This is a film that was written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, the most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel. “Talk to her” was released in Spain on March 15, 2002, and can be categorized in the drama genre with a rating of “R”. This movie also contains an all star Spanish cast consisting of Javier Cámara as Benigno, Darío Grandinetti as Marco, Leonor Watling as Alicia, and Rosario Flores as Lydia.

                “Talk to her” is set in Spain and has a plot that revolves around the two main characters; Benigno and Marco. Benigno is a young nurse and Marco is a middle-aged writer. These two men meet as a result of a chance encounter at a theater. After this encounter, they meet again at the clinic where Benigno works. Marco is there because his girlfriend Lydia, a bullfighter, got injured while working and is now in a coma, while Benigno has dedicated a large amount of his time to patient who used to be a ballet dancer and is currently also in a coma. As each men cares for his respective comatose woman, a strong bond of friendship grows.

                As the story progresses, conflict ensues. First Marco is contacted by Lydia’s ex-lover and is told that he and Lydia had reconnected about a month before her accident. Marco is so upset by this he leaves to travel to Jordan and write for a travel guide. Within Benigno’s side of the plot, he is accused of raping his patient, Alicia, after it is discovered that she is pregnant. While in prison Benigno attempts to inducehis own coma by injesting a large quantity of pills, but instead dies of an overdose.

                The irony in this story is that for a long time Benigno has loved and cared for Alicia and has only been punished for it. He waited a very long time for her to regain consciousness but it is only after he kills himself attempting to be united with her in a comatose state that she finally awakens.

                This film contains a plot that is bursting with drama and emotion but it also offers a completely different aspect as well. This interesting other element is the dance performances. There are a few beautiful scenes that consist of performances by Pina Bausch’s dance company. This draws my attention immediately because I danced for seven years during my late grade school years as well as all throughout high school. I feel that the addition of these scenes gave the film a little extra kick, in my opinion.

                “Talk to her” is very well known in the award circuit with 33 wins and 28 other nomination. The most recent accolade was received in 2003.

             The movie that I chose to review was Vicky Cristina Barcelona.   The director of the movie is Woody Allen, who is also the writer. The movie was released August 18, 2008, and can be categorized under two different genres. The first is romance, which became obvious as soon as we heard Juan ask for a threesome.  The second genre is drama, this is because Juan has an ex-wife, still in the picture, and he is also having an affair with an engaged Vicky.

            The storyline begins with two average American friends, Cristina and Vicky, who decide to take a trip to Barcelona. While on this adventure, they meet a well known painter by the name of Juan Antonio. Vicky is surprised when a romance blossoms between Juan and herself, because she had no intention of cheating on her fiancé. Cristina, on the other hand, is immediately influenced and seduced by Juan’s charm and free spirit.   As the summer goes on, Vicky spends a lot of time with Juan and she begins to question her decisions as well as the situation she in at home. She begins to questions her morals as well as her role as a dedicated future wife. While Christina is with Juan his ex-wife enters and the plot thickens. Over time, Vicky finds that she is beginning to develop feelings for Juan.

            According to the International Movie Database there are many key words.  A few of them are Spain, Summer, Painter, Suicide Attempt, Art, American Abroad, Photography, Infidelity, Sex, Gunshot wound, Break up, Lesbianism, and threesome.  This film has won approximately 16 awards and was nominated for 23 others in both America and Spain.  Some of these awards were the Oscar for best supporting actress, an Eddie for best edited feature film, the critic’s choice award for best comedy movie, and several others for best supporting actress.

            This film has a very well-known cast, which consisted of  Rebecca Hall (Vicky), Scarlett Johansson (Christina), Javier Bardem (Juan Antonio), Christopher Evan Welch, (narrator), and last but  not least Penelope Cruz (Maria).

            The movie has many different settings all over Spain.  The main filming locations were Barcelona and Catalonia.  The movie was original in that the dialogue was in both Spanish and English with the main language being English.

            The dialogue was one of the most interesting components of the film. One line that I found particularly interesting was delivered by Juan: “Well, now that the day’s almost over, is it reasonable of me to ask you if you’ll both join me in my room?”  This was interesting to me mainly because it is the single worst pick up line that I have ever heard. 

            In my opinion, this movie had its ups and downs. It is not the type of movie that I would typically watch in my free time, but it was not unbearable either. I felt like there was a large stereotype throughout the entire movie in regards to the libido of Spanish men.  I also felt that the movie was semi-predictable in that the audience could tell from the beginning that Vicky and Juan would eventually end up together. 

The scenery was one of my absolute favorite components of the movie. Since I am very interested in photography, I can truly appreciate the different settings taken around Spain.

Overall the movie itself was decent, but I do not believe that it would be something that I would choose to watch in my spare time.

             The two major themes in Maria Full of Grace are the financial struggle for families in Columbia, and the immense amount of drug dealing.  The movie takes place in a small village in Colombia.

“A pregnant seventeen year old, Maria, supports her family with her salary working in floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.” (Imdb.com)  The setting for the movie started off in a poor town in Columbia and moves to a shady area of New York City.  The first setting showed Maria’s life at home and how her life unfolded after she was fired and was forced to find a new means of income.  The setting establishes the mood for the length of the movie.  When the setting changed from Columbia to New York City, the entire underlying mood for the plot drastically changed.

            The characters and their personalities are what truly made the movie believable. Maria, the main character, was very upset with her job and hated the way she was treated.  Her mother, throughout the movie, made it blatantly clear that she needed a job, and the family needed the money as a result of their poor residential area. Maria discovers that she is pregnant and begins to experience the tell-tale signs of pregnancy. In one particular scene, Maria was being scolded by her boss, which showed the expression on Maria’s face was a big hint as to how much she truly detested her job. 

