Football High

 

        The video Football High brings up many important issues. One issue was football teams working their players too hard on very hot days. Two boys from two different schools in Arkansas ended up in the hospital with heat stroke. One recovered  and one passed away. This brings up the issue of coaches neglecting the health of their players. Another important issue is the pressure on players and coaches to win. This pressure comes from media, college scouts, coaches, and fans. This pressure takes away the passion and turns football into a factory. Football has turned into an elite game that the teams with more money and talent will win. They have specialized coaches and trained players from other districts. Another important issue that the movie brings up is players concussions. Not all players are diagnosed with concussions then they go out and play while they do. This further more injures their brain.

      This documentary makes a person think critically about these issues. Think about your son playing football. How do you want coaches to treat him; meaning his overall health, mental being, and his physical talent? Viewers should also think about the toll pressure puts on players and coaches. Pressure and stress lead to unhealthy lifestyles like eating disorders, injuries, bad grades, and possibly death. The last thing I want a viewer to think about is the importance of winning while having a serious injury like a concussion. Would you risk putting a player back in the game with a concussion just to win state? Or would you sit them out to keep their brain injury free and make your other players work hard to pull through for the team? There is technically no right answer or a rule about this. Lets think on that one.

You Give Love A Bad Name

One of Klosterman’s ideas is that fake love gives an unrealistic picture of how life should be. Couples in movies give unrealistic ideas of how people should act and be like. John Cusack is an example of fake love. He is young, attractive, and has a perfect relationship with a girl one summer. They end up running away together and live “happily ever after.” The concept of happily ever after is another idea of fake love.

Another example of unrealistic love is the characters in Fifty Shades of Grey. Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele have an intimate relationship strictly based on sex then they fall into a romantic affair. This is unrealistic because they are both attractive, successful people who end up getting what they want in the end which is each other.

Cory and Topanga from Boy Meets World are another example. They are the perfect couple. They were best friends then dated throughout high school and college. Then they got married and lived happily ever after.

This fantasy of perfect is another idea of Klostermans. Our fantasy is having the “one” and that person will change our lives for the better. Klosterman talks about marrying for love but in reality it’s not necessarily easier or makes you happier. Marriage takes work. You will fight, argue, love, cry, and laugh.

            Another idea of Klosterman’s is that both partners will never be satisfied due to high expectation of love. These expectations set us up to fail. We are all about showing off and caring what people think of us. With all that stress, people are not happy which causes conflict with love. In reality, if people stopped listening to others and went with their own heart things would be better.

Magazine Advertising Degrades Women

This picture advertising of Dolce and Gabbana illustrates Jean Kilbourne’s video because of the degrading of women. This picture demonstrates a sexual gaze. The man and woman are greased up, tan, and in a sexual position. The girl is blonde, skinny, and has her mouth open making her look weak and taken upon by the guy. Kilbourne describes this look to degrade women because sex sells.

Sexiness

When you think of sexiness, what or who comes to mind? Do you see a skinny, blonde model or curvy, luscious Latino? Or do you see a rich, powerful person or a shy, intelligent librarian?  Anyway you look at it, humans have their own definition of sexiness because of our unique desires. Sexiness is important today in popular culture because it is a craving and natural instinct. Sexiness is constantly in the media whether it be on television, radio, or internet. Sexiness is very “in” right now in books such as Fifty Shades of Grey. Movies and television shows are becoming steamer and sexy. Celebrities also bring sexiness to attention. Women like Pamela Anderson and Marilyn Monroe are talked about nonstop. Sexiness is also important to popular culture because the meaning of sexiness is constantly changing as the years go by. What is sexy about one person is not sexy about another.

            I would like to point out the difference between sexy and trashy though. Some people misinterpret sexy as trashy these days. Sexy is classy as in a woman or man would have a certain charm and upheld look that takes your breath away, making you want more. But trashy on the other hand, shows you don’t care much about your self-respect and that you try to hard. Trashy people seem to give off the air of being “easy.” Take Miley Cyrus for example. She is not sexy, but trashy especially after her performance at the VMA’s. What was sexy about that? Nothing.