Media Crit stufF

Last day of classes

2005-05-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well I hope everyone is getting ready for finals. It is the stressful time of year. I know that a week ago I was wondering how I was going to do the amount of work that I had due for the next two weeks. Now that this week is almost over I think i can see summer in the distance. It is a good feeling. I always look forward to summer, the nice weather, the beach, and my friends from home. So, I hope everyone is starting to realize how close summer actually is and that the stress of finals is almost over!

Keep Friday May 6th Open!

2005-04-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Friday May 6th 2005 is "No Pants Day!". Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently this is a big day, I mean they even have t-shirts for it! Who knew there was a day were everyone could walk around pant-less and it would be acceptable and okay?!

Read more about No Pants Day and have a laugh or two while you are at it... or you could join in?

Movie: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

2005-04-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

This week in media class we watched the movie “Desperately Seeking Susan”. This movie was released in 1985 and stared Madonna in her first big movie role. The movie can be classified as a screwball comedy because it has some strange humor in it. It could also be included under the genres of romance and drama because there are some suspenseful moments and some steamy make-out scenes. I had never seen the movie before and I thought that it had a lot of meaning behind what the viewer first sees. By this I mean that there were a lot of signifiers in the movie. I think I would have to watch the movie a few more times to catch more of them.

The movie is about a desperate housewife named Roberta who is married to Gary who is having an affaire on the side. In the beginning we see Roberta as a family women who starts her day off running errands and comes home to make dinner with the TV on following Julia Child. Gary we learn finds tubs and his company comes up with a new television ad so Roberta and Gary have a party to celebrate.

Once again, at their party we see Roberta running around making sure all of their guests are find and that the food is perfect. Gary is more interested in his ad, which says “Oasis, where fantasies come true”. In the ad you see Gary surriounded in the hot tub with what the viewers would probably view as beautiful women. Eventually we learn that Roberta reads the person ads in the newspaper. She becomes particularly interested in a regular personal that usually says “Desperately Seeking Susan” and it usually has a place for the two people to meet (Susan and her boyfriend Jim). Roberta is bored with the life she leads, and is sick of being taken advantage of so she decides to find out what this Susan’s life is all about.

This is when things start to happen. Roberta goes into the city (based in New York) where she spies on Susan. Right away you can notice how different the two characters are. Roberta is much more conservative, dressed in a white and light pink frilly dress, where Susan is dressed in a black mini skirt, fish nets, black high heel ankle boots, and a jacket with a gold shiny pyramid on the back. Susan’s hair is very curly and crazy. Susan continues her day and walks down a road where she spots a pair of boots that she falls in love with. She goes in and trades her jacket with the pyramid for the boots. However, when she does this she forgets that she had a key for her locker with her things in it in the jacket. We then see Roberta secretly go into the store where Susan traded her jacket in and Roberta buys the jacket.

Roberta goes home and instantly her husband hate the jacket. When Roberta finds the key in her pocket she wants to set up a meeting with Susan, so she puts an ad in the paper. This is when Jim calls his friend Dez because he thinks Susan is in trouble and a guy is going after her. So, Jim gives Dez a description of Susan, but little does he know that Roberta is playing the role of Susan and dressing just like her, hair included. When Roberta goes to meet Susan Dez sees her, but not before this bad guy (we know he is the ‘bad guy’ because he is wearing dark clothing, has bleach blonde hair, and is creepy looking) knocks Roberta out because he wants something he thinks ‘Susan’ has. So this is when there are two Susan’s in the picture. One is the real Susan, the other is the ‘Susan” Roberta either pretends to be or she looses her memory and thinks she is. I still can’t decide which happened.

Dez takes ‘Susan’ (Roberta) in to help her remember who she is. Mean while Roberta’s husband is wondering where she went off to. Eventually Roberta gets a job at the Magic Club where before she was knocked out she saw Susan there because her friend got fired. So when Roberta is walking home from work the bad guy starts to chase her. She falls down when she is running from him and police find her and think she is a hooker. When she is hiding from the man before she fell she saw Gary’s commercial on TV and so when the police ask her who she is she says Roberta. So they take her in and Dez bails her out. A man on the police force recognizes her from a picture he had of a missing person and he phones Gary.

Gary comes to the police office and sees the picture of his wife’s mug shots and starts to look for her after that. He relocates where she bought the jacket from and gets Susan’s number from the sales lady. Susan left the number with the lady in case someone came back to give her the key. So Gary calls Susan and Susan agrees to help him find his wife. They learn that Roberta was so interested in Susan’s life that she even kept a journal of her. At the end Susan puts and ad in the paper to meet Roberta at the Magic Club. This is where Roberta works. So Roberta comes on stage and her husband sees her, Dez sees her, the bad guy sees her and Susan sees her. So Gary and Dez go after her while Susan runs away from the bad guy. Roberta tells Gary that she pretty much is done with their marriage is she is happier with who she is now than she was before. She goes back to her dressing room and Susan pushes through the window with the bad guy behind her, so Roberta smashes a bottle against his head and the two girls are safe. At the end we see Roberta happy with Dez and Susan happy with her boyfriend Jim.

