Klosterman & Glassner

Chuck Klosterman wrote an article called All I Know is What I Read in the Papers. This article started out by talking about media and newspapers and journalism. You can tell that Klosterman has a certain opinion about these things and ligtly inserts this into his article. I thought a quote that he stated about journalists was quite funny, "They have higher ethics and lower common sense." I thught it was interesting how he explained how reporters write the news and how many people distrust what they read. i can relate to this in many ways. Personally, I have had problems trusting articles as well. I think that journalists can sometimes twist the story from what it is in reality. But this also depends on the actual media form they are reporting too. I think Klosterman really argues from this though and udnertsantds that our generation is based on technology. He says in the end, "We are loosing the ability to understand anything that's even vaguely complex". This is such a strong statement.

In the article "Dubious Dangers on Roadways and Campuses: How Fears are Sold" by Barry Glassner, he opens by explaining fear and how it is evident this day in society. He quotes Alfred Hitchhock by saying, "There is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it," Glassner explains how this can be related to journalists in print media. They have an ancedote of foreshadowing that goes aong with their work. He uses the example of car accidents and the way they report them to explain journalistic views. Glassner is getting at the fact that media trys to scare society on differente things and establish fear on things that aren't that fearful or are unimportant. I thought this was an interesting idea. Glassner states,"The more talk there is about road rage, the more likely are newspaper reporters, police officers, and insurance agents to classify as examples of it incidents that they would have ignored altogether or catalogued differently in the past." The media always tries to twist events or stories that may not be as they seem. I think overall, we shouldn't ignore the news entirely just because we believe that these stories might be exaggerated, but we should just read it with some caution. Journalists might have a campaign of fear among the reader but we should not over analyze these aspects of the news. 

Week 8

The article by Henry Jenkins called "Buying into American Idol" was very interesting from my point a view. Jenkins speaks on a process called media conversion and reality television. To starts off, this article is from his book called "Convergence Culture: Where Old Media and New Media Collide". This is actually a book I would probably read. I have always been very interested in how the media can affect us. I think that through growing up, the media has changed drastically and caused more affect then it used too.
Personally, watching television shows in general growing up did change and affect me. I was a big fan of Gossip Girl- now, that's not a reality show- but the way it protrays everything in life- especially relationships- was something that I saw to be normal. Back to the reality shows though. These people start out as "normal" everyday people, just like you and I. And they hit it big. Jenkins specifically talks about American Idol and the first thing that comes to mind was Carrie Underwood. She is at the top of her game right now as one of the leading country artists. And she bgan as a normal person, won American Idol, and now is extremely famous and worldwide known musician.
All of these reality shows are like this. The Bachelor/Bachelorette series is another one. Jef Holm and Emily Maynard, the couple of the last season of the Bachelorette, recently broke of their engagement and now they are known worldwide because of their appearances on that show. The reason that these poeple have these ratings and shows like American Idol do well, as Jenkins touched on, is because of the audiences. It is because of the population of people who watch that show and put in their votes and pay attention weekly. It is amazing how much our world is involved in these reality shows- and for some people, it is positive, like most of the people of American Idol. But how many couples on the Bachelor/Bachelorette have actually stayed together and gotten married? ONE. That goes to show something right there. Not only do they have a warped view of what "love" is, but so do the people watching it. Now, American Idol isn't that bad, but we should really watch what reality shows we are feeding our mind with. Becuase, in real reality, they are mostly lies.

Week 7

     I found the article called "Coercion" by Douglas Rushkoff to be very interesting. Rushkoff spoke about the media and this generation and how companies advertise their products to make them attractive to their customers. Advertisements are such a huge part of a company and the measure of their success. Rushkoff speaks on the competitive part of advertising and how companies go back and forth fighting with each other with parodies or something of the like. He spoke on how companies use irony as well to distort our thinking process when it comes to buying a product and on why we should purchase it. This is what coercion is- "convincing a person to lie to himself by any means necessary" (5). Rushkoff states how people search for truth and authenticity  in the "increasingly disconnected virtual experience, advertisers seize on the opportunity ot help us delude ourselves into thinking we haven't really lost touch" (50). This article is so true by saying our world is distorted into buying products based on how they will make us feel, when in reality, they may make us happy or content for the moment, but it will be a fleeting moment and will not last. Advertisements do such a great job of pushing that factor of needed that one thing (their product) to make us happy, but they are doing it just as much as the next company.
     The article "Rhetoric of the Image" by Ronald Barthes also can be realated to the previous article. Barthes speaks on the messages of a certain image. The three messages are linguistic message, coded iconic message, and a non- coded iconic message. This has to do with what one sees when looking at a picture, and what happens at the same time. When a person sees a picture, we usually describe it as a word, or the structure of the image. We also consider it a literal message or symbolic message. Barthes concludes on saying that the "literal image is denoted and the symbolic image is connoted" (3). This can be related to advertisting because when we see an image on advertising we usually relate it to a word. We first relate emotionally to us to see if it has any effect in that aspect, but also relate it to us mentally to realize why or how we need that product. Barthes explains our thought process once we see the image.
     The third article was by Karl Marx and was called "Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production". I never really can fully understand Marx, so after reading a little bit into his article I obviously was lost. He does talk about commodities though and how they are a value in use depending on the person's perspective. I thought this can relate to our previous articles and how the companies are selling their commodities, and people purchase them based on how they rate their value in their own lives. Marx considers commodities as mysterious, and in a way so do I. Depending how the companies market their own commodities depends if they can speak themselves, and if the images use words. In a way, all of these articles can come together. It is about the marketing and advertising of your products that make the products attract and sell consumers.

The Matrix

First off, this movie is weird. Honestly, it probably isn't my top choice of movies to see. It is a mind wrap to try to watch it and understand the meaning. Also, it is scary. And gross. One thing I found interesting was the "trinity" in the movie, and how this can resemble Christian terms for the father, son and Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, alot of these have Christian terms that go along with the movie. The whole concept of Neo and him being considered "The One" also has meaning to it. Basically, that is what the whole movie is about. Neo overcoming himself and and being the hero to everyone, because he is the one who has been chosen and appointed to do so. Neo is empty until the Trinity contacts him and he realizes what he is called to do. I am interested to see other opinions on this movie and other interpretations of the meaning other than what I percieve it to be. I think that Christianty can be richly related to this movie in some way, shape or form, mostly because it is about someone who is appointed as "The One" and the path he takes to overcome his challenges and defeat the "bad guys". I think this is the sort of movie that you have to see a few times to understand the whole meaning of it.