In many countries such as Japan and Korea, large families live together in buildings with multiple other families. Because of spatial limitations, the population is condensed in a number of cities, and there is really no room for one to leave their home and start their life somewhere new. However, pioneering is commonplace in America, and it is very much part of the country’s history.  America is large enough that citizens are blessed with mobility that is unattainable in other countries, and often, the key to turning over a new leave involves moving somewhere new. Tocqueville even mentions the American ideal of new beginnings as he discusses the American family. He notes that in aristocratic nation, no one in a family is recognized other than the father, the head of the household. In America however, children are expected to start a life outside of their immediate family, and create themselves outside of their father’s shadow, thus reinventing themselves from the dependent adolescence of their parent’s home.

Although the idea of new beginnings is prominent in the American mindset, reinvention does not mean erasing the past. Of course, America is a country where one can move away from her hometown, change her name, and start anew, but the past is always there to haunt us. Such is the case of Don Draper, protagonist of the television phenomenon, Mad Men. After fighting in the Korean War, Don returned to his home country, but he never went home. He tried to run from his past by taking on a new name and moving to New York, where he was able to make a name for himself in the advertising industry and rid himself of all aspects of his upbringing. It would seem that Don had epitomized the American ideal of personal reinvention with his beautiful wife and children, expensive home, comfortable lifestyle and thriving career. Yet despite his compete detachment from everything connected with his old life, Don is unable to truly escape the past. This particular American ideal is tainted when Don’s half brother, Adam, shows up in his office after finding a newspaper clipping of his long-lost brother. After unsuccessfully attempting to introduce himself into Don’s new life, Adams sends Don a letter at work, containing a picture of the two brothers from before Don left. The letter is symbolic of the fact that although the American narrative is that we all have the opportunity to start over, that doesn’t mean that our futures are not intertwined with our past.

The idea of new beginnings is prominent in the American mindset, and one of the great stories within this narrative lies in Tiger Woods. . This iconic golfer’s reputation was severely tarnished when the world found out that not only was he cheating on his wife, but he was cheating on her with several different mistresses, who announced themselves through a series of worldwide publications. As a result, Tiger, who has always exuded a family-friendly image, took indefinite leave from competitive golf. However, in March of 2010, several months after the scandal, Tiger announced his return – He planned to play in the 2010 Masters. Now of course, the question is, will Tiger be given a new slate? Just days before Tiger teed off, Nike released an ad featuring a silent Tiger and the voice of his deceased father, Earl. In the ad, it appears that Earl is chastising his son for abandoning his principals and compromising his integrity. “Did you learn anything?” he asks posthumously. This ad was Nike’s way of indirectly addressing the issue of Tiger’s infidelity in order to grant him help him turn over a new leaf and start again, as is the American way. Naturally, Nike was hoping that Tiger could come back and win the Masters, but although Tiger didn’t win the tournament, his comeback is what is important. Despite massive setbacks in his personal life, Tiger was able to start his recovery by playing in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. In a sense, all Americans want to be Tiger. One user commented on golf.com that he felt that the public would accept Tiger, even after his personal misdeeds were publicized. “I just want to watch him play golf,” said the user. The American people all want to believe that if they mess up, even on such a large scale as Tiger, they can still bounce back from their blunders. Tiger has been given a new start, a new opportunity to prove himself, and what’s more American than that?

After reading Mollie’s blog, “In Media We Trust,” I began thinking about the influence of the media, and how a large portion of our population blindly trusts anything presented to them by television reports and news articles

When I was in grade school, I thrived off of reading gossipy magazines such as Star, US Weekly, and the Enquirer. Stories about Lindsey Lohan throwing a couch out of her window, and the Olsen Twins dating the same man at the same time, captivated me much more than they do now. Of course, I believed everything I read, and didn’t realize the gullibility of readers such as myself until one of my classmates announced that he had just read an article claiming that Shakira had broken all 206 bones in her body while trying a new dance move, and was in the ICU in a California Hospital. Right.  All 206 bones, and she was still alive?

Later that week, I read an article in the Enquirer claiming that Selma Blair had been impregnated by an alien, (my dad wanted to frame the article). While I had had my suspicions before, it wasn’t until finishing this atrocity of an article that I came to the conclusion that the Media had no problem whatsoever lying to us, and that the public blindly accepts the facts presented to them as truths more often that I want to admit. No one bothers double-checking the facts to see if what they believe is actually true (such as Mollie’s family and the fans). It took me almost 15 years to figure out not to believe everything that’s printed, and I am sure that there are people, much older than myself, who have yet to come to this conclusion.

