The first trailer for the new reboot of Spider-Man was released earlier this week and the internet has been loosing it's mind ever since. Many people are excited to see "Spider-Man: Homecoming," but there are many who are tired of the reboots, this being the third version of the web-slinging hero.
This new installment stars 20-year-old actor, Tom Holland as Spider-Man. He differs from the former Spider-Man actors because he is closer to Peter Parker's age. Toby McGuire was 27 years old when he got the role of the high school superhero and Andrew Garfield was 29 years old. Some think that the age similarity may make him the best Spider-Man yet. Also, Holland has already impressed critics and fans with is small appearance in "Captain America: Civil War," because of his ability to compete alongside the other Marvel heroes.
With that, why do people care so much about superheroes? David Wright, a writer for ABC News, said that people look to superheroes to "tackle problems that are too tough for mere mortals to handle." Alex Wilgus said superheroes are "colorful incarnations of the human soul," tackling the issues of humanity.
These heroes help us escape from our reality and jump into a false reality where people have super powers and the ability to save humankind from evil. Along with that, the heroes all have the perfect bodies, capable of picking up cars punching through walls.
These bodies depicting superheroes, people that young boys want to be, has had a negative effect on males. A McCreary Centre Society study found that 31 percent of healthy weight boys in Grades 7 to 12 were trying to gain weight. Not just young boys are looking to gain weight, older males have looked to protein powders and sports supplements to get the muscles like a superhero. A study in August 2015 found that only four percent of men are happy with their physique and 85 percent had been on a diet to attempt to achieve their ideal body.
Society has become so obsessed with having the perfect bodies, which had led to the rise of plastic surgery and body building and the decrease of health self-esteem.
So, do we care about superheroes and their bodies? It is clear that we, as a society, do because we are allowing their unrealistic bodies to be a comparison to our own.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Do We Care: Internet Challenges and their effects
The newest internet craze has everyone frozen in their tracks. The Mannequin Challenge, the internet's newest video challenge, features groups of people standing still while someone walks around recording the whole thing. Who would have thought something that simple would explode on the internet.
The challenge comes from a group of students from Edward H. White High School in Jacksonville, Florida who came up with the idea in class one day. One girl froze in front of the class and another said that she looked like a mannequin. Other students liked the idea and joined in and then someone recorded the finished result and posted it to Twitter. Next thing they knew students around the country were taking on the challenge.
The challenge really took off when sports teams and celebrities decided to join in. people like the New York Giants, Hillary Clinton, the FLOTUS with the Cleveland Cavilers, and Taylor Swift have accepted the challenge. The BYU gymnastics team also took the challenge, racking up more than 7.5 million views so far and landing a feature on ESPN.
The Mannequin Challenge is not the first internet challenge to take over the internet. There have been many other challenges that celebrities and every day people have gotten involved in, but why?
Peer pressure is a major factor that keeps these challenges trending, particularly for teenagers. Laurence Steinberg, a researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia found that "teenagers are drawn to immediate rewards of a potential choice and are less attentive to the possible risks." He also found that because teens are still learning to control their impulses, they have a harder time resisting pressure from others.
With that, many internet challenges of the past have proved to be dangerous to people's health. For instance, the Hot Pepper Challenge has sent people to the hospital and the Cinnamon Challenge can lead to choking or even vomiting, yet teens are more than willing to complete the challenge just to be accepted and respected by their peers.
Not all challenges have lead to harm. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which was started to create more widespread awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), challenged millions of people to pour a bucket of ice water on themselves or donate to the ALS Association. Millions of dollars were raised for the association and made for entertaining videos of your friends and favorite celebrities pouring freezing water on themselves.
So, do we care about internet challenges? It is clear that we as a society do because they are entertaining and because our friends and favorite public figures are "challenging" us to join in.
The challenge comes from a group of students from Edward H. White High School in Jacksonville, Florida who came up with the idea in class one day. One girl froze in front of the class and another said that she looked like a mannequin. Other students liked the idea and joined in and then someone recorded the finished result and posted it to Twitter. Next thing they knew students around the country were taking on the challenge.
The challenge really took off when sports teams and celebrities decided to join in. people like the New York Giants, Hillary Clinton, the FLOTUS with the Cleveland Cavilers, and Taylor Swift have accepted the challenge. The BYU gymnastics team also took the challenge, racking up more than 7.5 million views so far and landing a feature on ESPN.
The Mannequin Challenge is not the first internet challenge to take over the internet. There have been many other challenges that celebrities and every day people have gotten involved in, but why?
Peer pressure is a major factor that keeps these challenges trending, particularly for teenagers. Laurence Steinberg, a researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia found that "teenagers are drawn to immediate rewards of a potential choice and are less attentive to the possible risks." He also found that because teens are still learning to control their impulses, they have a harder time resisting pressure from others.
