Assignment 1-4-6

There are several things that come to mind when I think about wh  Rituals and stereotypes would be the two main theories that best relates to Duck Dynasty. At the at type of popular culture theories relate to my topic, Duck Dynasty.end of every show the whole family sits down to dinner together.  The Robertson’s have several rituals they go through before, during and after they go hunting especially duck hunting. There are several stereotypes that the Robertson’s family proven to be wrong. I also see it in the formula the show uses.

The most interesting thing that I have discovered would be how the show follows a formula. It had to be brought to my attention that they were doing something that other shows have also done. I didn’t see it, the show was just a show that made me laughed. Before I took this class I just viewed shows like this as entertainment and did really put very much thought into how the show was put together, now I see the formula in the show.

I use to just watch this show and laughed and really didn’t think much beyond the entertainment of it, now I look at it a little hard and think how different theories apply here and there. I also find myself wondering just how long this show will be popular.  I will still watch the show and enjoy it for as long as it is on.

Assignment 1-4-5: Formulas

The show begins with the guys sitting around the work area at the shop, discussing the length of their beards.  They go back and forth as to who has the longest beard.  Willie walks in to the shop to tell them they need to get to work and that he is leaving to go to a sales meeting and that Jase has to sign for a package at 4:00. Of course as soon as Willie leaves the guys are off on their next hunting adventure fixing up the hunting blind. After they fixed up the hunting blind, they realized the keys were hanging in the ignition and the doors where lock. Jase had to be back at the shop to sign for the package at 4:00. He ends up making it back to the shop just in time to sign for the package. The shows ends with the whole family sitting around the table eating dinner and Willie is telling you what lesson had been learned and how they have come closer together because it. 

Every Duck Dynasty show goes through the same series of events and ends in the same manner every time.  The show starts a little different every time but of most of the time it starts out with the guys sitting in the shop area and Willie comes in and gives them a hard time. Then they usually go do something with hunting and fishing that turns out to get all messed up and they end up learning something. Then it ends with them sitting around the table praying to God and as they are panning around the table of everyone praying at dinner you hear Willie’s voice and he starts giving his thoughts on the lesson learned in the show and how it has brought their family closer together. For instance in the March 06, 2013 episode Here Lizard, Lizard they start the show with Willie leaving and the guys accidentally let a large lizard loose and he gets lost in the warehouse. They solve the problem and learn a few lessons along the way. Then they end the show in the same way with pray and thoughts. 

Duck Dynasty does follow a formula in the way the show unfolds. It starts out they are at working, but plan to do some hunting or like thing. While they are hunting they get into a dilemma that they eventually and have.  Then the show ends with pray and thoughts over the lesson learned. It runs in that classic formula a lot of plays, movies or TV shows follow where a group of people sneak out of work/school and go on an adventure, getting into trouble along the way and growing as a person then ending the show on a good note everyone is happy and a little closer. Does real life follow a formula in the way it unfolds? 

References

Robertson, (March 06, 2013). Duck Dynasty. Here, Lizard, Lizard. Retrieved from http://www.aetv.com/duck-dynasty/video/here-lizard-lizard-20754499917?pfilter=ALL%20VIDEOS

Robertson, (March 13, 2013). Duck Dynasty. Hallu-Si-Nations. Retrieved from http://www.aetv.com/duck-dynasty/video/hallu-si-nations-21396035943?pfilter=ALL%20VIDEOS

Journal Article Analysis: Assignment 1-3-2

Careless Girls and Repentant Wives: Gender in Postwar Classroom Films

The article I am analyzing is called Careless Girls and Repentant Wives: Gender in Postwar Classroom Films.by Megan Stemm-Wade.  The article starts out with a description of a 1950 education film called “What To Do On a Date” in which a teenager, Nick, struggles with where to take Kay on their second date.  Kay informs Nick she loves going to all the activities offered at the community center and that would be a great second date. The article is about the social hygiene films that were being produced and shown in the schools from 1946 to the 1970’s and how these films were trying to get the women and daughters to be an obedient wife and not want to have a life outside of the home. Because after World War II the women going back into the homes after working during the war were unhappy and didn’t enjoy being at home anymore The mothers were taking tranquilizers to help deal with their unhappiness and their feeling of being trapped.  

The article explores the different films and breaks them down into 3 categories dating, marriage and careers.  The author has a general feeling that all the movies treat women as a person who bares all the weight of keeping the urges of their boyfriends at bay and keep their relationship innocent and proper until marriage without the boy taking any responsibility.  Then in marriage she is supposed to be all about the family, agree with the husband, and be the one who bears the responsibility for the happiness in the marriage and the husband having the wife tend to his every need. When the career films were being shown they would tell the women to be agreeable, do not argue with the boss and to be a good happy employee. but only until she gets married and then she must remember her role as an obedient wife and treating her husbands happiness as hers and be content with it. The article also talked about the approach of the different film makers attitudes and aggressiveness in their portrayal of the women and their expected roles.

