Blog Post 7

Do you think people today use the mass media differently compared with how people used media 10 or 20 years ago?

Because of the technology we have today and the sheer amount of media entertainment available to us, it’s inevitable that we use mass media differently. I think that because of the internet, there are more people who are unafraid of having opinions that vary from “the norm”. In other words, television programs no longer represent a consensus of Americans opinions, because there is so much more variety. At the dawn of television, shows like Leave it to Beaver showed the ideal life – and most viewers believed they should strive for that status quo. Now there is content that caters to almost every genre and interest and content that caters to different ways of life. Before, there were only a few television channels and everyone with a TV watched them and likewise were influenced by them. Now, viewers can choose what they watch according to taste. Also, because of streaming, there are many consumers who don’t watch television at all and are separated from the influence of advertisements on TV. When there is a new program premiering, they have to find out about it differently and they are less likely to be convinced to watch just by the sheer amount of trailers they see. They’re more likely to look into reviews of a show and read descriptions before they decide to watch it.

Blog Post 6

Miss Representation was a beautifully executed visual essay on sexism in media. The objectification of women in media is a well-known fact, but seeing so many concentrated examples at the beginning of the documentary was sickening. It’s upsetting, because I know there’s nothing I can personally do about it other than be angry about it and point it out to others. We can’t control the advertisements that are sent to us, and we have little control over what movies are made. Basically, to enjoy anything, we have to suspend our standards and morals otherwise we’d have to avoid almost every piece of media. I do believe that it’s possible to be critical of a media and still enjoy it. For instance, I really like the recent movie Kingsman for its humor and cool cinematography in its fight scenes, but I was disheartened to realize that all of the secret agents were white and mostly male while the two villains happened to both be people of color with disabilities. But, when you realize how frequent it is it becomes really upsetting. Every movie you see you think, “Why is the lead of this film a guy? Why is there only one girl? Why are they straight? There are so many options, so why?”.  It’s hard to be excited about new Batman movies when there have been like 8 Batman movies, but absolutely no Wonder Woman movies. Or any female led movies from DC for that matter. Why does Wolverine get three terrible spin off movies, but Storm or Rogue or Mystique doesn’t?

Blog Post 5

Essentially, Psychoanalytic theory is the process of analyzing characters or people based on their personalities and what may or may not be going on in their head. It asks why a character does something, the implicit reasons beyond their outward motives that are a result of their own personal experiences and beliefs. While semiotics gives story actions thematic meaning, and Marxism puts stories in societal context, Psychoanalytic looks for personal meanings. For instance, say a character is over protective or needy with their loved ones. Psychoanalytic theory would look at what previous experiences or beliefs that lie in the characters subconscious might cause the character to use over-protectiveness as a defense mechanism. Perhaps, they were abandoned as a child by their parents or they lost some one important to them in one or another.

One of the main ideas in Psychoanalytic theory is the idea of defense mechanisms. Defense Mechanisms are subconscious reactions to stress, trauma, and general unpleasant situations. Some, like repression, are more extreme while others are subtle forms of manipulation or coping mechanisms. Almost all of them happen on a subconscious level, rather than a character or a person choosing to activate them.

Another important idea brought forth by Psychoanalysts is Character Archetypes. Archetypes are forms of characters that are seen frequently in myths that now influence modern media. The hero, the wise man, the mother figure, etc. are examples of figures frequently seen in stories. 

Marxism Blog Post #4

The idea of Marxism is a complex subject, but it is not necessary to know the complete historical and societal context to use Marxist theory to analyze media. The main idea that Marxist analysis looks at is power structures, how a "ruling class" controls or influences a lower class and the rest of society. An analyst looks at what rules does a society or group follow, how those rules influence the way that they interact with each other. The rules of a society that limits it's members movements is called the "hegemony". One can think of hegemony is the "sameness" that is imposed upon a group of people. For instance, our society currently has a heteronormative hegemony, meaning that it is considered deviant to be in a non-heterosexual relationship. Marxism asks us to question the rules of society and notice the unspoken rules that are controlling our daily lives. What forces are influences? Money, expectations, and gender roles, are all things an analyst can look for to interpret a characters actions and desires.  In media artifacts, one is usually not looking at an entire society, rather they look at the group of characters in the story. This could be a group of friends, or a family, or rivals. Some questions to ask: Who has the most power in the group? What desires are displayed, and how are they related to the expectations placed on the characters?

