Modernity, Spectatorship, Power

My most self-conscious moments tend to be when my suitemates and neighbors start talking about their family life or really fun-sounding traditions, etc, etc, and I begin to think about how different and less-positive my past familial experiences have been.

For ad: display an intimate but comfy space in which 7 to 10 people can talk freely about their lives and relate well to each other, in an manner one could even call excitatory. The space should consist of three sofas, a television on in the background, and a table, possibly with a disgruntled deck of cards that's clearly been used, but is not currently in use. Now is the time for reminiscing. People tend to shout over each other in proclamation of how awesome the things they do/did with family and friends are. The camera pans across the room as they discuss their fun, sometimes even jumping to certain individuals who become enthused enough to interject with their own tales. After a while, it's clear that one member of the couch community has remained silent for a good while, and so they community initiates the gaze as the camera pans to the leftmost seat on one of the couches. The individual struggles to come up with some sort of summer camp, some holiday tradition that hasn't collapsed due to family deaths or even just something moderately happy that can be related in some way. Perspiration forms on the forehead, the brow furrows, and the distress is clear from the individuals face that he is a black sheep, clearly thinking of unsatisfying memories. Some small mention is made, and the group awkwardly accepts this as tribute before continuing with their excited conversation...

Blog 9 week 5 Modernity,Spectatorship, Power

I feel most self conscious when I am doing an exercise or using a machine at the gym. I feel as if I am on display and as though people notice every little nuance of my movement. Sometimes I feel that people notice every little droplet of sweat that rolls off my body, even though they don't.

A product advertisement that would work well with this situation would be some sort of enhancement supplement. First, I would enter the gym as the subject of everyone's gaze. My gait would be very calculated and self conscious as I feel people's eyes running over my awkward movement. Next, the camera pans to me doing an exercise with which I have a lot of trouble and people are noticing my strife. Since people are noticing my frustration and poor performance I resort to a little help from an "absolutely essential" supplement. Self conscious and obviously frustrated with my lack of strength I open my gym bag. I then pull out a large bright green drink container that is an enhancement supplement. Then an announcer's voice chimes in saying,"Can't seem to find that extra edge in the gym? Want to increase your strength, vasodialation, and looks? Well get a Monster Muscle! It's not a work out withour Monster Muscle! Then the Camera pans to my ,now, muscular fingers ripping off the lid and taking a drawn out 3 second gulp followed by a sigh of refreshment. After this gulp my body has a glow and miraculously women begin to look at me and whisper about me. Now, very self confident I walk over to another machine, load up the heaviest weight, and pull out ten reps with ease. The camera pans out again to a shot of the Monster Muscle container resting atop my bag with me in the background confidently entertaining a group of attractive females. This pariopticon would allow people a view into my life simulataeously allowing them to level with my feelings of inadequacy until I use that special product. The words "It's not a workout without Monster Muscle" flash across the screen and the ad ends.

This ad, like most ads, thrives on tapping into people's self conscious worries. The ad implies that we are not inherently sufficient and cannot function at our optimum without certain products. Once we have the product we immediately become self confident, effective, and powerful. Essentially, what this ad and most ads like it are selling the idea of incompleteness, an inherent lack of perfection, or inadequacy. They are selling you the idea that your are not wholly complete and effective without their product. It is shameful how slimy, yet effective, this type of advertising is in the US today.

Response to "Facebook Suicide"

I, like most other people, have a facebook profile and check it regularly...too regular would certainly be the most honest answer. I've attempted facebook suicide multiple times in the past, and I've been dead to the online community for weeks at a time, for two months even on one occasion. My personal revelations about facebook center around the fact that the entire thing is a corporate scam, and I hate that the information I input into a site that should be about social networking is essentially sold out to advertisement agencies who then try to market their worlds to me based on my own interests.

I certainly wouldn't agree with the author of this article entirely; I think facebook can be used pretty responsibly. I may be spending a fair bit of time on facebook these days (still less than average I imagine), but it's always just there as a type of Internet background noise in my life. I don't find myself consciously "facebook stalking" any person(s) or, quite honestly, even caring very much about all of the garbage that people tend to post about themselves. In my opinion, the primary issue with facebook and its user base isn't necessarily the narcissism (for some percentage of users it might be), it's the desire to pile friends on left and right, and then try to find out what any of them are doing in the constant stream of posts - posts from people who you really don't know that well, nor will you ever. I think striking a balance in managing your community size is the key to a good facebook experience, and having 700+ friends as a normal human being isn't the way to go.

The Gaze

The moments in which I feel the most self concious is simply when I arrive late to class. When i know that I will be late. I tend to walk a lot faster using all my walking energy, thus creating sweat once I a take a seat. I feel self concious as I feel everyone's gaze on me since I am one of the last to come in. Especially when I walk in through the front door of the classroom I feel as if every single persons questioning gaze is on me since they did take the effort of coming in early as ,I, as well a determined student, finds on a daily basis how to come in late to class.

If this were to become a tv advertisement, there would have to be a classroom full of gazing eyes all towards that one single girl who walks ten minutes late into class panting and sweating as she did jus speed walk. The class would become suprisingly quiet as she walks in, signs in on the sign up sheet, and makes rude nises simply to get into her seat as she does need to go through people to get into that one single seat left.

Facebook Suicide

In my own personal point of view, I feel as if those who are facebook members make facebook as important or non important as they want it to be. It may induce self-obsession, yet some, at least I do, create and continue using facebook to reconnect, or simply connect on a daily basis with old and new friends. I feel as if this article has replaced any type of pros towards facebook to only introduce some of the cons when in reality we, facebook members, how we use facebook on a day to day basis whether it is for a few minutes or for long periods of time.

Some things which I would lose if i would commit "facebook suicide" is all my elementary friends whom I had lost contact with since sixth grade. Thanks to facebook I was able to re-find them and reconnect with them. I would lose connection with family whom I only get to see every few years since they live in Guatemala which is by far impossible to speak with all the time as I do on facebook. Although i may lose connects I do feel as if I'd gain some new sort of knowledge by separating myself from any type of social networking. I would maybe gain a sense of nature and a better exercise habit which doesn't include sitting on a chair or laying in bed while searching through facebook. All in all, there may be loses and new wins, but all one has to do is find a balance between the two.

Facebook Suicide

My first thought after reading this article was that the title actually has a double meaning. Facebook "suicide", as the author states, is when one exits this realm of social networking, cutting oneself off from the virtually constructed community that links so many people together. However, Facebook itself could also be considered a suicidal device inflicting our "real" lives. Personally, I can relate with the anxiety that the author mentions, brewing over the course of a day, wondering if I've made any new friends, received any notifications, or thought of a perfect status update. Even Facebook terminology has infiltrated our modern lexicon, with terms like "friending" denoting the acceptance of a new contact, or "posted", referring to this action of making something public and shared between all on a common page.
I have never seriously considered deleting my facebook to commit "facebook suicide", largely based on the fear of becoming disconnected with that social world, or losing all of my "friends" and pictures. Checking facebook has become as normal as checking emails, but I can visit my page without doing or changing anything. I hope that like previous social networking sites, facebook will become less and less a part of my daily life as I grow up; however, knowing that it isn't a site geared towards only college students anymore blurs those lines a bit.

Week 5 - Blog 8 facebook suicide

I first find an interesting similarity to the Southpark Facebook episode that discussed how Stan tries to delete his Facebook account and isn't allowed to because of how connected it was. That being said, I do see the author's reasoning on how facebook is a form of narcissism. However, in most things we do, there can and often are narcissistic motivations. But those actions also are based off of other people (for example you dress a certain way or take that picture to make yourself look good for your friends) so I think its very difficult to separate the two motivators.

Personally, I would never delete my Facebook page, or any of my social networking pages, but not for the reasons the author says people keep them. I work in marketing, and thusly I need to be where the trend is, analyzing it every step of the way. What I stand to lose by deleting my accounts is a good connection with pop culture (and then my career choice). I also heartily believe in the value of Facebook for maintaining connections that would be difficult or impossible to do otherwise. Whether or not its a superficial connection, the connection can have value for you or for them, so why destroy the connections?

And while it may be somewhat narcissistic make an effort to present the best image of yourself you can online, what's wrong with that? It's your opportunity to market yourself to acquaintances, friends, employers, etc, so why waste the opportunity? I don't see it as something that you slave over and end up losing track of 'real life', I see it as something to enrich your life, both as a self-marketing tool and a community building tool.

Blog 9 Week 5: Modernity Spectatorship Power

I often feel self conscious when I bike to school and come to class sweaty. I feel like an object of "the gaze" when I walk into class as my shirt is slightly damp and I may or may not reek of sweat.

