Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990-96) is an American sitcom that targets themes of race and class. I chose Carlton, a character the comes from a wealthy black family, because he represents a different perspective of the world then Will who is shown more uprooted from the 'hood'. Carlton comes from a privileged family and is seen to be preppy and at times pretentious but still carries .  The show represents innovative ways of portraying each character not as the traditional black stereotype television sitcoms such as The Cosby Show.  The show tackles social constructs that at the time wasn't being addressed, the show was a huge influence in diversity writing for characters and moral orientated sitcoms. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5D2RvIQwQE

In this clip in particular Carlton is subjected to being 'different' and is denied from becoming part of the fraternity. Will chooses to approach the situation by walking away and playing that it was his but when Carlton finds out he chooses to confront the heads. Carlton is proud of his heritage, he doesn't shy from what he is just because of his privileged background. I find this scene in particular important because of the two different approaches the main characters take. Will decision was to protect Carlton, the more sheltered character, but Carlton understands why he is seen as a sell out and understands that the real sell out is him for attacking his character.  

Django Unchained

In Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” Jamie Foxx plays, Django, an African American slave. Django ends up working side-by-side with Dr. King Schultz, a German Dr. played by Christoph Waltz. Django is presented as a hard man; tough and gritty. Django's character is also kind and full of fire. This movie took place during the pique of plantation slavery days, and Django has seen the most horrible things that world has to offer. Django’s character is an extremely bright man, picking up and excelling at all of the skills taught to him by Dr. Schultz rapidly. There are many twists and turns along the way, but Django ultimately goes on a killing spree of every oppressive white person in sight. Django doesn’t just escape the white oppression; he defeats it.

Samantha White in Dear White People had the same kind of passion and fight that Django had. It is very clear to Sam who her oppressors are, and she will not stand for it. I think that in the end Sam wins too. She exposed the uncomfortable truth that racism is still rampant in American society, using her campus radio station as her medium, and she caused a disruption in the status quo. Sam put herself out there, and it was dangerous. But Samantha was brave, and she wasn’t afraid to stand up and fight against the oppressing powers.

Falcon - Marvel's First African-American Hero

Over the years, Marvel Comics have given us countless memorable and colorful characters, but have shockingly broken plenty of boundaries. One of the first ant-drug comics was written in an issue of Spiderman. As for Spiderman, he was a great departure for the usually heroes of the past. And, in September 1969, in Issue #117 of Captain America, Marvel introduced the first African-American superhero, Sam Wilson, A.K.A. Falcon.

You probably remember Falcon best from the MCU films (Marvel Cinematic Universe), where he is played by Anthony Mackie. However, Falcon has served a greater purpose throughout history. African-Americans in comics, as well as other forms of media, were portrayed in often a negative fashion, either as the comic relief or a thug. Falcon, along other Marvel characters such as Robbie Robinson in Spiderman, broke barriers and hit a cord with readers. Because of this, Marvel, as well as DC, began introducing other African-American characters. Examples include Green Lantern's Jon Stewart, X-Men's Storm, and Marvel's own hero for hire, Luke Cage.

All forms of media have not be kind to anyone. Everyone has either be stereotyped or typed casted. However, these steps taken have helped people of all races, religions, creeds, and genders find a place in media of all forms.

Critiquing Nostalgia Critic's Review of Jurassic World

For starters, the Nostaglia Critic is an online review series, who through sketches and jokes reviews the worst of the worst. In my opinion, it is one of the funniest and even one of the smartest review shows in recent years. A few years back, he did a review of Jurassic World, where he heavily criticized the film, excepts for certain parts, the attack on the park and the battle between the T-Rex and Indominous Rex. However, I'm not critiquing the Nostalgia Critic's criticisms of the film, as a lot of the, I agree with. Instead, I'm critizing what he praised about the movie.

As I said before, there are critiques in his video I agree with.

* Claire and Owen's romance is random and forced.
* The visual effects, while I feel are  not as bad as he says they are, aren't anything amazing, and are more average for me.
* The design of the Indominous Rex isn't anything special either.
* The two kids parents getting a divorce subplot has no purpose in the film.
* Vincent D'Onofrio's antagonist is a badly written character.

However, what I disagree on is his praise of the Pterosaur Attack and the T-Rex vs. the Indominous Rex. The Nostaglia Critic praises these two scenes as the redeeming aspects of the film, that make-up for the film's short comings. How come. Why is it that everyone think the over the top action of Fast and Furious and Jurassic World make up for its short comings, but Michael Bay films don't.

