More Details for Blog Post 1

Just to make sure everything is clear for your first Blog Post....

I am not asking you to look at one particular marginalized group. For example, I do not want you to listen or look for all the ways we talk about people with disabilities. Think of it in the reverse direction--listen and look at how we talk about everyone, and glean from that who is considered deviant.

Think about it like this. You are from another planet, and have been dropped off in Vancouver, WA in January 2012. You are trying to figure out how to get by in this society. You want to learn our ways so you can take over our planet. You look to the most obvious sources of information--TV, movies, the Internet, and the people around you--to try to determine how to "blend in." What are those sources telling you about what is "normal" and what is "deviant" in our society? How are they giving you those messages?

Some examples:

Let's say you are really into country music. Who is deviant in country music songs? And how do you know that? Listen to some songs and pick out some patterns in the lyrics. Do they talk bad about people with money? Do they act like it is shameful to drive a hybrid car? What is an ideal man/woman in country music? What is the ideal size/class/ability level, according to country music? If you lived in the world of country lyrics, who would be "normal" and who would be "deviant" in that universe? Explore who seems to be deviant, how you can tell based on your research, and what you think that means--what are they saying about our social constructions of race, class, gender, ability, and so forth? For example, I recently learned about a song called "Rocking the Beer Gut" by Trailer Choir. See video below. What are they saying in this song? What are the underlying messages about what is normal and deviant, for and by gender, race, class, ability, size, so forth?



Or, let's say you are really into tech blogs. Who is deviant, according to tech bloggers? And how do you know that? Read some of the blogs, and pick out patterns. Do they talk bad about people who buy Macs? Do they make fun of people that haven't read the latest and greatest book about that one thing? Who is normal, and who is deviant, in the world of geek bloggers? How do you know that? What is their version of race, class, gender, ability, size, and so on?

Think about the commercial we watched in class (watch here, so you can hear the sound). What messages are they giving you in this quick 30 seconds? What are the messages about masculinity and height? What are the messages about femininity? What are the messages about same-sex attraction? How do you know that? How did Hooters get their messages across? Be specific--they had the actor do a particular facial expression, the language they use, and so forth.



Don't just point out the obvious. Really dig in there and think about it. Do some critical analysis. What are the songs, commercials, blogs, and everything else around us telling us? Who is normal? What is deviant? HOW are they delivering those messages to us?