This post is due by Tuesday, February 4 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rob.williamsATmadriver.com for partial credit.
Read our MEDIA@SOCIETY book, assigned chapter above.
In a SINGLE blog post below, provide for the chapter:
1. A single sentence, IYOW, that captures the chapter's THESIS (main argument).
2. THREE specific pieces of supporting documentation - ideas, concepts, stats, data - to bolster your thesis for the chapter. (Use 2 - 3 sentences for each.)
3. A single PERSONAL story of 3-4 sentences that connects the chapter directly with your own personal media experiences.
4. A SINGLE specific question you have after reading and blogging on the chapter.
Game on,
Dr. W
1. Media can be analyzed and broken down.
ReplyDelete2. -The chapter includes “the critical process” of understanding media content. Description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement are all a part of this process. Through these methods, one is able to dissect a piece of media and grasp its meaning.
-“[Media stories] tell us important things about who we are and what we value” (p. 17). Media subconsciously gives us ideas of the type of people we should be. Ideological messages are hidden in media and through media literacy, we are able to look past the content and find the message.
-The third-person effect is explored in this chapter. This effect sees that a media literate person recognizes how media not only affects us but other people as well.
3. Last semester for my media revolutions class, we had to choose and dissect a piece of media. The film I chose was a media satire. This allowed me to really explore the analysis and interpretation aspects of the “critical process” of understanding media. I also was able to experience the third-person effect, as in, I analyzed how different people would view the media.
4. Can a piece of media be analyzed in all three ways that the chapter describes (reflectionist, constructionist, narrativist)?
ReplyDeleteTHESIS: Chapter 1 focuses on the need to think critically about media and our relationships to the media, as well as becoming media literate.
1) The book differentiates cynical behavior from critical behavior. If you only look at media from a cynical perspective, it is impossible to effectively evaluate the pros and cons of contemporary media and their relationship to society. In contrast, thinking critically allows you to examine what messages media are sending us and what our responses to those messages are, with the result of developing an unbiased understanding of media culture.
2) The narrativist criticism of media, which the book supports as the most comprehensive critical perspective, emphasizes that stories are the main way that media transfers messages to us. It is important to use these stories as windows into our culture; we can’t simply criticize the storytelling abilities of media without examining why the stories were chosen to be presented this way and what implications they have for examining the values of our culture.
3) It is likely that many people, intentionally or not, experience the third-person effect, which states that people view others as being impacted more by media than they themselves are. It can be easy to think that you are above the messages media are sending and that you can see all the tricks media have up their sleeves, but being media literate doesn’t mean putting down all media in this way. It is possible to enjoy media while being both media literate and accepting that our culture is influenced to such an extent that it is impossible to say that any one of us is totally unaffected by the trends, ideas and messages of media.
I am very critical of reality television as well as many TV ads. However, even though I view certain media as being a poor reflection of our culture, the media that I do enjoy consuming I view as being separate from those things that I am more critical of. Reading this chapter has made me recognize that while there are many different ideas put forth in media, those ideas are not all necessarily bad, and should be considered in terms of why our culture supports them rather than simply being pushed aside as being a bad influence.
Will media communications continue to develop as a method of spreading ideas and fostering change, or will it become more of a way to encourage capitalism and advertising, as in FEED? What role can we play in determining how media develop?
1. Understanding and analyzing media through specific processes.
ReplyDelete2. Chapter 1 of Media in Society, focuses on the themes and types of media. The three types of media themes include democracy, capitalism, and technology. The three types of media criticism are reflectionist, constructivist, and narrativist. By understanding these methods we can better understand media.
3. Through reflectionist criticism we can view how the media is misrepresenting reality. Media can manipulate us into believing something is a certain way when it in fact is not. For instance, the popular TV show on Bravo, The Real Housewives, doesn’t in fact represent "real housewives” but rather the wealthy minority of housewives. In addition, is the show actually reality or is the drama scripted and planned out in order to be more entertaining and to reel viewers in? Reflectionist criticism is the guide in order to understand this.
4. Will media reform have any effect on the public, or will we continue to live in a state of bliss and oblivion?
1. Thesis: Finding a way to critically look at media through analysis and understanding.
ReplyDelete2. a) Understanding media through three main forms; Technology, democracy and capitalism. Technology looks at how media has developed into what there is today. Democracy is how the advancement of media had progressed the way democracy is done. Capitalism is focused on how things are advertised and sold through media.
b) There is a critical process as to how to view media. The five points to the critical process are description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and engagement. This is used to further understand media and how it is being told.
c) A further criticism of media is broken up into three types of criticisms; reflectionist, constructionist, and narrativist. Refectionist focuses on the real world and how the media portrays it. The constructionist is focused on how they shape society through the media. The narrativist is focused on the storytellers in the media and how they focus the story.
