Kayla Lunsford- Catching Fire

The movie Catching Fire is an interesting Social Event not only on premier night but also looking into movie and book content it becomes a cool picture of history that most people don't even catch.  In the movie, Cinna, the guy that designed Katniss Everdeen's dresses and more specifically her wedding dress is actually historically relevant to Roman times.  There was a man named Lucius Cornelius Cinna who served as Roman consul, he was driven out of Rome after inciting a rebellion among the freed men of the city.  Cinna in the movie designed Katniss' wedding dress to morph into a mockingjay with wings and everything as an act in support of the growing rebellion against the Capitol.  I think this was one of the biggest rebellious moves in this movie, albeit symbolic it was still rebellious and brave.

 Cinna the rebellious fashion designer

On the pop culture end of things The Hunger Games: Catching Fire brought in $161.1 Million in its opening weekend.  This makes it the biggest November debut ever and the most lucrative Lionsgate opening.  Catching Fire was highly anticipated and well received; even those that have read the books feel that it was very true to the book more so than they would have expected.

I feel like the Hunger Games movies, especially Catching Fire has kind of made people think about the state of our own country and how things are going.  I have seen and heard quite a few almost nervous sounding people talking about what kind of things could happen in the future and whether they think the stuff of these movies is actually plausible.

I would also say that it is pretty safe to say that the recent trend in movies like White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen, and the Hunger Games has definitely made a large number of people nervous of government control.  Not that some of these people weren't already nervous but more so that this type of media makes them even more nervous than they already were.

This trend could be good and bad, good because it actually makes people think about what is going on with the government and how it actually relates to them rather than walking along blindly.  It could also be a bad scenario causing people to be too distrustful of the government overall.

So, are the odds EVER in our favor? :)

Daniel Bussey

Kanye Omari West was born in Atlanta, Ga then moved to Chicago with his mother at the age of 3. It is said that he began his creative side while writing poetry and drawing at a young age. Growing up on the city streets of Chicago taught him many lessons and this is where he found his passion for music. After dropping out of college he began to further dive deeper into his musical aspirations.

He connected with his "mentor", a man by the name of No I.D. and began to make tracks for local artists to use.

It is that time he found his way to Jay-Z who was a major artist and started to work closely with him. After making most of Jay's tracks on the album The Blueprint, which was a classic on the hip hop scene, Jay signed him to his label. After a getting into a horrible car accident where he had to have his mouth wired shut, he made a track entitled Through The Wire which came off of his debut album The College Dropout and that helped him gain the #2 spot on the Billboard top 100. 

From then on he went on to make multiple albums and songs that hit the #1 spot on the charts and garnered him a lot of attention. The thing with him though is he's always in the media's eye for something negative that he has said or done. 

He has gone on to embarrass himself and others along the way. BUT there is one thing that we can always say is. That we want to know what he will do next. He has us on our toes, either creatively or negatively to see where he will "strike". 

Even with these multiple moments of negativity however you can't deny that musically and visually he has a very creative mind. He himself is a phenomenon in a sense. Now let's all wait to see what he does next because of course, we will want to know. 

TO BETTER SUM UP OUR "KANYE INFATUATION":

"I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice."

- Kanye West 

Kirsten Fitzgerald - "Racebending" in Film

While blackface and yellowface are now acknowledged to be racist and distasteful, the practice of casting white actors to either replace or represent characters of color often endures in the United States. Actors of color are already limited in the roles offered; in 2005, 81.9% of lead actors in movies were white non-Hispanic. When people of color are cast, those roles are often supporting roles and/or laden with stereotypes. Opponents of the practice argue that the casting of white actors for characters of color, or "racebending" limits both the options for people of color working in Hollywood and the way that pop culture consumers view people of color.

Recent controversies surrounding these casting choices include the casting of predominantly white actors to play Asian and Inuit characters in the live-action movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, from which the term "racebending" was coined. Notably, the exception to this casting is the "bad guy".

