Everyone Loves A Burger, But No One Wants To See The Cow

I thought this was a good way of using the media to get a great point across. Lush, a fresh handmade cosmetic company, have a strong stance on how they treat testing on animals and animal cruelty. What they did in this video, is have an artistic performer sit in front of the shop window and have it look as though she is treated like an animal who is being tested on.

The result was that passing shoppers were horrified, calling the police, and taking pictures to show authorities. It was a brilliant way to show that this is happening behind close doors whether we like it or not and we need to take a stand against it. I thought this was good because you never see the horrors of animal testing, not because its too cruel, no, I think its because the companies will be at a loss of money once they are shamed, and sadly, they are a part of a cruel system that will do anything for profit

I think if the media shown the truth about certain topics a lot more would be done. There is protecting the people, and then there's lying to them...which do you think is being done?

Photoshopping Our Reality?

In 2009 Kelly Clarkson did a magazine cover for the magazine SELF.
In it, she was photo-shopped so much that it changed her complete look and weight making her real body seem undesirable.

A link to the article can be seen here and even has the magazine quoting:
“Yes. Of course we do retouching,” she writes. “Did we alter her appearance? Only to make her look her personal best.”


It had me scrolling through other articles that talked about magazines and how they create an idea of perfection that is completely unachievable. If this is what is being shown to us, is any of our ideal bodies even real? I myself always want to be a bit thinner, a bit buffer, better skin on my face, better hair...but has anyone got this? Is it only possible through digital remodelling? If so why isn't this being told to us? Is the industry making so much money out of us trying to make ourself feel better by running up a never ending hill that our health comes last? All these questions kept flooding through my mind.

I finally found an article with a bit of hope. In some magazines in France, a place where fashion and models Im sure is plagued into the mainstream, the magazine must show a bronze, silver or gold ring at the bottom of the photo-shoot picture. Bronze means slightly altered, silver means quite and gold means a lot. At least in some areas they are seeing the harm it can do to young people, as for others, well, they're just another way of profit.

Boston Bomber

I remember reading about this when it first came out and the out rage that came with it, but after researching a bit more, I found how media has shaped peoples views on the suspect of the Boston Bombings.

We are constantly plagued with the idea that to be perfect you must look perfect, and that is exactly what is being shown here. The suspect was seen as "good looking" 'handsome" and "hot" by many people and because of it made them say that "how could someone so good looking be that cruel?"

This shows us that people are being deceived by their own perceptions.

The media tells us that to be perfect, you must look it, and because some people saw him as good looking, his wrong doings are almost being forgotten and a tragedy story was written about him.

Its interesting to see that our perceptions have been trained to think that if it looks good, then its morally good.

Fox News

I thought this video was really really interesting. It showed how Fox News twists and edits their media to try and make the public think differently. They used a clip from a comedy show and tried to use it as a factual statement by a politician. I found more and more videos on Fox News twisting and misguiding the public and I found it fascinating that its still broadcasting. Here are more videos I found

Death Of The Photograph

In 1977, Raymond Williams coined the phrase:
‘a structure of feeling’

He defined it as 'the hypothesis of a mode of social formation, explicit and recognisable in specific kinds of art, which is distinguishable from other social and semantic formations by it's articulation of 
presence’

John Tagg said that:
“Photography has no identity. Its status as technology varies in the power relations that invest it”

Globalisation

In this lecture we discussed the extend of globalised media now.

The main features of globalisation are the growing level of connectedness between individuals, societies, nation states. Not only them but also the exploitation of Third world countries such as blood diamonds and sweat shops.

Our Daily Experience of Globalisation include:

-Social Media

-Brand Advertisement

-US TV Series

-Online Role Playing

-Global News Coverage

This all became important with the growth of communication from the one to one aspect which was text.

To look at where it all came about with Global Histories we can see certain structures that have lasted long enough such as the British Empire. They kept books and documents.

Contemporary Media Globalisation

It occurs when activities take place in a global arena.

Are deliberately organised on a global scale.

Involve some interdependency

Watershed moments

9/11

The Role Of The Media

Heightened Sensitivity

Embracing "Difference"

Global Village

This term was coined by media theorist Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960's

He described how the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology and instantaneous movement of information

Other theorists adapted this term in a less optimistic way. Ingrid Volkmmer argues that;

World satellite news channels are enabling a 'global public sphere' to emerge

she and other theorists deploy the terms cosmopolitan.

Cultural Imperialism:

is defined as the cultural aspects of imperialism. Imperialism here is referring to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilisations favouring more powerful civilisation.

