COMM 435

One of the most important concepts we discussed in our popular culture analysis class was the cultural diamond. Dustin Kidd defines this concept as being made up of four interdependent points, "creators, cultural objects, audiences (receivers), and the social world" that help to understand social meanings constructed through the world of media around us. The four points of the cultural diamond all connect and influence one another. The social world aspect has to do with how the pop culture artifact is anchored in a particular context within our social world. This could have to do with the time period that the artifact is produced, where it is released, and what current events are going on during the production as well. The next point is the cultural object, which is the actual item itself and how it is received by society. This has to do with the cultural potency, which includes retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, institutional retention, and resolution. The other two points include the creators, or those who write/produce an object, and the receivers, those who consume/view the product. Both of these points play into how big an artifact becomes in our society. The cultural diamond can be used to analyze any popular culture artifact, for example, let's take a look at the pop culture phenomenon of the Harry Potter series. The creator is J. K. Rowling, who was a single mom struggling to support her kids at the time of writing. She was writing the story for the younger generation, but as the series went on, her style adapted to the receiving audience who was also becoming more mature. The cultural object was the series as a whole, which includes all seven novels. In addition, there were eight movies that stemmed from the novels along with games, apparel, and other fan merchandise. The books were released from 1997 to 2007, and have since been revered among literature around the world.

For our college analysis project, I chose to analyze the movie Pitch Perfect. This movie is about Beca, a freshman who aspires to be producing music but instead, is encouraged to go to college by her father, who is also a professor at the school. She lacks friends or much of a social life, so her father makes a deal with her that if she does well in school and joins a club on campus, that he will let her go follow her dreams after she is done with her first year. Becca ends up joining one of the campus acapella choir groups, the Bardon Bellas. The movie follows Beca’s journey through college with the Bella’s and the various challenges and romances they face on their way to the acapella championships. We had to analyze the power that a popular culture artifact that has to do with college, such as Pitch Perfect, has on society. Cultural potency is the ability of a popular culture artifact to withstand the test of time and remain salient within a society. It must be able to be easily retrieved so that the public can view and review as pleased. In addition, it must have a strong rhetorical power or message in order to resonate with an audience. Throughout my writing for the popular culture college analysis paper, I learned that Pitch Perfect was an extremely potent artifact because it was moderately retrievable, had a strong rhetorical force, resonated well with various demographics, and had a resolution to the initial movie in the form of sequels, soundtracks, and various merchandise. Also, I came to realize that the movie was a lot more accurate with the depiction of a typical college university than most movies. The characters were cast with actors who were older than the desired look, but still played the stereotypical roles with somewhat surprising accuracy. 

Sweeping Away Gender-Specific Toys and Labels

Challenging Gender Stereotyped Toys

This video is a short explanatory clip of how gender stereotypes are present within today's society and media. It explains the effects that these labels can have on the youth that are exposed to the products, and why the practice of gender labelling in toys should be discontinued.  

(Resource from class below)

Boys and Girls Toys

Personally, I think that gender labels for toys are completely unnecessary and detrimental to a kid's childhood experiences. I grew up with a younger brother and parents who didn’t care much for overly girly characteristics. I was never dressed in frilly pink dresses or much pink in general, and my mom has told me that people always thought I was a little boy when they were in public. When I asked her why they chose not to have me involved with all of the stereotypical girly things, like pink dresses and dance classes, and she simply said it was because they let me express myself for who I was. I am extremely thankful that both of my parents chose to defy the norms that society expected, because I was able to find hobbies and interests that are not normally "girly" things, such as photography, soccer, running, hiking, and much more. My dad taught both my brother and I how to shoot bow and arrow and other guns, which most of my friends found odd. We both learned how to take care of our cars and how to do things around the house. Not only did my parents teach me useful skills in life that many people would consider a masculine task, they also made sure that my brother knew how to do "feminine" chores such as laundry, cleaning, cooking, and so on. I think that it is ridiculous to limit any kid to gender stereotypical activities, because everyone should have the same opportunities presented to them. I think that companies should stop producing and advertising products that have a stereotype assigned to their youth products, specifically toys and clothes, because any child should be able to participate in activities that they enjoy, play with toys that they find fun, and dress in whatever color they desire, especially at a young age where their minds are still developing and their personalities and identities are still forming.  

