American Idol
“That rendition was impressive, but you do not look like an American Idol; however, we will give you one more chance. Welcome to Hollywood!” A person with a mediocre voice that is not stunningly attractive would have a harder time advancing to Hollywood on American Idol. As the judges say, an American Idol should be a distinct person with an exceptionally fantastic voice. Culture is the training or refining of intellectual faculties and the way of life for a particular people. My goal will be to critique the ideal of image on American Idol and discuss how people may or may not get though based on looks alone. In the entertainment industry, images of the “perfect” people are portrayed as women being skinny, tan, and firm and men being handsome, muscular, and original. Judges Randy, Paula, and Simon critique contestants on American Idol mostly based on their image.
Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and best-known Simon Cowell are the main judges on American Idol. They critique auditions in seven different cities where each performer sings and if well enough, receives the yellow ticket to Hollywood. However, “This show is called American Idol. It wasn’t good enough” is what many contestants hear. From the millions of people who try out, only a small percentage get though to the second round. The judges place those contestants into groups of three to perform on stage in front of a large audience. They eliminate hundreds of contestants to narrow the field down to jus...
Neonatal nursing is a field of nursing designed especially for both newborns and infants up to 28 days old. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin”. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team. These are trained professionals who concentrate on ensuring that the newborn infants under their care are able to survive whatever potential life threatening event they encounter. They treat infants that are born with a variety of life threatening issues that include instances of prematurity, congenital birth defects, surgery related problems, cardiac malformations, severe burns, or acute infection. Neonatal care in hospitals was always done by the nursing staff but it did not officially become a specialized medical field until well into 1960s. This was due to the numerous advancements in both medical care training and related technology that allowed for the improved treatment and survival rate of premature babies. According to the March of Dimes, one of every thirteen babies born in the United States annually suffers from low birth weight. This is a leading cause in 65% of infant deaths. Therefore, nurses play a very important role in providing round the clock care for these infants, those born with birth defects or other life threatening illness. In addition, these nurses also tend to healthy babies while their mothers recover from the birthing process. Prior to the advent of this specialized nursing field at risk newborn infants were mostly cared for by obstetricians and midwives who had limited resources to help them survive (Meeks 3).
The novel Frankenstein touches on many controversial ideas, knowledge as threat, secrecy of Victor about monster, rejection, abortion, that captivate the readers with its fascinating narrative. One of the important concepts that is touched over and over again is the passive role of the female characters. Almost all female characters, except for Safie, have passive roles; confused, abandoned, long-waiting, lover Elizabeth, loving, sacrificial mother Caroline Beaufort, wrongly accused Justine, enslaved mother of Safie, passive-listener Margaret Saville.
...nging, “I looked…upon Elizabeth as mine –mine to protect, love, and cherish” (23). Elizabeth is not the only women to be depicted as weak; Caroline Beaufort is also weak as well. When her father becomes poor he also becomes very ill and is taken care of by his daughter, but after he dies no one is there to take care of her. That was when “He came like a protecting spirit” (20) and saved Caroline from a continuance of a bad life. This indirectly shows how Caroline was weak because she was saved and “protected” by Frankenstein’s father.
First, one must ponder a couple of questions: who defines beauty in today’s culture and society? Does the mass media industry define beauty? Everywhere one turns in advertisements, commercials, TV shows, movies, magazines, etc. someone is telling us what “beauty” is. The allure of celebrities and the beauty they exude, definitely influences the beauty those in the Western culture strive to be and are attracted too. Television, movies, magazines, advertisements that come from the Western culture have influenced cultures around the world. Due to the high i...
Immanuel Kant was a famous German philosopher (1724-1804). His many philosophical writings influenced large population from all over the world. Even today, his works still form a major point of reference in research carried out in the modern world. His writings had a strong base such that they brought a new dimension in religion, law and history. Although all his writings were popular but Metaphysics of Morals was very influencing. Kant argued that our desires and emotions are categorically imperative, which means that they are conscience driven. His philosophy is closely related to the golden rule. It which states that an individual should always act in accordance to the outcome that will give him/her the best outcome, while Kant’s categorical imperative rule argues that actions must be universal for them to be classified as either moral or immoral. Through Kant’s categorical imperative we can distinguish between our
American popular culture is quite serious because we find the “voices” that write, play, film, photograph, dance and explain our American history. George Lipitz notes that historians can learn a lot about the process of identity and memory in the past and present by deciphering the messages contained in popular culture forms such as films, television and music. As stated by George Lipsitz, people can either work for the economy and state, and against the population who take in the messages or they can work in a positive way as memories of the past and hopes for the future.
