Pop Culture from the Margins

Last semester I taught pop culture and had a few students that had some amazing papers that I thought they should share with the school and they got that chance on Wednesday with Common Day of Learning at APU. The students did a great job and had quite a crowd. I put together a panel of three students and myself and they were able to speak for a full room. All the seats were taken and many others were sitting against the back wall. Not bad for an event that took place at 9:30am. The title of the panel was "Pop Culture from the Margins." I was really proud of how the students did.

I started the talk by presenting a methodology that covered that basics of what the panel was about: issues like privilege, representation, hegemony, and postmodernism wrapped into 15 minutes. The students-Whitney, Kim, and Eric-then presented on different ideas under this flag idea. Whitney and Eric were in the pop culture class, and Kim is on the newspaper staff, along with Whitney. Whitney gave a great talk on the "self-tropicalizatioin" of J-Lo in her films. She provided some important details on the way J-Lo has used her Latin roots to create her image. Next, Kim discussed changing gender roles in science fiction, specifically focusing on the unique gender issues presented in Battlestar Galactica (I take a little pride in helping her come up with the idea). Eric then closed with a discussion of the comic book's transition from low culture to high culture.

The students seemed very receptive to what was discussed, and rightly so since the student speakers presented their information with great interest in their topic and appropriate detail. Not just bragging, but we had a great panel that covered the many different aspect of "pop culture from the margins." Common Day of Learning is often considered a joke or annoying obligation by some students, but if they attended our panel, they found some great information with a very timely application. Good times.

Next stop, New Mexico

So I'm about to leave for a conference in Albuquerque in a few hours. I'll be presenting on a California culture panel at the 30th Annual Popular Culture and American Culture Association Conference. I presented here two years ago and it'll be interesting to do it again. Last time I did a paper on how three hyperlink films-Magnolia, Short Cuts, and Crash-represent the various aspects of Los Angeles, and this year I'll be discussing horror cinema's relationship with LA.

My presentation is titled "No One Can Hear You Scream: Los Angeles in Horror Cinema." For those who won't be attendance, I discussing what we fear about LA, based on horror films. Oddly, my conclusion is that horror films are largely silent about LA. Most such films are set in the suburbs or in the woods or back-country, focusing on people from the burbs getting attacked by "freaks." I began trying to find any random film I could to make a paper out of and then I realized I was looking too hard for obscure films, ignoring the obvious trend. Thus, my paper changed focus from what the few films have to say (though I do mention them) to a argument for silence. Horror films are known for feeding off the fears of contemporary culture (I say this acknowledging how bad many of them are), and apparently horror film viewers aren't scared of LA. This doesn't mean there isn't unease in the City of Angels. It does mean people, I argue, that the horror film watcher is more concerned with horrors elsewhere. And if "elsewhere" is defined as the burbs or anywhere people from the burbs could be, then what we have going on in the genre is a unique form of segregation.

There's plenty of things going on in LA for people to scared of, but such things are secondary as most viewers might consider the situation an "us and them" thing. The chief demographic for a blockbuster film is the 18-year-old, white, middle-class male, and he wants to see a film that represents him--and representation is often based on ethnic, gender, and economic background. Thus the viewer does not see himself (I'm intentionally using a male pronoun here to prove my point that horror film are not gender or ethnic neutral) in an LA horror film because it is a multicultural place. LA films deal with ethnic issues and horror films are known for avoiding such things in their attempt to remain neutral, appealing to everyone. Or course many have learned that attempts to appeal to a broad audience means silencing the minority view.

This is the premise. I then go on to discuss ways to engage horror films with this in mind, pulling mostly from an idea by bell hooks called "the oppositional gaze," which forces the viewer to discard passive viewing and actively engage a film text.

Unlike the last time I presented at this conference, I didn't write a formal paper. I found that I have about 15 minutes to speak and can do so in anyway I choose. I'm gonna approach it just like a very focused class lecture. Last time, I wrote a 15-page paper and still created a speech with notes. I was so nervous and spoke so fast. I laughed later when I showed up at the conference and found that I was the only one on my panel not reading straight from what I had written. I soon learned that most conferences are done in this way. Yet, there are those who just speak and with the stress of applying to a PhD program, preparing another presentation for Common Day of Learning at APU, and general class prep, it would be easier to treat this conference like a class session. I finally feel confident enough to do this. Of course I'll stutter and lose my place in my notes, but that's no different than what normally happens. At least now I can mess up with more confidence.

