The VW Beetle

The VW Beetle, an impossible ideal by a German dictator, who may have been the most vicious demented mass killer ever, made possible. But Hitler never meant to build the automobile, it was a political tactic used to deceive the German working class into supporting him. His ideal & it's deception carried on throughout the Beetle's production, in both Germany & the U.S..



The Beetle was never a family car, as it was never meant to be. Hitler deceived the German working class & Volkswagen deceived the American working class. Hitler with his political campaign & Volkswagen with an advertisement campaign.



spectacle

How to Talk Back to Your Television Set

I found this book the other day & it reminded me of this course.

Here is an excerpt:

"...I fear that we have already reached the point in this country where the media, our greatest check on other accumulations of power, may themselves be beyond the reach of any other instituion: the Congress, the President, or the Federal Communications Commission, not to mention the governors, mayors, state legislators, and ciy councilmen. Congressional hearings are begun and then quietly dropped. Whenever the FCC stirs fitfully as if in wakefulness, the broadcasting industry scurries up the Hill for a congressional bludgeon. And the fact that roughly 60 percent of all campaign expenses go o radio and television time gives but a gilmmer of the power of broadcasting in the lives of Senators and Congressmen..." (p. 62)

You can read the whole thing for free HERE

Sponsored Suicide

In the movie "Hank & Mike" there is an idea for corporate sponsored suicide. The details of the idea are that since a person is going to commit suicide anyways they might as well help out their loved ones by attaching a corporate advertisement banner to themselves to wave in the wind as they plummet off a roof top.

Dreamworlds

P!nk "Sober" Music Video


I fear that whenever I hear Tool's Sober the image of Pink fucking herself will come to mind. Anyways, whose dreamworld does this video represent?

Identizine

an example of media, gender, & identity-- an, I hope, obvious spoof

WA2: Fahrenheit 911

Michael Moore’s “Fahrentheit 9-11” portrays the events leading up to and during the Iraq war in a humorous fashion. One question I had after watching the movie was what kind of relationship does President Bush have with the Bin Ladens, assuming they have one at all? To find a relationship the first thing I would do is compose a list of the businesses the Bin Laden family and President Bush have been involved in, then I would compare the list to see if they have interacted with one another. I would also go through the donations made to Bush’s political campaigns to see if any of those companies owned by the Bin Ladens, have donated to his campaign. It would also be important to find out if the Bin Laden family really was allowed to leave without being questioned during the days of no flying after 9-11 and if they were the only people allowed to leave. I would also look into the current relationship that President Bush has with the Bin Laden family, assuming they have a relationship, and the details of their interactions with one another.
There are three narrative elements I would focus on from this story, which are character, plot, and conflict. First, the characters of the narrative are President Bush, the Bin Laden family, and some other possible characters, whose involvement might become more apparent after researching, are the former President George Bush senior and Dick Cheney. Second I would focus on the portion of the plot where Moore explains how all flights were grounded after 9-11, but several planes flew around the United States picking up members of the Bin Laden family and flying them to Saudi Arabia. Third, the conflict of the story involves the massacre of several thousands of Americans on 9-11 and the family members of the man responsible, Osama Bin Laden, being allowed to leave the country without being questioned first.
The movie has a mystery-documentary-comedy theme to it by how it provides several questions without stating the answers directly. The only answers provided are implied through a composition of video clips and photographs which are out of context and chronological order. Some of the photos and video clips are of both of the President Bushs smiling while they stand next too, converse, and shake the hands of, which Moore leads you to believe, members of the Bin Laden family. There is no way of telling that they are in fact Bin Laden family members, but Moore discusses the family in a voice over while they are shown so you assume they are. The video footage is real but without knowing the context it is impossible to determine what is really going on and because of Moore’s indirect style and chronologically scattered video footage the film looses any real fidelity or probability.

Narrative

It was intresting pulling the narrations out of the music videos. I never watch videos anymore & had forgotten how they are. Only footage I watch of music is live videos and concert peformances. I usually just listen to an audio track rather than seek a video when I want to listen to song. But videos do provide background that you might miss just listening to the song.

Road Rage

I used global warming for my adbust but my second choice was road rage. I don't know what comes over people when they get behind a steering wheel that makes them act in ways that they do. For a road rage adbust I was going to change the Volkswagen slogan "Drivers Wanted" to "Drivers Hunted."

Road rage has a personal interest to me because, for some unknown reason, driving a vintage beetle calls it out of people. I have never been honked at & flipped off so much as I am when I drive my beetle.