As the movie progresses, she meets a guy who seems to be a very promising match for her.  We later learned that the guy was a drug lord, who was solely interested in recruiting new minions to smuggle and sell drugs in America.   Maria met a girl through her new job and who taught her how to swallow the pellets of heroine in order to mule it to the states. As a result of the storyline as well as the actors, I was able to see some of the struggles behind Hispanic culture in Columbia and their way of life.

            I did not find it difficult to understand each characters personality, as I can relate to Maria in several aspects of the character and her situation.  Maria needs to work in order to support her family but does not want to go back to a place that mistreats her as an employee, or as a person in general.  Maria is a brave character that does what she has to do to help her family, but, in the process, puts herself into rough situations in which she has to mature fast for her age.  Her ex-boyfriend was very easy to read; he is a coward and a very selfish person, especially when he hears the news about Maria’s pregnancy.   Towards the end of the movie, you see a caring side of Maria when she tries to take care of her sick friend who eventually dies as a result of the drugs hidden inside her body. 

            Overall, this movie provided a small insight into what some people have to go through within their personal struggle to make a living for themselves and their families. I can somewhat relate to these problems as a result of the current economic situation in the United States at this point in time. It can be considerably hard for many Americans to simply make ends meet. 

Overall, I think this movie had a beneficial message and was very educational, but I do not believe this would be a film that I would watch in my free time.

       I.            Hypothesis

                            a.      Advertisements that focus on a sexual theme tend to generate more sales and product recognition.

     II.            Background Information

                 a.      Definitions

                        i.      Advertisements –  either print or television ad that is readily available to any user

                        ii.      Sexual Theme – the main focus of the ad is suggestive and may or may not have anything to do directly with the product itself

                        iii.      Product Recognition – the ability of the viewer or reader to recall the brand name of the product after viewing the advertisement

                  b.     Background

                        i.      There have been studies conducted in the past that seem to contradict each other. Some claim that sex does sell while others debate that the ads may draw attention, it may be hurtful to the product in the end depending on how the suggestive material is used.

                       ii.      There are also many articles about specific cases and ads that have generated lawsuits and product boycotts as a result of the way that sex was used to promote the product.

  III.            Design

                    a.      I plan to do secondary research in order to conduct a historical study in which I will find as many useful past studies as I can find.

                    b.     I also plan to find any published articles having to do with specific companies’ uses of sex in their advertising and what the outcome was for the product being advertised.

  IV.            Results

Sexual material being used in advertising has been a controversial topic in America for many years, but does it actually work? According to an article written by Mark Levit entitled ‘Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?’, “Sex appeal can increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer’s attention”.

According to Steve, a writer for sentences.org, there are four reasons that sex sells.                    

1. People like to look at images that are considered attractive and/or “sexy”

2. Fantasies are used to increase profit: When an ad depicts a person’s fantasy, the viewer wants to fulfill their fantasy and may buy the product being promoted in order to do so.

3. Imitation: This is tied to the fantasy component. When the viewer sees a beautiful and sexy woman on the screen or page, they want to imitate that model in order to consider purchasing what is being advertised

4. Testosterone: When presented with a provocative image, men’s testosterone level rises and cause men to be more susceptible to the ideas that the ad is trying to purvey.

      A study conducted by Stanford researchers showed “that when heterosexual men are exposed to positive emotional stimuli – in this case, erotic photos of a man and a woman – an area of the brain associated with anticipation of reward is stimulated. In the immediate aftermath of the stimulation, men are consistently more likely to take bigger financial risks than they otherwise would,” said Brian Knutson, an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. A prime example of this stimulation would be demonstrated very consistently by the automotive industry. There are always ads that feature a brand new model of car with a beautiful model in a bikini sitting on the hood. According to this theory a man may be persuaded to buy the car because of the stimulation in his brain as a result of seeing the beautiful girl.

According to Media Analyzer Inc, men tend to focus first and foremost on the sexual content in an ad and this draws their attention away from the most important elements such as the logo or product name. This may be the reason why men are less able to recall the product that was being advertised the more sex is inserted into the ad. Their study shows that, on average, 19.8 percent of men recalled the correct product brand in the non-sexual ads, while only 9.8 percent recalled the brands from the sexual ads. Women, on the other hand, had a 22.3 percent success rate of recalling brands for nonsexual ads and a 10.8 percent success rate with the sexual ads.

Media Analyzer Inc also used its Attention tracking software to measure the effectiveness of commercials on both men and women. Here are the results they came up with:

The Media Analyzer Inc study also produced some interesting statistics about sex in advertisements. They found that 58 percent of women believe there is too much sex in advertising, and more than 40 percent of all women feel that sexual ads signify and promote a general deterioration of moral and social values.

The first type of advertising to be studied was the print ads. Along these lines, Magazine Publishers of America released its total circulation revenue reports, and these reports proved to have some interesting results when it comes to the issue of sex in the media. In 2001, Playboy magazine’s total circulation revenue was nearly 109 million dollars, but surprisingly enough Reader’s Digest Magazine blew Playboy out of the water with circulation revenue of almost 317 million dollars. In fact in that same year the top ten magazines, in order, in regards to circulation revenue were AARP Bulletin, Modern Maturity, Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, National Geographic, Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and TIME (weekly). None of these top ten magazines are considered risqué provocative. Playboy managed to rank 17^th for that year. Could it be that overt sexuality does not sell as many people may think?

      Some print ads that have been used in recent times concentrate so fully on the sexuality it is very hard for the viewer to determine what the product the advertiser is trying to sell. Some companies will counteract this by placing writing within the ad that displays the logo or explains what the product is but others still do not have any indication other than the picture. How successful can an ad be if the intended audience cannot determine what product is being advertised? Here are two examples of what these types of ads may look like. These pictures were used as ads in recent times but I do not how they could be effective.

Example 1: This is an ad for Renova brand toilet paper, but the readers eyes are directed first and foremost to the scantily clad man and woman in the foreground of the picture. The only ways for a person to know that this is in fact a ad about toilet paper is through the toilet in the background and the wording in the top right. If it were not for the sexuality depicted in this ad, it would only be a picture of a toilet in an empty room. Sex is this entire advertisement.

