"As Real As It Gets"

   Let me think....what kind of media am I affected by in a real and emotional way? In chapter 2 of Smiths book he discusses realism in media. He focuses mainly on television/movies in this chapter and how people do/can decide if something is realistic or not in these formats. When I am asked this question, I do not consider either of these formats in a way that is emotional/real initially. Instead, I automatically think about something I enjoy greatly in life, music...

 

What is it about music that draws me to it and affects me? What makes it real to me? To me it is real because the basis for music is emotion. (Though 90% of what the stations call "music" that you hear on the radio is completely void of intellect and raw/true emotion now a days. Most "artists" on the radio don't even write their own lyrics anymore. Bah!)  

Romanticisim

We recently studied Romanticism in my Western Civ class. I thought it might help me make my point. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe. The movement validated emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic (aesthetic being a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty) experience, placing new emphasis on emotions. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature. The movement was in response to the popular Rationalism movement that was based on reason and was void of emotion. The people were drawn to emotion in all of the arts, and music more than any of the other arts had the capacity to elicit powerful emotions as they were swept along on waves of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Beethoven is one of the most noted composers of the Romanticism period. Emotion continues to be present in music as demonstrated in this video from the Avett Brothers.

Sources: Youtube
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romantic.html
http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/notesandneurons.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/220px-Beethoven.jpg

Definition: con·glom·er·ate - a corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of related or unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.

• We were asked to research the United State's biggest media conglomerate corporations in our Media Literacy class. We then had to choose one company and list its subsidiarys (smaller companies owned by the conglomerate) and discuss these things in a short essay. These companies include but are not limited to General Electric, Disney Inc., News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom, and CBS.  

• I chose to focus my essay on Rupert Mourdoch's News Corp. They are one of the top dogs in all of media. They are third in assets, topped only by GE and Disney in the US. Their focus though is mainly on news/entertainment and is vast and far reaching.

• News Corp. has their hands in publishing, broadcasting, and television/film prduction and distrbution worldwide. Their assets include the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Fox TV Channels and all affiliates, FX, 20th Century Fox, Direct TV, National Geographic, and Hulu internet television just to name a few.

• PROS: There are some good possibilities from a giant media empire such as this. Mainly being that consumer prices should be lower because of less competition in the market. This can be a double edged sword though since there is less choice, you rely on one company for the service you want and they can charge whatever price they see fit. When it comes to news, in theory it would be better and more accurate as news stations would have larger and more vast networks for resources.
• CONS: The bad side I found is that these corporations can be heavily influential on the people they sell too. They are able to control almost every aspect of what people hear and see. This can affect millions of people. It can tend to have a negative effect on people becuase the content that is aired, is often chosen because of the owners/directors personal opinion saying it is okay to show. Meaning if a news story that is true needs to be ran, it will not be if it counters their biased view. Thus blurring the truth and hendering people's ability to make decisions based on the information they've been given.

• All in all, my concern is how these news channels affect politics and democracy in America. News Corp. and Fox News are not the only ones doing these things though. As GE's MSNBC is at the other end of the political spectrum and has their own biased views.

Sources

• http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main
• Google Images

Parent Interview

     I interviewed my boss for this blog assignment. I graduated high school with him, but he has three kids already. A four year old and three year old twins. He didn't mind taking a few moments to answer my questions as far as his concerns on today's media forms and their impact on children, and how he 'protects' them from negative influences or examples. While they may be a little more conservative then your average family, his answers are pretty much what I expected.

1.  I first asked him some of his general concerns he and his wife have with with how much and what kind of media his children are to view. He responded by saying that today's advertisements can have a lot of sexual references in them and how alot of  modern cartoons can be too mature for children to be watching.



2.  The second thing I asked him was, how do they control what they watch and for how long. In their case, they don't even have a television subscription, just netflix on their Wii. With this, they can use parental control. When the kids want to watch something, himself or his wife will pick a program that they have preapproved/previewed before hand. He says they have to be careful because some of the programs in the "kidzone" section can be inappropriate. Also the kids do not get control of the Wii remote. When they do watch t.v. 95% of what they watch is educational he says. As far as the amount of time, they usually don't go past about 30 minutes. By then he says they are usually ready to move on to something else anyways.

3.  Some good products/shows he mentioned when I asked him were the show "Dora the explorer" and leapfrog/leapster games which are educational. Leapfrog is the company and leapster is a educational gameboy-esque handheld game console. Their time limits are usually 30 minutes on these aswell. They can play the Wii non-educational recreational games also, but their time will always be limited on the recreational gaming consoles. Some bad examples he stated were the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network.

4.  As far as the internet is concerned, he says they are not old enough yet. When they get older and need it for school he will allow access of course, though restricted. He says they'll eventually gain free time to browse, but won't be allowed to spend all day on the web.

5. The last thing I asked him was how old does he think they will make them wait to get a cell phone. He said if they don't have a vehicle and job, they don't need a phone. If they have those two things, then fine. Which I agree with 100%.

• Sources
• http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/26/article-1195614-057D0F2E000005DC-289_468x286.jpg
• http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41X3B28XR7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
• http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs11/f/2007/119/a/8/All_Day_I_Dream_About_Sex_by_Ellusive.jpg
• http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/fox/americandad/Am_Dad_1_L.jpg
• https://secure.dss.cahwnet.gov/ccld/securenet/ffa/Images/FFA_Kids_Parents.jpg
  
  
  
  
  
  

Digi-Nation

• The world we live in today is an ever changing one. Digital media and technology have found their way into every aspect of day to day society and the way we do things. From the military and schools, to our daily work and play.
• We recently watched a PBS documentary on the subject linked here, Frontline: Digital Nation. It is a pretty interesting film.
• The main issue with regards to the amount of technology in our daily lives, pertains to the children and students of today. How much is too much?
• There are certainly advantages to using new technologies in the class room as learning aids. But how big of a distraction are these technologies to older students, high school and college age particularly, at the same time?            

                   

• I think that the multitasking that these technologic innovations have lead to for students can be useful. That is unless you become consumed in it and can not clearly focus on what is what.
• It is always important to look at "the bigger picture", sometimes students are unable to do this when they focus on too many things. Atleast that is how it is with myself typically. However multi-tasking certainly has it's advantages for those that can do so at a constant and quality level.
• Do children need to be constantly surrounded by technology at school and at home nonstop though? Shouldn't there be disconnect time?

 



• Personally, I take atleast four consecutive days a year to disconnect while not really intending to do so now that I think about it. I must just need it. I'll go camping or go to a music festival and just forget about all the text, calls, emails, tweets, etc. Of course, there's always a mailbox/voicemail full of missed calls/text after I do so that I always have to respond to. 

• Sources: Google Images, PBS.org