Gerardo Berlanga

March 24, 2012

Mrs. Miceli

Assignment 1-4-6

Written Analysis

Analysis 5

The theories that best seem to relate to my popular culture topic would be that Stephen King is one of the best horror novel and movie famous selling celebrities that has succeeded for many years. Some other theories about Stephen King are that himself like thousands of other famous celebrities loose or almost loose their lives with drugs and alcohol. Stephen King had survived his drink and drug ordeal. To Stephen King, this was a form of escape from unhappiness. This would have come around him since his childhood years growing up. Stephen King while growing up was a poor kid. Stephen King grew up as an insecure child because his Father walked out on him, his older brother, and his Mom. Stephen King has kept his appeal despite the problems that he faced during the eighties. The most interesting findings of my analysis were that I never thought that Stephen King, as famous as he was for his horror novel’s, movies, would have such an addiction that nearly killed him. As stated before, thousands of celebrities in American popular culture have seem to have issues with drugs and alcohol either because of their childhood years, or the way that they were brought up around society in general. Based on my analysis, I would think of my popular culture topic different because, I found out very interesting things about Stephen King that I did not know about. Even famous celebrities get themselves in trouble. There is no exception to anyone. Anyone famous, or not, can become a victim of drugs and alcohol, and in some cases death.

The theories that seem to apply to my popular culture are that the author Stephen King is a famous author of Horror novels. His novels are popular enough that they have turned into films and be high grossing movies. Stephen King has done many movies such as IT, Carrie, The Shining, Misery and many, many more. The public has a desire to be frightened as part of their entertainment experience. Whether it is reading one of his novels or watching one of his movies. These theories describe and analyze the topic that I selected because Stephen King is a popular icon in the literary world. Stephen King is known to have sold more than 350 million copies of King’s novels and short story collections. Stephen King is known for being the creator of the sci-fi franchise of Star Wars. The insights that I gain from applying these theories to my popular culture are that celebrities can be successful and can be persuaded to care and to teach the public with entertainment whether it be a book or a movie.

Week 5, Assignment 1-3-2. Journal Article Analysis

This article speaks about the loss of fame, and how fame affects the famous. People who are self aware of themselves are constantly monitoring their behavior. When celebrities have a sense of being self-focused, they would begin to feel self-unpleasant when people begin to know that they are not upholding their standards as a celebrity. The celebrity’s natural reaction typically would be to find escapism. The main strategy that they use to escape this is by alcohol and drug abuse (Brehm, Kassin, and Fein 1974). Failure to escape persistent self-focus and the resulting inner voice of criticism, can lead to depression (Pyszczynski and Greenberg 126) and possibly suicide (Baumeiser 90), even if the celebrity remains famous throughout their life such as Marilyn Monroe, and  Elvis Presley. There are three possible reactions to the loss of fame, they are as follows: clinging, reinventing, and downward spiraling. In general, some celebrities shift from one category to another. I do agree with the authors main points because it is likely known to happen with famous celebrities that the longer they had fame, the more difficult it would be for that celebrity to relinquish that fame. A long famous individual would likely react poorly to the loss of fame and would probably end up in the downward-spiraling category. Also adding that I also agree with the author in reference to celebrities, that it is known to be a fact that many celebrities have gone to drug and alcohol abuse because it is a way for them to escape real life situations. This article is important because, it mentions different movie stars and celebrities that loose fame. Most of the times because of drugs and alcohol from the 1950’s to present. It mentions about their psychological implications and their loss of fame in which most times it is true. Many times, the news media would say something such as unknown causes or natural causes, or that the celebrity had/was administered the wrong or excessive dose of heavy medication. In other words, you still hear something like this celebrity was chased down by a paparazzi or something similar to that. More often, it is heard that it is related to drug and alcohol abuse. Most of these celebrities that fall into this category are young to mid age. From their 30’s,-50’s, maybe mid 50’s.

                                                            References

Baumeister, R. (1990). Suicide as Escape from Self Psychological Review 97, 90-113. Retrieved from Franklin Library.

Brehm, Sharon S., Kassin, S. (1999). Social Psychology. 4^th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved from Franklin Library.

Pyszcynski, T., Greenberg, J. (1987). Self-Regulatory Perseveration and the Depressive “Self-Focusing Style: A Self-Awareness Theory of Reactive Depression”. Psychological Bulletin 102, 122-38. Retrieved from Franklin Library.

