A StreetCar Named Desire- Themes, Characters, Quotations, Setting

Characters-
There are a few main characters in A Streetcar Named Desire they include:
 Blanche Dubois, Stella Kowalski, Stanley Kowalski, Mitch, Allan Grey

Blanche Dubois-
Blanche is the protagonist of the play who finds her self in Eylsian Fields after taking a street car named "Desire". Blanche has had many sexual urges and lovers in the past thus referring to the symbolic meaning of a street car named "Desire" as her desire, her sexual urges. She finds her self in Eylsian fields a symbolic association of the Greek after life, meaning her desires are leading her to death. Therefore Blanche's fate in the story is inevitable. She leaves from her former home of Laurel to reunite with her sister Stella as she was cast out from Laurel due to her relationship with a young student of hers. Moreover she loses her former home of Belle Reve, a very wealthy and luxurious home. Therefore Blanche has moved from a high social economic class to a much less than average one with her move to Eylsian Fields. In the play Blanche presents her self as a very aristocratic and stylish character at first. Later on in the play Blanche is reminded of her tragic and promiscuous past that eventually drives her mad as she is reminded of her late young husband whom she drove to death. Finally as her scandals are reviled she becomes a very mentally ill and fake character that also presents herself as "moth-like".

Stella Kowalski-
Blanche's younger sister who also happens to come from the same aristocratic past as Blanche. Unlike Blanche Stella left her home of Belle Reve in Mississippi to find the love of her life in New Orleans. She is the wife of Stanley Kowalski and with her marriage she moved from a high social economic class to a more lower social economic class. Stella's relationship with Stanley is sexual as can be seen in the play, but it is also very violent and animal like as they often fight throughout the play mainly because of Blanche's influence on Stella about Stanley not being the ideal husband for her. Therefore Blanche's presence tends to tear both Stanley and Stella apart; although in the end of the play Stella finds her self to favor her husband's side as she is giving birth to his child. She chooses his love over her own sister's thus leading to Blanche's inevitable fate to which Stella utterly regrets.

Stanley Kowalski-
The husband of Blanche's younger sister; Stanley is a very man-like character as he often presents his dominance and power throughout the play. He despises Blanche and looks to cast her out of his household as she tears him and his wife apart. Moreover, he has a very strong interest in Blanche's former home Belle Reve. Within the play Stanley feels very threatened by Blanche due to the fact that she has a strong influence on her sister Stella by portraying Stanley as a the non-ideal husband. Such words that help portray Stanley's  image in the play as seen by Blanche include: "pig", "animalistic", "Polack". With this Stanley aims to get rid of Blanche in his house hold by relieving her past and performing certain actions. For example as Stanley has a great interest in the loss of Belle Reve Stanley aims to retrieve the papers on Belle Reve but Blanche doesn't budge. Therefore Stanley forces the papers from Blanche thus relieving papers that she describes as "poems from a dead boy". Therefore bringing up her once forgotten past with her young dead husband in laurel. Moreover by presenting her bus tickets back to Laurel was also a devastating blow to her mental stability.

Mitch-
One of Stanley's closest friends and co-worker. Mitch takes a very romantic interest in Blanche and sees her as the woman he wants to marry. Later on in the play he states he "needs someone" Blanche goes on by saying the same. They share a few intimate moments but this is later on crushed by Stanley's revilement of Blanche's past which Stanley makes sure to tell Mitch.

Allen Grey-
Blanche's poetic young dead husband who was also Blanche's fellow student. Allen was presented in the story as a homosexual as he was found in bed by Blanche. Though Allen is not presented in the play physically, spiritually he is which is just as important. Blanche is often reminded by his death which was partially her own fault  After being discovered with another man in bed Blanche left to a ball with Allen and used such diction as "you're weak" and "I despise you". After such harsh diction Allen was driven to run out of the ball and shoot himself. Blanche is often reminded of his death by the Varsouviana Polka that faintly plays in her bind and stops after the "BOOM" of a gunshot, the same gunshot that caused her husband's death. This slowly drives Blanche insane and draws her nearer to her inevitable fate.

Setting-
A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans during post World War 2; although the recuperation from the war plays no part in the play. 

