Research Paper

For my research paper I will either investigate how our society has become brand obsessed or how our society is on a desperate pursuit of bargain prices. It is all about having the latest,newest styles and the more expensive the better. Just as Klein says in her book it is about "selling lifestyles." This concerns me the most about children and young adults that are just developing their identities and personalities. For the second topic area, it is the sot concerning how bargain price obsessed we are. When we see sales we will blindly buy the products even though we don't need them.
Children need to realize that it is not all about what you wear whether its "Abercrombie and Fitch" or "Holister". They need to realize that there is more to being yourself then fitting in with the rest of the crowds. Also, how consumers are manipulated into buying these "lifestyles."
My main source for this paper will be Klein's "No logo". I like the way she put an emphasis on the importance of getting away from buying all these "lifestyles". Consumers need to realize that even though there are great bargains out there, over consumption and over spending is not a good idea. There is more to our society then just bargain sales. This is especially present during the Holiday season with all the sale prices.
I am having a little bit of a problem finding good reliable sources on both topics, which is why I haven't decided which to write on. I am still researching both topics and finding them both quite interesting. I have searched proquest and google scholars for both topics so far.

On Photgraphy

In the first chapter of "On Photography" Susan Sontag focuses on the meanings of photograph and on the art of taking photos. As Sontag writes "...photographs alert and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe." (pg 3) and that photographs are are "...ethics of seeing.." (pg 3) Photographs allow us to explore all different kids of experiences and allow us to what what is going on in the world. She also goes on to say that photographs are mysterious that we recognize as modern. You can see photographs everywhere you are, magazines, books, advertisement as well as our personal photo albums etc. Photographs provide us with knowledge that we have about our pasts.They give valuable information from which we can learn. Photographs are sort of miniatures of the reality that we see today. They are like puzzle pieces to the bigger picture.
Sontag also spends a good few pages talking about photography in today's world. That taking photos has become so widely practiced that "...like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art" (pg 8) She talks about how photography, just like many other different technological things has become a way for people to make their lives more interesting. That it is no longer about having those meaningful memories to have, it is about showing other people that you are having a good time. As she writes "Photographs will offer indisputable evidence that the trips was made, that the program was carried out, that fun was had." (pg 9) Not many people anymore go on a trip without having their cameras with them. Some people take it for the memories or to admire the beauty of what they are seeing, but for a lot of people it just becomes proof of having done something. It is no longer about the beauty of a natural pictograph, it i "a way of certifying experiences..." (pg 9)

The Corporation

The film "The Corporation" touches on a few aspects of culture and identity. The main point of the film was to show that the corporate world is taking over in every aspect of our lives. It focuses and tries to brainwash all generation. The movie was meant as a big warning sign, it was trying to tell us that if there are no limitation put on big corporation they soon will be able to do anything. They are trying "to devour as much profit at any expense" and they are only concerned about "shot term profit" and have no consequences for their actions.The movie compares the corporate world to a big shark ready to attack its prays. There must be some way to stop all the manipulation and brainwashing that big corporations do. There has to b some room for self imagination and self exploration.

The movie touched on a good point, these corporations do produce valuable and good products that help to make the lives of Americans easier and better every day. However, it is never enough product and never enough profit that is being made, which consumes the corporate world all in itself. How can children be creative and be able to find their own identities in a world where everything is being spoon fed to them through the television. Children are becoming the targets for advertising. Commercials are meant for children themselves, to show them that they NEED a toy in order to be liked or popular or cool or whatever the case may be. These techniques are used to make children think they need a product so that they will go an nag their parents, so their parents will go out and but a toy, game or a item of clothing for them. Children are self with no sense of identity when their entire world is based on fitting in and having what the other kids have. I feel that it getting worse and worse every day and it is not only affecting little kids today, but also their parents and their grandparents. I feel that when i was growing up in Europe thing were not this bad. Us kids were left to use our imaginations somehow, to go out and explore different kids of sports, dance activities. We were left to figure ourselves out on our own, where as now it is all about what s on TV or what the latest video game is.

The movie also talks about the corporate world and compares it to a psychopath. It says that corporations, just like psychopaths have the "incapacity to maintain enduring relationships", have "reckless disregard for human health", "incapacity to experience guilt" and "failure to conform to social norms". It is about time that someone in the corporate world answers for all these things and is no longer treated as this Almighty thing that has the same rights as a human being. The fact that these corporations have no regard for human health is mind boggling. The movie said that individuals that work for these corporations might be the sweetest people you meet, but as a whole they turn into monsters. How can a group of decent human beings turn into monsters? Where there is an expression "money talks" and these corporations get so consumed by making profit and making money, getting power, because money is power that they loose a sense of self. Well more restrictions should be put of these corporations and we as people should really think about how this effects us as human beings and us as individuals.

Seling Culture and Culture Industry

When looking at both Selling Culture by Ohman and Culture Industry by Adorno and Horkheimer there are some similarities and differences in their idea of mass culture and what mass culture has become. In Adorno and Horkhimers' essay they talk about the idea of culture being a paradoxical commodity. That it is just becoming a way to make profit and that "it is so blindly consumed in use that it can no longer be used." Ohman agree with this point when he mentions that mass culture is a part of capitalist production but, maybe there is no way of separating the two. In the essay he says "When cultural experiences and bought and sold in market, propaganda becomes an expensive luxury for its producers, unless audiences want to consume and pay for it in preference to other experiences." This is where Adorno and Horkheimer would disagree with Ohman. Adorno and Horkheimer believed that mass culture is all just one big propaganda and a bunch of rubbish and that the only reason why people are even interested is because it so widely available and doesn't require any thinking on the part of the reader. However,Ohman makes a good point of critique, that if no one was interested in mass culture then no one would buy the magazines, listen to the music TV programs. He does however agree somewhat with Horkheimer and Adorno when he writes "To be sure, it means to keep society as a field open to its project of cultivation and has the power to do so through direct coercion up to a point." There need to be some initial interest in this pop culture from the people to begin with, but we, the people cannot escape from it as it surrounds us from every angle.
Whereas Horkheimer and Adorno are doing more of a critique of the capitalist society and more of a warning as to what could happen if we concentrate fully on mass production and mass consumption. They are telling us to take a step back and reflect back on what is happening. Ohman is more for capitalism. HE sees both the problems and the benefits of capitalism, including mass culture.

A little something about myself

My name is Marta. I am 20 years old and currently a sophomore. I am going for Occupational Therapy and I apply to the School of Pharmacy next winter. I am an international student here at Wayne State University. I am originally from Poland, but i have moved around quite a bit. I have lived in the United States since i was a Freshmen in high school. My dad use to work here, but because his job requires him to move a lot so my parents moved back to Poland when i first started college. I am here all by myself, with no family, but thankfully lots of friend.


My parents use to live in Iraq, as did I as a baby, but do to the war we had to move back to Poland. I spent 9 years of my life there. When i was in 4th grade my foamy moved to Frankfurt, Germany. I went to an international school there for 5 years and spent some of my best years there. I got to travel a lot and meet people from all over the world. I think having lived there for 5 years and doing most of my growing up there and meeting so many people there that had the same situation as me and my family, it has made me the person i am today. After that we ended up here in Michigan. At first it was a complete culture shock for me. Everything was different, the people, the culture, the way of life. It look me a god year and a half to get use to it, but now i like it.