Yazsrour's Weblog

Media Artists

yazsrour — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:37:41 +0000

Media artists play a big role in the media texts we see, hear, and read without us really realizing it. When talking about media ethics and advertising, media artists control our thoughts and actions. They may not agree with what they are presenting but they must obey the advertising agency’s will. Many copywriters are asked to sell products that do not work and are actually not good for us. For example, some diet, sport, and drinks are full of sugars that can hurt an individual more than the good stuff will help. I like how Berger mentions this because we tend to believe everything that we see and hear. Another important issue is how females are depicted in the media today. In the past curvy females were favored, but today, the skinnier the better. Young girls and adults take in this portrayal of women as beautiful and work so hard to transform their bodies and sometimes end up hurting themselves. Some television producers may not agree with what they are showing, but they continue to show these images for their own good and to keep their business running. They keep their business running at our own expense.

Decriminalizing our children

yazsrour — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:37:50 +0000

Piracy is a hot topic right now and we are supposed to find a way to teach our children to download music the legal way. First of all, I think children under 18 have nothing to do with it. I think the parents need to be educated on the topic first because they in return can affect their children. The parents first need to be encouraged to pay a monthly fee for their household to download music. When these children see that their parents do the correct thing, they will also follow their steps when they become independant. Even though I strongly feel that this is in the hands of the parents, I know it is very tempting for the family to download free music and stricter regulations must be taken. Advances in computer technology is another factor that allows people to deliberatly or accidently engage in piracy. The best plan is to put this new technology in use and create some program that refrains people from burnign CDs and downloading music illegaly. I think the music and film industry should just continue current ways and to come up new ideas to protect their CDs, such as making them sound horrible when copied.

The….Interweb

yazsrour — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:47:29 +0000

A few days ago, Oprah brought a unique couple to the show. Thomas, the husband, was actually born a female but after 24 years had surgery to remove his breasts and started taking testosterone. He did not loose his uterus, though and now he is having a baby. I didn’t see that episode but thanks to the internet, I was able to see it. Even though we go to archives all the time, we never realized what we would do without them. If it wasn’t for the internet, we would never be able to see things that we missed. News would travel among people verbally and some of the information will be altered or lost. I also thought to myself that this issue will soon or probably was on the news because this is the kind of stuff that people want to hear. I actually with that this kind of stuff should not be on the news, but on shows like Oprah. The news should perinant information that deals with current issues and things that will affect peopl’s lives. A man having a baby will not affect us any. At the same time I think this issue should be mentioned because society is about to face somthing very new and odd and they are not prepared for it.

The News

yazsrour — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:56:05 +0000

Berger raises the question of whether television should give us what we want or what we need. I think he is more concerned about the news and what it is viewing today. I think that it is enough that all other channels show artists, scandals, reality shows, music videos, and everything else. The news channel should only inform the public about what is going on the world. Now the news is beginning to be more entertaining than informative. I think if the news really covers more of the enetertainment news than the political, global, and local news, then we are in bad position. Most people depend on the television to hear the news because they do not have time to read the paper to get he full coverage. If news channels do not give enough, accuarate information than we are all going to be at a disadvantage. Enough of the useless shows (I am not saying all shows are useless, but I have to admit that ridiculous shows are being aired than do not present us with useful information). In conclusion, the newzs should show a little less entertainment and focus more on the issues happening around the world that everyone needs to be aware of.

Media and Violence

yazsrour — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:50:05 +0000

It has been argued that television violence does not have a significant affect causing children or adults to be violent in the real world. I know that TV is not the major cause of violence in our society, but it has something to do with it. Thorough research needs to be done on this matter and Nanette Asimov conducted a 17-year long study. I think this is definitely accurate enough. It does show that there is a significant association with violence and children. I am sure everyone heard about the the Waycross incident where 9 elementary school students plotted to kill or stab their teacher. I think they were 8 and nine years of age. Where in the world would they get such an idea? Of course, it has to be the television, unless their parents are active murderers. The kids plotted a very detailed plan including who was bringing what, who was going to cover the windows in the room, who was going to hit the teacher’s head with a rock, and who was going to clean up. I strongly believe that these are details and ideas that students obtain from watching television. At their age, they are not active readers and cannot comprehend any novels or books that would deal with this matter. I will have to say that the media is responsible for what happened and parents need to be more strict and what their children watch and how much of television they watch.