But this blind acceptance explains why Jessica Lynch and her overseas adventures gained such fame. Even though the story has been tweaked and twisted, some parts fabricated all together, Jessica’s story was the story people wanted to hear, and even though first-hand-reports disprove many of the events in “I am a Soldier Too,” no one really bothered to do a background check, and therefore, the highly embellished story was generally accepted as the truth.

The Media is determined to paint a certain picture for the public. They feed into the stories we tell ourselves because reporters know what will make the best headlines and promote sales, no matter how far from the truth it is.

But we need to recognize the danger in this blind faith in the news. If a majority of the nation accepts completely false stories as fact, then were does that leave us as a society. We are always willing to call each other out for lying, to criticize politicians for omitting truths, but what about the newspapers that accumulate inside our own houses, or the TV shows that we watch from our own living rooms (or common rooms)?

While watching Friends a few weeks ago, it occurred to me how foolish and juvenile many of the jokes were, and how one of the characters always ended up looking like an idiot. Weather it is sophomoric Joey, who’s biggest concern on a trip to Barbados is whether or not he gets to dig a hole in the sand, or Chandler, who becomes so obsessed with taking baths that he commandeers the one his wife has just drawn when she leaves the bathroom, someone is always doing something that can be considered ridiculous.

After watching a few more TV shows, such as Modern Family, I realized that foolishness is the meat of American Comedy. While the characters on theses shows tend to face fairly ordinary problems, their reactions are generally fairly ridiculous, and viewers can compare these reactions to what they suspect their own would be, and therefore, feel better about themselves.

In one of the more recent episodes of American Family, Claire is afraid of flying. This is a common phobia, yet viewers who share this fear can laugh at Claire because she tries to overcome her fear by getting so drunk that she passes out and can’t get on the airplane herself. There is not a doubt in my mind that this has probably happened at some point in Logan Airport, but since I have never been on the other end of such a situation, I can laugh at Claire’s ridiculous reaction to her fear.

Less than an hour ago, Taylor send me a picture from the website ‘Awkward Family Photos,’ which shows a young woman sitting in a bathtub next to an enormous Irish Wolf Hound, holding a baby in her lab and a pink rifle in her left hand. While I found this picture highly entertaining, after looking at it for a minute, it occurred to me how dumb this woman looks with her baby and pink gun, and I really began to wonder what happened to cause this moment. There is nothing remarkable about this picture. No phenomenal angle or artsy touch. I’m sure we could apply some sort of symbolism here, but for the most part, all we see is the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, and therein lies the comedy.

The media had written a very specific script of a damsel in distress, and Jessica’s only job was to follow the role that had been laid out for her. Reporters were not interested in hearing that Jessica was the victim of her superior’s failure to act responsibly, nor did they want her to be the hero of any story. They wanted to hone in on her childishness, her innocence, and the idea that she girly-girl before she joined the military.

In reality Jessica was a victim of her superior’s negligence “Private Lynch would never have needed rescuing, would likely note even have been captured, if the superiors responsible for her safety and that of her fellow soldiers…hadn’t abandoned them” (Faludi, 224). The leaders of Jessica’s convoy forged ahead of the rest of the squad, way out of radio range, and did not bother to slow down or send units back when they realized Lynch’s unit was precariously behind. Lynch’s unit was left without protection of weaponry and sans directions, to wander the outskirts of the city of Nasiriyah. During their disoriented travels, the unit was supposed to encounter military personals at fail-safe checkpoints at the edge of the city, but the correspondents offered no help, seeing as they had left their posts, and although Lynch’s convoy passed by a marine unit, its members felt no need to warn the approaching unit of the possible dangers up ahead. Unit was ambushed, the soldiers had to proceed without direction from their superiors, resulting in a surrender from Captain James Riley.

