Honestly, I feel like this course taught me a lot more than my other classes when it comes to really analyzing literature and finding the true meaning in different books, movies and poems. In the beginning of the course I felt as if the material somewhat nitpicked our generation and for some reason I started out completely disagreeing with everything we read. Culture Jam and Mark Bauerlein seriously pissed me off because everything that was said was incredibly one sided and lacked any relation to what actually happens in my life. Because I could not relate to the statistics and comments made, I had no desire to even engage in conversation about it. As time went on and the material started to change into having an actual story line, I started to relate what Culture Jam and Bauerlein were saying to the books we were reading. I actually found it amazing how everything we read or watched somehow related to everything else we did throughout the course.
I think that the main ideas that I am taking from this class are the ideas from Thoreau. I feel that society influences a lot in my life. I still think that I am an individual and I have will power to not go along with everything someone tells me to do, but I am greatly influenced by the media. The way I sometimes dress or do my hair is the outcome of watching someone famous wear to do the same thing with their hair. Even sayings that famous people speak such as the Kardashians always saying “bible” on something they swear on, has rubbed off on me. I have someone recognized how important it is to stay true to yourself and not lose those things that make us individuals. I think that it is really important to analyze your life rather than criticizing other people and the way they chose to live. Happiness is so important and I think a lot of us don’t even really know what makes us truly happy. If society didn’t tell us that certain things are good, would we really think they are?
Overall I had a really good experience in this class. I loved our group and I really enjoyed how well we discussed every topic. I always left class knowing a lot more about the material then I did when I came in because we worked so well with discussing everything. Speaking of happiness, I am truly happy this is my last blog! (:
I completely agree with you when you state that among your classes it was the class that taught you the most about analyzing literature and finding the true meaning within the books. I think this shows true through "The Hunger Games". I think this because without analyzing the background of the book, the actual games that involve the killings, many people may just think that it is a cute book that has romance and action. Without this class, I think I would have thought that as well. But since we have had this course I learned to think outside the box. I can now analyze books in a way that I was never able to do before.
ReplyDeleteLoving the fact that you said your happy this is the last blog, I couldn't agree more. I definitely agree with you and Missy, I have learned so much from just being forced to think. Most of our classes are just memorizing the material or learning it for the exam and then in most cases forgetting it. Since we had to interact within our groups to the information I feel that i got alot more out of it as well.
ReplyDeleteIt was important to me that other people identified with not knowing why they feel unfulfilled with the life we have the privilege to live in our society. It was good to know that other people agreed that certain things weren't good for us, or weren't necessarily entertaining just because our popular media says so. I feel like this class has armed me with the knowledge to defend myself against the pejorative tactics of the media.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I liked the group that we were in, I also agree with Brian that I liked that I found we shared some of the same opinions on a particular piece. I also liked that we disagreed on some of the stuff as well because that gave us a chance to really think indepth about the material. And although I liked our group and our discussions, I am also glad this is our last blog of the semester.
ReplyDeleteYou felt the same way as I did when it came to Culture Jam and Mark Bauerlein's comments. They did a lot of generalizations but as class continued I found myself saying 'wow maybe they're right.' I think that society has a big part in influencing our lives especially the media. We might see something on tv and think how cool it is and end up doing it ourselves and not even realizing it.
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