Hi Michael,
The one trend i tended to come across was happiness, or almost the pursuit of happiness in such different ways. There was one collection who’s beautiful picture of her son was displayed along with the adorable hats worn by him. Alongside, was a newspaper with dating services highlighted in bright pink. To me, this collection represented a mother’s attempt to find her son a father in his life and a loving husband to complete a family. Not to say she isn’t ecstatic about her son, but she believes her true happiness would be a complete family and without a father, happiness cannot be attained. (In my essay i would show how ideally society percieves happiness as having a family, children and what not)
Another one was in pursuit of a degree, attaining that goal of a higher education in university. One’s collection displayed a recommendation letter showing a student having the essential ingredients to become a great student, however in the face of adversity she suffered a tragic loss, her grandfather, whom gave her inspiration to pursue an education for her wellbeing. After switching between three highschools, she proudly displayed her highschool diploma. Although this was a huge stepping stone towards her achievements, beside her diploma was a textbook studying criminology. She was happy to have come this far, but her true happiness lies on getting that acceptance letter from Law School. For her, it would be feeling the satisfication of accomplishments as well as her grandfather had for her, fulfilling both of their happiness. (Also i would elaborate how beliefs in education, though essential are the keys for ones perception of living happy and rich.
There was an audio Cd, called “Hamoud” which seemed significant because, I percieved it as something that was listened to for inspiration, curing the blues when the student had a bad day. For him, it would be those ballads, the music, the rhythm which would take him from being glum to a formation of a smirk on is face as the harmony played to his ears. (again, i would elaborate more)
Please Michael, i would love for all the critisim because I do want to aim for an A in this assignment, and moreso in the class. The major problem throughout my highschool career was structure and grammar though i can be articulate and i love to express my insights. So please tell me what you think of this ideology. Thank you
May 28, 2007 at 5:08 am
As a starting point, it seems like you’re doing some good readings about how these items might point to happiness–or at least, as you suggest, a longing for it. However, I’m not convinced that “happiness” in itself can be understood as an ideology in the way we’ve been using the term–as those discourses surrounding categories of identity.
However, you might look instead at the way our ideas about happiness are shaped by ideology. For example, thinking of the Banks and Porter essays we read this past week, think about how each writer associated his or her definition of happiness or pride with achieving an ideological ideal. Banks, as a little boy, yearned to the masculine prowess typified in Bambi by the Prince of the Forest; Porter, meanwhile, was unable to achieve happiness fully because she was judging herself against a standard of beauty that depended on ideological preferences about race and gender. So my question is, then, if you’e right that these items point toward happiness or satisfaction or something similar, you might ask how that happiness (or whatever) is given structure and meaning by ideological preferences.