Blog Post #3

Before taking this course, I never truly analyzed the media I was consuming. Whether it was ads, commercials, or even movies, I never took the time to dissect the signs and meanings within the content. Now it is almost as if my eyes have been opened. I have slowly begun to pay closer attention to  subtle details and implicit messages, which all come and aid in the creation of the entire dynamic of the content being presented. What has surprised me the most has been the amount of thought that goes into media. The creators of the content fine tune down to the smallest detail. And I believe that the only way the user will able to understand the entire experience of the content, is to be able to recognize all of these elements. I will admit that when we first began learning about Semiotic concepts in class I was slightly lost. But once we began applying these concepts to the examples, the advertisement and the Sherlock series, everything began to make sense. Many of the Semiotic elements were visibly present and once you knew what you were looking for, it became so apparent within the media content. The same applies to Marxism. Marxism analyzes the hierarchical status within media. In class we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks. After watching this episode through a Marxist looking glass, I was able to differentiate the different groups within the episode. Additionally we analyzed the type of role that each member in the different groups held, and how they as individuals and as a unit contributed to the story of the show. Now that I have learned to pay attention to Semiotic and Marxist concepts, I will be able to fully experience all of the media around me. I believe this broadens my spectrum, and will allow me to become more aware of the type of content I am exposed to.

Marxism Blog Post 3

When I have began reading the chapter concerning Marxist analysis, I have been consuming the media, whether be from the news, internet, or newspaper, as a conscious reader rather than a passive member of the audience. According to Marxism, the media is designed to spread and propagate the illusions sent unto the minds of the masses by the so-called ruling class as a means of justifying exploitation and victimization. Clearly, I have seen the 1990's show titled Freaks and Geeks, which features Sam, who is portrayed as a fatalist, Lindsey, who is the older sister who ends up joining a group of teens who throw eggs, bash down mail boxes with bats, and smash pumpkins for entertainment, and their mother, who happens to be the traditionalist with a sense of hierarchical elitism and temporarily acted as a fatalist when people in her neighborhood are given this ideology about unwrapped cookies having razor blades inside them. Of course, one can at least consider the fear of dangerous items being hidden within Halloween cookies as a form of false consciousness. According to Marxism, there is also the concept of alienation, in which Sam and his friends, whether they know it or not, are targeted as being outcasts in the social hierarchy. To be honest, I am uncomfortable with this week's conversation, as it is clear to me that whenever I hear the word "Marxism", it reminds me too much of the far-left, totalitarian ideology of communism, which was practiced within the Soviet Union, Cuba, Mao's China, and North Korea. Indeed, even the idea of power in Marxist terms, as depicted by a typical stereotype of high school athletes being at the top and the nerds and freaks being at the bottom, tends to be a ridiculous conception that might as well convince people into fearing the idea that it would encourage and agitate the envious "outcasts" into forming an uprising. As opposed to the symbolism of semiotics that I have enjoyed for the past weeks, especially how it is helpful in finding indexes and icons within every show like South Park, I do seem to be showing criticism for the Marxist analysis of the media and I personally felt better when I looked over advertisements and the symbols and signifiers that offered me an interesting way of looking over popular culture as opposed to Marxism. Although, I do admit that it allows me to place characters into certain archetypes as a means of understanding their progression, but nevertheless, I do not like hearing or saying the word Marxism.

blog post #3

After learning about Semiotics and the tip of the iceberg about Marxism I noticed that I see news and media in a different light. Marxism is all about hierarchy and in class we discussed this at length using high school as the example. There is such a pecking order in high school which makes it the perfect example to describe Marxism. The popular kids (the hierarchy elitists) are the athletes, cheerleaders, jocks or the wealthy kids who maybe buy friends and control. They have a tendency to call the shots and are at the top of the food chain in high school. In class I noted that "in any social situation you have hierarchy" and so I'm noticing semiotic details and Marxism are everywhere. Take social media for example- the people with the most "likes" or followers are the trendsetters. When somebody posts something and it doesn't get very many likes, it is less validated by the people who see it. When somebody who gets a lot of attention (the jocks) post something and it gets a lot of comments and attention, people are more likely to stop and read or look and then mimic. Let it be a fad style or a new restaurant. 

