Author Archives: brante cunningham

Comics

I’ve never been much of a comic fan, in fact i don’t think I’ve ever really read or paid attention to comics other than the ones at the back of news papers as a kid. Which were always based around current pop culture events mostly based on politics.

In this weeks Reading Mafalda: Middle Class, Everyday Life,and Politics in Argentina, 1964–1973 by Isabella Cosse, Cosse analyzes the comic Mafalda by Quino which uses a littler girl to articulate important messages. One of the strips that stuck out to me the most was in ‘Mafalda 10, 1974 where Mafalda interacts with a man who uses humour through ageism as a response to her wanting to the change the world, to which she replied ““We’re doomed, guys! It turns out, if we don’t hurry up and change the world, the world changes us!” This really resonated with me because through Cosse’s article there is a sense of using comics as way to have discussions through social perceptions of the world. This theme of the article really helped me to understand that stature of Mafalda, and the littler messages that the illustrator wanted the public to see and think about. It was also great that through his work he used a girl to spark these conversations in areas that are though of to be a male driven community such as politics.

The strips of Mafalda spark conversations and discussions in communities as Cosse said ” a comic strip is not merely the texts and images it contains but also the practices involved in its production, circulation, and appropriation by those who read, discuss, and use it.” The comics personifies the relations ships that should be exuded in reality. Mafalda touches on real world problems but in a playful way that makes the readers actually take a minute to ponder the real life instances that are represented in the strips. My question would be, through this type of medium is there a line between a comic being just art and it being taken serious? And does this make conversations differ from how people interpret it?

Soccer In the Sun and Shadow

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I’m not at all a a soccer person, I’ve never really understood the game. Coming from a British school system I have played it but found it tedious. What i loved about this reading was the way that Galeano broke down the the key aspects of this game. which embraced a community. from the payers to the language to the fans etc.

The sense of community is very woven through out the game making it easy for people from all backgrounds to take part in it. Where Galeano mentions the unconventional way where soccer becomes a universal langue really stood out to me, “it require no money, and could be played with nothing more than sheer desire”. this reminded me of growing up and watching boys in my neighborhood play around with empty pepsi bottles, using it as the ball and cement walls at the goal. The share passion they had to play this game without the right equipment but treated it as if it were the world cup made me think of how this popularized game brings together communities. Even those who don’t have the means but just the desire to partake in their version of beauty.

It was also good to learn about they ways in which the game has taken different aspects of other cultures such as the kicks coming from ‘capoeira’ a dance of black slaves, which is something that i’d never known before. however know this now if i were to watch a game and see a flying kick such as this it would have more beauty to me, and as a black woman i would feel more of a connection to the game. Galeno’s work made showcased the many connections of this game which allowed me to to view it in an entirely new light my question would be,

Should the ways in which culture has affect sports be publicized so that more people would be able to relate or view it more openly?

Is it important for the moral of games such as soccer for communities to come together?

Cooking Lessons

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Rosario Castellanos cooking lessons piece is written and reads like a poem that many women live through.

This piece mirrors many subtle metaphors in relation to the greater theme of gendered expectations, specifically expectations of women. There is also an intersection of fear. Fear of the lack of ability to adapt to traditional gender and as a result her husband leaves her. Along with fear of losing who she is as a woman by submitting to these traditional gender roles.

“Thanks for letting me out of the cage of one sterile routine only to lock me into the cage of another” (348)- This line in the reading really stood out to me. It really tied the entire piece together. She starts of talking about meat which mirrors the transformations of roles that women must take on. But it also reminded me of the ways in which women used to be referred to as chattel, property such as livestock. The concept of women’s still being treated as chattel is very evident with her use of words in this quotation, “letting me out of the cage”, her fears are also tied into this line as she is moved from one cage to the next in her husband’s eyes.

Gender roles have been in constant in many cultures and it was still very apparent when Castellanos wrote this piece and it is still very apparent now. In some cultures, such as the Latin American culture women can be stereotyped as adhering to these traditional gendered roles of oppression which force them to conceal their true identities. It is very prominent in tv shows, books and movies and it was very real while happening to Castellanos, as women are to be the wones who cook, clean and produce children. This type of oppression can create these fears which inevitably leads to loosing something, either a part of themselves or in castellanos case a fear of losing her husband. The need to constantly perform these roles can become exhausting but also self-deprecating.

My question would be, how do specific cultures press these oppressive gendered roles onto women? Are these metaphorical cages, just the modern-day way to dress up the word chattel to still be able to control women?

Popularized by the People

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We have discussed in lecture the definition of popular culture, which is popular culture as something that is mainstreamed by ordinary people rather than elite communities. Government can be seen as elite communities in most circumstances because of their power and control. It was very interesting to pay attention then to the fact that stamps, and the controversy of weather or not they can be considered part of popular culture or not because they were created by governments.

In Jack child’s article it speaks about the two functions of a stamp, where the stamp it self serves a function of location and geography but the image on the stamp can be looked at or is popularized because it relates to the culture and identity or the place that it comes from, or it has subliminal messages of propaganda, politics or nationalism. Stamps are not necessarily something that is thought about in relation to pop-culture, sure some people may collect them and in those communities it may be very popular; but it was interesting to think of stamps in the Latin american culture as this messaging board, secret language, image of cultural identity and so much more because the people had popularized it and given meaning to it even though it was created by governments. Popular culture has a very general and broad meaning but yet a very narrow meaning to me, popularized by the ordinary. However this article made me think that t it doesn’t need to be created by the ‘ordinary’, as long as something has a large enough following it can become popular even if created by the elite. It also made me think about he circumstances of stamps being popular in Latin american culture and if it just became popular because of the significance of their roles in politics, instead of using political cartoons this became their version where it appeared on stamps. This became popular because this was their way of broadcasting their political identities and cultural views it was their medium or social platform and through this the popularity grew.

I do wonder if we should start thinking of popular culture as something that is popularized by the people rather than by these groups of ordinary vs elite?

Black Orpheus Response

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The first 11 minutes of Black Orpheus takes you on a journey between the different classes of the city with each community having the shared commonality of music. It begins on a mountain top with residents of the community appearing to be predominately Afro-latino, where people paraded around with drums creating music, children were playing, women working and and dancing. the syntax of the kite being flown above as the sound of the horn from the ship being blown in the background appears could be a metaphorical imagery for the flow of this girl who appears in white flying the nest.

This character ( the girl in white) bumps into a blind man carrying toy windmills along with other pieces, she apologizes and he gifts he with a lie and we find out the city is Rio. She helps him off the boat and he points her in a different direction. All around them culture is in full effect, there is dancing and music, a showcase of different foods and vendors. Different symbolism of masks which represented the showcase of a popular cultural event of carnival. She is then lifted onto a tram after her meet-cue with who we find out to be Orpheus later on. The tram is packed to the brim and navigate through what looks like a well economically established area of the city and comes to the end of the line where the road becomes dirt, and there are children playing in the street.

These scenes show the variety of celebrations being held at different parts of the city, but everyone was in a good mood and celebrating. Do you think that the celebration of cultural events such as carnival have a ways of bridging gaps between communities, or people?

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