That said, the conference should be quite entertaining. There are several panels on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and comic books in general to keep the nerd that I am very happy. I'll probably have a few more books in the collection when I return too. Here's for academic fun. Cheers.

The latest

So I'm sitting here watching Flight of the Concords and I felt like writing a TV blog. We'll start with my list of my top 10 favourite TV shows.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Angel
4. Firefly
5. Avatar: The Last Airbender
6. Scrubs
7. How I Met Your Mother
8. Bleach
9. Friends
10. 24
I must say, TV is on a downward spiral but there some quite entertaining shows. Flight of the Concords might be the most original. Battlestar Galactica is the smartest and best written. I'll be sad when it ends in a few episodes but it sure is going out with a bang. 24 is still as intense as ever and keeps the suspense ripe. Heroes and Lost are pissing me off, as they continue to recapture the flames they had from season one. I haven't seen Mad Men yet, but I hear wonderful things about it. How I Met Your Mother is steady by slipping on occasion, but Big Band Theory is on fire, along with 30 Rock and The Office. I must say that I've been into Smallville and Supernatural lately too. I acknowledge the tween nature of these shows but have that they both have grown with their audiences. Supernatural is rather dark and has a great storyline right now, involving angels, breaking seals, and the end of days. Smallville got rid of most of the teen drama and is focusing on Clark Kent fighting foes like Doomsday and Braniac. Bleach is still my anime of choice; 200 plus episodes in and always getting better. Cable TV also has two gems, Entourage and Dexter. A show about an actor and his buddies, great. A show about a likable serial killer who kills other serial killers, even better. BBC TV also has some good ones, Torchwood is one of the best sci fi shows of recent years and the short-lived Primeval had some fun moments.

I will say that I don't care much about many new shows, but I am intrigued by a few. Dollhouse marks creator Joss Whedon's return to TV since Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Kings also looks wonderful. Francis Lawrence, director of Constantine and I am Legend, has created a modern-day retelling of the story of King Saul and King David. Should be pretty interesting.

Welp, that's my TV rant. I end by saying I am sad Avatar is over and acknowledge that I watch more TV shows than most people...I'm okay with it.

Top 10 update

This is the time of year where my taste in movies changes. I live with many people that don't share my enjoyment of foreign or obscure films, so the rest of the year I wait for said films to come out on video. But Oscar season allows me, and those around me, the excuse to check out the hype of any kind of film. On Saturday night I saw Slumdog Millionaire and I was blown away. It's up there as one of the best love stories I've seen since Moulin Rouge. Last week I saw Che. It won't get many nominations but it is easily Best Picture worthy...far more than the incredibly overrated and rather disappointing Benjamin Button. Anyways, I still have a few more films to go from 2008 before the Top 10 list can be official, but here is an updated version. As expected, Wanted and Quantum of Solace got pumped.

I know some may wonder how they were there to begin with and the answer is quite simple. First, Wanted is hysterical. It's A Purpose Driven Life with guns. It's quite telling to see the American rhetoric of destiny and individualism exposed for the bloody mess it is. The film was clever and a good shoot 'em up. Any good top 10 list will acknowledge that entertainment and escapism is important as well films with a critical edge. As for Quantum of Solace. I love what they're doing with James Bond. He's no longer a glamorized alcoholic womanizer. He's a flawed man. Post 9/11 tension finally made it's way to the Bond films and after decades of the same old thing, it's nice to see a one-dimensional character get some layers. Yes, there was far too much action but Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever (I'll argue anyone on that point) and the film gave me great hope for the future of the franchise.

Now there's also the issue of why Cloverfield is on my list. First off, I'm not alone as several other critics put this postmodern monster movie on their list as well. I loved this film. I took the ideas of The Blair Witch Project to the extreme. It was brave enough to tell a story people might not want from a blockbuster. And it had some great cinematography. I felt like I was on a 3D ride and I enjoyed it all. The characters were decent and the storyline was ambiguous. Sometimes closure is overrated.

Well, w/o further ado, here's the update list in order, pre The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader (if any of the finalists make the cut, Wall-E will be the first to go).

