SUU Popular Culture & Communication

 In the video game world, there is one certainty: boys play video games. There erupted in the early 2010s a culture war in the gaming world. It was discovered that girls play video games and didn't like how women characters were portrayed in games. The scantly clothed women who had unusual physical proportions seemed to be the reason girls wanted some things to change in the gaming world. Showing actual women who were based on reality instead of the imaginations of boys. It seemed that gamers had to take sides and really couldn't ignore the issue. This was even true for the developers. One that decided to take a stand against the sexualized video game women characters was Naughty Dog. During the heated debate happening online, Naughty Dog was working on their final Uncharted  game for the series. They didn't change their story but it appears that including women more prominently and showing that they were just as capable as the men. I plan to do an analysis of this for a de...

Sellnow (2018) defines patriarchy as “the structuring of society around family units where the male is the authority figure and is responsible for the welfare of his family members and the community” (p. 140). I cannot help but consider the many ways in which patriarchy extends to influencing the larger socioeconomic structures of our society, and how that has impacted me at times.  I entered the workforce when I was 16. I started as a credit union teller and by 21, I had worked my way up through various roles to loan processor. I had also been functioning as a loan officer for some time, but unofficially. Eventually, a loan officer position finally came open, and I of course applied. I didn’t get it. A gentleman who had been recently hired, and who I happened to be training through his onboarding, was awarded the position. I went to the credit union president immediately to protest the decision, arguing that I had seniority and that I was already performing the role without the ap...

Photo credit: IMDb M*A*S*H (1972-1983)   Sellnow (2018) defines popular culture as “those everyday objects, actions, and events that influence people to believe and behave in certain ways” (p. 3). As I think about how popular culture has influenced my values and perspectives, I can’t help but think of the popular, and arguably iconic, television series M*A*S*H. Whether you have watched it or not, M*A*S*H likely needs no introduction, nor does its infamous theme song . My husband often jokes about it being a song that signifies it’s time for bed (a throwback to its late-night air schedule). But for me, the iconic tune takes me back to fond memories of watching the show with my grandma and engaging in discussions about it while we enjoyed a pop, aka soda, and some fish n’ chips from our favorite local grease pit. I think my grandma always saw a little bit of herself in one of the show’s leading characters, Major Margaret Houlihan, and spoiler alert, my grandma was my first real-life ...