What orientalism doesn't show

Sports, sports, derp derp

Ok, now this is just going to be a rant more than anything. Scholastic value, what's that?! So, why is it that every team I ever manage to cheer always finds a way to convey an image of being an elite team, but then always under performs?? I'm looking directly at the Dallas Cowboys. Year in and year out they've looked like a team that could contend for the playoffs. However, they manage to always melt down in the end of December, and miss the playoffs. And if that's not the case, then they manage to somehow have a first round exit. It's really aggravating and it makes me wish I was older back when they were a dynasty in the 90s. They won it all in 92,93,95, but that just translates to me being 4,5, and 7 years old. I do remember the championships but I didn't experience them the way I would now. Now, that only other team that has come close to winning it all are my Dallas Stars. I love hockey and still remember when they won the championship in 1999. But again, I was only 11. Two seasons ago they made it all the way to the Western Conference Championship as an underdog. They fell to the Red Wings in 6, and didnt really match up well against them that year. It's a shame, but since then, the team has just been struggling. Perhaps the Dallas Mavericks hold the key this year, we'll see..

My Identizine

I decided to write up on my Identizine since it kind of relates to my last post. The point of the Identizine is to see how I find my sense of male identity. I suppose my primary influence would be masculine ideals permeating through my family. My dad never was some self-realized macho kind of guy. For that, I am incredibly thankful. Instead, the only real manly ideals I seemed to have seen from him are those required in taking care of a family. Therefore, when I did my identizine, that stood out and I tried to find a popular TV dad that characterized what I saw in my dad. I picked Dan Conner partly to be funny, but also because the ideals I've previously mentioned are very similar. Another aspect of being a man to me is one who understands health and partakes in such activities. I know that this is really a non-gendered type of quality, but perhaps I've been raised in a heavily saturated world of sports. Lastly, the ideas of sexuality come into play as well. Being a man does not mean having to be heterosexual either, but it really does mix up identity values, very interesting stuff for me to think about.

Homosexuality in sports

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/04/12/survey.expanded/

This is an interesting article by Sports Illustrated. Something that has always interested me has been the portrayal of homosexuality in sports. I've already mentioned this before in class, but having an older gay brother really opens your eyes to how homosexuality is perceived in different realms of society. I'm a huge sports junky and I can't think of a single openly-gay athlete outside of some NBA player who wrote a book about being gay (though I don't remember his name..). It's not surprising though how an homosexual athlete would want to conceal his identity in such a machismo-ridden world that is sports. I suppose the biggest problem really is the whole locker room etiquette, but maybe time will change this? Maybe not? Who knows but to me it's interesting to think about.

Conspiracy theories?

So something I absolutely love to do on my free time is read on conspiracy theories, primarily the ones over free masonry and the illuminati. If anyone feels like being adventurous, check out this website which tries to be vigilant on people at the top of the supposed pyramid, but in the end, they just begin writing some interesting articles. http://vigilantcitizen.com/ There's an article I read from there the other day that made me think; they attempted to connect Lady Gaga with the Illuminati. What this site does manage to do, that is somewhat associated with our class, is that it brings focus to how the media can be the message. That right there is some hardcore media ecology as well. At the same time, the Lady Gaga article brings attention to her outlandish apparel which also brings me back to the classroom discussions over self-identity. For anyone who is bored, or forced to read this, give that link a try.

The Cell Phone article

I actually enjoyed reading the cell phone article that handles some of McLuhan's laws/media ecology. I myself have that same type of analogy when I've been in a public restroom and a guy walks in to a stall. Out of nowhere he begins talking on his phone with one of those ear pieces. He pretty much says every day stuff and thought he was talking to me when he said "how are you doing today?" If we do apply McLuhan's laws to cell phone technology, what astounds me the most is what happens when someone becomes enslaved by the phone. In this case, it would fall under Reverses. If cell phones are supposed to free one up, it's pretty interesting how for some, it does the complete opposite of that. Before the cell phone really took off, I remember people saying similar things for beepers for businessmen.

