This post is due by Tuesday, February 25 @ 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. An audience depends on the values it receives through the narratives that are created and produced by media industries.
ReplyDelete2. –The chapter discusses the concept of “common sense” and how it changes based on the values of that time period. “[C]ommon sense is not usually natural but rather socially constructed, its definition shifting over time” (p. 82). Cultural narratives tell us what is wrong and right; we depend on cultural narratives to constitute what is and what is not “common sense.”
- A portion of this chapter discusses politicians and how they try to align themselves with standard American values; “allegiances to family, common sense, honesty, hard work, religious belief, capitalism, democracy, competition, moderation, loyalty, fairness, authenticity, modesty, heterosexuality, and so forth” (p. 84). The reason that these are standard American values is because that is what our cultural narratives tell us. Most Americans tend to relate these values to a virtuous person.
-On page 99, it is mentioned that often in tragic events, we suddenly fall at a loss for words. This is because these tragedies do not fall within a cultural narrative. These tragedies are not virtuous, and thus we are unfamiliar with the tragedy because we have never heard a narrative like it. When we experience something previously unheard of in a narrative, we do not know how to respond because we have not been trained to do so.
3. My dad has been involved in politics in my home city for the last 10 years, and I remember in his earlier campaigns for election, he often aligned himself with various values. For example, I remember for his first campaign, we had a type of family photo shoot; because I was so young, I did not understand why that would help him in his campaign, but years later I realized that it makes him appear as a “family man.” Even today, after being well-established in local politics, he still focuses on hard work, loyalty, fairness, etc. and the reasons he does this is because these are the values that people expect of a politician.
4. Who decides what values should be incorporated into societal narratives?
1. The power of the narrative lies in its ability to use familiar stories to persuade.
ReplyDelete2.
• In Tennessee, citizens resist in the introduction of an income tax despite the fact that 60 percent of adult taxpayers would pay fewer taxes (85). Those in power such as wealthy talk show hosts or anti income tax lawmakers are able to set up a narrative in which the government is a "bad guy" that could strip citizens of their individualism through the tax. Because this story resonates with citizens it prevents them from supporting the tax which would liberate them from a system in which they have a heavy tax burden (86).
• Presidential candidates appeal to average Americans through the stories they tell. They might release photos or commercials in which they are engaging in everyday American activities such as "playing basketball" (82) or wearing "working class jeans" (83) to show that they understand and identify with voters.
• Formulas or genres that categorize narratives allows one to engage in a narrative that that reflects their attitudes and beliefs, which is comforting (98). Reducing complex issues to simple narratives makes them easier to understand and the emotional connection with the viewer allows such storytelling to be effective.
3. The discussion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a melodrama made me realize how poignant common narrative genre forms can be. Toward the end of my senior year of high school I was experiencing the decay of the world that I knew as the transition to the "real world" and college began. I saw long term relationships (including my own) crumble under the weight of this change and watching the program became therapeutic for me. In Buffy, I saw a girl who, after her boyfriend breaks up with her before her prom muddles through to literally save the world a few days later. The show ultimately helped me to understand my confusion and sadness at the change in my world and persuaded me that it is possible to feel those emotions while still doing what is required of you. Engaging with a story that was similar to my own experience comforted me and helped me to cope with the situation I was facing.
4. Will programs like Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show eventually cause younger voters to be cynical enough about the campaign process that they demand change in how it is run?
1. A powerful narrative may embellish the truth in order to present a more alluring story in order to persuade
ReplyDelete2.
- Hegemony is the main power tool that politicians use in order to convince citizens to accept certain beliefs and ideas. However, "it does not just passively exist as a form of dominance. It has continually to be renewed, recreated, defeated and modified" (81).
-"One prominent element of the hegemony process then is the idea and influence of commonsense" (82). Powerful especially political leaders influence us to agree with their version of common sense in order to distinguish right from wrong and form decisions.
- Though we tend to group the terms narrative and story together, they happen to be two separate entities. "The story" is merely a small piece in the larger picture of the narrative, which is a framework, organizing everything into subdivisions. "It's such a large category that it demands subdivisions, which is why narrative forms developed as a way to differentiate among and talk about the vast array of narratives"(88).
3. I have never truly questioned my political status until the recently. Without giving it much thought I assumed that I share the same political values and beliefs as my family. I began questioning if these beliefs were in fact my own or have I simply conformed to these set of values through the process of hegemony. Now I feel even more manipulated by politics. How can I determine my own beliefs and values if someone else is essentially determining them for me through persuasion? As Gramsci says, “the rule of one class over another does not depend on economic or physical power alone but rather on persuading the ruled to accept the system of beliefs of the ruling class and to share their social, cultural, and moral values" (81).
