synopsis- Marge poses for a calendar for charity, but she is soon the talk of the town after she reveals a little too much during her photo shoot. Meanwhile, Carl receives a promotion at the plant. He then promotes Homer to be his executive assistant and runs him ragged.
Monday, 25 April 2011
TASK 5- simpsons
synopsis- Marge poses for a calendar for charity, but she is soon the talk of the town after she reveals a little too much during her photo shoot. Meanwhile, Carl receives a promotion at the plant. He then promotes Homer to be his executive assistant and runs him ragged.
TASK 4-
Resvoir dogs
effects on an audience by watching this scene where a man tortures another would be voyeurism, sadistic pleasure, desensitization.
The diegetic sound of the song is parallel to the scene as the guy is tied up and bleeding. The parallel song makes it seem more perverse as the makes the torturing seem normal.
The scene contains a lot of blood and could be regarded as disturbing to an audience of the past as they would not have been desensitized unlike today's generation who are also voyeurs and have sadistic pleasures. It could also have a copycat effect as another guy plays the hero by shooting the villain who is about to set fire to his victim which is really extreme and heartless.
Lastly the cultivation theory could also be applied as the characters use violence to overcome their situation and could certainly influence impressionable teenagers.
TASK 3-
There are many representations in today's society which still cause concern such as youths as devious due to the influence of street culture as seen in music videos and games. Due to the fact this group is seen as deviant and irresponsible they are not given a fair chance so whenever the media prints something negative about them, their voice is not heard.
As the media is hegemonic their news values are usually about bad things happening and they like to sensationalise this to create a moral panic. This is the case when there are cases of knife crime, burglary etc which associate youths with anti social behaviour. With music videos women often tend to more sexually objectified than men as those representations commonly in a mans song whereas in a women's video she would stereotypically sing about love and be portrayed as the neglected partner and men would be promiscuous etc. These representations are based on stereotypes and if they are conformed again and again then it can dumb society down as they may start to have certain expectations as well as cultivating certain gender behaviour, although Judith Butler said 'gender is not fixed'
Furthermore since the 9/11 bombings in America the common stereotype of all Muslims is now as extremist suicide bombers and whenever anyone notices a bearded religious man they assume he is a terrorist. Therefore Muslims don't have a say in how they are portrayed as people hate them. Furthermore with gay people they are portrayed as promiscuous, party loving, and rowdy. The general stereotype ignores people who don't fit into this label as in Eastenders Syed is not the typical gay and is quiet humble and religious partly because he rejected Islam to be with rowdy boyfriend Christian.
Overall media representations favour those with power as it injects their hegemonic ideologies into the rest of society but these are not accurate and are unfair as it neglects people of a fair chance and judgement as the media is always sensationalising bad things.
TASK 2-
Digital media has revolutionised the way audiences consume news through various ways such as citizen journalism and crowdsourcing which provides a pluralistic model for audiences as the audience play an active role in providing information for producers this could suggest audiences and producers play just an important part as each other.
The sharing between audiences and producers has allowed UGC to take place which can be done on social networking sites like YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. Facebook created by Mark Zuckerburg in 2004 is the fastest growing social networking site which is closely followed by Twitter is mainly used by celebrities so their fans can follow them. Facebook was the new craze as there was more opportunity to be interactive with things like applications to suit your interests, games, and fanpages. Due to the lack of content with MySpace they changed their audience to young aspiring artists wanting to promote themselves on the site as they receive hits. An alternative method of rising to fame was Justin Bieber who rose to fame through his YouTube hits which later lead him onto being signed by a record label. Therefore social networking sites can be important for audiences as they have an active role in uploading content on the internet to promote themselves. The number of viewings is useful for producers to identify what the audience like.
According to Sherry Turkle social networking sites have isolated us from ‘real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is poor imitation of the real world.’ As you can do a lot with a click of the button on social network sites ‘technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human’ A real life FB suicide Simone Back posted a status saying ‘took all my pills be dead soon so bye bye everyone’ and none of her 1082 Facebook friends helped her. This hints at the problems with social networking sites like being hacked and having fake friends. Therefore this would affect the producers as they’ll have a negative publicity and emphasise the problem of FB.
