Magazine Project

So right now I'm super angry because one of our group members who has our actual magazine has not shown up to a meet up this morning that was supposed to take place 9:30. I'm questioning if she's even coming to the exam period. I'm panicking because this project is 40% of our overall grade. I'm so heated because we put so much time and effort into this magazine and I would hate for it to all have been in vain. One night me and Tish even met in the library at 9 and didn't leave till 5 in the morning to make sure everything was right. I even took time away from studying for my exams to work on this project. I hope you don't penalize me and Felix for this group member's carelessness. We have tried calling her multiple times and she hasn't picked up so my guess is that she's s sleeping. We only have about 30 more minutes until the exam period. I am so frustrated right now.

The Frog and the Princess

Today I went to the movies with my little sister from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to see The Frog and the Princess. The princess, Tiana, was totally different from any of the other princesses such as Cinderella or Snow White. Her initial dream wasn't to marry a prince. She wanted to start her own restaurant that her father wasn't able to make happen before he passed away. I thought that the movie portrayed her as being humble and independent. The plot of the movie was how a voodoo doctor named Shadow Man tricked Prince Naveen into giving his blood so someone could mimic him as the prince thus transforming him into a frog. He convinces Tiana to kiss him so he could turn back human but she ends up becoming a frog herself. Since she wasn't a actual princess but just dressed in a princess type of dress, the kiss didn't have an effect. The movie continues with the journey of Prince Naveen and Tiana as they try to become human again. I noticed that all of the characters had a New Orleans accent which made the setting seem as if it really took place in Louisiana. In the end, Princess Tiana ends up getting the restaurant she wanted named "Tiana's Palace" and finds true love in Prince Naveen as well. I think Princess Tiana is my new favorite Disney princess.

Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ELM2Ad3YuM Today while I was watching television, a commercial for a Britney Spears product came on. The theme of the commercial was fantasy since that was the name of the perfume. In the commercial, Britney Spears was a goddess and the male in the video was a hunter. The hunter shoots the goddess with a magic love arrow that causes the goddess to fall in love with him. She mentions the infamous fairytale notion that they "lived happily ever after" which made me think about fairytales. Her dress was very much similar to what a princess would wear and the hunter was of course masculine and attracted to her beauty as a prince would be to a princess. At the end of the commercial, Britney Spears says "Fantasy, everybody has one" which made me think how a princess fantasizes about falling in love with a prince charming figure.

Fairytale magazine

Our group has a lot of creative ideas for the magazine project. We haven't came up with a name for the magazine yet but we are in the process. I am responsible for the Fairytale award show. I decided to make a news report of the award show. The categories I included were for Best Leading Lady, Best Accomplice, Best Male Performance and Best Kiss. I hope that Tish and Felix like it after they read it. I'm still trying to decide what paper I'm going to turn into an article. I was thinking about turning my prince charming and damsel in distress presentation into an advice column and writng an article on the comparision on the different versions of Little Red Riding Hood. For my creative elements I wanted to make a WANTED poster for one of the villians in the fairytales and make a word search. Hopefully this project will turn out to be successful. I have idea my contributions to the project will be because I have a lot of creative ideas.

Amber Brown's presentation

I thought Amber did a great job on her oral presentation. She seemed very comfortable in front of the class and made eye contact the whole time. You could tell she knew her topic well and that she wasn't just reading from her notecards. She was informative on her topic of how fairytales influence gendering. Her powerpoint was neat and attractive. What really grabbed my attention during her presentation is how she described Disney's new fairytale "The Princess and the Frog." Up until that point, she explained how the Disney princesses usually wore pink or purple dresses and how the toys were girly. However, in describing the new Disney princess Tiana, she pointed out that unlike the earlier Disney princesses of her time, her dress is green. Also, toys adapted from the movie for little girls to play with are not the usual girly things we are used to seeing like a vanity set. The toys instead included like a bango and some other things that we weren't use to seeing. She mentioned that she doesn't know if this done was to make a change in the gendering influence or due to the fact that Tiana is unlike the other princesses because she is black. Overall, her points and information was really interesting.

Feminism and Sexuality

Today's presentations were interesting. I was happy that Carmen and Tish decided to pick a topic different from everyone else. I thought Tish's presentation was very creative. Women have come a long way since the 1950s as far becoming independent. The videos she showed during her presentation depicted this dramatic change. Its not uncommon for women nowadays to be able to take care of themselves whereas back then it was almost unheard of. Women were the ones who just cooked, cleaned and kept the household in order. Carmen's presentation was very shocking. There are so many sexual references made in fairytales! Her first slide and word "penis" grabbed my attention immediately. I liked how she compared Disney's versions of fairytales to those of earlier times. She explained how the Disney versions were more appropriate for children. I was very impressed with both of their presentations because they showed how fairytales have played a role in our society: good or bad.

Nickeloden Fairytale?

Today I was watching Nickeloden and was watching a cartoon about a fairytale. It wasn't a remake of any other fairytale we've come across. Instead of the prince saving the princess, the princess saved the prince! I found it very ironic that the roles switched especially after we have discussed this in class through our presentations. The princess was played by no other than Barbie (I think.. she looked like her) and I guess the Ken figure was considered the "prince charming." Basically a group of people planned to kidnap the prince and the princess over heard. When her and her 3 or 4 other friends tried to warn some of the royal people in the castle, they don't take them seriously and turned them away.They threatened that if they ever came back to the castle, they would have them imprisoned. Come to find out those people were part of the sneaky plot as well. They use the opportunity to go back to the castle when a masquerade ball takes place. (since their faces would be covered up by masks). Long story short, the evil people find out its them eventually and tries to fight Barbie with a sword. She ends up saving the prince in the end with the help of her friends. It was really interesting to see a princess save the day for once.