Ad Buster

I decided to attack my artifact selection at one of its biggest weakness', it is bad for the environment. I used a spin-off of an old Exxon ad as my ad buster. What I did was design an ad in the style of the Exxon ad but with current statistics of the polar bear. I got this idea while reading that at the current rate of environmental damage, the polar bear will lose 1/3 of its population in the next 50 years. The polar bear has recently been added to the endangered species list. Despite that, oil companies are still getting access to drill in polar bear habitats. One of the slogans I read while reading about this was “You can’t ride a polar bear to work.” Which is true, but you don’t have to ride a SUV or Van either.

Artifact Selection

The artifact I have been thinking of using is the classic Volkswagen beetle. I want to choose it because I think it has made an impact on American culture, but whether the impact is significant I am not sure. I don’t think they have been made by Volkswagen since the late 70s but you can still find them all over the country. I do know that they were making them in Mexico until the late 90s but those models were never really brought to the US. I am guessing that there wasn’t any real need to bring the later models here. They are incredibly fuel inefficient for such a low horse power. In addition they have bad emissions and are just generally inefficient as a family car. The ones you can find around these days are original 60s and early 70s beetles that have been continuously rebuilt over the years, for what reason I don’t know.

The beetle was made from the late 50s up to the late 70s (I think). It was originally manufactured as a family car. Although I don’t know how you would fit a family in one. I think the beetle reached its most popular time during the 70s when there was a gas shortage. But I don’t really know the details of that or if I am correct. They are just a small uniquely shaped vehicle. They have very low horse power. The fastest model I know of is the super beetles made in the early 70s and I am pretty sure they didn’t have more than 80 hp. One of the most interesting things about the beetle is that it never really changed over the 30 years it was made. Slight improvements were made for things like suspension, but no major changes were ever done. In fact, most parts that fit a 50s model will fit the early 70s model also.

I think the classic beetle is worth studying because of its lasting popularity. I would put the classic beetle in the same category as a black tuxedo or Rayban wafareres, they just never go out of style. I think it is worth knowing why. Why do people continue to rebuild them over and over? Why do people drive such a slow vehicle in today’s fast paced society? I also think it will be interesting to find out other facts of how the classic beetle has influenced pop culture that I can’t even think of.

I bought a 1971 beetle myself last semester and rebuilt it as a recreational project. After purchasing it I felt I had been sucked into a car culture I never really had any interest in. I just wanted an old car that was easy to work on. As I would sit outside staring at the engine for hours I was approached by so many people with questions about their cars. Some questions were general powering steering, but some were more difficult engine transmission rebuilding questions. Either way I can’t answer anything. I only learned what I needed to get the beetle up and running and feel like I have forgotten that already. I had a hard time convincing people I knew nothing about power steering, because the beetle has no power steering. As I would search the internet for tips or procedures I found a huge culture of beetle owners. It was amazing the things I discovered. No question I had had less than 3 answers which I could compare and contrast. Which led me to wonder, how has this car made it so long?

Personal Critic Manifesto

Right now I am reading “The Clown” by Heinrich Böll. The main character Hans Schnier is a clown who has had some back luck. After receiving a number of bad reviews Hans’ friend attempts to comfort him by saying “You must bear in mind, that all critics are silly, vain, and egotistical.” To which Hans simply replies “And if someone says I’m good, what do I do then?”
Critics do have a purpose, as long as their reviews are constructive. Their analysis should be based on a strict criterion of factual knowledge which applies to their current review. And they should remain factual, never personal.

However, a critic should include their own personal information. Such as age, gender, or even their hobbies, any information that paints a portrait of them so that you can see what kind of person they are. Because if you know what kind of person they are you will know whether or not their critical review would be in tune with your own. For example, my 10 year old brother likes music that I find horrible. Therefore, if he would tell me to listen to a new album because he thinks it is good, I know that there is a good chance that I won’t like it. By knowing a critic’s personal information you can know whether or not you relate to them. So if they are a 90 year-old grandma they are not going to provide the same review a 20 something college student would. And knowing that information you can go with the review from the critic you feel you have the most in common with.

I think a critic can be bias or even should be bias, as long as they admit them. For example, I don’t like movies that are about movies. Movies about movies are any movie about actors or directors trying to be successful or the worst kind is a movie about a person making a movie. I have a bias against these movies and as soon as I know something I am watching fits this category I just shut it off. I think a movie about a movie is lazy, and something only a person working in or attempting to work in the film industry can relate too, because I definitely can’t.