Blog Entry 4: Is the fake news the real news?

Topic: Culture jamming and the mainstream media

In my opinion, I agree with satirical news and culture jamming. The text says that “culture jamming exposes and opposes the media’s underlying power structures and ideological messages” (213). It then goes on to say it’s a “form of media activism that…parodies major corporations, public figures,and their media images” (213). I feel as though culture jamming exposes the secrets that media tries to hide and brings them to the front lines for everyone to see, while entertaining us. A lot of controversy has been going around about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. There has been many parodies talking about how much of a scumbag he is for getting drunk, smoking crack and disregarding his responsibility as Mayor. Recently Jon Stewart from The Daily Show has made many cracks at Mayor Ford, even David Letterman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLyV41kcNv8). While the parodies like this are quite entertaining they also make the viewer aware of what is happening in the “real” news. Many young people don’t watch the 6 or 11 o’clock news so this is a way for them to find out about what’s going on, while being entertained. These parodies also gets people talking about these subjects. Many people have been talking about the Toronto Mayor and many want him to resign, or are talking about not voting for him in the next municipal election.
There are also many satirical comic strips or comedic pictures in the news papers that poke fun at politicians. For instance:
http://apictureofpolitics.wordpress.com/category/political-art/page/2/

While culture jamming draws lots of attention to young people and brings up important issues, sometimes the true message gets lost in the comedy. There’s an episode of Jimmy Fallon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rboByPlU4IM) where the massage behind the video get’s lost in the comedy.
I think this type of news reporting is very useful. Though it may take away from “real” news it really does bring attention to other things in the media. On page 220, the text talks about how paranoid people are about terrorism. “The jammers wanted to reveal the subtexts and potential side effects of fear campaigns…(220). Many advertisements warn people about not letting their children walk home alone, and to be suspicious of bags that are unattended. While the advertisements mean well all they seem to do is make people fearful. That’s how the media gets the attention of people, they use fear. The media also has a tendency to blow things out of proportion. Crime is at one of its slowest points right now yet the media always reports on crime and makes a huge scene about it, and that’s why it’s good for these jammers to bring a sort of reality check to media.
-Linnea
(447 words)

Blog Response 3: Demonstrate Demographics

Topic: Similarities and/or differences of techniques for interpellating your demographic

A lot of thematic similarities I noticed when I was reading my classmates blogs was a lot of advertisements kept to gender roles and recognizing men as the superior gender. Linda T wrote on her blog (http://lt09mj.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/blog-3/) about a Heinz Ketchup advertisement. The advert showed a women posing with their new “easy to open” ketchup bottles. She says, “The advertisement had a tag line; “You mean a woman can open this?” This advertisement not only ‘hailed’ the women but it also interpellated consumers on a subconscious level thus validated the male and society’s’ perceptions of women at large.” The advert targets women, going off the stereotype that women spend all their time in the kitchen making meals for the family. I also talked a lot about the media reinforcing specific gender roles in our society even though many of us are tying to breakaway from gender roles.

As a 19 year old female I obviously relate to things that generally interest young females like make up, hair, clothes, men; etc. A lot advertisements that are for my demographic focus on creating this “new you”. Like having the best make up so you look super pretty, and having the best clothes so guys will like you and so on and so forth, even though it may not exactly be your style. But what hb123na points out in their blog (http://hb123na.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/what-the-hail/) that their are some companies that instead of focusing on having a new you they focus on enhancing your natural self. She says she likes Cover Girl because  “it not only captures my interest in cosmetics, but also encourages natural beauty. Whether it is skin products, or a product like mascara, their goal is to obtain a line of make up that presents a light, natural look on women.” I think a lot of companies should use this “natural” make up advertising technique. Women my age aren’t concerned with having a new face, we want the same old one but with a little extra umph to bring out eyes or highlights or what have you.