New Orleans!
Stinking, rotten, vomiting, vile!
New Orleans!
Putrid, brackish, maggoty, foul!
New Orleans!
Crummy, lousy, rancid, and rank!

These are lyrics presented in a episode of the Simpson's referring to New Orleans. These are very harsh and unfavorable adjectives towards New Orleans. These exact words would definitely have the approval of Blanche. Coming from a very high social economic class in Mississippi from her original home Belle Reve it is evident why Blanche would describe New Orleans as such. The story more specifically takes place in a small 2 floor apartment flat. One the second floor of the building is the home to Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Their apartment is the main base of the play in fact there really aren't any other locations that hold a strong influence on the setting. The apartment most definitely contrasts from Blanche's former home of Belle Reve as the Kowalski is a small apartment with a small dining room mainly used for poker and dining; as well as a bathroom 2 separate rooms. The apartment is very rickety and old. Moreover, it doesn't have the luxurious presentation expected by Stella (Blanche's Sister) who also comes from wealth. This is because Stella relies on her husband a very low social economic class man working his hardest to provide for his wife and on coming baby.    

Theme, Motifs, Symbols- 

Themes-

Fantasy's Inability to Overcome Reality

This is a theme presented in the play that mainly relates to Blanche as she lies to herself and other to allow her to make life appear as it should be in her eyes rather than what it really is. The play is a great example of social realism. Moreover the relationship between Blanche and Stanley is very antagonistic as it is a struggle of appearances and reality. This allows the play to more forward and allow tension. Fantasy's inability to overcome reality is shown through the exterior and interior of the play's setting, meaning the outside of the Kowalski apartment and the inside. The characters often return from a day's work or a day out on the town only to portray their problems or daily events, much like regular people in the world of today. Moreover, the setting is very flexible as the surrounding environment of the apartment can be seen thus proving that the apartment is not of the safest means. As discussed before the character often bring their real world problems to the Kowalski home but Blanche begs to differ as she claims to leave her prejudices against the working class behind her at the door. From this most effective event that can be seen is the rape of Blanche by Stanley as when the back wall of the apartment becomes transparent we can see the struggles occuring in the surrounding environment of the apartment thus foreshadowing Blanche's rape. 

Fantasy often comes to the aid of Blanche even though it reality overcomes it ever so often. Fantasy is used a  tool by Blanche as she often uses it to escape reality, to escape and protect her from reality's harsh blows such as the her past events in Laurel. Blanche portrays they world  as she wants it to be, the exterior world she sees is often 'shaped shifted' into her own private world. She uses fantasy to changes things in her mind both physically and psychologically. Although towards the end of the play we learn that fantasy can be proven useful up to a certain extent as reality's triumph is inevitable.   

The Relationship Between Sex and Death

In the play Blanche fears death and this is evident as she fears aging and losing her beauty and physical characteristics. Moreover she refuses to tell others her ages and often hides from the light so other may not see her. In addition she is very sexual towards young men as she feels that having relationships with those who are young then her will return her to her once teenage years. However we as the readers come to see the relationship between sex and death through the opening scene of the play. Blanche found herself taking a streetcar named desire to Elysian Fields. What is the symbolic reasoning behind this? Well the streetcar "Desire" can be noted as Blanches desires, her urge for sexual interactions with younger men. In contrast this streetcar resembling her desires leads her to Elysian Fields, the Greek afterlife. Therefore reveling that Blanche's desires will lead to her death and her fate is inevitable. Moreover sex leads to the death of many other people mentioned in the play. For example the death of Blanche's ancestors is presented by their "epic fortifications". Additionally, the death of her late husband was due to his homosexuality as it was disapproved by Blanche and society at the time thus causing for his suicide as being a homosexual  caused other to consider you an outcast. 

The Dependence of Men

The play's two main female characters present themselves as very dependent on men. Both Blanche and Stella are dependent on men as it is their way of achieving happiness. This can be seen in a number of ways. For example Stella chooses to pick Stanley of Blanche this shows her dependence of love and her husband. In addition Stella chooses Stanley as he can provide a much secure future for Stella and her baby than Blanche. In terms of Blanche, Blanche sees marriage with Mitch as her way of escaping reality. However, Blanche has a very poor reputation and this is made clear by Stanley's gossip about Blanche in Laurel, thus turning Mitch against Blanche and having him fall out of love with her. Immediately Blanche congers up another male partner to rely on, Shep Huntleigh. Blanche doesn't realize that her dependence on men has no way of rescuing her from reality and that in the end her dependence leads to her downfall.


