Inquiry 4 Proposal

I have recently reviewed all of my works for this class and have started to notice a pattern. I have started to notice that when I write about something that I can strongly identify with and relate to through personal experiences that my writing becomes significantly better. I believe this is because it causes me to actually be interested in what I am writing about, therefore creating a sense of passion in my writing. For Inquiry 4 I will be exploring this further and examining different excerpts from Inquiry 1, Inquiry 2, and different blogposts that I think I specifically identified with well. My intended audience is a peer-audience because it is often your peers that you can identify and relate to the most. I think that since my audience will be my peers it will make it easier for me to address them and explain why I chose each excerpt.  My intended audience will help shape the design of my analysis and digital portfolio into and easy to read format that my peers will able to follow without and confusion. Throughout the Inquiry I will be explaining how I identify with each excerpt and how that has improved my writing. For my reflective cover letter I will be writing to my future-self and examining all that I have learned this semester about writing, film, and my strengths and weaknesses as a writer.

The use of “Strange Fruit” in “Blood on the Leaves” By Kayne West

In “Blood on the Leaves” by Kayne West there are several samples of Nina Simone singing “Strange Fruit” which was originally sung by Billie Holiday in 1939. “Strange Fruit” was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher from the Bronx, and was then converted to music. The song protests racism and the lynching, or hanging of African Americans in trees, particularly in the South. Lynchings were very popular between 1890 and the 1920s and were seen more and more as tension grew between the African Americans and white people in the South. The first sample is played at the very beginning of the song.

“Blood on the Leaves” begins with the lyrics “Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees, blood on the leaves”. This is followed by Kayne West’s first verse, and in the background the word “leaves” is repeated over and over again by Nina Simone. In Kayne’s song the lyrics no longer have the same meaning. The samples from “Strange fruit” are no longer about racism, and lynching. The meaning is transformed into something new. Kayne’s song focuses a lot about losing a love to the fame, and limelight. He is reminiscing about how everybody just wants something from him and he and his former love could have been something together, but now it is too late. There is “blood on the leaves”, and they have gone towards the fame, and limelight and away from him. Kayne continues to talk about all of the groupies who try to get his attention, but he does not care because they are not worth his time, and they are all fake. They act like they have status and wealth when in reality they are broke and are just looking to marry a millionaire rapper. He then narrates a story about a husband and wife and how the husband was unfaithful and impregnated another girl. Now, he has to deal with the consequences which include paying child-support, alimony to his soon to be ex-wife, and cutting down on his extravagant life. There are only a few times throughout the song where Kayne makes a direct reference to the song “Strange Fruit”. In the second verse Kayne makes reference to it by saying “before the blood on the leaves”, a couple lines later he says “Something strange is happenin’” which is another reference to the song. When Kayne makes these reference it is changing the meaning of the original lyrics and transforming them to mean that Kayne does not know what is happening in his life anymore, and how things got this way with him and his former love, and how the girl he loves is gone to the limelight.

Before, this assignment I had never heard Kayne West’s “Blood on the Leaves”, so the meaning of the song did not change for me. However, I had heard “Strange Fruit” several times throughout school and whenever we would talk about racism in class because it was such a powerful song. So, hearing bits and pieces of it in this song has changed its meaning to me. I personally do not like the use of “Strange Fruit” in Kayne’s song because he took a famous protest song with a very strong message and turned it into the meaningless loss of his former love to fame.

Revision Paragraph

Old Paragraph:

Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire exhibits the differences between men and women and how women they are still not equal to men with the revealing clothing Katniss and Effie wear, the way they are treated, and the expectations of them by others.

New Paragraph:

The film and television industry today illustrates how women are still not equal to men. This inequality is shown by how the female characters in films are portrayed. In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire the two main female characters: Katniss and Effie are often shown as feminine, fragile, and vulnerable. This leads to gender inequality because it creates certain expectations for women to be off screen as well. Not only does the way Katniss and Effie are portrayed contribute to gender inequality, but the overly sexualized clothing that Katniss and Effie wear as well as the way they are treated, especially by men. The lack of gender equality is also shown through the vast and unrealistic expectations of them by others. Overall, in order to change the way women are viewed and stop gender inequality the film industry needs to be less sexist and create more realistic expectations for women everywhere.

