So this week I was teaching Surveillance in relation to ideas surrounding the Panopticon and television (particularly reality television). (This is on my TV Times module with the third years). Then we find what has been called the snooper’s charter in the news again which reinforces ideas about electronic surveillance in our contemporary surveillance society.
Read about the Snooper’s Charter here Guardian article
Yesterday was the session that I normally do with my first years about clothing, food and identities. We talk about whether we judge people on what they wear and today I read that the Prime Minister David Cameron commented on Jeremy Corbyn’s clothing.
We also talked about people who have been in the news for wearing their pyjamas to the shops or parents wearing pyjamas whilst dropping off children at school.
BBC Three has moved online. With its target audience of around 16-24 years of age, it assumes that this is the way young people watch television. It also follows other services – such as Netflix and Amazon Prime – where whole series and box sets are available to watch.
See the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35578867 and BBC Three on YouTube
The Newspaper Industry is definitely changing as The Independent is the first national newspaper to no longer have a print version. The Last edition will be printed in March.
Beyoncé made a political statement at one of the biggest sporting events in the U.S. – the Super Bowl. She also released a video and single called Formation with references to Hurricane Katrina and as well as to recent protests in the U.S. over police killings of unarmed young Black men.
You can read more at The Guardian, – follow the link below.
It will be interesting to see if the new line up is as popular as the previous one with Matt LeBlanc (from Friends fame) lined up to present Top Gear along with Chris Evans. One of my students is writing their essay on masculinity in Top Gear. It will be interesting to see if the same format remains.
Barbie have changed the shape of their new doll to be a little less unrealistic. There have been so many academic studies about the way idealised body shapes can influence us, that any moves to be more realistic, I think, is welcome.
You can read more here on the BBC website
Some recent research shows that children now spend more time online than they do watching television. I see this with the way my own children watch television – finding shows on Netflix, or looking up videos they find interesting or funny on YouTube.
And they do this not just on computers but ipads, ipods and smart phones!
Even I, thanks to Netflix, can see the appeal!
Read more about the report here BBC news education
Spike Lee has described the nominations for this years oscars as “lilly white’ – highlighting the lack of representation in this years nominees.
Will Smith, his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith will be boycotting the Oscars.
It was thought that Smith himself would be nominated for his role in the film Concussion. You can read more about this in The Guardian article on this topic.
One of my childhood and adulthood heroes has passed on this week.
His album – released two days before he died is topping the charts – not just in the UK, but around the world. A global influence (and I would use the word genius) who will be missed.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/15/david-bowies-last-days-an-18-month-burst-of-creativity