4. Is hegemony always successful for politicians during political campaigns?
1. Narratives play a vital role in media as it determines the audience as well as the message that is put forth.
ReplyDelete2. • “Media in Society” uses the 2012 presidential election as an example of how negative narratives were used by both candidates to win over voters. Meanwhile they were also depicting themselves as “normal” everyday people which of course would make the population look at them in a different light.
• Many television shows and movies have plots that are relatable to current situations in the world. For example, in the 1970’s, television shows depicting “police/detective dramas” became common as American underwent a period of unrest in urban areas (p. 94).
• Because narratives are such a big part of media, when it is not used it can cause many people to feel left or concerned. This was the case during the 9/11 incident in which more images than narratives were used to inform the public. Also, in the 1990’s when NBC tried to experiment by getting rid of commentators during a game, they found that many people actually missed the “annoying” and sometimes inappropriate commentators (p. 87, 99).
3. Although during the 9/11 incident I was in New York City, I was still unaware of what was going on exactly. It was confused, even though I was young, because no one knew the full details of the incident, there were just replays of the planes crashing into the towers and images of terrified people. As a result, I depended on the various images that were circulating to piece together the story. This shows the importance of narrative’s and the population’s dependence on it.
4. If we are so concerned about the media being bias or altering our opinions, why do we continue to depend on narratives?
1. The messages the media portray, whether true or false, can have a strong influence on society.
ReplyDelete2. The book mentions the idea of hegemony, and that in order to be a ruler those who are ruled must have faith in and believe the person in power. Hegemony “means the predominance of elite classes and the acceptance of the dominant values in the culture by those who are subordinate and less influential than those who hold economic, cultural, and political power” (81).
Common sense is always changing as culture changes and develops. “The narrative, as the dominant symbolic way we make sense of experience and articulate our values, becomes the vehicle for delivering the commonsense goods” (83). Therefore, our values and beliefs are shown and influenced through media.
People try to make sense of life by using stories. However, this is not always possible. “But sometimes words fail us; we can’t always fully represent the ideas in our heads with symbols or stories” (98).
3. The reading about power reminded me of a well -known psychology experiment, the Milgram study, which refers to this same belief that people will unquestionably follow the demands of people who they assume to have authority. Through rescue I have learned that appearance plays a great influence in the trust patients have in us. If we show up with an ambulance, act professional, and are wearing a uniform, people will automatically listen to our advice. In a similar way, Milgram wore a white coat and convinced people to deliver potent electrical shocks to others.
4. Is there a way to prevent or minimize the amount of false knowledge media reports?
1.The narrative is the bridge between our entertainment and information cultures, and the narrative can contain implications that should be investigated in order to achieve full understanding.
ReplyDelete2.Hegemony has a lot of power in twisting media narratives in order to benefit elites. Political candidates are a good model of this; they spend huge amounts of time and money to build an image and story that will appeal to voters. They use narratives to reach our opinions and sometimes even common-sense.
We may not realize how much we depend on a narrative, and how much it is built into the structure of our entertainment. For instance, in the 1990's NBC experimented by taking away the announcers and lettings fans just watch the story of the game, and viewers missed the announcers and commentary. Even if it's just in our heads, narratives are always there, and they are a huge part of how we view something.
Sometimes narrative falls short and is unable to adequately portray an event. "This is certainly true of any tragic event particularly one on the scale of 9/11. Journalists had trouble imposing narratives on this (99)." Besides tragic events such as this, much of the limits of storytelling in entertainment today has to do with the people in charge being unwilling to be inventive and step outside of their comfort (or "moneymaking") zone.
3. My hometown is a very small and close-knit place, and this summer a high school boy was killed in a drunk driving incident. The section on tragedy and how we sometimes find ourselves at a loss for words made me think of the morning when we found out that he had died, and even just talking to friends, nobody knew really what words to say. With time, people found words, but they seemed almost store-bought, like they were borrowed from a tragic scene in a movie because that was deemed the "right" thing to say; it just goes to show how the media narratives find their way into our emotions.
4. If we look to narratives in the media to help us figure out how we should feel, is that a good thing or bad thing?
1) The media use familiar narratives as a way to express the values of a culture and persuade certain points of view.
