Keepin Up With the Jones'

Good ol' Adorno and Horkheimer never fail to amuse me with their insights regarding "mass culture" and "mass taste". The notion that everyone is an individual and has their own personal style and taste is tempting, however, Adorno and Horkheimer do raise some interesting points on the matter. The claim that culture as an industry "perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises" (139) has managed to make a fair bit of sense when considering a common "mass" ideal that has been etched into our brains through numerous discourses from the moment of birth. Take the "All-American Dream" that so many refute but ultimately conform to. Living this dream can be stereotypically summed up as having a nice house, car, dog and family (hopefully not in that order of importance), and "not to conform [to this ideal] means to be rendered powerless, economically and therefore spiritually-- to be 'self-employed'" (133). But how nice does that car have to be? Is it still living the dream if Rover isn't a pure-bred? The culture industry and the media might say, "your kids will be happier and in turn, your family will be more ideal if you had the newest mini-van with one (or two) DVD players." And thus, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, along with all their neighbours go on a family outing and pick out the newest mini-van together. After all, the Jones' down the street have one and they seem happier than ever. But alas, little Johnny Smith still gets beat up at school and and Mrs. Smith's cooking still sucks. Apparently, the easy steps to self (and family) betterment aren't so easy. I'm sure the Smiths feel cheated by the culture industry's empty promises. (Kind of like Mrs. Smith feels about the Mr.'s vows...)

Leave it to Virginia

Keeping a blog that is situated in the public domain (the Internet) among the billions of others that express views on topics that are both random and...significant? seems a serious matter. In a sea of clutter and nonsense, I will post my usually introverted opinions on feminism and pop culture and all that wonderful jazz in "a room of my own". Or perhaps, "a site of my own"? Whatever it is, I feel good about participating in a practice that so many have already come to know and love. The Women's Studies 320 class and the entire world will have (un)exclusive access to my deepest thoughts and most brilliant ideas, and I too will have the privilege of knowing what keeps people like you up at night. With a simple click on a link each one of us will be connected, creating a cornucopia of ideas and an intricate web of agreeance and rebuttals. Feminism can tend to be a touchy issue, and it is all the more fun that it is the topic I am going to touch (I can be sure to expect many comments from many opinionated people). I vow to keep my entries interesting, insightful and honest. After all, you never know who is going to come across your blog! (ah, the joy of public access..) It is my hope that my entries will inspire and that I in turn will be inspired and further motivated to share my views on Feminism, pop culture and much more with this class and the people of the world.