Hemingway App

Old Paragraph:

Women are often sexualized in film. In Nina Bahadur’s article, “Women in the Media: Female TV And Film Characters Still Sidelined And Sexualized, Study Finds” she explains the findings of a recent study between USC Annenberg and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The study found that, “Women across the board were more likely to be shown wearing sexy attire or exposing some skin, and body size trends were apparent:” most females were depicted thin (Bahadur). There are several examples of this in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Throughout the film Katniss is a thing girl who wears tight, revealing clothing. When Katniss and Peeta got to a party at the Capitol she wears a long intricate tight black dress with a low scoop cut at the top of the dress. The cut at the top makes the dress more revealing and sexualized as well as the tightness of the dress. Then, as the tributes ride in carriages and head to the Capitol Katniss’ dress is once again very tight and revealing. It is a long dress made out of a leather type material and with an asymetrical strap and low cut revealing some of her bust. The cut, tightness, and material all contribute to the sexualized look. The dress is fierce and dominating tone which also helps create the sexualized look. During the pre-games interviews Katniss wears a wedding dress that turns into a mocking jay. The dress is lavish, elegant and shows off her curves. Once Katniss enters the games she is wearing a tight spandex material. Although this outfit is not as revealing as the others it is still sexualized because of its tightness which extenuates her curves. Not only are the outfits that Katniss wears sexualized, but Effie’s outfits too. However, Effie’s outfits have a feminine and extravagant tone instead of a fierce and angry tone like Katniss’ outfits. This tone is displayed at the party at the Capitol where Effie wears a short lilac dress with a dramatic collar around her neck. During the reaping Effie wears a short sleeveless orange dress that exposes all of her legs and arms. At the pre-games interviews she is seen wearing an extravagant short, poufy, red dress that exposes her legs and arms once again. The outfits and dresses that Katniss and Effie wear create expectations for women off the screen. Women are expected to look sexy, feminine and put together at all times which a main difference between men and women. Men can look not put together or wear ratty clothing and although they will most likely me judged they will not be as harshly as women because women are now expected today to always be put together.

New Paragraph:

Women are often sexualized in film. In Nina Bahadur’s article, “Women in the Media: Female TV And Film Characters Still Sidelined And Sexualized, Study Finds” she explains the findings of a recent study between USC Annenberg and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The study found that, “Women across the board were more likely to be shown wearing sexy attire or exposing some skin, and body size trends were apparent:” most females were depicted thin (Bahadur). There are several examples of this in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Throughout the film Katniss is a thing girl who wears tight, revealing clothing. When Katniss and Peeta got to a party at the Capitol she wears a long intricate tight black dress with a low scoop cut at the top of the dress. The cut at the top makes the dress more revealing and sexualized as well as the tightness of the dress. Then, as the tributes ride in carriages and head to the Capitol Katniss’ dress is once again tight and revealing. It is a long dress made out of a leather type material and with an asymmetrical strap and low cut revealing some of her bust. The cut, tightness, and material all contribute to the sexualized look. The dress is fierce and dominating tone which also helps create the sexualized look. During the pre-games interviews Katniss wears a wedding dress that turns into a mocking jay. The dress is lavish, elegant and shows off her curves. Once Katniss enters the games she is wearing a tight spandex material. This outfit is not as revealing as the others it is still sexualized because of its tightness which extenuates her curves. Not only are the outfits that Katniss wears sexualized, but Effie’s outfits too. Effie’s outfits have a feminine and extravagant tone instead of a fierce and angry tone like Katniss’ outfits. This tone displayed at the party in the Capitol where Effie wears a short lilac dress with a dramatic collar around her neck. During the reaping Effie wears a short sleeveless orange dress that exposes her legs and arms. At the pre-games interviews she wears an extravagant short, poufy, red dress that exposes her legs and arms once again. The outfits and dresses that Katniss and Effie wear create expectations for women off the screen. Women are now expected to look sexy, feminine and put together at all times which a main difference between men and women. Men can look not put together or wear ratty clothing and not receive the same judgment as women. This is due tot he expectation of women to always look clean and put together.