When we think of the NICU environment, we must first think of the newborn infant coping with health issues, a stressful and stimulating environment, and an unnatural separation from the mother and the father. In addition to attending to the infants medical need, its essential that we work towards alleviating the discomfort that the baby might feel by facilitating physical and emotional closeness between the baby and his or her parents. Bonds between parents and the infant are among the most enduring, fundamental aspects of human experience. Premature births, or any other health conditions that result in NICU hospitalization, can disrupt the natural attachment process. As nurses, we have the incredible opportunity to be the facilitators of bonding
I am doing my writing assignment on the reality tv show Keeping up with the Kardashians, the episode I chose was “Kim turns into a diva”. I watched the episode on tv and re watched it online to get the information I needed. In this episode Kim is viewed as a diva because she slowly starts acting more and more like a diva. She goes as far as to gloat about being the top google and AOL search on the internet. The more she starts becoming a diva the more her sisters Khloe and Kourtney make fun of her. Khloe continuously tells Kim she is full of herself and up her own ass. Overall I was able to find a situation for each of the categories I will present an interaction where Kourtney finds messages on Scott’s phone, the social construction of reality
Turning someone’s health for entertainment show is unethical. The NBC show “The Biggest Loser” has been accused of putting entertainment before health with its focus on competitive weight loss where contestants absolutely at a greater risk of exhaustion, dehydration, and stress to win cash.
People are so obsessed with this image that they will often take drastic measures, such as, plastic surgery, liposuction, and extreme dieting to achieve an impossible standard of beauty. Hedges exemplifies this phenomena with the reality television show The Swan, a program where two “ugly ducklings” are given a professional plastic surgery team, dietician, physical trainer, and a therapist in order to compete for a chance to move on to the show’s final beauty pageant. The show wants us to believe that the competitors will have a much “better” life, but Hedges argues that the real message of the show is, “. . .once these women have been surgically ‘corrected’ to resemble mainstream celebrity beauty as closely as possible, their problems will be solved” (Hedges, 2009, 25). We have deceived ourselves into believing that if we do everything in our power to resemble celebrities then we can live in their fantasy reality of carefree and continuous happiness; our problems will miraculously vanish. The reality that the celebrities supposedly live in promotes an impossible ideal that we have gladly accepted and ultimately have begun to believe this is how reality should be. We have created the mindset that we should all aim to become celebrities and everything else should be second. In The Swan, the woman who does not win the
Smith begins her essay by looking at the historical factors that may have contributed to this seemingly sexist book. Shelley, writing in the first half of the 19th Century, was in a period in which a woman "was conditioned to think she needed a man's help" (Smith 275). In the novel itself, no women speak directly. The book has three basic narrators: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's monster. The female characters are very weak in this novel, especially Elizabeth, Victor's cousin/fiancé (no they aren't from Arkansas). She is portrayed as the perfect woman, especially after Victor's mother, Caroline dies. She takes the place of the mother figure in the household. But just like all the female characters in the story, her character has little substance. Victor's character is described in detail, as is that of the monster, and Henry Clerval. When Henry gets killed, sympathy is really felt toward Victor, because he has just lost his lifetime friend. When Elizabeth is murdered, the reader finds it hard to connect with what Frankenstein is feeling. Elizabeth (and the other main female characters: Justine and Caroline) are there to reflect the men characters. Professor Smith states in her essay that "women function not in their own right but rather as signals of and conduits for men's relations with other men" (283). This is especially clear when the monster kills Elizabeth on their wedding night. The monster is upset with Victor, so instead of hurting him, he kills his wife. Elizabeth is used as a sort of ruler to measure the relationship between Victor and his monster.
To begin with, Victor describes how his mother, Caroline Beaufort, meets his father, Alphonse Frankenstein, after Caroline’s father died in poverty. Victor mentions, “He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend, he conducted to Geneva, and placed her under the protection of a relation” (Shelley 28). Even though Caroline is younger than Victor’s father, she has no choice, but to marry him. Without marrying Victor’s father, Caroline will still be in poverty with nobody to support her. Caroline’s decision to marry Victor’s father symbolizes a woman in need of a man to protect her.
The Bachelorette is a reality TV series geared to attract an audience that’ll fall helpless for a cheesy love story, constant drama and a happy ending. The producers implicitly value beauty and status over personality and genuine love. Through analyzing the appearance, race, social expectations and economic status of the contestants and chosen Bachelorettes, I determined the show is most likely phony. Social status and beauty standards are inevitable, as people seem to be blinded by their vanity and shallow morals.
Sharpe, Jenny, and Samantha Pinto. "The Sweetest Taboo: Studies Of Caribbean Sexualities; A Review Essay." Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture & Society 32.1 (2006): 247-274. Humanities International Complete. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
Reality television is now one of the most consumed television genres broadcasted to the general public. Over time, reality television is more about mindless watching, and creating the most unrealistic environment possible, rather than creating a show for an important purpose. Today, shows like Beauty and the Geek, Big Brother, and every other reality show fit into this mold, but when viewed critically, lessons appear. In the case of TV today reality shows depict an altered reality, but even though they are unrealistic they promote important life lessons and messages.