Eng. 114B
May 11, 2012
CSUN
Portfolio Introduction: A Year in Professor Dinsmore’s English
class
A whole year has already passed
since I first came into this class. It’s
incredible how fast this first year of college felt. It feels like just yesterday I was the one
graduating from high school, and now I see myself finishing my freshman year in
college. Taking this class has helped me
a lot in my writing and critical thinking skills. I learned concepts and ideas that can help me
construct better written essays.
Some of the things that I learned
last semester were Ethos, Pathos, and logos.
These are concepts I didn’t know or thought about prior to this
class. I now look at commercials and
essays in different ways. I realize how
some people try to persuade others by using logic, emotion, or the credibility
of someone based on their social status, like actors and singers. When I watch commercials on TV of some
company trying to sell a product, for the most, the commercial is done using ethos,
or the credibility of someone famous. I
learned that this strategy, as well as the others, is very effective,
especially when it comes to writing persuasive essays. One other major thing I
learned last semester was how to use MLA style in writing. I don’t know why I
was never really taught this in high school, but I’m glad I did this year.
After having taken this class I feel more confident as a writer. Ideas flow a bit easier, and I don’t struggle
as much when I write essays.
During the second semester we
focused mostly on identity and the construction of it. We learned how video games affect someone’s
vision of reality, and help to construct their identities. We also learned about how space can shape
someone’s identity. Like the book we
read “Persepolis” is a great example of it.
We had an assignment which consisted of doing an ethnographic work
observing how space influences people’s identity and actions. My group and I decided to take a visit to the
theater and do our work on it. We observed
different theaters and presented our findings in class.
During this semester we wrote two
essays. Both related to identity. The first one I wrote was titled “Gaming
Reality” and basically what I talk about is how the movie Gamer is similar to our reality.
I make comparisons explaining how what is shown in the movie is not too
far off from our own real world. In the
second essay I talk about space and identity.
The space or environment in which one grows up has a major effect on the
identity they eventually develop. Social
class has a lot to do with this. The
rich and poor grow up in very different neighborhoods, and thus experience
different situations, though this is not always the case, I think it’s true for
the most part. I go a little more into depth about this topic in my second
essay.
Identity was the main focus this
last semester in class. I found out
there are a lot of things that help in the process and development of it. It’s pretty interesting to see how this
works, and helps to see, why some people are the way they are. Overall, the topics that we touched
throughout this year helped me grow as a writer, and I’m looking forward to
putting these concepts into use in the future.
Gaming Reality
Sometimes science fiction movies may seem too far off
from reality; but when you take a closer look you may discover that that is not
always true. The movie Gamer
is one of those movies. Video games have
become an important part in many people’s lives. Now-a-days they can create their own avatars
and live in a fictional world through their video games. According to a survey American gamers spent
over 13 hours a week playing in 2010, and the average gaming time keeps rising.
Americans are spending over 7% of their time living their own fictional
reality. The avatars people create and
they themselves have a close relationship.
Avatars are like actors playing a script written by the player.
The movie Gamer aims
to show a futuristic world where mind-controlling technological advancements
allow people to control other people. In this movie death row inmates are given
30 sessions during which they are controlled and played by other humans; a game
that very much looks like Counter
Strike or Call of duty; except in this case they are not
computer-made avatars, they are flesh-and-blood humans being played as avatars.
If they can survive these 30 sessions
they would be set free. Simple video
games such as those are taken to the extreme and turned into a reality in the
movie.
The
identity of these inmates, called “slayers”, is taken over by whoever is
controlling them. Technically the
slayers have sold themselves and their identity in order to get their freedom
back. This is where the movie reflects a
world that is very similar to ours. The slayers are somewhat like soldiers from
the army. The reason why the inmates decided
to take part of this game was because they wanted freedom and a better
lifestyle than the one they had in prison.
When the army recruits people they offer a lot of things, but most
importantly they focus on your economic future.
So, when people sign up for the army one of the main reasons why they do
it is to be economically stable. “In
March 2007, the overall unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. In just 18 months it spiked to 9.8 percent,
creating a boom for military recruiting… In the military... older recruits see
‘a stable job, stable income. The
younger generation [is] seeking a way to pay for college.’" (Weak
Economy Draws Middle-Class Recruits.) Army
recruits and slayers decide to take part of this “game” for the same basic
reason: to better their lives, even if it means running the risk of getting
killed in the process.
Once
the inmates in the movie sell themselves to be part of the game, they are in
total control of the player. The slayers
are like puppets to the players. They
follow the orders and do as the player pleases.