Facebook makes money by targeted advertising s they store information about what a certain user likes and has adverts of similar styles increasing their likelihood of gaining profit. Therefore this would affect the producers as they’ll have a negative image. Furthermore you can never be sure if a person is really who they say they are as the internet is full of paedophiles that use social networking sites to create fake accounts to groom children. This again disadvantages the sites reputation as they are seen as unsafe therefore this lessen the power producers have although audiences can play an active role as the privacy settings allow you to limit who and what people can see.
TASK 1-
In the bully opening the non-diegetic music portrays a happy kind of atmosphere until the teacher speaks to Hopkins and lectures him. We then see him being portrayed as a rebellious teenager who creates an anti-school subculture as he is one shot shooting another person; in another he is slapping them and another causing an explosion in the lab. He is portrayed as a teen who is concerned with status and being deviant to get attention. Similarly the girl is presented as regretful and sarcastic when she mentions her being in the pictures. He is constructed as someone to fear as he is a bully who’s always on the move getting up to no good with his slingshot and people are running away from him. In addition even the dinner is lady is stereotypically blunt and unhygienic.
Similarly in the opening of skins teens are constructed as rebellious and carefree as they are promiscuous, confrontational and happy go lucky people. The montage introduces the different characters who we gain an insight to their life of smoking, bisexual encounters as they are at an experimental age. Although we are desensitised to this it could cause copycat behaviour as well as creating moral panics.
Overall the two representations are similar in the way they highlight negative aspects of teenage years but these constructions are mediated and are unfair as this could cause people to stereotype all teenagers as even though it’s not a wide representation.
Q2- consider the view that the current represenstation of teenagers is simply another 'moral panic'
Stanley Cohen coined the term moral panic and was used to describe the folk devil group that caused concern to the rest of society. The bully and characters in skins do this as they are presented negatively and rebellious and could impose their ways of thinking and lifestyle to everyone. Old fashioned people could be concerned about these groups as they behave in immoral ways and are promiscious, smoke and dont take anything seriously therefore they not thinking of the consequences can affect other people.
However audiences can choosoe to interpret the text differently as these portrayls which may cause a moral panic may in fact educate an audience no to do these things cause it causes conflict. Furthermore not all characters are presented as rebellious and cause a moral panic for instance in Lisa Simpson is hardworking witty and quirky therefore the assumption that all teenagers are deviant and cause moral panics isnt accurate.
Q3- To what extent has new and digital media given younger audiences the opportunities to shape their own media representations? (12 marks)
new and digital media is becoming more widespread and convienient for evryone to use. The introduction of social netowkring sites has allowed people to share their own identity with the public as people take picstures and videos of them doing stuff we gain a better undertsnding of what they are like and their interests. Futhermore forums and fanpages have allowed teenagers to vioce their opionions on matters and by doing so they can change others peoples outlook on things as not everyone is into streetculture and knife crime and some loose their friends etc. This can portray them as considerate and intelligent unlike how they are usually porteayed by newspapers as irressponsible.
Media representations favour those with power at the expense of those without.
Many different representations of groups exist in the media and the media exaggerates certain ideologies behind certain people. For instance woman’s representation are commonly constructed by the media and men who objectify women as they are believed to serve the purpose of the male gaze as Laura Mulvey highlighted. An example of this is lads magazine which feature women half naked on the front cover, yet interestingly there are no magazines with exhibited the same way. This suggests men have the power to shape what their ideal women is and inject it into the rest of society as well as influencing women to conform to that ideal image. Therefore the glamorization of the ideal women is the main ideology put forward by the media and men.
The Daily Mail owned by ‘Associated News’ is a right wing newspaper that tends to have old fashioned beliefs. So when teenagers are portrayed as violent it creates moral panics as issues like knife/un crime are on the rise. The negative portrayal of teenagers injects into the audiences mind that we should fear them and they’re outta control. This leads to more stereotypes so that the moral entrepreneurs (the media) make it worse. The whole issue of teen knife crime and fitting into a subculture can be a result of watching, playing violent video games and music videos. This can lead to a copycat effect on teenagers where the influence rubs off on them. Due to the fact most teenagers are portrayed negatively in the media they’re opinion isn’t voiced or considered as they are at an influential age therefore this puts them in a powerless position.