Thoughts over Orientalism in video-games

You know, I play a lot of video-games. Or I should say, I used to play a lot of video-games, damn school for making me busy all the time. But anyway, I've played the hell out of Call of Duty 4 and I remember thinking when the game came out "a lot of these sights are pretty interesting looking, I wonder if they give a decent portrayal of Arab life." Well obviously they don't, because there really is no 'life' whatsoever in this game, it's just death haha. You don't really see children portrayed, or women for that matter. The only Arabs, and I use this terms incredibly loosely, that you see are soldiers, and even then they use the same character models over and over again. Conversely, when you play a game like Grand Theft Auto, there is a sense of an actual American life going on. People are walking to work, hanging out, etc. You can go to stores and restaurants. It actually does a good job of attempting to recreate some semblance of reality. I wonder if we'll ever really see a game that handles orientalism by challenging it head on and breaks the mold of the same cliche'd shooters that give the same message to users.

Media Ecology

Media ecology is often times surmised as the study of media as a media. McLuhan is seen as the father of this study, and many have expanded from his original message. Lance Strate explains that “the medium is the message because content cannot exist without a medium”(Strate, 5). To make this point a bit clearer, Strate used the analogy in how different instruments could be playing the same melody, but to the listener, they all sound slightly different. The mediums, in this case the instruments, help convey the message, in this case the melody, in a distinct way. This final section of the paper will explore how media ecology, with respect to the USMNT, can reveal new values associated with how the USMNT is seen by a culture. Some aspects of this media ecology come from the physical spaces that the USMNT creates; in this case stadiums packed with fans, posters or fliers advertising games, televisions broadcasting games, etc. The exploration of these various physical aspects give root to attached social values. A more important aspect of media ecology, in terms of US soccer, comes from the various messages that soccer mediums transmit to the users. Some of these mediums include, but are not limited, to: print media such as newspapers, sports radio shows, television shows such as SportsCenter, online sports websites, and also online social networks such as twitter. Each one of these message may transmit content that states that the United States have just defeated Honduras in a friendly, but the mediums used will reveal values; the USMNT twitter page may have countless updates that requires the user to sift through in order to get a clear picture of the game, conversely, SportsCenter could have thirty seconds worth of game coverage embedded in a segment full of basketball and American football coverage. The context of these sports mediums also convey the content behind their messages.

Many media ecologists like to focus on the physical aspects of media, and this could be from the fact that the birth of media ecology was at a time when cyberspace was a term only select few in the government would know. However, these physical spaces created and inhabited by the USMNT, such as stadiums, can change the perception of the USMNT. An example that is could be suitable is that of the football stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, the ‘Super Dome.’ Its primary function is to host NFL games throughout the year, but it also serves to function as a civic center for events such as concerts. The 2006 Katrina hurricane changed the perception quickly of the stadium. At a time when many citizens were turned to refugees due to the natural disaster, the stadium functioned as a shelter for many. A year later, the stadium was reformed as an NFL stadium. The message of Katrina may still reverberate within citizens of New Orleans, but to the greater public, it has already turned back to a symbol of the NFL. In a similar fashion, soccer stadiums across the country come to convey the message that the edifices serve the single function of housing soccer matches. Perhaps harkening back to the days of Greece and Rome with public auditoriums and the Colosseum, these buildings stood out from the geographical surrounding areas and served as a focal point for those with similar values in entertainment. Following some of McLuhan’s laws, it is interesting to see how physical spaces such as sports stadiums evolve and improve certain types of human communications. On one end of the spectrum, these sporting events force one to congregate with people who outside of the existence of sports would never feel compelled to congregate with. The issue of technologies and McLuhan’s laws of enhance, reverse, retrieve, and obsolesce will be explored with greater detail later.

