Saturday, January 31, 2009

Fandom


I'm sitting on the couch trying to do all my assignments...and avoid many other distractions that's in my way.

So, here's a topic that drove me insane for an hour or so. What am I a fan of?! hhmmm...it's been quite a while since I've been a fan of anything. Life now doesn't include me being a "fan" of anything (I think) =P However, to answer the question: What am I a FAN of ? I don't think that I was really a big fan of any musical groups or books, but I can recall back to my middle school years when I was first introduced to the word: ANIME.


Definition: anime (n) a style of Japanese comic book and video cartoon animation in which the main characters have large doe-like eyes. ( Definition thanks to whatis.techtarget.com )


If I flashback to my middle school years, let's say the 6th grade, right when I starting noticing more and more television shows, Sailor Moon was the first anime show that caught my eyes. Yes ---- I am a fan of Sailor Moon the Anime. And also a fan of the manga world =) Anywho, at the age of 12, I guess it is a common thing for a girl...right?!


Sailor Moon is a Japanese comic book story created by Naoko Takeuchi. The story revolves around an ordinary girl school girl named Serena, who happens to find out that she's the champion of love and justice, Sailor Moon. Along with her other helpful friends, who also happens to be just like her, they help defend the planet and entire solar system from being taken over by evil forces. Isn't this a classical magical girl genre?! To find out more about Sailor Moon, just simply google her.


I loved Sailor Moon. Every morning, I would wake up around 5 or so and just scadoodle ( I think that's how you spell it ) down to the couch and silently turn on the television. The show came on around 6 or so and I would always make sure that I had a pillow and blanket with my to cuddle in. At that rate, I've seen all the episodes. I knew every character and their characteristics, what they like, don't like, and whatnots. I was a major fan those days and I am still one, just not like use to but, I'm still a fan of her. In addition, I got my best friend to be a fan of Sailor Moon too. Everyday afterschool, my best friend and I would go home and watch the our favorite episodes on the internet. I can remember how much I would waste my printer ink on printing out pictures and lyrics of their songs. Whenever I got a chance to go onto the internet, I'd always end up printing out pictures and adding them to my "Sailor Moon Mini-Book". It was basically my collection of the anime.








Now that I think about it, anime has come a long way integrating into the American culture. It wasn't popular back then but now, how many people do you know that attends Anime conventions in the USA? Or in other countries? I know plenty. This also includes the manga world. To me, Sailor Moon is the simple example of a classical group of best friends who shares the same past, present, and future. They are a bunch of friends who wants to follow their dreams and yet, protect everything they cherish so dearly. In fact, I look up to Sailor Moon because she demonstrate the strength to believe in your heart / dreams and especially yourself. Many young girls are fascinated by the positive influence that she's brought to them.



Fandom is social - you've got to remember that! It's the interaction in which many people around you become involved in with one another. Hence, sharing the same common interest. Again, how does all this tie with popular culture and education?! I feel that when it comes to a subject matter like comparison and constrast, you can discuss among the students about what did they think was popular back in the old days and compare it to society today. I think that teachers would find this helpful to them especially when a teacher would like to engage a certain hobby that their students would like to have within the classroom atmosphere. If an educator's goal is to pursue a positive classroom environment, why not involve the students? They are the key ingredient to making a meaningful engagement in which students can come together and interact.

Well, this is all for now....

Saturday, January 24, 2009

thoughts of popular culture


Within schools, their goal is to help keep the children’s mind engaged in helpful knowledge and skills for future developments.  In the book, “Tooning In”, it aims at the idea that the “popular culture” has shaped its role in society perspectives regarding youths and adolescents’ lives.  Popular culture itself is engaging into a useful tool for teaching and learning in which everyone is positively benefiting from.  Society has centered popular culture as the pinpoint of cultural identity for which it provides the connection to world access.  Such popular culture factors as MTV and the internet has helped many gain access to the world. Furthermore, besides world access, popular culture has taken a more effective approach towards social studies, enhancing the opportunities for students to connect.       

One of the most influential factor of popular culture is MTV.  MTV and music is one of the many ways in which many people can reflect through struggles, emotions, and so forth.  Music is powerful.  It’s the rhythm that many people becomes inspired and share their talents with everyone else.   MTV has been very influential not just to people but other aspects of popular culture as well.  I rarely associate myself with MTV but it’s been the driving force of the music industry.  Teachers that I know of, love to play music in the background because it helps balance the mood of the students as they work on their assignments.     

From my experience, not only does music inspire me but it’s something that I can relax to and rely on to help lower stress.  When I’m done or just plain bored to death, I can always turn on my music and lay there, listening to the words of the song and maybe even sing a long.  In addition, music isn’t just one ethnicity; it belongs to everyone.  My music selection range from hip-hop to classic to soul to rap from Eastern Asian to America.  “MTV has led may to recognize the power and influence of popular culture” ( Tooning In, p. 10 ).     

Another influential factor of popular culture that came from our own creation; technology, has provided the main stream for communication overseas besides the telephone.  “Technology and television fill in that void and become their chosen method of communication and information about the world ( Tooning In, p. 33 ).”  Technology such as television and the internet has given society the opportunity to tune into world news every day and every hour.  

Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, and all those other sites that are popular among youths steadily keeps the youth involved in their personal lives.  These sites have helped me find my personal space and I am able to keep in touch with my friends all over  the United States.  I find that the internet helps not only me but everyone up to date on current events, find history, and many useful things.  Sometimes, I wonder what the world would be like if the internet never existed.  Would the world today be wasting away stamps and air-mail? 

Moreover, popular culture has taken a more effective approach in social studies.   “Tooning In” simply states that, “social studies teachers who provide opportunities for students to create these emotional connections, through their incorporation of popular culture, will achieve the goal of powerful social studies teaching and learning.  If teachers were able to connect something of popular culture to the everyday student affairs, it can have the student feeling that what they are doing or participating in is of interest.  Also, they become critical thinkers at the same.     

For example, I am one of those students who particularly does not find interest in social studies.  I always listened and connected to the subject but I never found an interest in it.  If some type of popular culture was taken into effect, maybe I would have had an interest in the subject.   In the seventh grade, my social studies class  was actively involved in social studies.  My teacher would always play a musical background related to the subject and put students into groups and give them a part in which we would find a debate.  This allowed us to critically think about what we were going against and made us sound like we knew what we were talking about.

From MTV to the internet to the walls of school, popular culture has come a long way making it efficient for society to open its doors to other various learning tools.  Popular culture in school has taken an effective approach in students to help them benefit from information.  However, the best way to summarize the positive of popular culture is : “Popular culture can potentially provide a forum for the development of critical media literacy in our students; by recognizing the political, social, and cultural aspects of media literacy a true multiculturalism built on alliances, “freedom, liberation, democracy and critical citizenship” could exist in our schools” ( Tooning In, p. 33 ).

 

Thursday, January 22, 2009

01.22.2009

Hi There!

This is the first posting...so testing....