My new found media literacy has become of great interest to me. There are a number of different examples throughout this course that have not only given me information about today’s media, but also has helped me understand it as a whole much better as well. First, through the use of the various programs that we learned such as flash and photo-shop, i am now able to see how commonly they are used in society. For example, photo-shop is used to alter pictures and make things look different than they actually are. This a common technique used by all different types of media to change our perception of certain pictures and things of the sort. Along with this, after using flash and creating our own little clips, i could relate this to many animated movies that i watch and games that i play online. Although I’ve always heard of flash as the running component of these, i never really understood how it worked until taking this course.
Secondly, this course has also given me a much new perspective of media as a whole. After seeing such videos like the cheerleader beating online, it helped me to realize how much media has changed society. Back in the day people needed to read the newspaper or watch the news to get all their information about some new story. However, today in society media is much more in our faces and we not only get the stories immediately but we have the resources at our fingertips. This can be a good thing because it can advise us of new stories quickly, however, like the cheer-leading video, it gives us more access to media that we would have not had in the past that seems somewhat controversial.
Finally, i have also come to understand how media can bring major important issues about our society today and can make them into humorous issues. For example, through the movie Idiocracy, we saw how it was extremely funny, but at the same time touched on many major issues in society that we worry about today. In the movie people are being overtaken by technology and have decreased in intelligence in a significant way. Although the way it is portrayed in the movie may seem like it is a joke, it really is a major issue how technology is truly taking over the human race. Through this it is easy to see how media can take major issues in society today and can turn them into big jokes by altering our perception of them.
Altogether, this course has greatly changed my understanding of media as a whole. Whether it is the new programs a learned, the controversial videos online, or the alteration of serious issues into humorous ones, media has definitely had a major effect on society today. Thanks to this class i now understand how this occurs and greatly appreciate how important media is throughout all of our lives.
Discussing modern vs. post-modern art yesterday in class got me thinking more about the subject. While past art was more religious based, it seems that newer art is just becoming more and more cruel as we move on through time. While art used to be paintings of people or religous figures, we now seem to get most of our entertainment through the videos we see online and the various terrible things we see throughout society. Whenever something goes bad in society, like a terrorist attack, a school shooting, or Brittney Spears chugging vodka with her baby in her arms, we immediately run the the computer to see if there are any videos or pictures about it that would interest us and grab our attention. Opposing the past forms of art, our modern entertainment is moslty through bad things happening within the world and has nothing to do with religion whatsoever.
Relay for Life was recently at Marist and it got me thinking about these types of fundraisers. Throughout television, radio and internet we have advertisements for all different services, events and products. However, you very rarely see an advertisement for a fundraiser like this. It seems as though you have to search yourself to find out about it. I feel that this is a problem because this is an extremely important type of fundraiser and i believe advertising it more could get more people involved. I personally did not go this year but i feel that if i heard more about it through various medias and exactly what it was about my decision might have been different.
Discussing the video of the cheerleader fight on youtube the other day got me thinking about all these video sites that are out there. It seems that you can find any video that you want on the internet today no matter what age you are. I feel that some of these sites should monitor what goes on them because some of this material is really not suitable for the children that access them. Any kid could type in something wrong and stumble accross a video that could change the way they think and this could be harmful to their personality, as well as their surrounding society. By monitoring the videos that are uploaded i feel that that internet won’t be as cruel or damaging as it is today.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBv4p-a6S4g
After talking about campus security today in class it got me thinking about how the anniversary of Columbine and Virginia Tech were very recently. I noticed how much media attention both of those occurances got as opposed to other schools that did not recieve as much. I understand that both of these shootings were a lot worse than others that occured, but i fell that the other ones did not get nearly enough attention. I feel it is important to give a lot of attention to any occurance like this no matter how small it is because it can help the public to become aware that the school needs better security and by giving it more attention something could be done and more events like this could be prevented.
After talking about the website Pandora Radio in class the other day i decided to try it out myself. I heard a song on the radio and only heard the name of it but missed who the artist was so i went onto pandora and typed in the name. Sure enough it gave me a number of possibilities that i could listen to and eventually i found the right artist. This form of media was a great help because it helped me to find a new artist that i enjoy in a much more convienent way. It just goes to show how helpful media is becoming as we move ahead in time.
This is another ad that uses docile bodies and glamour to grab the attention of the consumer. This is very similar to the Calvin Klein ad we discussed in class except for the fact that the male and female positions are switched. Although this does go along with the glamour topic we discussed, it also deals with ads using docile bodies to sell their service or product as well. By seeing this people will assume that others look like this at the Hard Rock Cafe and they will consider it when booking a vacation based on the way these two people look in this advertisement.
In this ad every person has the “perfect body” that everyone seems to want. By having these 4 men all staring at and adoring this one woman it attracts the consumers eye and puts in their mind that they all want to either be that woman with the docile body who is adored by others. Also for the men they are attracted by the consumer in the fact that they have the ideal docile body that attracts the women like the one in this ad. Using this sexy and eye-catching ad is a great technique to sell their product.
This ad is a perfect example of how advertising uses docile bodies to probote their products. The woman has the ideal shape of a perfect body that every woman wishes to have. Because of this it attracts the viewer/consumers attention and makes them stop and look more closely at the actual product itself. Giving the woman in the advertisement the sexy V shaped body attracts they eye of the consumer.
After sitting in class and watching part of the film How To Get Ahead in Advertising it got me thinking of other advertisements where glamour is used to make an awkward product look better. Whether it is the use of sex, sexy people, or anything else that can be considered an eye-catcher, companies are constantly adding glamour to their advertisements when promoting them to the consumer.