Gerardo Berlanga

March 10, 2012

Assignment 1-4-4

Written Analysis

Analysis 3

The theories that seem to apply to my popular culture topic is that Heroes and the Cult of Celebrities can both be important to society especially nowadays. Heroes can be our troops that are out fighting for our freedom. Our celebrities can be anyone from popular T.V. shows, soap opera’s, or a singer. In essence, they are all important because, they all play an important role in the public eye. These theories describe and analyze the topic that I have selected because the cult of celebrity is an inner desire of worship to any celebrity whether it is because people look up to them or because they are considered people’s heroes. Our heroes as described before can very well be our troops and we appreciate all of their hard work and courage to defend our nation. I analyze these theories also because the cult of celebrity is apparent to the public audience whether its media, representation, or fame. The insights that I gain from applying these theories to my popular culture topic is that we can all choose to have a hero and or a celebrity if we choose to and admire their popularity and their good example to the public. In addition, with so much pressure and stress, and everything being fast paced. It would be good to look up to someone to be able to escape for a moment from the real world and focus on our heroes and celebrities. We may not all be able to get to where they are at, but at least we can learn a lot from them. In the sense that we know that we are all human and no matter whom the hero or celebrity may be, we all still go through life situations that we may not want to go through but that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the day, we eventually went through life just like our heroes and celebrities did.

                                                                                                                        Analysis 2 1

                       

                                                            Gerardo Berlanga

                                                            HUMN-240

                                                            Professor Miceli

                                                            3/4/2012

                                                                                                                        Analysis 2 2

The concepts of rituals and stereotypes of the topic, Threes Company, Journey, and Steven Curtis Chapman, is that it was a daily ritual when I was growing up. The ritual of Three’s Company is that it aired for several years from March 15, 1977- September 18, 1984. The stereotypes of this famous T.V. show would be that this would at first thought to be seen as a sexy singles based humor T.V. show in which there were misunderstandings about sexuality and drugs and playing off certain stereotypes. When it was about three people helping each other out economical wise, in which they became all best friends. The group Journey, and artist singer Steven Curtis Chapman, the rituals and stereotypes are that on both groups of people, they are all males, and in both groups of bands/artist, it is predominantly Caucasians that listen to this type of music since it is made up of a rock group back in the early 1970’s and 1980’s. The same with Steven Curtis Chapman his stereotype would be that he is a Christian singer and writer and would mainly attract predominantly Caucasian and Christians across the U.S. Another of the stereotypes of the group Journey would be that for many years, rock groups have been known for not just only music and entertainment, but have also been known for drugs as well. In this case not necessarily the group Journey may have not been known for this cause, but because other rock bands have been known to have done this type of things drug related, that’s where this stereotype falls into play especially since they were known to be a very famous rock group. Their rituals would be that they all had to practice on a daily basis to become better at what they would do. The theories that would apply to my popular culture topic would be that they all have been successful people and have all become an iconic figure and popular culture not just to the people in the U.S., but all

                                                                                                            Analysis 2 3

Around the globe. These theories analyze and describe the topic that I have selected because it all has to do with popular culture. With music, and artist’s especially very famous music entertainment and famous T.V. show icons, they are an example of what a lot of people live today. For example, if it is a love song, or a Christian song, many people can relate and incorporate these lyrics and lifestyles into theirs because it is all too familiar. The insights that I gain from applying these theories to my popular culture would be that I learned something new in the sense that there are daily rituals and stereotypes all good and bad.

Icon Analysis

Three of my favorite contemporary icons are: Threes Company from the 70's, Journey from the 80's, and Steven Curtis Chapman from 1990's- present.

The icons Three's Company is a T.V. show that aired in the late seventies into the 1980's. Many people enjoyed that T.V. show. The second icon is the group Journey, they also started in the 1970's and eventually led into the 80's and 90's. The third icon i chose was Steven Curtis Chapman, he is considered a Christian singer/writer. He started his career in the late 1980's.

I chose these three icons because, i grew up watching and listening to them. I actually used to see and hear my brother and sister listen and watch my three favorite icons. I then eventually started liking their music and watching Three's Company T.V. show.

Threes's Company is a T.V. show that i really enjoyed for many years and still do. It means a lot to me because the name itself three's company they were always happy together, and it really shows how three different people get along and enjoy each other's company. They were also living together for financial reasons because it was affordable for all three of them to live together. The group Journey also means a lot to me because, i not only grew up listening to Journey, but after Steve Perry, one of the groups singer went solo, he still made good music.

Steven Curtis Chapman to me, he inspires me as a Christian. I personally think that he is a good role model for many people, especially for those that are getting started with the music career.