Duped: The Media & Pop Culture Influence Our Food Choices

Manly Men and Manly Man-Films and how they're viewed- a personal experience.

Evan Lahee

When covering the subject of masculinity in media in class, it conjured up a long-buried memory.
Growing up I was always made fun of. I was the odd man out. The fat kid. The one who was always just finding out what was "cool" after the others had learned for days. Eventually this began to affect me worse as I grew older and began to take an interest in girls. After tiring of the "ewws" and rejections simply because "you're fat", I began to take a hint from the movies and animes I'd grown up with and go to the gym.

I did the best I can to believe I could be a Rocky Balboa, or train like Van Damme in Bloodsport, to be at the best of my ability and try to look like I had a good physique and (sadly) cared about my looks and appearance. After a couple years of "shaping up" and further watching these films, I decided to replicate the attitudes of these "manly", or what society had deemed "manly" archetypes in my own personal life, as an experiment of sorts to see which people in my life were easily influenced by what culture dictated, and which people were real. I put on the facade (to my close friends' knowledge of course) of a muscle-bound completely confident asshole, and sadly, it worked. The people I'd wanted acceptance from turned out to be the fake ones who took others at skin depth, never asking or prodding for the person beneath, face value was enough. This quickly allowed me to eliminate the people from my social life who were fake and allow in and keep the ones who were real and wanted to know the real me.

It's sad that a majority of the people I've met in my life so far have been this shallow, but luckily by this age and at college people know to look at the real person and past the type of clothes /physique / looks they have, which is a relief, and why my sick experiment has been over with for years and I've never been happier in that regard.

A word on Video Games

Evan Lahee

All the talk on video games in class really got me thinking about them in retrospect.
They really do inspire people, who sadly can often be labelled as "lazy" or "time wasting" when in fact they're being extremely productive, just not in the "common" or "normal" ways.

My own roommate plays RTS games online with people he knows locally, and even players in Germany, forming alliances and enemies alike and cooperating with them over advance battle tactics that grow ever-increasingly difficult, spending hours toiling away at his computer for a victory. And that's on top of his full-time paper job and homework and class combined. Also in newer games there are features called Achievements where when the game is installed a list of optional tasks can be accessed and used as a checklist to be completed, not for any real purpose, but for the personal satisfaction of the player. It amazes me that people I know will strive to complete these lists out of sheer motivation and to be completionists (I myself just play through the story and am done).

I dug the TED speech on the world coming together through gaming, but really instead of using video games as the platform, couldn't people simply take the same set of motivational skills and put it in a real-life perspective? Use real-life goals such as a reward system (buying treats, a night out, or buying more games) and look at them as "unlockables" to move towards bettering lives for people and feeling better about themselves. I believe humans already possess these abilities of cooperation and collaboration without the further need for evolution, it's just in the hands of the user literally to decide if they want to put their time into their reality or escape to another one that makes them happier.

A response to Superheroes on Boys' Mental Health

Evan Lahee

Responding to the article on boys' mental health from being influenced by superheroes, I wholeheartedly disagree. It all depends on the version of the superhero being watched, and how it's interpreted by the writer/director of said films.

For example, one can watch something like Nolan's Batman films where the protagonist is extremely selfish and whiny and needy and constantly pines over the loss of his parents in an unhealthy way, but Nolan's Batman isn't the true Batman. Not by a long shot. The comics have a healthy way of representing him as a man who's come a long way by amassing a ton of companions, friends, a surrogate family, a powerful company that amasses wealth and donates to charity, and he always gives his all to the people he loves. A very selfless man and one hell of a role model. Even the 90s animated Batman series uses this same version from the comics, not the Nolan one of an overly whiny aggressive impetulant man-child.

Being a comics and anime geek, and growing up on comics, superhero media, as well as "shonen" (basically young teenage boy-aimed demographic) Japanese animes, I was influenced I believe in a very healthy way. The shows and characters made me feel like I could accomplish my dreams and strive to be the best I could. Characters in Batman, Superman, and DragonBall Z alike all trained their hardest and were unconditionally loyal to their friends and loved ones. They did their best to keep themselves at peak physical, mental, and emotional condition at all times. They all had their breakdowns, but eventually knew to pick themselves up because they all knew the importance of self-love and believing in themselves, and when a porblem arises, be it a predicament in life or a person antagonizing them, they would always be at their best to stand up and fight against it (in a healthy defensive way) to make sure that (be it) justice or fairness was served for the better of everyone without bias.