This social aspect of the physical ecology of stadiums still exists today. Within stadiums where the USMNT may play, you will have people representing both sides of the pitch. In a sense, the users of this type of medium also become the content being represented out on the field. To hone in on this point a bit further, the aforementioned match between Mexico and the United States in Estadio Azteca of Mexico City had accrued over 100,000 spectators. The bulk of the attendees were rooting for the Mexican side. The result is a new environment that would not have existed without the presence of the USMNT. This environment could be summed up by vast amounts of loyal fans, rowdy hooligans, and fans who were not ashamed of tossing garbage at players from the opposing side. Both Strate and McLuhan touch on the idea of a user becoming the content. The actions of those spectators during this match in essence are becoming the content of the message being perceived by the media after the event.

As mentioned earlier on the Narrative section, the actual sports media has much to do with how sports are remembered. If the media is indeed the message as media ecology tells us, what are the various messages transmitted by this sports media? More so, the niche aspect of soccer in the United States in itself creates a unique space. Thomas Hylland Eriksen explores how media can create cultural geographies in terms of sports. His focus is primarily soccer and winter sports. He uses ecological analogies as well as a natural selection analogy as to why soccer did not grow as much as other sports in the United States. Eriksen states:

“There is a parochialism to the world of sport in the USA which goes

against the conventional wisdom about American imperialism” (Eriksen).

He goes on to explain that much of this has to do with the after effects of the American media. To a foreigner, it might be shocking to turn on a television set on to ESPN only to be bombarded by images and news of the National Football League. The message portrayed by this media might have “numbified” Americans already due to repitition, but Erisken argues that as an outsider, he himself was overwhelmed by how the media carried certain messages about certain sports. Soccer in the USA, he argues, could be seen as an after thought, and this message is thus represented by the media by placement of coverage.

This can be further explained by a deeper look into an average ESPN SportsCenter cycle as well as the actual ESPN website. SportsCenter is the prime show for ESPN in that it relays sports highlights to the viewers. The “Road to the South Africa World Cup of 2010” is a small segment that tracks the USMNT performance. This segment will be sporadically placed in the hour long show, perhaps two to three times a month. When placed, the segment lasts no longer than 2 minutes out of the allotted hour the show has. To drive this point further, the ESPN website has a navigation tool bar with various sports hyperlinks. Moving from left to right, the sports listed decrease in popularity: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, College Football/Basketball, NASCAR (is this even a sport?), and lastly Soccer. If McLuhan states that the message is the media, then it can be interpreted that USMNT is marginalized in American sports media.

Interestingly enough, the technology that marginalizes soccer’s popularity within the United States can also invoke McLuhan’s law of enhancement. The internet is littered with various types of social networking sites. Among these are “Twitter” and “Facebook” that offer refugee to USMNT fans who feel ignored by the grander media in the USA. The USMNT has adopted “Twitter” by creating a page that not only speaks directly to fans, but also updates matches with box sports statistics, offers USMNT apparel through fan contests, works to provide key broadcasting information for fans, and lastly serves as a forum for fans to discuss their team. This type of medium is one that requires more work from a user than a television. This medium asks of the user to read various postings, and choose to correspond with fellow fans. The question then becomes, what is the message delivered by this type of medium? It seems that the answer is a self-realization of the niche aspects of the USMNT, and therefore, provides a cyber environment for fans to empower themselves with an almost exclusivity aspect to it. Facebook is another social networking site which the USMNT uses to promote the team through score alerts and also as a forum. Facebook allows for users to become “fans” of USMNT groups, which in turn allows a literal sense of networking of like-minded, towel waving US fans. These websites not only obsolesce soccer watching parties through their online “on the minute” forums, but at the same time manage to enhance print media in that it allows different interpretations of matches to be heard at the same time. This technology also serves in “retrieving” friendly networking aspects of watch parties. For example, while some groups used to have to meet up in person to be able to speak about matches as they were happening (often times by going to the match itself), this allows users to continue this social convention in a new way. In essence, this technology, with respect to the USMNT, can also neatly follow McLuhan’s Laws.

