting a “boo-boo”. And I argue that if they do grow up in such a feminine culture that they are going to be less well-rounded women and struggle in the real world. I also think that they will struggle with body issues and money problems more than girls whose expectations are for it to be handed to them like a princess.

To game or not to game...

With the extreme popularization of social media and networking sites, people of our generation are becoming lonely and disconnected from society. Media allows for the creation and exchange of user-generated content, and in this class we studied the effects of social media and explored the consequences it is having on our daily interactions and relationships. The absurd amount of time spent on social media has really impacted the way people interact in public and the overall satisfaction they have in their relationships. The rewarding feeling people have with hundreds of Facebook friends or Twitter followers has surprisingly been recognized as harmful. But social networking sites are not the only daily, time consuming stimuli we take part in, the gaming industry has also become more popular among our generation and is being publicized more and more as researchers find positive outcomes from gaming. Today in class we read and watched a TED talk on Jane McGonigal, a videogame designer and advocate for gaming. She believes that gaming can be applied to real-world problems and could be used to stop climate change. McGonigal’s goal is to create a 1,000-year-long-game played by every single person on the planet.  To me this is a dangerous approach to save our planet because the nature of gaming is so time consuming, it is too risky to encourage kids to sit in front of a screen all day, avoiding real life interaction and experiences. Even if gaming could effectively banish climate change, I don’t believe it is a good idea to urge more media intake than there already is. Media has been linked to loneliness and weak bonds and lack of social integration could increase the isolation kids develop due to media. When people are constantly interacting over media their relationships are built through their fingertips and technology rather than their heats and face-to-face interaction. I think this could have a very harmful outcome in the future of our planet’s incumbents. 

Social Media Over Friends

They call it “reality TV”, and you hear things like “real life”, “real drama”, “real talk” and so on. But what does “reality TV” actually mean? The last couple of weeks we have been studying media framing, class, reality TV shows and what people may not realize about the “real” in reality. TV shows like Real Housewives, Honey Boo Boo, and Duck Dynasty are three shows that we focused on in class. The media industry is a corrupt, manipulating and addicting aspect of our lives, and it often results in a false consciousness, or false views of the world and the way things “really” are. The lifestyles of the rich and the famous are almost unattainable by most and viewers everywhere are receiving false information about the celebrity world and how they get to where they are. The Real Housewives convinces viewers that they are hard working, dedicated, and real, but in reality, they are lazy and get money and praise for spending money in “disgusting ways”. The average housewife lives nothing like the ones on the TV shows and that is as obvious as it gets, yet, for some reason, we still tune into watch these outrageous, boring lives of reality TV stars to what? End up creating unrealistic expectations of what our lives will never be and therefor lowering the satisfaction for what we do have?

From one extreme to the next, we can go from watching absurdly rich women, to carnival like hillbillies in the shows Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo. These shows are insulting these families by adding dramatic music, providing close captions when they speak, emphasizing their accents, and showing their gross behavior on TV. They stereotype these families and humiliate them in a way that the can be describes as “in good fun”, but what people don’t realize with these shows is that, in reality they are not only dirt poor, filthy, hillbillies as they are depicted on TV, but are actually pretty well set in terms of money and literacy. The Duck Dynasty members are very wealthy and can afford to take trips to Hawaii, but media is sure to show them as out of place in such scenarios. The wives in Duck Dynasty are all beautiful, well-dressed, thin, sophisticated women and that shows that they are living a more glamorous lifestyle than we may think.

The point is that reality television is deceiving and can lead the viewers to have false assumptions of the lives of housewives, or hillbillies. People need to be more aware and notice how media framing is doing to our perception of others.  

"Reality" TV

They call it “reality TV”, and you hear things like “real life”, “real drama”, “real talk” and so on. But what does “reality TV” actually mean? The last couple of weeks we have been studying media framing, class, reality TV shows and what people may not realize about the “real” in reality. TV shows like Real Housewives, Honey Boo Boo, and Duck Dynasty are three shows that we focused on in class. The media industry is a corrupt, manipulating and addicting aspect of our lives, and it often results in a false consciousness, or false views of the world and the way things “really” are. The lifestyles of the rich and the famous are almost always unattainable by most and viewers everywhere are receiving false information about the celebrity world and how they get to where they are. The Real Housewives convinces viewers that they are hard working, dedicated, and real, but in reality, they are lazy and get paid and praised for spending money in “disgusting ways”. The average housewife lives nothing like the ones on the TV shows and that is as obvious as it gets, yet, for some reason, we still tune into watch these outrageous, boring lives of reality TV stars to what? End up creating unrealistic expectations of what our lives will never be and therefor lowering our satisfaction for what we do have?

From one extreme to the next, we can go from watching absurdly rich women, to carnival like hillbillies in the shows Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo. These shows are insulting these families by adding dramatic music, providing close captions when they speak, emphasizing their accents, and showing their gross behavior on TV. They stereotype these families and humiliate them in a way that the can be describes as “in good fun”, but what people don’t realize with these shows is that, in reality they are not only dirt poor, filthy, hillbillies as they are depicted on TV, but are actually pretty well set in terms of money and literacy. The Duck Dynasty members are very wealthy and can afford to take trips to Hawaii, but media is sure to show them as out of place in such scenarios. The wives in Duck Dynasty are all beautiful, well-dressed, thin, sophisticated women and that shows that they are living a more glamorous lifestyle than we may think.

The point is that reality television is deceiving and can lead the viewers to have false assumptions of the lives of housewives, or hillbillies. People need to be more aware and notice what media framing is doing to our perception of others so we to don't create lies or stereotypes about people.  

Why study popular culture

There are tons of great educational and socially applicable courses offered here at Ball State University, so why should you choose Communications and Popular Culture? Over the last twelve weeks I have acquired enough knowledge to answer that question. I think that popular culture is a very important topic to study because it is the most familiar form of culture to our generation and it is important to be aware of its intensions, messages, hidden meanings, effects and ideals. Popular culture, media, rhetoric, social media, technology, advertising, culture jamming, the effects media has on society, how to analyze texts, princess culture, culture and food, media framing, and reality TV are all familiar topics and they are all important aspects of our everyday lives. Before taking COMM 322 I was completely naïve to the motives behind social media and the alarming amount of advertising and branding associated with popular culture and the media.  This class is very appropriate for us young adults (and everyone for that matter) because many of us are unaware of all the unseen aspects of popular culture. This class has opened my eyes to the political, corporate, and economic characteristics of popular culture and media. For example, the use of branding and advertising is often overlooked but once you are informed of its surplus you will realize how much more there is to, lets say, your Facebook page. It is almost creepy how customized advertising is on individual’s news feed. Facebook will post advertisements that apply to your interest and the companies will work to engrave their brand into your life for future profit. There are several aspects of popular culture, social media and reality TV that I have found shocking and very informative while in this class. The motives behind Disney and its princess concept was mind bottling at first, I had never noticed the powerful messages girls and boys are being exposed to on television. The unrealistic standards of beauty and fortune are promoting a hyper-real reality to the public and this can harmful to the impressionable teenagers, young adults and especially, children in our society.

Being aware of the hidden messages and the deeper meanings within the nature of popular culture and media can be very helpful in your every day life. By being more aware of the use of advertising and the effects branding and princess/superhero culture (for example) has on kids will be lessons you carry with you all your life.