Saturday, April 9, 2011

Sexist Ad



This ad, which appeared in 1936 was promoting the new General Electric Home Laundry. It was said to make laundry work much easier and faster. This ad is very ironic because as innocent as it seems, it displays so much sexism. First of all, it indirectly says that women should do the house work and that it is her job. Laundry isnt that hard of a task for men to do, but I guess at that time, it was only a thing women were supposed to do. Second, it shows the mother teaching possibly her little daugthter how to start cleaning and doing work like her. The people who created this ad, which were most likely to be men, are saying that women should teach their young girls so that they'd grow up doing the same housework and following their mothers footsteps. This ad shows how men viewed the roles of women; important for housework. What shame.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Topic 10 concept guide!

1. McCarthyism Impact on Society
- Its the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversion with insufficient evidence
- Led the House Committee on Un-American Activities
- Accused government officials, members of the media and other prominent members of society as being Communists or Communist sympathizers
- Hollywood Blacklist
* Attracted young idealists seeking power for the common working man
* Targeted homo-sexuals as well
- People who were imprisoned lost their jobs
- Ruined McCarthy's own reputation
- Over 300 actors, authors and directors were denied work in the U.S through the Hollywood Blacklist

2. Communist "Witch Hunt" and impact on those accused
- Mostly by anti-communist groups
- Accused a majority of people, even if they were innocent
- Many people lost their jobs
- People preferred to be imprisoned because they'd live longer

3. Space Race impact on government policies
- Battle between the Soviet Union and the U.S for supremacy in outer space exploration
- The Soviet first launched the Sputnik 1 artificial satellite
- U.S then puts man on moon
- Started off the Cold War

4. Cold War mind set for the United States government and public
- Beat Soviet Union in technology
- Feared Communism and being defeated
- Started off Cold War

5. Relationship of suburbs, automobiles, and roads.
- Away from city; less crowded, quieter.
- Increase of car usage
- Interstate Highway Act 1956

6. Baby boom
- 1946-1960
- Causes:
* 20 years of "tough times"
* Removal of social and economic restraints that kept people from having families
- Men returning from war
- Increased the consumer demand

7. Urban-Suburban Pattern
- Business district
- Inner city: low income families
- Suburbs: middle income families
- Further suburbs: high income families

8. GI Bill:
- Provides education benefits for returning WWII veterans
- One year unemployment compensation
- Gave loans

9. Expansion of the middle class
- Returning men from war started families; baby boom
- Moving to suburbs
- Increase of credit cards usage

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Casablanca Outline

I. Setting
A. Casablanca, Morroco
1. World War II, 1940's

II. Introducation
A. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)
1. Main character
2. Owns "Rick's Café Américain"
B. Two German couriers are murdered
C. Ugarte (Peter Lorre) ,
1. Petty criminal who arrives in Rick's club with "letters of transit"
2. He plans to sell them to the highest bidder
3. Gets arrested before the exchange
4. Dies in police custody and entrusts the letters to Rick

III. Rising Action
A. Rick's ex-lover, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), walks back into his life.
1. She asks Sam (Dooley Wilson), the house pianist, to play "As Time Goes By"
2. Rick is mad that Sam is playing that song after he ordered him to never play it and sees Ilsa when furiously walking toward Sam.
3. She is married to Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who is a fugitive Czech Resistance leader that escaped from a Nazi concentration camp.
B. In order for Victor to continue his work, they need the letters to leave for America.
C. Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), a very popular guy in the criminal underworld and who is also Rick's friendly business rival, tells Laszlo that he suspects the letter to be with Rick.

IV. Climax
A. Laszlo later in the night meets up with Rick asking him for the letters, and Rick refuses and tells him to " ask his wife"
B. Strasser starts a group of officers singing "Die Wacht am Rhein".
1. In response to that, Laszlo orders the band to play "La Marseillaise".
a. Rick nods his head and gives permission when the band over at him.
C. Strasser acts back by having Renault close the club.
D. Ilsa confronts Rick in the cafe.
1. She threatens him with a gun when he refuses to give her the letters.
2. She confesses her love to him
3. She explains what happened back in Paris; when she fell in love with him, she thought Laszlo was killed when attempting to escape from the concentration camp, and then later when she was about to runaway with him to the German army, she was informed that Laszlo was still alive and hiding. So she had to leave Rick without an explanation to go back to her sick husband.

V. Falling Action
A. Rick agrees to help Isla, and makes her believe that they will remain together after Laszlo leaves.
1. Isla is hidden in the back when Laszlo unexpectedly appears in the cafe, and Rick and Laszlo talk
B. Laszlo tells Rick that he is aware of the love between him and Ilsa.
1. He tries to persuade Rick to have the letters in order for Ilsa to be safe.
C. Police arrest Laszlo on a minor charge, but Rick convinces Renault to let him go by promising to set him up on a more serious crime; which was the possession of the letters of transit.
D. To relieve Renaults suspicions, Rick claims that he and Ilsa will leave for America
E. Renault secretly makes a phone call to Major Strasser


VI. Conclusion
A. As Renault tries to arrest Laszlo as planned, Rick points a gun towards him and makes him help in their escape.
B. Rick makes Ilsa board the plane that is heading to Lisbon with Laszlo, convincing her that she would regret staying with him.
1. Ilsa disagrees but is later on forced and convinced.
C. Major Strasser arrives at the scene and Rick shoots him when trying to intervene
1. When his men arrive, he plays it cool and tells the men to "Round up the usual suspects"
D. The film ends with everyone pretty much satisfied and with a famous line, " Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Concept 9 study guide!

