News is trash...
The dialog between Inid and her friend Rebecca in the beginning of the story is representative of an unusual definition of trash. This type of trash can be defined similarly to the type of trash I discussed in my essay, trash expressed by words. The discussion Inid and Rebecca are having demonstrates the feelings they have towards gossip and the materialistic world in which many teenage girls become immersed.
The middle of the story steers off course and I'm really not sure who this John Ellis is or his significance in the story aside from being a "weirdo" as the two girls identify him as. The story had no moral or message and all of the important points were mentioned at the end when the two girls were in their apartment watching the nighttime news.
The news stories being announced portray the corrupt world in which people today are addicted to. Stories of teenage girls writing love letters to mass murderers, double suicides as a remake of the story of Romeo and Juliet, and a wife killing herself next to her dying husband blare through the television screen. These stories are all examples of trash and are all examples of gossip because most news stories today do not have enough evidence to backup of the headlines they initially post. These headlines can sometimes falsely identify news stories to interest the viewer and I believe that it is a prime example of trash.
posted by Katie @ 8:42 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
You mention that Enid and her friend talk gossip about people, which is definitely something Clowes touches on in "Ghost World" as on one of the main ideas. It seems as if he says that our entire world revolves around gossip, which, if you think about it, could be quite true. What makes life interesting is talking about other people; we often distort the truth because it makes things interesting. How many times have you heard a friend gasp and say, "Oh my god, she said that!" That leads me to wonder why people gossip. Are their lives just so boring that gossip is the only thing that keeps it going? Also, what exactly is classified as gossip? Is it simply talking about somebody, or does it have to be talking negatively about someone?
You say that you aren't sure what John Ellis is doing in the story, but he'll probably come into play later. In Dominic's post, he writes about how Ellis turns the conversation towards the Catholic priest molestation cases; you might even consider this "trash" or gossip because it is something we "talk" about in the news. Also, it is stereotyping because a lot of people think that all Catholic priests are child molesters.
I like how you talk about the news headlines that come up. You say you believe these stories are trash and people are addicted to them, but I wonder how much truth is in them, if any at all. That would be an interesting topic to touch on further- the validity of all television headlines. We know that shows like "Entertainment Tonight" might not report the full truth, but do you think news organizations like CNN and Fox report the total truth too? If not, then who are we to rely in?
Overall good points were made in your post. The only thing I would suggest is a direct quote from the text that relates to one of the points you make in your blog.
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