Now, I've heard this from a lot of people, that those two scenes make-up for the film's flaws, but how. Both scenes add and do nothing for the story. The Pterosaur Attack, while entertaining, seems like an excuse to show some action, the T-Rex attack in the original Jurassic Park served the plot, as it showed the flaws of the park. Also, the Pterosaurs attacking and killing innocent people seems a bit juvenile and overly mean.

Then there was the T-Rex vs. the Indominous Rex fight at the end. First off, was there really no other way to kill the Indominous Rex, they had to release the T-Rex, the T-Rex was the only way to kill it. Wouldn't it be easier just to leave and have the military deal with it or just leave the dinosaurs alone. Releasing another dangerous dinosaur seems like a bigger risk then just leaving. And like the Pterosaur Attack, besides killing the Indominous Rex, this doesn't really serve the plot, besides being entertaining. To top it all off, the scene feels like a retread of original Jurassic Park, where the T-Rex comes into save the day. Honestly, in the end of the day, not only do these scenes bring up more questions then answers,nut they don't make up for the rest of the film's flaws.

There have been other times when I didn't agree with the Nostaglia Critic, but still, I am a big fan or the show and think he still has a lot of great points and a great show.

Music

Music "is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence, which exist in time"  This what you will find if you were to Google "what is music". Music means something different to everybody that comes in contact with it. Music to one person is healing and therapeutic, while another uses it a conversation piece.

Music has stood the test of time. Always being created, duplicated and manipulated. With all of the different genres of music, the way that music is talked about varies. For instance if you were to talk about classical, you would begin to talk about the different instruments that are heard, where the composer draws inspiration from and maybe even what key they are playing in. A broader conversation can be about rap and hiphop music. The lyrics will reach different audiences because not every talks about the same thing. As much as people think you will only hear about the struggle, there are also artists that talk about art and culture. What the culture is varies because you have something like trap music, where you will here more about what happens in more urbanized areas and what they go through and how they "flipped a quarter brick". There will be the mainstream rap that will toned down with talks of love and other relatable topics.

My connection to music has always been that of a coping mechanism. I find myself turning to music when I need to find comfort. There are songs that bring me joy, and pain. Music is used in so many ways, it is easy to connect a certain song with a memory that is either bad or good. A good memory would be from a time that I hung out with friends and we could not stop singing "Glamorous by Fergie" at the top our lungs. I see us all sitting in the car on our way to a party, just in our own little bubble creating a memory from a song we knew from our child hood.When I hear the song now, I am instantly brought back to that moment.

Westworld

Westworld is one of Hbo's newest series. From the trailer and first episode, you are introduced to a wild west like setting. The richest people visit Westworld, which is a interactive amusement park to live out there wildest fantasies able to do whatever the want. In the amusement park there are “hosts, hosts are robots created by who I call “ God" Dr. Robert Ford. You have the basic and very straight forward dialogue that you would find in any old western series, they use it more as a parody among the hosts. The way that westworld fits into the western narrative is that you do have the western setting but also the hero and villain plot.

Teddy is introduced to us as the hero, there to save another host named Delores from the man in black. He has the clothing, dialogue, and manners of a cowboy. Teddy's outfit in the first few episodes are him in a brown hat, coat, vest, trousers and the typical cowboy boots, the look is spot on. To top it all off he has the leather gun holder, to complete the perfect cowboy ensemble. 

When Teddy speaks to Delores you can tell that he has a soft spot for her. In other western narratives the cowboy seems to act the same towards everyone that he comes across. If you were to watch the show, you will start to realize that Teddy is one of the smarter hosts there. I do not want to give too much of the show away but that plays a major part into why he is not the straight forward cowboy.

How Netflix is Changing Mass Culture

This week I found an interesting video called "Netflix's War on Mass Culture" and I immediately thought, "Oh no, they're not going to tell me that Netflix is bad! Are they?" The reality is both yes, and no. As I watched the video, despite its daunting title, I found that the narrative was somewhat open for interpretation and I will answer to that later on.

The video basically outlined how the normal practice of watching television had gone on in previous generations and how Netflix is different from that. At first the video accuses Netflix of trying to replace the foundations of television with a new system based on the current values of the internet generation and also of trying to change viewer behavior. Of course in my mind I say, "That's great that such things can evolve as we do!" However, this video takes the opposite approach and claims that Netflix has a hidden agenda.