Schiller also said that traditional, local cultures are destroyed by bigger more powerful countries

Cultural Dependancy

Two key points can be made of this broadly Marxist case...

The dominance of US advertising

The wide dispersal of the advertising/branding imagery which funds such media.

Schillers position has been criticised because...

it was developed in the 1950's and the 1960's

Representation

Representation 

The concept of Representation embodies the theme that the media
construct meanings about the world – they represent it – and in doing
so help the audience to make more sense of it in particular ways.

Two more recent connections for Representation have been made: 
4. The increased possibilities for ‘self-representations’ in digital forms. 
5.  Recent cynicism about 'official' politics and how 'we' are represented in 
them. 


The term Hegemony is used to denote the predominance of one
social class over others

Hegemony 

The concept has it's origin in Marxist Theory, was conceptualized by
Antonio Gramsci;
According to this theory, Hegemony refers to the winning of popular
consent through everyday cultural life, including media
representations of the world, as well as other social institutions, such
as education and the family.

Ideology 

Concept of Ideology refers to
•  Sets of ideas which give some account of the social world;
•  Ideas that are usually partial (in both senses) and selective (as all
positions are);
•  The relationship of these ideas or values
 to the ways in which power is distributed
 socially.


The notion of Ideology entails widely held beliefs, which may often be
seen as 'common sense’, making widely acceptable certain forms of
social inequality.
Marx and other writers have adapted and developed this idea so that
all belief systems or world views are thought to be ideological.
What interests those who analyse media representations is whose
ideological perspective is privileged and how.



Myth 

Ideologies work through symbolic codes, which represent and explain
cultural phenomena.

Barthes labels this symbolic representation as mythic, not in the traditional sense of being false (as in
fairy tales), but in the sense of having the appearance of being ‘natural’.

Psychological & Systematical Structures

Since being out for my operation I found it hard in the beginning to try and get back on my feet and catch up with the workload. The first lecture we had when I got back talked about structuralism and how culture is seen as a broad arc in terms of relationship to a larger system

There were two positions that were emphasised which were

1. Psychological
2. Systematic structures

The psychological side focussed on the human psyche and the economic effect. It was in this economic life that Marx focussed on the concept of alienated labour

The Systematic structure showed us:

• ·      Rules Of Exclusion
• ·      Signifying Oppositions
• ·      Rules Of Association

Semiotics

Defined as the study of signs, or of the social production of meanings and pleasures by sign systems, or the study of how things come to have significance.

Philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce once said : 'we think only in signs'.. 

‘Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign' 

There was also Saussure, who offered a two part model…

•  A sign consists of a physical signifier 

(gestures, words on the page, music) 

•  An immaterial signified (the idea 

associated with this gesture, word etc) 

Pierce however came up with the third term which is

The referent - to emphasise that the ‘signified’ is itself a 

culturally shaped concept

There are 3 sets of signs which CS Pierce came up with. They are the following:

•  Symbol - Signs for which the relation is based on random choice or personal whim rather than a reason or system

•  Icon - iconic signs resemble what they stand for 

•  Index - Indexical signs are those in which there is a casual link 

between the sign and that for which it stands

Decoding Media:
According to Barthes’s view, media texts can be either:
Polysemic / Open Text – open to many interpretations.
Or
Closed Text – prefer a particular meaning.

Encoding / Decoding Media
Model for analysing forms of media:
Encoder: author or production team of the text, e.g. film, website
etc.
Decoder: receiver, audiences.


Decoding Media:

McMahon & Quinn provide a framework for classifying codes:

Technical – Camera angles, lens choice, framing, shutter speed,
DOF, lighting, exposure.

Written – Headlines, caption, speech bubbles, style.

Symbolic – Objects, setting, body language, clothing, colour.

Overall Look - impression, style, aim.

Design:
John Sutherland suggests that two main types of typeface used..
•  Serif - used for comment and analysis headlines, 'subliminally’ this relaxes
the reader.
•  Sans Serif - used for no-nonsense news headlines and reporter’s by-lines.

First week

During our first lecture we learned about the Irish Law system and how it affects different people in different ways. We also saw how on certain cases different laws come into play. It was interesting altogether and I made detailed notes

After this we were also given an assignment to keep track of all the technology we used such as phones, TV, Laptop etc. I did mine on both the Wednesday and Thursday and it actually shocked me at how much I used! 

In my practical with Nicole we talked about how different life would be without mass media and the result was scary. People would probably have more confidence but education and knowing would be limited by country. It was bizarre but showed also how much we've come to depend and grow on instant communication!