This movie has a lot to do with changing identities and finding ways to make yourself happy. Roberta knew she had to do something to change the way she was living or else she would just become too bored. When she was with Gary she didn’t feel any thing. But when we see her with Dez she becomes more alive, and a much more interesting character unfolds. We want to watch Roberta while she is playing Susan because she is more sporadic.

The Magic Club could have significant meaning because it could be the place where people dress up to be actresses and do magical things to make things disappear or turn into something else. It could also mean that this is the place where characters, such as Roberta can turn into someone else.

The narrative that helps propel the story is Susan. I also think images such as The Magic Club sign, the jacket, and the home of Roberta and Gary, and Dez’s apartment helps viewers know where the story is taking place. This movie takes ideology to the level of connotations because we can’t rely on what we think we know or what we think a character will do. When we see Roberta a first we think she is an innocent housewife and we have no idea that she will change into a more independent woman at the end. Because she goes through this transformation she can be looked at as being a heroine because she had the courage to change. She let her guards down and became more of a free person.

I read a few reviews about the director of the movie and she said that she is mostly fond of movies that are based on women that live an OK life but they want more. She said this is when the character can find itself intertwined with a more mysterious and intriguing character, like when Roberta finds out about Susan. This is when a spiral of events happens that allows the characters to develop, change, and come into the world as feeling like a new person.

Personally I think this movie was put together very well because there are so many twists and turns that you have to keep track of a lot of information through out the journey. It is a fun movie to watch because there are a lot of emotions that you feel during it.

Blog I Commented On

2005-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

I made a comment on this blog! :)

# 2 Bitch Magazine- Femenist Response to Pop Culture

2005-04-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

I was interested to research a publication that is about media criticism. When I went to the research to look at the magazines on hold for class I found one that I liked because of the issues talked about in it. The magazine was called Bitch magazine which is a feminist view of pop culture.

The magazine had great articles ranging from abortion rights to the latest trends and what they think of shows on TV. The magazine seems very hip and witty. It focuses on critiquing movies, magazines, TV shows, and women in today’s culture. The magazine was first published in January of 1996, and comes out four times every year. Two women got together and were sick of their jobs. They both had a love and hate for media, especially pop culture and were motivated from other magazines similar to the one they would create like Ms., Sassy, and Beer Frame. The two women, who are the founding editors, Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler were particularly interested in women in the pop culture.

These two women wanted to bring attention to the false images that can sometimes portray women. Especially in magazines where what a women is wearing can seem more important than who she is. Jervis and Zeisler wanted to respond to these issues in a witty, fresh new way. Part of the Bitch mission statement says, “Bitch is about formulating replies to the sexism that we see every day. It's about critically examining all the images of femininity and feminism that are thrown at us. It's about forging connections between the sociocultural messages we get and the commercial agendas of who's behind them.” They want to raise awareness of the role of women today. They want to give the independent women a chance for all females, and to do this they write and critique the constant images that are created especially by Hollywood. They want to build awareness of feminism, and how it doesn’t mean lesbians, or that women hate men. It is about women getting in touch with being who they are comfortable with and understanding more of who they are.

The magazine is a non-profit organization so they get a lot of their money from people who like the magazine and are willing to donate money. The magazine stays alive because of individual readers who love the critique they do and give money for them to live on. The readers may love the magazine so much that they don’t want to see it go. It is similar to PBS who has days where they ask for money on TV and have concerts to interest people to raise more money. Bitch magazine also tries to pull you in by giving some small things like Bitch stickers and pens to you when you sign up to donate. And all of the donations are also tax-deductible because it is a non-profit organization.

The women who write for this magazine believe in themselves and seem to know how to take a stand on strong arguments. I think the articles they write are topics people should be interested in, and things that people should think about. You can tell these women want to get people talking and their mind brewing. They answered a response to how they picked the name for their magazine and I thought it was great. They said, “While we’re aware that our title is off-putting to some people, we think it’s worth it. When it’s used as an insult, “bitch” is most often hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don’t shy away from expressing the. If being an outspoken women means being a bitch, we’ll take that as a compliment, thanks”. I think that is an awesome response. I think this is one of the reasons why this magazine has been so successful. It is because they understand their readers, and they communicate to them about topics they are most directed towards and involved in.

# 7 How the Media Effects us (children and teenagers especially)

2005-04-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

To find an article about media effects I looked on EBSCOhost. This was a great way to find some very interesting articles. However, I found a transcript of a radio show on NPR that was far more interesting than some of the news articles I found. The radio show is also very recent (March 24, 2005) so I thought it would be a bit more relevant.

The show discussed how people today may be acting their lives instead of living them. The two people discussing the topic were, first Neal Conan who hosts the show ‘Talk of the Nation’ and second, the author of the book called “Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in it” Thomas de Zengotita. There are also people who call into the show to give their input on what they think.

In the beginning of the show de Zengotita and Conan discuss how actors get in touch with their feelings, but the smaller their spaces the less likely they are to react truthfully to events in their life. But the whole idea of acting is to be genuine and not to “act”. Then they go on to discuss how actors have to be trained by practicing things such as role playing and group therapy. These are things that therapists use that our everyday, ordinary people go to see. So Zengotita says that both actors and everyone else are “getting in touch with your feelings is the goal in both cases”. He says that actors get in touch with their feelings in order to use them to perform on stage, or in front of a camera and audience.