Media ecology of the USMNT at first appears to be a tricky thing. However, through the means of physical spaces, message are being delivered. The example of stadiums illustrates both large physical spaces where the USMNT is placed, but also comes to represent Strate’s idea that the user (in this case the fans or spectators) become the content. If soccer fields existed without the stadiums surrounding it, what would that mean for sports ecology? People would not be able to congregate and become the content of the sport any longer. Therefore, the stadiums serve a distinct role for users as a sports ecology. Media also plays a substantial role in the evolution of the USMNT. Eriksen examined different aspects of the media with relation to sports ecology and the growth of soccer in the United States. A deeper look into the actual sports mediums of the United States was then necessary. At first glance, not much indicated a pervasive sports team such as the USMNT. However, news of this team would sporadically filtrate through the dross of American football, basketball, baseball, golf, hockey, and even NASCAR that took precedence to soccer. In turn, this media was transmitting a message of soccer’s marginalization, either by the people or by the media itself. At the same time, technology provides new environments for fans to live in. Online sites such as Twitter and Facebook allow users to congregate in an online environment with fellow fans of USNMT.

Narrative Criticism

Narrative

A narrative of the USMNT could be summed up in a very derivative form of characters, setting, and plot. If this were the case, the characters would be ever changing, from Alexi Lalas, to Landon Donovan, to various coaches such as Bruce Arena or Bob Bradley. The setting could be the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, or Azteca Stadium in Mexico. The plot could be anything from the US hosting a World Cup in 1994, to the USMNT disappointing showing in the World Cup of 2006. The point is that the actual narrative behind the evolution of the USMNT does not have as many redeeming values as say the study of the meta-narrative of the USMNT. What I mean by meta-narrative is the ultimate, overarching story of the derivative story behind the USMNT. Therefore, my research question focuses around how the sports media in the United States has told the story of the USMNT successes and failures and how that relates to their interpretation of national identity as a whole. More so, I will argue that by examining the meta-narrative, one can arrive to the conclusion that the United States media retells the story of the USMNT in a way that shapes an entitled sense of identity for the country, as has been suggested in the detournment section of this paper. I will examine not just the media that has retold the story, but also cultural critics who have studies soccer as a tool for proliferating national identity, as well as those who gave birth to the idea and study of narrative criticism.

It is necessary that before one can examine the meta-narrative, one has to be cognizant of the basic narrative. Therefore, this section will briefly outline the adventures of the USMNT. The first official soccer match for the USMNT came in 1916 in Stockholm, where the United States won 3-2. The United States then participated in two World Cups in the 1930s. After participating in 1950, the United States experienced a hiatus from the World Cup of forty years. During the hiatus, soccer was essentially a niche sport in the United States, only winning six times in the three subsequent decades after the 1950 World Cup. The 1970s saw the introduction of the North American Soccer League. This spurred some interest in fortifying the USMNT to be a world contender. However, in the 1980s, the US was not able to qualify for a single World Cup. However, even with various defeats in the pervious decades, the United States would be rewarded in hosting the 1994 World Cup amongst a flurry of criticisms against FIFA. In this tournament, the fledgling USMNT managed to make it to the second round of the tournament, only to be knocked out by the would be champions, Brazil. Regardless of the criticisms beforehand, the United States had managed to turn this tournament into a very positive one, and thus, start the process of a legitimate world contender team. The subsequent World Cups saw US failures in reaching the title match. However, the team has been garnering unprecedented popularity in the 2000s. Marching into the 2010 World Cup, the team saw a major victory in dethroning FIFA’s top ranked Spain squad. What happens next has yet to be seen, but clues and trails have already been left my the media to see how exactly the story will be told.

The sports realm has become a kind of sub-genre of study in social sciences. Many people attempt to correlate and link up the results in sports to some sort of national identity. To illustrate how this can be done, I have extrapolated a few works which show that not only do countries depend on such sporting events to coalesce a national identity, but more importantly, this is also done in a meta-narrative fashion. Donna A. Buchanan examines how the country of Bulgaria is able to reshape and retell its story from a post-social-state country with no identity, to a hopeful and strong country through the use of Bulgarian soccer. In the 1990s, Bulgaria was in a state of almost disrepair in terms of economy. The average citizen focused their spare time promoting the Bulgarian soccer team in the EuroCup of 1996. According to Buchanan,

“even leading government figures appeared to focus more attention on soccer

than the severe economic hardship, skyrocketing crime rate, and political instability, that had plagued the nation since 1989” (Buchanan).