Even the Netflix logos have a cool history! (source)

The origin story of Netflix is generally known by the average American; it was at first a DVD mail order service that after a while began to offer some of its most popular shows and films via online streaming. Its also infamously known as the company that eventually brought down Blockbuster Video, a VHS movie rental store that refused to "get with the times." Therefore proving that evolution of entertainment is imperative.

In the history of entertainment, many shows and events were broadcasted live, as reliable technology for recording video and audio didn't come until much later. Thus live entertainment was, for much of history, seen as commonplace. Even as pre-recorded shows began to air, live television did not disappear, as today we still have live news, sporting events, award shows, reality shows, etc. Though the focus now has shifted to pre-recorded shows being the majority and live television being the minority. Having our choice of scripted shows to watch echos the retail market, just like people could go to Blockbuster and pick out only what they wanted to watch rather than being subjected to "what's on." Also, unlike cable companies, Netflix pays attention to their viewers, what they watch and what they like, and uses algorithms based on the genre or starring actors to predict other shows you might be interested in.

Netflix knows what you like! "OITNB" was their top rated show last June. (image source)

The video states that mainstream entertainment is based on a large pillar of popular culture, flanked by smaller sub-cultures and that Netflix is attempting to change this architecture into a world of “fandom islands” where people rarely interact with others outside of their island. It gives people less exposure to things that they wouldn’t normally watch but I don’t see that the unity of people loving a show will cease because of this. It in fact adds a more profound sense of connection. For someone to find another person who likes the same obscure show that they do, instead of being crowded out by the overall tone of what the majority of people are watching, makes that show and that connection even more special. They argue that entertainment only based on fandom is non-traditional and un-American, but I have so far seen very little change in the unity and passion of people who have made the transition to online streaming.

In the past, network “event television” aimed to get a large group of people watching the same thing at the same time - but what is the harm in a large group of people watching the same thing, but at their own pace? Netflix is viewed by a large amount of people, but that doesn’t make it less valuable, in fact people are watching more hours of television than they did in the 1990s. This makes it even more important that we pay attention to what we are watching and make it more readily available, rather than restricting people to less choice because of tradition

Even cable networks have "On Demand." They have to admit it is part of our modern era of entertainment. (image source)

The anti-Netflix argument in the video uses the viewpoint of Vladimir Nabokov who believes that humanity’s “highest yearning” should be to leave behind all desire to be “current.” I however, argue that modern people have a very high regard for being up-to-date on all parts of culture, especially where they consider it to be a part of their identity. This does contrast to a time, even a hundred years back, when people were wary of new inventions such as television or even electricity - but today a vast number of people take great pride in wearing the latest trend, going to see the newest movies, and sharing the most popular memes. What’s wrong with that? I say nothing!

Sheriff Woody

(picture found here)

Being someone with little to no background on cowboys, the first character I thought of was Sheriff Woody. Yes, I am talking about Woody from the classic Disney movie Toy Story. The movie Toy Story follows a group of very diverse toys on their daily adventures. But these are not just any toys, these are who come to life when humans are not around. One of the main characters is a stuffed cowboy named Sheriff Woody. Some of his well-known lines include “There’s a snake in my boot!”, along with, “Somebody’s poisoned the water hole!”

Woody’s characteristics very closely reflect those of the classic cowboy in western films. Woody is known to throw himself into action, in both positive and negative ways. He always acts heavily on instinct. After all, he is an all or nothing type of toy, just like many western cowboys. They, like woody, are known to be completely there and in the action, or absolutely nowhere to be found. He could also be considered the leader of all the other toys in his owner, Andy’s, room. He is always make big decisions for his team. This brings in the authoritative role cowboys are known to take on. While Woody is not exactly the traditional cowboy you are likely to initially envision, he certainly does fit the characteristics of one.

Django: Rebirth of the Cowboy.

"I like the way you die, boy." Those are the iconic lines said by Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman, the main protagonist of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, a Slavery Era Western. Django, as a character, is a former slave turned bounty hunter, who with the help of his mentor, Dr. King Shcultz, tries to save his wife from a sadistic plantation owner. In my opinion, Django is one of the best interpretations of the cowboy and here's why?

Quentin Tarantino, the famed director, is known for his homeages to other films. If you watch any number of film's directed and written by him, there might be one of two scenes taken from other movies. His characters however, are both a homage and a new character. The same could be said about Django.

