Lamborghini Semiology

Sign: Lamborghini logo
Signifier: Gold bull
Signified: Lamborghini cars
Myth: Power, strength, luxury

I really love the Lamborghini logo for this assignment, as we can look at both the bull itself and it's color for symbolism. It has long been known that bulls are extremely strong and powerful animals, and their horns can prove to be both intimidating and dangerous. Using the color gold can signify high class and luxury, as gold has always been desired for it's shine and color, even in ancient times (such as ancient Egypt). Lamborghini has been around since the 1960's and has always been known to be one of the top tier car manufacturers even to this day, so it must be working for them pretty well. Digging deeper into some of our favorite logos is really fun yet a bit challenging, and a good logo will always have a concrete answer, like this one does.

Eternal Atake

With the surprise release of Lil Uzi Vert's highly anticipated 2nd studio album Eternal Atake, fans are quick to judge, analyzing every lyric as well as the cover art itself. On July 31st 2018 Lil Uzi Vert first teased the album posting to his instagram the unofficial cover art for Eternal Atake which people quickly realized was a reference to a famous cult called heavens gate.

The meaning to the words Eternal Atake are very straight forward and it simply means to take over forever. That his album will be so powerful that it takes over the world. Obviously it is far fetched to say an album could take over the world but Uzi means it in the sense that it will provoke a powerful response from its listeners and will be heard all over the world. Meaning is given to the album art by referencing heavens gate logo but instead of saying heavens gate it says Eternal Atake. Uzi also makes reference to the imagery of the keyhole using it on his cover art for the single New Patek. 

Heavens Gate was an American UFO religious millenarian cult based near San Diego. It was founded in 1974 and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles who considered themselves direct descendent of Jesus. The cult believed that a passing asteroid Hale-Bopp and its "companion" which they believe to be a ship following the asteroid. This is where they though they would spend their afterlife in luxury. On march 26 1997 San Diego sheriffs department discovered the bodies of the 39 members of heavens gate after they performed a mass suicide to enter heavens gate. 

Semiology: The Rose

Sign: Giving a rose

Signifier: Red Rose

Signified: Caring, Giving a gift

Myth: Love, Valentine's Day

Giving flowers can have many connotations. Roses have become synonymous with love. Bette Midler sang a song titled The Rose.

 

Roses can also be a plea for forgiveness, a sign of caring (get well flowers, prom flowers). If you are addicted to The Bachelor series (as I am) giving and accepting the rose means a commitment to continue the relationship (at least another week.) Roses have also become the flower of choice for Valentine's day though they have nothing to do with St Valentine. 

Thinking of symbols this was was a bit of a challenge. It really makes you dissect things you see every day and look into the meaning of why we think of objects the way we do. 

Korean War failure

The article I read was the Daily Express out of Columbus, Ohio. The article dated of release was Thursday March 25, 1951. One of the articles in the paper was centered around a seventeen year old named Jame E. Rhodes who enlisted in the U.S army to help in the fight against communism. Korea is well known for being one of the worst wars in American history. Many young Americans died, and the goal of a democratic state was failed. The article about Private Rhodes was what his position in the Army was, (second platoon radio specialist) as well as how long he had been missing in action. America did so to fight the communist state of Korea in an attempt to create it into a democratic country. Another article and the biggest one on the paper discussed a local Ohio boxer out of Cincinnati by the name of Ezzard Charles, Charles was there in Columbus to help drive a fair pay bill in the state of Ohio. Lastly, the article discussing the death of a New York city judge. The judge had died following complication while getting operated on. Lastly, the most discussed issue at this time which is segregation and race. The article about W.E.B Dubois, speaks about equality to as stated in the article "negros". The New York city Department of Justice indicted about being a foreign power of the issue of silencing the spokesman for equality for "negros".
One major similarity between the class and the newspaper is that all topics are part of popular culture. Some may not be pleasant pop culture topics, but they are all topics in which people still discuss today. One being the boxer Ezzard Charles helping out his community by sponsoring a fair pay bill. Boxing at that point in time was the most watched(listened) to sport in the world. Everyone would stay up to listen on the radio to the World championship bouts that would take place pretty much monthly. For a world champion boxer to take a stand, it brought attention to the issue to people who may not see it just because of the person name they will read into the article. Next, the seventeen year old private, James Rhodes death is a form of popular culture because of the political nature of his death. People may or may not agree with every political stand, but for those who are very interested in politics and war they will read to gain an opinion on why his death should not have happened or why it had depending on their political viewing of the war taking place at that time. Lastly, a topic that is still in pop culture to which is equality for all people, at that time it was about equality for people of color. This is still a major issue in pop culture and was a topic of module in this class just weeks ago.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88077225/1951-03-27/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1789&index=14&rows=20&words=Korean+KOREAN+war+WAR&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=korean+war&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