For an ad, show a chump arriving to class all sweaty and opening the door, with the camera panning in from a low angle to highlight how bad his situation is. Then cut to him sitting in his chair, with a bunch of students behind him showing disgusted looks on their faces, and classmates attempting to move their desks away from him. Then show me at home in the bathroom the next day putting on some anti-persperant product (the focus of the ad). Cut to me walking into the classroom and all the classmates hold their gaze on me as I walk by them, wriggling their noses in response to my good smell and a hot girl talks to me and I become the center of a conversation.

Gaze

I have been playing drums for nine years now. I am currently a member of the Marching Band-uh and every time I go to play I feel like eyes are always on me. Whether we are at a rally in the front row or on the field at half time I feel like eyes are staring at me and just me. I feel more self-conscious and in a way it encourages me to practice harder to know my music and my show so I cannot be single out in a bad way or embarrassed. If I had to put this moment on display I would use it to advertise a drumline. In high school I felt like every note I played and every step I took had to be perfect. I wanted to sell the group and the hard work that we put into our show. I wanted to show everyone that gazed at us that we were there to impress. I would shoot this commercial during the summer and on a football field. It would start with a few people running and a few people doing pushups with a caption across the screen saying “hard work.” Then the next scene would be the drum line practicing with the drum tech. This scene would take place on the field in the hot sun and the members sweaty with water bottles in close reach. We would observe the members playing difficult parts of the music with critiques. Across the screen this time the audience would see the words “determination.” The last and final scene would be the drumline together with their drums off and getting a pep talk from the drum tech. The last and final words you would see on the screen would be “family.” As the scene fades out all of the member voices in unison would state, “These are the three main qualities of our line, can you live up to the expectations?”

Facebook

For me committing “facebook suicide” seems too becoming easier and easier each day. Although I feel that deleting my facebook would not be so hard in the back of my mind I know that I will miss my profile and the connection to my friends. Facebook has always been my safe haven for boredom. Facebook offers tons of games and endless pages to search. In high school Facebook was more than just a site to meet people or chat it was a simple way to send information. As a captain in drumline it was easy to post pictures, videos, and send messages to other members of the group with one simple site.

Although to me, facebook became a valuable tool to keep in touch with people. There are a few people in my lives that I would love to call each day but with time differences and busy schedules keeping in contact is not as simple as it sounds. With facebook sending messages and viewing pictures just takes a few minutes and a couple clicks. If I deleted my facebook page not only would I feel bored more often but also I would feel like I am losing connections to a lot of people.

During the summer before my freshmen year of college I became a facebook addict. I would check my profile almost every hour, update my status often and check out other people’s pages. Since I have been at college I have used my time in other ways. I still check facebook about every other day but the amount of time I spend on facebook is dramatically less. My guess would be that I spend on average maybe an hour a week on facebook. When I log in I check my messages and comments and then only chat with people if I am bored or need to ask someone a question. Occasionally I will spend time facebook chatting with people but generally it is to people that do not have instant messaging. Also knowing that they are online gives you a reference that the people are probably not super busy and have time to talk. I think I would gain maybe another free hour, but I believe I would be losing more. I would lose connections and friendships as well as a means of relieving my boredom.

Week 5 - Blog 9 The Gaze

I often feel self conscious at parties when I don't know very many people. Its very easy to sink to corners or just sit in a small group with people that you know at least a little bit. When looking around I sometimes see people that are laughing it up and having a great time glance over in our direction. When this occurs its really easy to feel the focus of the gaze.

To correlate this to an ad, I would either choose some type of alcohol (although you don't really want to promote drinking as the only way to have a good time) or possibly some kind of hair/cologne product. Lets stick with absolute. So the focus would be on me at the center of the party. I am wearing college-age stylish clothing and there is music playing: one of the new hip hop hits. I would be holding the bottle in the air (I would probably be standing on a chair or something) as people are in a circle around me. The camera would pan around me slowly, showing the circle and that I am at the center of it. All of these people would have admiring looks, showing that it is desirable to have this product. The camera and scene would then speed up as I pour drinks for those around me. As the last drop falls from the bottle, I jump into the crowd and am crowd-surfed away, showing how the product holds me above the party.

Blog 8, Week 5: Adbusters & Facebook

Facebook is a tool, and is good for getting to know people you don't know well and reconnecting with old friends you'd never have spoken to again otherwise. It also lets you know events that are going on around town, without you having to ask or look it up yourself.

I do have a Facebook profile. However, it's not a crippling addiction for me. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking of updates or finding quotes to jam in my profile. I don't use Facebook instead of going out, and I really only focus on it for a half hour or so a day. If I commit "Facebook suicide", then I just really miss out on getting to know people and know what's going on around town. I have a completely different mindset regarding Facebook than the author, therefore I really won't gain much out of deleting my Facebook. I really can't think of something I'd gain from deleting my Facebook, because I don't really take my "virtual self" very seriously.

The author assumes that the use of Facebook is necessarily a bad thing, and that if we were not using Facebook, we'd be socializing with real people and enjoying the Spring air and not just sitting inside watching television or killing time in some other equally boring fashion. Like all things, such as drinking, bad foods, video games, and so forth, if you lack the self control to moderate your Facebook usage to the point where it damages your life, then you are better off deleting it. It's just a website, it completely depends on what kind of person you are and how you choose use it.

BLOG 9 (Turning the Gaze into Your Own TV Ad)

There are many times where I feel self-conscious walking across the quad. I feel I am always the object of "the gaze' of the several students sitting and lounging around in the quad. If you are sitting in the qaud, you are most likely gazing at the people who walk by you; I tend to do this when I sit, but when I walk across the quad I feel like the object of "the gaze".

If my walking across the qaud were turned into a television advertisement, I guess it would be for clothing since I like fashion, which utilizes "the gaze" in selling certain "looks" and styles. When filmed, it would be sunny of course. I would be walking across the quad. There would be a lot of random students filling the qaud in between classes; I am on my way to print something at a computer lab before class. I am wearing a trendy outfit, and at first I walk slow to see if I can find anyone I know on the qaud. The camera zooms in slow motion onto some elements of my outfit as I am on the phone. Suddenly some people I know walk up to me very happily. They are excited college students who love being in the sun in between classes. We are all in our trendy outfits. You can't hear our covnersation, but there is catchy, electronic music playing in the background. There is text on the screen highlighting certain articles of our outfits and the price of each article of clothing. FInally we all laugh at a joke and walk off to the print lab to continue our day. The camera pans off into the sun, and the clothing brand logo appears on the screen with the music still playing. Then the advertisement is over. The whole time I am by myself as well as with friends, fellow students hold "the gaze" on us and want to be like us; the camera caputres this gaze. Not only are the clothes we wear in the commercial being sold to consumers, but the commercial also sells a lifestyle with the brand of clothing we are wearing. We give the clothes a story, with the viewer interacting with the clothing we are wearing and the environment we are in. The qaud is the field that gives the clothing I'm wearing an emotional experience with the viewer; some viewers may even end up buying the same clothes I am wearing in hopes of achieving the same lifestyle sold in the commerical through "the gaze".

Spectatorship Reply

I have the feeling of being surveyed whenever I’m in a lower row in class seating, even though it’s highly unlikely that anybody is actually watching, very similar to the panopticon. For production notes it would probably be something like the following: main class composed of 21-23 year olds, similar mode of dress but not identical, as to mimic a standard college class. Main should be slightly younger (19 years old) as to imply vulnerability, perhaps slightly awkward looking. Position main in the front row of an auditorium with tiered seating, alone in the row. Keep as exposed as possible- no desks or writing surfaces in the way. Fill the row behind the main to the maximum allowed. Have the class focus on the back of the main character’s head, with critical expressions. The main turns around to return their view, but as he does so all others turn away, so that the main actor sees no one looking at him. As the main actor’s gaze returns to the front all eyes move back to observe the main again.

Facebook Suicide Response

Attempting to correlate the facebook suicide article to my own disuse of the networking site seems to be a largely futile effort. I don’t use facebook simply because I don’t want to, in the purest sense of the phrase. There isn’t any active dislike guiding my choice, it’s just a lack of drive to create a facebook page. Perhaps this can be related to the fear that facebook can become a gigantic time sink expressed in the article, morphing into something that controls the user more than they control it, but most seem to be able to handle keeping facebook under control. It’s also possible that there’s some subconscious process at work, a desire to stand out by not doing what everyone else is- similar to the article’s own idea of quitting actually feeding into narcissism- or some other motive. Delving down this path is largely fruitless, however, as anybody who cares to try can usually twist any given action or saying into meaning any number of things, especially when dealing with something as vague as the subconscious.

Gaze

I feel self conscious when working out at the gym.
Cast an awkward looking fellow age 20. Slight belly and no arms.
Start the comercial dim, and fade to picture. A moving camera behind the man shaking slightly as he is followed. The door opens to the gym, and everyone turns to look. Close up on the glare of these people. More fit men and more toned women are cast slightly older, maybe 21-23. There is a long shot of the 20 year old moving to the equipment as he is being surveyed by everyone in the room who stopped what they were doing to stare. There is a close up to the 20 year olds face. He grabs the product of deoderant from his bag and uses it. Everything turns back to normal.