This leads them to say that everyone gets in touch with their feelings and then performs on them. One caller said that he thinks the media is distracting us from nature and even taking us away from nature. Zengotita had a very interesting response to this: “I think if you kind of watch yourself while you do it—while you do that, if you’re one of those kinds of people, you’ll notice this kind of strange haunting effect of mediation in your experience with nature. And that is that when you’re there in the wilderness, the wilderness represents itself somehow, as well as being itself in you. That’s how mediated your mind is”. I don’t 100% agree with this statement. I think the medium of the internet has had a profound impact on society. The internet has changed the way that many people interact with others, learn, and do work. I especially think the internet has had in impact on children. More children today are using the internet that five years ago. When they go onto the internet they are exposed to many ads, some that are appropriate, and others that are not. The new generation of children seem to be growing up much more faster, and this could be because of certain images and text that they are exposed to. The clothing that children wear have labels of the stores they bought them from, and the food they eat have cute characters on the boxes so they will want to buy more of it. The marketing world of the media is always looking for more ways to suck children in to get their parents money. This is when I would have to say, yes that the more we are exposed to the media the less we seem to want to be in touch with nature.

De Zengotita actually addresses the concern for children interacting with different mediums later in the conversation. He says that young children often mimic characters on TV or in the movies. They are not being imaginative or individuals when they do this. However, he goes on to say that they will eventually grow out of this stage and learn that they are imitating. They will start to understand what and who they want to imitate, and who the people around them are imitating. They will eventually choose what type of world they want to surround themselves in. He uses a teenagers room as an example, saying that the way they act can be represented by their room and the things hanging on their walls. The teenager looks around their room and sees posters of who they are or are going to become.

I think this can have both a negative and positive effect on children. I think in some ways it is good for teenagers to have good role models and to want to be someone who does good deeds. However, a teenager can easily become disappointed when they don’t become the person in the poster on their wall. Teenage girls can develop eating disorders because they think that they have to be skinny and beautiful like all the girls they see in magazines. Of course there are other things that can factor into eating disorders, but often times images of the tall slender representation of beautiful actresses, singers and models can be such an overwhelming symbol for teenagers to understand. They want to be the person they see because they think they live a simpler, more fun, fantasy, stunning life. On some levels this may be true, but often times we find that celebrities live more normal lives than we think.

Reality shows have allowed us to come into the world of some of our favorite celebrities. Through these shows we see that these people that we adore and look up to react to situations like we would, and even do things like we do. They cook, watch TV, and lounge around. Teenagers can over look this and they see this image that they want to become. This can even lead to extreme cases where they would do any thing to become this person like in MTV’s show ‘I want a Famous Face’. This show is based on a teenager who goes through an excruciating plastic surgery process in order to look like the celebrity they adore. I think it is sad that people have become so unhappy with themselves as individuals that they want to look like someone else. We all have our favorite celebrities, but actually wanting to change yourselves to look like one is when you should know to see a therapist. This is when you should know that your problems are beyond how you self-perception is, and teenagers often times don’t know this.

This NPR conversation brought up a good topic on how the media has psychocultural effects on us. We all know that the world has changed drastically from 10, 25, 50, 100, even 1,000 years ago. The scary thing is we don’t know how it is going to change in the future. One thing for sure is that medias in some way did have some effects on us in the past, and I’m sure they will in the future as well. I hope you enjoyed my rambling.

the article.

Thanks!

2005-04-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks to any onewho went to the Expressions of Dance this weekend! The dance club had a lot of fun putting the dances together and worked real hard. It turned out great! The turn out of people all three nights was amazing. The club was really happy with everyone who supported us. If you missed the show this semester you should definetly come next semester! It is always impressive to see what is put together. Thanks again to anyone who went!

The movie: Stuart Hall: "Representation and the Media"

2005-04-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

In today's media crit class we watched the movie Stuart Hall: "Representation and the Media". I think he had a lot of interesting ways to look at how we gain significance from an image. Three important points he brought up were:

1.) Classification system
2.) Signification of Meaning
3.) Ideology

I was confused a little by what he was saying about the signification of meaning, so I took the time to sit down and understand it more.

When looking at images we have to keep in mind who is creating the image that we are viewing, and if there was an intended representation for us. One image can hold several meanings, and they can all vary and be different from one another. The thing that Hall points out that is important is that communication is key when it comes to understanding the power the representation can have and hold over us.

You have to interrogate the image. To do this you have to deeply look into it, examine it, and ask questions about it. You have to probe inside and behind the image itself. The image can represent the meaning. These meanings that people make of the image are made by how it (the image) is represented. It seems confusing, but it actually makes sense in a weird way. Hall is almost saying that we have the power to create the representation of an image, but I think this can also distort our reality. How can we know what an image is supposed to represent when we are the ones behind the making of the meaning of the representation?

Hall also makes a good point that there are no fixed meanings until it is represented. In order for the image to be represented it needs good communication. To communicate well you need to learn through languages and develop conceptual maps that will help you lay out and understand deeper meanings of things. Without languages meanings could not be exchanged. And without meanings, representations could not be made. Once I sat down and thought about all of this I could make some sense from it and saw what Hall was actually trying to talk about.

