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Who is that Girl I See?....Reflection Time

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Those born in Generation Z are the first to grow up in a time of technology and media, and my class is part of that generation. For us, our lives always coexisted with the presence of technology along with all of its advances. It then became a normality that everyone decided to be okay with. Bombardments of outrageous commercials and the rush to get the “next” thing become a way for us to stay connected. Only after learning the media’s levels of techniques and strategies did the outrageous and unforgettable qualities of those ads come to light. Specific to these weekly blog posts of the past several months, they were directed towards the lesson at the time along with a free choice. This allows for the merging of ideas in seeing how the lesson connects to a true example we commonly see as consumers. For example, the feedback loop was a concept that made sense in the perspective of the advertisers. Why not give people the version of themselves that they want and is familiar to them?
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They Never Knew.

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The beauty standards as an Asian American specifically a Korean American are very different than what most would expect. It's as though you were meant to never fit in with the initial step of looking the right way. As most people say about interviews, the first thing that sticks about impressions isn't what you say but rather the way that you look. In America, that typically meant being Caucasian and fitting into the stereotypes that followed. In Korea, that meant following the traditional ideals of beauty of being lighter skins with no sun marks ( https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/05/581765974/in-seoul-a-plastic-surgery-capital-residents-frown-on-ads-for-cosmetic-procedure ). I didn't fit in either place. Something that causes a lot of this is my love of outdoor sports. I swim, which means in the summer my skin gets tan and much darker. Right now even, people have complimented me for being "so tan." The season is barely half way done, so my tan will
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Correlation?

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In 2019, my life has been officially split into two. This is because I have lived exactly 8 years of my life in Sacramento and 8 years of my life in Antioch. While they may only be an hour and a half away from each other, the experiences I have of both are very different. My family moved to Sacramento because my brother was diagnosed with five different mental disabilities since the age of two. He was five to six at this time. This was the time most neurotypical kids start school, but for him, it was a different story. Especially between 2000 and 2010, Antioch was purely a commuting city where people left home for their jobs in the San Francisco at 6am and returned home at 7pm everyday. Their doors weren't open besides those hours of the day. This then leaves a lack of services specifically the ones my brother was starting to need. We then got a fresh start, and now my brother is receiving the services that he needs. But life still wasn't all sunshine and butterflies. My fa
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Would Walt Approve?

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Disney has begun this new era of remaking their classic movies. Some that are on track of being released are Aladdin in May, Lion King in July, and Lady and the Tramp later this year ( https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a26982936/ disney-remakes-why/ ). Many would assume that it is all for the money and that Disney is trying to reuse the same content that they already own. And while some of this is true, Disney has also claimed that the reason is to bring back that spark of nostalgia. It is a way for the adults who were kids, at the time of the classic 2D and maybe 3D movies, to reconnect with the brand of Disney. This got me wondering that if major corporations like Disney felt is necessary to use this advertisement strategy of reviewing the past, then how have other companies evolved to do the same? One of the biggest examples that come to mind is Nintendo. For me, when someone say, "Nintendo," I think of the Super Mario Brothers game for my old blue 3D DSi. This used t
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Mirror Mirror On the Wall

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"Mirror Mirror on the wall, show me a reflection of myself, so I can buy them all." This is the basis of what's currently happening in the media as explained by PBS's documentary of Frontline: Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool ( http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/story/2009/08/post.html ) . They describe it best as a feedback loop where advertisers learn how their consumers act and then commercialize products by dramatizing their consumers. It's this vicious cycle of consumers buy products in hopes of being this ideal ad character, but the advertising companies come up with these characters based on their consumers. This makes it so that as long as people keep digressing, the advertisers will follow in presenting the "modernized" person. But the question is: has it always been this way? Compared to the example of Sprite in the documentary, I have personally been a consumer of the popular toys growing up. The three I distinctiv
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Perfect Dress for the Perfect Picture for a Night that is...Perfect

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Yes it's that time of year again where the race is on to spend large amounts of money for a single night of fun. Prom. Similar to that of Black Friday but over the course of a month, clothing and department stores rack up tuxedos and dresses for the special night However, the traditional dress and the suit aren't the only aspects of Prom. Movies have played to this high school phenomenon of the perfect night, and the preparation that goes into it is ever so more tedious. The audience is seeing the common panning down view of the 'Prom To Do List' where the bullet point never seem to end: the dress the date, the shoes, the hair, the makeup, the limo, the dinner reservation, the select group of friends, the location where everyone gets ready, and etc. Given that it is movies, the night ends up as hoped: perfect, which leaves people believing this to be the standard ( https://www.seventeen.com/prom-dresses/ ) . Even more currently, Youtubers have jumped on the bandw
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2001

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It was the year when 9/11 occurred, when the summer was known as the 'Summer of Sharks,' when the average cost of living in a new house was    $136,150.00 , when the average cost of a new car was  $25,850.00, when 120 people were killed in a stampede at a football game in Ghana, when the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years of repairs, and when Wikipedia was launched online ( http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/2001.html ). 2001 was the year of many things, which includes the PBS Frontline Documentary of Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool ( https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/ ) . In it, it is said that $150 billions was spent by teens alone and another $50 billion was spent for the teens by their parents. Of course, those came from over 18 years ago so the numbers would have only gone up since them.  This was all before the rush for named brands and the latest iPhones/headphones, so I'm left wondering what was being spent with that gre
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