The media was hell-bent on portraying Jessica as the victim of some monstrous atrocity at the hands of the Iraqi’s. They made dozens of claims that Jessica could not confirm, such as her supposed rape and torture. The American public was told that Jessica was tortured and beaten, and that her bones were intentionally broken, when in fact, Jessica’s stay at the hospital was much less abusive. Doctors at the hospital gave her the only specialty bed, and used one of a limited number of platinum plates to mend her broken bones. In fact, the hospital doctors and nurses were so determined to cure Jessica that they infused her with their own blood when they ran out of blood bags, and allocated her a full time nurse. The story the media presented to the public deviated substantially from what actually happened.

Although ten-year-old me resented my grandmothers’ interference with my movie-going habits, there was a great deal of common sense in her words. Parents always want to protect the innocence of their children by shielding them from the sexualized nature of our culture, but that is becoming harder with each generation.

The landscape for last few decades young children have been bombarded with toys, TV shows, songs and clothing styles that contribute to the over-sexualization of their childhood. Even the kid-friendly TV network, Disney, has succumbed to the “sexy” era. The biggest qualm my friend Caddy has with Miley Cyrus is that she is too sexual for a Disney star. Caddy is a full time babysitter during the summers, and she claims that Disney is supposed to be a safe channel, where parents can rest assured that their children, for once, will not be subjected dangers of adult sexuality. Then they see Miley, who acts as a role model for tens of thousands of girls across the nation, in her music video for “Party in the USA,” in which she dons a pair of Daisy Dukes and rolls her butt around while standing in the bed of a pickup truck. Even Dora the Explorer is being accused of becoming a “skank.”

The sexualization of clothing styles is most prominent when looking at women’s fashion. Clothing styles have changed dramatically since my grandmother was young. Pants have gotten tighter, skirts have gotten shorter, and necklines have plunged. Even underwear styles have shrunk. And of course, when parents take their young girls shopping, these styles are, for the most part, all that are available to them.

When Barbie was released in 1959, she was the first adult doll on the market. Prior to Barbie, most dolls available were babies or animals, and some parents did not appreciate Barbie’s grown up figure. Over the past half-century, Barbie has undergone some serious reconstruction, resulting in her even grater sex appeal. Barbie’s waist has gotten smaller, her chest has increased, and her eyelids have gotten heavier and now host more makeup than ever before.

And don’t even get me started on the lyrics of most songs.

What does this mean for girls growing up in this sort of environment? We have discussed in class how women are the evil temptation, and always the culprit of any sort of infidelity. But if a young girl grows up in a culture where everything she sees and reads tells her to dress sluttier and dance more provocatively, what is she to think when she enters the world on her own?

Apple has revolutionized almost every aspect of the Media world, and the dominatio n of this company over American Media has allowed apple to create a prominent image for itself.

The iPod literally dominates the music industry. Any form of media player other than the iPod seems almost obsolete to most of the population; for example the Zune’s biggest claim to fame was that it lost to the iPod in the war of the headphones. Even PA’s campus is fraught with the signature white headphones and the thought of trying to share songs using any other product than iTunes is almost absurd. Those who don’t own apple devices probably have iTunes on their computer, and use it to purchase the hottest songs as rated by Apple, thus feeding into the Apple-frenzy. The music industry is dependent on iTunes, and almost every artist or mix can be found somewhere in the iTunes arsenal.

Apple is currently dominating the world of cell phones as well. Since the introduction of the iPhone, cell phone design as a whole has changed drastically. The iPhone opened a new door in the world of cellular devices, with its multi-capability features. It not only acts as a phone but as a music player, Internet browser, and whatever else you want to make it with all of the available apps. Other companies have tried to keep up by producing a series of touch screen phones, and devices that allow users to download a series of apps, phones that are similar but different from Apples’s phenomenon. But nothing the non-Apple companies are producing inspire customers to camp out in lines for their product

Now, the recently released iPad will most likely revolutionize the world of printed media. The new Apple product, which allows users to access newspapers and even books (!!!) essentially does away with the need for paper media. So now what happens to all of our influential publications if they loose a part of their revenue to the iPad?

Mac has created an image of being new and innovative and fresh. Their substantial lead in media world has drawn a wave of followers. Music artists often mention iPods and iTunes in their lyrics, and apple product placement has been rampant it contemporary television. The most prominent example we have looked at in our Media Studies class is the episode of Modern Family, in which Phil desperately wants the newly-released iPad for his birthday. He is willing to wake up at the crack of dawn on his birthday in order to wait in line for several hours to purchase his new toy, and he becomes so obsessed with this apple product that when he doesn’t get his iPad, his world comes crashing down around him.