One Of The Hottest Men Alive has Lung Cancer

2005-04-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that ABC News anchor of "World News Tonight" Peter Jennings has been diagnosed with lung cancer. As a trusted newsman, this is a sad report to hear, especially since he is the hottest news anchor man on TV. I think he has changed the way people recieve news because he is so acurrate, passionate, and always there when the people of America need to know what's going on. He is a great man, and he does his job justice. I wish Peter a speedy recovery.

You can see the CNN story here.

# 4 'Hott' Blog Topic: Pope John Paul II

2005-04-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

As most people have heard by now the Pope John Paul II has passed away on April 2, 2005 at the age of 84. He will be known as “one of the most influential leaders of the 20th and early 21st centuries” ABCNews has said. In his lifetime he visited more than 100 countries, and spoke eight languages fluently. President Bush has said of the Pope, “The world has lost a champion of human freedom… he was humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of the history’s great moral leaders” (ABCNews). President Bush will be the first President to go to a Pope’s funeral.

Many people believe that Pope John Paul II united many people around the world. The Pope passed away due to heart failure, and thousands of people were gathered in St. Peter’s Square to observe a moment of silence when the news was heard around the nation.

I thought because of this breaking news people would be saying interesting things, and I wanted to know what people were thinking. The perfect place to look is: http://thepopeblog.blogspot.com/. This blog is said to be “a sober, concise and frequently updated guide to events in and around the Vatican” (Guardian Unlimited).

Many people who have posted comments on this blog site have felt comfortable enough to let their emotions for the Pope to be heard. Many people have focused on the Pope finding harmony with peace and being such an inspiration to many people. One person said, “I was impressed by how many people held such great admiration and love for Pope John Paul II. There have been numerous moving tributes. It confirms the fact that everyone deep down believes in truth, in goodness. Even non-Catholics and unbelievers respect and love this man because of what he represented in his actions: the love of God”. I think this is an important statement to make because it can show people that everyone notices the good the people put forward and not the hate.

I also think that the media helped the news of the Pope’s passing break through to the world. Without the fast breaking news of TV, the internet and newspapers many people wouldn’t have known about the Pope’s death as soon as they did. Because of the wonderful speedy technology we have now we can be grateful for the news we receive so quickly.

Many people also anonymously made comments about the mourning process of the Pope. One person anonymously said, “The world has been a better place with the guidance and love of Pope John Paul II. He was so much more than just the head of the Roman Catholic Church. John Paul II was a champion for human rights and truth. Regardless of your religious convictions one can not help but to admire such a great man”. I think the comments people are making a helpful to people who are grieving because they can recognize and see what a wonderful human the Pope was. It is always a good idea to keep the great memories of a person alive when they pass.

I can understand most of what everyone on this blog are saying. I think it is sad that such an honorable person has died especially since he had such an impact on so many people throughout the world. He had a way of reaching out to the younger generation and speaking to them in positive way that they could understand. Over the next week we will all learn more about the Pope’s position and how he has impacted people’s lives.

I am glad that people are using online journals to reflect their feelings of what the Pope has done for them, and how he has helped their religious and spiritual life. Even though I’m not the most religious person out there, I still think that it is important to recognize someone who has made such a tremendous effort to bring people of all worlds together.

# 5 Reviews for New TV Show: Grey's Anatomy

2005-03-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

A new drama series was released to the airways yesterday (March 27th). The series is called Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), and it is another show about hospitals and doctors. It takes place in Seattle, and we know this from the opening credits when the space needle (signified) is shown. The first show focused on interns starting their first day on the job, and the struggles they face in the first 48 hours. The person narrating the story is homodiegetic, she is one of the interns, and we learn that her mother used to work at the hospital she is working at now.

When I first saw a commercial for the new drama a couple of weeks ago, I was excited to see it because it looked fun, and it seemed to have some humor in it unlike some of the other shows located in hospitals on TV. I was also interested in watching the show because Sandra Oh plays one of the characters, and she was recently in Sideways, where I think she did a beautiful job acting. Ellen Pompeo, who was very funny in Old School is the narrator and one of the main characters on the show. I also saw Patrick Dampsey, who is one of the main characters on Jay Leno Friday night, and what he said about the show made me excited to watch it.

For a blog entry we were asked to find a set of reviews of a movie, TV show, or CD. I am interested to see what critics are saying about Grey’s Anatomy, the new show I saw yesterday. I do not think what the critic’s have to say will impact my viewing in any way, but it will be appealing either way.

As I looked for reviews, I came across one called “Grey’s Anatomy: No Heart, No Brain” on the washingtonpost.com. The article said that people want to see shows that remind them of the old shows that they used to watch. It also said that the news show hopes to attract young viewers, since the characters are young, sexy and something younger people may be able to relate to. Overall, I think this article is saying that in order for this new show to survive it has to have fresh ideas compared to ‘ER’ or ‘Chicago Hope’, where were and are medical shows on TV.

I think that this article was correct in saying that it should focus on the younger generations, because right away when I saw the commercials for it I thought that those would be the people who would want to watch it. I think it the show is especially something for people who have just graduated from college or are going to graduate soon for them to relate to because they will soon be in the shoes of trying to find a job and stick to it.