ReplyDelete2) Political campaigns use the image of a candidate as a hard worker in touch with “wholesome Middle American values” (99). This may or may not be true, but ads promoting candidates are intended to persuade viewers that candidates are both relatable and share common interests and values with the majority of Americans. These ads don’t always delve deeply into candidates’ views on important issues, instead relying on the viewers’ perception of what the contenders represent to gain votes, which can be problematic.
The book outlines “common sense” as a method by which companies can convince the public that certain views and values are normal and therefore shouldn’t be questioned. Though what the accepted values are change, the idea of common sense as a tool of persuasion remains the same; it is “socially constructed, its definition shifting over time” (82). Developing narratives about what we should and should not value maintains division and puts a stop to discussion about whether or not these narratives and values are viable and should be widely accepted.
Media use narrative genres like the epic, romance, melodrama and satiric stories to make issues and stories easier to understand and relate to. Multiple narrative forms can be used throughout different forms of media to reflect some variations in our culture. Using these familiar genres to tell stories works to “affirm our existing interests and attitudes,” shows us that life’s problems are solvable and allows us to see what stepping beyond the boundaries of our values would be like (98). We then attempt to fit the chaotic experiences of our lives into a narrative genre to make sense of what is happening to us and relate these experiences to those of others.
I’ve noticed that many of the shows I watch follow the same narrative patterns laid out in this chapter, most notably crime shows following the melodrama narrative. While I have criticized these shows for being too similar and not deviating in interesting enough ways, I also agree with the book that knowing things will mostly work out for the characters and that there will be a resolution to the conflict is comforting. I would say that most viewers of shows such as NCIS and Law & Order share the values they promote, that criminals will be discovered and brought to justice. Narratives such as these give me hope that even my worst conflicts can be worked out successfully.
Is the use of narrative tending towards greater homogenization, or are people beginning to demand that different stories and forms of stories be told?
ReplyDelete1. Thesis
Narratives are storytelling devices that persuade and influence the audience within the world of media with the messages they display
2. Supporting Documentatin
Edward Bernays developed the concept of manufacturing consent. He believed that companies/rulers couldn’t lead people (or get them to do what they wanted) “until they consented to what those companies/rulers were trying to do, whether it was convincing them to support going to war or women smoking cigarettes”. He attempted to convince consumers through common sense by saying that was the natural/normal way to do business. “If companies or politicians could convince consumers and citizens that the interests of the powerful were “common sense” and therefore normal or natural, they created an atmosphere and context in which there was less chance for challenge or criticism” (pg 82).
Stuart Halls model helps explain our relationship to media narratives and how we view media stories and political ads by saying that as consumers we take 3 positions when it comes to media stories; First there is a dominant stance where we are convinced in agreement to a story which seems normal and commonsensical to us. Second there is a negotiated position (may partially disagree but alter it in a way so we keep with our beliefs). Third is that we could also read a media story in an oppositional way. (pg 85)
The epic, romance melodrama and satire are four generic types of storytelling. Frye’s study associated those four narrative forms with seasonal impulses; spring (comedy), summer (romance), autumn (tragedy) and winter (irony/satire). Each narrative however begins to overlap into another forming narrative patterns in contemporary culture.
3. Personal Story
I found a personal story after reading the “Limits of Narrative” section on political campaigns. I always tell myself that those 30 second ads portraying melodramas or romances are useless and have no effect on me. But now thinking about how often I see these melodramas and romances and how those are the types of shows/movies I like to watch. Those 30 second ads are appealing to me because they portray the narratives I enjoy watching and even though I believe I am not influenced by them I still watch them because of the narrative and slowly they “common sense” idea politicians use starts to affect my decision making skills when it comes to politics
4. Question
Will narratives tend to stay in those four main groupings as new media is produced or will writers and producers start to blend the narratives for diversity in their plots?
1. The forms and genres of narratives and different forms of narratives have different impact on people and results of things that told narratives.
ReplyDelete2.
1) There are many different standards to classify the different narratives’ form depends on their same features. Generally, we use Frank McConnell’s opinion from his book Storytelling & Mythmaking from Frye’s “cycle of storytelling ” that includes the epic, romance, melodrama, and satire. He also uses four seasons to metaphor these four forms. Epic stories are tales of spring; Romances are tales of summer; Melodramas is tales of fall; and satiric stories are tales of winter. In epic stories, the main characters always are men. They focus on established a new city, state or a new regulation of the country. In romances, women have more chance to be the main characters. Love, duty, loyalty, and friendship in this type of narratives are possible. Melodramas always have an overstatement conflict to describe the quality of character. Satiric stories are always full of dramatic.