Example 2: Can you tell what this picture is supposed to be advertising? This is an incredibly and overtly sexual ad that depicts a woman in high heels that appears to be overpowering a man that is only dressed in a very skimpy pair of underwear. Both models are dressed in all black to insinuate some sort of sex game. Do you notice what the woman happens to have one of her feet on? A vacuum? Yes, indeed, this is an advertisement for a vacuum cleaner. The product is hidden due to the element of sex and to some people may not appear evident at all. 

Example 3: This picture is just overtly sexual but it is obvious what is being sold. However, this ad borders on offensive and probably did not generate much positive feedback.

Another medium in which sexual advertisements are used is television commercials. Although these commercials may be slightly more censored than that of the print media, they are still quite sexual and sometimes can be just as misleading as the ads that appear in print. The most sexual ads air at the early hours of the morning when most little children are in bed and most likely will not be watching. These include advertisements for the ever popular ‘Girls Gone Wild’ videos and the adult chat lines and dating services.  These commercials air quite frequently during these early morning hours and can be quite risqué even though they are censored. They may show naked girls with only labels to cover them or a girl talking on the phone in just her underwear. These ads cannot escape this type of display because that is the business they are in: Sex. Others can go way overboard when it is certainly not a necessity. For example, a fast food restaurant does not need to feature a woman in a string bikini eating one of their burgers in order to sell food.

With all this information in hand there is just one question that begs to be asked: How far is too far when it comes to sex in advertising?

The misuse of sex appeal in an ad can be very costly to a company. The use of overt sexuality in a very public media may result in boycotts and even lawsuits. One of the most controversial recent television commercial was one that showed Paris Hilton in a string bikini washing a luxury car and eating a burger. The ad was for the fast food restaurant Carl’s Jr. The Parents Television council regarded the ad as “Soft core pornography”. Not only was the restaurant boycotted by the people of the council, the ad was subsequently removed from the air. This cost the company a substantial amount of money and caused them to lose customers.

     V.            Conclusion

1. a.      My research offered information both in support and against my hypothesis. Sex in advertising does sell but it is a fine line between it being considered a good persuasion tactic and downright trashy and offensive. When used in moderation, sexual innuendos can help an ad campaign but many companies today take this idea way too far and end up offending people and losing money because they are forced to pull their ad or commercial.
2. b.     I believe my research does fit in with my background. I found both studies and articles to support my hypothesis. I also found some information the attempts to disprove my hypothesis.
3. c.      One thing that I may think about doing differently would be to possibly conduct a survey as to whether people recognize what product certain print ads were selling.

  VI.            Resources

1. a.      Does Sex Really Sell?: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=109&sid=7efaf1eb-81e2-4269-939c-e
2. b.     Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sex-in-Advertising:-Does-it-sell?&id=14551

1. c.      Sex Sells But Good Taste Builds Brand Reputation:

http://www.modernghana.com/newsp/172081/1/pageNum1/sex-sells-but-good-taste-builds…

1. d.     Four Reasons Sex Sells: http://www.sentences.org/four-reasons-sex-sells/
2. e.     Sex Sells, Right?: http://beverlylahayinstitute.org/articledisplay.asp?id=4021&department=BL&cat…
3. f.       Irrelevant Image of Attractive Women Can Make A Man More Willing TO Take Big Financial Risks: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403104433.htm

          Social Security is defined as a “government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents” (“Social security”).  In the United States, Social Security is a system of “public programs designed to provide income and services to individuals in the event of retirement, sickness, disability, death, or unemployment” (“Social Security”).

Today’s Social Security programs are the result of a bill that was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or FDR, as a part of his New Deal program. This act was signed into law on August 14, 1935 and was called the Social Security Act (Wolfe). In order for this plan to be successful, it had to be “supported from ‘contributions’ in the form of taxes on individuals’ wages and employers’ payrolls rather than directly from Government funds”. The act brought about many complex administrative challenges, such as “authorizing the Social Security Board to register citizens for benefits, to administer the contributions received by the federal government, and to send payments to recipients (Ourdocuments.gov).

The act also established many different programs. The six original programs were Old-Age Assistance, Old Age Benefits, Unemployment Compensation, Aid to Dependent Children, Maternal and Child Welfare, and Aid to the Blind. Only two of these programs, Old-Age Benefits and Unemployment Compensation, are operated as social insurance programs, while the others were created to support and supplement the two insurance programs. The social insurance programs were financed when the federal government deducted taxes from workers’ and when the states collected a tax from employers. The Old-Age Assistance and Aid to the Blind programs were meant primarily to supplement Old-Age Benefits. The Maternal and Child Welfare program funded health-care programs for mothers and their children who were living in poverty. Finally, the Aid to Dependent Children provided support to children with only one parent, or those living with relatives other than their parents. (“Social Security”)

Due to the growth of the economy and the technological advances that had occurred since the Social Security Act was made into a law, there had to be some changes made to the original act. These changes were called amendments. There were more than twenty amendments to the Social Security act since 1935. “One of the first amendments, passed in 1939, added benefit support for the dependents of retired workers and for survivors of deceased workers” (“Social Security”) Another amendment, passed in 1953, created a new form of Social Security that is still in effect today, the Old-Age, Survivors’, and Disability Insurance or OASDI. An amendment passed in 1965 created Medicare which also included the system of Medicaid (Infoplease.com).

These different amendments created many programs, still used today, in order to support those whose are involved with Social Security. These Programs are OASDI, Unemployment Compensation, and Supplemental Insurance Income. The Old-Age, Survivors’, and Disability Insurance helps the elderly, the survivors or deceased worker and the disabled. This specific program is financed by the taxes on earned bankroll incomes that were placed on employees, their employers and the self employed (“Social Security”).

