I watched 2 episodes of Two and a Half men to analyse the trades of Hegemony used in the Episodes.
Season 10 Episode 14 - Run, Stevan Staven!
In this episode I analysed Hegemony Ideologies used in the minority the episode portraits as "Men who have troubled Relationships". The comedy was hilarious but interestingly most of the humor was surrounded around these men who are having a hard time with their relationships. Their situations are shown as common yet situations that carry certain ideologies.
One of the guys in the episode has trouble with the relationship because of an argument over the house key, which the girl takes serious enough to date another guy the next day. Its is a situation with humor but regardless it implies the man is no use to the lady if he can't keep up with the demands of her needs, starting as simple as a key. The guy is pictured as a helpless being. Hegemony is implied in this situation conveying even the smallest need of a woman is more important than the needs of a man in a relationship.
In another situation one of the male characters explains why his girlfriend left him. He says he got caught cheating with his secretary. The person who was listening says that it was an unfaithful move cheating on his girlfriend but later changes his mind after seeing a picture of the secretary, implying that she is sexually attractive. This is a really funny situation, still it implies a ruling class ideology. An ideology that, up to some point, justifies that it is ok to cheat on a relationship if the girl is sexually attractive (hot). Hegemony is the tool that justifies this fact in context of humor.
Season 10 Episode 15 -Paint It, Pierce It or Plug It
This is an episode that has a story of a 19 year old kid dating a 36 year old woman who has 3 children. I decided to to analyse the couple as the minority and look at the portrayed Ideologies.
The first impression of the elderly lady is pictured to be wild and crazy. She has tattoos all over her body, she owns a tattoo shop as well. It is clear that the directors wanted to make the woman look uneducated yet attractive. As the story goes along more about her family background is revealed. Her 17 year old daughter used to date a 32 year old guy, her son was trialed in a court room and her ex-husband is prison. All this are points of humor in the episode, but clearly shines out the point that she is from a very complicated background. I believe this is another way of portraying a ruling class Ideology, that most of the elderly women who dates young men have complicated backgrounds.
At some point of the episode she also agrees that she is with the young man only for sexual pleasure. Hegemony is used at this point to convey it is more exciting for elder women to date young men.
Also the young man is rendered as an irresponsible, immature and some times stupid character. This is clearly shown when the young man plans to take the lady to Las Vegas to get married the next day. Also implies that young adults would take a lot of immature decisions in the name of love and its the mistake of the age not the person. All these situations suggest humor even though they are based on ruling class Ideologies.
In conclusion, I have noticed that Hegemony is used very often in humor. The Ideology is hiding in plain sight as a part of the joke but it is hardly noticeable to some people without giving a thought about it.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Cultural Hegemony
As I was presearching on Cultural Hegemony I came across this article that explains the ideology in a more practical manner.
Link to the Blog
The author of this blog has focused more on Cultural Hegemony related to the American Culture. She has described how it has effected other cultures and how it has not. She also explains the two divides of this theory by Americans. One defined as the liberal viewpoint and the other defined as the conservative viewpoint. Both the viewpoints are interestingly engaging to me because of my perspective on this ideology.
For a person who has lived almost 19 years in a conservative country and moved to USA, I find both the viewpoints explained above to be true. The article in the end summarizes that the ideology itself is a mere theory and is not practically happening but I disagree. I remember how my community adapted to the western culture and how the youth embraced it. It happened gradually and it was hardly noticeable to some who did not know the native practices and cultures.
I have learned that Cultural Hegemony is a widely problematic case for some and it is the human nature that develops it to its next stage. I didn't realize the value of my own culture until I came to USA, which is also the nature of humans. The world is becoming smaller and I believe Cultural Hegemony is not a crisis but a mere outcome of globalization.
I came across this article after going through a lot of scholarly articles and Wikipedia links. This article was the only article that illustrated the ideology in a more practical manner.
Link to the Blog
The author of this blog has focused more on Cultural Hegemony related to the American Culture. She has described how it has effected other cultures and how it has not. She also explains the two divides of this theory by Americans. One defined as the liberal viewpoint and the other defined as the conservative viewpoint. Both the viewpoints are interestingly engaging to me because of my perspective on this ideology.
For a person who has lived almost 19 years in a conservative country and moved to USA, I find both the viewpoints explained above to be true. The article in the end summarizes that the ideology itself is a mere theory and is not practically happening but I disagree. I remember how my community adapted to the western culture and how the youth embraced it. It happened gradually and it was hardly noticeable to some who did not know the native practices and cultures.
I have learned that Cultural Hegemony is a widely problematic case for some and it is the human nature that develops it to its next stage. I didn't realize the value of my own culture until I came to USA, which is also the nature of humans. The world is becoming smaller and I believe Cultural Hegemony is not a crisis but a mere outcome of globalization.
I came across this article after going through a lot of scholarly articles and Wikipedia links. This article was the only article that illustrated the ideology in a more practical manner.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Research Proposal #1
The Underlying Language
Different countries have
different languages, some unique to their own countries. Often we assume that
it’s the language that’s hard to understand, but in reality the hardest part is
the language that’s not expressed by words. Some countries share the same
language but their cultures are fundamentally different which makes
communication somewhat difficult even though language is a mutual factor. Sometimes knowing the language is is different from using it.
In this research I will be looking for issues
faced by International Students in United States related to language
barriers and social difficulties caused by cultural differences.