The matter of gender stereotyping is addressed at the earliest cognitive mental state, and there have been several studies to understand the effects that gender labelling can have on young children. In an article titled "Breaking Gender Stereotypes in the Toy Box", posted to the New York Times in 2018, the effects are explored extensively. Laura Spinner, a developmental psychologist from University of Kent in England discusses how children who are exposed to the labels of feminine vs masculine are later more closed off to different "play mates" and toys, whereas the kids who were given more freedom of choice in the experiment were more flexible in their thought processes and choices. In addition, Dr. Spinner claims that "Traditionally masculine toys like blocks and puzzles, encourage visual and spatial skills, while traditionally feminine toys encourage communication and social skills" so when a child only get to have an experience with one rather than both, it stunts their cognitive development. In article published to the Journal of Children and Media in 2018, written by Laura Zimmermann, a developmental psychologist, the topic of gender commercials and children's preferences was explored in great detail. It was found that "Their behavior got much more stereotypical when they were asked their own preferences,” she said, and the boys especially were unwilling to say that they liked any of the ads aimed at girls" (Zimmermann). This research shows that not only are toys limiting kids interactions and experiences in life, but the media is further enforcing the stereotypes of what it means to be a boy or a girl. Stereotyping with gender goes beyond just toys as well, in examples such as clothing as well. In another article published in the New York Times, titled "Gender War, Aisle 3: Unisex Kids' Clothes Stir British Backlash", the issue of stereotyping among youth clothing is a huge issue, specifically with the messages that t-shirts send to consumers. One of the concerned consumers points out that "T-shirts say things like 'Desert Adventure Awaits,' 'Think Outside the Box' and 'Hero” while the girls’ shirts were emblazoned with 'Beautiful,' 'Hey!' and 'I Feel Fabulous'?". Obviously there is a real issue in our society with limiting the youth to just "boy" or "girl", and this is very detrimental to their identities, especially at such a crucial learning point in their young lives.

One topic that is of high debate is the issue of whether or not children's toys should be labeled towards a specific gender. There have been several movements to get rid of the color association of "boy toys" being paired with blue, and "girl toys" being paired with pink. The concept extends beyond the toys themselves, as gender association can be found within advertisements, packaging, and presentation within stores. When companies use advertising strategies such as making a product seem more masculine or feminine, it greatly limits the consumption of the target audiences since they have already predicted a certain demographic to be interested in the product. Target has already started the effort of decategorizing their toy sections to be gender neutral by removing "boy/girl" labels and using more neutral colors rather than primarily relying on pink and blue. Since Target has made this effort, several other stores have begun to remove labels as well. This topic has become relevant in today's society because of the movement for equal treatment of genders. It has been found that by labeling kid's toys by gender, the kids are in turn treated differently based on which toys they choose to play with. Kids should be able to discover their own identities early on in life without having to feel the pressures of society labeling them as something as trivial as masculine or feminine at such an early age. Children begin to develop their own unique identity from a very early age, and this development is hugely impacted by what objects and beliefs surround them. In several studies, it has been found that girls were encouraged to play with softer toys that had to do more with home-like activities, such as baby dolls and play food, whereas boys were encouraged to play with toys that required more coordination such as balls or trucks. In these studies, the girls were coddled and held more, whereas the boys were prompted to explore and do stuff on their own. This behavior greatly impacts a child's growth both physically and mentally.  

My name is Amanda, and I am currently a Junior at NDSU. I am majoring in Strategic Communication with a minor in art. My emphasis for my field of study is in photography for marketing. In my field of study, popular culture is all around me. I am constantly using social media to create relevant advertisements, studying current events from a variety of news outlets to see where society is progressing, and referencing a vast array of artists and their works to inspire my own creative projects. I have always been interested in popular culture, whether it be the books that I read, the shows I watch, or the music that I choose to listen to on a given day. Some of the shows that influenced me the most growing up include comical, mystery shows such as Psych, White Collar, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and so on. I really enjoyed how these shows were able to discuss some serious topics while also having an air of comic relief. Each show had some amazing scores as well, which I truly enjoyed since I have a deep passion and appreciation for music as well. Some of the music that has influenced my life include artists such as the Lumineers, AJR, Macklemore, G-Eazy, George Ezra, Hozier, Shawn Mendes, and Lauren Daigle. My music taste appears to be all over the place, but when taking a closer look, each artist is able to carry powerful messages within their songs. Artists such as the Lumineers, Hozier, George Ezra, Lauren Daigle, and Shawn Mendes create songs that not only have beautiful music and instrumental tracks, but also hold extremely meaningful lyrics. The same goes for more upbeat artists such as AJR, G-Eazy, and Macklemore, but presented in forms like rap and pop rather than alternative, chill music. I think that one of the most amazing things about music is that artists have the power to share whatever message they choose with endless fans and listeners. They have the ability to impact countless lives in ways they may never even be aware of. Music has always been the best way to feel emotion for me. When I'm excited I listen to upbeat music to keep the joy alive, when I am sad, I can listen to sad music then cheer myself up with happier music to bring myself out of the funk. In addition to music and media productions, literature also had a huge impact on my growing up. I was an avid reader as a young adult, and there were series such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and several others that played a huge part of my creative expansion. I loved how books could transport my mind into another world, and as I grew older and began writing more myself, I have come to have even more of an appreciation for good writing. I think it is amazing how big of an impact popular culture has on how we develop our personal identity, and it is important to recognize the roots of where our pop culture identity was created and to explore the experience that we have with popular culture.