Fast Forward by Lauren Greenfield

[ This assignment was place here after I removed my HIV & Aids event. It's pretty late & I understand I will not get full credit for it.But just wanted to jot down my thoughts regarding this topic.]

Through out Lauren Greenfield's preface, we are told of her experiences as she did her project which came to be known as " Fast Forward". It took her four years to complete this project and her images are beautiful. They would tell stories even if text wasn't present. Greenfield tries to use her images to try to reveal elements of our culture that can be seen in the lives of the children/teens. Something I understood by viewing Greefield's project is that teenagers in Los Angeles lost their innocence very early.For example, Courtney does things normal kids do but it must work for her busy work schedule.There was also an image of a 17 year old couple named Ozzie and Chantel who had a child. In one of Grrenfield'd interviews, a teen informed her that "You grow up really fast when you grow up in L.A. It seems like everyone is in a rush to be an adult. It's not cool to be a kid."

Greenfield states that teens in Hollywood are higly influeced by the media. She states that teens growing up in Hollywood's shadow have a difficult time distinguishing reality from fantasy. A person's image is portrayed as very important in many of her images. For example,Matthew expected to go to an airport in a Limo because a limo user may signify wealth. Or Ashleigh who is thirteen years old with a phone in her room in one picture. In another picture she is wearing pearls. Another example is Enrique who save money for two years in order for him to pay for his prom. In all of these examples, money is viewed as important becasue it provides acces to other things like a limosine and clothes that may be fashionable in Hollywood.

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Glee- Pilot Episode

When the episode begins, we are being introduced to people who attend the school and teach there. It begins with the viewing of a hiearchy within the students. The cheerleaders, the athletes and than the "losers". The losers consisted of minorities(an asian and black woman), a disabled boy,a feminine young man and a student who snitched about something she seen. This becomes important to through out the entire episode because these students must undergo many challenges for being a part of the Glee Club. For example, the athlete Finn could sing and only joined the Glee Club in order to prevent the use of drugs from going on his school record. He also tried to withhold this information from other athletes in order to protect his reputation.

Something I found interesting is that material things seemed to be valued in this episode. For example, in the very beginning of Glee- Pilot, a young man who seems to be feminine; shouts that his Marc Jacobs is expensive before he is thrown in the dumpster. One of the bully athletes holds his Marc Jacob jacket before the feminine young man is thrown in the dumpster. Futhermore, Mr. Shoe decided he wanted to resign as a teacher in order to find a job where he would earn more money. The episode concludes with another teacher telling Mr. Shoe that a "life worth living is one you're passionate about". Throughout the film, we see his passion as a teacher as he helps the students with their singing in the Glee club.

Something else I found interesting is that a teacher in the episode touched a student in a very sexual and inappropriate way. Was that just me the noticed that? He had on pink and was fired because of this very action.

There was a part in Glee where Mr. Shoe narrates and might've say the "blackest moment of my life" is when he blackmailed Finn into joining the Glee Club. Does anyone think that was more of a racial comment? or was it another way for saying he he blackmailed Finn? I was honestly unsure how to take that comment. I cant replay it on my laptop since I used an online site that didnt work in my favor and kept freezing.