Army soldiers are somewhat like slayers in that sense. Once they are recruited they MUST do as their
commander says. In boot camp they have no
other choice but to follow the rules and do as they are told. They are being controlled. In the battlefield they open fire only when
they are given the order, they go where their commanders send them, and they
kill who they are told to kill, just like the slayers. They both are in danger of being killed, yet
they can’t do anything about it but to follow orders. They are the puppets playing the game.
In
the movie Gamer there is also a thing
called “society” which is made up of people who just like the slayers are being
controlled and played by other people in exchange for money. This society reflects the sexual fantasies,
and wildest thoughts from a great amount of people in our own society. In Gamer’s
society women were seen as sexual objects, which is not too far from true. Some women in our real society are in fact
sexual objects. Just like the people in the society
there are real people who sell themselves for money. An example of this can be prostitutes. They too sell their bodies and are at mercy
and control of the buyer. The
relationship between the prostitute and the buyer is technically the same as
the relationship between the player and the society
person they play in Gamer.
Other
people in real life, just like in the movie’s society, are in a way being controlled by other people too, though
not of course with controllers like the movie suggests. We live in a society where since infants we
were taught how to act, speak, and behave. We grow up thinking something is
right or wrong according to what the standards say. And who makes up those
standards? People of social high ranking class do, rich people, the ones in
power. Owners of companies and
movies/show’s producers show how people are supposed to dress or look. On TV
and magazines we usually see buff, muscular guys and thin, pretty girls. They
create in our mind a standard of how we should look and most of us live
according to that. We create in our minds a perspective of beauty and ugly;
it’s as if we are being brain-washed.
Everyone in their own unique societies and cultures are in a way
programmed to be the persons they grow up to be. Social class in this world is very
important. In the movie Gamer the people that controlled and
played the slayers and the people in society
were rich people. We all know if you
have money in this world, you have power.
The rich class people are the ones that own the big companies, run the
politics, and rule the world. They make
up the rules and standards. Poor and
middle class people just work for them to make a living; we follow their rules
and their standards which is like being controlled by them. Based on what we see or hear on TV or other
types of media we build a sense of how to act or speak. Why is the accent or
usage of words from the Queen of England better than someone who’s grown up in
a poor neighborhood in LA? We often try
to live up to the standards and way of life of rich people we see on the media.
Our identities are developed upon the rich’s view and ethic of right or wrong,
and normal and deviant. But we don’t
usually realize this. We just live as we
were taught to.
This
movie may be science fiction and it is supposed to be years from now, but despite
the technological advancements, we can still relate what happens in the movie
to today’s reality. Playing RPG’s is a
good distraction and pretty entertaining, but one has to be careful and make
sure you can distinguish it from real life.
The real world may be hard and tough but is better than living a
fictional one. Gamer is a perfect
example that shows how a video game can became a reality.
Eddie Makuch. “Time spent gaming on the
rise – NPD.” Gamespot. N.P.
May 27, 2010. Web. March 3, 2012
Tom Philpott. “Weak Economy Draws
Middle-Class Recruits.” Military.com.
N.P. October 22, 2009. Web. March 3, 2012.
Waggoner. “Videogames, Avatars,
and Identity.” N.P. N.D.
Identity and
Socio-economic status
Each one of us are different, but yet the same in so many
ways. Some of us might act, talk, think,
or look alike. We might come from
different places, or the same place, and thus have similar or distinct physical
features. But we all are unique in a certain
way. It is interesting how you will
never find someone who will be exactly just the same way you are. Our identity
is a long, constructing process that takes place throughout our lifetimes. The notion of self-identity and the
construction of it is a broad and interesting topic. Several things or facts attribute to this
“identity” perception.
We first have to look at what identity is. What exactly is personal “identity” and where
does this notion come from? “We often
speak of one's “personal identity” as what makes one the person one is. Your
identity in this sense consists roughly of what makes you unique as an
individual and different from others. Or it is the way you see or define
yourself, or the network of values and convictions that structure your life”
(Stanford Encyclopedia). The concept of
identity as we usually use it is quite close to the metaphysical concept of
essence, in which it has its origin. “The word essence is derived from the
Latin esse, which means «to be» and
has its origin in the thought of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Essence
stands for the fundamental being of something, that is to say the set of
attributes that make it what it fundamentally is, which it has by necessity,
and without which it loses its identity or would just not exist”
(reduplikation). Having that said, we
can go back and explore what makes one’s identity and how this one is shaped.