1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Let the Right One In
4. Iron Man
5. Milk
6. Cloverfield
7. Che
8. Tropic Thunder
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
10. Wall-E

Simpler Times

I remember when all I had to do was wake up, eat, pretend to enjoy work, do homework, play video games, watch a movie, and go back to sleep. Life was simpler in college and grad school. Now, it's not that it's not that simple, there's just not much time to prepare for the constant change. Trying to figure what I'll be doing in the spring has been a confusing endeavor. I thought I had it figured for about three weeks back in October/early November. I was going to teach three classes and assist school newspaper at APU. I had two 400 level classes lined up at APU, Faith and Values in Journalism and Senior Seminar. I was incredibly excited about both of them...they got canned from low enrollment. I suddenly realized adjunct teaching is stressful. I began contacting several colleges from Chapman to Pasadena City, trying to find any classes I could. My one goal, not to have to substitute teach. Nothing came through. I still had The Clause and that was it. Luckily, I was offered to teach another class in the spring at Biola. It's funny how I got hired there a few days before the semester started and now it's my bread maker. So I was set. I was going to spend all of January preparing for the Biola class at the end of the month and for the PhD application deadlines coming up on February 1st. But of course something else came.

So two days ago I was offered another class at APU, Public Affairs Reporting. I decided to take the class and am frantically preparing a syllabus and doing the appropriate reading to prepare for such an endeavor. In August I was able to prepare three weeks worth of lectures before the semester started for three classes. Now, I'm gonna going week by week. I'm not complaining here, because I'm so thankful for the second class. I'm gonna love the preparation and the challenge of entertaining 10 students in a three-hour class. I am, however, laughing at how this all has happened. I've gone from full to empty to partly full. I'm excited about the semester, but I gotta say I'm looking forward to the day when I have my PhD and a full-time job that will insure I get classes every semester. I get too much anxiety to live semester by semester.

The End is Nigh

So it's almost the new year and I'm getting closer to deciding on my top 10 films of the year. I just saw Australia and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and, while I enjoyed both, neither will make the cut. I still need to see a few more key films to make my decision: Che, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Reader. I say Revolutionary Road but, honestly, it's a Sam Mendes film (he did American Beauty, Road to Perdition, and Jarhead), so while one of those three films might be great, the others were mediocre. Thus, I don't care about his latest film--even if Leo and Kate are back together. Well, here's the list so far (in no particular order).

10. Wall-E
9. Wanted
8. Quantum of Solace
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
6. Tropic Thunder
5. Cloverfield
4. Milk.
3. Let the Right One In
2. Iron Man
1. The Dark Knight

While this list may change, I don't think the worst films of the year will. Granted this list is incomplete since I doubt I've seen all the worst films of the year.

10. Burn After Reading
9. The Punisher: War Zone
8. Max Payne
7. Mamma Mia
6. Blindness
5. 10,000 B.C.
4. Jumper
3. The Happening
2. Don't Mess with the Zohan
1. Miracle at St. Anna

Long time, no blog

I know, I know. I haven't been on here for a while. Teaching has been exhausting and my writing has gone into either preparing lectures, grading papers, or writing film reviews. But alas, as my roommates sit next to me watching Jericho, I find that I just might have the energy to do some writing.

First off. The election is over and my man Obama won. For the first time in a while I don't feel hopeless about this country's sad track record. I know he won't be able to do everything he wants to, but we desperately needed somebody new. Symbolically, this country needs to look different than it has been over the last 8 years. Also, I am saddened by the support behind Prop. 8. People can argue anyway they want, homophobia and bad theology is behind this one's support. I held discussions of the prop. in both my Biola and APU freshmen writing classes. It was truly amazing to see how different each group responded. Of course there were naive and prejudicial opinions in both classes (more at one than another though), but it was a night and day difference. It's not really that either campus had different views, just that some people know how to approach disagreements in a respectful manner.

In other news, I'm going potentially insane trying to nail down the classes I've be teaching in the spring. One of them was canceled, so I have to go on the hunt again. I'll find out probably next week if Biola will pick me up again. No matter what, I've truly learned that I love teaching and can't wait to start a PhD program and get that much closer to finding a full-time job. This whole adjunct thing is gonna be the death of me, not knowing what my schedule will look like from semester to semester. On another note, I was thinking about trying to teach at a college in Lithuania this summer. First off, it would be pretty fun to do it and second, it would look great on my CV (curriculum vitae), my academic resume. But with everything up in the air with my future, I have to admit that unexpected doors have been opened. I was expecting to have much more difficulty trying to find classes than I have had. Master's in theology don't normally get chances to teach pop culture, journalism, ethics, or general writing classes. I guess it helps to have a strong network of people that want to support you. (If I was anyone else right now, I'd make some claim about a "God thing" but my cheesiness factor was used up on bad one-liners in my lectures on Monday.)

Anyways, I'm sure I'll have a lot more focus in blogs to come, but for now I'll have to settle with a journal entry. That's it. Peace.