evolution of football module 7

Through the the over 150 years of football the game continued to evolve. Starting small with formations of 9 people on the two in the backfield and running the ball because the forward pass was not yet legal. All the way to today where the are penalties, forward passes are sixty percent of the games make up in play calling and defenses being more complicated than ever.  Throughout the years the game has evolved to gain fans and viewers all while trying to make the game safer all at the same time. Starting with the forward pass being made league to spice up the play calls rather than having the teams run a grand total of about 5 different types of plays. Starting in 1906 the forward pass became legal. Which changed how the game was played forever. It created more fun, higher scoring game which drew more fans into the game. As the years went on the offenses began to change even more. Starting with the triple option which was the most advanced offense for its time of creation.  Created in 1940 the option was a double wing formation that gave the quarterback 3 options to hand the ball off, pitch the ball or keep the ball and run it. This was brought to a stop in the 1970s when the defense era began. Although there was no creation of it officially the still curtain Pittsburg Steelers. This brought a different hard hitting mentality to football with lots of big hits. The fans loved the big its which would make the highlight reels. Following this was the west coast offense created by the San Fransisco 49ers and Bill Walsh which was a short quick passing offense with few run plays. Creating highlights by getting the best players on the field in open space to make plays which created highlight reel plays almost every single game. Following this west the RPO offense which changed the game forever allowing the quarterback to call two plays in the huddle one was a pass the other a run. The quarterback has the choice at which ever he believes will be more successful depending on the way the defense plays throughout the play!

The evening World, New York, October 10, 1887

The newspaper I chose is the evening world, which is issued from the date of October 10, 1887, published in New York and was one of the popular penny daily newspapers.  The evening world prospered a lot during the years of mid-1890s. The newspaper has different sections and different articles with different topics such as the daily happenings, accidents, politics, crimes, gossips, ads and so on. 

What I found interesting was an article names "Clue for the Detectives, where it talks about a mysterious murder at Webster, Mass which may be solved. It states how Massachusetts detectives are not near solving the case or finding the solution. With that being said, the article explains clearer the situation of the murder that had happened and catches up on some details explaining more in details as how the murder had occurred and what was there suspicious. 

Another article that caught my attention is about a post-office which got burned in New Jersey. It explains how it happened and after found on fire, the total loss is estimated at $5,000, which at that time was a lot of money, considering that dollar was cheaper.

What I liked about this article was the visualization part of it as considering that during those times technology wasn't part of media and it was hard to have a great imagery or visualization. Most of the articles that I was looking prior in different places, have had less or none imagery attached to them. I think for those times this was a great strategy as part of the newspapers. Another thing that I notices in this newspaper is the fact that back then the publishers and writers tend to put a lot of information in and squeeze it all into one newspaper, and sometimes all in the front pages, which means that more of intensive readers, Americans become extensive readers as stated int he reading materials. Also, I noticed the printing style, which could have been better but at the time this newspaper prospered and got more successful than it was, the printing style started to become a little better as well. I think that looking at this newspaper, the target audience was originally made to be for mostly men than women, but as the time passed the women also were part of the newspapers as some ads were made to include women as well, and not only ads but some articles too. Politics were a big and important part of newspapers those times; we could see articles about politics everywhere and some might be biased as well. Overall, the newspaper, judging from the times back then, has great tittle imagery and as I stated pictures attached with the articles as well.

1894 Alabama

     The newspaper I chose to read was August 8th 1894's edition of the Birmingham Age-Herald. To be honest I skimmed a few random ones pretty quickly and just settled on this one. I found the advertisements to be particularly interesting, especially since the prices and products were so different. One thing I did notice across several different states newspapers is the amount of advertisements for Castoria, a "harmless substitute for Paregoric, drops, soothing syrups, and castor oil". They make it very clear every time that it does not contain opium or morphine, as we all know back then people did not know the side effects to these drugs, putting them in several medicines available anywhere. It is advertised to "prevent vomiting sour curd, cures diarrhea and wind colic". This was actually pretty funny to read, as Castoria today is a laxative which you can still buy today. The sheer amount of ads for baking powder in the few papers I read (some even having 2 or 3 a page) was also interesting, as many people in the late 1800's and early 1900's made their own bread.

     One thing I did notice was who the advertisements were aimed towards. Almost every single ad in the newspapers I read were directed towards men and men's needs, while the only time anything was directed towards women was cooking or occasionally dress related. Many clothing stores advertising all sorts of stock only list mens and boys clothes, and while some stores only sell menswear even today, I find it heard to believe that no stores sold womens clothes whatsoever. In this particular paper, the only ads directed towards women readers were found in the very back of the paper, totally separated from anything important. Most were for women only colleges, and one for hair care. The rest were all more for banks and men's clothing. While I understand times were different back then, I couldn't help but notice that this seemed pretty sexist. It does make sense that the mens ads were with all of the important news for the time, as women in the United States could not vote until 26 years after this issue was released. The late 1800's were a very different time, and it really helps to show just how far we have come since then.

Is supreme really supreme?