Similarly, any character listening to a personal music device on any given TV show or in any movie from the past few years will undoubtedly be listening an iPod, or will have their iPod hooked up to the car stereo. Basically, apple has build such a strong image of sleekness and coolness that venues like TV shows and movies want to extend Apple’s image to their own media product.

These songs, videos, and actions promote the idea that men are supposed to be tough and untouchable, stoic in the face of danger. Young boys are exposed to the music industry from an early age, and often try to shape themselves after icons. I worked at the local Boys and Girls Club this summer, and the amount of conversations I overheard about guns, shooting people, and which rapper was more “gangsta” (the general census was that this honor was held by Fifty Cent) was shocking. Also, there was a spike in swearing among 5^th-8^th graders, and the general attitude towards girls had noticeably declined.

The unhealthy effect of rap music on the budding generation is not a new argument. It is a point that has been enforced by many parents, blogs, and articles, who all disapprove of these artists and the message they are sending to kids. But every area of our life, and every media venue in some way expresses that our men are supposed to be powerful, strong, and enduring.

In Susan Faludi’s chapter titled “The return of Superman,” Faludi discuss the media’s role in presenting important national leaders as strong individuals. And Newsweek highlighted “the macho glamor of Rudi Guiliani,” (62) and President Bush earned a super-hero-esque stature. Isn’t this just another example of the Media expressing the desire of all men to be tough in some way or another? Albeit, the rap industry is creating a different type of strength -an angry, lets-go-kill-bitches-just-because-we-can type of strength- but they are portraying powerful men nonetheless.

Of course, the way strength is portrayed changes from setting to setting, and utilizes whatever tools are most appropriate, but the landscape of the burgeoning American men is fraught with this ideal of manhood.

Mad Men is a pristine example of what society has generally thought of women’s position in society. Don’s wife, Betty, is the type of suburban housewife who cooks dinner for her family, throws birthday parties for her kids while simultaneously entertaining the adults, and who lives by her husband’s whims. Betty has no control over her life. Instead, she is dependent on Don for everything from finances to explaining her own feelings to her and she is extremely unhappy with her plight in life. Meanwhile, Don wonders what could possibly make Betty unhappy when she has been blessed with a luxurious home, classic good looks and an equally attractive husband, two children to care for, and a comfortable lifestyle.  Looking back on the 50’s we as viewers are able to diagnose Betty with “the problem that can’t be named,” but during that era, Betty’s domesticity would be viewed as the embodiment of all things feminine.

Although our society is filled with working, independent women, a large part of society’s de finition of women comes from the idea that they should be dependent on Men. A contemporary example of this is Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series. In this trilogy, the protagonist, Bella, is exceedingly dependent on the men in her life, and she defines herself by this male presence. She bases all of her major life decisions on her boyfriend, Edward (the vampire!), and when he leaves her in the beginning of the second book, Bella completely falls apart. She becomes depressed and antisocial and wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. Bella refuses to partake in anything exciting, ignores her friends (whom she began ignoring anyway when Edward showed up), and every day is a miserable blur In fact, the novel skips over several months of her life because literally nothing happens in that time. Without Edward, it is obvious that her life is a gray blob that is not even worth defining.

While women have always had the right to freedom of speech, the 19^th amendment marked the federal recognition of woman’s opinions by giving them the right to vote. Yet there is still a double standard that exists between men’s right to freedom of speech and that same right for women. We live in a patriarchal society, and that is largely because of the Media. As shown in Susan Faludi’s book, after the 9/11 attack, Feminist writers were shot down for thinking outside of the mainstream school of thought. Arundhati Roy broached the subject of America’s role in rise of the majaheddin, and claimed that it would be unfortunate if the United States undermined the emotions of the globe rather than making a valiant effort to dissect the events of 9/11 and understand what caused it. Rather than accepting the idea, critics attacked Arundhati, saying she was repulsive and an “ungracious operator.”

If a man had made a similar statement, his contemporaries may have criticized him to a certain extent, but none would have faced the malicious backlash that women did. Female writers everywhere faced the scorn of the public when they tried to introduce ideas that deviated from the nation’s party line. Woman began disappearing from the news all together, and females in the media were essentially silenced. In such a time of crisis, women lost their place in society as the public reverted back the idea woman don’t belong in positions of influence and power, but instead belong in the home.

