CL 10/3

* I posted on Thursday, but it never showed up on the "view" page, although it did show up under the edit page. Anyone know why?


I have been considering the ideas we discussed in class this week while talking with friends about the usual stuff; movies, music, ect. After our discussion in class I have become more aware of ideas of PoMo that are in my everyday life. Tuesday night we discussed Jenkins theory that "People who may not ever meet face to face and thus have few real-world connections with each other can tap into the shared framework of popular culture and communication" (pg 556). I am, like I am sure many of you are, an internet junkie. I spend atleast an hour a day surfing the web, and checking out links that my friends have sent me. These links are often parodies of movies, music videos, or even sterotypes. One of my personal favorites is the website HopeIsEmo.com. This is a sketch that is updated weekly about a high-school aged girl named Hope who is in the throws of teenage angst. Viewers can write in to Hope offering her advice on things such as the new twins at school who are "sort of nice" or even the roach she found in the old pizza box from her family's dinner that represents "loss." The viewers are able to interact with Hope, and she reads one email a week on the sketch.

If this is not riddled with postmodernism, I do not know what is. There is so much intertextuality between the various medias and how they interact. There is the parody of a type of person who is making fun of another type of person. There is the ability for millions of people who may not "ever meet face to face and thus have few real-world connections" to all be part of a shared experience. It is amazing. It is also hilarious.

So, maybe this is what Jenkins meant when he said that we would be able to connect. It is nice to read about someone who does not believe that postmodernity is going to be the demise of humanity.