Representations surrounding gay people are negative as they are seen as promiscuous so it causes concern to the rest of society especially old fashioned people who believe being gay is dirty and forbidden as they are more likely to contract sexually transmitted viruses like AIDS and HIV. This was the case in Eastenders when Christian Clarke was beaten up by a homophobic man. Due to the acceptance in society about gays events like GAYPRIDE celebrate the differences whereas in the past people were more conservative and religious. Therefore other peoples acceptance has gave gay people more power.
Overall there are many representations embraced in society today as there are laws like the civil partnership act to unite gay people as well as negative representations like youths as gangsters but the common factor is that those considered as a moral panic are powerless.
Friday, 25 March 2011
It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.
Did the washing machine change the world more than the internet, a tool we overestimate while ignoring its downsides?
The good thing about the internet is that its fast and convenient although it 'dumbs down' society as they dont think for themselves and not all information is valid. On a brighter note it brings people closer together although not everyone has access to the same content such as China (no google). Furthemore there are issues like identity theft & paedophilia. Also net neutrality favours the elite.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Net neutrality
Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic – content, platforms, and websites – should be treated equally by the networks that deliver them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/10/google-verizon-net-neutrality
The principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access
Is it neutral?
no some opponents of net neutrality argue that prioritization of bandwidth is necessary for future innovation on the Internet.
Should it be?
In China, companies could control what users access for political reasons. Freedom of connection with any application to any party is the fundamental social basis of the internet.
That could mean Yahoo, for example, paying to have its search results delivered faster, through a faster network, than Microsoft's Bing.
An updated internet could offer a wide range of new and improved services," (gaurdian)
including better security against viruses, worms, denial-of-service attacks and zombie computers; services that require high levels of reliability, such as medical monitoring; and those that cannot tolerate network delays, such as voice and streaming video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10890495
Net neutrality talks stall in US-By Maggie Shiels
'' US regulators have halted closed-door meetings intended to find a way to make sure all web data is treated equally.''
'' Any deal that doesn't preserve the freedom and openness of the internet for consumers and entrepreneurs will be unacceptable," said FCC chair Julius Genachowski.''
http://wirelessbay.blogspot.com/2009/10/net-neutrality-in-china.html
e.g mobile domain, China Mobile dominates mobile market. Apple can not make a deal with China Mobile about iphone in China. Apple has a strong position in US while China Mobile has a strong position in China
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/03/15/google-in-china-google-net-neutrality/
'Google has stated that it hopes users in China will continue to use Google.com, though in reality, Google will most likely lose the market share available in China.'
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Digital media have in many ways changed how we consume media products’ who do you think benefits the most- audiences or producers?
Digital media has revolutionised the way audiences and producers consume news through various ways like citizen journalism and crowdsourcing which provides a pluralistic model for audiences as the audience play an active role in providing information for producers. This leads onto UGC (user generated content) which is how social networking sites work such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter which are the texts I’ve been focusing on for my case study.
Facebook which started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg is a social networking site that over took MySpace which was created in 2003.Myspace was targeted at 16+ originally but Facebook was the new phenomenon as there was more interactivity compared to Facebook. This is down to UGC reasons like pictures, videos, fanpages and applications that target a wide age range e.g. Farmville. Due to all the content available on Facebook that MySpace didn’t have they changed their route and decided to target young artists promoting their musical abilities. This allows more business opportunities for people to artists under their record as well as entertaining the public. Similarly Facebook’s audience has changed from university students to teenagers from 13+.
Social networking sites have isolated us from ‘real human interaction in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world.’ This is pointed out by Sherry Turkle’s article in the Guardian which would disadvantage the reputatio0n of social netowrking sites. This is because people spend less time interacting in personas statistics shows that 57% of people talk more online than face to face as they’ve become dependent on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So it could suggest that ‘technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human’.
According to research on social networks from Harvard professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski woman have twice as photos and tags updated than men and he found that guys preferred girls with pictures and girls preferred girls with pictures. Real life example of fb suicide was Simone Back, she posted a status saying ‘took all my pills be dead soon so bye bye everyone’ and none of her 1082 facebook friends helped her. This hints at the problems with social networking sites like being hacked and having fake friends. Facebook makes money by targeted advertising s they store information about what a certain user likes and has adverts of similar styles increasing their likelihood of gaining profit.