Motifs-

Light

Throughout the play Blanche often avoids light. This is to hide her current state of aging and change in physical beauty. Blanche wants to stay young and therefore hides her true face and doesn't relive her age. Moreover she buys a Chinese paper lantern to cover the light in the Kowalski's apartment. In addition this relates towards the theme of the relationship between sex and death as she aims to sleep with younger mean to hide her aging figure and to relive her once glorious teenage years.

Bathing

Throughout the play Blanche baths a numerous amount of times, she claims that it "calms her nerves". However, Blanche has a very poor and promiscuous reputation. In relevance these baths truly resemble the fact that Blanche is trying to cleanse her true identity keep it hidden from those living in New Orleans with her. 

Drunkenness

Both Stanley and Blanche drink throughout the play, Stanley's drinking is social, however Blanche's is antisocial. Through drinking Blanche aims to avoid harsh reality. Her drunkenness helps her create imaginative figures in her mind to see life the way it should be rather than what it really is.


Symbols-

The Varsouviana Polka

The varosiviana Polka tune is the tune that Blanche and her former husband were dancing to in their final moments together. Earlier on Blanche had caught her husband in bed with another man. They continued on by going to a ball as nothing had happened but during their dance Blanche portrayed words toward Allen, her husband that drove him to kill himself. She told him that he "disgusted" her.
The polka tune is played within the play various times whenever Allen is brought up or Blanche feels remorse for him. The tune signifies a loss for innocence and often distracts Blanche and has her mind wander, thus leading to her mental insatiability.

"It's Only a Paper Moon"

These are lyrics to a song that Blanche happens to sing during scene 7 while bathing. During her shower Stanley is gossiping the truth about Blanche in Laurel to Stella. At the same time we can here Blanche singing this song. What this signifies is that Blanche sees her future or her fantasy from what the song is portraying in its lyrics. Moreover the song resembles Blanche's future with Mitch. However the song is also a way of showing dramatic irony. This is because Stanley is telling Stella about her sister's actions in Laurel, during that time he had also told Mitch about who Blanche really is. This allows Mitch to turn against Blanche and to fall out of love with her. Here the readers know the truth about Blanche and so do the other characters. Here Blanche is preparing herself for Mitch and has high hopes for him and her yet she will soon find out her situation with him in the next up coming scenarios.

Quotes 

 They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!

The streetcar resembles Blanche's desires, that are indeed sexual. So she takes her "Desire" to Elysian Fields which happens to be the resting place for people in Greek Mythology. What this means is that Blanche's desires will eventually lead her to death and that her fate is inevitable.


 Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

Blanche speaks to the doctor with these words in Scene Eleven. Blanche’s quote is ironic. First, the doctor is not the the Shep Huntleigh type of gentleman Blanche thinks he is. Second, Blanche’s dependence “on the kindness of strangers” rather than on herself is the reason why she has such bad reputation in her life. Strangers have been kind to Blanche only for sex. Blanche’s final remark indicates her total detachment from reality and her decision to see life only as she wishes to perceive it.

Psychology of Males who are Abusive to Females

In some households there are certain men who are abusive to females and their family. Most men who are abusive in their householder are abusive to maintain their dominance. In addition there are many other factors towards why men are abusive towards females. A key factor could be jealousy. A man could see another man with his wife or girlfriend and could immediately become angry and abusive towards his wife. Others are a lot more disturbing than other. In an interview with Oprah a man who abused his wife stated:  "I had every intention to take her life. I felt like I had power and control over something in my life,". Here it is evident that this man wanted to maintain his dominance and masculinity by abusing his wife. He found enjoyment in beating her continuously. Moreover, the fear that his wife produced because of these beatings made her neglect him thus causing him to abuse her even more as she showed no signs in being intimate with him or even having sex with him. So men may also be abusive if they are being ignored and wanting attention. Other reasons why men are violent include that they want to control their wives or families. Some even believe that they have the right to act any way they please within their respected household and that all 'real' men should be tough and powerful. Other factors towards their violence may even include stress and alcohol but often times these factors are seen as excuses. Men may even be abusive because of the influence they have had in their past. Some men may have grown up in a abusive household thus influencing their overall character and how they treat women and those around them. The fact that they even come from lower socioeconomic groups could cause for their abusiveness as well although this reason is a small fraction of why men are abusive towards females.   

Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire: Men's Dominance over Women

One of the key underlining themes of a Streetcar Named Desire is the theme of Men's Dominance over Women. In the play both key female roles of Stella and Blanche present themselves as very dependent on men therefore calling for their dominance in the play. Stella's husband is a very dominant male that presents himself as animalistic and powerful within the play. He has much control over his wife and often has absurd outrages within the play a number of times. His dominance of Stella is spread to the extent that Stella chooses Stanley's love over her own sister's after Blanche's inevitable fate has been decided. In Stella's eyes Stanley will provide a brighter future for her and their baby. Stanley's outreach to keep his dominance present can be seen in scene 8 of the play, Blanche's birthday. Stanley is fed up with the influence Blanche has on his wife. This influence causes him to be insecure because he feels that his dominance is slowly withering away by the presence of Blanche in his household. This influence is made evident throughout the entire play as Blanche emits words such as "pig", "animalistic", and "Polack" to describe Stanley. Moreover, Blanche knows that Stanley is not the ideal husband for her sister and she tries to get her point across by using such diction and influences towards Stanley. Stanley takes note of this and eventually becomes extremely fed up with Blanche's presence. In scene 7 Stanley reviles all of Blanche's events of the past in Laurel both to Mitch and Stella thus crushing her dreams of being together with Mitch as he will then fall out of love with her.  In scene 8 Stanley surprises Blanche with a birthday gift, bus tickets back to Laurel in which he shows his ultimate gesture in trying to get Blanche to leave his household. He does all this to show his dominance over the house he lives under and to win Stella and to draw Stella away from Blanche. There are other key events in the play that call for the dominance of males such as in the first scene of the play when Stanley throws a hunk of meat at Stella, he presents himself as 'caveman like' as if they were in a neanderthal era and Stanley was bringing back food from a hunt. Moreover, an association to a historical document also portrays Stanley's dominance such as the fact the he makes a reference towards the Napoleonic Code which ensure that he has full control over his wife's affairs especially in the presence of a baby. He uses this as an excuse to gain all Blanche's papers on Belle Reve as the Napoleonic Code was a document that stated a man has full control over his wife and children.  On the positive side Stanley's brute force and masculinity call for a sexual appeal that appeals to Stella. This adds to the fact that she favors Stanley and how "common" he is. On the other hand Blanche is completely terrified by Stanley.

Dramatic Irony in a Streetcar Named Desire

Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves.
 http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/dramaticIrony.htm


There is a great example of dramatic irony in a Streetcar Named Desire when Blanche continuously sings the lyrics to "Its Only a Paper Moon". Her singing of this song is relatable to her desired future with Mitch. On the other hand us as the readers are given the truth about Blanche and her scandals in Laurel such as having a relationship with one of her students thus causing for her casting out in Laurel. Therefore Blanche's future with Mitch lies in the hands of his believing of her act. Later in the play we learn that Stanely has reviled Blanche's scandals to Mitch in which us as the readers may then realize the dramatic irony present. This is because in scene 7 Stanley eventually tells Stella about Blanche's events in Laurel in which he then reviles that he has also told Mitch about her acts. Where is Blanche during this scene? Blanche is bathing in the shower while she is singing the lyrics to "Its Only a Paper Moon". Therefore the dramatic irony can clearly been seen as Blanche sings her about her future with Mitch the will never come to be as we as the readers know about her scandals along with Mitch, Stanley, and Stella thus Mitch will fall out of love with Blanche in the following scene (secen 8) where Blanche learns about Stanley's reviling of who she really is. The song also foreshadows the fact that Mitch falls out of love with Blanche after his vision of her is destroyed by Stanley and her acts in Laurel.

Written Task First Draft

Social Networks a Way of Communication or a Way of Exposing your Negative Opinions?