The Unemployment Compensation program is only for temporary use for those who have recently lost their job. This program pays about 50 percent previously earned by the worker, depending on the amount of the original wages. The length of time in which this benefit is issued may vary from state to state, but every state is required by federal law to provide the qualified recipients with up to 26 weeks of financial support. The factors affecting the length of time in which the unemployed person receives benefits may depend on the amount of wages earned as well as the number of weeks worked over the course of the previous year. There are exceptions, even to individual state laws, when a person is unemployed for an extended amount of time the benefits that have been received may continue up until the length of up to 39 weeks (“Social Security”).

The Supplemental Security Insurance program, or SSI, provides support through payments to elderly, blind and disabled individuals with little or no income. The amount of support provided depends on the income of the recipients and their families. This program is used by the government as “a safety net for the working and retired poor” (“Social Security”)

Another important program was established in 1965 in order to better the social security system. Medicare is a “national health program in the United States for persons aged 65 or over and the disabled” (“Medicare”). There is also a special compensation for those of all ages, who experience End-Stage Renal Disease (Medicare General Info). Medicare is funded through a tax on the earnings of employees, and that tax is matched by the employer (“Medicare”). Medicare has three different programs that are designed to help the people who receive benefits from Medicare. The first of these programs is hospital insurance. This type of insurance does not require a premium to be paid and supplies participants with coverage of inpatient care in many different healthcare facilities. The second program is medical insurance. Medical insurance does require a monthly premium for most people and covers medical services such as physical therapy and occupational therapy. The third, and final, program is Prescription Drug Coverage. The Prescription Drug Coverage program offered by Medicare may require a monthly premium and is available to all with receive Medicare benefits. This program helps people by providing lower prescription drug costs and keeping the costs from escalating in the future (Medicare General Info.)

Along with the Medicare program came another program called Medicaid. Medicaid is a “national health insurance program in the United States for low-income persons” (“Medicaid”). Medicaid was established in 1965 and is available to only to certain low-income workers and families who fit the guidelines set forth by the federal and state governments. This is a state administered program in which each individual state can set specific guidelines as who receives the benefits and how much they can receive. Some of the requirements to receive Medicaid benefits include age, and whether you are pregnant, disabled, blind, or elderly. The Medicaid system is unique in that it pays the healthcare providers directly instead of paying the individual (Medicaid General Info).

Although the many programs of Social Security are designed to help those in need of medical assistance, there are also many flaws to this extensive system that may prevent this from happening in the future. Social Security faces four major problems that may prevent today’s young workers from getting the chance to enjoy the same retirement as their parents will in the years to come. These problems are the “massive future deficits, the inability of workers to build a nest egg and the lack of property rights to their benefits, a poor rate of return on their payroll taxes, and no choice of how benefits are paid” (John). The main concern of the many working people of today is that “as the millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the program’s annual cash surplus will shrink and then disappear” (“Social Security’s Problem”). This is because there were more people born in the baby boomer era than in the next generation. As a result, there are not enough workers to supply the financial needs for the baby boomers. “Recent estimates indicate that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted by 2041” (“Social Security”). If the cash surplus does disappear as predicted, then Social Security will be rendered incapable of supplying benefits from its payroll and other tax revenues. Many of the young workers of today are concerned that there will be no money left for them to receive Social Security benefits in their later years. If this continues, the end result will be a decline in benefits and the entire economy will have to be adjusted to accommodate the change in Social Security (“Social Security’s Problem”).

There have been numerous suggested solutions to this problem caused by the retirement of the baby boomers. According to socialsecurity.org, “there are only three real solutions to Social Security’s rapidly approaching fiscal problems: raise taxes, reduce spending, or make the current payroll taxes work harder by investing them through some form of personal retirement account (PRA)” (“Finding Solutions”). “Establishing PRAs is the only solution that will also give future retirees the option to receive an improved standard of living in retirement” (John). A reform of social security is not an easy task. In order to reform a system, such as Social Security, some major changes must be made. In creating reform, we must: “create an account structure that uses a portion of existing payroll taxes and allows workers of all income levels an opportunity to build family nest eggs, create a simple, low-cost administrative structure for the accounts that uses the current payroll tax system and professional investment managers, create a carefully controlled set of investment options that includes an appropriate default option, adjust current Social Security benefits to a more sustainable level, create a realistic plan for paying the general revenue cost of establishing a PRA system, and create a system that allows workers flexibility in structuring their retirement benefits while ensuring that they receive an adequate monthly benefit” (John).

Reform is a very difficult action to perform. The United States has faced many setbacks due to the differing opinions of the many people involved in bringing about reform. “Fundamental differences of opinion on how to reform Social Security have thus far kept the government from making any major changes to the system…Given the uncertain soundness of the system, efforts at reform are likely to continue for some time to come” (“Social Security”).

I believe that in order to reform Social Security we need to place more strict eligibility guidelines for those who may receive payments and benefits from Social Security and its associated programs. In doing this, we will help to save the reserves of cash surplus and help the generation of the baby boomers have a happy and comfortable retirement. I also believe that the system should be restructured so that the people who pay more into Social Security for longer periods of time should receive more benefits than those who have only paid a little for very short stints of time. If these suggestions are put into place, Social Security will become more fairly distributed and keep the programs around for many years to come.

Works Cited

“Finding Solutions.” www.socialsecurityreform.prg. 17 Apr. 2008

     <http://www.socialsecurityreform.org/solutions/index.cfm>.

InfoPlease.com. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0861154.html>.

John, David C. “How to Fix Social Security.” www.heritage.org. 17 Apr. 2008

     <http://www.heritage.org/Research/SocialSecurity/bg1811.cfm>.

“Medicaid.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.bartleby.com/65/me/

     Medicaid.html>.

Medicaid General Info. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidGenInfo/>.

“Medicare.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.bartleby.com/65/so/

     socsecur.html>.

Medicare General Info. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareGenInfo/>.

Ourdocuments.gov. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=68>.

