Floss Picks

In the past couple of years or so floss picks have become widely popular in homes. Remember when we had just our ordinary coil of floss? We now have a new design and “fun” way to get kids wanting to floss more.  These floss picks, also called flosser picks are extremely wasteful because of the added plastic handle, not to mention these picks are only good for a one time use then you need to waste another one. Single use plastics are something environmentalists are trying to lower the numbers off everyday. Not to mention dentists are recommending using the old fashioned floss vs. the flossing picks.

Although this product is not ideal for the environment or efficient because of the plastic body, floss picks appeal to its audiences. The people using these floss picks see them as an easier alternative, it is much easier to reach the back of your mouth with these picks instead of regular floss and as many of  us know, most people choose the easier way out. Below are some recent ads from DenTek, a oral care company that produces thee floss picks.

As I discussed, the floss picks are a one time use, and often times you need more than just one floss pick during a single flossing time because of how little floss is actually there. So as soon as your done flossing, you end up having to run back to the supermarket to grab another pack and it turns into an ongoing cycle.

DenTek used men, in tough positions like enlisted in the army, or a martial arts fighter to get their message across. When you think of a floss pick you wouldn't really put two and two together but hey, to each their own. They could have been trying to make a point that even strong, tough, courageous men use their floss picks, and maybe if you use them you could be just like them. 

Lady Gaga and Fan Indentification

Click, Melissa A., Hyunji Lee, and Holly Willson Holladay. "Making Monsters: Lady Gaga, Fan Identification, And Social Media." Popular Music & Society 36.3 (2013): 360-379. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. 

Melissa A. Click, et al. loos at fandom surrounding Lady Gaga. In exploring the relationship between Lady Gaga and her fans the authors draw from three areas of research: fan identification, monsters & the monsterous and the celebrity and social media. They also interviews fans. Fans, according to Click, et al., identify with Lady Gaga through her message of empowerment and self acceptance. The authors note the work of John Caughey in examining the fan and fan object relationship. Caughey writes that over time, fans will often incorporate a celebrity’s values into their own attitudes. With Lady Gaga many of these values are already present and are validated and strengthened by Lady Gaga’s engagement with her fans. Fans of Lady Gaga call themselves “little monsters” and consider Lady Gaga the “mother monster”. Perceiving themselves as outcasts, this is a way for fans to embrace their differences. Monster generally has negative connotations in our culture and this is a way for fans to own this word. With Lady Gaga as “mother monster” and protective mentor she becomes almost a parental figure further strengthening a fan’s identification with her. Click, et al. notes the importance of social media in the popularity of Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is very active on social media and goes beyond the self-promotion of most celebrity’s. She often will interact directly with her fans, most often through twitter. She will respond to a fan’s artwork or cover of her song. This response to the interpretive aspect of her work allows fans to “see the real authentic person behind the celebrity.” This social media engagement with Lady Gaga “both enable and amplify” the identification fans have with her. 

I thought this article was very interesting in that the authors find a very strong fan identification when a celebrity validates their values, particularly when it is done through personal engagement on social media. This, they find, empowers the fan base. 

Masculinity in popular culture

I find I learn best about popular culture through YouTube videos. There are so many videos available involving popular culture and certain ideas that have to do with popular culture on the Internet. The video I chose to examine above is called, Masculinity in Popular culture. This video discusses how the men being portrayed in our sports games, movies, television is teaching domination and aggression.   The average young boy spends 40 hours a week watching television and 15 hours a week playing video games. All of the entertainment they are watching are portraying different male archetypes. You have the strong silent guy who is always in control, the hero type guy who is engaged in violence 24/7, the thug who is violent, and last but not least the “man-child” who is immature and funny. The video discusses how media images have an affect on these little boys who are watching these shows, movies, etc. Our young boys look to these men and think this is what they should be; how they should act, and how they should look. The men our children, brothers, cousins are watching are fictional characters that they should not look up too. Another thing the video discusses is the United States army's use of training some if their individuals for battle by video games because of the similarities. Should these little boys be getting ready for battle? The violence our male television characters and our video game characters show should not be available to our young boys. I recommend if you haven't seen the video "Tough Guise" to go out and watch it because it also touches base on this topic. 

Resident Evil Fandom

Farghaly, Nadine, ed. Contributions to Zombie Studies: Unraveling Resident Evil: Essays on the Complex Universe of the Games and Films. Jefferson, NC, USA: McFarland, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 22 April 2016. 

Nadine Farghaly discusses the popularity of zombies and the franchise of Resident Evil fandom. The essays written for this volume focuses on this particular zombie manifestation and its significance in popular culture. Farghaly describes how Resident Evil started out as a video game but then grew into one of the biggest zombie franchises and fandoms around. “Capcom has sold 56 million units of these games, and since its debut, seven main video games have been distributed…” Resident Evil developed merchandise for its fans, graphic novels, action figures, and books. Resident evil fandom consists of message boards, live bulletin groups, and blogs.

The fans of Resident Evil are truly amazing. They live, breathe, and die for everything resident evil. It is the fans and the fandom that comes along with Resident Evil that keeps the games, movies, figurines, comics able to come out with more content.