     Society today is greatly influenced by the media and its surrounding elements. I for one believe that the media today does have a strong impact on our lives; let’s take social networks for example, they are a great way of communication and sharing ideas, many people take advantage of this in a way to connect with others. People use social networks in this way most of the time, again, most of the time; often times there other people who are a bit careless and ignorant about the things they post/tweet on either Facebook or Twitter as if no one will see. Often times these careless posts are done by celebrities and political figures all of whom have a high social status and sometimes even the average teenager looking attention. Anyways, it’s a bit pathetic especially when you are a person of high social status, in which you have many followers and viewers of whom you influence greatly. This can often hurt your image and make society think differently of you because you are indeed, in society’s eyes, an important person who does have a great influence and opinion on different subjects. A prime example of what I’m talking about has occurred recently in French news.  

     A few months after France’s recent elections for their current president, President Francois Hollande, there were some interesting tweets on Twitter made famous by France’s first lady, the wife of Hollande, Valerie Trierweiler. Her tweets were mainly pinpointed towards Hollande’s ex-wife, it was here that Trierweiler was downplaying and insulting the president’s former wife. I believe this was quite careless of her because obviously many people would have seen this post because being of such high social status in the French society she has many followers and what she believes in and what her opinions are indeed effect the French society. In addition, right after these tweets were among the internet for everyone to see, France’s first lady soon found herself as one of the least popular figures in France, all because of one simple tweet that didn’t even need to be posted, this indeed is a fact on how careless she was by posting her tweet. I feel that social networks do change our behaviors because from what we see on social networks whether something was posted or tweeted can definitely change our opinion and influence towards someone based on their opinion toward a subject or social status.

     Later on France’s first lady did come to realize that her actions were indeed “clumsy” and that it was a mistake that she “regerts”. She went on by saying: “I had not yet realized that I was no longer a simple citizen. It won't happen again”. Again this brings up the point of how someone’s social status can have a great effect on their influence and popularity in the media. Obviously moving from a simple citizen to France’s first lady is a huge increase to your social status.

     Eventually this whole situation came to the point of affecting the image of President Hollande. People in France’s society began to realize that the president’s own wife was indeed a bit stuck up and crazy, eventually this came to the conclusion in which France began to question Hollande’s presidency because his own wife is making him look bad.

     Even though France’s first lady is a woman of high social status a group of people can be just as powerful sometimes even more when it comes to posting things on social networks. When I use Facebook or Twitter, on average I often see a lot of fads being passed around and used. These fads can be noted by a picture being posted and shared by many people for others to see or even words and phrases that people continuously end their most recent status update with. These fads are as similar to people hoping on the bandwagon; once someone starts it others follow and so on. I often ignore these because to me they are a bit dull but these fads are huge on Facebook and Twitter and you can see them daily. Recently France has again been affected by the usage of social networks, this time with a certain fad, a phrase in this case, that has been going around Twitter. The phrase being overused by many was “#unbonjuif (#agoodjew)”; it was very popular at the time and it was accompanied by a few offensive comments each time it was posted. Eventually the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) had taken this in a very bad manner and took legal action on the situation with Twitter. In the end the UEJF had won against Twitter and had gotten them to remove all comments containing the offensive phrase from the Twitter severs in France. In my opinion it’s a bit sad to see something so anti-Semitic. Moreover, it’s very disturbing to see a social network, a tool for communication and joy, being used in such a harsh way. This definitely has a negative impact on the Jewish community, but it was very pleasing to see that they had won their case to get these anti-Semitic posts off Twitter. As you can see the use of this fad had changed the behavior of some of the French community in which most of the community had jumped on the band wagon. On the other hand the Jewish community of France had retaliated on the matter, thus again showing how the media impacts are lives.

     It’s crazy how such small and simple posts or tweets on any social network can become the topic of a huge issue. Again I find that often times social networks make us careless because we don’t think about what we are sharing on the internet for everyone to see; we don’t ask ourselves if “this really is the right thing to do” or “do I really need to post that”, and the list of questions goes on and on. You can see how the start of one simple joke led to a fad in which everyone was commenting on and not caring for one second if what they were posting had any effect on the Jewish community of France. In addition, we can also see how the carelessness of a person of high social status indeed affected their image amongst their own nation. I guess that social networks give us the opportunity to speak out more and give off a strong opinion that a large quantity of people can see, it could be a possible way of being noticed but they way I see it, is that it’s only a way to attract negative attention toward yourself, although it is possible that positive attention can be gained by this depending on what you’re talking about and who you are. 