2) Depending on the genre, narratives include common sense, Media Narratives, and consensus narratives. The conception of common sense is that all people or at least most people accept it. In reality, publications always use this method to appeal votes from people. They want to express that they are the same as normal citizens. Consensus narratives are narrower than common sense. It works because it shows the domain value of domain culture. Media narratives are the reaction of the audience who accepts narratives. It is a responding.
3) There are even limitations of narratives, such as politic issues, humanitarianism, and other sensitive problems. However, sometimes, narratives will show the sensitive affairs that use a mild and indirect way. People can accept easily.
3. I saw the movie Non-Stop in last weekend, and it about a hero who saves all people in flight. It is the typical American Movie: heroism, love, heal the world, suspense, and the death of criminals. In this type of films, character always not only has smart brain, he but also is brave and strength. At least, one people can fight more than two people. Of course, it could not be lack smart and beautiful female as assistant. Besides, the main characters and the main female character must have a conflict. At the end, they fall in love. These plots are all the mixture of forms of narratives. Not only the plot of movies, but books also development according to these four forms.
4. Are the forms of narratives limit the creation of books, movies, or other types of media?
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ReplyDelete1. Whether they are true or false, the messages and narratives that we are exposed to through media influence society and individual’s point of views on various issues.
ReplyDelete2. In the chapter we are introduced to the different forms of narratives and their limits, but what I thought really enforced my thesis was the section titled “Hegemony, Common Sense, and Storytelling.”(81) Hegemony is defined by Merriam-Webster as the “influence or control over…. a group of people” which is an absolutely spot on description of media. What I was specifically intrigued by the common sense aspect of this section and what I took away most from it was that “Examining how common sense is woven into our cultural fabric is key to understanding hegemony’s connection to storytelling.”(83) They explain how when somewhere like our local news or favorite television show promotes a certain idea that it then becomes “common sense” to us.
3. After my cousin broke up with her daughter’s father she would never let her daughter even mention her father or stepmother’s name. Some time after that rule was put in place she saw on Oprah that involving your children in issues involving your ex/their other parent could be seriously damaging to your child. Though other people had tried to tell her that she never gave it a second thought until Oprah said it and then all of a sudden her daughter was aloud to talk about the time she spent at her father’s house.
4.How can people become more aware of which ideas that they consider common sense are actually swayed by media?
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteThesis: Narratives are important to communicate with people.
Support:
1. Political candidates use narratives to tell why they are the better candidate. This is why they take photo opportunities and why they try to relate to the Middle American. “So when political candidates run for office, the stories they tell about themselves espose their connection to Middle American common sense and shared values” (82).
2. Narratives are the way that we talk. We tell stories and that is how we build relationships and understand the world. One of the best examples of this is the show How I Met Your Monther because the whole show is told as a story. “As the most familiar and accessible structure we have for understanding our world, narrative is the obvious and formidable medium for rendering the world commonsensical” (83).
3. Stories entertain us because of their structure of characters and conflict. “Narrative, which always include two basic components: the story… and the discourse” (87). Entertainment is very important to people and a very entertaining way to communicate is through narrative.
Story: In my theatre class in high school we spent a lot of time developing narratives because that is what the theatre is, a place to share stories. Almost every class we would have a story telling time, or improve time to develop these narratives.
Question: Why are stories so much more persuasive than fact?
1. Media messages and narratives, even when not real, influence society and the way that they view things.
ReplyDelete2a. There are two components to narrative. There is story telling, this usually has a plot. There is also discourse, this is usually more of a narrative.
2b. Epics and romances are two types of narratives. Romances focus more on the "social fabric" and rules or laws. Epics focus more on a hero.
2c. It is said that people decide who they are voting for based solely on a 30 second TV ad for the candidate. This is the media that we are getting closer to. Elections are now based on how good is your PR manager.
3. After looking at statistics from my project, a lot of this chapter was helpful. I learned that a lot of people get their news and information from TV's. This does not mean the information that they get is real. The people believe that everything that they see on the TV is true or accurate. This is a lot of what I am looking into for my project.
4. How can we as a society know if the information that is being presented to us is accurate?
Good work here, DIG MEDIA posse!
ReplyDeleteIN class, we unpack,
Dr. Rob
Storytelling and narratives are incredibly influential in society and can be used to pursuade, inform, and entertain.
ReplyDelete-There are several types of media narratives that serve different purposes when connecting to an audience. Romance and melodromatic stories evoke different emotions in a viewer or reader.
-Narratives are used in every aspect of our world. From movies and television to the presidential election, narratives push people to feel a certain way about a subject.
