In our readings, the terms cybertyping and identity tourism are introduced to us. Nakamura sets up her article, "Cybertyping and the Work of Race in the Age of Digital Reproduction", by stating that software engineers and academics both enjoy creating new words and jargon to describe something new. Using the example of "new media", she explains how they require their own set of descriptive terminologies and conceptual frameworks, stating how they are so inherently different from their precursors. She coins the term cybertype to "describe the distinctive ways that the Internet propagates, disseminates, and commodifies images of race and racism" (pg. 3). Different from stereotype, for those describe the machine functions, cybertypes are an even faster way to translate information. Identity tourism on the other hand is used to describe a "disturbing" occurrence that Nakamura began noticing in Internet chat communities--in essence, it's a term to describe the ability to temporarily "take on" someone else's identity to fulfill some sort of "lived truth" (pg.14).
Street Fighter II, the application.
Nakamura targets the while male as the main audience for identity tourism, crossing over racial boundaries for a short period of time via play or recreation (Nakamura 2007, pg 299). Street Fighter II seems to be the epitome of this, using cultural knowledge to create stereo (or rather, cyber) types of different nations. Characters such as Dahlsim exhibit exaggerated traits of what one thinks of concerning India. He is a skinny monk with supernatural powers which allow him to stretch his limbs. All the characters exemplify this sort of cybertyping not only from their appearance, but to their way of speech and the settings they are surrounded in. Nakamura would argue that every time we play as one of these radically cybertyped characters, we are in essence partaking in identity tourism. The characters represent different avatars, and if I chose to, I could fantasize about roleplaying the character of a buff military dude or the lone Asian female.
As you can see from the video, Street Fighter II serves to perpetuate already existing stereotypes through the virtual realm. It also allows users to "travel the world" through each tournament, giving them an experience of each and every culture. Thawk, the Indian character, is portrayed outside among a circle of other native Americans.
Works Cited
Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge.
Nakamura, L. (2007). Race in/for Cyberspace: Identity tourism ad racial passing on the Internet. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.),The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.) (pp. 297-304). London and New York: Routeledge.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
blog 7, Gender Stereotypes
Gender stereotypes, you are SUCH a big deal! Do you REALIZE the amount of hassle I have to go through, just to define that you exist and rule in the minds of whoever comes along? You... you and your rhetoric. If you made a stronger argument, or rather--if you would STOP arguing your case, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Super Mario 2 is an amazing game, in all its 8-bit glory. I remember playing this bad boy as a little kid. I... admittedly, was a tom boy. I trampled over my gender stereotype and I ate it for breakfast, daily. I played with batman and robin figurines, and I hated pink. Loathed it. As far as I was concerned, overly pink items could seriously fall off a cliff and die. So you could only imagine my reaction when I picked up this little game. Do you know why? Do you know why I was so surprised? It's hard. Playing as my favorite green dude just wasn't helping. And so I quickly found out the advantages of playing the dainty pink atrocity. She presented a unique trait different from the rest: the ability to float. The user is able to choose between 4 characters: Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, or Princess Peach, and they each have their own unique skills.. but really? None of them are really helpful in battling evil and unjust mushrooms. Except for Peach. And I can only imagine how the opposite sex reacted to this surprise. Did they squirm and try to avoid playing the easier route, as the pink atrocity, or did they battle it out "like a man" and play as the heroic Mario?
Yes, we can dissect the avatars and how the user interacts with them. Yes, we can even say that Peach's unique trait may have forced the male gender to wear the female avatar, effectively letting them to role play as a girl or what not. Really, it is to my opinion that Super Mario Bros. 2 just... is. It's a story of a plumber and his brother, with his love interest Peach and.. some mushroom friend? When they chose to make up the characters, I don't believe they were actively seeking to appeal to whatever audience for whatever reasons, aside from the fact that they were expecting mostly male gamers. Looking at the history of the game, these characters were made to fit a fairytale. The first Mario game allows the user to play as average plumber Mario, on a quest to save the princess. There were some comments stating how Peach is stereotyped as thin and pretty, but c'mon, really? She's a PRINCESS. What man wants to rescue a fat slob high up in a castle? We make these characters to represent the ideal, what we think a princess should look like. Mario and Luigi are an awkward set of brothers. One's a little chubby, the other is awkwardly tall. This set allows the user to roleplay as the underdog, as the average Joe in an attempt to attain ultimate awesomeness.