This blog http://jattinc.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/what-the-hail/ talks about the technological side of our demographic. He talks about the iPhone 5 in his blog entry. He suggests that Apple likes to appeal to “people who do various activities … In the commercial people are using the iPhone to take pictures of beautiful scenery, loved ones, sports, concerts, parties etc. It is shown as a versatile device which can be used by people from all over the world.” Apple like to appeal to busy people who have various interests and that’s why their devices are so versatile and can do almost anything we need it to do. He then goes on to say “The ad appeals to a specific audience like those who regularly browse internet sites like 9gag, reddit, twitter.” Those are all things I and other people my age enjoy doing on our smart phones during our spare time. 

i feel like my demographic is well represented in advertisements if you’re talking about the majority. The majority of young women are in to make up, and fashion and men and all that jazz. But there are some of us who are into hardcore 80s metal or like hipsters who don’t really care about being mainstream. Companies don’t care about the 10% of the demographic who don’t follow the “norms” or “what’s popular”. Companies only care about the interests of the general public. They’re trying to reach out and appeal to everyone.

-Linnéa Davis
(Words: 590)

Blog Entry 3: What the Hail?

A product that I wanted to talk about were perfumes and their commercials. After looking at many perfume commercials the theme always seems to be some kind of love story always involving a heterosexual relationship. The commercial I decided was more geared towards my age group was Justin Bieber’s Girlfriend fragrance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fPcE6XSiSo). The commercial is basically depicting what it would be like to have Justin Bieber as your boyfriend. What is unique about this commercial is that it is filmed from the female perspective so girls can get a better feel for what it would be like to have Justin as their boyfriend. Justin Bieber’s acoustic version of Boyfriend plays gently in the background setting a nice romantic and playful mood. Although you only get glances of the female in the commercial you know it is geared towards young, white females. This also gives the idea that if you’re a young and white female you can be Justin’s girlfriend. In the commercial Justin and the girl (who is supposed to be you, the young, white, female viewer) are doing stereotypical teenage things, hanging out watching movies, picnics in the park, going for drives (with Justin, the male, driving) and being romantically serenaded by him.  Throughout the chapter the text refers to the Peter and Jane books. The text says, “Peter is the main character. He is given more actions to do whereas Jane is often given a supportive role…” (181). This is the same for the commercial. Even though the commercial is shot through the eyes of the ‘girlfriend’ Justin, the male, is the main character of the advertisement. The entire ad shows Justin smiling, laughing and goofing around, while you only get little glimpses of the ‘girlfriend’. In the Peter and Jane books there’s a sentence that says, “Peter and Jane are in the car with Daddy. They like it in the car. Mummy is at home” (181). This also relates to the clip of Justin driving in the car with his ‘girlfriend’. He’s the one driving the car, which shows that he has more power than her. In the opening of the commercial Justin leads his ‘girlfriend’ around a stairwell and through a house and she follows. This once again can be referred to Peter and Jane because Jane follows Peter around looking up to him for guidance because he is the male character.

The advertisement is very successful in showing “norms”. It shows a white, heterosexual couple doing normal teenage things together, with the white male leading and the female following.
-Linnea
(425 words)

Blog Response 2: The Media We Need

Topic: Is the media we want the same as the media we need?

What we want and what we need are two totally different things. In most cases the media we want isn’t the media we need. What media we need are the essentials like weather, stocks, news, politics and other important matters along those lines, but those matters don’t appeal to everyone. Teens for instance don’t care for news even though it’s important to follow the news to know what’s going on in the world. Teens would rather media as entertainment, like music, magazines, celebrities, friends and latest trends.