Blog Post #3

I’ve always enjoyed analyzing entertainment I consume by theorizing and noticing symbolism and with this class it’s nice to begin to know how to do so formally and have an outlet for discussion. Semiotics comes somewhat naturally to me, but reading about Marxist analysis has made me look at stories differently. When looking for symbols, I’m looking at it from a story point of view, how the theme is represented visually, foreshadowing, what characters represent, and so on. But Marxism asks an analyst to look outside the story at the society that built it and how that society is reflected in the story. I really enjoy watching sitcoms. They are meant to be fun, lighthearted entertainment that can be consumed passively. But by being passive they subconsciously feed us a fantasy of what our lives are meant to be like. This week I finished rewatching New Girl, a show where a group of friends get into all kinds of antics but are always there to support each other. The five characters who share a loft often have trouble with their jobs, yet they never seem to have financial trouble nor do their jobs ever seem to interfere much with their personal lives. Most of that is probably for convenience of plot, but it also lets many viewers escape from the reality of having their lives run by their jobs. It also gives the idea that “if this bunch of idiots can do this well then certainly I can have that kind of life”. Most sitcoms are like that, they give an idyllic reality with just enough weird unbelievable mischief to remind us that it’s fantasy. 

Blog Post 2- Sherlock

The popular BBC series, Sherlock, adapts the well know world of Sherlock Holmes from book to screen, and from the past to the present. The original stories are narrated by Doctor Watson, so likewise the show begins with John, despite Sherlock being the namesake of the title. The show uses a very particular style with its art direction by keeping to a specific color palette that is seen again and again. These colors are used to signify characters, mood and story points, and we can see this from the very first seen where Watson wakes up. John Watson lives a lone, and we get the feeling that his apartment is very lonely. John just woke up from a nightmare, and his ominous feeling is carried on through his surroundings and staging. His apartment is yellow and in yellow light – Watsons  theme color – and as John has his meager breakfast he is framed in a far off shot, which emphasizes how empty his apartment is.

Through out the beginning of the episode we get the distinct feeling that John is unhappy, and his life lacks meaning. At the very least, he isn’t enjoying himself. We witness the most awkward therapist visit in history, and he seems uncomfortable even when talking to his old friend. Also of note, the whole of the beginning is very quiet, there is almost no music, right up until Sherlock is introduced. Once John see’s Sherlock (who is set in front of a blue background when we first see him) begin to rush about deducing things the Sherlock theme begins to play in the background and we are swept up into Sherlock’s shenanigans along with John. Sherlock’s behavior is so opposite of what we have seen so far that it is jarring. It’s also obviously quite jarring for John too, being simultaneously disregarded as unimportant while nearly every detail of his life is figured out and presented by a complete stranger. Sherlock is aloof and brash and people are generally annoyed by him, as Sherlock later comments on in the cab, but John isn’t comfortable with normal socializing anymore. This allows him to more easily put up with Sherlock’s own social ineptitudes and fully appreciate the brilliancy of what Sherlock does. This episode is just one day, but already John’s life is suddenly in motion again. He loves the action, needs the action, so much so that he becomes so caught up in it that he forgets his cane – and his limp- to chase down a criminal without a second thought.

On the other hand, it isn’t about the adrenaline for Sherlock. It’s about exercising his easily bored mind, figuring things out, and most importantly: being right. It’s not enough for him to know that he’s figured something out, he needs confirmation for it. He explains it himself when he tells John that “genius needs an audience” when talking about the serial killer. Later, his actions show it with the entire incident with the cabbie. He goes with the cabbie completely willingly because he has to know if he figured it out, and the cabbie knows this. He explains to Sherlock how he convinces people to kill themselves, a confession, but if Sherlock calls the cops down he promises that Sherlock will never know what it is he tells his victims. Finally, after the cabbie is shot he demands to know if he guessed the right pill. He assures John that of course he wasn’t really going to take the pill, but it’s quite possible that Sherlock would really go to that length just to find out if he was right- and to make his victory that much sweeter. 

Blog Post 1# Semiotics

These new “Truck Ads” have become somewhat popular recently. They’re kind of a novelty, it’s cool when you actually see one in person. They play off of the idea that you don’t ever know what’s actually inside an 18-wheeler and that drivers and passengers may be speculating about what’s inside. The frequency of trucks on the road vs. how frequent these types of ads are seen also plays into their effectiveness. When you are driving, you see semi-trucks constantly, you see them so often they normally fade into the back ground, so when you see one with a crazy visual illusion on it you’re going to notice and thus take the time to interpret the ad. In this way, they are much more effective than billboards, because drivers are also so used to seeing billboards that most of the time they disregard them. 

This particular ad takes this advantage a step further. It’s an ad for Pantone, a hair product brand, how are you supposed to advertise that on a truck? Shampoo bottles aren’t interesting. At first glance it is kind of confusing. Why is this truck full of hair? But upon closer inspection the viewer realizes that the hair is meant to be the drivers comically long pony tail. So the joke here becomes this truck drivers hair is so long and luscious - because of how great Pantone is - that they need this giant truck just to carry their hair. It also insinuates that hair is important, because we know that trucks are generally used to carry a lot of things, if not something that is important to us personally, like food, then at least a lot of cargo that is important to businesses. By connection then, this person’s hair is important enough to sacrifice all of that space and protection that we expect to be used for something that is actually important.