The media in Bulgaria then attempted to rewrite their own history, not through the eyes of the common-place, banal, reality, but rather, through the eyes of the Bulgarian successes in international soccer.

Stephen Reichter, psychologist at the University of St. Andrews, explains how national identity, or social identity for that matter is “based on an insistence that human social action needs to be understood in its social context” (Reichter). He goes on to describe the nature in which sports can not only reflect a desired identity, but more importantly, how we remember these sports is vital in understanding the new identity one hopes to achieve. Therefore, tying Reichter’s views, as well as Buchanan’s, there is a strong case for how the media and interpretation of events can change desired identity, which in turns can translate to a meta-narrative of USMNT.

Going back to the pitch, at this current time, the USMNT is not necessarily looking to get World Cup title after World Cup title, but rather, trying to grow awareness of the sport. The media, however, is not so keen on that goal. The article by Jim Nguyen, of the famous sports website BleacherReport.com, “Criticism Mounts As U.S. Embarrassed by Brazil, 3-0” does a good job of representing the story-telling aspect of the media. Rather than criticize the performance of the Americans in terms of soccer, Nguyen is already evoking a sense of entitlement by describing the event as a terrible failure by an American team that is entitled for more. Ironically enough he even mentions that the Americans “for all intents and purposes will not be advancing in this tournament”(Nguyen). There are even small and subtle insinuations about the squad’s diffidence in qualifying for the World Cup in 2010. In the subsequent game in this tournament, the United States suffered another loss to Italy. Nguyen goes on to state how the American fans have come to expect greater things from this team; apparently this means that the Americans have come to expect wins over World Cup champions. The irony of course comes from the fact that the Americans not only manage to advance in this supposedly “doomed” tournament, but made it all the way into the finals of the Confederations Cup. After the epic win against number one ranked Spain, this same author writes:

“In other countries, you could feel the level of respect for the U.S. rise

after this game. We’ve always been a big country, but not when it came

to football. Now, other countries will respect us more and know we can

playing anyone” (Nguyen).

I do not mean to criticize and censure Jim Nguyen, but his articles on BleacherReport.com provide a very good case-study of the media’s reactions and expectations of the USMNT over the course of a few weeks. More so, it reveals this sense of meta-narrative in which the story of the USMNT is told through the eyes of a media which has come to expect this squad to triumph over past World Cup champions, hardly a fair feat of a still relatively fledgling group.

Another article by USA Today, explains the rise of popularity of the USMNT, even amidst certain defeats. This particular article harkens back to the World Cup of 2006. After having an unexpectedly good run in 2002, the United States was better prepared and ready for another run in 2006. However, the United States failed to move on past the group portion of the tournament. Even with that said, the exposure of the USMNT has been growing despite defeats. In a defeat against Ghana, television’s ABC garnered over 5 million in ratings, more than the average baseball ratings of a Saturday game. In this article, we once more have a case for United States manifest destiny when the author writes on how the USMNT are entitled to win the prize of the world’s game, if anything, because the United States had currently lost in basketball and baseball in the world stage.

Lastly, there are sports personalities who are more than vocal with their expectations of the USMNT. Tony Kornheiser of ESPN’s PTI show, has stated how, even though he acknowledges America’s infancy in this sport, he still expects the USMNT to levitate their game to match the world’s best. Color commentator, Jim Rome of ESPN’s Jim Rome is Burning, is known for having the opinion that soccer will continue to be irrelevant in America so long as the USMNT continues to not win the big championship. It’s opinions like these that continue to perpetuate this attitude of American entitlement in international soccer.