Blog 8 Adbusters

When suggested i should commit facebook suicide, i really felt indifferent. I thought about what i actually use facebook for. I use it to relay information, to talk to people about upcoming events. I use facebook as a means of communication. I do not spend time looking through pictures or reading status updates. I rarely post on walls of others and as i look at my status updates ive only had 3 in the last 6 months. Its just troubling that just about all my peers in society use facebook and relay information in this medium, that i am forced to utilze this tool as well. I would suggest there are other mediums to relay information other than facebook such as email and text messages. But nobody is willing to use it, i mean face it, why would you when you are already spending time in facebook and that everybody is connected here. It would be more difficult to do the real life social networking without a relay hub.

Blog 8 week 5 Facebook Suicide

When considering Facebook suicide you have to ask yourself what the true consequences are. For some, especially students, Facebook is an integral part of their everyday lives. Actually, for many, facebook is probably visited more times than the bathroom a day. People are so engulfed in the online entity of Facebook that it would seem as if a minor tragedy happened when they are unable to access their profile for a few hours. So, for someone who constantly comments on other's walls and updates their status every time they re-enter the room, what would the effects of facebook suicide truly be? Well, I can tell you. For many it would be a dismal breakdown of the familiar community they call home. Many students would lose the product of several years worth of social networking and the immediate social circle they have created in college. They would lose immediate access to their friend's latest pictures, event invitations, wall posts, and newest updates. The capability to immediately post nonsense on your nearby classmate's wall would utterly disappear. How terrible would it be to lose having the exact knowledge of another person's daily activities and their latest gossip? It would be like the the early 1990's. Scary, huh?

Facebook suicide would cause you to lose a wealth of information about yourself and thousands of people you may be loosely connected with. But,You have to ask yourself, is this wealth of information truly pertinent and necessary in my everyday life? Does it make me better? Is it really relevant for me to know the grueling details of unfamiliar acquaintance's day? Not to mention,that facebook dialogue is usually a pitifully crafted excuse for sub-elementary level grammar. God forbid we would call someone on the phone and actually converse with them.

There are many great things about facebook and many advantages it brings to an online world. While I cannot deny that facebook is an excellent tool for staying in contact with close friends and loved ones, it exposes us to an artificial community that, sadly, people consider reality. Real life is what is happening beyond your computer screen, not in someone elses wall or updates. Facebook deviates our vital focus on the self and directs our attention to an irrelevant array of info, distracting from the subtle beauty of human interaction. I believe that, while, we would have some to lose from facebook suicide, we would have much to gain. To invest our energy into self improvement or begin a new goal might he healthy, rather than reading about insignificant details and pictures about a big party you weren't invited to. To step outside and spend a few minutes totally enchanted by the minute details of your surroundings might be a refreshing way to start your day instead of staring at the iconic blue and white screen. I believe that without facebook people might make more of a genuine effort to stay in contact with the ones they truly care about. Honestly, for some people facebook suicide would actually cause them to make an effort in meeting the opposite sex instead of gawking at them on their macbooks. Facebook suicide might do us all some good.

Response to Modernity, Spectatorship, Power

For me, the moment I am feeling the most insecure is usually when I am about to give a presentation and I know a panel will be questioning me so I have to defend my arguments as if they were my children. To turn this into a TV advertised moment then the situation I am in would have to be heightened - such as I would have to be twice as self-conscious. Ads that are dramatic and funny are the ones that really catch the viewers eyes so my moment of terror would have to be dramatized. My situation is relative to other college students lives so the more panic I seem, the funnier the ad may come off. My outfit would have to be as normal and poor college student-esque as possible to create the effect. The look on my face must also be panicked so the gaze will hopefully reflect to the viewers and they will be right there with me. Also it would probably help the ad if during my presentation the projector started to screw up or if somehow I was incredibly unorganized because that makes a viewer feel better about themselves because of what a screw up I come off as.
I feel this ad for television would be one of those Twix ads where in my moment of embarrassing peril I have a moment to chew it over with twix. Everything would be okay after that right? That's what the ad wants you to think. This may seem like a panopticon view as people would be looking into my life for a second as I struggle with my presentation. I don't know if it would work out as the best ad but hopefully other students would be able to relate.

BLOG 8 (Week 5): Adbusters & Facebook

It would be kind of crazy to think of deleting my Facebook account at this very moment. I used to use Myspace in high school, and Facebook seemed to catch on in college. I would almost hate deleting it because it’s how I keep in touch with most people who are not my close friends. I do not have their phone numbers or any other contact information, just their Facebook account. I would definitely be shut off from so many people. But then again, it would make me reconnect with more people in person again. I do admit I probably waste too much time on Facebook every week, but I feel like it does not consume my life. Fall Quarter I had to go a week without Facebook among other things, and it was really weird at first. I got used to it I guess by the end of the week, but I definitely had no problem going back to using Facebook. Even though there are some cons to Facebook, I feel like overall it is very useful.

Honestly I do not think I would delete my own Facebook account anytime soon after reading this article. It seemed like the author was really bothered by the idea of Facebook and I understand the presented argument to commit “Facebook suicide”; however, I plan to still continue to use Facebook everyday. I do spend a lot of time on it, but it definitely does not consume a huge chunk of my life like it did the author’s. I feel like there’s way more in my life that I have besides Facebook. If Facebook were to shut down tomorrow, then so be it. My life would not fall apart. However, in this day and age, it’s a valuable tool for communication and social networking. Certain people may dislike Facebook, but I love it. Just like anything else in popular culture, it’s really what you make of it for yourself as an individual.

Response to Adbusters

For me having a Facebook is about be able to communicate with people who are not always around me. While I do talk to people who I spend time with it is still nice to be able to keep in touch with friends in other countries or colleges. It is not all about promoting yourself for all people. For me it's a communication tool that works in my favor. I barely answer my phone but for some reason I leave Facebook open on my browser for hours on end. If I miss your call, you can probably just Facebook chat or comment me. Also the events section of the site works wonders. Everyones parties or get together's will be known just because sending out an e-vite can be so much more efficient then text or word of mouth - because almost everybody checks their Facebook at least once a day.
If I was to delete my Facebook or 'commit Facebook suicide,' I think I would find myself communicating less and less with the outside world and more with just the people around me. I do not think I will ever delete it because without it I would feel lost and not able to communicate with the outside world. It is like when I lost my cell phone for even an hour- a part of me feels like I am lost because I have misplaced my means of communication to people who can either further me in life or be there for me when I most need them.
At the same time though I feel like these sources of communication have a hold on me that I can't seem to shake no matter now independent I want to be from them. I guess it is just the generation we are in - if you're not connected, people tend to not know who you are.

Adbusters and the Politics of Looking

In the ad-buster Nike ad, an image is shown of a woman running barefoot over rocks covered by copy that describes the life threatening circumstances of working in sweatshops.

What I find most interesting about this ad is its initially disguised, yet extremely outspoken message to the viewer. As stated early on in the chapter "Advertising, Consumer Culture and Desire", advertisers have learned that most consumers of visual culture move on from ads when they lack initial draw. At first glance, this Nike spoof ad seems fairly typical for that brand: it features a person running with certain motivational words in bold and in the color red. However, read closer and you find that those "motivational" phrases change drastically in context with the rest of the text. For example, at first glance you read the bright, bold text that says "It's so cool to wear Nike"; however, after closer observation of the smaller text preceding it, it reads "so think globally before you decide". This ad plays off of a couple of key points listed in this chapter. The first being the trend of ignorance among consumers who easily ignore information that isn't initially enticing or different, and the second being the consumer's fetishism of products without concern for where and how they originated. This ad functions so as to read one way to the less attentive viewer, and another to the more interested one. As the chapter goes on to describe, even after consumers feel a sense of guilt for supporting a corrupt system of production that led to their purchase, they find few ways to change it so they keep consuming. What this ad is projecting is both the unfair labor practices of Nike in underdeveloped and "hidden" countries, as well as the lack of attention paid to advertising subtexts by visual consumers.

Spoof Ads

As a teenager in this world one “spoof ad” jumped out at me the most. This ad was the Obsession of Women. Most ads of today give the image that women need to be perfect in every way. In reality not everyone is going to be able to look any where close to the models. There are very few women who look like models in this world. With this ad though it shows the reality it is to be perfect. It shows the “Obsession,” and what a women needs to do to achieve that “Obsession.” This spoof ad exposes what people are willing to do to look beautiful and conform to the images that our society sees as perfect. When we see ads of women we don’t usually think what negative things to their body did they do we automatically start jumping to “I need to look like that no matter what it takes. Anti-ads or spoof ads try to bring consumers to reality and inform them that the product or image that at one time seemed so great might not be the best thing for you.