Another review I found was in UsWeekly. The review gave the show four out of four stars! It said “Nearly a medical miracle!”. It also said, “The prognosis is positive, thanks to an instantly lovable cast (Oh and Pompeo are standouts), gripping cases (a patient needs seven nails removed from his skull in a future episode) and a heroic writing (one of the newbies freaks during an operation). The article also says, that in order to survive the show will need a respectable story line.

I agree with this review, because I also think that the actors are great, and because of that the show has great potential. I think a lot of young people are going to recognize the actors and, then are going to get hooked on watching the show because of the great stories.

On pittsburghlive.com the Tribune-Review says “Grey’s Anatomy’ succeeds as hipper version of ‘ER’”. It goes on to say that the show has characters, an atmosphere and relationships that have been done before, but this time they are more enjoyable and younger version of NBC’s ER. It also says that the cast is ‘superb’ and “Grey’s Anatomy offers enough medical procedures and jargon to keep the setting real. The show’s main focus is the people, both patients and doctors, who struggle with complicated medical issues”.

I think the reason why this show was so good when I watched it was because it kept the viewer on their feet, wanting to know how things worked out. I watch ER also, but I think the two shows are very different, and offer diverse scenarios. I think because Grey’s Anatomy has young people in it that it will stand out as different from ER. The show will seem more fresh because of the young actors.

Another reason why I think the show will do so well is because it is on ABC on Sunday nights right after their new hit show Desperate Housewives. Everyone is watching Desperate Housewives, and when they see this new medical drama is on after, they will most likely end up watching that as well. I think it will be hard for this drama to differentiate themselves enough from the other medical dramas, but I do think that it is very possible. From the pilot episode, I think that the show is going to do well, and the humor involved will only help.

# 6 Media Reform Movement... to change Media

2005-03-24T21:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, when I was doing a search on the internet for a media reform movement I came across a very interesting article. I found the article on thenation.com, and it is called “the Making of a Movement”. The authors (Robert McChesney and John Nichols) discuss a medium movement that the authors say is about television, especially news networks sugarcoating topics such as the current President, George Bush and companies buying out many stations.

They say CNN and FOX have had a competition to see who could be most patriotic by doing such things as standing by any thing Bush says, and wearing the biggest flag lapel pin. “The role that US newsmedia have played in narrowing and warping the public discourse since September 11 provides dramatic evidence of the severe limitations of contemporary American journalism, and this nation’s media system, when it comes to nurturing a viable democratic and humane society” the authors describe the political movement involving media.

McChesney and Nichols talk about the FCC thinking about getting rid of policies such as bans on cross-ownership for one TV firm to own TV stations and newspapers in the same area, and having limits for the number of TV stations a firm can have nationwide. I think this is a good idea because it doesn’t allow for a monopoly to take place. If you had the same company running every TV station you watched you would only get one view point and that would be the companies. The only way a society can learn and have different things to talk about is if there are different perspectives available. Your attitudinal media effect would be biased because you would only have one way to look at a topic if the same company owned TV stations and newspapers around your neighborhood. You would constantly be having the reinforcement that this way of looking at this subject may be correct because that is all you see. This horizontal movement could lead to oligopolies to occur.

The authors say the movement to stop the “media corruption” as they call it has to include such things as:

- Apply existing antimonopoly laws to the media and, where necessary, expand the reach of those laws to restrict ownership of radio stations to one or two per owner. Legislators should also consider steps to address monopolization of TV-station ownership and move to break the lock of newspaper chains on entire regions.

- Initiate a formal, federally funded study and hearings to identify reasonable media ownership regulations across all sectors.

- Establish a full tier of low-power, noncommercial radio and television stations across the nation.

- Revamp and invest in public broadcasting to eliminate commercial pressures, reduce immediate political pressures and serve communities without significant disposable incomes.

- Allow every taxpayer a $200 tax credit to apply to any nonprofit medium, as long as it meets IRS criteria.

- Lower mailing costs for nonprofit and significantly noncommercial publications.

- Eliminate political candidate advertising as a condition of a broadcast license, or require that if a station runs a paid political ad by a candidate it must run free ads of similar length from all the other candidates on the ballot immediately afterward.

- Reduce or eliminate TV advertising directed at children under 12.

- Decommercialize local TV news with regulations that require stations to grant journalists an hour daily of commercial-free news time and set budget guidelines for those newscasts based on a percentage of the station's revenues.

Personally, I think this sounds more like a dream than any thing else. I understand where the authors are coming from, but I think it sounds too unrealistic to actually ever happen. They list too many limitations, and large corporations would find a way to get around these limits. For instance, the ‘reduce or eliminate TV advertising directed at children under 12’ I do not think would go over very well for people in the market place. There are people whose job it is to create toys for children 12 and under and they want to show the kids the new toys they made so the kids would want them. Of course, it seems unethical, but if you don’t want you kids to be influence by television ads, and then don’t have them watch TV at all. The kids will be influenced by more than just the ads.

I truly hear what McChesney and Nichols are saying but it seems like too big of a goal. I would suggest for them to focus on one thing to try to change, and work in small steps. It is good to have big dreams, but I think changing everything that they want to change would make a lot of people angry.

Check out the article I found here.

