More Disgrace
WOW, this book gets better and better, ahh I love it. I think it’s safe to say that this is one of my favorite books that I have read to this day…not only is it an awesome book but as I was reading earlier I turned the page and found a 10 dollar bill, even better!!! Alright anyway, the book. The section that we had to read for this assignment was packed with a bunch of crazy stuff. First off, I had a hard time reading watchmen when it came to the part about killing the dogs even if it was only a comic book but I found it crazy that there had to be dead dogs in this book too, gahhh! Once again it made me pretty sad but I guess its better without the pictures. The idea of women that I talked about in my last blog seems to keep popping up here and there. I think Rubin’s ideas are seen a lot of this book along with some of Fanon’s. As for Rubin, I found a few passages that I found interesting although I’m not sure what (if anything) I can make out of them. The first one I found interesting is on page 98 “There must be some niche in the system for women and what happens to them.” All I can really say to that is…the idea of women! Hmm but I don’t know what it means…? The next passage I found is on 104, the last paragraph on the page and the paragraph on the next page. Once again, I can’t really make too much sense of these right now, sorry : ( Another passage…page 111, the last two lines of the page “‘Am I trying to remind you of what?’ ‘Of what women undergo at the hands of men.’” hmmm. The last passage that I found, I think this is the most interesting one that I picked out is on 130. In this section Petrus explains that they are praying to have a son instead of a daughter. He says that a son is better because he will be able to teach the daughters how to behave. whattt? No way do I agree with this but I do see it as relating to Rubin a lot. As for Fanon, I found an interesting line on page 128 “they are only whites.” I think this relates to the idea of whites and blacks rejecting each other in their society and brings up the idea of discrimination. I’m sure this isn’t one of the better blogs, I guess I’m not so sure where im going with my ideas here, im hoping I’ll sort this all out tomorrow in class!
Beginning of Disgrace
First of all wow, this book is definitely not what I expected. After reading the first few chapters I think it seems to be one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. Fifty two year old professor David Lurie is a very unique character which really helps the book move along. Although I think he’s somewhat…crazy…I guess you can say I like to read about crazy old men? haha. Throughout these chapters I did find a few theorists ideas pop up. I found some of Derrida, Saussure and some of Rubin I think. I think Rubin was the first I found in Disgrace. On page 7 it says “If he wanted a woman he had to learn to pursue her; often, in one way or another, buy her.” From this I found the idea that Rubin stated about women. I may not be right here but I felt that it related back to the idea of women as being a gift and also…being able to buy a woman. I found some Derrida in here as well. This one was a little harder for me to find but I think it might work, hope so! Derrida talks about the idea of truth and how it must be “proven”. I think this relates to the section where he was presenting his story to the board. Everyone takes a side and they feel that their side of the story is the “true” story. Although this isn’t one of the longer blogs, I was more caught up in the story itself then I was while I was trying to relate this back to the theorists. I’m really excited to keep reading and learn more about this crazy old man. WOO!
Fanon
Wow, this seems different than anything else so far…maybe its because he used regular English, that might be it! So yeah, I have to admit that I don’t like reading about race, ethnicity, discrimination and all that other stuff because I feel that its been drilled into my head way too many times throughout my schooling. I also feel that every piece just repeats itself over an over, restating everything that I don’t want to hear about, blahhh, good thing this piece was a little different. I found this somewhat more appealing than a lot of the other things I have read regarding the same issues. From the beginning I was actually excited to read Fanon, mostly because it didn’t seem like there were any hidden surprises…well not in the beginning anyway. Fanon wrote about a lot of neat things like women, discrimination, colonization, all of that good stuff. Right from the beginning on pages 112 and 113 he starts to talk about the idea of whites and blacks and how they have actually created their own little worlds. Throughout all the pieces I have read that dealt with this information, I never really thought about blacks and whites making their own worlds, it really got me thinking. One thing that caught my eye is on page 118 “We must hope that it will very soon disappear.” meaning color prejudice. In seeing this it kind of related back to what I said in the beginning, how a lot of things seem to repeat themselves. This is an ongoing theme it seems, color prejudice will always be around, no matter how hard we try. Although we are told day after day that people are equal, there will always be individuals who go against that and consider themselves better. I feel that there will always be racial discrimination and it made me think…what if discrimination never really came about? History books have always told us about racial discrimination and what it can do to society but I wonder if it didn’t happen back then, would it have eventually came about anyway, and if so…would if still be as big of an issue as it is today? hmm okay sorry, im done rambling. Another section that I found interesting was on page 120 “if I were asked for a definition of myself, I would say that I am one who waits: I investigate my surroundings, I interpret everything in terms of what I discover, I become sensitive.” This made me think of a definition of myself and honestly, I couldn’t think of one. It seems that there’s too much going on in ones life to actually give the individual a definition, then it also made me think…what would other people define me as? hmmm. On 121 we obviously see nostalgia again (it seems to be popping up everywhere now). I like how Fanon said, “I had soon to change my tune.” a few times through out this (one is on p. 128). This made me think that people have to be more optimistic and realize what’s going on around them instead of being stuck in their own world where only their thoughts are the ones that matter. On page 129 Fanon discusses originality. He says in one part “my originality had been torn out of me.” To me, he uses this in a whole new way, I never would have really related it to racism but hey, it works! I like it! All in all, im glad this was easy to read. I do think this tops a lot of other pieces I have read that pertain to the same materials, thanks Fanon!