In this portion of the essay I have examined the narrative behind the USMNT. I took not just a look at the actual narrative of soccer in the United States, but more importantly, the meta-narrative aspects associated through the interpretation of the media. By examining scholarship in other sector’s of cultural studies (history, sociology, and psychology), a case is made as to how country’s have depended on the sport of soccer to reshape their understanding of their own identity. Bulgaria took advantage of a great soccer team during their political and economic to rewrite their history, if only, temporarily. Conversely, the American sports media has grown attached to this idea of entitlement in soccer. Just as the United States excels year in and year out in the Olympic games, many voice similar themes and expectations out of the USMNT. The case study of Jim Nguyen illustrates how quickly public opinion over this team can change, all due to tragic losses and unprecedented wins. The evolution of his articles from condemnation to laudatory hope help to reinforce the meta-narrative aspect behind sports. The Associated Press may have a write-up that says the box score of a game, followed by injuries, penalties, and time markers of goals, but it is the interpretive media that truly writes the history of the USMNT.

Detournment/Culture Jam!

Detournment

Briefly outlined already, the USMNT carries important connotations from the eyes of the world. The question that comes to mind with the USMNT is to what extent does this squad represent American identity to not just Americans, but also foreigners? To study this artifact further, I have gone ahead and detourn images associated with the USMNT in hopes of revealing new or hidden interpretations of the cultural impact of the USMNT. The original source that was detourned was a television/internet advertisement for a specific soccer game. This advertisement promoted the match between the United States and Mexico. It had three players from each squad centered against each other with the Mexican Azteca Stadium in the background. Interestingly enough, the advertisement used a phrase along the lines of “come watch history in the making.” This proved to be the catalyst for my ideas of detournment. Rather than having the focus be the history to come, I instead brought attention to the history that has already come and past. If my argument is that national soccer squads represent national identity, then in order to reveal this through detournment, I had to reveal the international identities of both these countries, with respect to each other. In order to do this, I picked images embedded in both American and Mexican histories to reveal the dichotomy in the international relationships of these two countries. I decided to use images that incited animosity between the countries. When Mexico has a chance to face the United States in soccer, the event permeates all facets of life. The reason for this must be that there is some type of understated animosity between these peoples. When I picked the original advertisement I wanted to detourn, I needed to reveal these negative values that are played out through a soccer game. Therefore, I used some of the following images: the geopolitical map of Mexico in the 19^th century before losing a third of their land to the United States, 1940s labor camps for Mexicans in the United States, a border between the two countries that shoes barbed wired fences and military on the American side, American protests against immigration, and ironically Mexican protests against American protests of immigration. Lastly, on top of these images, I put the USMNT and MNT emblems with the word “vs.” in between them. Below that I had a box that said “More than a game.” The detourned images were in turn still representing the game advertised in the source image, but explicitly stating the connotations one may have with an international sporting event.

In order to truly reflect the significance of these images, they must be explained a bit clearer. The first image states is of the geopolitical map of Mexico in the 19^th century. As many know, the United States was able accrue the modern states of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Oregon, and Washington from Mexico after the events of the U.S./Mexican war. Ironically enough, a detourned image of this has been done by the vodka company Absolut by revealing the same map and writing “in an Absolut World.” That particular advertisement was pandering to Mexican sensibilities of regaining land that they had claimed at one point. My version of the detournment equates the US and Mexican opposition in soccer, to that of war and conquest against each other in the 19^th century. To a Mexican, the USMNT may be a different embodiment of the force that had wrong his past. Conversely, an American who may have been raised by Western dogmas could see soccer as another avenue for which the country should dominate through a sports version of manifest destiny. Interestingly enough, soccer is a sporting event which the United States has not seen great success (compared to say hockey, basketball, and Olympic events). As the United States continues to grow its soccer enthusiasm, the American media has latched on to this idea of entitlement that America should be a world power in soccer as they are in other fields.

Another image that I have used for detournment is that of a US/Mexico border. On the Mexican side are run down houses and markets with kids scattered throughout the streets playing. The American side has the presence of military officials, military trucks, barbed wired (possibly electric) fences, and a more positive economic appearance. I was sure to align the USMNT and MNT emblems with their respective sides of the border with the image. Many would consider the respective sides of this border to symbolize each country, therefore, I found this image to be an adequate reflection of stigmas that could also be associated with international American sports.