Now, if I were to act like Schleiner and dissect this game, what kinds of conclusions would I come up with? Well, for starters, I'd open this up stating what a messy can of worms Mario Bros. 2 makes itself out to be. This game allows the user to be WHOEVER he/she wants to be. As a male, I could effectively play as Princess Peach and put on that "drag" mentality. I could make Princess Peach be that positive role model for myself, an all high and mighty princess gettin' down and dirty to save the kingdom. Mario, the positive role model, enduring this tripping world filled with talking mushrooms and crazy egg-shooting dinosaurs in order to save this gorgeous princess. I could be this seemingly gender-less toad and do whatever I want. Really, it's all up to the viewer. Schleiner's view of "gender configurations" incorporates the idea that "a single subject may morph and oscillate between [various] positions or roles, or gravitate more strongly toward one player/subject position". In essence, I could take Peach and make her my female gaze play toy, I could role-play as a bad ass dress wearin' destroyer, or she could just be my happy little role model. The same could be said towards all the characters. As a human being, I have the ability to think whatever I want to think and do whatever I want to do with these avatars, whether I choose to adhere to my gender stereotype, or experiment in my mind how wearing drag would be.
Super Mario Bros. 2 complicates gender stereotypes because it's not just cut and dry. The dainty princess kills things. You can be a genderless mushroom. Or a chubby Italian plumber. Really, I think this game forces men to play as the chick. Why else would they make it so difficult, unless you were the princess?
Schleiner, Ann-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press 34.3 (2001): 221-26. Web. 7 Oct 2010.
Super Mario 2 is an amazing game, in all its 8-bit glory. I remember playing this bad boy as a little kid. I... admittedly, was a tom boy. I trampled over my gender stereotype and I ate it for breakfast, daily. I played with batman and robin figurines, and I hated pink. Loathed it. As far as I was concerned, overly pink items could seriously fall off a cliff and die. So you could only imagine my reaction when I picked up this little game. Do you know why? Do you know why I was so surprised? It's hard. Playing as my favorite green dude just wasn't helping. And so I quickly found out the advantages of playing the dainty pink atrocity. She presented a unique trait different from the rest: the ability to float. The user is able to choose between 4 characters: Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, or Princess Peach, and they each have their own unique skills.. but really? None of them are really helpful in battling evil and unjust mushrooms. Except for Peach. And I can only imagine how the opposite sex reacted to this surprise. Did they squirm and try to avoid playing the easier route, as the pink atrocity, or did they battle it out "like a man" and play as the heroic Mario?
Yes, we can dissect the avatars and how the user interacts with them. Yes, we can even say that Peach's unique trait may have forced the male gender to wear the female avatar, effectively letting them to role play as a girl or what not. Really, it is to my opinion that Super Mario Bros. 2 just... is. It's a story of a plumber and his brother, with his love interest Peach and.. some mushroom friend? When they chose to make up the characters, I don't believe they were actively seeking to appeal to whatever audience for whatever reasons, aside from the fact that they were expecting mostly male gamers. Looking at the history of the game, these characters were made to fit a fairytale. The first Mario game allows the user to play as average plumber Mario, on a quest to save the princess. There were some comments stating how Peach is stereotyped as thin and pretty, but c'mon, really? She's a PRINCESS. What man wants to rescue a fat slob high up in a castle? We make these characters to represent the ideal, what we think a princess should look like. Mario and Luigi are an awkward set of brothers. One's a little chubby, the other is awkwardly tall. This set allows the user to roleplay as the underdog, as the average Joe in an attempt to attain ultimate awesomeness.
Now, if I were to act like Schleiner and dissect this game, what kinds of conclusions would I come up with? Well, for starters, I'd open this up stating what a messy can of worms Mario Bros. 2 makes itself out to be. This game allows the user to be WHOEVER he/she wants to be. As a male, I could effectively play as Princess Peach and put on that "drag" mentality. I could make Princess Peach be that positive role model for myself, an all high and mighty princess gettin' down and dirty to save the kingdom. Mario, the positive role model, enduring this tripping world filled with talking mushrooms and crazy egg-shooting dinosaurs in order to save this gorgeous princess. I could be this seemingly gender-less toad and do whatever I want. Really, it's all up to the viewer. Schleiner's view of "gender configurations" incorporates the idea that "a single subject may morph and oscillate between [various] positions or roles, or gravitate more strongly toward one player/subject position". In essence, I could take Peach and make her my female gaze play toy, I could role-play as a bad ass dress wearin' destroyer, or she could just be my happy little role model. The same could be said towards all the characters. As a human being, I have the ability to think whatever I want to think and do whatever I want to do with these avatars, whether I choose to adhere to my gender stereotype, or experiment in my mind how wearing drag would be.
