Blog Post Five

Consider how a text’s meaning is determined by your (the reader’s) identity and cultural context.

In what ways does your identity and experiences impact or determine the way you read and understand “Feed?” 

Everyone looks at text differently for lots of reasons and depending on the context of the reading too. I am a 16 year old female who was born into a world of expanding technology. This has played a huge role in how I've interpreted the context in Feed.

Feed is a futuristic world where everyone has this "Feed" planted in their head which is the equivalent of a phone, chat room, online shopping, television, dictionary, etc. it's a device that provides all our modern day technology in your brain. To me, this sounds super convenient. I know that when I get home after school I am watching TV, on the computer, on my phone, everything. It's really distracting but it's the way of living I was born into. I know my parents have somewhat adapted to it too but for example my grandparents just don't get it. They would probably think a Feed being put into our heads is like the end of humanity, where as I just think it's a way more convenient way of doing all my after school business and just living everyday life.

In the book Feed Titus is talking about missing his Feed. His was turned off the previous night due to a hacker at the club. This chapter titled, "missing the feed" is just that, Titus missing his feed. He says in it (on page 47) "I missed the feed. I don't know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breath." To me this quote just shows how obvious it is to this society that technology should be used the way they use it, in the feeds. It compares carrying the feed (or a computer) around outside the body with carrying around your lungs in a suit case - making the point that it just doesn't make sense. In their time computers are part of their body essentially and I think that wraps right back to our technological world and how much we relay on our phones, computers, etc. maybe a feed would be the most sensible thing to do at this point in our world. But hey, that might just be my 16 year old female iPhone lover talking.

Blog Post Four

Argentinian Print Ad for Olay Skin Cream "Surgical Markers Can Do Prettier Things"

This print ad is a bright, positive, simplistic ad with one zoomed in focal view point being the drawings on the woman's face. It is very minimalist because there isn't much going on, it just gets to the point. I assume they chose an Aryan woman with little to no makeup to create even more of an emphasis on the drawing and on the product. The placement of the product is strategic because they put it in the bottom right hand corner, off to the side, so when you first look at the ad you see the drawing on the woman's face then the product then the quote tying it all together. The quote says "surgical markers can do prettier things". This is a terse and pithy statement that makes the whole advertisement make sense. It is saying use this skin cream to fix you up instead of getting facial surgery because surgical markers can do prettier things then remake your face. The speaker of this is the Olay skin company and it is intended to draw in people who want to 'look prettier' or 'younger' with surgery, Olay is saying you don't need all that, just their product. The included perspective in this is the Olay company who loves and wants to show off their product. On the other hand, they leave out a plastic surgeon's perspective who might say no face cream doesn't give nearly as good of results as surgery or the viewer who for whatever reason does need some kind of face surgery and knows cream won't help them. They also leave out males and people of other races than white because it's just this one face trying to sell their product. But personally I don't think this ad would upset any viewer too much. I think this is an effective ad because it is simple but original enough to catch your attention which is the initial objective of an advertisement. And then yes, I do think it is persuasive because it's making a pretty bold statement saying their cream is just as helpful as facial surgery and I think that will draw lots of people in to buy their product.