Media and society
Professor Rob Williams
We live in a constantly changing world where every second some piece of technology is ether being created or edited. We don’t pay attention to it, but the world’s machines are growing. Advertisers are constantly looking at ways to sell you something. Now if you’re like me you probably say “well I won’t fall for it”, but it’s too late most likely you probably did already. Before I read my Media and Culture book I was arrogant and unaware of certain techniques used to convince people that they are in control. Let me tell you about my great adventures with the media.
When everyone wakes up in the present day we do not realize that most likely we interacted with at least 3 different types of technology. If you listen to the radio on your way to work, or use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning and if you watch the news just to get the weather all of these things are mediums for the media. Usually my first in counter with the media is the channel 5 news. My mother would turn it on to wake us up and so she could figure out what kind of weather we were going to be seeing. Recently I had a talk with my mother I told her that more than half of the things you see on the news is pre-made, fake, a scam, corporate filth, in other words you can’t believe everything the news says. Most news channels do not have the funds to do the job properly either that or they are lazy, so what happens is PR steps in. Public Relation is not always bad so don’t get me wrong, but when they are bad they are harder to spot. They use propaganda at times to trick others.
Another adventure I had with a medium was when I went to watch “Inception” an excellent movie by the way. A movie constantly keeping you holding on to the edge of your seat and then before you know it it’s over. 148 minutes never went by faster you wouldn’t even notice it. That is because the people who made the movie did a fine job at making it. “Inception” took you away from reality for a moment. You must ask yourself have you ever been watching anything and then “BAM” it’s over even though the movie/show lasted for at least 1hour. When that happens it is because the content in the movie/show you just watched interacted with you reptilian, limbic, and the neo-cortex parts of your brain. The fast pace moment and music works on your reptilian and limbic by installing fear and adding to it with the terrifying music. The neo-cortex comes in with all the thinking you must do to keep up with the movie.
After watching movies me and some friends relaxed and played games and listen to music. We did download a lot of different songs and applied it to the ps3 so instead of the normal music that is supposed to be played it plays our playlist. Which are both an Aesthetic shift and a Technological shift because it moved songs from the internet and put it into my own personal possession. We also discussed Nintendo’s wii system and their new choice of games. We talked about how they could not keep up with the demand of games like Sony and Microsoft can (pp.35). We talked about the political shift that is happening with nintendo and all the hackers.
The next stop on the list was the internet. This is something everyone can relate to. We all go online to play and talk, but we never pay attention to all the advertisements on the internet. The cookies capture what we visit the most and put them up in the advertisements. This is a cultural shift it goes from privacy to surveillance. We are being watched to over the internet. Now there is more to it they are making a billboard to change images depending on the person close to it. A lot of people go on facebook on every sit down. I personally don't like facebook and visit my page every once in a blue moon. I finish this day about the internet showing some of my friends a video called dead fantasy. Now for some reason men liked the mindless violence of mostly girls fighting and for once it wasn't because they where attractive or anything of that sort it was just really cool.
The News paper is something else if I do say so myself. I did not know a lot about the history of news paper until I read my media and culture book. The length that journalist use to go through to get the news is amazing. One woman named Elizabeth Cochrane went through more than most people ever go through in their lives. She had herself committed to a mental hospital and then exploited their bad ethics.(pp.247) They mistreated the guest and when people heard of this it was fixed.This was amazing that one journalist opened up so many doors. She continued to bust bad businesses until her life was talking from her, but she also won a normal prize award.
At one time we all read magazines now if you notice it’s all online. No one really subscribes for them anymore except my cousin. Magazines popularity have been dying over the years. There aren’t many people subscribing and not that many people buy them anymore. While smaller businesses are dying and the other ones are selling out to bigger corporations. While the other companies are buying the smaller ones out its Economic shift. The Times magazine launched in 1923(pp.285). They developed a new brand of journalism basically. They basically collected information on different cases and events and then used an editor to speak of it in a narrative view. They have been using their red border for years they only switched 2 times.
Something interesting that i notice is everyone basically knows who mario and luigi are. Well it was funny how me and a couple of friends sat down and talked about our mario adventure. Mario has been everywhere and has a degree in everything he has save peach some many times just because her guards are coward. Personally i believe bowser that big softy just wants a friend.We then played all the mario games we had for the whole day. I then showed them this great video.
Commercials are the next stop on this train, and the different persuasive techniques they use to get people to buy their product. One of my favorite games and I love their commercial Call of duty black ops. Their commercial uses so many different productions technique it is amazing. Flattery, Rhetorical questions, humor, testimonial, plain folks, nostalgia, group dynamics all these techniques help make the commercial. They flatter you by making you think you could be someone great. Rhetorical questioning by saying do you want to be a soldier. Humor is there by just having so many people and hilarious characters shooting guns. Plain folks is obvious a lot of normal people.
Something that i want to talk about is my history playing brawl. Super Smash bros brawl. I have been to many tournies and enjoy each one. I actually been to a couple here and they think im some kind of god not true. Me and couple of friends played handicap matches just so it will be fare. So its me vs 3 people i usually when. I have also made combo videos of brawl and other games i really enjoy. Below is a video that i enjoy to watch and i play every time i have played a lot of brawl. All the tournments are hosted basically on a site that is called AllisBrawl.com or AIB. You can be ranked here and etc, but this is an medium in itself. It's fun and brawl was one game that i seriously contributed to its society. i made informative videos and tutorials.I have become known on certain sites like wiipals.com they organize a large amount of games you can play with people. I was one of the best DK in the U.S. which isn't really saying anything. Still i put those days behind me but if anyone is really looking for a tough fight tell me. Because of these sites and tournies are easier to advertise before it wasn't online and people used fliers or just their mouth to advertise. Which shows analog to digital.
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Pokemon a great game and for some reason people believe this game is a child game. This is only half true pokemon is not a child game but at the same time a child game.The more competitive sean.It isn't a child game because it has advance math and logic and strategy in the game. It's a child game because for some reason society says once your a certain age you need to stop playing games. Sometimes i wanna say up yours society. I had a history of gaming i am not a serious gamer but when money is on the line well lets just say im usually all in.I have a history in brawl and other video games. for example pokemon ahh pokemon what a great game.That is Nostalgia in it self. Who ever played pokemon will feel nostalgic just picking it up again. Either way awhile back i choose to pick up the game seriously and won some tournies. I still have my prize winning pokemon and i just wanted to show how we can be persuaded into picking up an old video game because of the economy. There is a national pokemon tourny coming up and some of my friends say i should enter i would have to brush up on my pokemon skills once again. This game is only for children game. If you wanna start up you can go to smogon.com or serebii.net
There are many different mediums in our world. We interact with them in many different ways. We see it everyday and then we don't notice anything that the producers give us. We think we don't get caught up with these things but we do. We see it in the internet, and with the telephone and cell phones. It's in commercials and the news. The news hardly has any real info and we need to learn these thing. I have become more aware of these things and i hope everyone reading this will become more aware of the media and its tactics.
