Blog 6

Blog #6

Avatar dichotomizes gender in many ways. There are many strong male roles in the movie. Especially in the stereotype of strong harsh military men. I know lots of men in the military who are not scary and yell and demand things like the sergeant in the movie. The film is made up of mostly all men portraying them as adventurous and curious, but the women are portrayed submissive and weak. This in turn makes the men cutters and the women non-cutters. Sigourney Weaver in an interview about the movie said that James Cameron has many “dominating female roles.” However, in watching the film Grace is the only female who actually stands her ground with the dominating male roles. I feel like Neytiri was more of a tomboy, however when the male Navi people would tell her something she would do it without question proving a often overused stereotype of housewives and the roles of women.

Jake Sully was an ex marine who was confined to a wheelchair in his human body being paralyzed from the waist down. When he was in his Avatar body, he could enjoy running and frolicking in the jungle, when he could not do that otherwise. Avatar differs from personal web pages in the sense that a web page is designed how you want it to be and can be altered. Web pages put a wall up to hide who you are from the cyber world. An Avatar has DNA mixed with yours so it makes it difficult to hide. Yes the both have a sense of personalization, but maybe you don’t want the whole world to see who you really are. They are controlled by commands, they do what they are told to do. If you are in an Avatar body and you look at a tree to climb it, the Avatar itself will not say “No, I don’t really feel like it.” Same with a personal webpage, if you click refresh will it say to you “No, I don’t think I need to”? No because you are the controller.

Blog 2

The digital divide can be explained by two groups in society: the ones who have lots of access to technology and the ones who do not and are unaware of how to use technology. Mark Warschauer states, “a digital divide is marked not only by physical access to computers and connectivity, but also by access to the additional resources that allow people to use technology well.” (Rethinking the Digital Divide) I think it is hard to describe EXACTLY what the digital divide is. There are so many factors in a given environment which can change the meaning of a digital divide. There could be a digital divide in an office dealing with how to work a certain program. The digital divide might have to do with limited access to this program or the lack of understanding due to being uneducated about that program. What is the best way really to describe the digital divide? There really is no exact definition.




I had never really thought about the metaphors used in office until we discussed it in class. The desktop with the manila envelopes and the pieces of paper make a lot of sense and give the illusion that you are working in a digital “office”. Another metaphor I would say “Myspace” is a type of metaphor used to make teens or young adults think that this social network is a space of their own. In reality, it is nothing more than a website where you can say what you think. Another metaphor would be the paint accessory. It gives the illusion you are painting with a paintbrush, or you can switch to a pencil, switch colors and even erase. Again, this would appeal to children, and on top of that make parents excited because this creates a mess that doesn’t need to be cleaned up, you simply erase if you don’t want to keep it.



Works Cited

Warschauer, Mark. "Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide." 7. (2002): n. pag. Web. 2 Sep 2010. <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967/888>.

Blog 1

Foss, Foss and Trapp define rhetoric as "the human use of symbols to communicate." (1) I believe that this is true, however, I don't believe that this just applies to the human use of symbols. Animals can use some sort of rhetoric, also. Look at Chimpanzee's for example, they can recite our movements exactly. Why wouldn't they be able to learn how to communicate with symbols? I mean, they can learn symbols and colors. Why not teach them sign language or other forms of symbol communication? It amazes me how many examples there are out there of rhetoric. Not only that, but how very much connected communication and symbols connect to everyday life. There is an example in the text where they say, “Every word choice we make-every perspective we choose to apply- results in seeing the world one way or another.” (Foss, Foss and Trapp 2) I work with children everyday, and it is amazing how they hang on every word that a teacher says, or how quick their mood can change just by the tone of your voice. Words are, in a way, symbols used to describe moods or feelings.
I am in no means a technical person. I have no brains when it comes to the Internet or computers. One digital culture I do participate in however is Facebook. I was a traitor to Myspace, and switched to Facebook, which by the way are not even close to being the same. Just take a minute and think. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, live.journal, all of these social networks are everywhere! I get on a website and on the top of the screen are the links to the above mentioned. I can open up a magazine and count each time an article or a statistic about one of the above mentioned social networks. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining because I, too, am one of the millions of people obsessed with the sites. Even when you get off the Internet, these sites are everywhere. Walk into a classroom and listen for an hour to the conversations that people are having. Many of the sentences start with, “OMG, so I was on face book last night…” or “So I was tweeting with so and so…” after a while all the hype has to go down, and these social networks because a normal way of life.


Works Cited

Foss, Sonja, Karen Foss, and Robert Trapp. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. Third Edition. Waveland Press, INC, 1-15. Print.