Super Mario Bros. 2 complicates gender stereotypes because it's not just cut and dry. The dainty princess kills things. You can be a genderless mushroom. Or a chubby Italian plumber. Really, I think this game forces men to play as the chick. Why else would they make it so difficult, unless you were the princess?
Schleiner, Ann-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press 34.3 (2001): 221-26. Web. 7 Oct 2010.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Notes:
Male gaze: woman's bodies are objectified, seen as an item point for men's pleasure. "traditional exhibitionist role" to men's "voyeuristic role". Men - aggressive and female - passive.
The men are portrayed in positions of power by visual hierarchy (Function ranking).
Some LEARNING principles for looking at the CYBER world
psychosocial Moratorium = learners or...people on the web using VR can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered (Gee using Erickson's Idea 208).
Ex: using avatars and having personal web pages
Problem: doesn't necessarily exist, without real consequence. Virtual and non-virtual mix in RL.
Overall:
Identity principle: learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to mediate on the relationship between new identities and old ones.
Playing Games and Identity: these three never separate
Virtual Identity - one's identity as virtual character/person. (the character)
RealWorld Identity: a non virtual playing a computer game. Constraints in Real World identities. (the gamer)
Projective Identity: the interactions between RW identity and virtual identity. When RW projects their values onto the virtual identity.
ex: I want a Lara Croft who has morals and doesn't kill animals.
Multimodal Principle: meanings and knowledge are built up through various modalitites.
The men are portrayed in positions of power by visual hierarchy (Function ranking).
Some LEARNING principles for looking at the CYBER world
psychosocial Moratorium = learners or...people on the web using VR can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered (Gee using Erickson's Idea 208).
Ex: using avatars and having personal web pages
Problem: doesn't necessarily exist, without real consequence. Virtual and non-virtual mix in RL.
Overall:
Identity principle: learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to mediate on the relationship between new identities and old ones.
Playing Games and Identity: these three never separate
Virtual Identity - one's identity as virtual character/person. (the character)
RealWorld Identity: a non virtual playing a computer game. Constraints in Real World identities. (the gamer)
Projective Identity: the interactions between RW identity and virtual identity. When RW projects their values onto the virtual identity.
ex: I want a Lara Croft who has morals and doesn't kill animals.
Multimodal Principle: meanings and knowledge are built up through various modalitites.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Blog 6, Avatar.
How does Avatar separate gender?
I see Avatar placing men and women into their stereotypically played out roles. The men play the leading roles while the women are merely supporting actors. We can see this with Jake, for the story revolves around him, and his support character is his love interest. They place the general as a male character, having authority over all divisions. Even in the Navi part, the chief is a male character. They also stereotype male as being more aggressive and prone to action, as seen in all the battle scenes. Noteably, there are female characters who are portrayed as strong characters in battle, but we see them as different--going against the norm for they are so few and far between.
Jake plays a few contradictory identities in this movie. First of all, he's a disabled white marine who is looked upon as an outcast within his marine division. Then we have Jake Sully, the amazing Navi'i outcast who rises up to become the Navi'i's hero. He's playing both sides of the fence, able to identify with two separate cultures and thus carving out separate identities for himself. We can view the human version of Jake Sully as a man who is without hope, a disabled working man who has to join the army in order to obtain his legs back. We can also view him as a Navi who is rich in athletic ability and natural resources--with the dragon serving as a huge status symbol giving him power. We could say that Jake Sully's life as a Navi has more opportunities and freedom than his human counterpart. We can in turn relate this to our lives and our interactions with the web. The web can serve to open up different avenues and explore different identities which are not possible outside of the digital realm. We have more power to sway how we want to portray ourselves in different digital realms, with some people giving up their normal lives outside of technology to persue those online, such as in a popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft (WoW).
I see Avatar placing men and women into their stereotypically played out roles. The men play the leading roles while the women are merely supporting actors. We can see this with Jake, for the story revolves around him, and his support character is his love interest. They place the general as a male character, having authority over all divisions. Even in the Navi part, the chief is a male character. They also stereotype male as being more aggressive and prone to action, as seen in all the battle scenes. Noteably, there are female characters who are portrayed as strong characters in battle, but we see them as different--going against the norm for they are so few and far between.