The homage part starts with Django's own name, which references the 1966 Italian Western, Django starring Franco Nemo, who cameos in the film. As for the character of Django Freeman, he is a cowboy through and through. Cool, determined, plays by his own rules, and is the quickest shooter in the west. Django as a character is like a reimagine of Eastwood's Man with no Name or any number of characters John Wayne played. However, he doesn't start that way.

When we meet Django, he is slave, nearly broken down by his life. After being freed amd trained by Dr. King Schultz, we begin to see a different Django. Motivated by his love for his wife, Bloomhilda, and his desire to save her, he becomes a true western hero. This is here where Taratino separates Django from other Cowboys. Instead of being a mysterious loner, who comes into town and kills the other guy before leaving, we see Django become the cowboy. This not only separates him from other western Cowboys, but gives him an added depth. It is a great comparison to see the Diango from the beginning to the one we see at the end.

Foxx and Taratino give us an amazing character, by paying respects to what came before, while adding something new to better this character, make Django one of the best western heroes in recent memory.

Justice Ain't Gonna Dispense Itself

As much as I really wanted to talk this week about John Marston from "Red Dead Redemption" he is actually an extremely typical Western cowboy character existing in a very classic rendition of the Old West atmosphere. So instead, I'll switch gears to another cowboy heartthrob who's just one of many varied characters in a video game I'm obsessed with lately:

Jesse McCree from Overwatch

Three guesses what the belt buckle stands for! (source)

Since in my discussion post I argued that it would be completely plausible for an Old West cowboy to be able to live in today's world, I'll further my point by using McCree as an example that's already in practice.

For those who haven't heard of Overwatch, the timeframe of the game takes place about 60 years from now, during which time the heroes (playable characters) are called back to their initial positions in a United Nations-style task force called "Overwatch" which was created in order to fight against the Omnic resistance - the Omnics being sentient robots who are fighting for their own rights. It turns into a pretty ugly war between the Omnics and the Overwatch force, taking many casualties and ruining many cities around the globe.

Jesse McCree gets involved in Overwatch only after the gang he belongs to - the Deadlock Gang - is infiltrated in a sting operation by Overwatch commander Gabriel Reyes (Later, Reyes becomes Reaper). The Deadlock Gang had long been holding the American Southwest captive to its illegal activities for decades and they mostly dealt in arms and munitions. On one of the game maps (called Route 66), the gang has blown up a bridge in order to obtain a nuclear warhead from a military cargo train passing overhead.

Route 66 map on Overwatch, note blown up bridge over the canyon. (source)

After most of the Deadlock Gang is captured, including McCree, he (much like John Marston) decided that he had enough of that life and wanted to atone for his wrongdoing by fighting for noble reasons and justice. Overwatch's leaders, Reyes specifically, wanted to recruit him to their cause and McCree accepted, though he later went into hiding when infighting between Overwatch members began its downfall. I'd also like to mention the fact that he'd lost part of his arm and had a robotic one to replace it, this sort of thing being the norm in this future era since a lot of the characters have robotic appendages or systems to use to their advantage.

John Marston from Red Dead Redemption (source)

The similarities even between McCree and other cowboys are not to be ignored either, since his "Deadeye" ability is the exact same that Marston uses in "Red Dead" and they look very similar to each other. McCree also has notable voice lines that are direct references to other Western movies and characters, for instance: "I'm the quick... you're the dead," he says at random in the game lobby (The Quick and the Dead), or, "I'm not good, not bad, but I sure as hell ain't ugly." (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly). He also has several different "skins" or outfits in the game that hearken back to other classic Old West characters.

Here you can see what McCree sees during "Deadeye," also notice his robotic hand. (source)

So, here we have McCree, who in the year (est) 2045 or so is running around the Southwest with a gang of bandits, dressed in chaps, spurs, and a ten gallon hat, with his signature weapon being a six shooter known as the Peacekeeper. His "ultimate" attack ability is called "Deadeye" and when activated he shouts a classic throwback to many a standoff: "It's High Noon" and then yells "DRAW!" while simultaneously shooting any of the enemies he's locked on to. A tumbleweed appears behind him and gently rolls across the ground nearby. Yet it all takes place 60 years from now and no other characters think that he's odd or out of place. It's still very normal for the southwestern United States to look and operate much like it did in the 1800's with some modern upgrades alongside.