What We've Got Here...Is Two Similar Characters.

Lucas Jackson and Randall Patrick McMurphy serve as iconic American heroes, brazenly defying authority, helping a group of emasculated men recover some semblence of their manhoods in the face of an oppressive authority. Moreover, each takes on a Christ-like role, leading his respective disciples (prisoners or mental patients) toward dignity, suffering and deteriorating under the burden of leadership, and eventually sacrificing himself in a selfless defiance of the demand for conformity. Discuss some of the more interesting parallels between the characters. How do Kesey and the director/screenwriter of Cool Hand Luke cast their main characters as a religious figures? What significant differences exist between the two?

This is one of the funniest commercials of all time!

One of My Favorite Commercials Ever

Supersize Me!

In the documentary Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock focuses a section of his story on a lawsuit against McDonald's by two young girls. The girls are suing the fast food restaurant for the supposed cause of their obesity. Do you think that's fair? Give me your thoughts.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The book has received much criticism  for its apparent misogyny (the female characters are either castrating nurses or prostitutes) and racism (the African American orderlies are charicatured as cartoonishly sadistic "black boys"). Do you think such criticisms are fair? What challenges does having a narrator who is a paranoid schizophrenic, often divorced from reality, present for the reader?

iPhone 5 Commerical Parody

This is a comical parody about a giant iPhone 5. Aside from the humor, how does this parody illustrate the great extents companies go to in order to make their products different? Do you feel that some ads exaggerate the features of a product just to attract more buyers?

Dolls and Body Image

Many writers and filmmakers who address gender issues cite dolls, specifically Barbie, as a significant influence on female body image.  In Tough Guise, Jackson Katz implies that the increased musculature of action figures leads boys to feel inadequate and overcompensate with violent behavior.  But how much of an influence on gender-related body image can a toy really exert?  The Onion mocks such concerns with its piece about Bratz dolls with enormous heads.  The Simpsons playfully grapples with the issue in "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy."  To what extent has your body image been influenced by dolls and action figures?