Movie: His Girl Friday (1940)

2005-03-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

Recently in Media Criticism class we watched the 1940's romantic comedy movie called "His Girl Friday". The movie stars Cary Grant, who plays Walter Burns, Rosalind Russell, playing Hildy Johnsan, Ralph Bellamy, and playing Bruce Baldwin. The black and white film shows a journalistic world, and relationships involved in between. The movie portrays cognitive, emotional, moral, and aesthetic behavioral effects.

For a quick summary of the movie, Walter and Hildy used to be married, and they worked in the newspaper business together. Hildy then leaves the business for a bit, and then comes back and tells Walter that she's marrying Bruce. Bruce is somewhat slow, and boring. When Walter finds this out, he wants to win Hildy back. His way of doing this is by having her work for the newspaper, to show her how they both love journalism. What perfect timing, a huge story is unfolding about Earl Williams, who was accused of murder and is going to be hung. Hildy eventually takes the Earl Williams story because Walter tells her he will buy insurance from her new fiance (Bruce). Hildy writes the story as promised, but tears it up because she never said she wouldn't do that (tricky girl)! She does this when she finds out Walter took Bruce's wallet and made it look like Bruce stole a watch. Earl Williams escapes and ends up in the writing room for the newspaper, where it just happens to be Hildy is. This creates the best opportunity for Hildy to get her story on the front page of the newspaper. She phones Walter, and the two quickly work together to try to keep everyone else from knowing they know where Earl Williams is. Bruce once again ends up in jail, but this time Hildy can't save him because of the story she is writing and because of the fugitive in the writing room! This creates the scenario for Earl leaving to NY without Hildy, and Hildy realizing how fond she is of Walter.

With that said, Hildy and Walter are two journalist who happen to be unraveling a great story in front of their eyes, while Walter is trying to win back Hildy, his ex-wife. Both Hildy and Walter end up doing any thing to get their hands on the unfolding story.

Cognitively, this movie allows the viewer to see how crazy a journalist life could be. It lets viewers think about how stories are written and portrayed in newspapers. His Girl Friday especially shows that there can be different views to every story.

Emotionally, His Girl Friday takes the viewer on a love triangle between Walter, Hildy and Bruce. The viewer may get tangled in the energy and witty dialogue between one another. The speedy dialogue makes it so you can barely take your eyes off the screen while watching it, or even think about taking a breath because it is so quickly paced. The movies emotional aspects become especially heated towards the end when Hildy becomes more excited to be a part of the paper, and Walter does any thing to keep Hildy from going away to NY with Bruce.

As for moral elements in the film, they are portrayed when the people watching the film get a sense of the characters values and ethics. The viewer could also compare this to real journalist and their ethical values. The film shows how the truth can be twisted in news, and how sometimes unethical things may take part in getting and creating a journalistic story.

Aesthetically, the black and white film is very different from modern film that I am used to. The black and white created the older look of course, but also set the stage for the different type of sarcasm. With all this, I think the film had a lot of character, and the humor especially helped with this.

Interview with parents

2005-03-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

For Media Criticism class I had to interview my parents with a number of questions about family, politics, religion and sports to see how medias have changed over the years in these aspects. After I did this I had to interview myself with the same questions to see how the answers differ. It was a good way to look at how television, newspapers, and advertising has changed over the years.

Family
Many of the questions concerning family were about the number of televisions in the household, were there restrictions for who watched the TV and when, and did family members read books together, listen to music or the radio together. My parents said that the main medium in my parents house while they were growing up were newspapers. Both my father and mother said their families found out a lot of information from local, state, and regional newspapers. My parents also said they didn’t watch very much television when they were growing up, and if they did it was for family entertainment. They both also had only one television in their house. My parents also told me that children never really watched television during the day because there was not a huge interest there because they would rather have played outside. As for reading books and magazines together as a family my parents said there was a lot of reading going on in their houses. At night all the children got read to, and during the day kids would read by themselves, with each other or a parent. Music and the radio was another family entertainment medium. My mother said she remembers taking Sunday rides in the car and her father would put on show tunes.

A lot of the answers my parents said have changed for me. I would say the most important medium for my families house today would be the television. There are so many 24 hour news programs on today that it can be the fastest way to receive new information. In my house we have five televisions. There are not really any rules for who can watch the TV’s and when, as long as everyone can agree on what to watch then we can watch whatever we want. However, when I was a child I remember I played outside a lot more than I watched TV. My brother, sister and I did not watch as much TV as we do now. I remember we read a lot of books too, especially with my parents. Every night we each got read to several books. I think that influenced us to read more as we got older. My family goes to a lot of Broadway shows, so we do listen to that music together, and there is usually a stereo somewhere on in the house that is just on as background music. I wouldn’t say my family purposely sits down together to listen to a specific radio station or CD.

Politics
My parents said they got a lot of their political information from a mix of reading newspapers and talking to other people. They also read a lot of news magazines like Time and Newsweek. My mother never went to a political rally, but my father went to one but he didn’t remember much about it. My mom said that a lot of advertisements were in black and white, but there were no political ads that stuck out in her mind. My mom also told me that her family watched the campaign election results on TV. She said it seemed slower than it is now, and they didn’t project like they do now. Everything was also hand counted, and so it took much longer to get the results.