Further Analysis of “Women in the Media: Female Tv and Film Characters still Sidelined and Sexualized”

Women in film and Television are often sexualized and sidelined. This creates certain expectations for women in society. Most women are expected to be the mother, take care of the home and sometimes not have a job, yet they are also expected to be sexy, thin and make their partner want them. These expectations are broadcasted to society through television and film. In a recent study between USC Annenberg and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media the roles women play on the big screen were analyzed. It was found that “on prime-time television, 44.3 percent of females were gainfully employed — compared with 54.5 percent of males” (Bahadur). This statistic alone shows the values that are being in stilled to the young people who watch these shows. It shows that the man is still the supporter and the woman the caretaker which is becoming far less common in today’s world. The study also found that, “The ratio of men to women in STEM fields was 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 on prime time TV” (Bahadur). This also illustrates the standard women are held up to because not only are they working less than men, but the jobs they do possess are not in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, and instead predominantly occupied by men. Not only do women have lesser careers than men in film, but women in general do not speak as often either. It was found that “only 28.3 percent of characters in family films, 30.8 percent of characters in children’s shows, and 38.9 percent of characters on prime time television” were speaking women (Bahadur). Since women typically do not have substantial roles in film people can and will infer that women also do not have a substantial role in society because most people believe that what they see on the screen depicts reality when more often than not it does not. The study concluded with five main observations: “female characters are sidelined, women are stereotyped and sexualized, a clear employment imbalance exists, women on TV come up against a glass ceiling, and there are not enough female characters working in STEM fields”( Bahadur). Although in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire the main role is a female, several of the five observations still apply. First of all, Katniss is often sidelined throughout the film. She is kept from the plans of the revolution because Haymitch and Finnick do not think she will be able to handle it. Katniss is also stereotyped and sexualized. She is stereotyped when she is put in the wedding dress that is made for her because it is a very girly wedding dress and she is expected to like girly things. She is sexualized throughout the film through the outfits that Effie and her stylist design and pick out for her. Most of them are very tight and revealing. Even the outfit that Katniss is put in during the Games is so tight that it is sexualized.

Annotated Bibliography Rough Draft

Meredith Divine

English 112

Joseph Thornton

24 October 2014

Annotated Bibliography Rough Draft

Bahadur, Nina. “Women In The Media: Female TV And Film Characters Still Sidelined And             Sexualized, Study Finds.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Nov. 2012.        Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This article explains the findings of a recent study of the role females play in prime-time and children television shows as well as family films. It was found that 44.3% of females were employed and that 54.5% of males were employed in prime-time television shows. Overall, it was found that there was a lack of female role models on the television screen. Also, that many female characters are often sidelined, stereotyped, and sexualized. The fact that there is not a balance with male to female employment, and there are not enough female characters working in STEM fields was also observed. The article concludes with them wanting more in-depth female characters in order to help change people’s views on gender roles and job aspirations of women.

This article will be very useful to me because it will help me explain the expectations of women today and where people get their expectations. It will also help me explain the necessity for more female protagonist like Katniss who are more in-depth than the classic fairytale princess. This article is fairly credible. It was published in a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper, and the author, Nina Bahadur, is a Princeton graduate and has written several other articles for the Huffington Post relating to society’s view of women.