I found a very interesting what  http://zachengel98.wordpress.com/ ‘s blog he says:
“CNN for example, uses a great deal of bias and persuasion in their broadcasts, yet many people  fail to realize it because they assume that the information sent out from such a powerful news company must be accurate, even if the events broadcasted are strictly opinionated”

What he’s saying is that news can get twisted so even when you think you’re getting the media you want, it still isn’t exactly the media you want. Finding a trusted news site or station is crucial. Most people don’t realize things like that. The media often misleads people. http://zachengel98.wordpress.com/ brings up another good point saying “media uses different propaganda and persuasion techniques to “sucker” individuals into believing something that is not true.” A good example of this are commercials. While some are really funny, and informative on a product, they also give off the hidden messages. Like Victoria secret commercials the girls always have slim waists and huge knockers giving the impression that if you buy their product you can look like them. Similar things like that happen in make-up commercials and even car commercials. Some car commercials (especially sports cars) have these really built, rugged men driving super fast in a fancy car then they step out of the car a bam there’s this super hot babe waiting for him. Messages like this are hidden everywhere in media. So while you think you’re just getting a simple car commercial you’re also getting this subliminal message too.

Anyways, yes, your media choices impact whether they inform you about social, political, cultural, or economic matters. You’re obviously not going to go to TMZ to find out about the economy and you’re not going to watch BNN if you want to know what Miley Cyrus is licking. It is so unbelievably easy to find information on anything you want. The internet is key, and with data on cellphones or free wifi at McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s you can have access to it 24/7. There are a gazillion websites where you can find information on politics, culture or economics. Plus plenty of social networking sites. Even if you don’t know any websites there are so many search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Ask.com. It’s so incredibly easy.

-Linnea

Blog Entry 2: The media we want?

Do we get the media we want, or want the media we get?

I feel torn between the two. In certain ways we get what we want, but at a cost of getting what we get. As complicated as that sounds I’ll do my best to explain. What I’m saying is there are ways of getting what we want out of the media. We can go to Google and type into the search bar “apples” then get a load of results for “apples” and you have to sort through all the results into you find what you want. But there are ways of getting specific results. So instead of typing in just “apples” which could mean just about anything (types of apples, or apple recipes, apple the computer company, etc) you could narrow down the search to “types of red apples” and find what you’re looking for; but even then you still might have to search through irrelevant search results. Another example is my Dad likes to listen to the radio, but he dislikes listening to commercials and news reports. So he found a station that does 40 minutes of nonstop music, but after that there’s commercials and a newsbreak. So there’s always a compromise. You can get what you want out of the media, but you have to put up with the other stuff that comes with it. The media likes to appeal to a large audience and not just one person’s specific needs.

Also I think it depends on how a person see a certain media. Different people get different things from the media. For instance people “read” the media in different ways, the textbook gives a good example:

“Teenage girls from different ethnic and racial backgrounds in America, Europe, Bali, or Iraq, with different religious, social, and moral codes, will make different readings of Paris and Britney’s appearance, songs, and performances, while teenage boys will make another set of readings” (95).

People perceive the media in different ways so what you want someone else may not want, or even understand. For example say you’re buying a CD as a gift to a young girl that you may not know too well. You’ll probably decide to buy a CD that’ll appeal to a general young female audience like a Demi Lovato or Jonas Brothers album. The media is the say way appealing to a large audience. And because of this people may find what they’re looking for underneath other stuff. Just like that young girl may either like the entire album or only find 1 or 2 songs interesting.

So basically to sun things up yes you can get what you want out of the media, but at a cost of getting what you get.

-Linnea

(Word Count 473)

Works Cited

O’Shaughnessy, Michael, and Jane Stadler. Media and Society. 5th ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print

 

Blog Response 1: Media Impact

How significant do your classmates believe the impact of the mass media is on their worldviews, and does this change your impression of the media’s impact on you?

Many of my classmates have the same believes that I do about the impact of the mass media. The majority of us believe that it impacts our everyday lives and is very significant to us. A lot of my classmates mentioned music in their blog entries. Montana (http://montanahighley.wordpress.com/) said that mass media impacted her in a positive way. Montana shared that when she was younger she had low self esteem and was very body conscious, but listening to P!nk’s Stupid Girls and F*** Perfect helped her through it, and gave her more confidence.  