Written Task Outline

I've chosen to write my written task based on the ideas of my blog post entitled: "Why We Should Ask Ourselves are you sure you want to tweet/post that? I have chosen to write my written task based on the ideas and examples in this blog post because I do believe it will resemble a well written editorial. Moreover, this is a topic that almost everyone can relate about. In addition, there are a lot of ideas and evidence I can use within my written task, such as the ideas presented in my post.

Outline

Topic: "The true impact the media has on our lives"

Subject: The content of my written task will be about how social networks can change our character on the web. People tend to act differently when they are behind a screen. For example if we take my blog post about France's first lady downplaying her husband's ex-wife we can see the negative impact that this had on her personality and even her husband. This is a great example of how social networks not only give us the ability to speak our minds but also at times act careless and lose our ability to really think about what we are doing. Moreover, this can be linked to aspects such as cyber bullying in which some people find power to downplay others when they are behind a screen.

Text Type: Opinion editorial
I plan on using formal words while showing detailing my opinion about the subject, it may be difficult to reach on towards teens judging by the fact that they read magazines more than newspapers.

Audience: For my audience I would like to pinpoint my ideas toward teens, young adults, and adults. I'm choosing this audience because these are the 3 type of people who happen to use social networks the most in society.

Purpose: To identify how social networks give us 'an extra bang for our buck'; meaning that we often post strong content on the internet that may influence your life and the lives of others. In addition, I will mainly be pinpointing the negative aspects as my point is to show how we are careless and often times seem stronger behind a screen.

Title: Do you Really Want to Post that? Why We Should Always be Cautious of What We Write on the Internet

Rationale: Provided after my written task is complete

If this isn't the write topic to write about I will also consider basing my written task on stereotypes

Mr. Rees if I base my opinion editorial on my outline may I use the same example I used in my post "Why We Should Ask Ourselves are you sure you want to tweet/post that?; provided I go more in depth with the example and connect it with the topic as well as provide other examples?

Why We Should Always Ask Ourselves 'Are you sure you want to tweet/post that?'

Lately in the past four months of France's recent elections French President Francois Hollande's wife Valerie Trierweiler (Both president and first lady can be seen to the right) has quickly found herself as one of France's least popular leading figures. What led to France's first lady's downfall in popularity? Well believe it or not, it started with a simple tweet in twitter. Trierweiler's tweet consisted of downplaying Hollande's ex-companion. In later news France's first lady has repeatedly stated that she "regrets" the tweet and has even told one of France's newspapers that "It was a mistake that I regret  I must have been clumsy because this was badly interpreted". She goes on by saying: "I had not yet realized that I was no longer a simple citizen. It won't happen again". From moving to a simple citizen to France's first lady this obviously has a huge impact on your social status. It was a bit unwise to post a harsh tweet about someone you dislike knowing that you are now a public figure that people look up to and follow. Moreover, you are the president's wife, you have a huge influence on him and his presidency. Although, this wasn't the only time Trierweiler had gained negative recognition for her tweets. During the parliamentary elections, Trierweiler had sent out a tweet wishing good luck to Hollande's opponent and another harsh comment to the president's ex-companion. This had attracted a widespread coverage in France's press. Many called this incident an "embarrassment" to Hollande right after his presidential victory. So from the start of the elections Trierweiler had been decreasing her popularity with the French nation. To make matters worse there had even been statistics about how unpopular the first lady is. In a poll for a French celebrity magazine 67 percent of respondents have a "fairly negative" or "very negative" view on the first lady, moreover, 42 percent said Hollande's private life has a negative impact on the president's image. With all these scandals based upon the first lady, some of the French nation questions Hollande's presidency. Opponents of Hollande now portray him "as a hapless ditherer who lives in fear of two formidable women in his life".

It obvious that the media has a huge impact on our lives from what we can see from this entire event. As regular people who are active on social networks we often find important figures whom we admire posting careless nonsense. This sometimes can have a negative or positive effect on the way we see things. As you can see this event obviously had a negative impact on the first lady and the president, as they have both become unpopular to the nation of France through the carelessness of the first lady. Now most people of France see the first lady as a negative influence on the president and this has been made clear by the media. Moreover, it was very unwise for the first lady of France to post such careless comments especially since the French Press was able to get a hold of it. Being a public figure you'd expect someone to be a bit more responsible but I guess her personal rivalries got the better of her. This is why we should always be responsible and ask ourselves if 'we really need to tweet or post that comment', 'is it really worth it?'; maybe we should keep to ourselves and save our opinions for a more reasonable time.