3. Part of this chapter talked about dependency and how we have to be literate in media so that we become less dependent on it. Last semester I did an assignment called a week without and we had to give up all the technology that we had for one week. I survived the week and I realized that I do not need my phone in order to be able to survive. I now find myself leaving without my phone more often than remembering it. I do still get the panic when I am without my phone for a long time.
4. What is next for media? We have gone from analog to digital, what is coming next?
Thesis: There are different ways to interpret and understand media.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 1 in “Media in Society,” the main focus of the chapter was the different types of media and how to process media. The author describes three forms of media, technology, democracy, and capitalism. Also the author includes how to process the media through capturing different types of criticism like, relfectionist, constructive, and narrative criticism.
My personal story that connects with this chapter is that I criticize the news on papers or TV in a reflectionist way. I believe that the media in this case represents the real world badly because I believe that news only portrays or emphasizes that we should fear the world we are living in. Whenever I tune into the TV or radio all I hear is news of car crashes, deaths, war, and shootings, when yes there are bad things going on everywhere, but there also amazing good news that isn’t emphasized enough compared to the awful news that influences everyone to believe that there isn’t good in this world.
How will news be portrayed in the future? Will media focus less on the bad and more on the good?
1. Media can and should be analyzed and looked at through a critical lens in order to understand the effects and influence it has, and there are several processes for doing so.
ReplyDelete2. A) When reflecting on the media that you are consuming, it’s important to do so from a critical perspective but not a cynical one. This process involves five stages: Description, Analysis, Interpretation, Evaluation, and Engagement. Throughout these stages it’s crucial to consider all aspects of the medium in concern: how it is made, distributed, and interpreted.
B) There are three common perspectives that one can apply to media criticism. A reflectionist criticism aims to analyze how the media represent the real world, a constructionist perspective aims to analyze how the media shape both individuals and society, and a narrativist criticism views the media chiefly as our society’s storytellers. All these criticism styles should analyze the media in its social, cultural, historical, political and economic content.
C) It’s important to notice the tendencies that happen when criticizing media. Often the media are seen altogether as a scapegoat or a mediator, junk food or health food, when really those are broad generalizations and there are positive and negative aspects of all media.
3. Last semester as an ending project in my Media Revolutions class, we had to choose a specific piece of media and apply all that we’ve learned about media criticism processes. I chose the TV show “Modern Family” and went through the critical perspective process, putting the most emphasis on analysis. I used mostly a reflectionist criticism.
4. How has media affected our political structure?
1.) Thesis: The purpose of chapter one is to better educate the reader on how to break down media in order to analyze its meaning in an objective and critical manner.
ReplyDelete2.) There are three main forms that help the reader to understand media: technology, democracy and capitalism. Technology is the overall change of media from the past into how it is represented up until current times. Democracy shows the progression of media in a way similar to that of the advancement of democracy. Capitalism focuses on the consumeristic aspect of media, focusing on why, how, and who buys things and how different media influences their decisions. Using the third-person effect discussed in this chapter, one can step aside from their previously ignorant view and become mindful of the workings of media in an objective way in order to understand these three media trends.
3.) After reading this chapter, it personally connected with my experience in the past pertaining to the third-person effect. I believe that I have fallen victim to believing that I am less impacted than others by media because I simply thought I possessed the skills to look at things objectively. When watching the football game, I realized (through the help of this chapter) that I was affected just as everyone else is. The commercial with the golden retriever puppy and the horse that represented Budweiser definitely made an impact on me, as well as everyone else in the room. I now know that this advertisement was used to make viewers feel emotionally towards the representing animals and made my fellow game-watchers more apt to consume that kind of beer over another if given the choice.
4.) How far will media go in terms of shifting from an information sharing platform between the simple inhabitants of this world to a ideal campaign-displaying program that will endlessly have effects upon its viewers and users?
1. The power of media is so great that we must not blindly accept everything we hear and see.
ReplyDelete2. Anyone can go online and publish a media story or read and comment on a news story through their smartphone. The credibility of the sources where we get our information must be questioned and determined. We must critique.
Almost anything can be “googled” and unlimited knowledge of information that is true and false is in our reach. The narrativist view is that everything is a story that is created through the media.
Media can be “hypnotic, seductive, and addictive” (page 20). Therefore, we must deal with the predicament of balancing our personal media uses with the public media influences.