yazsrour — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:14:12 +0000

Something happened today that went perfectly with what we talked about in class. My friends and I had to watch a movie and analyze it for out film class. As we saw the movie Enchanted, we took some great notes. Then a song came on that was fairy talish and we absolutely loved it. We loved it to the point that we got up and danced. As soon as we finished, we all said at the same time that we must find all the songs in the movie and download them. Of course, I thought about what we said in class. It is really nice that anything we want is under our fingertips, but at the same time I felt that it was unfair that we were not going out to buy the the soundtrack. The problem is I feel bad, but I do not want to go spend money on the soundtrack. So, I wondered if I was really helping or hurting Carrie Underwood. I feel that if we were really hurting these stars, then legality laws would be more strict. This also deals with fan participation and how Jenkins said that the producers need fans as much as fans need them. Maybe more serious legal action is not taken because the internet is the main way where we are connected to the work that producers do and through it, without us noticing, we are helping make them grow.

Mass Culture and Popular Culture

yazsrour — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:30:30 +0000

“Popular culture is what happens to materials of mass culture when they get into the hands of the consumers.” This is what most media scholars beleive when it comes to popular and mass culture. I think it makes perfect sense. Jenkins gives a great example of how we can hear a song and like it so much to the point that some couples may call it “their song.” It is is the hands of the consumer to make media popular and at the same time media makers must make it interesting enought so that we can make it popular. I think we make media popular by he use of the web. It is very easy for someone to see a commercvial, like it, download it, and send it to all of his frinds. In return, they like it and the cycle continues. It we were not aboe to use the internet for downloading and viewing/hearing, I feel that some songs and movies will not be popular. Here convergence plays a very important role in mass culture. I wonder if film and music industries are offended by this or are they happy that consumers are making their work flourish?

The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling

yazsrour — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:44:46 +0000

When I read what Jenkins had to say about the Matrix, I could not help but think convergence. I think that transmedia storytelling is convergence media. The matrix is made to where you cannot understand it from only one single source. The Wachowski brothers wanted to use the Matrix with many types of media so that it can add up to one whole picture. They made three films, short animated movies, two comic books, and two video games. This is such a great idea to attract different audiences and I cannot believe did not ever think about it. It is a very creative way to increase the number of audience to view their work. I feel that is forces the viewer to be a part of the work in some way. Some might like the animated films and think they are fascinating and some may enjoy the video games to the point that they want to see all the movies. Now, I actually feel that is is very important to attract the audience after the first film is made by video games or comic strips. These types of media will push them to see later sequels. At the same time, the producers must work very hard to make the first movie very interesting so that the viewer would want to participate and be a part of what they have already seen through video games.

American Idol Target Audience

yazsrour — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:37:43 +0000

I researched for a while online but did not find anything about the target audience age group for American Idol. I will use some facts from Berger and my own point of view to set up a target audience age group for the show. Jenkins mentioned that the entire household actually tunes in to the show and they all participate in the voting process. One of the families he described consisited of a 7 year old boy who was interested in the show. While this child might be interested in the show, I do not think that the majority of first and second graders are loyal to the reality show. I cannot imagine 7 and 8 year olds remember to tune in every week to see the status of the contestants unless another older sibling or parent is interested. I think that the target age group is 13-30 even though some younger than that may watch and many older than 30 may watch. There are some contestants on the show that are in the 17-19 age group and I feel that they attract the eyes of younger children who are between the ages of 13 and 15. At the same time, there are a varity of song genres that are being presented on the show and that can attract the older audience. The older generations that are above 45 may not be loyals, but they might be casuals, stopping every once in a while to hear a song that is one of their favorites.

Audience Behavior

yazsrour — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:49:52 +0000

Jenkins gives us many real-life stories and comments about how people feel about American Idol. I found out that people really take it seriously and are engaged in the program and are actually driven to continue learning about the show and voicing their opinion on the internet. The audience of American Idol consists of the entire family. The parents and the children, even children as young as 7 years of age. They all watch the show and have discussions at the end before the mother makes the phonecall and places the family;s vote. Not only does the family participate this way, but they also go online to read more about the contestants and their news. I can’t help but think about convergence here. Television, telephone, and the internet all circulating together.

We heard numerous times Dr. Chalfa state that the viewers are being sold to product industries and I found out that people are aware of that. Jenkins mentioned viewers that are aware of the sponsor’s advertisements and they try to ignore them by leaving to take a break to fill the popcorn bowl or something. Even though that they do not watch the commercials, they are actually still aware of the sponsors and the commercials that integrate the judges with the product. One viewer made a comment that she hated purchasing products that had to do with the show, but she did anyway. According to Jenkins, no matter how much one hates to do stuff like that, the more they watch the program, the more comitted they become to the sponsors. This actually means that advertisemnts are working and we are unconsciously giving in!