Group Presentations

Yesterday was our second lecture. It was great to meet more of the people I will be travelling with and, in particular, my group for the presentations. Ashleigh and I had met on the weekend to discuss ideas and have some concepts ready. It was great to meet Elle-Louise yesterday and decide on what we would analyse. I was at first thinking we might look at 'Representations of New York in Film', which I still like the idea of, but we are going to use film, tv, music and other media as a way of examining the 'hype' that surrounds New York and the ATTITUDE, LIFESTYLE and PRECINCTS that NY has to offer and how they are marketed for mass consumption and continually evolve and how this city is able to reinvent itself.
It is going to be difficult to pull that all together, but I think we have a really interesting topic and am looking forward to the challenge.
ATTITUDE - will examine how hit television shows and pop culture reinforces the notion that New Yorkers have a specific attitude. Shows such as Friends, Seinfeld, Gossip Girl and Sex and the City will be used as ways of identifying the attitutdes and how this is presented to the rest of the world - and to what pupose.
LIFESTYLE - will explore the disparity between rich and poor. Again, television shows are an excellent way of examining how producers want the world to view New York - from the wealth of Gossip Girl to the grunge of Hells Kitchen portrayed in the film Sleepers.
PRECENCTS - will look at the icons of the city, easily identifiable features and buildings. It will delve into the theory that, even though we may not be of New York we are all citizens of the created New York. We will look at the top visited places and why this small island has become "the capital of the world".


Each of the group members will start with one of the areas to research and start compiling information for the presentation, we will then swap and fill in any gaps and draw out the really interesting elements.


I think it should be really good. I am certainly looking forward to it!