3. On Monday after the Super Bowl, I was online and read an article claiming that the Broncos had thrown the game on purpose. The website specified that the whole situation was under the investigation of the NFL. However, on inspection of the website, I quickly realized it was complete spam and that the entire story was fallacious.
4. What does the future actually hold for media? Will it move past digital to some sort of system as demonstrated in Feed?
1. Media today is a vital part of our society that requires one to become media literate through the study of its previous forms and analysis of its relationship to society.
ReplyDelete2.
• When reflecting and thinking about media, one must look at it from a critical view. Description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement are 5 main aspects in critical analysis of the media.
• Whenever we consider the influence of new media technologies, we need to sort out what is being constrained, if we are to understand the consequences of our ever-changing media environment. We do this through the analysis the three main themes of democracy, capitalism, and technology.
• True media criticism analyzes the media as social, cultural, historical, political, and economic content and form. There are three types of media criticism: reflectionist criticism, constructionist criticism and narrativist criticism.
3. In my media revolutions class I researched Subaru car commercial advertisements and how advertisements have changed over the past 5 years. I discovered how commercials are no longer informative, but they play more of a mental game. Many more commercials are becoming deceptive by playing with the viewers emotions. Commercials have more emotional connections and less informative aspects which shows how our society needs to become more media literate to understand the messages influencing our society within the ads.
4. How will media studies be taught in the future? Will it become such a
prominent part of our lives that it will be a required class in schools?
1. It is important to understand not only the negative effects of media but also its contributions to society by analyzing and breaking it down into various components to get a better understanding.
ReplyDelete2.
a. Having an understanding of the Critical Process (Description, Analysis, Interpretation, Evaluation, and Engagement) allows us to look at media with a discerning eye. It prevents us from merely judging media content to actually looking it from a different perspective.
b. We oftentimes view media as negative and blame it for a wide range of issues such as body image, bullying, and school shootings. However, when we actually look at the forms of media we are judging, whether it is a movie or TV show, we’ll eventually meet a dead end. There are more factors that contribute to societal issues other than the media.
c. The media criticism is a lot more complex than we think as it is more than writing a negative review about distasteful music. It can be broken down into three parts: Reflectionist, Constructionist and Narrativist. By criticizing media in different ways, we are able to really see the advantages and disadvantages of media.
3. When I was in high school I did an assignment in which I had to visit an area in NYC that had many advertisements. I had to take pictures of these ads and then “recreate” them by photoshopping the image to what I would like to see (we took ads that promoted sex and cigarettes and turned them into ads that were more positive such as college support or health care). This connects to the chapter a lot especially the point about Democracy and Capitalism. It questions exactly how much democracy we have and if we had more democracy, how much more of a threat would we be to capitalism?
4. Will more people become aware of the many components of media rather than only understanding the meaning the media gives to media?
1. When analyzing media content, it is far more proactive and effective to analyze it from a critical perspective than a cynical perspective.
ReplyDelete2.
• When a person has a cynical perspective toward media, he or she may have an attitude of "intolerance or dismissal" (8). A person approaching a given piece of content with a closed mind is unable to synthesize and analyze content appropriately because he or she will be likely to ignore findings that indicate that the media might not be "'evil'" (8) or that in general conflict with his or her preconceptions.
• A critical perspective allows for one to utilize narrativist criticism. This allows one to appreciate media as story telling channels and to see the "promise" of media rather than focus on the "doom" (16). Being critical but not cynical of media allows one to have a optimistic approach which provides opportunities to embrace the possibilities of media.
• A cynical perspective might prompt one to scapegoat media for societal ills. This could prevent one from exploring other causes of these problems, which inhibits solutions from being found and leads to a "dead end" (19).
3. The section that explains a critical approach to analyzing reality television prompted me to consider how my attitude has changed toward it over time. When I was younger, I had a very cynical view of reality television and I thought it was inferior to scripted television. Over Christmas vacation, I enjoyed watching TLC's "What Not to Wear" because of the stories it tells. It shows real woman who don't necessarily have flat stomachs and perfect noses finding confidence and overcoming personal struggles through fashion and self expression. In a larger sense it shows anyone can embrace her body and find clothing that is flattering. While this may suggest one's self worth can be derived from the clothes she wears, the show avoids promoting certain brands and instead emphasizes how the wearer feels about the clothes. I learned that reality television can celebrate beauty of all types because it often features average people rather than stars who augment their appearance with resources unavailable to most people.
4. What role does reality television play in our society and how can it be harnessed to spread meaningful messages?
Thesis: Media is involved in everything we do, and it is essential for us to use specific processes to advance our media literacy.