I know that a lot of people my age get political information from television, and talking to others. I think people are more aware of political events, rallies, or speeches going on, but I’m not sure if they actually go to them. I remember my family went to one when President Bush Sr. was running for office he came to speak near my home town and my family went. Today there are so many political ads that it is hard to have just one stick out in my mind. I find that sometimes the television ads that put the opposing guy down can be somewhat annoying to watch.

Religion
My parents remember going every Sunday to church. They also said that there was a Catholic mass on the local television station on Sundays, but you didn’t watch that unless you were sick because you were supposed to be at church. My mom remembers that you were taught not to question religious leaders, and to accept what they said. My mother also thinks that religion has changed in the past several decades, for instance the recent scandals in the catholic churches. My mother thinks that TV has had a tremendous impact on getting the information out. Public radios, 24 hour news stations (CNN) have allowed people to be up to date with what goes on when a priest leaves a church, or a church is burnt down. My mom says there wasn’t the type of coverage when she grew up as there is now, and it seems to have a big impact on some institutions.

I know that there are a lot of religious television shows on now, and I think there is a channel for church to be on most of the day. My family does not watch these channels, because we would rather go to church that watch it on TV. I think we know a lot more about religious leaders, and I think we are more able to form our own opinions about them. I agree with my mom that mediums have had an impact on religions, especially because you can constantly find out what is going on.

Sports
My mom said that as a family when she was little they would go to see the Red Sox a few times a year. She says that she also remembers going to school sports many times a week. My mother also remembers her father keeping track of sports through the newspapers, especially baseball. My dad said that sports are more like a business now, than a leisure activity. My parents also remember that if you liked a player you had to send them a letter through the mail and hope that they would respond back. However, now you can just pop onto the internet and find out any thing and more about a specific player. My mom thinks that sports players salaries today are obnoxious and way too much, but she also understands that they have to support their families. My parents don’t really care about advertisements during games. They think the super bowl ads are funny, and they make it so that more people can look forward to the ads as much as the game. They think that the ads can affect everyone because everyone wants to look like the big shot players.

I feel that a lot of what my parents told me about sports is how I feel. My family has been to a lot of Red Sox and Patriots games together. Football is a huge sport in my house, especially because my younger brother plays. Whenever there is a high school football game you can count on my family being there. We also watch a lot of football games together on television, and we read scores and next day write ups in the newspapers about the games. I think that sports players today get paid a lot, but I don’t think there is much any one can do about it. I also think that there is a lot of advertising during games on TV, and when you are at the games. It doesn’t bug me, but I think it can have an impact on little kids.

For the most part, I thought this information was interesting to take in. I expected to hear most of this from my parents, and I didn’t really find any thing that was too shocking to me.

# 3 Where's Your Sidekick?

2005-03-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

To keep in-touch today you need much more than just a cell phone. The T-Mobile Sidekick allows you an easier way to keep in touch with any one you want while you are ‘on the go’. It’s thin, but not small enough to fit in your pocket without looking bulky. Besides that, there are some pretty cool features to it.

The mini computer has a flip screen and small keyboard that you can easily type on. The Sidekick allows you to e-mail, call people, take photos, then send the photos to people, surf the web, and finally use Instant Messenger to keep in touch with everyone you know. If you don’t feel like flipping the screen up to answer a phone call, you have the choice to put it on speaker phone. This is as T-Mobile calls it, “The ultimate communication device”.

You first receive your free t-mobile e-mail account, and after that you can sign up for three more accounts. Just like a regular cell phone, the Sidekick lets you choose your own ring tone, like music clips. The Sidekick also has a personal photo gallery and built in flash for the camera. Some other cool features are the calendar, which you can add birthdays and other scheduled events you have on certain days throughout the week, month, or year. There is also a ‘to do’ list that you can constantly update. Like most cell phones, this phone has caller ID, but you can add a picture of the person calling for when they call the photo pops up.

Recently one problem T-Mobile was introduced to was to look out for hackers. Socialite Paris Hilton’s Sidekick was hacked into and her personal information leaked out all over the internet. All of the celebrities that Paris had in her Sidekick could be e-mailed and called by random people all over the world. Paris recently stated in US Weekly magazine, “I want to apologize to all my friends and family, I don’t know why this stuff always happens to me, but I wish it wouldn’t anymore.” Of course, this hijacked incident wouldn’t be as much of a high concern for regular people because other people wouldn’t be as interested in knowing your information.

Personally after reviewing this, I would be interested in getting one of these devices. I think it would be a neat new way to talk to my friends, plus I could take it everywhere. The only this is, T-Mobile only works well around city areas.

# 1 Journalist David Akin

2005-02-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

As I looked through some blogs on the internet I was interested to find that many celebrities and famously known people have weblogs or online journals. It is interesting to read some of these because they all have very different stand points. Celebrities especially try to set the point straight about what is happening in their life compared to what some newspapers and magazine articles say.

I was impressed to find a weblog of a famous reporter for Canada. David Akin is a reporter for CTV National News in Ottawa, Ontario Canada and reports on the Parliamentary Bureau. His position for the CTV News is as the National Business and Technology Correspondent.

On Akin’s weblog you can find very personal information such as the phone numbers for his cell phone and office, plus e-mail addresses. He also lets people comment on his blogs, and you can find sometimes that he responds back. Akin’s updates his blog several times a week. His blogs range from discussing a new boss at CTV News (where he works) to the NHL canceling the 2004-2005 season.

