1-3 Journal Analysis

In the journal article The American Dream Goes to College: The Cinematic Student Athletes of College Football. The overall target audience is the college football and classic film enthusiasts. The author’s explains how college football really became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. They also describe how Hollywood’s influence on the sport, college, and the film industry changed peoples outlook on the sport. It is mentioned that all sports became popular in American culture because of World War 1, and the militaries noticing for the need for more physically fit men. They decided to implement high school athletics to prepare the young people’s bodies for the rigors of war in case of another draft.  Militarism was debated against having athletics but it was ultimately decided to take the athletic route, because “Prussian” militarism was the exact thing they were fighting against. Between the 1920’s and 1930’s over 115 Hollywood movies would be released about athletics, more than any other time in history, of those 115, football was responsible for 89 of those films. The 1920s was deemed the Golden Age in sports, with most sports rising in popularity. Stars were made such as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Ben Crenshaw, and Bill Tilden. American was in an era when athletics were rising in popularity more and more. And with the integrating of the highway systems and new stadiums it was becoming ever easier to access these sporting events. Football related material was increasing, in fiction and non-fiction stories, newspapers talked football and every Saturday the radios were tuned into the football games.

            Hollywood noticed this paradigm shift and jumped on board, as mentioned earlier more football movies than ever were being released. And with only 16% of Americans actually attending college at that time, Hollywood ran with the idea in film. Where else could you find beautiful young athletic people, and to add to the setting love stories began to come forth in the films to draw in a greater audience. This also helped add to the popularity to college itself, any people have never been to college and didn’t understand what the college life was like. But now with the immergence of college based football films, Hollywood production companies could show case the greatness of the college life and all of its clichés. The Hollywood companies wrapped romance and athletics in an attractive marketing technique to draw in the casual viewer. This brought about unity between the college athlete and the coed. This idea real or fantasized by the general public and future college student helped shape the view of college itself.

            The larger than life success of the major athletes brought about a new American Dream, now it could be considered the new Athletic American Dream, in which athletes were compensated greatly for the skills and achievement on the professional level. These “bottom to the top” stories inspired countless athletes to strive for the goal of becoming a professional athlete. It was a new way of living and a new way of climbing the social ladder. But because of Americans view of the social status, conflicts arose not only because of income but also because differences in social status’ that conflicted each other. The overall integrity of the college sport is questioned and made sure that money is not the motivating factor and that college was not associated with professionalism.

            It was near World War 2 that the football movies began to weaken and the thought of the picture perfect lifestyle began to fade as the war claimed lives of young men. The rise in television after the war and televised professional sports helped Hollywood to lose its grip on the football movies. The movies that focused on class issues and amateur vs. professional lifestyle were never again.

            The style of the writing was to me hard to follow they jumped between quotes and the author’s words so much it was hard to tell whose was whose writing. It seemed the majority of the paper was quotes. The main ideas are bounced around making it hard to keep track, the author goes from talking about amateur college football to baseball stars and other professional athletes almost immediately. The text was somewhat difficult to read because most of the writing was quotes and the quotes were from the early 1900s. The key idea I took from this article was how great college football became in the 1920’s and 1930’s, how this was the turning point for amateur athletics, the movie industry, and college itself.

                                                                      References

The American Dream Goes to College: The Cinematic Student Athletes of College Football.Detail Only Available MILLER, ANDREW C., Journal of Popular Culture Dec2010, Vol. 43 Issue 6, p1222 (English Abstract Available

5-1

            Tsunami’s, I’m not taking this where you think I am. Although the most popular Tsunami as of today is the devastating Tsunami that struck Japan this last week. Although the news of Japan is extremely news worthy and such a terrible event, I am talking about the possibility of the “Lost City of Atlantis,” being discovered. Scientists believe that they might have found the true lost city of Atlantis. It is believed to have been discovered in mud flats in southern Spain, by an American led team of researchers.  So, what’s the deal with the Tsunamis, well I’m getting to that, it is also believed that the city was destroyed and hidden by a powerful Tsunami, which makes this piece of history interesting to me as well as current. The team has been using the most up to-date technology since 2009 to try and solve the centuries-old mystery of Atlantis, from satellites, deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology. The team is combing though an area where they believe Atlantis once stood. By piecing together history and with technology it is possible that they might possibly be on to something.

Plato wrote in 360 B.C. that the city disappeared; “in a single day and night.” it just goes to show the awesome power of our earth. Plato’s writings are the single greatest piece of evidence and clues as to where Atlantis is possibly located. The team is concentrating in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as to where they think they have the best chance to find Atlantis.  The thought of Atlantis stirs emotions of ancient lore, stories of a polytheistic world in which mythological beings and creatures roamed the earth and heavens. Some of our greatest stories today stem from the stories about that time period, movies like Hercules, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Clash of the Titans to name a few along with other numerous books and writings and even an island theme park inspired by the lored city.

Even though this “lost city” may not be Atlantis, it is still an undiscovered area which makes it all the more interesting.

