In what ways does the author offer insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices?

Photograph

Homefire

We discussed the extract in which Aneeka and Eamon had sex, and then Aneeka woke up at midnight to pray. By the action of praying, we know that Aneeka is actively holding the Muslim religion and beliefs, this contradicts the fact that she just had sex with Eamon. To Aneeka, praying means to start the day right. But she can fully decide what is right and what wrong for her life. She is fully in control of herself, mentally strong. This gives readers an insight into the strength and freedom of Muslim women, which is similar to that of the photograph above.

In the play Top Girls, the main character Marlene invites historical or fictional characters to a dinner party, in which they all share their life story as being an extraordinary female in a male-dominated society.  To better understand the author’s intention in Act One of this play, I’m going to write about if I am to invite people to a dinner party, who will I choose?

Su Shi	Princess Wencheng	Oda Nobunaga
He was born on 8 January 1037, died on 24 August 1101. Chinese calligrapher, gastronome, painter, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and writer of the Song dynasty. His journey of being a government official has many ups and downs, remain unmoved either by gain or loss. He managed many different cities all around China, including my city Hangzhou. We have an embankment built by him, named after him.  His poets are very famous forever. They are in textbooks and they are actually wonderful.	Princess Wencheng, surnamed Li, was a member of a minor branch of the royal clan of the Chinese Tang dynasty. In 641, she was granted by Emperor Taizong of Tang to King Songtsän Gampo of Tibet for marriage at the age of 15, an involuntary actor of the emperor’s Heqin policy. She is popularly known and well respected in Tibet. She enhanced cultural and technological exchange between Tang and Tibet(seeds, crafts). Details about her life are a mystery.	Oda Nobunaga was a feudal lord of Japan who ruled in the late 16th century. He succeeded his father and assumed total power by eliminating all opposition against him, including his own uncle and brother. He was an expert in battling. He built up alliances, warrior class system, free market, infrastructures, turned over the economy from agricultural to manufacturing base, value land by production. Though he may be remembered for his brutality, he is credited with unifying a large portion of Japan and changing the history of the island nation forever.

• They Lived an interesting life, not boring or conventional.
• Very capable
• Somewhat mystery therefore intriguring
• They lived the best out of their lives and also work hard for other people’s life.
• have major contributions to society.
• I like their attitude towards life. I like what they have done.
• They have distinctive characteristics.

What is challenging:

• restricted time. I only wrote 2 body paragraphs, but I planned to write 3.
• Trying to understand the underlining meaning of the text. Because I have very limited knowledge for the context.
• Structure of my ideas. I kind of just write what I thought, but then I realize that I sometimes repeat or I would struggle to find conjunction or connecting sentence.

What is easy:

• Find meaningful ideas to write about.

How to improve:

• Record time when doing my homework.
• take simple notes on the US and Europe history. Or watch some old movies.
• Just practice.

• In what ways do political cartoons offer multiple perspectives on the ways in which gender roles and identities are socially and politically constructed?

In some male’s perspective, when women wear a short skirt or wear red lipstick, it’s an implicit sex invitation. Some criminals will use these to defend themselves for raping, to say that somehow it’s the victim’s own fault. The society is male-dominated, therefore, the “justice” is on the male’s side, these claims become somehow valid in the society. Women, on the other side, do not have the power to restrict men. So when they want to lower their risk or getting raped, they can only do it by restricting themselves, without realizing that it’s not actually their fault.

• How, and to what extent, can humor used to convey truth?

Truth is always too heavy, people would not like to think about it. Humor can make truth lighter, provide a common group for people to share their thinking without getting hostile or defensive. Humor also helps an idea to reach a wide range of public and mix it into everyday life.

• Can anything be understood without an understanding of the historical or political context?

No. Probably would misunderstand or just don’t get it. So unfair. Why are most of our study material so western centered?

To what extent does the representation of women in advertising reflect or challenge the identity of women?

As the title of this slide suggests, women are sometimes seen as domestic servants. They conveyed the idea that the female gender role is to do housework, like cooking and washing.

The first ad infers that usually women cannot open a ketchup cap, and usually men can, which is true…… The ad represented women in a very stereotypical way: neat makeup, hair-style, very feminine hand pose. Not being able to open a ketchup cap is not a big deal. We all need help from others at some point for something. But this advertisement exaggerates on that and is kind of saying that women are incapable in general. The exaggeration and emphasize are shown by the woman’s surprised expression and the word “women” is underlined. In fact, some men cannot open a ketchup cap and some women can. If we don’t have gender stereotypes in our mind, the text should say “you mean everyone can open it”, it’s going to make more sense.

