1.) Voyager Golden Records: The Voyager Golden Records represent something very fundamental about not just the American culture out of which they were born, but also about the larger species as a whole. The records are fascinating in that they are literal records made of gold with the recordings of common earth sounds etched into them. Their purpose is dualistic, either to be rediscovered by humans in the distant future or to be discovered by extraterrestrial life, who will then gain an introductory lesson in what Earth is. Either way, they establish a human faith that space is not a forever dead and empty void, but rather that it is a place ripe with potential for intelligent life to live, flourish, and learn.

2.) Soyuz: The Russian spacecraft Soyuz is a soviet-era design that traces it’s history back to the height of the Space Race and the Cold War. The craft is still used by the Russians, and is culturally and politically significant today because the United States and other’s use now rely upon it and Russia to get astronauts to space. It represents a more internationally oriented and less politically tense era of space travel.

3.) Kennedy Space Center: The name of this important center for space travel is immediately recognizable to the vast majority of Americans. It represents the past, present, and future of space travel. The most momentous and arguably culturally significant space flight, that of Apollo 11, was launched from KSC, and rockets continue to depart from the site. It’s significance as tourist attraction parallels human space travel’s ability to continue to capture the imagination of the American public.

I would like to follow a theme about children and families for my artifacts—I would like to include Modern Family (the show), a Cheerios commercial feedback (Facebook), and a summer reading list for a middle or high school.

-Modern family hits on some key topics that are integral in the current societal norms featuring very disparate families that are currently becoming more prevalent. This contains a gay couple with very different demeanors, a biracial couple with a contrasting age difference and a couple that interchanges their normative gender roles. The show also paved the road for other family sitcoms centered on minority families.

-General Mills was one of the first companies to air a commercial featuring a biracial couple to have a child. The amount of press this commercial received was alarming—especially since much of it was negative. Others noted that they don’t see color… but they realize what the upset of the commercial is about—so color blind is not a thing. This can also bring into question what people are comfortable writing online, but wouldn’t consider articulating.

– I would like to find a summer reading list of a school where the majority of the students are minorities. I imagine the books will hold the typical cannon literature. However, maybe I’ll be surprised. I think this could provide some interesting rhetoric to why the mismatched texts are chosen for students who will struggle to make connections to the works that they probably won’t find interesting. These lists are often dreaded by both parents and children.

Weight Scale: A weight scale is a common household item that most people (mainly women) have in their homes. Beauty standards today have created a sort of obsession with these scales because there is a correlation in society with beauty and weight. Weight scales are mostly associated  with women thus portraying the thin is beautiful beauty standard. Every year in January we are bombarded with new year resolution commercials from brands like Special K and weight watchers. Both of these brands (as well as others) contain weight scales in their ads and ultimately say that a lesser number on the scale will make you a better version of yourself. 

Mirror: To some a mirror is just a regular item that people use to see reflections. Except in todays society a mirror is being used to see our imperfections. People use it to nit pick every part of their body and face that society says is not pretty like cellulite, stretch marks,scars, pores, wrinkles, dark circles, small breast, curves, etc. People let mirrors define their self worth and beauty.

Photoshop: We have all seen those photoshop fails, the ones where the model has an awkwardly long arm or is missing her knee. Or what about the ones where the model has no pores (everyone has pores!) and their thigh gap (this could also be an artifact! young girls have become obsessed with thigh gaps) is awkwardly far apart. The media has been using photoshop to portray unrealistic beauty standards in society which has caused many people to aim for untenable beauty.

In the last couple of classes we have talked about artifacts that relates to our topic. I had several things and ideas that I thought fit the bill. For one I wanted to talk about plastic surgery and how it has become a cultural norm for South Korean. In the US plastic surgery is used more for reconstruction because of an accident or to hide/get rid of a what the person considers a defect. On the other hand there are people who use it for the sole purpose to look more beautiful (cosmetic). In South Korea it used for those purposes but more often to look beautiful than reconstruction. The most common types of plastic surgery tend to be the double eyelid, jaw reduction, eye widening, rhinoplasty, forehead and chin augmentation surgeries. By having these surgeries, Koreans are closer to meeting the ideal beauty type that is emphasized by their media. Their media not only portrays their own actors and singers but also western actors and singers. The influence of western culture has also impacted their beauty industry which causes conflict images of what is considered to be beautiful. Plastic surgery has become part of the Korean culture and grown with it. Today’s children are given gifts of plastic surgery when they graduate middle school and most of them actually use it. They will get their double eyelid surgery or their nose fixed. Because to them, having a small face with double eyelids is attractive as well as being ‘white’. White in the sense that the paler you look, the more beautiful you are. The cheap cost might also be a factor. What can cost you upward of $10,000 in the States may just be under $3000 in South Korea. Just take a look at the contestants for Miss Korea in 2013. Some people believe they all look alike and it is because of plastic surgery.

Another artifact, I would like to bring up is CDs. In today’s digital world, CD’s are going out of style. Its just so much simpler to download the song than to have the CD, or buy the Vinyl version as they are making some sort of comeback. K-Pop fans are full supporters of their artists. They will go to the music shows where they perform, attend show recordings in hopes of cheering on their groups. They also help the artists by buying their albums. Whether its for the hope of getting it signed or to help boost their numbers so that they can win on music shows, fans by their all their albums even if it only has two songs on it (a mini album). The more practical fan would wait until an album is released with more than two songs but others buy them as the artists may release three of four mini albums before releasing a regular full length album. Every time the artist releases a new song (if they aren’t on the same album) a new CD with the song comes out.  The CD design will match the concept that the artist is doing for the song and most times there is a card of either one of the the members or in the case of a solo artist the artist them self inside the case. This in turn causes the fans to buy more than one copy of the album in hopes of getting all the different members or their favorite member for groups and all the different poses for a solo artists. The company promoting the artist may also have individual member albums in which each member has their version of the album. The albums themselves are also used as a way to get into show recordings with the artist as the fans must show their copy of the album that is being promoted to participate. The first image below is what a person is likely to encounter when they go to K-Pop store to buy a CD. The second picture reflects the number of albums an artist may have released including mini albums.  The third picture reflects Super Junior’s ‘This Is Love’ album that was released as the members’ version.

A third artifact would be fast food delivery. When you think about fast food delivery, you probably think about having pizza or Chinese food delivered to you house. South Korea has taken it one step further. In South Korea just about any type of food can be delivered. From fast food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King to traditional Korean meals, anything you can order can be delivered. This service is included at some restaurants. What they do is hires motorcycle drivers who then take your order and deliver it to you, whether its to your house or a spot by the Han River. If your meal comes with dishes such as plates or bowls, when you’re finished you can leave them outside the door to your resident and the driver will come by an pick it up. It is part of the service and doesn’t cost you anything extra. You can see this service live in many K-dramas for as the characters either work as a driver or orders the food. These services are mostly offered 24/7 and is convenient for those who work irregular hours.