Here is the actual article about the event from France 24:
http://www.france24.com/en/20121003-france-first-lady-trierweiler-regrets-tweet-mistake-snubbing-hollande-ex-partner-royal

Cuba's Limiting on Journalism

Lately in Latin American news a dissident Cuban blogger by the name of Yoani Sanchez (Right) has been arrested by Cuban authorities. Sanchez has her very own blog known as: Generation Y. Sanchez also covers stories for a Spanish newspaper known as El Pais. Sanchez was arrested before arriving to Bayamo, Cuba where she was planned on covering a story for El Pais about the trial of Spanish politician Angel Carromero. After being arrested another blogger who is known to be pro-government blogged about Sanchez portraying that her intention during the trial was to put on a "media show" of the trial and to disrupt it. This isn't necessarily true because Sanchez's primary intention was to cover the events of the trial. So far in the event El Pais has stated that they have lost contact with Sanchez; it is possible that this could turn into a national crisis much like the Julian Assange situation. Although  throughout this entire event Sanchez has gained even more international attention and recognition for her blog. So from this Sanchez has gained many followers and admirers who will indeed be behind her and would want to see her release.

The Cuban government has been repeatedly been using "arbitrary detention to silence critics, disrupt peaceful assembly, and impede independent journalism". As you can see the media has a impact on many factors of our daily lives; in this case the media has impacted the Cuban government to appose all types of journalism in a very drastic way. In many ways this is seen as a bad fault because this defies the Freedom of Speech; although being a Communist country Freedom of Speech is very limited in fact the Cuban media is controlled by the government. This event could spark many events such as the a crisis between the release of Sanchez. Moreover, maybe even a movement to have the Cuban media break free from the government.

Here are some links to the actual article about the arrest of Yoani Sanchez -
CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/05/world/americas/cuba-blogger-arrest/index.html?hpt=ila_c2
The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/05/cuban-blogger-yoani-sanchez-arrested
Yoani Sanchez's Blog Generation Y:
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/

The Media and Stereotypes

The World Map of Useless Stereotypes
Christoph Niemann

Today there are many impacts that the media has on our lives, some more positive than others. One negative aspect of the media today that has existed for some time now are stereotypes. What are stereotypes? Well for those who don't know stereotypes are: fixed and oversimplified images or ideas of a particular type of person or thing. Most stereotypes are sexual or racial. Stereotypes are used all over the world, in fact they are seen everyday, heard everyday, and used everyday. We see them on TV, in books, and magazines. Stereotypes today are so strong and overused its impossible not to notice them. To the right is a photo of The World Map of Useless Stereotypes. This poster outlines some stereotypes of countries and what they use to define each other. 

There are many other examples of stereotypes other than the ones seen in the poster, some more harsh than others. Some even hit us where we live. For example after the 9/11 terrorist attack many middle eastern cultures and races became victims of stereotypes. These stereotypes pinpointed them and labeled all people who come from the middle east as terrorists. In more recent news there was a article published by The Guardian that was about negative stereotypes being created by a British TV series and its advertisements; the show is called Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. This show airs on Channel 4 on British TV networks and many of its advertising posters where seen as offensive much like the one seen above to the left. Britain's Advertising Standards Authority ruled the advertising campaign as "irresponsible, offensive, and reaffirmed negative stereotypes" that were directed toward the Traveller and Gypsy communities. Many of the other posters used in the advertising campaign also down played the Gypsy community and has left them victim to new negative stereotypes. 

Stereotypes are all over the word and are greatly portrayed by the media and the worldly events that happen daily. Most stereotypes come from movies, TV, and the internet. They have a huge impact on the way people see other cultures and races and they even effect how people treat those cultures. Stereotypes can indeed be seen as a negative aspect created by the media. 

The World Map of Useless Stereotypes (For a closer look): http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/the-world-map-of-useless-stereotypes/

The Guardian Stereotype article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/03/big-fat-gypsy-weddings-stereotypes