“social security.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://www.bartleby.com/65/so/

     socsecur.html>.

“Social Security.” Encarta Encyclopedia. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://encarta.msn.com/text_761561113__0/

     Social_Security.html>.

“Social Security’s Problem.” www.socialsecurity reform.org. 17 Apr. 2008

     <http://www.socialsecurityreform.org/problem/index.cfm>.

Wolfe, L. “Social Security As FDR Defined It.” EIR. 15 Apr. 2008 <http://larouchepub.com/other/

     2004/site_packages/ss_privation/315fdrs_soc_sec.html>.

          The average college or university of today is a unique atmosphere where students can gain knowledge about their desired field and meet new people from many different races, ethnicities and religions.  The average institution’s student body may consist of young adults from every religion, from Christianity to Buddhist and even Atheists. Although some may believe that a college education will have a negative effect on a student’s religious faith, the students and researchers seem to believe otherwise.

          Over the past decade, there has been a significant decline in religious affiliation and attendance. Some people believe that a college education is the main contributor to the declination of attendance at religious services. This common belief is both true and false.

“The assumption that the religious involvement of young people diminishes when they attend college is of course true: 64 percent of those currently enrolled in a traditional four-year institution have curbed their attendance habits. Yet, 76 percent of those who never enrolled in college report a decline in religious service attendance” (Regnerus and Uecker).

          The religious attendance of college students has declined, but the rate of decline from non-college students is greater.

“Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that college attendance appears to prevent young adults from losing their religion” (Kwon).

          This same research, from the University of Texas at Austin, concluded that “those who had never attended college had the highest rates of decline in church attendance, diminished importance placed on religion, and disaffiliation from religion” (Kwon). This study also found that an overwhelming majority of 82 percent of college students maintain a certain level of religiosity as young adults and 86 percent retain their religious affiliation (Kwon).

          The average college student does not experience a decline in the importance of faith in their lives. The beliefs of most students “go largely untouched for the duration of their education” and “lies dormant, waiting to be awakened at some point after graduation” (Regnerus and Uecker).

A study conducted by the administrators of many prestigious universities, including the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, shows that current college students are displaying a more fervent interest in religion and spirituality than ever before.  Professor Peter J. Gomes, a professor of 37 years at Harvard University, said, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years”. (Finder) Statistically speaking, out of the 112,000 students surveyed by the Higher education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, more than two thirds admitted to having indulged in prayer and 80 percent admitted that they believed in God. Nearly half of the freshman poled in this survey said they wished to seek opportunities in order to grow spiritually (Finder).

“Universities are no longer viewed as hostile toward religion.” Recently, they have been described “not as a breeding ground for apostasy, but as ‘a breeding ground for vital religious practice and teaching,” (Kwon).

Across the country, colleges are developing discussion groups for students who seek answers to hard life questions and matters of faith, such as the happenings of the afterlife. These discussions are not forced on the students, but can provide an intellectually stimulating discussion on some frequently debated questions of spirituality. At Berkley, for example, 50 to 60 Christian groups have been established on campus. (Finder) These groups helped students find ways to stay true to their faith. In the article “How Not to Lose Your Faith in College”, Thabiti Anyabwile lists six ways to keep your faith while in college. These steps are to find and join a good church, to choose your friends with biblical criteria in view, to remain sexually pure at all costs, to study, to call home and to remember the counsel of God. According to the article, if these things are followed, a student should be in good spiritual shape (Anyabwile).

Some campus officials attribute this growth in religious interest to the rise of the religious right in politics (Finder). More political candidates take their political stances based on their religious beliefs which allow the topic of religion to be more widely talked about. Another possible contributor could be the traumatizing events of September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq. These violent events increased the religious influence in many people’s lives and renewed their faith (Finder).

Rev. Lloyd Steffen, the chaplain of Lehigh University, said:

“My theory is that the baby boomers decided they weren’t going to impose their religious life on their children…The idea was to let them come to it themselves. And then they get to campus and things happen… Real issues arise for them, and they sometimes feel that they don’t have resources to deal with them. And sometimes they turn to religion and courses in religion” (Finder).

“Some of the nation’s largest campus ministry groups are expanding their campus chapters and exploring new colleges, recognizing the growing interest in religion and spirituality on campuses” (Kwon).

It has also been proven through a research study that was released by the University of California that “students who integrated spirituality into their lives experienced significantly lower levels of psychological distress as compared with students who had little or no involvement in spiritual or religious activities” (Sullivan). The study focused on activities such as reading sacred texts, attending religious services or joining religious organizations on campus. TIME magazine also conducted a study which concluded that meditation increases mood stabilizers in the brain, and most people believe in meditation as a source of prayer and reflection.

While many people may believe that a college education can corrupt the religious influences in a student’s life and increase the decline in religious attendance, it has been proven through research that religious faith “is rarely seen as something that could either influence or be influenced by the educational process” (Regnerus and Uecker). “Faith remains in the background of students’ lives as a part of who they are, but not a part they talk about much with their peers or professors.” Students may not always be open about their faith, but that does not mean that the student has abandoned all religious affiliation.

Works Cited

Anyabwile, Thabiti. “How Not to Lose Your Faith in College.” Boundless.org. 1 Feb. 2007. 3 Apr. 2008

     <http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001439.cfm>.

Finder, Alan. “Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus.” NY Times 2 May 2007. 3 Apr. 2008

     <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/education/02spirituality.html>.

Kwon, Lillian. “College Not ‘Public Enemy’ for Religiosity.” Christian Post Reporter (Jan. 2007). 3

     Apr. 2008 <http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070614/

     27982_College_Not_’Public_Enemy’_for_Religiosity>.

Regnerus, Mark D., and Jeremy E. Uecker. How Corrosive is College to Religious Faith and Practice? 3

     Apr. 2008 <http://:religion.ssrc.org/reforum/regerus_uecker.pdf>.

