no cell phone or facebook... OH NO!

I rolled our of bed at 12:30 pm to the smell of bacon and banana nut pancakes. My first instinct was the grab my laptop and check out what happened on face book from 10 O’clock last night until now. Realizing I had picked Saturday November 24th to be my media deprivation day made my stop in mid grab. I walked down the hall as I screamed to my mom to “turn off the television.” I could hear her scramble to comply with my request since this is probably the first time she has ever heard such words leave my mouth. I sat at the breakfast bar as I waited for my pancakes and told her about my dreadful assignment. We talked about my major and my upcoming trip to Chile in January. As we talked the phone rang she walked up and looked at the caller ID and she said it was Abby and walked away from the phone expecting me to eagerly jump to talk to my best friend. I glared at her until she finally caught on that I was not allowed to use the phone. Luckily my best friend lives about 10 minutes away so I hopped in the car and drove over.Though I had made the trip at least 200 times before, this time was by far the longest. I waited impatiently at the red lights until what seems like an hour later they turned green. When I arrived I jumped out of the car and ran to the door eager to engage in some form of communication. We got in the car and Abby reached for the radio and I screamed “STOP!” she looked at me as if I was crazy and I then explained my assignment. She laughed at me and then gossiped as she normally does about her roommates and old friends from high school. We went into Filene’s Basement where we spent hours so I could complete my assignment as painless as possible. We then drove to my dad’s where Abby had to call my dad and explain my media fast. This was ABSOLUTELY necessary because my dad leaves the TV on 24/7 for my puppies. I arrived to a quiet house as I walked up the steps I saw my dog standing, barking at the television hoping it would turn back on. My dad jokingly said, “Your assignment pissed off the dog.” My deprivation ended while getting ready to go out downtown with Abby. At 10:01 I ran in my room turned on my cell phone, computer, and TV all at the same time.

I made it out alive. I had spent quality time with my family and friends and I had real face to face conversations. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT? Though it wasn’t easy because I am so used to relying on these things to take up my spare time I was surprised to find out I could go a whole day without media.

Television and Print Collide

WHY DOES IS HAVE TO BE ONE OR THE OTHER? Both Neil Postman and Camille Paglia make highly educated and well supported points on the issue of print versus television. Because of this, when Postman argues for print and Paglia argues for television, I argue for both.

Going off Postman, print triggers the brain logically and encourages higher rates of information processing, but visual images stimulate a different type of information recall that is neither more or less important than print; it is just different. Postman mainly argues that nothing outweighs literacy and the infinite number of positive affects it has had over time, but when he starts pointing out the age difference in him and Paglia is when I start to side with Paglia. Her views on television and our electronic age are more relevant to society today. Our electronic world could not function without the visual attributes that television and computers bring to our everyday lives. Our reliance on these technologies has become so heavy that we could probably function a relatively normal life without having to read or write.

It is now understandable why in the end these two highly educated people can see the positive aspects of each others views and embrace them to form a more suitable outlook for today and more importantly tomorrow’s world.