In the original Star Trek series, the famous villain Khan was explicitly described as Sikh, though this was complicated by the casting of Ricardo Montalbán, who, while a man of color, was not actually Sikh or even Asian. However, it was 1967, and it was, like many things in the original Star Trek, still considered revolutionary that a man of color was selected to portray a genetically superior super-human. This year (almost fifty years later), Benedict Cumberbatch, a white British man, played the role of Khan in the Star Trek: Into Darkness, which many critics argue not only contributes to the trend of whitewashing, but sends a much uglier message once one considers the "genetic superiority" of Khan.

On the left, Benedict Cumberbatch. On the right, Ricardo Montalbán.

Original series Khan looks at a portrait of himself, in which he is wearing a traditional Sikh turban.

The critical perspective offers valuable insight into the reasoning behind and the impacts of the practice of racebending. The erasure of people of color from lead roles may serve to reinforce stereotypes when they are cast, as well as contribute to the dominant ideology that white people are somehow more palatable to the overall population, or that white actors are more capable than people of color to portray not only the "default" universal narratives, but also the narratives of people of color themselves.

The following video satirizes and provides further examples of racebending:

Kenya Murphy

Whether its a who got divorced, who got arrested or who is owes the IRS back taxes; we all love a good celebrity scandal! Reading about what celebrity couple sold their mansion, what former Disney child star recently was hospitalized, or what how much a NFL player spent on his fiancee's engagement ring has become as routine as drinking coffee and watching the news! We no longer watch the news just to find out the weather or about politics. We watch the news to find out if Beyoncé is indeed expecting again, how Paul Walker died and if Khloe Kardashian will divorce her NBA husband. Celebrity gossip has quickly become a new aspect of popular culture.

Ronnie Hummel - The Legacy of Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is a genre of music created in the mid to late 1970's. The exact beginnings of the genre are debated among musicians and scholars, but a mild consensus has agrees that the first heavy metal band to emerge was Black Sabbath, hailing from the UK. Since then, Heavy metal has had it's many rises and falls in the realm of pop culture, more specifically it's "golden age" during the 1980's. Every huge metal band that even those not versed in metal emerged during this time, bands such as Metallica, Motley Crue, Guns & Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest among the plethora of other hair metal and heavy metal bands of the time. Metal is not short of it controversies, though. Throughout these same years metal has been the target of many "parent organizations" targeting it's often violent lyrics. 

Now decades later, metal has fallen in general popularity on the pop culture spectrum but it remains as a subculture of extremely dedicated fans who are die hard about their love of metal. This type of close-knit environment is best explained by the functionalist perspective. (Star this clip at :54)

Although, heavy metal can't be all good for the fans and non-fans alike. Some of the critical reactions of metal aren't too far from the truth. When taking a look at metal culture, I am also going to be taking a view of it from the critical perspective looking at the misogyny, racism, and heterocentrism. Many metal bands produce lyrics that are incredibly misogynistic, particular hair metal bands of the 80's but also death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse who take misogynistic lyrics to extremes. Since the late 80's and early 90's many bands in Scandinavian Europe, and also around the world, began springing up who would become known as the metal subgenre "Black metal." These bands are mostly known for their lyrics about anti-religion (particularly anti-christianity), and glorification of Satanism. These bands are also breeding grounds for National Socialist ideals, which breeds many bands who are incredibly racist.

Jessica Hart- The Marvel Phenom

Marvel Comics has become a household name and earned billions of dollars in revenue over the past decade. From the hit movie Iron Man to the new Marvel Agents of Shield tv show, Marvel is now a pop culture phenomenon. Originally targeting men 18-24, Marvel Comics now appeals to men and women of all ages. I plan to focus on how functionalist and symbolic interactionists perspectives play a role in the growth and sustainment of this phenomenon.

Anna Spivey--TheChive

Today, there are many websites that are looked at everyday for pure entertainment. TheChive is one of these websites. This website has developed a very large following or fan base over the past few years. The site includes categories of different pictures and videos, one being called 'Chive Everywhere' that solely displays different people who support the website. The site also sells specific shirts, stickers, and other items so you can show your love for theChive. For this paper, I plan to focus on how the functionalist perspective has helped this website develop such a large following. http://thechive.com/