Thursday, September 30, 2010

MEDIA MEDITATION #1: Dancing with GLEE for the Britney Spears episode!


"It's Britney...bitch"

---Brittany S. Peirce one-liner from the hit show Glee referencing the famous opening line to the song "gimme more" by Britney Spears

Picture to the right: Cameo of the Glee's Britney Spears episode featuring the pop diva herself--->




Glee has always been a fun, quirky, pop cultural phenomenon of a television show where the fictional students of McKinley High deal with their issues by breaking out into random song and dance. As if high school wasn't hard enough!

Of course, the students who perform the show-stopping tunes are part of their school's glee club, so the singing and dancing makes sense...some of the time. It's a very limbically pleasing experience none-the-less!

However, not all of the students in high school appreciate the random spurts of show tunes and contemporary songs from their classmates...in fact glee club is on the bottom of the latter when it comes to social coolness. More than once, a slushie has been thrown in a "gleek's" (glee geeks) face, a gleek has been pushed into a locker or something nasty has happened to one of the glee club's members as a result of bullying.

However, when dental anesthesia induced fantasies of the gleeks begin to feature pop diva Britney Spears, the confidence levels of the gleeks begin to rise, despite how uncool they are in the eyes of their peers. Each character finds their own individual meaning in a pop sequence. One character Brittany, a soft-spoken blonde, finds her inner diva by dancing and belting out "Slave 4 u".






Brittany: I would just like to say that from now on I demand to have every solo in glee club. When I had my teeth cleaned I had the most amazing Britney Spears fantasy. I sang and dance better than her. Now I realize what a powerful woman that I am.






Racheal, a talented control freak, learns to let loose by reenacting Britney's "Hit me baby one more time". However, the most inspiring would definitely have to be when Artie, a crippled boy who wants to join the football team, sing's the 90s hit "Stronger"



Who'd have thought Britney Spears lyrics would be able to pull at your heartstrings? Can you say emotional transfer?

The Glee Britney Spears episode would definitely have to be one of my favorites from the series so far. It was certainly an upbeat show, reflecting songs and dances I remember growing up with being a 90s child. I especially loved how between each scene it was edited so they played a short musical beat from "hit me baby one more time", a brittney spears classic.

It was good to see in the end of the episode when the gleeks performed at the school pep rally that they were actually receiving a positive response from their peers, even though it got a little ridiculous, turning into a "sex riot" (their dances were so sexy and reptilianly stimulating that the crowd was starting to go wild haha). I think the reason their performance was received so well was because the songs were so contemporary and the audience members were teens who could relate and remember the Brittney songs like I could. Pop music is a defining part of our generation so it was fun to see that represented in this episode of Glee. As it is stated by Kurt, a member of McKinley High's glee club:


"This club regularly pays tribute to pop culture and Britney Spears IS pop culture."







Tuesday, September 14, 2010

ABCD BLOG




Hi! I'm Andrea!

1. I am from South Windsor Connecticut, though for the first 9 years of my life I lived in East Hartford Connecticut.


2. I traveled to France for a graduation present and it was so interesting to see how another culture lives. I'm not sure if that qualifies for a media experience so I'd just like to add that traveling was a very new and enjoyable experience for me. I hadn't been on a plane in years and it was very interesting to see the working technology up in the sky, seeing as every seat got their own personal television where they could watch a bunch of new television shows, movies or listen to any mainstream music.

The Picture to the far left is me in front of the eiffel tower in France. It was a fabulous time! ---->

3. One thing I like about 21st century media culture is our instant connection to the people in our lives and the connection we have to the endlessly knowledgeable internet. If we have a question about something we can always just "cha-cha" it or "Google" it. One thing I don't like is how addicting the internet and television is. I've spent countless beautiful days in front of the dim glow of my laptop or television screen.

4. I honestly have no idea what I want to do with my life, career wise. I suppose that's what college is for, right? Right now, I'm exploring my options in the communications major. I could see myself as a professional writer, PR or digital film making major as well. I really liked working on my high school's literary arts magazine and yearbook when I was a high school student and could see myself working at a magazine of some type.
Whenever I think of working at a magazine, I think of the lighthearted chick flick "13 going on 30" One of my favorite scenes from the movie is the montage sequence of a magazine photoshoot where the main character Jenna is reconnecting with a childhood sweetheart.







It could happen...right?