The second advertisement has the text: “Be a good egg. Treat your daughter for doing the washing up.”  Here it plays a double meaning on “good egg”. It is referring to this chocolate pinata egg that they are trying to sell, but a good egg also is a nice person. Nice in terms of benevolence and compliance, which are traditionally expected traits for females. But should parents really reward their children for listening to orders? Or should they reward their children for being responsible, creative, or brave? Traditionally parents would want their sons to have their own thinking and want the girls to just listen. Because in the old society, women are supposed to listen to the orders given by men. In the workplace, the boss is usually male, and at home, the wife should follow the husband, and children should listen to the father. And why not treat your son for doing the washing up? Or treat your daughter for doing well on the math test? There’s nothing wrong with “treat your daughter for doing the washing up”. It is something worth a treat. But the problem is that the creator of this advertisement actually made this particular choice that typically infers the idea that females should be doing housework. He or she could have written so many other things, but to the creator, this seems to be the most natural thing to write, and that is the problem. The whole underlying society’s expectation for gender roles is completely shown in this advertisement.

Me too movement

– How do you think the #metoo movement has impacted our society?

Me too movement encourage women to speak up. More women are willing to fight for themselves. It makes more people aware that women are treated unfairly. People start to understand how sexual insult actually affects people’s lives. People realize that it’s a serious issue. It promotes gender equality. In a case of sexual insult, it used to always be the girl’s fault and the male can easily get away with it. Now it’s like if a man is accused of sexual insult, he will be punished even if there’s no proof for if he has actually done it. So society changed a lot.

– Thinking about the IB concepts of identity and representation, how do you think the #metoo movement could potentially change how TV/film/adverts represent men and women?

The media will try to show men and women equally. Will try not to put people into stereotypes. Not to portray women in men’s perspective.

– Which global issues do you think the #metoo movement relates to?

Culture, identity, and community: Me too movement redefines the identity of being a female, and how the community sees women.

Power, politics, and justice: Traditionally men have more power over women. Me too movement wants to change that.

Pizza Hut advertisements in Singapore and US

This Pizza Hut advertisement was produced in January 2013 in Singapore, to attract Chinese customers and to increase sales during Chinese New Year. Pizza Hut launched this new type of pizza that has a square hole in the middle. The shape represents the copper coin which is the currency in ancient China. There’s a bowl of copper coins beneath the pizza to prominent this connection. The big text on top expresses the main message of this print: “Let good fortune rain with our tantalising festive flavours.” The advertisements try to convey the idea that their pizza is somehow related to fortune and therefore suitable for the festival. This advertisement only works based on these shared values among Chinese: good fortune is worth celebrating during the festival, especially Chinese New Year; and eating special food is a way of celebrating. This value is shared with the Chinese. In Chinese New Year, people will put a coin in one dumpling, whoever get that dumplings are considered to be really lucky. Traditionally, Chinese don’t eat pizza, most old people still don’t eat pizza. This advertisement shows that pizza can also be connected with Chinese traditions. The background is red, which also represent good luck and good fortune in Chinese culture. For people from other cultures, first of all, they won’t know about copper coins. It might also be weird to celebrate having money. In Chinese culture, a good fortune leads to prosperity, flourishing, thriving and is a reward for working hard. However, many other cultures hold the value that happiness should not be relevant to money, and they would look down on people who values fortune too much. Or some people will find it offensive to adapt pizza to fit Chinese culture. To them, seeing this advertisement might make them less likely to go to Pizza Hut. In conclusion, I believe this advertisement from Pizza Hut is effective in attracting Chinese customers during the New Year, although it might push away other potential customers since Singapore is really diverse.

