ICONS

Assignment 2-2
Icon Analysis
At first glance I did not think that it would be difficult for me to identify three contemporary icons that were somehow personal to me; I was wrong. It took a lot of thought and some interviews of my close personal friends to identify what I consider to be icons. After much deliberation I identified the following:
• The Twilight Saga
• Disney
• NASCAR
The Twilight Saga is a series of books written by Stephanie Meyer. There are four books in the series. They are Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Down. The books were turned into movies featuring Rob Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and several others. These books/movies have a cult like following. They include groups like the Twierds and the Twilight Moms.

Disney is the creation of Walt Disney. Walt was first and foremost an animator. He won his first academy award for a Mickey Mouse cartoon series in 1932. Walt Disney had a dream to create a place that families could come for total family entertainment. His ideas and imagination came to life in 1955 in California. After Disneyland was erected he realized that he didn’t like the idea of being land locked. Walt purchased over 27,000 acres in Florida using multiple dummy corporations. Today Walt Disney World is the biggest tourist attraction in the United States. There are multiple Disney Worlds all over the globe. The movies keep flowing from Disney’s Studios. Some of the latest are the Pirates of the Caribbean Series, The Game Plan, Cars 2, etc.

NASCAR is the racing circuit that originated in Daytona Beach, Florida. This sport has some of the most loyal fans in the sports industry. This sport was made famous by drivers like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and many others. The current NASCAR crowd cheers for Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, and Tony Stewart just to name a few.

All of these icons are very specific to me. I am a huge fan of horror movies and in December 2008 I begged my husband to take me the new vampire flick that just released in the theaters. Needless to say he refused because he loathes horror movies. I was able to confidence by best friend to take me. We were surprised to see that this movie was no horror movie at all but a hopeless romantic chick flick. Works for me; I am such a hopeless romantic. When I got to work the next day another friend told me that there was a book about the movie. I bought it while on lunch. I read during every break from work, at lunch, at home, in the bed. Needless to say I was hooked. I read all four books. I went to the midnight showing of New Moon and Eclipse. I was a the midnight DVD release for all the movies and I can’t wait for Breaking Down to be release on November 18, 2011.
Disney was a onetime family vacation destination when I was four years old. When I met my husband I was pleasantly surprised to find out that his parents vacation there once a year. Disney is a magical place where anything is possible. It is definitely the happiest place on earth. Disney has it all figured out from the family movies, to the theme parks, to the water parks, to the other vacation destinations all over the world. You can visit one park and visit several countries from all over the world. Disney is both educational and entertaining at the same time. We frequent Disney with our children at least once every other year but we watch the Disney Channel daily and stay current on what’s going on in the world of Disney through blogs and chat rooms.
NASCAR has been in my life as long as I can remember. My mother didn’t allow you to talk when the race was on TV. She has always had her favorite drivers. I was very happy a few years ago when I was able to afford to pay to send my mother to a race for the first time. Luckily I have been able to make this a yearly tradition for her. This year she took my daughter with her. I guess the tradition continues. Luckily my daughter has a TV in her room.