Jake plays a few contradictory identities in this movie. First of all, he's a disabled white marine who is looked upon as an outcast within his marine division. Then we have Jake Sully, the amazing Navi'i outcast who rises up to become the Navi'i's hero. He's playing both sides of the fence, able to identify with two separate cultures and thus carving out separate identities for himself. We can view the human version of Jake Sully as a man who is without hope, a disabled working man who has to join the army in order to obtain his legs back. We can also view him as a Navi who is rich in athletic ability and natural resources--with the dragon serving as a huge status symbol giving him power. We could say that Jake Sully's life as a Navi has more opportunities and freedom than his human counterpart. We can in turn relate this to our lives and our interactions with the web. The web can serve to open up different avenues and explore different identities which are not possible outside of the digital realm. We have more power to sway how we want to portray ourselves in different digital realms, with some people giving up their normal lives outside of technology to persue those online, such as in a popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft (WoW).
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Blogo number 4, the fourth blog to rule them all....
1. Using the virtual and RL communities you are a part of for
evidence, describe how you agree and/or disagree with Bell and
Bauman’s notions of virtual communities as peg communities (250-
300 words).
People may react and behave differently in different environments, but it is true that their current mindsets will remain fairly consistent. People are people, across the board, and no matter what the environment they will bring across who they are and the mindsets they currently adhere to. As far as communities along the virtual and real world, I would argue that they adhere to pretty much the same standards. In all of these environments, we hang up a part of ourselves as a part of our identity, which exemplifies Bell's idea that online communities act as peg communities (pg. 254)
Communities act on several different levels. It's a broad term, used to group people together based upon interest, location, beliefs, etc. We can start off at the top of the hierarchy chart of communities, say for example, the Tri-Cities. Because I live here, and my neighbors live here, we are part of the Tri-City community. From there, we can define smaller communities such as the separate cities, or perhaps places in which we work. An optional community that I choose to take part in would be my church. It is evident that there are communities that I inherently belong in whether I like it or not and those of which I actively choose so on my own.
Virtual communities give off this same sort of rapport as well, grouping people into communities that are inherent and/or selective based upon the user's actions. An easy example would be to use Facebook--because we all know everyone who /matters/ has a Facebook. We all belong to the FB community and do just fine. We can sub categorize based upon what schools we decide to list ourselves as having attended, where we live, etc. If I so decided, I could join a FB group based upon interest and/or likes.
For Assignment #2, I'd like to use Facebook and deviantART to compare and contrast different types of communities. Facebook is like the umbrella community while deviantART is a selective, interest based site.
Bell, David. The Cybercultures Reader. 2nd. 1. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000. 254-63.
evidence, describe how you agree and/or disagree with Bell and
Bauman’s notions of virtual communities as peg communities (250-
300 words).
People may react and behave differently in different environments, but it is true that their current mindsets will remain fairly consistent. People are people, across the board, and no matter what the environment they will bring across who they are and the mindsets they currently adhere to. As far as communities along the virtual and real world, I would argue that they adhere to pretty much the same standards. In all of these environments, we hang up a part of ourselves as a part of our identity, which exemplifies Bell's idea that online communities act as peg communities (pg. 254)
Communities act on several different levels. It's a broad term, used to group people together based upon interest, location, beliefs, etc. We can start off at the top of the hierarchy chart of communities, say for example, the Tri-Cities. Because I live here, and my neighbors live here, we are part of the Tri-City community. From there, we can define smaller communities such as the separate cities, or perhaps places in which we work. An optional community that I choose to take part in would be my church. It is evident that there are communities that I inherently belong in whether I like it or not and those of which I actively choose so on my own.
Virtual communities give off this same sort of rapport as well, grouping people into communities that are inherent and/or selective based upon the user's actions. An easy example would be to use Facebook--because we all know everyone who /matters/ has a Facebook. We all belong to the FB community and do just fine. We can sub categorize based upon what schools we decide to list ourselves as having attended, where we live, etc. If I so decided, I could join a FB group based upon interest and/or likes.
For Assignment #2, I'd like to use Facebook and deviantART to compare and contrast different types of communities. Facebook is like the umbrella community while deviantART is a selective, interest based site.
Bell, David. The Cybercultures Reader. 2nd. 1. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000. 254-63.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Notes:
Access is the opportunity to use technology whenever you want to use it or need to use it.
Burbles:
Links are not all of the same type.
Ex: Some links take you out of a site and some keep you in a website.
Reading the author is trying to put on you with the link.
Audio, video, static image, text, broken links.
Links use and placement is a vital way tacit assumptions and values (ideologies) of the design are shown in hypertext.
Ex: highlighting the word devil with a link to GW.
