Fred Astaire speaks Dance

I did this for the moves, I wanted a modern song to keep Fred Astaire relevant. This is a zumba song. It has a lot of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' clip. I am going to do Fred Astaire tributes though. I'm going to put my favorite Fred Astaire dances, and suave favorite moves to one of his songs. Any suggestions? I love the way you look tonight? 

One of the moves I used in the video.

Tumblr musings

Love their enthusiasm
 David Tennant FTW!
 Even Craig Ferguson aggres! Aren't these two lovely?
So I have a tumblr and I've realized I've put off writing this blog because I've been posting these kind of pictures on tumblr. I also post the occasional Disney, anime, random tumblr thing, animal, or favorite person....I know that sounds like I don't stick to mainly one topic because of that but I really do, if you want you can see my tumblr.com/blog/alloftheclassics

A Candid View on Reality Television

Keeping up with Reality Television

            If a decade ago someone told the general population that some family, in this case the Heene family, would tell the world that they put their boy up in a balloon, just to try to receive a television show, critics would have said reality television needed to come to an end. Now, the general public may have acted in disgust but the Heene’s motive comes as no surprise. As “balloon boy” indicates, reality television with all of the crazy publicity stunts it pulls has become a way of life. This particular stunt was more successful in receiving police attention but it did help the family to receive the famous so called “fifteen minutes of fame”. In today’s world these three authors argue various points regarding reality television in topics such as how reality television became a way of life with personal details for public viewing and how everything is done for approval but ethical situations arise when privacy is invaded which still causes assessments of the genre.

            In “What’s Right with Reality TV”, Poniewozik’s argument is that reality television and internet encourages this generation go to promote themselves like a product. Poniewozik states that in 2000 television was a fad but now it is a way of life. In his opinion, Survivor and The Amazing Race are relatively tame to the point of the show attaining the family oriented title. He breaks down reality television into two subgenres: the game shows or competitions and plain voyeurism. The plain as day voyeurism is part of today’s modern take of the issue of privacy because this generation has grown accustomed to reality television; privacy is not as valued as it was in the past. Today’s reality is that an employer can do a quick Google search of a potential employee and that works as a resume. Also according to Poniewozik, this is precisely the reason it is of no use to make a Twitter or Facebook feed private, so that a person’s merit shows support on a social media website. This can lead to a person make cryptic messages to insure a person does not lose any credit on a reputation by posting something controversial, in other words, it has helped society to carefully construct themselves.

            Kilborn takes a critical tone towards reality television at most instances especially in the area of television documentaries such that television documentaries have compromised integrity for ratings. It is easy to see how greed can overtake someone as reality television often displays in competition shows, and with the relatively cheap, how a production can sacrifice quality scripts, lighting, costumes, and editing for this cheap setup. Kilborn also describes how The Truman Show was a movie that summarized reality television with Jim Carrey starring as Truman. Kilborn describes how everyone is invested in Truman, all of Truman’s situations are simulated, the cast helps create the illusion, the products integrated on the show pay for the show to run, and there are ethical issues surrounding raising a child from birth to star in a reality show without his knowledge. This movie challenged audiences to think about what consequences their actions had if they allowed reality television to push the envelope, after all this is reality, not a television show where people can go on living their real lives elsewhere. When reality television is tampered with, it changes someone’s actual life. This seemed to be where the future of reality television was going at the time the movie was made and some of the predictions in The Truman Show have come true. The question still hangs in the air, is society going to find a balance so that reality television does not harm anyone but still is entertaining

            Kavka focuses more on what the genre “reality television” means because reality encompasses many different subgenres. Not only does Kavka focus on different subgenres but also on the history of reality television itself to give a sort of evolution of a genre that really sped up in the last twenty years. This look into the evolution of reality television shows various issues that reality television dealt with in the past. Reality television is not exactly new with game shows, talent competitions, documentaries, and shows like Candid Camera helping to create an environment where ordinary people felt involved and welcomed cameras especially if they were hidden (Kavka pg 7).One of the main shows that Kavka points to for truly creating the genre is Candid Camera because the producer of Candid Camera, Allen Funt, found in radio days that if he hid the microphone that people talked with more honesty (Kavka pg 15-16). What is remarkable is he had the sound mind to create release forms so that no conflicts would exist in the future (Kavka pg 18-19).  It is interesting to see that since the start of television, reality television existed as well as the fact that people were paid in exchange for an invasion of privacy. Candid Camera was a functioning television show in 1948, pretty much the start of television itself, which makes the name implicate a deeper truth. If a producer puts a person in front a camera and the participant knows it is there, then the participant will act differently than if the participant does not know that the camera is there. This also is part of the echo of critics, people change who they are, and their social behaviors in possibly unhealthy ways to focus on presenting a good image to the camera, or the audience. Is it ethical to simply watch while others may humiliate themselves (Kavka pg 43)? This raised questions for a new generation of reality television fans when the dad on An American Family announced he was gay, although his family knew, it had some questioning “did the constant surveillance on reality television make him this way (Kavka pg 32)? No one can say for sure but there is hardly a doubt in anyone’s mind that awareness of a camera always causes different reactions.

