Newsletter Week 3

Hello All,

Now that we are up and running with the site I will be posting these newsletters at the end of every week. In general I will divide these newsletters into two broad categories: what we’ve done and what is coming up. There are three items I want highlight this week.

First, I have graded for your introductions and your entries for blog post #1 and #2. (I will grade blog post #3 soon). If you don’t see your grade for a blog post in the Blackboard grade center it means that either I didn’t see it or you haven’t posted it. Please contact me if you would like a grade for these missing blog posts. Otherwise, I will be entering zeros soon.

Second, I have posted the prompt for Paper 1 on the course site. Read it, absorb it, and come to our meeting at the beginning of next week with questions.

Third, please check the course site regularly. In addition to posting links to course activities in the syllabus I also post items that come across the wire such as job and event postings in the “Events and Opportunities” section. For example, now there is a flyer for an upcoming SciFi event that includes details on a writing contest.

What we’ve done

They Say/I Say:

Ways of Seeing:

You should have watched Episodes 1, 2, and 4 at this point. It is essential for you to watch these videos in order to complete the blog posts and the Paper 1 assignment.

Blog posts:

Last week you wrote about Berger’s discussion of representations of women. Here are some things you might think about as you further consider this episode:

  • Berger focuses on representations of women. He defines a distinction between the female nude and nakedness. According to him, the female nude is a constructed image of female sexuality meant to satisfy the desires of the male viewer; whereas, actual nakedness is not constructed. It occurs on the fly, when we are least conscious about it. Berger ties this distinction to the objectification of women.
  • In thinking about this further you might ask yourselves if the same thing takes place with depictions of women nowadays. For instance, when Beyonce creates a sexualized image of herself does the same problem Berger identifies arise? Or, is something different going on? You might also think about the role of social media and the “selfie” in this regard. If an Instagram user creates a “sexy” post of herself is she objectifying herself or is she controlling her own image?

This week you completed Blog post #3, which asks you to consider Berger’s thoughts on advertising imagery. Do the same kinds of manipulations of images go on today? Or, is it different? If the situation is different, how so? We’ll talk about these questions and your posts next week.

What’s coming up?

Here, I’ve listed the items you will take up next week:

Week 4 (10/05-10/07)

Let me know if you have any questions.

PF