Link to PETA's website suggests a relationship that you are for animals.
Links change the way material is read and understood.
Ex: Rock music and drug info.
Ex: Drug info site, browsing the web, finding links to bands. Association implies that these bands have drug problems.
Links control access to information, offer possible pathways of movement, suggests relationships between items.
Activity: Find a likeable website. 2-3 sentences how links are like the trope.
Burbles:
Links are not all of the same type.
Ex: Some links take you out of a site and some keep you in a website.
Reading the author is trying to put on you with the link.
Audio, video, static image, text, broken links.
Links use and placement is a vital way tacit assumptions and values (ideologies) of the design are shown in hypertext.
Ex: highlighting the word devil with a link to GW.
Link to PETA's website suggests a relationship that you are for animals.
Links change the way material is read and understood.
Ex: Rock music and drug info.
Ex: Drug info site, browsing the web, finding links to bands. Association implies that these bands have drug problems.
Links control access to information, offer possible pathways of movement, suggests relationships between items.
Activity: Find a likeable website. 2-3 sentences how links are like the trope.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Blogo numero threeeeee.
"Oh my god, so many links."
The first thoughts that spill from my mind as I enter yahoo's website. Where do I start? What am I looking for? This is complete and utter--oh wait. Picture. Portal. Riiight.
Burnett and Marshall explain how this very busy page came to be. Stemming from hypertext mark up languages on over to links, yahoo.com is a massive conglomerate of links abound. Taken from their standpoint, the web is nothing too extraordinary. It seemed as if it were an eventual child to birthed from all these different media sources. Yahoo gives the viewer the means to find whatever it is they want on the web, and they do so by organizing it accordingly. Links in the form of pictures and diagrams, moving images meant to capture and hold the user's attention sit with the intention of waving the user down. I find it interesting that they provide links to outside resources that then point back to them, creating a sort of web-clique.
This snapshot taken from yahoo.com as it stands today accurately depicts the web, in my eyes. The web came to around as a hodgepodge of items and links and technology, and so thus, we have an equally created hodgepodge to help us navigate through the spidery and sometimes difficult to navigate, web.
While this is super nice and seemingly useful, I find that having so many elements, so many pictures, despite how "organized" it is detracts away from my experience--if not once calmed peace. It is mentioned that sites such as these are helpful in steering the user to helpful items, but I believe yahoo.com does it at a price that I don't really want to give up. Sites such as google.com provide the same services while keeping a nice, clean, sleek appeal. Google is my go-to man for all my needs--my email, my email... my.. basic daily functions, driving directions, hits for news. Google is so successful at what it does, it has been incorporated outside the web in our daily language, "I don't know.. why don't you just Google that?"
And that, I will.
"Web Theory": Burnett, Robert; Marshall, P. David. "Web Theory: An Introduction". 2003. Routledge.
The first thoughts that spill from my mind as I enter yahoo's website. Where do I start? What am I looking for? This is complete and utter--oh wait. Picture. Portal. Riiight.
Burnett and Marshall explain how this very busy page came to be. Stemming from hypertext mark up languages on over to links, yahoo.com is a massive conglomerate of links abound. Taken from their standpoint, the web is nothing too extraordinary. It seemed as if it were an eventual child to birthed from all these different media sources. Yahoo gives the viewer the means to find whatever it is they want on the web, and they do so by organizing it accordingly. Links in the form of pictures and diagrams, moving images meant to capture and hold the user's attention sit with the intention of waving the user down. I find it interesting that they provide links to outside resources that then point back to them, creating a sort of web-clique.
This snapshot taken from yahoo.com as it stands today accurately depicts the web, in my eyes. The web came to around as a hodgepodge of items and links and technology, and so thus, we have an equally created hodgepodge to help us navigate through the spidery and sometimes difficult to navigate, web.
While this is super nice and seemingly useful, I find that having so many elements, so many pictures, despite how "organized" it is detracts away from my experience--if not once calmed peace. It is mentioned that sites such as these are helpful in steering the user to helpful items, but I believe yahoo.com does it at a price that I don't really want to give up. Sites such as google.com provide the same services while keeping a nice, clean, sleek appeal. Google is my go-to man for all my needs--my email, my email... my.. basic daily functions, driving directions, hits for news. Google is so successful at what it does, it has been incorporated outside the web in our daily language, "I don't know.. why don't you just Google that?"
And that, I will.
"Web Theory": Burnett, Robert; Marshall, P. David. "Web Theory: An Introduction". 2003. Routledge.
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