Three Icons

Star Wars could be one of the biggest influences on Popular Culture that our modern world has ever seen. The movies began playing in 1977 and traces of their influence can still be found throughout our culture today.  The largest grocery store chain in the world, Wal-Mart has emerged as the giant in the merchandise field; they sell everything from food, clothes, guns, oil changes, and electronics. Wal-Mart has it all. Starbucks Coffee has helped spark the coffee/ caffeine craze. Starbucks has coffees from around the world and flavored drinks Einstein couldn’t spell, Starbucks coffee chains offer a laid back atmosphere with people reading, and using the Wi-Fi while sipping on their Americana.

Star Wars is a movie franchise developed by George Lucas, it began in 1977 and released two more movies over six years. Sixteen years after the release of the last Star Wars, George Lucas released the first three episodes over a three year period again, because the first episode ever released was number four in the volume. Star Wars was a worldwide phenomenon and grossed over $4.41 billion dollars in movie sales. Star Wars included everything from Humans with Jedi mind powers, Droids, and alien like creatures, and galaxies far far away. The interests in Star Wars range from children to adults and are timeless. Star Wars are movies that defined a generation and helped open the door to science fiction movies. Star Wars were movies I watched again and again growing up and helped spark my imagination, I watched them with family members and I will never forget playing as Luke Skywalker with my brothers in the back yard.

Wal-Mart is a grocery chain that sells discount department items, last year along in was deemed the largest public corporation by revenue. I myself am indifferent to Wal-Mart and applaud the prices but not the method they choose to get their merchandise, as in importing most of their items. There are over 8,500 Wal-Mart stores in 15 different countries, even know they are under different names, they are owned and operated by Wal-Mart ownership. Wal-Mart is an excellent example of American entrepreneurship; Wal-Mart was started by one man Sam Walton. Wal-Mart shows me that it takes one person to start a dream, and that no matter whether your from Arkansas or Ohio that anything you set your mind to can become a reality in the business world.

Starbucks coffee is an international coffee chain selling coffee and everything that goes with it in stores across the world. People love their coffee and I know people who have to drink Starbucks, or they get cranky. Starbucks has almost 17,000 stores in 50 countries worldwide, in the 90s there was a Starbucks opening somewhere every business day. Starbucks has been the cause of debate between labor practices and environmental impacts to name a few.  Starbucks although controversial, makes some of the best tasting coffees in the world. And give people an opportunity to try coffees from around the globe that you would normally not have the opportunity to try.  

Assign. 2-1

A popular culture event that has caught my attention would be the Ultimate Fighting Championships or UFC for short.  Cage fighting has been around for some time now, but only within the last decade or so has it really caught fire. The UFC is one of many fighting leagues around the world, but it has emerged as a leader in fighter’s skill and fan base. The UFC travels the world and fights in large venues that always sell out, and also are available to watch on pay-per view television for around $55 an event. The UFC has merchandise such as clothes, work out gear, and television shows to help fill the gap between the matchups. There are a number of websites dedicated to the mixed martial arts and fighters themselves that people can visit and read about. Some fighters themselves have a following, much like popular sports athletes have a following also. My favorite fighter is Anderson “the Spider” Silva, he is a current champion in his weight class and his skill set is nearly unmatchable in any weight class throughout the sport. Silva and the main card fighters make an incredible amount of money, although their contracts aren’t as lucrative as major traditional sport athletes, they are still clearing six figures. Every event has its peak, in my personal opinion I believe the UFC has hit or is close to hitting it’s pinnacle, just like boxing crashed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the UFC will struggle to stay as popular as it is now. Cage fighting has come under criticism for its violent fights and so called message certain people think it gives, what most people don’t realize is the these fighters are among the most trained and disciplined athletes in their field in the world. Most are experts in the style of fighting that they have chosen, whether it is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Muay Thai kickboxing and everything in between, these fighters have dedicated their lives to the art of fighting.  For a lot of people in the sport and who are interested in the UFC, it is a life style, the sport has a way of drawing you in and before you know it you’re wearing the clothes and training with the same supplements and tactics as the fighters themselves.  Its funny how many “cage fighters”, came out of the wood work since the UFC has became popular, makes one laugh to see all the tough guys walking around in shirts that they could barely fit into in the 8^th grade. In my opinion the UFC is very exciting to follow and watch and will develop some of the greatest fighters the world has ever seen.

My first blog...

In my opinion without any prior knowledge on the subject, Pop Culture is an intangible item that a certain era’s interest was or is captured by. It is something that helps define a generation or culture, sometimes they are movements or ideas and sometimes they are people or physical objects and styles.

Popular culture at a business standpoint could help companies to cater to the ever changing needs of their target audience. If companies don't shift their focus when the paradigm does they could miss the boat and end up sinking. As far as a pop culture artifact goes, for some reason I keep getting a picture of the Italian Stallions bronze statue standing atop the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art used in the Rocky movies. This to me would definitely be a pop culture artifact, just about anyone who has watched movies know exactly the statue I am talking about.