Blog 7 week 4 Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Desire

In the Spoof ads I chose to do the one titled Absolute Impotence.
This display is somewhat of a satire on the sophisticated and cultured image that hard liquors, such as Absolut and Patron, try to procure in selling their product. The poster shows a flaccid bottled of vodka that resembles a shriveled male genitalia.

The image the anti ad is trying to create is one that will make you worse off, not better as hard liquors usually try to imply. Essentially, the author that created this anti ad is saying that buying expensive vodka does not imply some kind of advantage or sophistication. The ad is poking fun at this type of implication.


The greatest difference between this anti ad and the orignial, is that they are marketing two different images of a product. With an original ad of Absolut vodka we see the product coupled sophistication, class, and glitzy night life. By purchaisng Absolut you are implying that you have social value and you have the money to afford it. Conversely, the anti ad is disagreeing with the statement that vodka provides any type of social advantage or provides merit. It pokes fun at Absolut's image by communicating that alcohol, when used in excess, can lead to impotence and many other disadvantages. The creator of this anti ad is simply not buying into the message that expensive vodka gives you some kind of advantage and that it may, in fact, lead to problems like impotence.

Week 4 - BLog 7 Spoof ads

The "Absolute on ice" Ad, is selling the dangers of drinking (and specifically drinking absolute) but showing a person who presumably died in an accident linked drinking and driving.

The original ad would pray on people's fears and insecurities, showing a scene that people would be envious of (that they could only achieve by using the product - absolute). Absolute also tends to connect itself with high class and high culture through its artwork and brand. The anti ad and the ad both are showing/selling ideas and values, but they are opposite. The anti ad is selling a morbidly realistic view of absolute while the original ad would be selling an idealistic view.

EXtra Credit Blog 6 Wk 4

In killing us softly 3, Jea Kilbourne argues that advertising paints a skewed portrait of reality, glorifying perfection, exalting hollow ideals, implying that products are the key to fulfillment, and objectifying humans as objects; advertising has forged an artificial reality where the media has drastically, yet subtly, influence the masses and caused us to treat our fellow man as objects, thereby devaluing our human race.

Week 4 - Blog 6 Killing us softly

Advertising not only transmits products but values and images of women (which are unrealistic), and this causes objectification and eventually violence towards women.

"Killing Us Softly" Sentence

In the excerpt viewed from "Killing Us Softly," Kilbourne stresses the influence that advertisement media has on mass culture, with particular emphasis being placed on women's esteem and self-image in the face of ads depicting the supermodel as normal.

Advertising consumer cultures desire

In Absolut hangover the ad is trying to sell the effect of alcohol on people the next day.

The difference between an ad-buster ad and a real ad is the glamorization of the product. While an ad is used to sell a product by showing it's coolness. An Ad-buster reveals to the consumer a direct result of using the product. This ad-buster plays on the absolut bottle silhouette, the usual ad for the product and satirizes it with a noose which relates to the negative effects of alcohol the next day, a hangover.

Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire

The "Utterfool" advertisement tries to sell the idea that smoking makes you look like a joker, rather than the popular cigarette image of being "kool".

The difference between the two ads is that the anti-ad attempts to warn the viewer about a product rather than sell it. The original ad would play on poeples' anxieties about social appearanace and personal improvement, telling the viewer that cigarettes are essential to leading a cool lifestyle. On the other hand, the anti-ad criticizes the original by implying that you would look like nothing more than an idiot who tries to look cool with cigarettes but instead wastes money and risks lung cancer and other consequences. However, though the anti-ad does not attempt to sell physical product, both ads do attempt to sell an image (cigarettes are cool/uncool) and an idea (cigarettes are good/bad).

Killing us softly

Kilborne argues that advertisement is the foundation of the mass media and that this foundation dictates normalcy in the culture.

Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire (Spoof Ads)

The one ad buster "spoof ad" which stood out to me the most was Obsession for Women. Most advertisements which portray messages toward women tend to have images of fine women with perfect bodies. This spoof ad in particular is mocking that beautiful, no sign of imperfection body that most women lean towards wanting, which as well relates to the ideology of culture jamming that was used by the BUGA UP and BLF. Obsession for Women shows a skinny women leaning towards a toilet conveying the message of a women being bulimic. The further message which is portrayed through this spoof ad is that of which women think they must do to get to that advertised body which is portrayed everywhere.
Most advertisements convey messages of promises. Promises of a better self-image or a better appearance to indulge in self-fulfillment. They make these promises assuming we are never happy with what we have or how we look. So by doing this, marketers put gorgeous women in advertisements and commercials so that we the consumers can feel as if that product can fulfill that need. Thus, through this spoof ad called Obsession for Women, we finally understand that we do not need to go through such measure of being bulimic or anorexic, but be accepting of our own self-image .

WEEK 4: BLOG 7 (Spoof Ads)

The “product” that the “Obsession Men” advertisement by Calvin Klein is selling is the unattainable ideal of masculinity in terms of body image. The anti-ad shown in the article mocks an actual Calvin Klein ad by using the same elements of the original ad, but it shows a male model photographed in a different pose that makes for a witty parody.

An essential difference between this anti-ad and an actual ad it might be mocking is that the anti-ad is actually trying to educate the individual it is exposed to. A normal advertisement does not do the same. If anything, it attempts to transform the individual into a product of capitalist society, a consumer. This anti-ad is concerned with the actual interests of the individual and the anti-ad is therefore educating the individual about freedom of choice. Normal advertisements are only telling people what elite individuals want them to buy, and ultimately their interests overshadow any valuable information that could threaten their product and profit. Anti-ads help people; normal advertisements only hurt our chances at agency and freedom of choice.

BLOG 6 (Extra Credit: Still Killing Us Softly 3)

Kilburne argues that advertising sells values more than anything, and it is important to be conscious instead of a mindless consumer because those subliminal values affect all of us even if we think they do not.

Killing Us Softly 3 Response

Kilburne argues in Killing Us Softly 3 that, despite small steps in the right direction, the advertising media still objectifies women, making them seem “less than human”.

Consumer Culutre blog

The abbusters mock ad absolute end, showing the chalked outline of a bottle, attempts to “sell” the viewer the idea that there are very serious consequences to drinking that are often overlooked in mainstream advertising. This image clearly matches up with the ideology of culture jamming, very closely mirroring the techniques used by the BUGA UP and BLF. The ad draws on the ingrained image of an alcohol bottle and a typified accident scene environment, particularly the chalk lines that imply a body, to impress upon the reader its message. Both in name and form the ad mimics the Abosult vodka product’s ad line, which typically have a clear bottle of the vodka framing a typical life scene or current political image. The absolute end ad differs from the atypical Absolut vodka ad by framing the non-descript piece of asphalt where a heavy drinker might meet their inglorious end, rather that some culturally relevant image as the Absolut ads tend to do. This grim image stands in sharp contrast to the vibrant scenes generally shown in alcohol advertisements, focusing on the possible reality that drinking may incur as opposed to the perfect moments that a person can have if they just buy the right beverage.

Response to Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Desire

One of the Adbuster's "Spoof Ads" that stood out to me was the "Absolut Hangover" where instead of a bottle of Absolut Vodka they just have a noose in the same shape. I think this ad is trying to signify the effects drinking too much can have on you while the real ads for this campaign would try and show off the alcohol as sexy and worth your time. While the spoof may still have the word Absolut on it, which in a way advertises for them as well, the idea is completely different. They are mocking the idea that while this alcohol may make you feel good in the moment, the next day is not going to be as glamorous as the real ad may have suggested. The difference between the two is that Absolut as already become a unique brand that cannot be replaced because of their years and years of marketing. I think both at the same time though are trying to market to a 'cool' generation which in both ads would appreciate the culture. The idea of most of these ads is to be as subliminal as possible so after seeing one of these ads you first thought is either Absolut sucks or I got to have some of that!

Response to Killing Us Softly 3

In "Killing Us Softly 3," Kilburne discusses the effects ad's have on girls (self-esteem, eating disorders) when all they show are super skinny models and girls being "quiet" and looking down as men become the more important subject.

From Karl Marx's Manifesto and Chomsky's " Propaganda Model we are presented with some interesting similarities. The most significant similarity between the two, is manipulation through control. In Chomsky's documentary, the Media is able to manipulate its audience by selectively filtering information to its audience. You only receive information that mass media networks specifically tailor to the viewer. Essentially, if you only received your news from TV, your perception of the world would be entirely constructed by network agenda. Chomsky believes that Mass Media controls through its monopoly on information. It is through this monopoly of control, that Mass Media is able to manipulate its viewers and create a group of dull, like minded individuals.

Similarly, Marx sees the Bourgeosie as imposing their control over the proletariat through the ubiquitous spread of capitalism. Like Chomsky and Media, Marx views capitalism as an insatiable and omnipresent monster controlling the agenda of Bourgeosie through the calloused act of Free Trade. Marx sees Free trade as the very item that destroys family ties, furthers inequality between the two classes, and exploits under the guise of buying and selling.