ReplyDeleteMedia is existent in all facets of American life. We are one of the most technologically, politically, and economically advanced countries in the world, and it is becoming more and more important for us to expand our media literacy. Media can be examined and connected to the three main themes of technology, democracy, and capitalism. As members of a technologically advanced, capitalist democracy, it is clear the importance of media in our society. In addition, we can use particular methods, such as the critical process, to expand our ability to interpret information and become more media literate. As with many things in our society, media is often criticized and argued over by many people, and Chapter 1 invites us to examine this criticism from several angles. By looking at the constructivist, narrativist, and reflectionist viewpoints on criticism, we can better understand ways to approach media and ways to be critical of it ourselves in our efforts to improve the communications world.
Personally, I feel that media is present in every part of my life. Whether I'm watching TV, sitting in class, or working out at the gym, media is all around me. This chapter takes the hundreds and thousands of aspects of media in our world and condenses it to the succinct thematic ideas of technology, democracy, and capitalism. In addition, I interpreted the critical process explained here and related it back to how I currently analyze the media I take in every day.
What is really responsible for the unprecedented presence of media in our daily life? How far can we really develop our media (possibly to the extent of FEED)?
1. Media plays an important role in democracy, capitalism, and technology.
ReplyDelete2. democracy: Free speech made it possible for people to openly express their ideas and thoughts (of course with some guidelines as far as content goes...) without having to completely censor themselves. Now with the use of media, we are able to take this free speech and make it stretch over the entire world. Because of platforms like twitter and facebook, we can express our thoughts on almost anything and reach a far greater audience than what was once possible before.
Capitalism: Previously, all marketing and advertisement would be via newspapers, but now with media, it spans to a larger crowd. Commercials have the ability to not only be seen on tv, but to be replayed for the viewer online at sites such as YouTube. A quote from the book that sums it up well: "Throughout the twentieth century, media consumers were 'sold' as audiences to advertisers,and this continues even in today's more fragmented, specialized media." (7)
Technology: Technology is really what makes the media possible. With these new advances, media is able to thrive and spread because it makes it more accessible to the masses. This communication technology allows us to share our message to whoever we want, and as many people as we can.
3. Taking my thesis into account, I think that one thing that comes to mind is KONY 2012. Everyone was so quick to jump on the bandwagon, myself included, watching their inspirational video and some people may have even bought the merchandise they were selling. It got people energized for this cause and it spread like wildfire, however in the end, I didn't know anyone who carried through with the spreading of the word and banners. In the end, it had lost momentum, but for a moment it showed how quickly you can spread your message because of the technology, access, and you can even get people to buy your merchandise based off of how you advertise it.
4. Will there ever be a point where the new technology and media stops? At what point do we stop being human and start being the machine?
1.) Thesis:
ReplyDeleteWe must employ several different techniques in understanding the media to become media-literate.
2.) Supporting Documentation Towards the Thesis:
- The chapter is broken into major headings, the first of these revolves around using technology, democracy, and capitalism. Understanding the effects these have on the media, we are able to see how we affect the media, and how it, in turn, affects us. In other words, we then see "not just how stories are told but what those stories are telling us." (p. 5)
- Next, the critical process is examined. We observe the media through description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. This is a way of "focusing both on the stories they are telling us and the stories that we are telling about them." (p. 8)
- Next, the chapter focuses in on criticism of the media. Many of us criticize the media, whether we criticize songs or music videos that offend us or video games that supposedly mold a violent individual. However, a factor that many don't take into consideration is that we are responsible for the creation of this very media. These songs are written and these video games are made for an audience and a demographic. they seek a particular reaction. The media are very deliberate in that way. It's a very elaborate plan that we are a part of and hold a lot of responsibility for, whether we realize it or not.
3.) Personal Connection:
Last summer, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" hit the radio and immediately became very popular. It wasn't uncommon, in fact, to find it playing on two different stations at once. However, it wasn't until the music video came out and the controversial discussion exploded that I completely understood the song and what it was saying. Essentially, the "blurred lines" sung about were those between rape and consensual sex. As dark as that may sound for a catchy chart-topper, it was popular partly because it was shocking. While the song was sung by a happily married man and also performed in the music video by two additional married men, this was meant to comment on and add to the intentionally ridiculous nature of the video (which made references to bestiality and seemed at first glance to be placing women under the men's dominance). As my Facebook feed began flooding with feminist articles declaring the song to be horrifically inappropriate in all of its so-called "rapey lyrics", it became more and more apparent that this song was crafted for that exact reason. These guys knew exactly what they were doing, and it worked. That song was meant to comment at its own ridiculousness, to mock itself, etc. It was a risk taken at the expense of...yes, more attention. That was the song's only consequence. It then becomes concrete that this song was created to shock and make the waves that it did. For me, that made me like it even more.
