Reflection Through these posts I realized that I consume a lot of media whether it be on my phone, in the form of news or on tv. I knew before how much it all affects me but not the extent of it. Because media constantly surrounds me, I have found that I often fall into this pattern of mindless consumption. For example being on my phone instead of doing homework. Media is so accessible, entertaining and easy to use which is why I consume so much of it. Now that I am more aware of this relationship I am able to recognize when I am too reliant on it or to trusting. In commercials I search for the key words and understand how a company is now selling a certain experience or feeling to the viewer. Using habits of critical thinker like metacognition I can more effectively understand how media distorts products and reality. I think to dismantle the facade which is being sold to the audience you have to be proactive in listening which is something I have gotten better at. Upon writin
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Gillette commercial: "Boys will be Boys" On Sunday, the razor brand Gillette published a very non-conventional ad which focused on toxic masculinity within American society. Within this piece of media they portray popular commercials which utilize small jokes to degrade women. Gillette says that these jokes quickly devolve into sexual harassment, assault and full fledged misogyny, and they as a company are looking to dispel that culture. The commercial extensively commented on the #MeToo movement. Gillette's advertising phrase is "The best a man can get", as in this razor gives you power and influence over women: A chic magnet. The company implicitly stated that this message essentially escalated to these feelings of male dominance over American society. The point of this new Gillette ad was to reshape the implications of the catchphrase. This product is now "The best a man can get" because they can work towards self improvement, in controlling
Women in politics: MissRepresentation A main topic that the documentary highlighted on was the misrepresentation of women in politics by the media. The political sphere is largely dominated by white men, meaning that the few women in politics are already struggling to stay respected and relevant in the political world. Then they're further subjected to degradation and criticism by major media outlets. In the movie, they presented multiple examples where the critical eye of the media was able to look closely at how long the women's hair is or how she dresses rather than the contributions that she makes to her industry. These impossible standards are set for women to comply to, in order to avoid negative attention. Women must be feminine enough to be respected, but not too feminine or they'll be incapable. This immense criticism has been increasing in severity as women are gradually being introduced into the male dominated world of policy making. This inherent sexism bei
Schumer, Pelosi and Trump conference January 8, 2019 On December 11, 2018, Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House, and democratic Senator Chuck Schumer discussed border security with President Trump and VP Mike Pence in the oval office. The meeting between the two parties was supposed to be a civil and productive meeting to discuss the rapidly approaching date of the shutdown, yet didn't really accomplish the desired goal. Naturally, when 800,000 federal workers will be without pay, the public wants answers. Answers that have been evading the public, with calculated and well thought out responses, political officials can sidestep the truth or undercut the severity of the situation. The rapidly approaching federal shutdown resulted in the conference in the oval office, where the huge media sources and press outlets were eager to here why a federal shutdown was about to be imposed over one man's unwavering demands. This conference was ultimately about distributing information
Hypersexuality- Midriffs January 8th, 2019 In Merchants of Cool, Rushkoff described a midriff as a young girl whose entire sense of identity is based around their sexuality. A midriff's sensuality is the sole focal point of their character, as that is their only positive feature. The idea that is perpetuated in modern media is that teenagers and young women may only have their sexuality to offer to society. Their job is in being appeasing and palatable in the world of other's sexual fantasies. Only then, will they be a recognized or valued as a member of society. Popular celebrities often present as midriffs, in movies, music videos, magazines and especially social media platforms. 20 year old Britney Spears used sex to sell her 2001 hit, "Slave 4 U", in which the first lines were " I know I'm young, but I got feelings too" , and proceeded to describe how she would enslave her body to dance for us, the audience. The song, unsurprisingly achieved
Russian social media influences in America More information is gradually being uncovered about Putin's role in the 2016 American election. There have been huge allegations regarding the collusion between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in the presidential election, but with the surfacing of new reports we are realizing that this collusion was rather extensive. A report put out by Oxford University reveals that Russian social media techs infiltrated American social media platforms in order to deter certain demographics from participating in the presidential election. The new knowledge report states in particular black millenials were targeted. The Russians were motivated to suppress Democratic turnout, thus ceeding the elections over to President Trump. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram were the main sites found to be hiding these huge Russian influences according to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Many calculated that Russia's role was consequential in a Trump v
"The Truman Show" and Guerilla advertising In "The Persuaders" a topic that was widely acknowledged was Guerilla advertising. Guerilla fighting in the context of war is surprise attacks. In advertising it allows a product to extend beyond just the conventional form of commercial advertising. The success of guerilla advertising results in the prevalence of it within tv shows, or our favorite movies. The main character picks up a refreshing Coke after heroically fending off the [insert villain]. When this technique was mentioned in The Persuaders I immediately thought of the movie called "The Truman show". The Truman Show is a movie based around the main character Truman. Truman seems like an average guy who proceeds with his regular anti-climactic life. However what Truman fails to realize is that his life is the basis of the most popular TV show out there. He is being filmed 24/7 as he is living in a simulation of a real town. He is unaware that everyo