That goes with what I said about mass media being a positive thing. 

Gursharan Varaich says in his blog (http://gursharanvaraich.wordpress.com/) that he sort of filters out what’s significant to him from what’s not significant to him in the media. He says “as I grew older, I made my own decisions on what to accept by the media and what to reject”.

I think that’s what everyone needs to do. There will always be bad things in media. Things like promoting skinny instead of healthy, major food chains targeting kids, violence and bullying, and yadda, yadda, but people should be able to filter these things out and get the good out of the media. And not the good stuff like which celebrity is heading to rehab but the important stuff like news. Gursharan says hearing about the assassination of Libyan President Muammar Gadhafi really impacted him and his family. 
And even music, Montana talks about “those artists who would try to make you feel better and try to show you, you are perfect the way you” like for instance Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Same Love song. That song has impacted the lives of so many, not only the people who are homosexuals but even straight people, and even people who are opposed to same sex marriages, felt differently about it after hearing the song. 

I really liked what Gursharan had to say in the last paragraph of their blog. “It is necessary to know how to perceive the information that is introduced to us, what to accept, what to reject…” I think that’s very powerful, because like I said there’s always going to be good stuff, and bad stuff floating around the media, and it’s up to people to decide what impacts them. Hopefully they choose to be impacted by the good. 

Blog Entry 1: Media Impact

How significant do you think the impact of the mass media is on your world view? 

I think that the impact of the mass media is very significant. Mass media is everywhere and it impacts everything.

For me, I like to find out information through Twitter and Facebook because the things that trend on Twitter or what my friends talk about on Facebook are usually more relevant to me. For instance, I found out about the Boston Marathon bombings through Facebook. Everyone was posting about it, and when I went on Twitter it was trending so I was able to quickly find out about it. Social media sites make it so easy to learn about things going on in the news with just a click, whereas on TV or on the Radio, you have to find a news station and then wait for the news hour.

In a way we are totally dependent on the media for information. Back when technology was just growing, information was passed on through word of mouth or through weekly newspapers. It took people longer to learn information, where as now it’s in an instance. Media is used socially a lot now a days and that is why we are constantly searching to find out the latest news. We want to be the 1st to know about anything that happens so we can go to our friends and talk about it.

The downside to mass media is that a lot of is monitored and filtered by governments. Sometimes they edit things into a bias making us only see one side of things. For example with the Eric Snowden case the government is making it seem like he’s a bad person for releasing top secret information, while there’s the other side of things where by exposing this information he was doing the people a favour, and enforcing rights.

Also there are lots of governments that band books from entering their country if they say something contradictory to what the country believes. Look at Germany, their history books are censored saying that Germany won the war and that Hitler was really that bad of a guy.

Media is also used negatively by companies and corporations to form images into our minds (especially teenage minds). There’s all this talk of negative body image, and companies praying on young teens to look a certain way. Like the C.E.O of Abercrombie and Fitch Mike Jeffries went and said that he didn’t want fat people wearing his clothes, and that sparked so much controversy in the media.

Regular folks also use media to do harm; people send naked pictures of their exes to friends, spread untruths, and bully.

While there’s all these negative impacts about the media, there’s all these movies, songs, and art that use the mass media to spread good. There are so many songs promoting same-sex marriages, the most recent one was Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love”. In the past there’s been the Dixie Chicks’ “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice,” and P!nk’s “Dear Mr. President”. There’s countless educational movies, and songs for children and teens that educate them on things from school, to how to be nice to others and how to be aware of the dangers of the internet.

So while there are tones of negatives for the media there are countless positives. The mass media is a very powerful tool, and it can create lots of good for people if used the right way. As I’m typing this the very well known, and over used Spider-man quote is coming to mind, “With great power comes great responsibility…”

-Linnea

(557 Words)