            An example of “acting for the camera/audience” is in the Bachelor/ette, the couples in dating shows rarely end up married or stay married. Is it ethical to press for ratings by making a man or woman pursue many relationships but within a certain amount of time choose the love of their life (Kavka pg 23). These contestants are treated like chocolate samples, and the person tries to find their true favorite by mixing too many flavors together, many are going to change their taste. Just as taste changes, the seasons of life do, and many of these couples end up breaking up after the show. Instead of this model as a relationship model, Kavska says that it is a model on how to become a celebrity. If it shocks the staff and cast, then it might mean a making of a national celebrity like the case of Rozlyn Papa (Kavka pg 147). Although the question of ethics of reality television is ever present, it is obvious it is here to stay.

Kilborn assumes that audiences have caught onto reality television’s cheap tricks and have grown cynical of them, while Poniewozik has a differing opinion, suggesting that the audience itself has insured that reality television is here to stay. Both Poniewozik and Kilborn give credit to the audience for acknowledging they have the power over programming due to the consumer oriented medium of television? Kavka agrees with many of Poniewozik and Kilborn’s points but Kavka points in depth to the past, in order to cast light on the present.

            The world that this generation has grown up in, now is accustomed to shows like Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor/ette, American Idol, and Jersey Shore. Scandals, cover-ups, fakes, phonies, the redeeming moments, the hope, the passion, and all the drama located inside a box called television. It is easy to see why there are cynics of reality television, it seems to encourage bad behavior; it usually takes longer for a person to gain respect than it does to receive attention for something that is shocking like a sex scandal. That is not to say that reality television does not surprise people and help people achieve their goals. There are many reality television shows that are dedicated to helping people aspire to accomplish their dreams. Reality television is like a documentary itself with shows perhaps providing drivel, but a sort of commentary on social life. Although the Jersey Shore or Keeping up with the Kardashians may not add any true value to improving anyone’s quality of life or knowledge but life is often what one makes out of it, and truthfully learning is a never ending process where exercising the brain is possible by applying an analytical spin on anything. So take the good with the bad, after a long hard day with the family, it is kind of nice to hear a different family argue about things.

Works Cited

Kavka, Misha. Reality TV. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2012. Print.

Kilborn, Richard W. Staging the Real: Factual TV Programming in the Age of Big Brother. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2003. Print.

Poniewozik, James. “What’s Right with Reality TV”Academic Universe: Research and Writing at Oklahoma State University. Myers, Joe, Lexi Brackett, Dannie Chalk, and Andrew Terhune. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil, 2009.237-244. Print.

Television in Post-War Period

Television in Post-War Period

            It is a box and it has been called many things, but for almost a century television has been a part of the home.  It is still a new technology that always seems to have room for improvement. As always, whenever something new is introduced into lives, a culture has to determine its place. The television came at a time when new technologies were just starting in their integration into the home. Many new changes were occurring in the 1950s, and television was a topic of debate. 

            Coming back from the war to the home, the modern homemaker was told to conform to the role of a homemaker once again. With the new innovations came new questions about how to handle new situations.  As one maybe can predict, televisions did not fit with the décor or layout that was traditional in homes up to this time. Portraits and paintings had center spotlight in the home for quite some time. This led to all sorts of questions about where to put this fairly alien object. Should the children have easy access to it through wheels or in their bedrooms? Should it have furniture designed for the purpose of hiding this new object? Should it have central importance in a room such as a fireplace or the radio? Is it okay for the bedroom? These were the questions that the post war housewife dealt with on a consistent basis. At one point a magazine subscription might say something malicious about television such as in the case of Better Homes and Gardens who suggested that it would cause bad habits in hygiene, nutrition, decorum, as well as physical, mental, and social disorders[1]. Although the year before the very same magazine claimed that it was not television’s fault it was a sign of deeper issues rooted in the family as well as just children growing up[2]. With viewpoints changing nearly every year within even the same magazine it is easy to see the inner conflict the family had when dealing with television. Many families developed their own solutions on how they had a healthy relationship with the television and their family. Sometimes this little box was arranged to have the family’s full attention, and sometimes the décor was designed specifically to hide the television[3] The television started to take the role the fireplace in years past, as a place to gather and watch as a family. This observation was apparent by television viewers so much so at the time that in the Christmas season there were some television stations that would play a fire burning in the fireplace[4]. Fireplaces and pianos were replaced by entertainment centers that included the television along with the radio and phonograph[5].