-In media, we use narratives to evoke a specific reaction from the viewer, and that allows for pursuasion to occur.
For me, narratives can make the difference on how I react about a subject. A good point made with a detailed narrative to surround it makes an idea easier to understand the full scope of and easy to respond to. Watching narratives in commercials and listening to them on the radio pushes me to react specifically to the narrative.
What can we understand about a subject by the narrative that surrounds it?
1. There are many different narrative formulas that can be implemented to achieve various goals, such as persuasion, and within this chapter, these narrative formulas that dominate our social landscape are analyzed, examined for their chief tendencies, and studied to understand why they matter so much.
ReplyDelete2.
- In the 2012 debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the common sense tactic was used to achieve the goal of aligning themselves with the values of the voters and creating negatives narratives about each other. Obama portrayed Romney as being out of touch with the middle class and Romney portrayed Obama as a failed leader. This debate and the different narrative roles each candidate took on was a very influential part of the voting process for United States citizens.
- "Romances and tales of summer", as Campbell addresses it, are very inspirational and consuming works that attract a reader based on the general human desire to obtain relationships that bring them joy and incites nostalgic notions into their hearts, making for a very nostalgic reaction within the reader and a very persuasive form of narration. As Campbell puts it: "Romance narratives are about civilizing the city, introducing rules to live by that stitch together the fragile social fabric- living in a world where love and friendship are possible."
- Satiric stories present enticing information about the state of the world and warns people of the horrors their own life and society may encounter. Such stories are compelling and convincing because they open the eyes and relieve the ignorance of the reader. Novels such as Feed and Animal Farm are effective works of satirical narration, and have received much attention.
3. In my social psychology class, we have just recently learned of the dual processing routes of persuasion, one side being peripheral route processing and the other being central route processing. Peripheral route processing refers to the analysis of something from a disengaged or distracted point of view, meaning that one may pay more attention on attractive details of the argument they can see with their eyes as opposed to fully processing the argument being presented in a fully-cognitive fashion. Central route processing refers to the opposite decision-making process, in which the individual is using cognitive processing to a greater extent and analyzes the full spectrum the argument presents, including the negative aspects. I believe this has a strong relation to the chapter because it includes a description of how the audience perceives different narrative formulas depending on their own personal motivation and how relevant the story is to them.
4. How different are narrative formulas and tactics in countries that are interdependent and focus on conformity as opposed to United States society, which is contains and independent structure and places a positive connotation and emphasis on individualism.
1.) Thesis
ReplyDeleteMedia, its owners, and the "business" of it all have become a larger aspect of the media than its content.
2.) Three Pieces of Documentation
- Marxist Theories: This sub-heading in the chapter discusses how the way that several different media platforms are owned by one company reflects a communistic idea pattern: "Marxist criticism has long viewed the influential cultural industry- that is, a collection of media corporations- as a classic example of monopolistic capitalism in which the economic control over media production determines the type of media any society gets" (167-168).
- Free Speech: This sub-heading of the chapter discusses the way media have affected our ability to present a balanced point of view to society: "A democracy needs freedom of expression to make it work, and both noncommercial and commercial media ought to be open enough to promote debate of all points of view" (171).
- Profit/Revenue
This sub-heading of the chapter discusses the different levels of profit different types of media gain. Sadly, it has become less about information, news, and expression, and more about the money: "We see less news coverage of poverty or homelessness, or few sitcoms about working-class families, because this programming does not serve the audiences that advertisers want to reach. This hardly could be called helpful to a robust democracy" (178).
3.) Personal Story
Even though I've barely watched the news on TV since coming to school (it was something I would see much more of at home when my mom had it on), I still vividly remember times I'd be watching it and see a whole lot of fluff and hardly any informative or expressive substance. For example: stories of the living Boston Marathon bomber or Jodi Arias' sentence (both of which I was very engaged in) seem to drift away from the news, leaving many to ask, "What ever happened with that?" I feel like news corporations see it as these stories have lost their initial excitement, and now it's time to push those aside to cover the next big celebrity break-up. Oddly enough, I saw this idea reflected in a hyperbolic sense in Anchorman 2: Will Ferrel's character decided to boost ratings showing ONLY what he thought the public would want to see on the news. His station became completely absent of actual news stories and flooded with celebrity gossip, discussion of sexual trends, and fluff of that nature. This was funny for two reasons: its extremity, and its undertones of mockery of today's media outlets.
4.) Question
Will society reach a point where it revolts this substance-less hunger for ratings or profit and puts the pointless stories to an end, or will this evolve to an extreme place where we can no longer find the real news anywhere?