            The author has written this article to discuss the films of the time and how they did not really give a realistic view of what was happening in the real world.  The teenagers were not abstaining from sex as much as the educators wanted. A lot of women were unhappy about their domestic lives and wanted to work, earn their own money and fulfill their own dreams.  This was the start of the women’s lib movement.  This was written for the general audience, the author was debating the gender roles in the social hygiene films.  Because there was no real single type of person she was addressing, she never was referred to any particular type of audience.  Say as someone who was writing an article about a movie or a particular video game.

            As you read through the article it is well organized and fairly easy to follow.  Except for some of the words, I had never seen or heard of so I found myself consulting the dictionary several times to look up words I did not know the meaning of or how the word is supposed to be pronounced.  The use of more common words would have made it much easier to read and understand. She informs the reader how the history of the social hygiene films got their start.  She gives the reader both sides of what is happening in the real world and what the film was trying to express what a women’s role was. The women’s role in dating was that she should carry the weight of keeping the boys hormones in check on a date and the girls are responsible for the things that happen to them if they make bad choices. How they should be happy and well-adjusted in married life and not have any interest outside of the home. If any girl wanted to have a career she should only have it until she got married then her role is in the home tending to the needs of the family.     

            I do agree with the article that these movies were put together to change the thoughts of the women of the time period to be more obedient and remember their roles in the home. In order for a girl to get a man she needs to look a certain way, act a certain way, and think a certain way.  Although I feel that if more women could have been happier in the home and stayed home instead of entering the work force that maybe things would be different.

            This article is important because it shows how America had changed after the depression and World War II and how women started to see a way of life outside of the home. Also it shows how men were closed minded and did not think women had the right to work and think about herself and what she wanted.  Women of this time frame were trying to break free from the stereotype that women should stay home and have babies and not want or need to go outside the home to have a happy and fulfilled life. 

References

Stemm-Wade, M. (2012). Careless Girls and Repentant Wives: Gender in Postwar Classroom Films. Journal of Popular Culture Volume 45 Issue 3, p. 611-627.

Assignment 1-4-4: Heroes and the Cult of the Celebrity

Willie Robertson could be thought of as a hero, especially in the business world since he took his Fathers little family business and turned it in to a multimillion dollar business.  He was able to take something his father created and make it the leader in the duck call industry. There are a lot of types of heroes from people who save lives every day to the basketball star who won the game. Each person has their own heroes and things that they believe make up a hero.  Willie is a financial hero and a reality TV star; he is a reality TV star because of his financial accomplishments.

Phil Robertson could have been a football hero but he chose his family and being himself and his passion for hunting, over fame and fortune.  He may not look like it, but he played first-string quarterback ahead of football star Terry Bradshaw at Louisiana Tech University in the ’60s. They were both drafted into the NFL but Phil turned it down because it interfered with duck season and his family. (AETV, 2013) Instead he remained in Louisiana, married his high school sweetheart, Miss Kay, built a house down by the river and together they raised four sons.

Reality TV is in the midst of the Cult of the Celebrity people being famous because they are on reality TV.  A few years back no one heard of Phil or Willie Robertson unless you were from Louisiana or into Duck Hunting now anyone who has cable or satellite TV knows what Duck Dynasty is and who Willie, Phil, Si and Miss Kay are. Right now they are on the top of the reality TV series but 10 years from now they will most likely be replaced with the next big thing. The status of Celebrity is given and taken away very quickly in some cases and other cases they last forever.  What does the future hold for Duck Dynasty in Reality TV? Is it going to be pushed to the side and replaced with something else like what has happened to so many people who had their 15 minutes of fame.

References

A & E Television. Duck Dynasty: Meet the Family: Phil Robertson. Retrieved March 15, 2013, from http://www.aetv.com/duck-dynasty/meet-family/phil-robertson/

Rituals and Stereotypes

The Robertson’s boys all gather their equipment together.  They get their most important items their guns, their sleeping bags and food.  They are headed out to the woods to stay the night, to make sure they are up and ready to go before dawn.  Because the Robertson’s boys are sticking to their annual tradition of camping out, on the Robertson’s family land the night before duck season so they are and ready to go as soon as duck season starts.  The family has a lot of rituals like praying before dinner, going to church and hunting. The shows focus a lot on those traditions. 

            The Duck Dynasty show follows the Robertson family who works together making duck call hunting products. One of the boys Willy went to college and earned a business degree and has built the business up from the basement to a multimillion dollar business.  When you see him you don’t think of him as a business man, he has a long beard and hunts.  The show is letting the world have a peek into a family lifestyle not many people don’t know or understand. The show is giving us a description of the way they live, they may be rich but they stick to their traditions and they don’t really fit the typical stereotype that is associated with wealthy people. 

You see with this family that there are still families that stick to traditions and I will probably look closer at the different types of traditions the family has.  I can see when watching the show how the family does and does not fit the normal stereotype of wealth or southern hunters. We need more shows that show us that family can work together, stick to traditions and be individuals.