Both Chomsky and Marx's items parallel each other as entities that exploit and manipulate populations based on a monopoly of information and resources.
Mass media controls information and gives the audience a spoonfed and filtered account which is perceived as reality. Marx sees the Bourgeosie's Free Trade as a system that controls the masses through a monopoly on land ownership and exploits through shameless self interest. Marx blames capitalism for the degradation of modern society by creating an unnecessary power struggle that destroys the family unit.

It seems that both Chomsky and Marx's systems impose control over society through a iron grip on information and resources. This control allows the elite to impose their will and further their own self interests by creating a subservient population. Both systems strive to create "a world after its own image" and manufacture an identical numb and like minded mass.

Manifesto

According to Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” there are two classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie is known as the upper or elite class and the proletariat is known as the lower or peasant class. We find that the upper class are the ones who are in power and the lower class are the ones who work for them. This is a close similarity between Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model” because only a few people are in charge of those that do the job. However, we find that in the end both groups are controlled. The bourgeoisie class over shadows the proletariat class just like in today's society. Even the bourgeoisie class is controlled. Their are the select few that are in charge and the head of the bourgeoisie that influence the rest of them.

Art, Entertainment, Entropy

The argument which the author is imposing in the "Art, Entertainment, Entropy" article is that of open mindedness towards real art, rather than close mindedness in entertainment which keeps us in a constant trance of repetitive feedback which we have blindly become accustomed to. The author instead wants us to engage in knowledge of the true meaning of fine art and creativity which shows us things we never even knew we wanted to know-negetrophic as apposed to entertainment which only gives us what we continually hear about-entrophic.

Such as Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube, are known as experimental art where one can impose one's viewpoints instead of falsified information as entertainment does. These Internet sites help us express our creativity in posts we create with our expressive minds which is what how art can as well be expressed. As the author mentions in this article, experimental art is governed by our strongest points where as entertainment is governed by our weakest moments. Thus, "Art explains, entertainment exploits".

Manifestoon

The parallelism which Noam Chomsky "Propaganda Model" and Karl Marx "Communist Manifesto" have within each other are that of the elite, and those at the bottom of the hierarchy. Marx's proletarian class are those in Chomsky's American masses and those in Mark's Bourgeois are those in Chomsky's elite. As they both compare to one another, they both impose their authority to sustain an impeccable image of their society which they come from to make sure Chomsky's American masses also meaning Marx's proletarian are kept in sight to maintain them as followers of the elite/bourgeois.

Because of such manipulations from the elite/bourgeois toward the masses/proletarian, they were being taken advantage of and blind sided. With the elites priceless persuasion and exploitation the masses were staying as followers and believing that the society which the elite imposed on them was "normal". In both Chomsky's and Marx explanations, it shows that the following of the American masses becomes a profit towards the supposed "honorable" elite/bourgeois.

manifestoon

In Karl Marx's Communist manifesto there are two classes, the ones in power and the ones who work for them. This state is kept by the illusion of a free market reinforced by spiritual and political veil that keeps people in line. This is much like the Chomsky's propaganda model in that a select few are in charge and keep the people in line with doctoring stories and editing stories to push a specific agenda. But in the end both societies the populous were described as mindless predictable zombies created and molded this way by those in control that ultimately work to the sole benefit of themselves.

Manifestoon

It is clear that both Marx and Chomsky’s views of public economy and society are paralleled, especially on the topic of profit equating power. Marx stated that personal worth has been turned into exchange value, that the only existing bond between people today is self-interest and personal gain. This idea is echoed in Chomsky’s take on the media running on a purely profit-based agenda, and focusing on success and gain while feeding appeasing information to the masses. As both have implied, Free Trade is often exploited. Facing the threat of extinction, production and consumption create a stake in livelihood for a company and for the media, and even with free, open competition, the majority of the power lies in only a few hands. The masses have power in numbers, but are often overcome by corporations with the most sway in the public eye.

Youngblood Article

Within the arena of media lie two main methods of creativity and creation: one being art, the other, entertainment. When creativity within creation inspires learning, viewer participation and evokes a newfound palette of thoughtfulness, it is considered “art”. When a creation relies on the structure of those past, already acceptable and predictable to viewers, it falls into the category of “entertainment”. Entropy, a measure of the lack of information in a system of communication, is an indication of imitation, and imitation is the bone structure of entertainment. According to this author, our current society depends too wholly on entertainment, which depletes our capacity to learn new things from what could instead be art.
Today, multiple forms of social networking have evolved based on this concept of entertainment. Though sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube provide portals through which individuals can express their unique creativity, critiques, and art, the very basis of these sites was formed because the media saw a connection between the public and publicity. Social networking has become a trusted genre of its own; rules have been made within it, certain things can be expected from it, and it can be marketed and recreated in ways which are familiar. Though social networking sites provide opportunities for artistic expression (just as film, literature, and paintings do), society limits them with rating stars and “like” buttons. I suppose viewers feel a sense of involvement by being able to supply feedback, as the author states, which creates order within these communication systems. However, the feedback we create influences the level of artistry that goes into the creation of status updates and video posts. It could be said that though these sites may create realms in which individual, thoughtful art can be made, users have both created and conformed to a system of entertainment ratings that influence what is posted. Art can pop up within any medium that exists today, but it’s the unfamiliar message behind the work that makes us think, and thus, makes it “art”.

Wallace Steven argues that the media is a profit motivated machine that disrupts and hinders the creation of art by perpetuating the same products to the already conditioned consumer. Further more, the public is not able to contribute the said entertainment machine.

Recently, with the advent of social networking websites other similar sites Stevens argument seems to fall short. Facebook allows a users to post pictures, artwork and using whatever apps they have, pretty much anything. Youtube is another prime example of the public contributing art. I have seen quite a number of videos on youtube and there is a wide range of media to be seen. Now more than ever the public is in control of the entertainment media that we ourselves enjoy.

Art and Entertainment

In entertainment media the consumer is consumed rather than enlightened, which is the main point of art. Advertising is one of the most common attributes of today’s media. It is the media itself that exploit its audience to the companies and products that endorse and produce them. Companies pay the media industry to regularly view their product in hopes of purchasing it.

A common occurrence with media is the relation of falsified information. Useful information has the power to cause change where as misinformation can cause chaos. In today’s world most of us accept information that is incorrect without thinking twice about it. Without the complete knowledge that the information they consumed is false, they are more likely to pass on the information, embedded with their own opinions and biases. On the other hand the most entertaining media happens to be the shows that encompass once sided arguments.

With today’s technology people have the power to relay information with the touch of a button. With modern technology like Facebook and Myspace we are able to find any thought that the author wants to convey. More often than not we are able to find thoughts about things that have to meaning or matter to anyone else other than the author (ie. What the author ate for dinner or what they are doing at every moment of the day). Youtube has made vocalizing thoughts easier, with built in cameras in your computer and touch-of-the-button recording, making videos has never been simpler.

Manifestoon response

Both the "Communist Manifesto" and Chomsky's "Propoganda Model" both involve two classes: the elites (few in number) and the masses. Both employ techniques to maintain a controlled image of society and keep the masses in check: Marx's bourgeoisie achieves this goal through religious & political illusions, while Chomsky's mass media flat out ignores, dilutes and twists subjects to make any potentially disturbing newspiece (and thus thought-provoking, perhaps in the long run leading to action) dulled to the point of a mere campaign issue or even a non-story.

As a result, the masses are exploited and manipulated, buying into the elites' images and ideals of what society should be (and convincing them that things are normal, status quo, and so on) resulting in the elite's excessive profits. The people, claim Marx and Chomsky, have most of the power to overthrow and/or change this lopsided model, but are only held back due to these skilled techniques (and not, to a large degree, brute force) of the elite to keep them (relatively) calm.

Art, Entertainment, and Entropy

"Art, Entertainment, and Entropy" argues that entertainment is seperate to art because it only calls upon old memories and media to satisfy the audience's expectations, making it the opposite of change (an essential aspect of art). The audience, in turn, is conditioned by this entertainment to grow lazy and unwilling to deal with challenging, thought-provoking art, and possibly further extends to the point of limiting our self-awareness.

The ideal of the Internet is that anybody has the power to create art without having to deal with the traditional mass media routes. While modern websites such as Youtube, Facebook, blogs, and so forth do give the users and viewers potential to publish and consume media that is more than just entertainment, its hindered by that very fact: most of the Internet is clogged such massive amounts of content (most of it more or less as mundane as entertainment) that the amount of significant change through it might be small, perhaps harder to find than than the mass media itself. Despite this, access to art (as opposed to entertainment) is easier than ever before, leaving us better than we were before the Internet, even if not by a lot.