Halfway done?! Wow!
Whoaaa, we’re halfway done with this semester? Where does time go?! When I came into this class I was really excited because I thought it was going to be a lot of cool stuff, I’m glad to say that I was not disappointed. So far I’ve really enjoyed all the different readings we have done. I like the fact that this class is able to show us different theories but not in one solid concrete way…like the comic book for example. I never would have thought I would be reading a comic book…none the less, for a class, even better! Although my brains a little foggy right now, I think these different theories have shown up a lot since we’ve read each of these pieces. I always find myself relating everyday things to the different ideas we talked about in class, which really helps. With a lot of classes it seems that once you end that class on that day, its over…until the next one of course. For me, I feel like this is an ongoing class, which I definitely like, it tends to keep me on my toes more and more tuned in to what’s going on. For me, I have found that reading these pieces in different sections really helps me better understand it. At the beginning of this semester I thought I could sit down and read each piece in one sitting, that’s definitely not the case at all. I now find myself making small markers as to where I’ll read. Then ill pick up on the reading a little later and read some more, I think this helps out a lot. Another thing, I like looking up small things about each of the works we read. I like finding information about each theorist before I read his or her pieces because I feel more into it that way. Not only do I like searching ideas about the theorists, but I also like searching through different sites to find information about the writing pieces themselves, such as what other people thought about it. This kind of gives me an idea of what to expect and helps out a lot in the long run.
Rubinnnn
Thank you Gayle Rubin, thank you for writing stuff I can actually understand, wooo! Rubin starts off by expressing her opinion on women’s oppression. She states that other theorists have pushed this concept aside and left it to be overlooked. The term “sex/gender system” then takes shape. On 1665 she describes this as “the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied.” From this concept, we get the ideas of Marx, Engels and Levi-Strauss. Marx argues that “women are a reserve labor force for capitalism, that women’s generally lower wages provide extra surplus to a capitalist’s employer, that women serve the ends of capitalist consumerism in their roles as administrators of family consumption, and so forth.” (1665) This relates to the idea of wages. A worker provides labor and receives wages in return which is brought up on 1666. In this same page, there was an area that I was a little confused on. “Addition labor must be performed upon these things before they can be turned into people.” wait wait, is this saying, products eventually turn into people? hmmm, I’m lost. The whole idea of kinship kind of threw me off a little. As I read it, I understood it but at the same time I didn’t take much away from it. I found it interesting how women were seen as a “gift”. Although I don’t generally agree with this, I thought it was interesting how it was expressed here. Another thing I don’t really agree with is the idea of obviously women being of a lower status being compared to men but it’s stated that women are basically missing something if they don’t have men in their life (well, that’s what I got from it). It says that women aren’t “whole” without men, huh? Maybe it’s just because I’m a female, but I’m sure a lot of other people will agree, to me, it just doesn’t make very much sense.