Blog Post #3

Before starting this class, I never really analyzed the media I consumed. I watched something on Netflix, and I wanted to be entertained out of the show/film I chose. When looking at advertisements, I looked at what they were trying to sell; I didn’t think about how they position everything to convey their message. After learning about Semiotics the past couple of weeks I now try to analyze the inner workings of the media I consume. In shows, I am more understanding of how the syntagmatic analysis is formed, and I notice how influential symbolism could be. I started to pay attention more to the foreshadowed clues and I try to make sense of it by the end. In regards to advertisements, signifiers and symbolism have a huge influence on the message they create. It’s not just about the product, it’s about the audience they are targeting, and the message they illustrate. Knowing about how semiotics affects the media brings a whole new level of “entertainment” I’ve never experienced before. In the last class we were introduced to Marxism and that’s whole other level of analysis within the media. When we watched Freaks and Geeks I was already focused on determining what semiotic techniques I can gather, but using Marxism to determine the hierarchical status of characters was interesting. It gave me a greater appreciation of the characters and observing how they act around different types of people. Now that I know and understand semiotics and Marxism, it is hard to go back to the way it was. I can’t just watch something for pure entertainment; I have to analyze and figure out why the media is the way it is. 

Blog 3 - chinenye

As I have said before, I really appreciate this class. I, myself, am trying to be a movie critic. I not only want to critique films, but also videos games, TV shows, comic books-- essentially anything related to geek culture. I had no idea of the concept of semiotics before I joined this class. I have to say, watching my favorite movie in the WORLD, The Dark Knight, over again and having to actually think a LOT deeper about what I was watching was an interesting experience. I saw so many things after learning about the rules of semiotics and watching this time around than I did when I had watched it at earlier times. It was almost as if I were watching a completely new film. As if I were seeing the movie for the first time. It sounds bad to say, but I really can never watch that movie the same way again. I started to understand a lot of the characters that I didn't even like before. I have not started picking apart every line and ever seen, every camera pan. Now, I have learned that there might actually be a reason behind a lot of the scenes you watch. That certain things very well can symbolize something important. I definitely will not be able to appreciate movies, shows, cartoons or any form of media the same way again. Now, I will think harshly about everything I see, and wonder a little bit more about what the writers were thinking.

Blog Post #3

Going into this semester, I was under the impression that this course would be like any other course: we look at some form of media, examine it, and then move on to the next topic. I was wrong. Throughout my month in this course I have been able to look at visual media in a way I never thought to. By examining media as if it were a written text, by reading it, I am able to appreciate the media on a much deeper level. I can now appreciate it from the stand point of the message the media is trying to convey, in the ways characters interact with one another, and the ways in which the story reflects some aspect of society at a given point in time. I am no longer seeing just the surface of the media. In particular, this week's lesson on Marxism has helped me identifies characters by a new set of archetypes. This new set of character archetypes is not as cut-and-dry as the previous set I am use to. This new set allows for characters to fit into multiple archetypes as a way of showing character progression beyond the linear narrative we are consuming through television and film on a weekly basis. As a consumer of media who loves to look at character progression (and is often times disappointed by perceived "poor" writing), I will be able to use these new tools to appreciate what I have otherwise seen as inappreciable.

Vazquez, Jose Efrain_Blog3

Media

During this past few classes I have noticed that, while watching a movie or a show or even sports, my perception to media has changed in the terms analysis and as the lectures go by, the way I watched media has changed, the jargon of semiotics anyway. In this first sentence I make a clear example of this change, “Semiotics”. This word is new to me and not just the word but, the concept of analyzing scientifically. The science of semiotics is a type of analyzing that I have never applied to most media and, I said, “most media” because I love films and I find myself analyzing them all the time, and finding ideas and messages that enticed me or bothered me. I did not know that I had seen culture codes before, or how to call them, I had thought about metaphors but not as deep as now I will be in the near future. I was not aware of how to identify semiotic aspects of texts, not that I am an expert yet, but now I have an idea where to start and which direction to go. Only to set an example of how this class has changed my analysis, I was watching the news and was looking for ways that the channel was using codes, or symbols and now I know how interesting this is going to get when I analyze it with the Marxist point of view. I am now rubbing my hands because, the Marxist way to analyze media is really blunt and straightforward. Marxist looks for aspects like hegemony, Hierarchy so it will be really fun.