Blog 4 wk 3 Response to Art, Entertainment, Entropy

Steven's argument is that redundancy contributes to entropy(stasis) and information contributes negentropy(change). Essentially, Art explains through the exploration and critique of the human condition while ntertainment exploits its audience through mass producing a redundant and mundane product.


In Steven's article he attacks Commerical Entertainment as a hackneyed, formulaic machine that elicits conditioned responses from its audience. Stevens believes commercial media creates like minded individuals who lack self awareness and are content to receive and not give feedback.

Art, on the other hand, in explaining the human condition, begs the question, "why?". Art elicits a response and creates a dialogue with its' audience from intrinsic feedback.


I believe Steven's work does have some valid connections to today's mass entertained world. Stevens mentions that commercial entertainment produces redundant stimuli that does not require any critical thinking from its audience. We can see his key points illustrated by the use of Facebook. Facebook is a cyber community that connects different networks of people from all over the world. When I go on Facebook I see pictures and updates mostly from people I do not value as true friends. I don't really need to know about their thanksgiving, or their throat hurts, or that its' raining and they don't want to go to class. When I'm being realistic with myself mostof the information I receive from Facebook is truly irrelevant and redundant. According to Stevens, "Ignorance always increases when a system's messages are redundant. Ignorance is not a state of limbo in which no information exists, but rather a state of increasing chaos due to misinformation about the structure of the system".
Judging by this quote, Stevens would view Facebook as an irrelevant and skewed view of reality. Stevens would probably call Facebook "Irrelevant information and picture sharing, where you occasionally hear info from people you actually care about book".

Stevens would see Facebook as nothing more than a distraction from the true aesthetic beauty of the world and the people in it. Next time on Facebook examine the feedback you are receiving from it. Stevens would want you to ask yourself, "Did I truly learn anything relevant and pertinent about myself from Facebook today?"

Response to "Manifestoon"

Parallels can be drawn between the ideologies of Noam Chomsky and Karl Marx comparing the societal rung that Chomsky denotes as the “upper 20% of society” and that Marx refers to as the bourgeoisie. Despite the different interests of each man and his correlating criticisms, Chomsky’s of the media, and Marx’s of free enterprise, congruencies in the bourgeoisie/propaganda models both men propose are quite stark.

To begin, both men describe political power as belonging to a very small portion of an entire society, and that these agenda setters or bourgeoisie are the people whose interests are primarily served. Both men describe the agenda-setting class in society as the leading force behind any societal change, and this is almost always to the detriment of the proletarian class or, in Chomsky’s description, the American masses.

The means by which the upper echelon of society chooses to control the masses is the same according to each philosophy. Not through any sort of direct political dominion is power attributed, but rather by underlying manipulative forces: in Chomsky’s case, the media, whose techniques for omission of relevant facts, issue framing, misinformation, etc, are the main vessel for control of the masses; and in Marx’s, the free market, whose participants willingly subscribe to the capitalist ideology that enslaves them to the greater agenda of massive corporations. Both men also address the need for change, and it is clear by the parallels in their rhetoric that they believe the bourgeoisie/mass media must be overturned in order to truly democratize society.

Response to "Art, Entertainment, Entropy"

The author of this article is of the belief that commercial entertainment is not art because it relies on our preconceived notions about certain scenarios, delivering to us only what we expect with an emphasis on how plots develop, rather than on original content. In contrast, real art is progressive and does not simply reiterate the same information from generation to generation, but instead has new statements to make and any dramatic elements used are not the point, but are only means of developing the overall statement.

While this author’s critique was not applied to interactive entertainment media and web 2.0 technology, the same critique could easily be applied to these new forms of media and communication. During the first few years of development of any technology, innovative uses of the technology surface, but once a sufficient amount of different way to use a media technology enter the mainstream, or in the case of web 2.0, the public sphere, development of the technology becomes less and less about new content, and more about ways to make more of the same content. People using youtube and facebook and twitter are all, save for a few exceptions, now using the same formulas for production as everyone else in a manner that continues the trend proposed by the Author of increased Entropy in entertainment media.

Manifestoon Response

The greatest similarity between the excerpt from Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” and Chomsky’s propaganda model is the underlying idea of the controlling minority influencing the public to conform to the controller’s wishes. Marx’s bourgeois, which holds “exclusive political sway” fills much the same role as Chomsky’s unnaturally influential figures at the center of media and politics- perhaps because the groups being described are one in the same. Understand that the groups described overlap to the extent of being identical is critical to understanding how Marx’s view of their economical control is related to Chomsky’s view of their societal control.

Chomsky and Marx offer a similar view of how the controlling minority exerts its influence, though the two men argue for different actions to fight this control. The bourgeois’s desire to “[create] a world after its own image” parallels the efforts by the central media figures to excise and censor any information that doesn’t conform to their own vision for the world. In both cases, the most effective tool for doing this is not hard-fisted tyranny, but much more subversive means. Marx and Chomsky agree that the governing class seeks to implant the idea into the masses that the world it envisions is the correct version, and that anything divergent from this is incorrect. In essence, both men hold the position that the ruling class seeks to control through suggestion over force, and that the masses need to recognize what’s happening in order to fight back.

Art, Entertainment, Entropy response

The argument made in the “Art, Entertainment, Entropy” article can be distilled to the idea that, unlike true art, entertainment adds nothing new to the system. Instead, entertainment uses repetitive feedback of accepted tropes to captivate the audience- and in doing so it inhibits creative thinking by producing a glut of useless information.

At first blush, it might seem that modern media offers a way to circumvent much of the destruction of creativity predicted by the article’s author. After all, with easy ways for a normal person to access widespread media- through things like blogs- it seems natural for new and creative ideas to spring forth from the suddenly tremendous number of contributors, yes? Well, experience seems to dictate otherwise. While the very first few ventures into blogs and other personal pages may have been an interesting exercise in exploring an individual’s private life and thoughts in a public forum beyond what has been previously seen, the millions of offshoots created as more and more people join in offer nothing new to the table. Minor details may vary from one person’s twitter to another’s, the real information being gained is miniscule, as nothing truly new is done. In this way, the proliferation of these new media tools- and the resulting outpour of absolutely staggering amounts of (useless) information- is hastening the increase in entropy described by the article’s author at a rate that (s)he most likely never thought possible.

Media in Everyday Life

Mass media - Began with the mass society (i.e. centralized around cities, urban areas), we receive our messages through centralized broadcast forms of national and international media, a one-way broadcast model. Mass media is a term that describes media forms designed to reach large audiences perceived to have shared interests. For example: radio, network, cable television, the cinema, and the press.

Convergence - Term used in the 1990s to describe the coming together of media forms, such as movies becoming an electronic and digital form through digital projection, and the bundling of formerly discrete services such as cable, Internet, and telphone.

Critique - Critiques of mass media judge them, and point out strong points and flaws of it. Critique is taking things apart, seeing are what they are made up of - this idea moved into what we know as movie reviewers, "go see it/don't go see it," etc. Critiques of mass media claim it contributes to the erosion of interpersonal and group life, fostering centralized models of communication and identity. Schiller warns that public space is threatened by by private media interests and the control of mass communications by military-industrial complex. On the other hand, John Fiske argues that mass media allows the non-literate to consume media, making it a democratic process.

PUBLIC SPHERE - Public sphere is an area where people can get together and discuss societal/political problems. Something that didn't exist until certain forces lined up - economic forces, technological forces, religious forces - to create a middle class, and therefore birth of public opinion.

The Internet allows for media to become multidirectional, rather than viewers only consuming, making them active users rather than passive viewers. These viewer-users can produce their own images and videos with relative ease, uploading it to websites, forums, and so forth. This allows producers to reach a mass audience while bypassing the traditional mass media models. As a result, the model of broadcast communications has lost much of its dominance, yet media industries have become increasingly consolidated.

Response to Manifestoon

In the excerpt from “The Communist Manifesto” Karl Marx talks about his ideas for a classless society where the proletarians would lose nothing but their chains and the bourgeoisie would lose their ability to own land and control everything around them such as trade, relations to production, and exchange of property. The proletarians who are the lower income will have more ability to succeed instead of being thrown under the wheel of society. In Noam Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model” he discusses how the upper class, known as the bourgeoisie, control the majority of media and what middle class and lower class (proletarians) see. The same idea is in the works as the bourgeoisie still have the power and still control the media empire forcing the proletarians to just accept whatever is given to them.
Marx discusses this as well when he talks about how the bourgeoisie control everything over the proletarians and because of this control they feel the need to have more and more power. Marx explains it well when he states, “In these crises there breaks out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs, would have seemed an absurdity -- the epidemic of overproduction. And how does the bourgeoisie get over these crises? On the one hand by enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces; on the other, by the conquest of new markets, and by the more thorough exploitation of the old ones.” This is the same idea going through the Propaganda Model. As soon as the bourgeoisie (media corporations) see more opportunity to take over, they do not hold back. Soon enough maybe only 2 major corporations will own the just about everything in media, instead of the major 5 right now.