With that, many internet challenges of the past have proved to be dangerous to people's health. For instance, the Hot Pepper Challenge has sent people to the hospital and the Cinnamon Challenge can lead to choking or even vomiting, yet teens are more than willing to complete the challenge just to be accepted and respected by their peers.
Not all challenges have lead to harm. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which was started to create more widespread awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), challenged millions of people to pour a bucket of ice water on themselves or donate to the ALS Association. Millions of dollars were raised for the association and made for entertaining videos of your friends and favorite celebrities pouring freezing water on themselves.
So, do we care about internet challenges? It is clear that we as a society do because they are entertaining and because our friends and favorite public figures are "challenging" us to join in.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Do We Care: Kardashians, social media and plastic surgery
Someone in the Kardashian-Jenner family is in the headlines every day. Last month's headlines were about Kim getting robbed in Paris. Last week they were about Kim's husband Kayne West cancelling his tour and checking into the hospital. Today they are about Kim and Kayne's marital problems. Why is the media so concerned with this family and their personal lives? What is so special about them?
"Keeping up with the Kardashians" has been on television since 2007 and over 2 million people tune in each week to see what the famous family is up to. The family has also taken over social media. Kim has 88.2 million followers on Instagram with younger sister, Kylie Jenner is close behind her with 80 million. Kylie is also the most followed person on Snapchat. They willingness to flaunt their bodies for all to see is what keeps the media talking and their population of fans to grow.
The Kardashians put a lot of emphasis on their appearance. Most of them have fended off rumors of plastic surgery, saying their extreme hourglass figures are all natural. Many of their followers are younger females who care about appearance. Even though the Kardashians say they haven't gotten any plastic surgery, plastic surgery is on the rise.
In 2015, minimally-invasive and surgical cosmetic procedures increased by 2 percent since 2014. While procedures like face lifts and breast augmentation went down, buttock lifts and transplants were up 36 percent. There is no direct correlation between the Kardashians and the increase in those procedures, but it is interesting to note that their fans want to look like the big booty sisters with tiny waists.
Utah has one of the highest rates of plastic surgery. Salt Lake City was named the "vainest" city in America back in 2007 due to the large amount of plastic surgeons in the area. In 2010, Utah had the eighth-highest number of of plastic surgeons per capita. Many Utah women are going under the knife to get "mommy makeovers," as do many women in Hollywood, to get their pre-baby body back.
Teenagers are even jumping on the plastic surgery train. In 2014, 64,000 cosmetic surgery patients in 2014 were 13-19 years old. Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, CEO of BeverlyHillsBody told PEOPLE in 2015 "This is directly related to surgery of the stars of the their reality shows, and the acceptance of cosmetic procedures on social media."
While there is no solid proof or direct correlation, but plastic surgery rates keep rising. So, back to the main question of do we care? People like the Kardashians and social media influencers could possibly influence us to change our minds without even trying.
"Keeping up with the Kardashians" has been on television since 2007 and over 2 million people tune in each week to see what the famous family is up to. The family has also taken over social media. Kim has 88.2 million followers on Instagram with younger sister, Kylie Jenner is close behind her with 80 million. Kylie is also the most followed person on Snapchat. They willingness to flaunt their bodies for all to see is what keeps the media talking and their population of fans to grow.
The Kardashians put a lot of emphasis on their appearance. Most of them have fended off rumors of plastic surgery, saying their extreme hourglass figures are all natural. Many of their followers are younger females who care about appearance. Even though the Kardashians say they haven't gotten any plastic surgery, plastic surgery is on the rise.
In 2015, minimally-invasive and surgical cosmetic procedures increased by 2 percent since 2014. While procedures like face lifts and breast augmentation went down, buttock lifts and transplants were up 36 percent. There is no direct correlation between the Kardashians and the increase in those procedures, but it is interesting to note that their fans want to look like the big booty sisters with tiny waists.
Utah has one of the highest rates of plastic surgery. Salt Lake City was named the "vainest" city in America back in 2007 due to the large amount of plastic surgeons in the area. In 2010, Utah had the eighth-highest number of of plastic surgeons per capita. Many Utah women are going under the knife to get "mommy makeovers," as do many women in Hollywood, to get their pre-baby body back.
Teenagers are even jumping on the plastic surgery train. In 2014, 64,000 cosmetic surgery patients in 2014 were 13-19 years old. Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, CEO of BeverlyHillsBody told PEOPLE in 2015 "This is directly related to surgery of the stars of the their reality shows, and the acceptance of cosmetic procedures on social media."
While there is no solid proof or direct correlation, but plastic surgery rates keep rising. So, back to the main question of do we care? People like the Kardashians and social media influencers could possibly influence us to change our minds without even trying.
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