Natalee Holloway

The Natalee Holloway movie was a very emotional movie. The movie is based on a true story and it all happened in May 2005 when a class of graduated seniors went off to Aruba for a class trip. While in Aruba for a few days, Natalee went missing the last night that the students were out there. Natalee and her friends were at a club, dancing, and drinking. Natalee had met a guy at the club and ended up leaving with him.
It is a very sad story. You wouldn't believe how people would do such things to people they barely even know. The whole time they were investigating on her disappearance, the guy she was with was never charged with anything and to this day he is still a free man. Which is wrong, because he did confess a few years later to what really happened that night. Its just sad how someone could be so heartless and commit such a crime. Natalee was just an innocent girl that was having fun with her friends. Natalee didn't deserve what happened to her.
People should just be more careful if they do decide to travel international, there are people out there who don't care and could hurt people like they did to Natalee. Teenagers should be careful and always be close to the people they know. Never trust anyone so easily.
Natalee Holloway was just an innocent girl who had a bright future ahead of her. She will always be remembered by those closest to her.

Big Brands Vs. Other Brands

Another interesting topic that I found was how we pick the big brands, such as Adidas, Jordan, K-Swiss, Gucci, etc, over the other brands, such as Wal-Mart store brands, K-Mart, etc.. These are some interesting things that we as a whole society do now. We pick the more expensive brands instead of the cheaper brands which would actually save us money.
The main reason why we pick the big expensive brands is probably due to media. Media portrays these brands as great, and if you don't have the latest trends then your not cool. These are the types of messages that are given by media advertisers for the big brands. For instance new running shoes at the mall will be advertised showing how fast you can run and how great they feel, unlike the running shoes at Wal-Mart. With teenagers, even adults seeing media like that we get swept away with it, and that's why we buy expensive shoes, clothes, and accessories.
Media tries anyway to do their job by making the viewer's want what they see on TV, because it gives the companies the money to produce more and show more. As for the other brands, they don't get enough attention as the big brands, because these days people want more and expensive so they can look and be cool.

My culture and the Media

First off, I am well into my traditions and I participate with the traditional ceremonies going on at home. Sometimes I may not be home to be apart of the ceremonies or all the dances but I still am very well aware of all my traditional ways. My cultures and traditions back at home are still going strong and my people still speak the native language which is Towa. Also, I am bilingual and proud to say that I speak my language. There is a lot still to learn about my traditional ways. No matter how old you are, there is still a lot to learn.
Another thing is that media also now shows the ways of the Native Americans and displays it publicly. But, not all Natives do what the media shows, all Natives are different in their own ways. For some Natives, they are slowly losing their native ways and some don't even speak the language anymore. That can also be a huge problem now and in the future. Children today speak a lot of English and at home, we are told to speak the language that we have, but most children don't listen. Some families of the children also don't care to tell their children the importance of speaking the language. The native ways are important to me, because it is who I am and what I will always be.

Journal

Media has been a topic that I never really bothered to learn about or even ask about until I took this class. I have learned quite a lot from this class and understanding the importance of Media Literacy. We talked about topics that were very interesting and gave me an idea of how people and even young children can be affected by the media. Children these days are affected more because of all the things they have on the TV or the Internet. Children like to watch different characters and they get attached to them right away. For some children it has a negative affect on them but for others it can have a positive affect. Some children even go to school and imitate what they saw or see on the TV or what other children are talking about. There is also positive media out there to help children educationally, such as educational games. Overall, not all media is negative. It is important also, to teach children media literacy to help them understand the business behind the TV and the Internet, so they won't be so lured into them. We want children to learn about the real world so they won't have to fall for anything in the future.

I chose to do my deconstruction on America's Next Top Model, because models today are very skinny, and they do anything they can to be thin. Being skinny is the main thing to being a model. If your not skinny than you really have no chance of winning. That was just the reason why I chose it and I thought that it was funny. Tried my best on it.

Green

The film that we watched in class on Wednesday was very good. I liked how the movie was made. It is something new, because there was no talking during the movie but yet it still sent our a powerful message. The music selected also made it more touching. I liked it because of how it made me think about animals and their habitats that they need to live and survivor. Animals need their homes to live too just like we need our homes to live and survive the life we live. Sometimes we don't realize how we are destroying the habitats of animals just to meet our needs. When you think about it, most of the things made in this world are not a necessity. We can basically live our life without any of the stuff that are made.
Some of the plants that are built to make some unneeded resources can harm and pollute the environments of the animals, maybe that is why animals such as Green was harmed and was very ill. Animals should be seen as human beings, because they have feelings and can hurt emotionally, and suffer just life Green did. Some don't see animals like that and that is why they don't hesitate to harm them or their habitats.