All in all, I thought this was easy to read and was written well which helped me understand it. I guess kinship is my biggest question here, just because I didn’t grasp a full definition of the concept and found it hard to follow. Also I had a little question on the statement “we tame our women with the banana”? haha whhhaattt? I thought this was pretty interesting and I liked how it had a lot of the theorists’ ideas throughout the piece.
Louis Althusser
Wow, I feel like I haven’t written one of these in forever, here we go. Although it feels good to be done with the comic book, I’m remembering how much I hated carrying around and reading this book, shucks. Okay, for Althusser…hmm. I actually wish I got more out of this than I actually did, I couldn’t really get into it (mostly because I’m used to having colorful pictures and now I don’t have them anymore!) Although I didn’t feel that I got much out of this, I think breaking it down might help. The first section that caught my attention was that of the Reproduction of Labour-Power. He starts off by explaining how this reproduction is ensured. “It is ensured by giving labour power the material means with which to reproduce itself: by wages (as in money). He then goes on to say that “this quantity of value (wages) necessary for the reproduction of labour power is determined not by the needs of a biological guaranteed minimum wage alone, but by the needs of a historical minimum…” In saying this, I feel that he means this is determined by the individual. They need to gain these wages in order to buy the essentials that are needed to live (argh! Why does this always sound better in my head?!) I wasn’t sure what the biological guaranteed minimum wage really was at first, it was soon described as a struggle between different classes. I feel that this idea of class struggle came up in another reading; I’m just not sure which one right now. Then comes the idea of infrastructure, superstructure and ideology. The infrastructure and superstructure seem somewhat alright for me, but as for ideology, nope, not so much. I’m hoping this concept will be tackled in class and I can gain a better understanding of what he is actually trying to get at here. Ideology has no history? ummm, is that possible?
I’m sure this blog seems a little confusing, mostly because it is, but all in all, I felt that this was what I mostly understood of it. I know it’s not much but I guess it’s something. As for Althusser as a whole, I felt that he continued to refer back to the idea of a structure (as did many of the other readings we have done). Society is a structure and towards the end be brings up the idea of class struggle again. “It is only from the point of view of the classes, i.e. of the class struggle, that it is possible to explain ideologies existing in a social formation.” I need some clarification on this one, that’s for sure.
End of Watchmen!
So I was pretty surprised, the ending to watchmen was actually pretty interesting! Although i’m somewhat happy we are done with the book, the ending was definitely very interesting! For the conclusion, it wasn’t much of a surprise to me that Laurie and Dan ended up together, aren’t most superhero books like that? Although I was happy that they were happy, the ending got a little out of control. Not only did they have sex right away, the one frame shows Dr. Manhattan standing there, watching?!? Weirrrdddd! Another part that I found weird yet interesting was the fact that Rorschach decided to mail in his journal, also I like how it tied in with the comedian and the boys shirt at the end, it all seemed to wrap up very nicely.
I’m not so sure if this relates to anything but one thing I found interesting was the color of chapter XI. It seems that all of the other chapters all seemed very dark and somewhat mysterious. When I flipped the page, I was surprised that this one was bright white! Not only was it bright, it also had somewhat of a cheerful picture, instead of something covered in blood like the rest of them.
I guess this conclusion to the book may follow Deleuze and Guattaris’ concept regarding the theory of no end, no beginning and no center. On page 27 Dr. Manhattan says “In The End? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.” Not only is the idea of a center, end and beginning talked about, the idea of unity is also brought up from Deleuze and Guattari. Although I do think there was a sense of unity towards the end, it also seemed a little off. After the mass amounts of dead bodies the idea of community came up (I think we talked about someone relating a theory to community…hmm maybe not?). While in a community, there will not always be a sense of unity. People have different ideas, beliefs and feeling about the things going on around them. In this case, it seemed that a handful of the people were concerned with saving what was left around them, while others wanted to brush it off and go on with their lives, therefore, not creating a sense of unity…? All of these ideas always sound better in my head. All in all, I think Bubastis is really cute and i’m glad I had the chance to read something for a class that wasn’t just straight up reading, it was interesting!!