Mad Men casts an interesting light on gender roles in the 50’s, for we see two different sides of many of the characters. On one hand, when characters such as Don, Pete Cambell, or Roger Sterling are around their girlfriends or wives, they play the role of strong and loving husbands, who are concerned with the well being of their family, and with how they are going to take care of their loved ones. In this sense, these characters exert a very masculine energy on their environment, as they take on the role of strong and stable providers and caretakers.

In Mad Men, Don Draper embodies these manly ideals in man ways. He is an ample provider; Don and his family live in a large house in the suburbs, while he and his wife both drive luxury cars, and dine at high-end restaurants. The idea of men being the stronger and sex in the domestic setting is spotlighted when Don’s wife, Betty, turns to him for advice after visiting the doctor. Betty, who has been nervous and unfulfilled, is unsure of her own feelings, and rather than delving into her emotions herself or consulting a psychiatrists, she relies heavily on her husband to translate her own feelings. When he is unable to come up with his own diagnosis of her condition, Betty continues to question Don about what her next step should be.

However once these same characters are removed from the women in their lives, they express a different, but equally masculine side. When viewers see Don in his office, they see a very different person from the man who falls asleep with Betty each night. Don is powerful enough that he can keep up with the fast life of advertising agencies on Madison Ave, and land substantial deals with impressive corporations without ever spilling a drop from his tumbler of whiskey. The lives of men in Don’s office like Cambell and Sterling are much more raunchy, and viewers get to know these men as face thinkers who are able to make enormous decisions at the drop of a hat, and have confidence in those choices. These are the men who are trying to keep up with an overload of testosterone generated by exerting their own power over other strong and masculine guys by sleeping with numerous women outside of their marriage.

These cool and suave men hype up their own masculinity by attracting various women, but by attracting each other as well, in a non-sexual sense.

Since Jordan’s day, celebrities have been able to earn money by selling their name to a company. From an advertising standpoint, the company no longer has to focus on selling a product. Instead, they focus on selling the spokesperson for that product Some celebrities who truly lack any form of talent are able to sell their name to a brand, thus furthering their own celebrity, as well as endorsing whatever product the company is trying to sell.

A pristine example of this is Kendra Wikinson, former girlfriend of Hugh Heffner. Kendra became Hef’s third girlfriend when she was just 18 years old, and while she may have been a star on her high school sports teams, other than her athleticism, the 5-foot-2 blonde has no talents to speak of. However, Kendra became an international name after a filming five seasons of a reality series, titled “Girls Next Door,” which follows the day-to-day lives of Hef’s three girlfriends, and records how Playboy is a prominent aspect of their lives. The show offers a window into the glamorous style of life at the Playboy mansion, and was an instant hit. I myself own four of the five seasons, and have watched each episode at least three times, if not more.

During the confessionals that speckle each episode, each girl is sure to sport a Playboy bunny at least once, and throughout the seasons, the three girlfriends spend a great deal of time talking about Playboy as a magazine and as a brand. The bunny logo even makes an appearance in the title of the show as the tittle over the “i.”

Essentially, the girls have managed to become part of the playboy brand, and the success of their show marks the simultaneous success of Playboy as well.

Although the girls are interesting characters to watch, much of the appeal of “Girls Next Door” comes from the Playboy lifestyle rather than the characters themselves. Kendra, Holly, and Bridgette merely fill a roll that any girl can play (since the three broke up with Hef, they have been replaced by three younger blondes). All these girls have really done is to link their name to the world famous Playboy brand, and because of this, each has traveled further in her life that she could ever imagine.

The three girls, Holly, Bridgette, and Kendra, are completely different, but were it not for their fortuitous relationship with Hef, they would be completely unremarkable individuals. Holly and Bridgette have certain talents and interests, and although Playboy has undeniably jump-started both of their careers, each has made her mark by perusing their individual dreams. But Kendra, (my personal favorite,) has contributed nothing to the world, and her entire image as a celebrity is rooted in the playboy brand. Her schooling is minimal, and while Holly and Bridgette have actually jobs, Kendra’s income comes merely from celebrity appearances, which are a result of the fame she has gathered from advocating Playboy on her show. Playboy launched her career, and even though she is no longer one of Hef’s girlfriends, her career is still contingent on her fame, which is not a result of her talents or achievements, but on her relationship with Playboy.