A major contemporary issue between these countries is that of immigration. I have selected two images that represented both sides of the argument for the peoples involved. The best reason for using these images is that it portrays actual animosity between these people. On one end you have Americans lining up to join the Arizona minute men to guard the border of illegal immigrants, with force if need be. The other side of this spectrum has Mexican-Americans who understand the cumbersome beaurucratic systems in place for gaining residency status in America. The result of these issues can once more be symbolically played out on the green field.

The final step in detournment is the process of unveiling the product to an audience. I decided to give a batch of these fliers I created to various professors in the university who were at the time teaching Latin American or border studies classes. The hopes were that by leaving the fliers anonymous, they would be disseminated to the students of these classes. Being a student in one of these classes, I was able to receive my own flier. The reception to it was mixed. The students who understood international soccer were the ones who immediately gravitated towards the ideas and values being represented in the fliers. I may have over-estimated the non-soccer public of being readily accessible to such a message. Luckily, I had a chance to test these fliers once more. To my great surprise, the Mexican squad happened to play Colombia in a friendly in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. I was not able to get tickets to the game, but the event was held during the state fair and I was able to pass around some of the fliers to would be spectators. The results were frightening at first: people saw these fliers as an attack on Mexican history by America. After explaining myself to various spectators, they soon saw that the message portrayed is the same one that had spurred them to give me death glares in the first place.

This experiment to detourn a soccer advertisement proved to be fortuitous in the long run. While at first the messages may have been a little to embedded within history or soccer for a non-Latin American historian/non-soccer fan to understand, the people who find USMNT symbolic in some form were able to represent that through their reactions to the detourned image. The victory of Mexico in the advertised match did not disabuse any of the American foreign policy of the past, but it counted as a symbolic victory for the time being. As one Mexican-American who was a spectator at the Cotton Bowl stated: “the win showed Americans that for the time being, we are on top of them, regardless about what has happened in the past.”

Dreamworlds

Diego Casillas

Punk to Cyberspace

Dreamworlds 3 Write up

Dreamworlds 3 relies upon incongruity of the tragic frame of music videos to get across a point. By altering the context of music videos, as well as by creating a dream world, the film is able to argue that sexual desire and power is innate within humans, however, it can and has been taken too far. In order to get this across, the film ties together multiple “sexy” scenes from various music videos. These videos are not constrained by timeline nor by genre, for example the videos of Kid Rock, Christina Aguilera, and Nelly all have the same sexual narrative. By cutting up these videos and showing sections of females dancing, tempting males, eroticizing water, or being bought, the film gets the viewer to focus on just these sexual images. Normally one would go through a three minute video with a few sections of such images. In the film, these images are absolutely it: the sexual image is all that is played for nearly 90 minutes. Redundancy is a tool used to force feed a message, and it is no different in this film. By having the viewer focus on these constant images, the message is reinforced. In order to deconstruct the symbol of the video a bit further, the film also removes the audio involved with the film. In its place is a creepy and eerie tune one would normally equate with a horror film. Once more the film asks of the viewer to see these sexual scenes through the headphones of a horror film.

Another strategy used by the film is by creating an artificial place called the dream world. This dream world is a fictitious land created by the male pornographic imagination. Since this land is create by males, it plays the function of serving the male desire. Therefore, the dream land is one in which women seduce the males, women constantly are in wet environments, women are scantily clad, women are seen being bought by males, and women ultimately are the promoters of sex. In creating this world, the film is then able to use specific videos to demonstrate and corroborate the existence of said world. Perhaps the most striking section of the film comes in the climax when the dream world is contrasted with the real world. In the dream world females are looking for males’ attentions, looking to be lusted for, and looking to be groped and admired. However, the film shows the Puerto Rico Pride parade in New York City in which the parade breaks down to women being sexually harassed by all sorts of males giving in to their desire to vicariously fulfill the dream world. To make this real world/dream world border more ambiguous, the film shows video footage of the parade in New York City of women in tears running away from males, all while play music from the dream world. In doing so, the viewer gets to see that “damn, this is the same shit we see every day on tv.”