Self Reflection

I feel like I'm doing MUCH better this second semester than I did last semester, My research skills are much better and I've learned how to analyze the text and make inferences based upon what I read. I also loved comparing the documentary about the High Line to what we read for homework. Seeing the differences and more importantly the similarities between the two really forced me to think and to find answers. I really love this class!

Progress

1) To me progress is the continual movement and change over time.


2) As defined by wikipedia "The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to 1920s" 

It was known as the progressive era because the politicians that helped to develop society in this time called themselves the "progressors"

3) Goals of this era:
Votes for women
regulation of big companies
minimum wage laws
maximum hour laws
income tax

4) each of these goals seem to be about elections and conditions for the working class.

5) I see all of these goals as essential. These goals bring the country to the point it is at today.

Predictions of the Future

1)  A bit over 50 years ago, the TV show the Jetsons premiered about a family living in the year 2062, and this was essentially a show that predicted what the future would be like.

• Robots
• TV watches (AppleWatch)
• TV
• Flatscreen TVs

2) Wishlist of things I want in the future:

• A car that I don't have to drive, a car that can be given directions and reach the destination on it's own. That'd save SO many people from car wrecks, and drunk driving. Plus road trips would be so much easier because driving all night is no issue.

3)Most of what the Jetsons predicted would be happening by the year 2062 has in fact become a reality. Some of the technology predicted in the 60s isn't yet possible to be made.

4) The trend I see is that the Jetsons predicted small inventions that created a futuristic world. Most of these include something to do with television or or telephones

5) I see a future similar to the world we live in now but with higher developed technology and I see technology being used more frequently in schools

6) how much control do we have over the future? as individuals? as groups? Government? 

If we aren't who/what is?

I believe that as individuals we have the power to create something that can change the future, I don't think that specific groups or governments can "control" anything about the future. they can design things to help direct the path of the future, but nothing is certain.

Eddie Aikau Documentary Analysis

1. I believe that this story was entitled "Hawaiian, the Legend of Eddie Aikau" because Eddie really was a true Hawaiian, he was very connected with his family and loved the culture of his ancestors, and he tried to keep that passion alive through the medium of surfing.
2. The angle of this film is that Eddie fought  to preserve the culture of his family and ancestors alive through surfing.
3. The content of this documentary is shaped by ESPN by their serious focus on Eddie's surfing career. ESPN was expecting it's audience to want to see action and sports, and that why so much was taken away from other aspects of his life.
4. If it had been made by the standpoint of PBS or the History channel, it would have been much less of a focus on his surfing career so much as his other accomplishments that made him a legend


6. If I were a documentarian focusing on Roosevelt's play in American Imperialism following McKinley's assassination in 1901. He had already had a heavy hand when McKinley was president, but progress was made under Roosevelt. If I were tasked with filming a documentary, it would be about that progress and how it got the US where it is today.

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

What I  already know about analyzing political cartoons:

These cartoons are usually filled with literary devices such as symbols, metaphors, and irony

Looking for these things in the cartoons will make them easier to understand. Sarcasm typically seems to be a theme in political cartoons, and generally the angle of the cartoons in disapproving of the political matter being expressed.  If you don't understand the event being referenced in the cartoon, then you won't understand what the cartoon is trying to communicate to you (the audience).

What I didn't know/ What I learned: 

Exaggeration is often a very large part of political cartoons, and labels are given to things so the audience knows exactly what the cartoonist is discussing.

Going forward:

As I continue analyzing political cartoons, the following will be by analysis process:

1. Look at the illustration as a whole
2. Look a little bit closer at the individual parts of the cartoon.
3. Find devices that carry the cartoonist's message
4. hypothesize what the image is about and what the author's angle is

Cartoon 1:



This is a cartoon depicting 3 children holding hands and the American flag. The caption reads "Hurrah for the fourth of July! We're coming in on independence day celebrations, too."
The cartoonist is making a negative statement on the US "adopting" territories.

Cartoon 2:

Uncle Sam is opening the gate to the Philippines for other countries to come in and stay.

Cartoon 3:



Uncle Sam not knowing that to do with the Philippine islands.



I analyzed each of these cartoons by using the process I wrote earlier in my post which seemed to be useful, because I was able to understand the cartoons rather easily.

Sources:

Guide to analysis

Phrenology Observation Research

Today I did some observations on my classmates about how they researched an artifact. I first did my own observations of the object from a distance, I ask my own questions so I knew how I to prompt the group. They each took a different approach to their initial google search, one person searched the artist, another the title and the author, and my last group member searched the artist, title, and the company that produces the replicas.
The group immediately separated what is true and fake about the information on the bust. For example, different parts of the brain do in fact have specific functions, however the diagram on the bust is completely inaccurate.



this is similar to the bust we examined today

Gibson Girl

The Gibson Girl: How she changed the American Image

     Charles Dana Gibson started out just a cartoon artist who drew a picture of a beautiful woman. Well little did Gibson know that this young woman inspired by Evelyn Nesbit would become the famous "Gibson Girl". The images of this so called Gibson Girl were published in Life, Collier's, Harper's weekly, and Scribner's. After all the publicity of these images, Gibson Girl became the woman that all American women aspired to be. An article in the New York Times called her the "dream of american femininity". She was tall, stylish, well-educated, artistic, and  athletic, she was Everything that women aspired to be, and she was the dream girl to every man.  

     Charles Gibson took his inspiration from, as I stated earlier, Evelyn Nesbit. She was discovered at the age of 16 and became the Gibson Girl. Some people believe that Gibson Girl was Gibson's wife or even his sister, but I believe that I was truthfully Evelyn to inspire the creation of the Gibson Girl.I believe so because when comparing an image of the Gibson Girl to Evelyn's features, they align almost perfectly. Evelyn became famous for her likeness to the Gibson Girl, making her as stated by an article on evelynnesbit.com,  "America's first bona-fide sex godess". She was the Marilyn Monroe of her time. 

      Gibson Girl wasn't entirely perfect though, she, like any other human being had problems. This is what made her realistic, she experienced love and loss, This is illustrated in Gibson's comic,"The Widow and her Friends"

Obviously based upon the drawing's title, She has lost her husband. She has fallen into depression. 

These men look at her as in she is a prize to be won, rather than a woman with a broken heart and great sadness.

Note that in image 2 she is "exercising" in a graveyard, perhaps after all she has been through she is visiting her husband.

6) You can see the unhappiness in her face as she is hated by other women
7) Gibson Girl was always shown as a well educated woman. 

After much distress and heartbreak, she finds where she is happy in spite of the troubles she has faced.

     As it can clearly be seen, Gibson Girl wasn't perfect, but every woman in the USA wanted to be just like her. They aspired to be the woman who every man wanted to have. The Gibson Girl was originally a "marketing tool", a way to get women to shop, she was a way to update women on the latest fashions and trends of the time. She then went from said marketing tool to an inspiration for women all over the country.

     

Sources:

PBS on Evelyn Nesbit
I used this source to find out more about Evelyn Nesbit

New York Times article on Gibson girl 

I used this source to read more about how the Gibson Girl was perceived in her own time

scalar,usc.edu on the Gibson Girl 

This was the source that sparked my interest in Evelyn Nesbit. After seeing this source, I began to do further research on Evelyn Nesbit.

Library of Congress 
This website helped me to find the different themes and characteristics of the Gibson Girl

Wikipedia on the Gibson Girl

I used this source to get initial and general information

Korn, Jerry, ed. "The Gibson Girl." This Fabulous Century 1900-1910. N.p.: Time, 1969. 183-91. Print. This Fabulous Century.

This was the source I used for my pictures