Hey, Mr. DJ!

No question about it: music is in every form of media. In movies, commercials, teevee, there’s just no escaping the music. Without a doubt, music is everywhere because of audience demand. Just look at any MySpace and face book page and you will find that some people would just die without music =[ Without the audience demand for more tunes, the world would just die. Just kidding, but it is an interesting thing to think about, is it not? Rhythms and melodies would not have a definition and we would probably get tired of listening to people and nature “sing” to us. Without the audience’s demand for music, the formation of music and radio would not be as advanced as it is today.
  How audience demand works is fairly simple: if you like what you hear, you can easily get more of it just by asking for it. Today, we can easily call up our radio station and request a certain song to be played within the hour. By demanding certain songs or artists, we help the artist become popular among the airwaves and reaching ears of listeners in the area. With popular songs comes the Top 40 list, (obviously a list of the most popular songs that plays on different stations). The genres of the 20s weren’t as “advanced” as they are today, but regardless, families loved listening to music as well as television shows and broadcasts as a family (as evident in Radio Days). With the demand for radio talk shows, programs like that of Howard Stern’s rule the airwaves and continue to be a popular hit, not only within the radio industry but also other outlets (for example he’s featured in some teevee programs and even in some movies).
 Different genres attack us every day: 60’s grunge, speed funk, goth pop, children’s hardcore, instrumental hip hop! We cannot escape the appearance of a genre. However, when we look at the evolution of music genres, we see that they all stem from one another, or are a spin off from another different genre (for example, in our text book we see that  blues had an influence of the shaping of swing, which led to big band, to pop, to rock and roll, and etc). But what we call rock and roll today was considered blues in the 1920s. Sure, the audience demand is a tad different with it being 2010 and all, but even in the 20s there was an audience demand. With performers like Sinatra being on the radio, the teenage girl population swooned over their radios, and the songs of Sinatra easily become big hits. Now a days, Lady Gaga rules the radio, internet, and concert arenas, and of course we all love her! But without audience demand, she would probably not be at the top of the charts or even have a career without our demand for her music.

Verb: it's what you do.

More like: Social learning: it's what we always do.
If we were to reflect on our lives and think about all of the verbs we EVER participated in, we probably wouldn’t think of “social learning” being at the top of the list. But it is. It is that simple. Our generation sees any form of media and we automatically think to imitate it. All forms of media can influence social learning, but to narrow it down, masculinity and femininity play a very large role in shaping how we view and see ourselves, as well as others.
                To put it in my own words, social learning equals playing the copy cat card. We see something we like or someone we admire (or even lust for), and automatically wish to live their life. We want to wrap ourselves in their lifestyle and escape our problems and issues we face every day. Little boys see the super strong power rangers and learn from their peers on the playground that if you are not as muscular as the green ranger, then you really aren’t that strong.  
                As silly as this example sounds, unfortunately it’s true. In lecture we saw the “improvements” made on GI Joe over the course of several years, only to see that his plastic muscles became bigger and bigger as time went on. Through Tough Guise we are taught that boys/men must be molded of muscles and show no fear. If any of these guys lack muscles, then they must turn to the next best thing: weapons (i.e. the terminator; though technically he had both muscles and weapons)
                Another example comes through the form of poetry from one of my favorite slam poets, Sierra DeMulder: in one of her poems she writes:
                                “As women, our worth lives secretly wrapped in lace and panties
                                  Our fragility armored in pepper spray and mace…”

Throughout the poem, entitled “Paper Dolls,” she is talking about women that are sexually assaulted. But to go back to social learning, DeMulder makes a point by saying that even as a young girl she is “taught” that she is as “light” and “collapsible” as a “paper doll.” DeMulder shows us through her intense and amazing poem that at a young age, (“from the moment we leave our pink nurseries”) anyone can witness or even be “taught” social learning. DeMulder is taking a stand against social learning by staying strong even with the poem baring such a harsh topic as rape. Here is a link to DeMulder performing her poem, from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvxQnT9Luqk

Hegemony

                I really enjoyed the Mad Men examples that were mentioned in class when we were first introducing hegemony and ideology. Through the tv show, which has won Best Drama THREE years in a row, we see both terms in action. In his article, James Lull defines hegemony as “the power that one social group holds over others.” Using this definition, I have a better understanding of the behavior of certain characters within the AMC show. Hegemony is what makes characters/viewers praise the lead protagonist, Donald Draper. The men of the office have hegemony over the women.
                Watching the show, we see the interaction between the men. They stick together, joke, laugh, drink, and work together. It is almost like a huge “bromance” going in within the office. But, we also see the men of Madison Avenue and their obvious oppression of women. Within the office, the women are all secretaries and most importantly, eye candy. For example throughout the first season, characters often made speculations about how a female character got the job as Donald Draper’s secretary (they all assumed that she slept with him). And the men praised him for it. Don Draper is envied and lots of men within the office wish they were him. Draper has it all: the job, the reputation, the gorgeous wife and children, etc. Because the men see his life, they think they should all have similar lifestyles. The men think that Draper is the “top dog,” and that all men should be like him. The men have the mentality that not staying faithful to your wife earns you a high five within the office, simply because they see Draper doing it. Some men see this, and even have affairs with secretaries from their office.
                “The capacity of the ruling group that enables it to maintain its power and reinforce its ideology.” In class we used this as the definition of hegemony. So to break it down: the “ruling group” is the men of Madison Avenue with the “capacity” being their mentality that they should all be Don Draper and live by his morals and standards (regardless if they are just or unjust). They think the “ideology” they should be upholding is the fact that they rule the world with women just being a side show. The way to uphold this ideology is through the “power” of their oppression to women.  
                I am posting a link to the first season trailer of Mad Men, just within the first few minutes you see wandering eyes and sexual comments from the guys directed to the women of the office. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuMhXcLa-Q