Twitter created by Jack Dorsey in 2006 is mostly used by celebrities where fans can follow them and get constant updates by accessing the site through phones which is convergence. Research shows there is an estimated 50 million tweets per day but pear analytics analysed 2000 tweets from the US and UK and found that: 40% of tweets were pointless babble, 38% conversational, 9%pass along value, 6% self promotion, 4% of spam and 4% of news. The figure of the news retrieved from social networking sites is lower compared to Facebook as 48% of Americans said they find out about news on Facebook. These social networking sites are available in different languages as a result of globalisation.
Google Realtime has a negative effect on twitter as they lose out more users as people can view content from social networking sites without being signed up. The issues of social networking sites is that you cant trust whos behind the screen and who has access to viewing your personal information and its easy for paedophiles to groom young children. As well as identity fraud which might happen on Twitter as people make fake accounts to create bad publicity.
UGC has replaced old forms of media like newspapers and letters. Although celebs mainly use Twitter and have followers on their there are other forms of accessing celebrity gossip such as digital spy.
Overall I think digital media has definitely impacted how audiences consume media as there is a pluralistic model which has allowed there to be choice over if audiences are active or passive. For instance citzen journalism put the audience in the position to share with the public as well as producers which leads to crowdsourcing. Although the constant changes to technologies might lead to a whole new revolution as this happened with MySpace which was overtook by Facebook.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Case study- social networking
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Saturday, 26 February 2011
The mutualisation of news
We need to get writers into the mindset where we tell less and listen more, not just in send mode but receive mode, where publishing an article is the beginning of a process and not the end of it."
Crowdsourcing - getting the public to gather information..Guardian journalist Jemima Kiss, who had more than 12,000 followers on Twitter in June 2009 and uses them to get help in researching stories
there are all these people out there who can bombard her with all the information she needs. It represents a blurring of the lines between journalism and readers. She says: you help me with researching this story and I will let you know when it is ready."
As a result journos dont check information therefore it lacks validity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainability/report-mutualisation-citizen-journalism
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
the impact of new and digital media on celebrity culture
http://www.blogussion.com/social-media/uses-social-networking/ 5 common uses for social networking sites and effects on audience.
http://techcrunch.com/2008/08/10/why-twitter-hasnt-failed-the-power-of-audience/
social network profiles are all about self-expression and being seen, but a platform for self-expression isn’t necessarily designed for the audience that does “the seeing.”
The news feed is cluttered right now with people I don’t care about.” Anything that’s unpredictable produces a feeling of uncertainty — and that’s never a comfortable feeling.
( on fb)
A useful premise but it also has a catch: the word “more”. Too much content, too many people — which is exactly the problem that Facebook is trying to address with its algorithmic feed.
(0n twitter..constant updates)
The backlog of all previous tweets is a guarantee of permanence (you can even search it) and you can catch up on it anytime..although with fb the news feed hogs up your homepage with people you might not even care about such as when they join groups.
This simple premise holds the key to Twitter’s success: messages go to a well-defined audience. In the moment you release a tweet, you know who’s on the line and you have an idea of who can catch a glimpse of your message.
Blogging on the other hand has no such clearly defined audience. An aspiring blogger who hasn’t crossed the chasm speaks into the void. Direct feedback can only come in the form of written comments (a relatively high barrier of effort) and it’s diminished by spam and vocal trolls these days. ( myspace)
celebs use these sites to promote themselves as they have followers on twitter or fanpages therefore it makes the audience feel like they are addressing them directly when their message is going out to all their followers. sometimes social networking sites can be used as a weapon to attack other people with publicly e.g Cheryl Cole tweets about missing ring finger in relation to her marriage falling apart.
http://www.zimbio.com/Cheryl+Cole/articles/5-NPzhuKh9a/Chezza+releases+Twitter+Msg+missing+ring
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/22/social-networking-cyber-scepticism-twitter
2. what impact has there been on the way in which the audience now consume the media products/texts involved in your case study? how does it differ from what went before? (SHEP)
MySpace wasn't long lasting but Fb and Twitter had more options to interact. There are applications such as games like Farmville, fan pages. groups.. audiences are more selective and have more choice over the content they choose to show through features like uploading pictures,sharing links and videos. The rise in UGC has replaced old forms of media like newspapers and letters. Although celebs mainly use Twitter and have followers on their there are other forms of accessing celebrity gossip such as digital spy.