Modern Times are Hard Times

Modern Times, A Charlie Chaplin film, is a “story of industry, of individual enterprise-- humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness.” The film focuses on the divide between the boss and the workers of society. It expresses Chaplin’s hatred for a newly developed technology based on work environment, where productivity outweighs skill and craftsmanship. Chaplin wastes no time developing the plot and then introducing the conflict in the film. This linear progression was seen throughout most of classical Hollywood, but this film would not have been nearly as effective if he had done so. His film is radical and expresses an intense personal feeling that Chaplin felt he must express.
With this said, I feel the opening seen, set in the factory, is a strong example of his dislike for the new technological innovations. The characters that he uses in the factory show the diversity of people that can perform the simple tasks that are required to prep the item for the machine that does a majority of the work. He places himself, a small framed man, right next to a much larger to emphasize the lack of strength and skill it takes to perform this minute tasks. Also the all knowing, all seeing boss plays a crucial role, even though he is not shown as much. The idea of being watched constantly from a higher power is what kept the workers moving. For example, When the “little tramp” tries to take a break, he clocks out and goes into the bathroom. Almost instantaneously the screen flashes up with the boss that says get back to work. The differences between the two show in the outfits they are wearing and the amount of physical labor they are each doing. The workers are in work clothes white t shirts, pants, and look dirty and sweaty probably from the heat, the fast paced working environment, and not having breaks. On the other hand, the boss is wearing a suit, sitting behind a desk watching over the workers from a television screen, and exerting no physical activity what so ever. The main focus in this scene is the assembly line/belt and how it functions. If one person slows down the production slows down and if the boss orders them to be sped up the workers must immediately adjust work faster so the assembly line functions efficiently.
This scene is just foreshadowing the central meaning that is expressed throughout the film. The authority of society is vested in a small group of people who control the masses. Their has been a hierarchy instituted in society that formed out of technology. With technology increasing, the need for workers becomes less and the jobs they perform are merely assisting the machines. The people at the top of the hierarchy perform none of the manual labor; they are in charge of hiring and firing at the companies expense and finding people that will work for the lowest wage. Another idea that Chaplin is trying to emphasize is the idea that “time is money.” The faster things get done the more they products they can produce. From an economic standpoint, more products for consumers equal more money companies, but not their workers. The amount of products does not directly affect the people making them, because they don’t get more money if they produce more products., but because jobs were limited workers had to comply with what the bosses wanted in order to stay employed, because unemployment was worse than being in jail. This is represented when Chaplin goes to jail and wishes to stay because in jail, you have the essentials for life, which are not always promised if you were unemployed. In a time where technology is replacing hardworking employees and only the men at the top are reaping the benefits, one must do what is necessary to live.

Throughout the years people have argued about controversial advertisement and what it is that makes them controversial. The Standards for these ads have changed over time but some argue that it has gotten out of control. In today’s society many ads have been seen as controversial especially in relation to gender roles. Over the last couple weeks, I have studied many “questionable” advertisements and a majority of the arguments that arise around how women are expected to be in real life in comparison to how people look and act in advertisements.

There is a standard code of ethics that apply when producing an advertisement. They mainly revolve around making advertisements appropriate for society as a whole in no relation to age, sex, gender, ethnicity, nationality, etc. What one might deem appropriate another may not. Advertisers have been known to push the line of what is considered appropriate in order to gain more attention from the media. One of the main issues in controversial advertisement revolves around the negative portrayal of women.

The sole purpose of advertising is to engage consumers in order to sell a product. Media images are directed towards men which in turn encourages women to view themselves through the eye of a man. This idea definitely pertains to the image of body shape. “Especially fashion photographs generate enormous dissatisfaction among women because they create unrealistic expectations that most women are unable to meet.” (Gender Race and Class in Media, Crane 314) This causes an issue when people start to think about what people consider the “ideal” body type.
Going off the image of an ideal body, what is considered normal for women? These ideas that advertisements project as an ideal body begin to alter the ideas of what is considered average for a woman. This, in turn, starts to make women question themselves if they are considered ideal or average or even over weight. This body image then ties into the questionable clothing and the over sexual positions that are portrayed in advertisements. What was once considered questionable has changed greatly over the decades in order to conform to society now.
In 1980,Brooke Shields, 15, did an advertisement for Calvin Klein Jeans. The advertisement was viewed as controversial because of her young age and the photo bared her stomach and she was placed in risqué poses. Calvin Klein is not the only designer that has run into issues of controversial advertisements. Dolce and Gabbana has shocked many people world wide with their border line advertisements.

They have depicted various types of violence in their ads and they also push the line of the dominating male role. Their ads have shown everything from models holding knives to bullet wounds through models heads. They even went as far to feature a border line rape scene. When advertisements like these are featured it brings up the question of what they are really selling in these ads: the clothes or the fantasy?

Their have been many quality of life studies done which ask people what they are seeking in life and what would ultimately make them happy. “It is primarily ‘social’ life and not ‘material’ life that seems to be the locus of perceived happiness” (Gender Race and Class in Media, Jhally 251). With that said, in order for advertisers to sell a product they must promote that social factor that the consumer desires and then connect it with the product they are trying to sell. Many advertisers use the opposite sex to sell products because it engages a sexual fantasy. When addressing this issue, two advertisements that I saw stuck out the most. Two advertisements in particular stuck out to me in relation to using sex to sell a product. The ad for alpine plastic surgery company.