            Not only were pianos and fireplaces replaced by the television, some men felt like the television was also replacing them. According to the plots on television the woman’s role was to follow the man. Suddenly “the man” was not giving the orders though; his children relied on an object other than him for entertainment and companionship. Not only did his children not seek his time as much but they took orders from the man in the television set better than they took orders from their parents. Milton Berle was in fact, so popular, with children that he would tell them to go to bed [6].  It was a problem that was worrisome to many, how men felt they had lost their drive to achieve. A new hero emerged, the television repairman, which could solve the problem of a broken television set. In an episode of Fireside Theater, the television repairman discovers that Bruce was an old western film star who decided to live the simple life with a family on a farm[7]. This image of him in the present contrasts with his past glory, making him less of an admiration for a spectator as his masculinity has almost vanished from the almost forgotten past era. There is no doubt that television altered the way women were presented to the world. Women as homemakers were presented as women who looked perfect, had a wise head but were still reliant on the man of the house. June Cleaver always wears pearls, gets extremely focused when busy with housework or cooking, she is sensitive, and always follows her husband’s lead.[8] In Leave it to Beaver, Wally Cleaver is shocked to see any woman that is a wife looking less than perfect. June Cleaver is often put at odds with her family due to the fact that she is the only female, she may have a brush off with a typical “you wouldn’t understand; it’s a guy thing.” The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, is a show that offers a good summary of the changing roles of the sexes. Through George and Gracie’s faults, husbands may see Gracie and identify her as their wives at certain times.[9] George could easily have qualities of an average husband who loses an argument and although the man of the house is also reliant on Gracie.[10]  Although Gracie may have caused trouble she still upheld a certain model of the typical housewife talking about cleaning and shown cooking. [11] There was considerable pressure from television to attain perfect housewife status with June Cleaver as a shining example. A wife was expected to work but look like a model when her husband came home and she was to greet him at the door much like in Father Knows Best. [12] With these women and their partners becoming different examples of what a home should look like; the rise of celebrity took place.[13] With this, it is easy to understand how celebrities became a topic of interest as they were the models of how society should look like according to television. People such as “Mr. Television” himself, Milton Berle, rose to the public eye and coming in visually through the television invited a certain type of intimacy to a celebrity, seemingly becoming part of the family, especially with television’s portrayal as a family affair.[14] Even children were starting to have their own celebrities they looked to for entertainment.

            People were sorting out how their lives were going to fit together with all these changes and what changes exactly would they accept. A parent could use television for punishment by taking away television time, or as a reward by giving more television time. It could serve as a tool for pushing the kids into the background while the adults socialized, so it served as a babysitter as well. It made some people think that it was bad because their children acted out more or that it was good because it was a chance for more family time. Even the advertisements of the time suggested that the family was so close in nature that everyone contributed in the consumer choices of the family, including the television which had images of families gathered around the television[15]. This was true, many families would watch television together; also many children preferred their parents’ favorite television programs[16] .Knowing that children were set in front of the television when there is relatively little to no programming designed for kids it’s easy to see how their kids develop tastes for their shows even if families did not want to admit it. Puppeteers such as Edgar Bergen, were on many adult programs.[17] Even so these celebrities were not as entertaining as a visually exciting show such as The Milton Berle Show where Milton was called “Uncle Miltie” and yes puppets/dummies even appeared on his show. [18]

            Television was also seen as a force that would keep families indoors; the theaters saw television as a threat just as movies were considered a threat to radio back in the 1930s. Now the theaters offered bigger screens and color pictures; this was something movies had that in television would not become mainstream until the late 1960s. For that reasons movies did not respond with positive action towards television. The movie companies wanted their audiences to keep coming to the theaters so for that reasons movies did not respond with positive action towards television. The movie companies wanted their audiences to keep coming to the theaters so the either never showed a television or offered a warning that television watchers would never socialize with society. Even television sometimes had an unconfident air about the future of television, as even Johnny Carson who became a television god to many people on television now, had some derogatory views on television.[19][20] Life with Elizabeth was a local television program in Los Angeles that starred Betty White, there is an episode where Betty White is scared of the television because she is afraid it will explode; this fear was not solely Betty’s sentiments toward television; practically everyone was a novice when it came to this box with the moving images. Trying to fix a television became a normal part of home life and it is vital to keep in mind that as this was new technology, everyone was learning how to work with electronics. Betty White described the television screen in Life with Elizabeth as a zebra racing across the screen instead of just calling it static. However there were some innovators such as George Burns who was one of the first on television to break the fourth wall, and sometime he did this with his television. His television was located in his den and sometimes it was present in the living room[21]. However with his television he watches his own show making himself the spectator along with the audience which was an interesting viewpoint. At this point in television’s history George Burns states that if an actor burped onstage it was considered innovative. Before this point it was assumed that although monologue was permissible, the fourth wall was generally kept up for the purpose of storytelling but with this way of communicating through television is inviting the audience to have a personal interest on the two screens.