BLOG 4 (Week 3: Darrin Martin

According to the author, entertainment media serves the interests of corporations, not the public. Entertainment media only hurts the public so that corporations can economically sustain themselves, which is their main goal.

While this article was written decades ago, the same ideas can be applied to entertainment media today. Cybernetics, the study of feedback, can be applied to this argument. Mass media then and now has a very skewed power structure when it comes to who owns and who influences the media. Essentially corporations own most media outlets today, and they control almost everything we see. As stated in the article, there is little room for the public to give feedback to mass media outlets. Most entertainment media receives feedback only from corporations and elite figures, not the public whatsoever. Entertainment media does not help the public develop intellectually, unlike art. Entertainment media gives us what we want and what we expect. Whereas art challenges us, and does not necessarily cater to our wants and expectations that easily support elite figures who control the status quo of society through media.

Although new forms of media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube give users some sense of freedom, that new media is ultimately owned by major corporations that subliminally shape consumers’ perspectives on what they think they want and need. This can easily be seen in the numerous advertisements alone on these websites. Although consumers today believe they are in control of what they choose because of technological advancements, the truth is that the entertainment media industry is still the same as it was when the article was written decades ago. The public itself has become the end product of mass media. Entertainment media is propaganda for the masses that enforces a status quo created by powerful elites. Those powerful elites continue to control and influence mass media; feedback is almost impossible from the mass public.

Response to Art, Entertainment, Entropy

In this article entitled “Art, Entertainment, Entropy,” the author brings up the notion that art and drama are ahead of their time. While he makes this argument he also relates drama back to how media uses it to manipulate audiences and by doing this they create a market through the manipulation. He also discusses now art can only truly be understood if the person viewing it takes a look at their own life and has some sort of revelation. He talks about how entropy is a “degree of our ignorance about a condition” in which the audience has a lack of information about the structure in communication theory that is running them.
On interactive websites like youtube, twitter, and facebook, I think the authors theory starts to play out. People are so easily manipulated by these websites that they eventually spend most of their time on them. Such as on facebook, the new idea to “fan” everything that is clever and funny is inexhaustible. In some cases a fan page may insist one become a fan before it even tells one what they are even a fan of. They manipulate by making the title something such as “See what Disney has been hiding from its viewers for years!” Yet the only way to know is to give in and become a fan. In a way it is its own form of experimental art. People must look at themselves to truly understand if they actually care what Disney is hiding from them. It comes down to media using art to manipulate viewers and users to get sucked into the world of the twentieth-century man.

Partnering Up

So, unless I missed something, we never got around to figuring out partners for the project (or at any rate, I need a partner still). This seems as good a place as any to figure all of that out.

Blog 2-Manufacturing Consent

In the flim "Manufacturing Consent" Professor Chomsky describes and uses the Propaganda Model. The film uses different visual techniques to get Chomsky's point across. He uses the media in order to correctly illustrate what he is saying. The film first catches our attention by first starting off with the huge screen in the center of a mall with a person talking about what will be shown. Not only does the film use this to capture our attention , but it uses various other visual techniques such as the black and white films, old history pictures and the back and forth of different companies or products that Chomsky is talking about. I believe it uses all these different techniques because there is not one certain way to get information across to people. In order to reach everyone and different audiences, the media has to speak and appeal to the public in different ways. People take in information differently so by using visual images on screen and not just the face of professor Chomsky, then people will become more intrested. Different visual techniques will appeal to a larger audience and this film does a good way in doing just that. The media does a good job in pulling us in and keeping our attention when different visual techniques are used to keep us interested. If we see the same thing on screen we will quickly go to something else, but if the camera shows other aspects of what the film is about by showing us behind the scene things or by having Chomsky break apart everthing he is saying then it keeps us intrested. The film shows us how the media works and how it is able to communicate to different audiences.

Critical Thinking

Rachel Maddow and Jon Stuart are obviously critical thinkers because they take a satirical stand to mainstream news. They poke fun and joke about serious matters that other news stations would present very seriously. It is refreshing to have an insightful view of accurate news that does not take itself too seriously. Both Stuart and Maddow put their own satirical twist on the news which, although it is funny, does have legitimate logical insight about media and politics. Maddow and Stuart urge their audience to take a step back and think about the media messages they are exposed to everyday. The stark contrast between an average news show and these critical thinkers, is that they present a story and give social commentary on the story. Their bias is purposeful and unique, rather than a network news anchor who gives the false impression of a non biased perspective. Stuart and Maddow's bias was designed to elicit critical thinking from its audience in a comedic manner.

The Barney Frank and John Lewis incident does not fall under the John Dewey model. Dewey implies that we do not make quick, irrational decisions on a whim. However, mobs using violence against the healthcare bill appear to be acting on sheer emotional and careless pretense. Rich, on the other hand, thinks that healthcare is not the huge concern but rather is a scapegoat to vent frustration with the whole administration. Rich, critically examines the situation through the eyes of a person upset with the Obama administration and its' legislation. His critical reasoning is designed to report news to a more conservative constituency rather than Stuart's younger, more liberal audience. He is able to take a step back and view the situation from a more holistic point of view by thinking critically.

Critical Thinking

In my eyes Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow are critical thinkers because in their own humerous ways they present boring news in a funny and fashionable manner to push out current events and news out into the audience . They both have their way of persuading us as audience to actually read the news and watch the news. Instead of presenting any current even and/or news in a boring, non-humerous manner, they present it in a humerous version so that as viewers we keep watching and don't change the channel.

In Rachel Maddows piece its obvous to see that she uses sarcasm about the news to get out attention and to keep paying attention throughout her show. She does this because it is now known to us that this is most definately the way to keep out attentions one hundred percent of the time thoughout the show

Week 2 - Blog 3: Intro to Critical Thinking

I see Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow as critical thinkers because it takes a great deal of intelligence and knowledge about news, current events and issues to present them in a funny way; much more so than to just distribute the information as a normal news anchor does. Fisher describes one definition of critical thinking as “thinking about one’s thinking”, which is one of the major ways Jon Stewart presents issues as comedic, but examining people’s thought processes and explaining how they don’t make sense or are illogical. Jon Stewart analyzes and examines politicians’ words and actions and then presents them in a way that reveals their illogical assumptions or underlying values, which is another skill related to critical thinking according to Fisher.

On the other hand, the examples given by Frank Rich in “The Rage is not about Health Care” are not examples of critical thinking. As Rich states “that a tsunami of anger is gathering today is illogical,” which immediately shows that this style of thinking violates the logical nature of critical thinking described by Fisher. A more hilarious proof is that Jon Stewart has made fun of these examples on his show, using critical thinking. Also, Rich states that the rage is not connected to the issue, and in fact we’d see the same reaction to any Obama initiative. The rage is connected with a dislike of the people involved. This violates Fisher’s conditions for critical thinking in many ways, but most specifically with a lack of analytical skills and reflexive, thoughtless action.

Manufacturing Consent

I have to admit that it took me a good three tries to watch this film in entireity. The combination of the 1980's film editing and music selection, mixed with the lulling and slightly monotonic voice of Noam Chomsky, was enough to deter my attention span in my first two attempts. However, the media tool that finally lured me in was the presence of silence. I was at a point where I had the audio of the film playing in the background while distracted by something else, and only stopped to turn back to the screen once I realized the familiar, single-note voice that had been filling my ears for the majority of the film's first half had suddenly grown quiet. When I did focus in on the screen's image, I noticed a scrolling of power-company names that I recognized. The change in style was enough to make me rewind and actually listen to what Chmosky had said. I think this experience fits quite well with Chomsky's interpretation of the numbing saturation of the media in our everyday lives and how accustomed we are to flocking to the same forms of propaganda to absorb information. The third time around, I actually enjoyed what Chomsky had to say about his questioning of media in society and how he mockingly implemented so many of those discussed techniques in his own film. The variety of presentation to his audience is what finally pulled me in, and once it had, I was hooked.

Intro to Critical Thinking

John Stewart and Rachel Maddow fit the John Dewey model of 'reflective thinking'. Rather than a passive process of receiving and handing down ideas and information that is often likened to the average news anchor, John Stewart and Rachel Maddow are active, as they take in the same information as other networks and programs, but use reflection and analysis to turn the same serious subjects into humor and satire. Maddow, for example, "has a field day with Sarah palin's penchant for falsehoods," as a major draw of Maddow and Stewart's shows are actual, active commentary, which generally consists of critiquing and poking fun of the lies and idiocies that are common in politics and mass media outlets that cover politics.

The slurs lobbed at Barney Frank and John Lewis, then, cannot fall under the John Dewey model. Dewey's idea of critical thinking implies that we do not jump to conclusions or make snap decisions, which is what the 'mobs' appear to do when they are faced with the health bill. They liken it to a part of an ongoing destruction of America. Rich argues that the health care bill is not the main source of anger, but rather an opposition that is aimed toward the administration that would be there whether the issue at hand was health care or not. I don't think that this mode of thinking does not fall under one of Fisher's categories, as the behavior appears to be more of a jump to conclusions and an underlying feeling than any form of careful, reflective analysis toward the healthcare bill, or Frank and Lewis.