Sullivan, Valerie. “Can religion reduce college students’ stress?” Tuftsdaily.com. 18 Nov. 2004. 3

     Apr. 2008 <http://www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2004/11/18/features/can-religion.reduce.college.students.stress-1489535.shtml>.

          Megan Nicole Kanka was an average seven year-old girl living with her two parents in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. On July 29, 1994, Megan was lured into her neighbor’s house in the hopes of seeing a puppy (Megan Nicole Kanka). This neighbor was thirty-three-year-old Jesse Timmendequas. “Timmendequas had twice before been convicted of sexually assaulting young girls, had spent six years in what the press referred to as a ‘treatment facility,’ and had only recently been released and returned, as they say, to the community” (Decter 1). Kanka’s body was discovered in a heavily weeded area located in Mercer County Park. It was later determined that she was raped. Timmendequas was questioned by police and later taken into custody. He was the last person to Megan alive (Hennessey A1).

          Timmendequas was charged with the rape and murder of Megan Kanka and was sent to trial. “The six-man, six-woman jury returned its verdict after deliberating for more than 10 hours over two days. They decided unanimously that Timmendequas should get death by injection instead of life in prison without parole.” (“Jurors order death”) This ruling satisfied the wishes of parents Maureen and Richard Kanka.

          The people in the community were outraged not only about this brutal crime, but also by the fact that they were not informed of the convicted sex offenders residing in their neighborhood. In retaliation, the community members formulated a petition “demanding the passage of a state law that would require correction officials to notify people when a sex offender has moved into their neighborhood” (Decter 1). Over 400,000 citizens signed this petition forcing the newly formulated “Megan’s Law” to be passed by the New Jersey State Legislature in an unprecedented eighty-nine days.

          Megan’s Law requires two things: sex offender registration and sex offender community notification. The law requires sex offender registration because “sex offenders pose a high risk of re-offending after release from custody and protecting the public from sex offenders is a primary governmental interest.” Community notification “assists law enforcement in investigations and deters sex offenders from committing new sex offenses”. (Megans-Law.net)

          There are many people who tend to argue that enacting laws of registration and community notification the government would be alienating the sex offender’s right to privacy, but according to Megans-Law.net, “privacy interests of persons convicted of sex offenses are less important than the government’s interest in public safety”. The people in the community have a right to know when there is a dangerous person living in their neighborhood and possibly spending time with their children.

          After New Jersey passed this new set of laws, many other states followed suit. Varying versions of these laws have been passed all across the United States. Forty-six states in all have adopted some form of Megan’s Law (Megans-Law.net). Although these individual state laws have “little or no uniformity”, they still deal with the same principles and protect residents from the dangers of convicted sex offenders. Some states even go as far as forcing the community notification to include “photographs, physical descriptions, dates of birth, and details concerning the offenses for which offenders were convicted (Megan’s Law 37). In addition, a federal law was signed and passed by former President Bill Clinton on May 17, 1996(Megans-Law.net).

          Although the death of Megan Kanka is a true tragedy, the laws that have been passed in her name have enabled people to know how to better protect their children and themselves. Megan Kanka’s memory will always live on and the laws made in her name will continue to protect people for many years to come.

Works Cited

Decter, Midge. “Megan’s Law and the New York Times.” Unknown 98.4 (Oct. 1994): 61.

Hennessey, Raymond. “Murdered Girl Found.” The Times 31 July 1994: A1+A14.

“Jurors order death sentence for Megan Kanka’s killer.” CNN.com. 15 Feb. 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/

     US/9706/20/kanka.verdict.pm/>.

Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation- Mission. 15 Feb. 2008 <http://megannicolekankafoundation.org/

     mission.htm>.

“Megan’s Law.” West’s Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Lehman, Jeffrey Phelps, and Shirelle. 2nd

     ed. Vol. 7. N.p.: Thomson Gale, n.d. 36-38.

Megans-Law.net. 15 Feb. 2008 <http://www.megans-law.net/>.

            I chose to study the communication phenomenon of the everyday greeting. The greeting is used by everyone in their daily conversations. These greetings may vary from person to person and can reflect the type of bond the two people share with each other. Greetings may be very short and contain an exchange of only a few words, or may lead to a longer conversation. Greetings may be considered the basis of communication because a greeting is the very first thing in a conversation and without a greeting the conversation may seem to be very awkward and forced. The five concepts I chose to study in relation to the everyday greeting were: Symbols, Differences in Gendered Speech, Relational Continuity, Small Talk and Relational technologies.

            Symbols are a very prominent part of greetings. According to Leeds-Hurwitz’s, Communication in Everyday Life, symbols are defined as “human creations that hold no life of their own but only exist after two or more people have agreed upon their use. Anything can be a symbol, so long as it stands for something else.” In order to study these symbols, I sat in Daly’s and watched the people around me and used field-notes to record what I had witnessed. The results of this study proved to be very helpful in solidifying the importance of greetings in everyday life. Some of the most common symbols used in greeting another person are usually hand gestures and other bodily gestures. A simple wave was a very common gesture used among the students in Daly’s. This can symbolize a casual friendship. For example, the two students may know each other from a class but may not talk very often. In this case a wave is also a very appropriate greeting gesture. A handshake was also relatively common. This may symbolize a casual relationship as well, but this gesture was more often used when a person is meeting another for the first time. According to the research conducted, a handshake is most commonly used among college students when greeting a teacher or administrator. This is a more formal gesture and is used less often.  Hugs are also very common. These seem to be used mostly among very close friends. Kisses seem to be the least common of the symbols of greetings.  These gestures tend to be reserved for extremely close relationships, such as boyfriends and girlfriends. All of these symbols, in a greeting, mean “Hello”, but some people may not be able to tell the details of the relationship through these symbols.