More Watchmen
So after having the class discussion the other day about all the blood in this book, I think everyones right. These past few chapters we had to read really made me cringe, i’m starting to think its too much blood in one sitting for me. In the beginning of reading these chapters I thought I was going to be alright but I slowly but surely got more and more confused as I kept flipping through the pages. I’m not sure if maybe my brain was wandering or if i’m not the only one but I feel like the book started switching times, places, and pretty much everything else possible to make me more and more confused. First of all, there’s definitely a lot to cover in these chapters. There were a lot of neat images that I picked up on and marked in my book. In chapter IV on page 24 we saw the idea of Nostalgia again (I think it shows up a lot more but this is the one place I marked it). I thought it was cool how in chapter V in the last three frames on page 11, they show a picture of an ink blot, relating back to the mask. Okay so I might be babbling a little bit. I still find it hard to put the comic book to use with theorist ideas. I have found the reading pretty enjoyable from this point but the past few chapters were a little confusing. Maybe it was because I was stuck on that stupid picture of the dogs getting killed, i’m not gonna lie, I got teary eyed and thought to myself…its a comic book, come on! But really, how much blood does one book need? I think ive seen enough to last my entire lifetime now thanks to this book. All in all, I didn’t really find anything that related to any of the theory ideas but I did pick up on the idea of the derogatory terms we were talking about last class. I marked a few in my book, one on page 4 of chapter VI, one earlier in chapter IV on page 4 and a few others. All in all, I think these chapters were interesting but I think there was too much blood for me, too much fighting, I realized that I love dogs too much to see them die, and what’s his face takes way too many pain killers! Other than that, pretty interesting.
Watchmen-the first few chapters
So first of all, I think it’s pretty exciting that we get to read a comic book now instead of that other huge book! wooo! The first couple of chapters were interesting so far. I find it a lot easier to get into the book and understand it when there are pictures; it holds my attention a lot better. This is the first comic book I think I have ever read and so far, so good.
I remember the other day in class we talked about this book representing a lot of the stuff we have already read but to me, I haven’t really seen too much of it. I’ve seen a few examples but I was hoping for more, maybe we just have to get into the book farther. The biggest part that really jumped out to me and related to the other things in class dealt with Saussure. When I was reading it, I was actually surprised that I picked up on it relating to him because I was worried I would be too busy looking at the pictures than trying to relate it to the other writers. Saussure wrote about the idea of speech and language. He explains that language isn’t only speech; it actually needs a lot more than that. The comic book almost spells that out for us because obviously it’s not only language, it’s a combination of language and pictures. For me, it’s a lot easier to understand whats going on when you have something to look at, plus, the pictures in the book were really neat, haha. I found a few other examples in the book but that was the main one. This blogs pretty short only because although it was interesting, it was still a little confusing to me. All in all, I’m glad we are reading something other than the anthology book!!!
Postmodernism and Consumer Society-Jameson
Wooo Jameson! You make sense! 
Alright to start off, Jameson begins with telling us that the definition of postmodernism is a concept that “is not widely accepted or even understood today.” (1960). In reading this, I was very surprised. He states that this resistance mainly comes from the idea that individuals (including myself) are unaware of the sections it covers. The second sentence on 1960 pretty much sums it up, look how long it is! I had no idea postmodernism included all of this, wow! Jameson then explains how new postmodernism work is actually the reaction of previous work. To me, this seemed like somewhat of a cycle. After a brief history lesson, Jameson explains a “few of the ways in which the new postmodernism expresses the inner truth of that newly emergent social order of late capitalism…” These include Pastiche and schizophrenia. I’m glad we actually had the term defined for us in this one, wooo! In explaining these two things, it was done in order to represent the time and space relationship in postmodernism. So that was the first section.
Now for the death of the subject. The death of the subject explains “why classical modernism is a thing of the past and why postmodernism should have taken its place.” (1964). I thought this section was really interesting. I liked how Jameson described how “the writers and artists of the present day will no longer be able to invent new styles and world-they’ve already been invented;” In saying this, it really made me think about the different ways of writing and made me wonder if there really aren’t any new ways of writing that can be created…? The Nostalgia Mode wasn’t as interesting to me, ehh, and it was a little more confusing. All in all, I liked Jameson. I thought his writing was easier to read than previous sections and with all the topics covered, i’m sure we’ll be taking up a lot of class time to discuss and debate them. It feels good to read someone who makes sense! 