Supreme once a small skate company based in New York is now one of the most recognizable names in fashion. Starting out only selling skateboards and t-shirts supreme has branched out and evolved into a streetwear empire collaborating with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Stone Island. Supreme has 11 storefront locations but sells most of their products online through their implemented drop dates. Supreme has designed a clever method to make their products more desirable by limiting the actual amount of each product. The way they sell the products is very crucial to the development of customer support. They have implemented a drop program where they sell new items every Thursday at 11am. 

Supreme is an embodiment of pseudo individuality but not in the traditional sense. Supreme has created a supportive customer base by making their items limited as well as having structured drop program. By having new items released every week that are just a little different from the last the customers will never be unsatisfied. When you purchase supreme you not only get the object itself but you also get this feeling of accomplishment. Since it is so limited and the structure of the drops are so organized almost anyone can just go on the site and try to buy a product. But its really not easy most of the website sells out in under 60 seconds with the most popular selling out as fast as 3 seconds. So if you are lucky enough to check out you actually feel supreme. 

But does supreme really make you feel supreme or is it just all a scam. Most people view supreme as an investment saying that if you purchase a product you are automatically guaranteed your money back on the resell market. This is true but it is only true because the customers made this happen. Without the customers supreme is nothing, we the consumers are what makes something popular it doesn't happen out of nowhere. By releasing new products every week supreme is creating a distraction from what you actually need in life. 

Culture Indistry: Bottled water

HISTORY: The first bottled water was sold in the US by Jackson's Spa in Boston in 1767. The water had supposed therapeutic benefits. In the 1850s bottled water was a status symbol, it was seen as clean and stylish (Elite culture). During this time it was also widely purchased due to fears of typhoid and cholera in municipal water supplies. It hit its big break into the mass culture in the1970s after the development of the PET plastic bottle. The 2000s saw a war between tap and bottled water, and more recently, environmental concerns have led to the creation of much lighter plastic bottles.

There are many aspects that invoke the idea of standardization and pseudo-individualization.  Bottled water is everywhere. You go to any event and you can't get a cup of water or find a bubbler anywhere. In most cases you can't bring your own, so you have only 1 option if you choose to drink water: buy a bottle. We also see bottled water in TV, movies, advertisements, music videos, print ads. Many restaurants now ask you if you want water from the tap or bottled.

Pseudo-individualization comes from thousands of water brands available worldwide. Check out this site that lists the world's bottled waters. I was astounded at the numbers. There are numerous types: spring, purified, artesian, well, glacial, deep sea, rain, and iceberg....BUT it's all just WATER. This artifact is a prime example of commodity fetishism. A bottle of Poland Springs costs 1/4 of Voss, and as such it's perceived as better. While there are subtle differences in mineral content and acidity, there is no reliable data proving one is necessarily better than another.

This example contributes to distracting us from authentically changing the world and reinforces our connection with popular culture by just existing. Plastic is becoming a global problem. There is far more in existence than will ever disintegrate or be recycled. Advances in public water systems and filtration systems worldwide have reduced the need for bottled water and yet as Americans, we are addicted to it. It's not much more difficult to use a reusable water bottle and fill it as you go, but we don't. Purchased water bottles carry a warning on the back to not refill them, contributing further to the problem. Much of the world is addicted to convenience and we don't make lasting, meaningful changes unless forced to do so.



Sources:
https://myownwater.com/blog/history-of-bottled-water

What we can learn from Newspaper

I chose the newspaper from my hometown, Decorah Iowa. The header of the paper still looks similar today. This issue is from November 24th, 1915, the day before my paternal grandfather was born. The issue is 12 pages long and is roughly 25% advertising.

I found this ad interesting. Keeping in mind that this is before women could vote, it talks about the skirt being an approved style. The company that made the skirts is Korrect. I was surprised to see it talked about sizing for larger women. These must have been the best around. Comparing prices (capitalism!) this skirt was significantly more than admission to the theatre to see a motion picture.

The first article on the first page was about a series of sermons being given on what businessmen of Decorah think of the church. Back then the church had significantly more role in day to day life than it does now. The article talks about the church being an educator of youth to decrease delinquincy, as well as maintain health, prevent, and heal disease.

There was a political article stating a large number of Germans (roughly 50% of the population of the town then and now) were going to change from the Democratic party to the Republican party due to the handling of foreign affairs.

Part of a page was dedicated to the theatre and pictures that were coming. One that caught my attention ties back to the cowboy unit. "Tile Exposition's First Romance"  was billed as a "Western with a lot of action...with a love story thrown in" It was also called a comedy. For 1915 this was quite a mix of genres in a single picture.

There were several pages dedicated to the townships and what everyone was doing, where they traveled, and who they had dinner with. I noticed there were few instances of news of single women, and married couples were referenced by the husband's name. Our unit on gender and sex ties well into this. In this time there were very deeply ingrained roles and societal expectations of men and women. Their sex was their gender and everything was heteronormative.





I did find it interesting that the newspaper was not totally written to and for men. There were grocery, clothing, and shoe ads; as well as the goings-on (Gossip!) that were geared toward women. Though this does paint a picture of a "woman's place" in 1915, she was completely removed from politics and business.