Also the banner ads targets people specifically based on their activities they're interested in this is to generate profit.3.what impact has there been on how the media institution now has to produce the texts and the way in which the texts/products are distributed and exhibited?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/22/social-networking-cyber-scepticism-twitterhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/23/effect-of-internet-on-celebrity
Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world.
Social media has bred a generation of "slacktivists". It has made people lazy and enshrined the illusion that clicking a mouse is a form of activism equal to real world donations of money and time.
real life example of Simone Back - fb suicide- 'took all my pills, be dead soon. so bye bye everyone- 1082 friends didn't help her.
convergence ..iphone, ipad- higher bills :o
4.Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media (or has pattern of usage changed)
Twitter and Facebook available in different languages
http://everyjoe.com/technology/facebook-losing-18-25-audience/
http://techcrunch.com/2008/08/10/why-twitter-hasnt-failed-the-power-of-audience/
5. primary target audience now and how has this changed? who was it before and how do you know?
UK audience spends roughly about 6 hours on fb per day compared to Japan who spend 2 hours and 50 mins
in the past the age range used to start roughly from 18-24 but now the age range has expanded and children who are 12 can have fb. The different applications prove this such as games for the younger audience..and fan pages for older possibly.
6. how have the audience responded to the changes? is there more customer choice is there evidence of a more pluralistic model? what evidence do you have to support this?
In the past social networking sites where just simply used for socialising but now celebs use them to promote themselves in the media and to get their name in the papaer..e.g Jordan (Katie Price)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7644627/US-senators-demand-Facebook-privacy-changes.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_ways_social_media_will_change_in_2010.php
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-changing-face-of-Facebook-social-networking-site
7. what concerns are there for any media institutions involved in your case study as a result of the impact of new and digital media?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16681-innovation-how-social-networking-might-change-the-world.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8225338.stm
8. what are the political and social implications of the new and technologies and the methods of consumption? e.g moral panic
privacy concerns ( leaked pics of celebs)..identity fraud..child pornography..
9. consider the effects so far and possible effects in the future on media instsitutions involved in your case study. ( media production)
http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/05/social-networking-future/
10. what issues may there be regarding media effects and/or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?
more profit (through business promotion as they have their own pages)
11. are there any cross cultural factors and / or effects if globalisation involved in the imapct of new technology on your case study.
'consumerism generates hunger for material status, symbols, new material needs.'
Marshall McLuhan (understanding media the extensions of a man) -'the medium is the message'
The medium is the message: an inventory of effects -'The medium, or process, of out time electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically, every thought, every reaction.'
'the future of the book is the blurb'
'as technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself' -1957
Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
-Noam Chomsky
Karl Marx (1875 critique of the gotha programme
In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Gramsci (selections from cultural writing,1985) Nothing is fixed , riggid or definitive and nothing ever will be.
Karl Marx In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. ...( can link it to celeb culture of people following eg people following celebs on twitter)
'The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.' ( can link it to the lack of privacy of celeb culture)
The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.'
12. consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new/digital media in your case study. E.g representation of certain groups as a result of changes, Marxism and hegemony, liberal pluralism, colonialism, audience theories..etc.
pluralistic model - freedom of choice
globalisation of social networking sites - e.g different languages
representation of certain celebs as sad for publicly attacking people e.g Jordan.
although celebs can show appreciation to their fans ..Katie Price thanked her fans for their 'support at this sad time' on Twitter when she issued a statement declaring the end of her marriage with Peter Andre.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
case study quotes for new/digital media
The medium is the message: an inventory of effects -'The medium, or process, of out time electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically, every thought, every reaction.'
'the future of the book is the blurb'
'as technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself' -1957
Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
-Noam Chomsky
Karl Marx (1875 critique of the gotha programme
In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Gramsci (selections from cultural writing,1985) Nothing is fixed , riggid or definitive and nothing ever will be.
Karl Marx In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. ...( can link it to celeb culture of people following eg people following celebs on twitter)
'The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.' ( can link it to the lack of privacy of celeb culture)
The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.'