            Differences in Gendered Speech are also very prominent in greetings. Men and Women greet people in different ways. Men tend to use different handshakes, often made up by the men performing them. These vary from person to person because anyone can make up something different to do. One thing that I found during my research was that men tend to not hug other men, but will readily hug women. Men may also use “slang” words while greeting other men. The words that were most often used were “Yo”, “Word”, and “Sup?” These words hold different meanings are can be used very often as a greeting. Women, on the other hand, will hug both men and women. Women also tend to get very excited when they see someone they have not seen a person in a significant amount of time. When this occurs women may jump up and down, scream with excitement, and run over and hug the other person. In my own personal experience I have discovered that men do not show nearly as much emotion as women show. Men tend to act similarly around their close friends as well as people they barely even know, while women change the way they act depending on the closeness of the people they are around.

            Greetings can also be a method of maintaining relational continuity. According to Sahlstein in Wood & Duck, Relational Continuity is defined as “the sense that the relationship has remained intact over space and time”. In a typical greeting, a person inquires about how the other person’s life is going. After the second person answers they usually ask the first person the same question they were asked. After both people have answered the question, everyone involved in the conversation has been updated on the happenings of the others’ lives. This allows the conversation to continue beyond the greeting. People may be able to offer advice about the problems occurring in the other person’s life, and in doing this the relationship may also become stronger.  The following is a phone conversation, gained through an interview with Shannon Walush (Rider Student), between Shannon and Gerard, a couple going to different colleges:

            Shannon: Hi

            Gerard: Hey

            Shannon: How was your day?

            Gerard: It was okay. I had a test in Physics.

            Shannon: How do you think you did?

            Gerard: I’m not sure. I think I messed up one part, which may give me a bad grade.

            Shannon: Well, if you need help studying just let me know I would be glad to help.

            Gerard: Thank you. So, how was your day?

            Shannon: Good.

            Greetings that establish relationship continuity are essential in long distance relationships because it allows both people to still feel involved in the other’s life even though there may be a significant distance between the two.

            Small Talk is also a very large part of greetings. According to Wood & Duck’s “Composing Relationships”, small talk “refers to talk that builds relationships without actually seeming to offer much in the way of content”. Small talk is used in greetings when a person asks about the other.  The following is conversation Gabriella Sanchez and Sara Chobert had one move-in day on September 2, 2007.

            Gabriella:  Hi! I’m Gabby.

            Sara: Hey! I’m Sara. Where do you live?

            Gabriella: Manalapan, NJ. How about you?

            Sara: I’m from Philadelphia, PA.

            Gabriella: So, how old are you?

            Sara: I’m seventeen. How about you?

            Gabriella: I’m eighteen.

            This small talk conversation allowed the two roommates to get to know a little bit about one another and allowed a relationship to build. Even though this conversation did not contain a lot of information, it helped the two roommates lay down the foundation for more conversations in the future. Small talk is a very important part of greetings, and can lead to longer and deeper conversations in the future.

            Greetings can also differ depending on the relational technologies used to hold the conversation. Relational Technologies are defined in “Everyday Communication with Relational Technologies” by Walter Carl, as technologies capable of “extending our capacities to monitor and hold one another accountable for our actions”. Greetings differ from one technology to another. A greeting is virtually non-existent in a text message. People who utilize text messaging usually get right to the point and usually will skip the greeting all together. Text messaging is usually for asking questions, but can also be used for casual conversation. If this service is being used for casual conversation, then there may be a greeting of “Hey” or “Sup”. Another relational technology is AIM, or AOL Instant Messaging. When using this technology, a person usually does use a greeting. This is because AIM is usually and most frequently used for casual and everyday conversation, but it can also be used to find out specific information from a person. If it is being utilized to purely gain information, a greeting may not be used and the question may be asked right at the beginning of the conversation, but this is not always the case because each conversation and person may differ in their way of using technology to communicate. Yet another relational technology would be the cellular phone. Through my research I have found that this is the most popular relational technology because it is not only used by teenagers and young adults but it is also used by older adults as well as some senior citizens. The cell phone is becoming a lifeline for the communication world of today. People use cellular phones in order to get information as well as have casual conversations. The invention of the cellular phone has greatly diminished the need for face-to-face communication.

            Greetings are a very crucial part of effective communication, and should be more valued and studied. There are many different interpretations to the different types of greetings and we can learn a lot from the way one person greets another. Many people do not realize that a greeting may give off so many signals and so much important information. If more people knew about the benefits about studying the signs found though the gestures and words used in greeting other people.

 References

1. “Introduction” (Leeds-Hurwitz, Communication in Everyday Life. Ablex. 1989. 1-15)
2. “Composing Relationships” (Wood & Duck, Composing Relationships Communication in Everyday Life. Wadsworth, 2006. 1-11)
3. “<where r u?><here u?>: Everyday Communication with Relational Technologies” (Walter Carl in Wood & Duck, Composing Relationships, 96-109)
4. “Relational Life in the 21^st Century: Managing People, Time and Distance.” (Erin Sahlstein in Wood & Duck, 110-118)

Marie Winn, author of the essay “Television: The Plug-In Drug”, states that as a result of the family’s dependence on TV, family rituals that have defined a family as unique and special, have diminished. For example, Winn tells the story of a young woman from Chicago who reminisces about her childhood memories of family gatherings for the holidays: “Christmas time was particularly nice because everyone always brought all their toys and games…And then one year I remember becoming suddenly aware of how different everything had become…I remember being stunned by how awful that was. Somehow the television had become more attractive.”

In today’s society, children have been the most affected by the development of television. “Through the changes it has made in family life, television emerges as the important influence in children’s lives today,” says Winn. The family routine has become so television oriented that it has caused some children to experience a decreased interest in social interaction. Winn writes about the findings of a first grade teacher who taught a student who was very detached from the others. The teacher decided to talk to the girl’s parents. “The parents come home after picking up the child at the baby sitter’s. Then the mother fixes dinner while the child watches TV. Then they have dinner and the child goes to bed.” This child’s life is based around the television and therefore has decreased social skills.

