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“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold;
they change the world into words.” – William H. Gass
The first draft of my Research Project is done. It was hard to organize and fit all that I want to say it into Op-Ed format. What I saw in my head before the starting of the research project and what is on paper is a little bit different. As I chose parents as my auditory, it was challenging to connect documentaries to the research project. Films are talking about either women or men image on social media and it impacts children’s and adult’s brains bur no single word of addiction to the cell phones or social media itself.
The pre-first draft, that only I can see, is more free writing. How Sabatino has taught us, free writing is actually everything that is in your mind about the topic. As soon as I have started reading and organized my pre-first draft, I feel that my thoughts about the topic become structured and everything that I need is just to find proper quotation and reliable sources. The more I googled, the more convinced I was of my research question. Some psychologist not only admitted a problem with social media in children but even gave a name to it, the social-media addiction. I am glad that Sabatino gave us a choice of medium. Op-Ed is new for me, honestly it was the first time when I heard about it. I like this genre because I can put my thoughts to the writing unlike with MLA format. I have stuck with behavior comparison of the drug addicted people who is adult and children whose behavior is still pretty childish. I did my best and will do revision and editing after my first draft will come back from professor. I knew before starting that a topic “Children and Internet or electronic devices” is so battered theme that it is hard to say something new or inspirational. Do not judge strictly. I hope that my writing would find at least one already existed or future parent and change the view of social-media time spending by his or her child.
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I come to research project as close as I have to start do it. It is good that Sabatino gave us a list of research questions. So, we can use then and even modify just to narrow it.
My research project will be about similarities of social media addiction and drug addiction. I want to compare some aspects of behaviour of people and withdrawal effects. With my op-ed paper, I want to show already existing parents or future parents how from simple online cartoon or so-called developmental game, your loved child could become addicted to social media and how such kind addiction could impact health of your child. I plan to use films that we watched, “Platon’s Cave, and some other resources. Here is my blog #12 about our class activity based on the two films that we watched last week. Our teacher gave us random pages from the movies’ script and we had to find phrases from these small parts of the whole movie and at the same time, these phrases must represent the movies in general. At the end of the activity, a poster to both movies had to been produced.
At first glance, it is so easy to find a phrase, but I have to switch off my knowledge about whole films and concentrate only on these two pages. It is like, I have to choose a couple of words to encourage someone to go and see these movies. One deal is o find phrases, another to draw them especially when your drawing skills at the level of middle school. Sabatino called this activity “regenre”. It was a very interesting and useful activity in terms of ability to interpret movies as an own physical picture. I think, “regenre” would help me in the research project by way of looking, evaluating, and interpreting my possible sources for the research project. A new blog and a new film this time is about boys as future men. For blog #11 I have to watch the film “The Mask You Live In” by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. our teacher also provides us with The Mask You Live In Discussion Guide. The movie is talking about the determination of being a man, what it means in the modern world, and the harsh way for each boy in reaching the name “Man.”
There are countless thousands of movies and articles about being a woman that I have read but this movie forces me to think about what it costs to be a man. The author gives the argument that parents in early childhood forbid boys from showing emotions and especially crying. The film makes me sorry for the same behavior to my son. I was one of those mothers who were not happy with the child’s crying in public places. I feel sorry for my friends-parents who now are doing the same with their sons. The term “masculinity” is used through all film. This picture of a man who exhibits the top of masculinity is drawn by books, media, and society in general. Unfortunately, I could not remember any single book or story from my childhood or my son where boy/man was shown as a sensitive and emotional character. It always brave, hot and physically strong guy who can solve all problems and never feeling. And later, wives and mothers would complain about how heartless and impassive their husbands and sons. But wait… they are what we created earlier. The movie and arguments in it do not force me for radical changes. Maybe I will try to be more discreet to my son in some situations. And for sure I will share my experience with this film and will advise to watch it especially to moms of sons. We are coming closer to the research project. Blog #10 will be about my feeling and emotional response to the movie “Miss Representation” by Jennifer Siebel Newson. Our professor also provides us with Miss Representation Discussion Guide and Miss Representation Script. I watched this film in one breath and for sure would recommend it to my friend. This film is about a modern type of women’s inequality on political and media arenas.
As for me, the best description of this movie is a quote from the Miss representation Discussion Guide, “The media, a lack of roles models, and women themselves are some of the factors keeping progress at bay.” The director of the film through the words of different famous women in politic and entertainment as well as via own analysis of the statistic data gives us arguments why inequality still exists. Her arguments and facts make me take thought about the world we live in. While I was watching the film, I felt like one of those high-school girls who are under pressure of being not perfect physically and depended on the opinion of others. Only not lazy does not speak about bullying in schools and media’s propaganda of slim and super beautiful girls, but in practice, almost nothing has been changed. I feel like bullying becomes more sophisticated because of “help” of media. The movie makes me think about my school years - how I survived and did not become an introverted nut. I always knew that human being deeply depends on the opinion of other, but the movie makes me think how deep this dependence is reaching. I totally agreed with the author of the movie that modern public image of a woman does not show intellectual ability, rather women’s image is sexualized via different forms of media. I have repeatedly explained to my son what we indeed see on TV. I have always repeated to him and my friends, who have kids, that child’s mind and worldview are not developed enough to understand media and especially to be able to separate fiction from truth. This film encourages me to look at all what the media shows even more critical and evaluative. For my family, spend time outdoor walking or camping during summer and visiting other indoor attractions during winter is almost an axiom for all of us. Although a desire to join any club or foundation that promote women’s rights did not come to my mind after watching the movie. |
AuthorI will use this page to post blogs throughout my English Composition I class. Archives
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