            The post war period was a turning point in technology which meant for this era, that it was a turning point socially and economically. Everyone was scrambling to find out how television as well as other appliances fit into their lives so they could achieve a healthy balance in life. One thing seemed clear, that the family as a unit would determine how this technology would fit into their lives. The issues that arose were at a family level including the battle of the sexes. Television defined boundaries for females while criticizing males. Together husband, wife, and the innocent children would determine how television would affect them.

Works Cited

Burns, George. Gracie: A Love Story. New York: Putnam, 1988. Print.

Carroll, Carroll. "The Johnny Carson Show." The Johnny Carson Show. CBS. N.d. Television.

Helm, Harvey, Keith Fowler, Norman Paul, and William Burns. "Let's Dance." The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. CBS. 9 Jan. 1956. Television.

Kahn, Milt, and George Tibbles. "Life with Elizabeth." Life with Elizabeth. KCOP. KCLA, Los Angeles, California, n.d. Television.

Spigel, Lynn. "Chapter Two: Television in the Family Circle." Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1992. 36-72. Print.

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[1] Lynn Spigel, Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, 1992, page 51

[2] Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, page 58

[3]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, page 49

[4]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America,  page 38

[5]  Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, page 38

[6]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, page 60

[7]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, 64

[8] Barbra Billingsley actually had a scar, so in order to cover up her imperfect skin the show wanted her to wear pearls on every show.

[9] George Burn’s tried to portray the average American husband while countless of men wrote in or told George that Gracie reminded them of their wife. More information about that is available through Gracie: A Love Story by George Burns.

[10] In the “Dance Lesson” episode, the Mortons comment on how before Gracie, George did not have a dime and he uses Gracie for explotation, but Harry argues that George has to deal with Gracie’s crazy logic. George insults both of them and all of a sudden they see the good in each other.

[11] She even added some glamour to the job; George recalls that Gracie would receive letters from ladies that were excited to see what apron she had on each episode.

[12] In both Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver, the father is central while the mother looks gorgeous standing next to her husband while the kids are all gathered together as if to say that this show is supposed to include them as well as revolve around the children as well.

[13] There were differences in models of families such as an older family versus a family still raising young children, as well as normal economic status. The Burns’ lived in Beverly Hills and able to afford fur coats, and the Cleavers lived in Mayfield and could live comfortably.

[14] Milton Berle was called “Mr. Television” because he possessed the highest Nielsen ratings for many years, he still has the highest Nielsen ratings of all time. It is said that he helped contribute to many people buying televisions.

[15]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America , page 40

[16]Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, page 57

[17] Edgar Bergen appeared on Disney programs such as Fun and Fancy Free but appeared on shows such as The Milton Berle Show and The Jack Benny Show.

[18] Spigel refers to Milton Berle’s show as burlesque but as kids often did watch it he developed the nickname “Uncle Miltie”, and had an occasional blip in his program for children.

[19] Through his short lived program The Johnny Carson Show, he did sketches about traditions common before television such as riddle parties, but also did sketches that showed the shallow end of television such as making fun of how commercials are known by their jingle instead of their content, as well as a comedy sketch about the future displaying robots as servants that do everything, including having an affair.

[20] Johnny Carson is mentioned often in late night primetime television network programming because many of the comedians have adopted his style. For further reading about one late night comedian who claims every late night television star wants to be Johnny Carson read Craig Ferguson’s biography American on Purpose.

[21] A den was what a man often called his work office and a room all of his own, it usually contained things like books, brandy, and cigars. 

Gene Kelly has the Moves like Jagger

I want to keep Gene Kelly relevant because he has the most beautiful moves. He is better than jagger for me. I watched "The Pirate" with my friends and we decided that he is better than watching Magic Mike, because he has class added to it-but he does it so well that it's like watching quite a performance. He does honor the women's body though, it's obvious from watching his choreography and moves. I  made this