One of the most popular genres of television today is “reality” TV. “Their success is the media story of the (new) century, along with the ratings triumph of the big-money game shows such as Who wants to be a Millionaire,” says Salmon Rushdie in his essay entitled “Reality TV: A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Morality”. In these reality shows, not everything that occurs can be shown in a one hour segment. Therefore, scenes have to be pieced together at the discretion of the editors. This can completely distort what has actually taken place. The MTV show “Real World” is a perfect example of this. The producers of this show choose what airs and what does not. Only the scenes that make the show interesting are actually shown. This is also very true when it comes to news broadcasts. James Fallows makes this point very clear in his essay entitled “Who shot Mohammed Al-Dura?”. This essay tells the tragic story of “a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed during an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators on September 30, 2000”. Mohammed crouched behind his father, Jamal, but was shot in the torso. Fallows says that “The footage of the shooting is unforgettable, and it illustrates the way in which television transforms reality”. There has been evidence discovered that proves that the incident may not have happened as the news reports suggests. In order to piece together a day’s footage, some clips have to be left out, and this may distort a viewer’s perception of what had actually occurred. “The tapes overlap in some areas but leave mysterious gaps in others…Only when these vignettes are packaged together as a conventional TV news report do they seem to have a narrative coherence,” says Fallows.

As television grows as a main entertainment source, reality TV has progressed to the point that each show has to beat the one that came before it. There are shows today that feel they need to “one-up” each other. This practice has gotten out of hand to an extent. Contestants and game shows as well as reality shows are being placed into more dangerous environments and are being made to do very dangerous stunts. The American television viewer has become so desensitized because of the content on television today, that producers and writers must think of things that the audience has definitely never seen before. This causes the contestants to be in grave danger. For example, the show Fear Factor makes contestants compete for a cash prize by doing dangerous stunts or more commonly eating everything ranging from inappropriate animal body parts, such as cow testicles and pig scrotums, to insects, such as cockroaches and earthworms. The reality shows of today have to beat the high standards set by this show. What affect does this have on a person’s responses to what goes on in the outside world? Fallows says “In the world outside TV our numbed senses already require increasing doses of titillation.” This means that as a result of the so-called reality TV shows; only the most sensational events are of inertest to the average person. “One murder is enough; only the mass murders make the front pages. You have to blow up a building full of people or machine-gun a whole royal family to get our attention.” Consequently, regular life appears to be extremely dull in comparison to the lives shown on reality TV.

Television has had an increasingly negative effect on the lives of today’s Americans. Television has affected the news reports, entertainment, as well as the family dynamic. One must constantly reexamine the answer to the questions: How much is too much? Has television affected too much of the American life?

A clear example of the belief in the “American dream” can be found in Amy Tan’s story, “Two Kinds”. In this story her mother wants her daughter to achieve the mother’s perception of the “American dream”. Tan, a child of Chinese immigrants, has her character say, “America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China…but she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better”. Even though she did not have the best life in China, she wanted the best life possible for her daughter.

One must question: What is a decent quality of life? D’Souza, an immigrant from Bombay, India, further explains this idea of the “American dream” in his essay “Becoming American”.  D’Souza says “The point is that the United States is a country where the ordinary guy has a good life”. He also says that in every country the rich person can live well, but America is the only place where even the poor person can live a good life. The life described by Lars Eighner in his essay “On Dumpster Diving” supports what D’Souza has proposed. Eighner, a gay American, describes his life as a “scavenger”. He finds himself homeless when his mother kicks him out of the house at age 18, after discovering that he was a homosexual. He began dumpster diving a year before he became homeless, but made the best of his situation and led a satisfactory life. He was even able to learn two lessons during the course of his scavenging. “The first is to take what you can use and let the rest go by,” says Eighner. “The second lesson is the transience of material being.” This supports D’Souza’s statement by showing that even though Eighner had nothing to his name but other people’s cast-aways, he was able to maintain a degree of quality to his life.

However, the major obstacle that many people in pursuit of the “American dream” face is stereotyping. The most common stereotypes are associated with ethnicities. Judith Ortiz Cofer, an immigrant from Puerto Rico, explains her experiences with this in her essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”. Cofer says “As a Puerto Rican girl living in the United States and wanting like most children to `belong,’ I resented the stereotype that my Hispanic appearance called forth from many people I met”. In her travels she encounters many people who use different stereotypes about Latinas when they speak to her. For example, while on a business trip to London, England, a drunken man stops her in the street and sings his version of “Maria” from West Side Story. She also encounters a different man who decides to call her Evita and sing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, as well as a woman in a Miami restaurant that mistakes her for a waitress and calls her over to place an order for a cup of coffee. An example of stereotyping also can be found in Brent Staples’ essay “Just Walk on by”. Staples, an African American, suffered from stereotypes when he was mistaken for a mugger while taking an innocent walk one night. Staples writes, “And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself…I only needed to turn a corner into dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make and errant move after being pulled over by a policeman.” Staples was considered a threat as a result of ethnic stereotypes.

Another obstacle in achieving the “American dream” would be that of cultural backgrounds. This is mainly faced by immigrants and the children of immigrants. Cofer describes the Career Day at her high school, in which the students were expected to show up in the proper attire in order to attend a job interview. Cofer writes, “Puerto Rican girls always stood out for wearing `everything at once’”, “meaning too much jewelry and too many accessories.” That day Cofer learned that the way the women dressed in Puerto Rico was misinterpreted in America as “vulgar” or as a “come-on”. The obstacle of cultural backgrounds is also exemplified by Amy Tan. The daughter does not agree with her mother’s desire for the future. Her mother wants this because, when she was growing up in China, there was not much of a choice in how a person’s life was to be spent. She just wants her daughter to have all of the chances that she did not receive as a child.

In America, people have the opportunity to achieve a better life. Although many obstacles may complicate the journey to the “American dream”, it has historically been proven that these obstacles can be overcome and this goal of the “American dream” can be achieved.