Pizza Hut is based in Texas, United States. They open restaurants all over the world. This advertisement was made in November 2015. Although this triple treat box comes out globally, it’s $19.99 only in the United States, so by inference, this particular advertisement is specifically for the US. In this advertisement, the “triple treat box” is portrayed as a Christmas gift. There are Christmas tree lights on the bottom and the packaging looks like a gift box, a drawing of a bow tie is on the box. I’m aware that in Asian regions this product is portrayed more like a family meal. The target consumer for this new product is young people in American because usually, only young people order food delivery. They are the targeted audience of this advertisement. This advertisement aligns with the western tradition of giving gifts during Christmas, and those gifts typically come in these kinds of boxes. This advertisement also emphasises the large quantity with low prices, instead of focusing on quality, taste, health or delicacy. The idea that pizzas come in a gift box is also very fun and inviting. From what I know, people sometimes have pizza parties as a dinner together. “The gift you can open any night” and the packaging suggest that this pizza is for delivery. The triple treat box is very good for sharing and building a lively atmosphere. This matches the values of Americans and the values of young people. This group tends not to mind fast food or eating healthy, they want things cheap and fun. People like me, who are not part of that culture, might be picky about only can choose one topping for pizza, and I don’t have a situation to order that much food anyway. To me, it’s the weirdest thing ever to eat a chocolate cookie with pizzas. My culture is not used to having dessert. Also, the black background pulls my feeling a bit heavy and constrained, I wouldn’t choose this colour to celebrate a festival. But in this advertisement, the black colour actually makes the whole thing looks cool. Dark background kind of represents night, which goes with the Christmas light and the overall party theme. It also contrast with the white text. The text uses sections of straight lines to replace curves, and uses all capital letters, creating a strong tone. Capital letters represent yelling. In conclusion, this advertisement makes pizza seems to be a fun gift you can buy for yourself and your family or friends, instead of a boring dinner. It conveys messages and emotions clearly and effectively.

Source:

https://www.brandeating.com/2013/01/news-pizza-hut-singapore-new-fortune-pizza-for-cny.html

https://www.facebook.com/pizzahutus/photos/a.10150589912622415/10153542246327415/?type=3&comment_id=10153542278952415&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D

Chinese Flag

(Happy birthday China~)

Things I associate with this flag:

• Communism
• Collectivism (the flag is high above us, symbolizing the benefits for the nation as a whole is more important than benefits for any individual)
• Proud / Success / Contribution
• Sacrifice (The red is the blood of soldiers who sacrificed their lives so we can be an independent country)
• Monday morning (because we have a flag-rising ceremony every Monday morning at school)
• “Our million hearts beat as one; Brave the enemy’s fire, March on!”
• “Made in china” (sometimes see the flag on goods and the flag means this)
• Pollution
• Never give up 
• Industrialization
• Authority protecting and guiding us
• dependable

Victor Turner was a Scottish Anthropologist who claimed that symbols are multivocal. That is, symbols (or texts) have many (potential) meanings.

Literally, they are ‘many voiced’.

• Accepting this claim, what is the significance of a single text having many meanings?

Different people will understand the same text differently, causing misunderstandings and conflicts.

• In establishing a national identity, why is it significant that a flag has no single, fixed meaning?

Cultures and politics are always changing. If a flag has a fixed meaning, people have to change the flag frequently.

• If texts have unstable, multiple meanings, what is the significance of reading literature and other written texts?  

We can research what the text means at different times and understand different opinions. We can also investigate how we are affected by the texts.

Culture can be nationality, or religion, or the love of a particular art form. I would say if you feel closely bonded to the culture, and / or other people see you as in the culture, then you own that culture. But culture can evolve, can merge, can diverge, can look like nothing similar to the same culture 20 years ago. Therefore, weirdly, as we are categorized by the culture we belong to, the culture is defined by the people in it.

But just have people doesn’t work. I can’t just get a group of people to stand in the middle of nowhere and suddenly we create a new culture. But if that same group of people stands in the middle of nowehre every morning, and it really means a lot to them, maybe they even want their children to do it too, then it becomes a culture. But the tricky part is everyone would have a slightly different understanding of what is the meaning of doing that specific thing. No individual can represent the whole culture. No “one” owns the culture. Still, everyone is presenting the culture. So, there’s always a misrepresentation in everything. Within a certain range of accuracy, people will accept it. As the degree of inaccuracy goes up, more and more people are going to go against it, and things get debatable. To a certain point, public opinion will crash it down.

I believe Anyone with adequate understanding and respect has the right to make an attempt to represent any culture; and anyone without adequate understanding and respect, even if you are from that culture, may not represent it. The people from that culture have the right to finally decide if that representation or adaptation is acceptable. Only they know how that representation is going to change their life. If it’s not acceptable, then just modify it and perhaps say sorry. In terms of respect, think about: did that representation make jokes that made the culture looks silly? This is potentially encouraging people to laugh at that culture. Did you benefit from representing that culture? Did the culture benefitted, or harmed? Respect means you really need to think in their perspective.