Background
On my first day in United
States I was walking down to the Row Hall to meet my International Advisor. On
the way I came across this person who was walking towards me. As he was walking
past me, he looked at me and said “Hey, how you doing?” I stopped to answer his
question but surprisingly he walked away from me continuing his path as if he
didn’t expect an answer from me. This shocked me, at first I thought he must be
insane, but he didn’t look like it. From where I come from, when a person asks
“How are you?” it is a genuine question and we expect a genuine answer. It is a
question that signifies the caring one has for the other, but in America it’s
just a phrase similar to saying “hello”. When I’m having a serious conversation
with someone, if that person asks me “How are you?” it makes me wonder what
kind of an answer that person expects. In Sri Lanka, we often use English to
greet people. A person would say “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon” to greet
someone she/he meets on the way. It is a short greeting and no long answer is
expected, simply put it’s just like saying “Hello”. Then again, saying “Hey,
how you doing?” and walking away would make no sense to both the parties
because it’s not a greeting, it’s a question a Sri Lankan would only ask from a
person whom she/he has an interest in that persons well being.
This was my first encounter in United States and
was definitely not the last. At first I thought knowing the language would be
sufficient to communicate with someone but apparently its not the case. Its
interesting to know what kind of barriers are faced by internationals in their
day to day life.
Significance
Its important that the
community understands the difficulties of adapting to a complete different
culture and living as a part of it. The challenges vary to a student
to another but it will be something similar for an American studying in another
country. Understanding these barriers will help the students to communicate and
understand each other. My research will give a brief understanding and a view
on what to expect when living in a different culture and how to overcome the difficulties.
Methodology
I have been searching for
scholarly articles and journals to find information on this topic.
Presearching stage was successful as I found some interesting
articles and pages. They are written by Professors and Graduate Students which
provide accurate and peer reviewed information that are reliable.
Potential Setbacks
At some point I will run out of
sources as this topic is not a widely talked topic. Although its not a popular
issues, it is a personal interest for me and I intend to use the resources I
have. If necessary I will use a survey distributed to the International Student
Club of the University to request and get more information about
personal experiences of the members regarding this issue. The feedback can
be used as statistics as well.
References
Language
Challenges Faced by International Graduate Students in United States
Understanding Of
International Graduate Students’Academic Adaptation To A U.s. Graduate School
Faculty Perspectives
Regarding Graduate International Students’ Isolation From Host National
Students
Identifying and Working
With Barriers Facing International Students
Monday, February 11, 2013
Information Sources
Information is delivered to us in many forms. Some forms are a part of our lives such as Newspapers and Magazines, but some are only used when there is a need for it. When it comes to Researching, we have to go through all kinds of Information Sources to get what we want.
Newspapers are one of the most common mediums of information sources available. Local events and incidents are easily found in newspapers without any hassle. When researching about a social issue or something similar, it would be wise to go through the newspapers and understand how the local community goes through the same issue. The disadvantage to this information is that Newspapers are not 100% accurate with the facts. The industry publishes what ever the reader has the interest for and sometimes the news and facts deviate from the truth.
Scholarly Articles and Books are two of the most reliable ways of finding research information. Its also one of the most recommended information sources as well. These peer reviewed articles are written by professionals who are at their best in their fields. It would be interesting to go through different articles of the same topic and understand different view points. This would be very helpful during a research process and will give a better understanding of your own thesis.
Online encyclopedias hold an enormous amount of information and are freely and easily available to the public. Its the first step for a pre-researching process. Encyclopedias do not go deeply into a topic, instead they describe and define a common issue or an object. So most of the time its hard to find a topic specific page that would help the research, but it does help to support facts that are needed. Encyclopedias can only help a research at its first basic level.
Magazines are a popular mass communication media and its vastly growing as well. Only a few percentage of magazines can actually be used as reference or sources to a research because most of the magazine industry is about entertainment and gossip!
If the research is related to an issue or common incidents that the government keeps public records on, then Government Documents can provide reliable, accurate facts and information to support the thesis. It available to the public for use. These are facts and data so its easy to extract the relevant information and manipulate it according to the thesis.
Every thesis has a point when looked from a given perspective. Even the most senseless thesis or argument can have a surviving factor for someone with a different perspective. Information is important when doing a research, but the means of using the information extracted from sources can create a stronger research paper.
Newspapers are one of the most common mediums of information sources available. Local events and incidents are easily found in newspapers without any hassle. When researching about a social issue or something similar, it would be wise to go through the newspapers and understand how the local community goes through the same issue. The disadvantage to this information is that Newspapers are not 100% accurate with the facts. The industry publishes what ever the reader has the interest for and sometimes the news and facts deviate from the truth.
Scholarly Articles and Books are two of the most reliable ways of finding research information. Its also one of the most recommended information sources as well. These peer reviewed articles are written by professionals who are at their best in their fields. It would be interesting to go through different articles of the same topic and understand different view points. This would be very helpful during a research process and will give a better understanding of your own thesis.
Online encyclopedias hold an enormous amount of information and are freely and easily available to the public. Its the first step for a pre-researching process. Encyclopedias do not go deeply into a topic, instead they describe and define a common issue or an object. So most of the time its hard to find a topic specific page that would help the research, but it does help to support facts that are needed. Encyclopedias can only help a research at its first basic level.
Magazines are a popular mass communication media and its vastly growing as well. Only a few percentage of magazines can actually be used as reference or sources to a research because most of the magazine industry is about entertainment and gossip!
If the research is related to an issue or common incidents that the government keeps public records on, then Government Documents can provide reliable, accurate facts and information to support the thesis. It available to the public for use. These are facts and data so its easy to extract the relevant information and manipulate it according to the thesis.
Every thesis has a point when looked from a given perspective. Even the most senseless thesis or argument can have a surviving factor for someone with a different perspective. Information is important when doing a research, but the means of using the information extracted from sources can create a stronger research paper.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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