Critical Thinking

I think it is fair to state that sarcastic and opinionated news reporters, Rachel Maddow and John Stewart, present critically thought out point of views on their television programs. All news programs and the like function, or at least aim to function, in a way that both presents a narrative on current public issues while enticing viewers to their particular network. Much debate can be held as to whether or not such popular media figure heads abuse this function – as both Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart have butted heads over on numerous occasions – but the delivery of such critical thought can greatly hurt and mask ones point if not done so in a cautious way. I have no doubt that outspoken Rove and Boehner, mentioned in Rich’s article “Rage Is Not About Health Care”, may have originally formed their opinions in an active and persistent manner. However, what Alex Fisher cited as an important factor in developing critical thought is the attention paid to being “careful”. Both Maddow and Stewart pay careful attention to the delivery of their information, noting that satire and comedic relief (emphasis on the “relief”) are generally nice changes of pace from the more staunch, stiff views of arguing political heads relying on voice level and cheap character bashing to win compliance from audiences. Rove and Boehner may have had valid points to make, but those were masked due to their lack of care applied to the delivery. It is not just important to develop and search for a personal, critical opinion, but it can be equally, if not more important, to plan its presentation.

Manufacturing Consent

From a first impression “Manufacturing Consent” starts as a boring documentary with a very long run time. As we further into the movie we see that this is simple not a boring documentary but a film encompassing many visual techniques. We see color as well as black and white film clips from history, formal interviews, broadcasted interviews, and even the introduction gives us a close up of the book. All of these elements are products of mass media itself. The ability to print books and present to millions of people as well as to broadcast all over the world is very simple with the technology of today.

The inserts of historic clips to me poses that this part of the movie is trying to reach the type of audience who is more into history. For me the movie seemed to use different visual techniques to apply to different viewers. Not every viewer is interested in the same type of information, however a film with multiple techniques is a clever way to target more viewers. This agrees with Noam Chomsky’s propaganda model in which it views the private media as one interested in purely the sales of their product.

Manufacturing consent week 2

In Manufacturing Consent the first striking image is the huge television screen in a mall with an anchor reporting on its screen. Chilling music is playing in the background and it shows how news is a one sided monologue which viewers are fed biased information. This image much reminds of Big Brother from 1984 and how Big Brother's presence was felt everywhere. Mass Media, while not as intensely authoritative, is figuratively similar to Big Brother's ubiquitous presence over the World of 1984. Similarly to Big Brother, the media has saturated most aspects of daily life with its onipresent influence.

Another powerful image is when Chomsky is a referring to a foreign Civil War in the 1600's. There is quote on a torn out piece of paper explaining how the masses were becoming arrogant and undermining the elite rule of the day. A hand then appears embracing the piece of paper, crumpling it, and disappaearing. This image alludes to the censorship that mass media has on its subjects and how it influences the way messages and news are presented. Chomsky goes on to say that Democracy is essentially a game for elites, not for ignorant masses. Chomsky believes the masses are heavily influenced by the elite control of the media. There is a manner in which news is tactically crafted to captivate and influence its' audience thinking.

Furthermore, many images of battle and wars refer to the struggle between the masses to obtain knowledge and the ruling elites monopoly of information. We are presented with imagery creating a struggle between the common man and an elite manipulative class. Lastly, I think the best image summarizing the media's stranglehold on society is when Chomsky is explaining Reinhold Niebuhr's book. We see a printing press spitting out dozens of books titled "Manufacturing Illusion". This image sums up the title "Manufacturing Consent" comparing the media to a manufacturer which is constantly producing identical products with no distinction. This image accurately describes how the media greatly influences public opinion and creates like minded individuals with similar ideals.

Critical Thinking

Clearly both Rachel Maddow and John Stewart can be as critical thinkers. In the article “The Sarcastic Times” by Alyssa Quart we are able to see the similarities between Rachel Maddow and John Stewart with the Dewey/Glaser model of critical thinking presented by Fisher. Fisher describes this model of critical thinking to focus on being able to examine the knowledge or evidence that is readily available and to further interpret possible conclusions. Portraying everyday news may be simple for both Maddows and Stewart but nothing about what they do can be clearly defined as simple. Finding a creative way to add sarcasm and comedy to shows in a way that the viewer will both enjoy the news and understand it take a bit of thinking. In fact critical thinking is an oblivious component when considering how both Maddows and Stewart reach their final show debuts. They must interpret how the viewers will see and understand their information. This requires them to examine the knowledge that they bring and interpret the possible conclusions, which is what the Dewey/Glaser model is all about.

In the article “The Rage is not About Healthcare” by Frank Rich we find that the hate is not about healthcare at all, in fact it is about our current governing President Barrack Obama. They are more focused on the way that Obama is running our nation. Unlike Maddows and Stewart we find Frank’s approach less sarcastic and seriously lacking in the humor department. Frank’s approach is a very serious one. By this approach we are also able to conclude that Frank is a critical thinker. He approaches a different demographic that may not be reached by both Maddows and Stewart. However, he still has to be able to interpret his information and how the audience will receive it and what they will take from his information.

Manufacturing Consent

"Manufacturing Consent" has a lot of visual techniques that reinforce Chomsky's message and serve to keep the documentary interesting throughout its long runtime. For example, some shots show Noam Chomsky speaking shown on massive television screens, such as in an empty sports stadium or inside a mall, showing that Noam Chomsky attempts to use the very mass media that keeps us ignorant by dodging issues and giving us skewed and/or narrow information to spread the message to the masses.

Another powerful video technique of "Manufacturing Consent" shows the literal gutting and restitching of an article. The London Times' story on East Timor was brought over to the New York Times, whom in this scene is portrayed by "Manufacturing Consent" as a group of surgeons. They cut out the vital parts of the London Times' article (deeming "unneccessary" very important parts such as a paragraph that sums the entire story), resulting in the flatlining of the story's heartbeat. The scene then shows the surgeon pick up thread and restitch a new, Frankensteinish story, that is devoid of the actual, important facts that Chomsky warns media is keeping from us in an attempt to whitewash the USA, and shows this article sent off to Newsweek and other such publications to turn East Timor a national non-story of sorts. The documentary then contrasts footage of the New York Times talking about how hard it is to create articles, and how the stress of working under a time limit every day results in articles that are less than perfect, but is undermined and is seen by the viewer as less than honest due to the fact that obviously vital bits are cut out of their article.

Blog 1

For some reason Iwas not able to copy and paste my response from smartsite on to here. Any suggestions? -Tyler

Blog 2 (Week 2)-Manufacturing Consent

In the documentary film, "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media," Professor Chomsky begins to explain how he came upon the title of this film. To do so, he progresses to isolate a close-up of a book where he comes upon the title for his documentary along with a close-up of a grayscale of the author of that book. This visual technique is done so to further exemplify what Chomsky is trying to explain to the audience through his profound ideas. As the film continues, the isolation of various images frequently come into play, which of course becomes known as his number one visual technique throughout the film. The isolation used becomes identified as framing, which is done precisely to create emphasis in the continuum of images that relates to the continuum of his shared thoughts.
An example of this so called framing, that stood out to me the most, is when Chomsky is explaining necessary illusion, which becomes further known as propaganda, right then and there a close up of books being made in a factory where the books are sliding though a mechanical compartment creating an actual, slight illusion. Meanwhile as his further thought progresses, Chomsky mentions, "Emotionally Potent Oversimplification" where the background of course are images of satellites in space and images of rockets being shot at. Another favorite of mine is when Chomsky is explaning the elite media also known as the agenda setting media. Whenhe does so to explain who the elite media are, he mentions The New York Times, The Washington Post, major television channels such as NBC, CBS and ABC news. It's interesting to me because when he mentions each major television channel, close-up images of their locations come into scene. He frames these major television corporations to emphasize how these channels set a general framework of local media.

Critical Thinking

Rachel Maddow and John Stewart are both critical thinkers. In order to present these quips of satire they need to fully dissect and understand the situations that their pieces refer to. This kind of understanding is much more than the standard regurgitation of other news anchors. When presenting a satire piece it is very important to know where the emphasis should be placed, and where to place an inflection on the voice. But when taking a comic stance on an issue, it is important to prepare for pushback as well. Both of these anchors have done so in timely manners. This shows their full understanding of the news stories.

In the article entitled “The Rage is not About Healthcare” by Frank Rich it is explained that the hate that arose leading up to and following healthcare is not actually about healthcare but rather about the social change sweeping the United States. Rich is thinking critically because he gathers information through observation and communication, and uses the knowledge to draw a conclusion. He shows this process very clearly in his article while citing both the observations and the historical examples.