Thursday, December 6. 2018

Today's schedule is DCBA

The end of the walled border at Tijuana, Mx.

D & A Blocks Human Geography - Today we'll look the the key question "Why Do Boundaries Cause Problems"? A boundary is an invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory. Boundaries completely surround an individual state to mark the outer limits of its territorial control and to give it a distinctive shape. Boundary locations may be the source of conflict, both within a country and with its neighbors. Boundaries may be classified into three categories:

1. Cultural boundaries follow the distribution of cultural features.
2. Geometric boundaries are based on human constructs, such as straight lines. 
3. Physical boundaries coincide with significant features of the natural landscape.

You'll have two charts and some questions to complete for me.




B Block Criminology - Today we'll finish the 48 Hours Mystery "Highway of Tears" and compare it to other forms of coverage (On the blog yesterday...Vice, Al Jazeera, or How Stuff Works or the CBC's Missing and Murdered website). You have some questions you need to finish:

1. What main story do you think Investigative Reporters Bob Friel and Peter Van Zant wanted to tell? How can you infer that? How much of the episode focused on the actual missing women from the Highway of Tears?
2. Why did the show focus on Madison Scott first, Loren Leslie next and then the victims along the Highway of Tears afterwards? 
3. What audience do reality crime shows appeal to & why do you think so (think demographics - age or gender or social class or occupation - and Psychographics - personal attitudes and values like security or status or caring or exploration/growth) What can Uses and Gratification Theory do to help explain the audience for True Crime stories? What techniques did the editors and storytellers of the 48 Hours Mystery show use to get you invested in the story of the episode?
4. What "values" does the 48 Hours Mystery on the Highway of Tears communicate to its audience? Why do you think the producers and editors framed the story the way that they did?

Some websites to help with your questions:

Time Magazine (article) "Murder Shows—The New Soap Operas for Women?" and "Why We Are Drawn to True Crime Shows?"

Washington Post (article) "My Favorite Murder’ and the growing acceptance of true-crime entertainment" and the My Favorite Murder Instagram site
Entertainment Weekly (article) "Confessions of a Court TV Addict"
New York Times (article) "Is True Crime as Entertainment Morally Defensible?"
Globe and Mail (article) "Our addiction to true crime has a human cost"
CBS News This morning (article) "Why women are fueling the popularity of true crime podcasts"
The Guardian (article) "Serial thrillers: why true crime is popular culture's most wanted"
Quartz (article) How “true crime” went from guilty pleasure to high culture
The Atlantic (article) The New True Crime
Vulture (article) "The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime"...from the article

Network news magazine shows like Dateline and 48 Hours are somber and melodramatic, often literally starting voice-overs on their true-crime episodes with variations of “it was a dark and stormy night.” They trade in archetypes — the perfect father, the sweet girl with big dreams, the divorcee looking for a second chance — and stick to a predetermined narrative of the case they’re focusing on, unconcerned about accusations of bias. They are sentimental and yet utterly graphic, clinical in their depiction of brutal crimes.

Consuming Television Crime Drama: A Uses and Gratifications Approach