It is targeting both men and women even though breast augmentation is just for women. It is implying that men fantasize about women with fake breasts so woman should get them to become more sexually appealing to men. It is also offering the “opportunity” to have a women that has breast like this. The other image I found extremely interesting was this Tom Ford Cologne ad.

It uses very “intense sexual images to try to sell product. It puts the idea in guy’s heads that by wearing this cologne, they can get this sexual fantasy. The advertisers use the social aspect of sexual fantasy to sell their product., sex is not a direct result from this product. So why do these advertisements keep getting aired? The answer is “SEX SELLS” regardless of the over all outcome.

Some questions arise from the idea of controversial advertisement. The main question is who are these ads actually affecting? But the answer to this question differs from country to country, class to class, person to person, etc. The idea of mass advertisement has been an issue for years, but it might never find a universal resolution.

How does media affect you?

Most people don’t realize how much of their lives are controlled by the media. Media is EVERYWHERE. Media is the means of communication. Any type of communication to one or more persons is media. The means of communication I use most frequently is my cell phone and the internet (facebook, myspace, AOL instant messenger). I also have a subscription to just about every gossip magazine known to man.
These means of communication are relatively new to society, especially things like the cell phone and internet. I can remember when there was neither of these two things and I can not imagine today’s society without them. I remember when people used pay phones and they were 25 cents to use. Today pay phones serve virtually no purpose because just about everyone has a cell phone. Cell phones have become higher tech, for example, the Iphone. It is not only a cell phone but also a day planner, a music player, the internet, a calculator, and the list goes on.
When the Iphone first came out a couple months ago, the retail price was 500 dollars and in just 3 months the price has dropped 200 dollars which makes me start to think just how much are we paying for our media? Obviously there was a time when the world didn’t have cell phones, the internet, gossip magazines, MTV, etc. and society went on living their day to day lives just as fine as we do today. So the question is, who made the people of this world believe that the world would come to a screeching halt if we did not have all these means of communication? I am personally influenced by society as a whole, whether it be advertisements, the companies who make these products, the government which is profiting from these products being sold because it is helping the economy, my friends, my family, or the learning institutions the we are enrolled in. Society is constantly convincing the world that we need these products in our lives. They try to come out with different forms of media which appeal to all age groups and all social classes. I feel like all types of media serve a purpose for someone, somewhere. So just because a certain type of media does not directly suit what I need doesn’t mean it is a negative type of media. Obviously my media habits are going to change over time because society is constantly changing, but I can not predict how they are going to change. I feel like I am a well rounded consumer when it comes to the media. I am very in touch with the media, hence being a Media and Communication studies major. Sometimes I feel like I rely too heavily on the media and I try to take a step back sometimes when I feel like it is overwhelming my life as a consumer.

So I am in a media studies class and I am required to blog every week so here it goes. My name is Alexis Bell. I am a junior at the University of Maryland- Baltimore County. I am in Phi Sigma Sigma
. I live with two of my sorority sisters, Renata and Tra-mi. They are my best friends. I was born in New Jersey, but I moved to Georgia when I was 3 and lived there ever since. I am 20 years old, and I am turning 21 in December and can't wait. I am a media and communications study major and that is why I am taking this class. I am studying abroad in Chile this winter for 4 weeks to fulfill the rest of my Spanish requirements and hopefully having a wonderful time. I am also very interested in the media so I am excited about taking this class. I am in college because my parents made me and it is kind of what you are expected to do after college, but I am having a good time being here. Since I have been in school I have been a Biology major and a Psychology major, but now I finally decided what I want to do. Within my major I am required to do an internship which I hope to do this summer at an advertising firm in Washington DC. When I get out of school I hope to work for an advertising firm and do marketing for big companies, just to get my foot in the door. Hopefully one day I will be able to do personal PR work for a big company or for a celebrity. I hope this class gives me a better back ground in the study of media and the way media affects society. This class is the main idea of my major so this class is very important.