I believe when watched in proper context and not shallowly analyzed like in the article, which needs a more informed perspective, these iconic characters can indeed be very good role models. Ignore the trash Hollywood throws at the masses and look through the promotional items and into the heart, histories, and essences of the characters at their core and original intentions.

Levi's or Nothing- Branding.

Evan Lahee

Concerns over branding-

The class lectures last week over brands and people connecting to them made me realize something about myself. While I've always considered myself a person who really doesn't care about brands and just needs objects for utilitarian purposes, I admit there is one brand of clothing I'll always be picky with. Levi's jeans. I absolutely refuse to wear any other brand. Growing up, I was a lot heavier and always would wear sweat pants to try and hide my weight. But as I got older I'd be made fun of for not adapting to more mature clothing or not having an eclectic enough wardrobe. I'd struggled through the years with denim and had been forced to wear them on occasion, but was always miserable in them. Til one day I got a pair of Levi's, once I had begun to lose the weight that had plagued my early childhood. They fit perfectly, and I felt a new boost of confidence from them, and while I didn't give in due to the comments of my peers, I simply felt like a completely different person. I refused to wear sweat pants again, and still don't even around the house or for leisure, since it brings back those memories and feelings of being young and out-of-shape. I wear Levi's exclusively, and will go out of my way to as many shops as I can to find the exact style and dimensions of the pants I'm after when I actually go out once in a blue moon to purchase something useful like clothing. Sometimes I'll cave and buy a cheap pair of Arizonas to cut into my "hipster" jean-shorts, but when it comes to pants I want to wear every day and last, I'm exclusively Levi's, and refuse to give any other brand a try even in the fitting room, says I, the guy typing this wearing incredibly cheap knock-off Chuck Taylors. 

Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? - A Response

The article "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" talks about the fakeness of Facebook, having a ton of friends, but not actually knowing many of them, and how it can affect a person's psychological loneliness. It spoke to me on quite a few levels. Having been through long-distance relationships in the past, often Facebook is all you have when that person far away is unavailable to text you or doesn't feel like talking with you at that point in time. Depending on the online interactivity of both parties and how much they post about you or the both of you, it can be a blessing; the moments they've shared with you and have recorded via pictures or statuses have been locked in their timeline. This can be a blessing and a curse; when the times are good, you can always look at the albums of whatever date or outing you took them on nd rejoice in your companionship. In bad times, it can be a teasing hell, that if you look at the photos amidst a nasty fight or tough time the photos of once were can be extremely painful with the possibility that there might not be another time or event where you can create more memories with that person.
When the article discusses feelings of isolation, it refers to modern and developing technologies all as ways to decrease those feelings and have us be able to contact a person at any time. This is true, as texting and calling and sending photos to another can all be done anytime anywhere, but on Facebook the photos and statuses are permanent unless removed by the user. If in a squabble, ambiguous statuses or the posting of song lyrics with the intent of that person hurting you (because you know it's relating to something recent with you) can be extremely hurtful and cause a pain that stays with you for days.
You can fight these negative statuses by posting your own song lyrics, or linking to videos with blurbs above them making you seem like you're in a good mood and unaffected by them, or even post happy statuses that are free from having to do with said fights, but it can be exhausting. In my personal experience I've blocked people in the past to prevent any feelings of pain from their vicious statuses or have simply suspended my account alltogether so I wouldn't be even tempted to look at past photos or read what they're up to at that point in time.
Facebook can be an extremely positive place where you can catch up with your friends and see what's going on in your social world, or it can quickly become a dramatic hell as your tear-filled eyes are glued to the screen waiting to see what your person of interest can do next to hurt you. It can either aid loneliness if used healthfully or contribute to it if used recklessly and as a means to mess with someone.
Rather dark subject matter, but just some thoughts that the article started turning in my head. It's the most interesting of the articles from the course so far to me.