Margolies, PH.D, Lynn . “Understanding the Effects of Trauma: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder          (PTSD).” Psych Central. Psych Central , n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This article explains the symptoms and causes of post-traumatic stress disorder. It explains that PTSD is caused by some sort of trauma that is too shocking or overwhelming for the mind and body to process. The article continues to explain the three main symptoms of PTSD. The first symptom is hyperarousal which includes not being able to sleep, eat, agitation, and panic. The second symptom is re-experiencing which is when a person has nightmares, flashbacks, or when the body remembers the trauma it went through. The third symptom is numbing which is when a person is depressed, withdrawn, no longer feels anything.

This article will be useful to me because it will help me identify which scenes Katniss and Effie show signs of PTSD. Not only will it help me identify which scenes they exhibit PTSD but what symptoms they have. This is from a very credible source. The author is a very prominent doctor who is a licensed psychologist and former Harvard Medical School fellow and Faculty. She has also wrote several different articles for psychcentral.com and Women’s Health.

Oneto, Kathy. “Today’s Women: Power, Yet Expectations.” Marketing Daily. MediaPost       Communications, 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

The article explains that although women have more influence there are still certain expectations that they are held to. The first expectation described is for women to be able to do it all. They are expected to not only work outside the home, but to take care of their family, partner, and make sure their household is well. Another expectation described is the necessity to look good. They found that over 60% of women still felt expected to be attractive and look feminine. The final expectation described is for women to be nice. They are also expected to be polite and it was found that over 80% of women believe they should be and are expected to be nice. The article concludes by applying these expectations to marketing advertisements, media, and entertainment and by explaining that if people want to change these cultural expectations it starts with changing the expectations for women shown in advertisements media, and entertainment.

This article will be useful to me because I am going to apply the expectations desto Katniss and Effie in the Hunger Games. I will compare and contrast the expectations in the article to the expectations of Effie and Katniss. This is a very credible source since the author is Kathy Oneto. Kathy is vice president of brand strategy at Anthem and has written several other articles about branding and marketing issues as well as women. She even spoke at the Marketing to Women Conference.

Peacock, Joseph. “Women in film: a disappearing act.” Deseret News National. Deseret News Media , 19 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

In the article, the lack of not only female protagonists, but female characters in film today is discussed. The article references a recent study in which it was found that less than a quarter of films released have a female protagonist, and only 31% of speaking characters are female. It further describes these results by explaining how it is assumed that women films have a universal lack of appeal and profitability. This is due to the fact that any movie with a female lead is classified as a “women’s” movie and is not likely to have as many male viewers therefore, losing half their prospective audience and profit. It is also assumed that these movies will not do as well internationally therefore, losing more prospective viewers and profit.

This article will be helpful for my project because it will help me explain why Katniss and Effie are portrayed the way they are. It will also be useful to me throughout my paper as I analyze The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from a feminist perspective because the article shows how the movie industry is still dominantly controlled by men. This article is fairly credible since it was published in Utah’s oldest daily newspaper. However, I need to take into account that Deseret News is often described as being moderate to conservative and typically reflects the values of its owner which is the LDS Church.

Weedall, Gemma. “{Catching Fire} Burns With Rebellion.” Green Left Weekly 992 (2013): 25.      Alternative Press Index. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

This article is an analysis of the film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The article goes into detail about the plot of the film and the meaning and symbols behind it. Weedall shows several parallels between the Hunger Games society and society today. She explains how the mean soldiers resemble military repression during Arab Spring and police crackdowns on protestors. She also compares how the U.S 1% controls 40% of the wealth of the country which is similar to the Capitol in the Hunger Games. She concludes her article by describing a fan group called the Harry Potter Alliance who have made videos about the similarities between the fictional world and the US today.

This article will be useful to me because it is an analysis of the film therefore, it will help me when I am explaining scenes and characters in the film. It will also help me when I describe how Katniss and Effie illustrate some of the expectations women have today. This article is from a fairly credible source. It was published in Green Left Weekly which is a newspaper that focuses on anti-capitalist and socialist movements.