Our
identities are first shaped at home. As
babies we imitate our parent’s actions.
We imitate everything we see. Our
identities begin to construct ever since we are born. We then begin to be us, the persons we’ll
grow up to be. Parents’ actions are
primarily what affect a kid’s self-identity as they grow up. The construction of our identities is then
influenced by the environment around which we live and grow up, and the people
with whom we socialize and surround us. Much of what we see and go through
impacts us, and these events are what shape our self-beings. Hence, no person can be the same as
another. We all go through and
experience different situations that make us unique in different ways.
Simple
things like growing up in a certain neighborhood or culture attribute to the
shaping and developing of our identities.
Two normal average kids living and growing up two blocks apart from each
other may experience completely different situations that would make them very
different from each other. One of the
kids may live in poor/dangerous neighborhood where gangbangers reside. Just the presence of the gangsters in that
particular neighborhood changes the space completely from that of his fellow
friend living two blocks away in a residential area where gang-related problems
are not an issue. The environment and
space are key factors in developing self-identity. As an example we could look at people living
in a wealthy and safer neighborhood like Bel-Air where the crime rate is low,
the median household income is $207,938, which is pretty high, (making it the
neighborhood ranked number one in the Los Angeles County for the household
income.) Someone growing up in
neighborhood like Bel-Air will most likely have a completely different view of
the world than someone who grew up in another neighborhood like Baldwin
Hills/Crenshaw, where the crime rates are extremely high, and people don’t
exactly live in luxury. The rich and the
poor will have their identities shaped very differently according to the
conditions they live in.
The
fact of living and growing up in a dangerous/poor neighborhoods or a rich and
wealthy ones helps to define how a person shapes his ideals and own-self. Living in a poor neighborhood people have to
be careful and aware at all times. This
may cause them to live in fear and/or to always have their guards up. With all the robberies, murders, and problems
going on one develops a different perspective of the world. A kid growing up in a wealthy neighborhood
where he does not have to worry about being outside at night and even during
the day, or leaving his toys in the yard without having them stolen, forms a
different view of the world in his mind.
The perception one gets of the world, is mostly gathered from the events
and environment in which one lives. This
does not necessarily mean that just because one lives in a particular area or
neighborhood he/she will develop an identity that reflects the environment of
the neighborhood in which he/she lives.
Like I mentioned before, parents’ actions are what first influence and
shape a kid’s identity. It would not
matter as much if the kid lives in the richest neighborhood, if at home he sees
violence and experiences abuse of any kind, either physical or mental. This is how space, and the environment and
conditions we live in shape and help to construct one’s identity.
Also,
the wealthy does not have to struggle to put bread on the table every day. Kids that are born into wealthy families have
it a lot easier to be “successful.” By
this I mean that they are perhaps given a better education, since they can
afford private school and expensive universities, whereas poor, average people
have to go to public schools, where education is not so good. The level of education we receive also helps
to shape our identities, and is an important factor in getting a good job. Moreover, “lower socioeconomic status among
older adults is associated with higher rates of medical and psychological
disorders. Poor older adults have poorer
access to medical care, prescription medications, long-term care, and
community-based care. The impact of poverty on young children is significant
and long lasting, limiting chances of moving out of poverty. Poverty is
associated with substandard housing, homelessness, inadequate child care,
unsafe neighborhoods, and under resourced schools; and poor children are at
greater risk than higher income children for a range of problems, including
detrimental effects on IQ, poor academic achievement, poor socioemotional
functioning, developmental delays, behavioral problems, asthma, poor nutrition,
low birth weight, and pneumonia” (American Psychological).
The
shaping and developing of identity is a long and complex process that takes
time. There are many factors
contributing to this notion of self-identity.
The situations presented to us, the environment and people surrounding
us, to my understanding, are the most influential factors in the construction
of identity. In different spaces and situations people act differently. People behave according to the stage that is
presented to them. This translates to
the behavior they develop and practice in other normal situations. Life is a process of learning. We constantly keep learning new things. We learn what is bad and what is good. In a way we learn to be ourselves and act
accordingly. Developing our identities
is learning what, why, and who we are.
We may all take different paths, but in the end we all are heading in
the same direction, discovering who we truly are.
Mapping L.A: Neighborhoods. Los Angeles Times. n.d. Web. April 29, 2012.
Olson, Eric T. "Personal Identity." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition.) Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Web. April 29, 2012.
“Resolution on Poverty and Socioeconomic Status.” The American Psychological Association. August 6, 2000. Web. May 12, 2012.
