“My Car is My Lover”, part of the BBC documentary series Strange Love (the same series responsible for the objectum sexuality documentary, “Married to the Eiffel Tower”), takes a look at “mechaphilia.” The film describes mechaphiles as people who are sexually and romantically attracted to vehicles, not exclusive to cars (references to trucks, planes, and helicopters). The […]
The 2014 TVC Thai Life Insurance commercial, “Unsung Hero,” which the top YouTube comment summarizes in the sentence, “Who’s cutting onions?! :”)” follows a nameless, everyman (in that the ad wants the viewer to see themselves in him) as he spends his days helping elderly women, a homeless mother and daughter, a dog, and a […]
Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies (at the University of Maryland, College Park), Alexis Lothian’s recent talk at the University of Michigan, “Queer Geek Methodologies: Social Justice Fandom as a Transformative Digital Humanities,” highlights several aspects of the non-normative modes of discourse found in internet fandom, such as the mixture of creative, artistic expression with legitimate television theory, that […]
In Sandoval’s chapter on Semiotics, they aim to focus on a deconstruction of language and how things are presented in order to see and understand all elements of some form of conveying a message. In Semiotics, a sign is broken down often in to two main parts. The signifier and the signified. The signifier represents […]
Back in 2014, this commercial was aired in lieu of Mother’s Day. The concept for the ad was to hold fake interviews for participants, asking them if they were capable of completing certain tasks that were seemingly impossible, ie having 24 hour work days with no breaks, and then eventually revealing to them that they […]
Dancing with the Stars is a popular reality dance competition television series on ABC that consists of a celebrity paired with a professional dancer. In Season 13, Chaz Bono was featured on the show. Chaz is the son of American entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and came out as a transgender man on his own […]
A 2010 Dodge Charger commercial entitled “Man’s Last Stand” has a group of men reciting a list of certain things they will do in exchange for being allowed to drive a Dodge Charger. The Dodge commercial is a relevant example of media for analysis alongside Sandoval’s piece discussing semiotics. During the first 45 seconds of […]
After reading Sandoval’s chapter on semiotics, I searched for a commercial to put it into conversation with. One of the first companies that came to mind for me was AXE body spray. They’ve certainly had some interesting commercials, but the one that I stumbled upon actually surprised me in terms of the messages it seems […]
The Superbowl’s commercials are almost as highly anticipated as the game itself. This year, Budweiser ran an ad focussed around the journey of a one of its founders from Ireland to the United States. One of the greatest myths provided in the advertisement is when the immigrant’s visa is stamped, as the clerk states “Welcome […]
In Season 31 of The Real World: Go Big or Go Home, like other Real World seasons, the themes of the series of episodes center around topics that are affected young people in their actual realities. At the time that Go Big Or Go Home was filmed, amidst the discussions of race, police brutality, racism, […]
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