Akin’s blogs compared to his daytime work is drastically different. The blog allows you to see the real person David is, and even lets you into his personal life with pictures showing views from his office, and him along his travels. Akin’s traditional daytime work consists of more political reports. Akin reports on much more serious issues and writes it with importance.

David Akin’s blogs allow the viewer of his regular work to see inside to the reporters real life. You can see that he is interested in world wide issues. Sometimes even discussing silly things like the search site Google having maps available like Mapquest. It was interesting to find that the people we think can be the most serious also have a real soft side to them. Akin proves this through his non-traditional journal writing in his personal blog.

Valentine's Day: On real holiday's you get a day off from work!

2005-02-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

I have never been very fond of Valentines day, and I have some friends who think it’s a ridiculous holiday. Why should it only be one day that we have to recognize the people we love in our lives?

Valentine’s day is the classic ‘Hallmark Holiday’ filled with cards of romance, Hershey's chocolates in heart boxes and stuffed bears with big red bows tied around their necks. The day of recognizing love has turned into huge advertising competition. Instead of simply telling the people you care about that you love them, you may feel pressure from the intense advertisements in the mediums surrounding our daily lives.

People may feel that they need to buy their loved one diamond shaped heart necklaces because ‘every kiss begins with Kay’ may be heard during a television advertisement for Kay Jewelers. Or perhaps, you might want to “Be the ultimate romantic” and “send Valentine’s flowers all week long!” as suggested on flowers.com. I even saw a commercial for a special raspberry mocha drink for Dunkin' Donuts. Their ad said, "A Latte Love is in the Air... Dunkin' Donuts turns up the heat with a raspberry mocha treat just in time for your valentine." As I watched the Valentines day ads on TV I noticed the red, pink and white theme through out most of the ads. Everything was focused on couples, marriages, and people dating. Often times it is usually the man who is buying a woman a gift. This could be suggesting to men that in order to ‘win’ over the woman you are interested you have to make a good impression by buying her a dozen long stem roses, some piece of jewelry, and then perhaps even take her out to dinner.

Has it really come down that what you receive as a gift shows how much you care or your emotions towards someone? In a way it is sad how materialistic the U.S. has become today. Our emotions are shown by buying someone something. It’s the thought that counts, right?

The Amount of Media I'm Exposed to

2005-02-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

It is astounding the amount of media I’m exposed to in one week. I knew I watched a lot of TV, and I’m always in front of my computer, sometimes with the TV on as background noise. However, I was quite surprised when I tracked the amount of hours of media I listened to, watched and read.

When I sat down and guessed the amount of TV I watched I knew it would be a high number, I’m very interested in TV shows. I like to watch certain shows, and as a college student the TV seems to always be on. I made an estimate of watching 24 hours a week of TV, but actually I watch around 32 on average per week. With watching movies in a movie theatre it depends on the week, some weeks I go out to see a movie and that would add about 3 hours, and this week I did see a movie so that was another three hours added to my media exposure.

Another large number I knew right off was going to be hours spent using my computer. I am attached to my computer, especially AIM. I guess initially that I spent around 30 hours in front of my computer a week. It turns out that it is almost 40 hours a week I am in front of my computer either surfing the web, writing emails or talking on AIM. That is so much time!
If I listen to the radio, it’s usually in my car and I would estimate about an hour spent there. I listen to about a four to five hours of music a week, and an hour reading magazines a week. And I usually spend about 2 hours reading text books a week.

All together my total media exposure consists of approximately 80 hours a week! That is so much exposure for just one person, it’s amazing the different view points and opinion one can get from just watching one television program, never mind 80 hours!

the blogging world

2005-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

As I look through blog after blog, I find that there is a very interesting world with some fascinating people out there. Not only do some of them seem desperate to have someone hear them, but they also have some very interesting stories to tell. This is all very new to me, and it almost seems strange. These people are actually putting themselves out there and allowing complete strangers to read any thing they have to say. I mean, I guess in a way it's okay, because it's like free therapy.

There was one blog I found particularly fascinating, 'All things Dunkin' Donuts'. And that's just what it was, 'For the Dunkin' Donuts enthusiasts of the world'. I find this neat to look at because it's not normally something I would find myself stopping to read, but I did. There's a ton of news about Dunkin' Donuts around the world, most of which I've never head of, or realized. That is, until now. I can now have my cup full if I choose to read the 'All things Dunkin' Donuts' blog and satisfy my knowledge of coffee and donuts, wonderful.

Then there are these other blog sites that are like a journal to some people. And yet again, I find myself stopping to read what they have to say. I mean I must have read one guys entry for a few minutes which was just saying how he had to get is prescription changed for his eye glasses. That's not normally something that I would be particularly interested in, especially if i didn't know you, but I guess being introduced to this new world I for some reason have found it intriguing.

I guess my point is that there is just so much information roaming around on this World Wide Web that you could fascinate yourself with it for every hour that you are awake, daily for the rest of your life. And still, I think every day, possibly even every hour you would find some new web site, or some strange person that posted something you never heard of before. When people say 'there's a whole world out there', I think it's time we all started to listen to them.