Post Blog 11/7 - Courtney Sparling

In class today, I really liked the different approach we took to looking at the PowerPoint slides. I especially liked how each pair of partners made connections to the past theorists we have studied and tied their ideas into the concepts that Bourdieu has written about.

The first thing we talked about which helped me to get a better overall understanding of Bourdieu was his "catchphrase": "Making everything ordinary!" Just hearing that helps me to keep all my thoughts and the quotations organized in my mind. I know which direction he is going when he speaks about "TV philosophers" and the news.

I also thought it was important that we discussed the structure and format of TV news and shows that we have accepted and become accustomed to in our culture. We see on local news one minute a story on a murder that may have happened 5 minutes down the road from where we live. With this we are shown random cops walking around a roped off area outside, people lined up to see what all the fuss is about, and a sketch of the suspect. The next minute we are shown a story about Disney World and how they are opening up a new fairytale land in the Magic Kingdom and how many families are excited to see what's new. The complete and drastic contrast in stories doesn't even cross our minds anymore. The news has MADE EVERYTHING ORDINARY. The formatting and way stories are presented to us are flattened and simplified to the point where it is meaningless to us.