4.) Question:
Once we have taken steps to become more media-literate, will our inevitable effects on media (and its effects on us) change at all?
1
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple different ways to look at media critically to understand and analyze its effects.
2
a) Understanding media through three of its main forms: Technology, Democracy and Capitalism. “Historically, the ways we communicate…have shaped the ways we think feel, and live.”(4) for example when print was the major form of communication, democracy and capitalism became phenomena.
b) The critical process of understanding media: The critical process was broken up into five steps; description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and engagement.
c) Issues in media criticism today: This section discussed who is in charge/ responsible for the messages that audiences are taking away. One of the issues discussed was “Junk Food or Health Food?” and it talked about how people mimic what they see in the media, which often encourages poor heath habits.
3.
In my Media Revolutions class last semester we had to each choose a piece of media and analyze its different aspects. I studied the film Jaws and its effect on the environment, the economy and its social impacts. And though most people are aware that the film made audiences terrified to set foot in the water, but I don’t think everyone (I know I didn’t prior to doing this project) puts much thought into things like how great white shark and seal populations have changed since the film’s release, or how the population on Martha’s Vineyard tripled in the years after the premier, so I thought it was a very interesting experience to have to look at a film from angles I had never thought of before.
4.
As time goes on, will more people increase their media literacy skills and become more aware of the messages being fed to them?
1. People need use critical process to understand and analysis the media in society.
ReplyDelete2. A) In the digital age, technology, democracy and capitalism are three main forms of the media. Media technologies are related to democratic politics and capitalist economics. Nowadays, media is not only about forms, but it also about the contents. There are four steps of understanding the content of media: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement.
B) There are three types of media criticism. It included reflectionist criticism, constructionist criticism, and narrativist criticism. There different criticisms have different focus. Reflectionist criticism prefer to the quality of the truth of the media. Constructionist criticism prefer to study how media to shape thoughts of people and society. Narrativist criticism prefer to storytellers.
C) We cannot be sure that media is scapegoat or mediator. Sometimes, different media like movies, TV shows, cartoon show violence, sexual and other things that bad to children. However, medial also give people a new view and a new point to think about the world.
3. In china, some people take photo about children who begged in the street, and share the photo in Sina weibo. They even linked the account of police. Police find these people who are lost when they were young to orphanage or help them find their parents.
4. Do media bring more benefit than disadvantages? Most people play their phones or Ipad when they stay with families.
Thesis: Media connects through technology, democracy and capitalism.
ReplyDeleteSupport:
1) “So we focus on the theme of media technologies, we do so to explore how new media forms shape us personally, socially, culturally, politically, and economically” (6). The media are huge forces in our lives, so it makes sense that they affect our culture and beliefs. Some of the main goals/beliefs of our society is to advance technology, expand democracy, and live in a capitalist society.
2) “As a cultural approach to communication, he argues, ‘does not seek to explain human behavior, but to understand it. It does not seek to reduce human action to underlying causes or structures, but to interpret its significance. It does not attempt to predict human behavior, but to diagnose human meanings’” (12). Technology, democracy and capitalism are all important to us as human beings, because they increase our free will. So the media are all ways of us expressing our need/basic want for free will.
3) “Taking its lead from the Arab Spring protests, the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States also demonstrates that new media technologies can be instrumental in fostering and sustaining democratic practices” (7). “The mass media address us for their purposes, not necessarily ours. And their purposes are often economic, rather than political, social, or cultural” (7). Technology has influenced the way in which democracy and capitalism have spread. Democracy has spread even more through social media connecting people, and big business has turned capitalism into hyper-consumerism with advertising and selling technology through the internet.
Last semester in my Media Revolutions class I did a project where I had to look at a medium and look at it with what I had learned about media literacy. I used the movie Batman Dark Knight Rises and found that this movie was very criticized by its association with violence. This movie’s level of violence was quickly blamed for the shooting that occurred at its midnight premier in Aurora, CO; however, there were many more extenuating circumstances for that shooting, and I believe the movie should not have been scapegoated as much as it was.
Does the media’s effect differ from person to person because of a person’s economic standing?
“Most of the time, the bigger or wealthier the audiences the more the media seek to serve them” (7).
Excellent reflections here, colleagues.
ReplyDelete100% participation. Thumbs up!
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