1. Role of Women during WWII.
- They took over their husbands jobs when they went to war.
- Worked in factories and on farms
- Worked as nurses, secretaries, etc. if they weren't home taking care of their children
- Gained more rights in society like the right to vote
- Went back to taking care of their houses and children when the men came back

2. Cause and Effect of Use of the Atomic Bomb
*Cause:
- In Japan
- The bombing of Pearl Harbor ( Dec. 7th, 1941)
- The refusal of Japan to surrender

* Effect:
- Two atomic bombs. One on Hiroshima which killed 90,000 people, and the second on Nagasaki which killed 70,000 people
- Caused extreme destruction and health problems
- Japan surrendered and WWII was over.

3. US Foreign Policy Before, During, and After the War
*Before:
- They were isolationists and preferred to stay out of war.
- Remained neutral till 1941, where they entered war

*During:
- The size of the Navy doubles just in case, by FDR.
- Helped the Allies
- Lend Lease Act: U.S offered Britain battleships in exchange for land
- After Pearl Harbor, U.S declares war on Japan and gets involved more

* After:
- Completely involved in war and other countries' affairs
- Joins the United Nations
- Considered very powerful afterward.

4. Effects of the War on Europe
- Mass destruction
- Tensions between countries
- Formation of Communist Soviet Union
- The decline of Jewish population due to Holocaust

5. Effect of Pearl Harbor Attack
- Death of American soldiers
- The upset of the U.S
- Attack back on Japan; which were the atomic bombs
- Declaration of war on Japan, and then the declaration of Germany of war on the U.S

6. Japanese Internment
- Constitutionally stated, it was okay to lock up Japanese people because they bombed Pearl Harbor
- Japanese Americans were sent to prison camps
- Korematsu vs. USA trial: tried to suee the government for violation of constitutional rights. The government won

7. Neutrality Acts
- 1935-1937
* Embargo on arm sales
* U.S battleships could not be armed

8. Purpose of Propaganda
- Persuasion
- Deceitful
- Promotion of Patriotism
* In U.S: Used to help support the war by encouraging the people by conserving resources
* In Germany: Used by Hitler to strengthen his power and deceive people by thinking he is right

9. Rationing:
- Saving resources for war effort
- Sacrificing

10. Results of War War II
- Decrease in Jewish population
- European debt
- Marshall Plan: U.S offered aid to help Europe rebuilt its economy and nation
- Baby boom. Soldiers were back from war and women were to go back to work in homes in order for the returning soldiers to have jobs
- Cold War
- U.S recognition of being a powerful country.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Timeline

http://timeglider.com/app/viewer.php?uid=line_d6d5eb92859ad5fad2c4eaf2efaa150c



:D

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Reaction Statement

I am honestly speechless. There are no words that can describe how I felt when watching the two interviews of those Holocaust survivors; especially George Gottlieb's interview. I felt my heart ripping apart, my eyes getting all watery, and just an indescribable feeling. I know that no matter what, I will never be able to truly understand what happened and how they feel. When watching George Gottlieb's interview, I was just shocked. I tried to think of how i'd feel if the same happened to me, and the thought was just so terrible that I couldnt continue. The way he was talking shows how traumatizing it is to him, and the moment I saw him crying I just wanted to beat the crap out of Hitler. I saw the pain in his eyes when talking about his mother, how she was beautiful but changed in the camps which just shocked him. I remember in class when you acted out a scene that would happen during those times, and even though I knew it was just acting, I was terribly scared and just wanted it to end, so I cant even begin to imagine how the people that actually went through it felt. Those people are forever physically and emotionally affected, but they should know that they are extremely lucky and blessed to be survivors of that horrible time and that thankfully those times are over.
Did I mention Hitler is a horrible guy? If not, well then guess what.. HE IS. >:(

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

My WWII Artifact :)



World War II Airplane Spotter Playing Cards

During World War II, the U.S Military encouraged both combat and civil defense. An example of that are the aircraft spotter cards which were issued by the Coca-Cola Company ( how awesome is that?) These cards were requested by the U.S Military in the 1940s and were a new type of playing cards. But these cards aren’t like any regular cards; these cards helped in the memorization of the shape of friendly and enemy aircraft. Other than being used for training purposes, soldiers and civilians used them for entertainment. These Spotter cards featured the profiles of the Axis and Allied aircraft and each aircraft is shown in three silhouette views for easy identification from ground or air.

These cards are significant because believe it or not, they are still used by the armed forces today! For example, personality identification playing cards were recently distributed in Iraq in order to train soldiers to identify individuals such as Saddam Hussein.

And THAT was my WWII artifact B-)