Research Blogpost #5

Bahadur, Nina. “Women In The Media: Female TV And Film Characters Still Sidelined And Sexualized, Study Finds.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This article explains the findings of a recent study of the role females play in prime-time and children television shows as well as family films. It was found that 44.3% of females were employed and that 54.5% of males were employed in prime-time television shows. Overall, it was found that there was a lack of female role models on the television screen. Also, that many female characters are often sidelined, stereotyped, and sexualized. The fact that there is not a balance with male to female employment, and there are not enough female characters working in STEM fields was also observed. The article concludes with them wanting more in-depth female characters in order to help change people’s views on gender roles and job aspirations of women.

This article will be very useful to me because it will help me explain the expectations of women today and where people get their expectations. It will also help me explain the necessity for more female protagonist like Katniss who are more in-depth than the classic fairytale princess. This article is fairly credible. It was published in a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper, and the author, Nina Bahadur, is a Princeton graduate and has written several other articles for the Huffington Post relating to society’s view of women.

Research Blogpost #4

Margolies, PH.D, Lynn . “Understanding the Effects of Trauma: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Psych Central. Psych Central , n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This article explains the symptoms and causes of post-traumatic stress disorder. It explains that PTSD is caused by some sort of trauma that is too shocking or overwhelming for the mind and body to process. The article continues to explain the three main symptoms of PTSD. The first symptom is hyperarousal which includes not being able to sleep, eat, agitation, and panic. The second symptom is re-experiencing which is when a person has nightmares, flashbacks, or when the body remembers the trauma it went through. The third symptom is numbing which is when a person is depressed, withdrawn, no longer feels anything.

This article will be useful to me because it will help me identify which scenes Katniss and Effie show signs of PTSD. Not only will it help me identify which scenes they exhibit PTSD but what symptoms they have. This is from a very credible source. The author is a very prominent doctor who is a licensed psychologist and former Harvard Medical School fellow and Faculty. She has also wrote several different articles for psychcentral.com and Women’s Health.

Research Blogpost #3

Weedall, Gemma. “{Catching Fire} Burns With Rebellion.” Green Left Weekly 992 (2013): 25.      Alternative Press Index. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

This article is an analysis of the film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The article goes into detail about the plot of the film and the meaning and symbols behind it. Weedall shows several parallels between the Hunger Games society and society today. She explains how the mean soldiers resemble military repression during Arab Spring and police crackdowns on protestors. She also compares how the U.S 1% controls 40% of the wealth of the country which is similar to the Capitol in the Hunger Games. She concludes her article by describing a fan group called the Harry Potter Alliance who have made videos about the similarities between the fictional world and the US today.

This article will be useful to me because it is an analysis of the film therefore, it will help me when I am explaining scenes and characters in the film. It will also help me when I describe how Katniss and Effie illustrate some of the expectations women have today. This article is from a fairly credible source. It was published in Green Left Weekly which is a newspaper that focuses on anti-capitalist and socialist movements.

Research Blogpost #2

Oneto, Kathy. “Today’s Women: Power, Yet Expectations.” Marketing Daily. MediaPost Communications, 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

The article explains that although women have more influence there are still certain expectations that they are held to. The first expectation described is for women to be able to do it all. They are expected to not only work outside the home, but to take care of their family, partner, and make sure their household is well. Another expectation described is the necessity to look good. They found that over 60% of women still felt expected to be attractive and look feminine. The final expectation described is for women to be nice. They are also expected to be polite and it was found that over 80% of women believe they should be and are expected to be nice. The article concludes by applying these expectations to marketing advertisements, media, and entertainment and by explaining that if people want to change these cultural expectations it starts with changing the expectations for women shown in advertisements media, and entertainment.

This article will be useful to me because I am going to apply the expectations desto Katniss and Effie in the Hunger Games. I will compare and contrast the expectations in the article to the expectations of Effie and Katniss. This is a very credible source since the author is Kathy Oneto. Kathy is vice president of brand strategy at Anthem and has written several other articles about branding and marketing issues as well as women. She even spoke at the Marketing to Women Conference.