Titanfall Week 10 This past week my husband talked me into getting a cheap X-Box with a couple of games. He was especially excited about one game in particular, that he had loved playing. He was so thrilled about this opportunity, he pulled out his phone to show me the trailer of the game Titanfall. Right off the bat there were 2 curse words. My husband apologized, not remembering there being any. Barely any time past when there was a death. It started me off on my coding brain. In the whole short clip I counted around 14 deaths. These had no consequences and were portrayed as the right thing for the hero to do. As soon as the clip ended my husband looked at me for my response. I think he expected the usual "Oh, I don't like first person shooter games, the end." However, the first words that escaped my mouth were, "Fourteen people died in that clip." We both decided despite the lack of carnage, (since it was machines with people inside fighting other ...
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Star Trek Week 9 This past week I re-visited some old Star Trek episodes and I was quite surprised by the differences that the old have compared to the new. In the Star Trek originals there are many references to religion and Christianity. In one episode Spock says about a man who died from eating some fruit, "His name... was Adam." In another episode Uhura ends the show with the words, "Captain, they weren't talking about the Sun. They were talking about the Son of God." I find it quite interesting how the newest Star Trek I've seen, Star Trek Enterprise, has developed. There is no religiousness to be found. There is also a great deal of sex and questionable material. The violence is more real. These shows are in the same universe, yet the time at which they were created vastly impacted the content of the show. This example of the two Star Trek series demonstrates how people in our society are being desensitized to the violence and sex in the med...
The Riddle Week 8 This past week my younger sister excitedly handed me an earbud to show me the music she was listening to. I was very surprised by what I heard. I wasn't familiar with the song. She started lip-syncing the lyrics. They were very entertaining and I was enthralled at once. The message of the song was whether to trust someone, or whether it is better to betray them before they can do anything to break your trust. The song is from the play the Scarlet Pimpernel. Many lines made me pause and think. My favorite one is at the beginning when the girl voice sings, "Just see how virtue repays you - you turn, and someone betrays you. Betray him first, and the game's reversed!" My sister made quite the face as she forcefully sang those words. She was so animated throughout the whole song and I was amazed at what we expose young adolescents too. This play is about guillotine of the upper class and how a person works to undermine thi...
Seen in Day's Past/ The Skirt You Wear Week 7 This past week in class we were prompted to count acts of violence that occurred in a short clip from the children's movie "The Incredibles." Since that class media I have been exposed to has had a filter on it. By that I mean, I can't watch a movie without counting how many acts of violence were portrayed. The best example I have of this is when my husband showed me a movie from his childhood: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This movie's target audience is kids. However in the movie, and one scene particularly, the king keeps failing to murder his wife. It is meant to be comical, but when taken out of context a viewer could find this rather dark. He is trying to kill her, and it is funny. In this clip from the movie there are 4 attempts on the life of the woman, not including one from earlier in the movie. I don't think I ever noticed that aggression in kids movies has always kind of been aro...
The Power To Give Aid Week 6 Once again, my post is on our culture and privileges. The class I am in is very compelling in the media they show me. In this video that was shown in class a story of injustice is described. A woman is treated completely different based on what she looks like in a check out line. I'd recommend that you watch the clip to make your own opinion. For me it made me want to be more aware. I want to use the talents and privilege I have been given or developed, to help others who can't help themselves through no fault of their own. The example portrayed in the video tells how the woman couldn't speak out for fear that she would be labeled and therefore discredited because a stereotype. What hit me hardest was the effect the entire messed-up situation was having on the child of the woman being treated unfairly. The kid recognized something was off and yet nothing was done. I want to be the person th...
Privilege's Week 5 I had intended to post this last night, but alas, my husband was distracting me with media. This late-ish post is me repenting of that. I have just been having many experiences recently in my Cross-Cultural Family class. We were shown a video in class that was a bit liberal. The woman in it wrote a song about her thoughts on it being a "scary time" for boys. I personally haven't been following politics recently, but the music did a great job making me think. The woman tells a story of sorts about all the innate oppression women face in their life. She add's in breaks of a chorus about it being a "scary time" for boys because of rape accusations. A couple examples she gave examples I could really identify with. Two examples include not being able to go out jogging alone, or using public transit after 7pm. There are many little privileges that males enjoy that we are cultured not even to think about. For example, how m...
General Conference Week 4 Best media exposure ever occurred this weekend where I got to watch 10hrs of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! My main take away was at the very end when the prophet got up and clarified the name of the Church. Growing up I had never thought much about the fact that the nickname "Mormon" was thrown around. I didn't even realize it had once been a slang term to put us down. I never made the connection while reading scriptures about how we indirectly have been taking Christ out of our church. I loved the simple correction a prophet could give to us. Conference also answered many of my questions. Even talks that weren't directly about what I was contemplating seemed to influence my thoughts. It is remarkable how one can take totally different messages from the same talks based on where we are in our own life journey. I know that the witness I received this past weeke...