Prosumer

Sadly but quickly the entire term have come to an end. The professor finished the lesson of ecology analysis with "Prosumer", which is a combination of producer + consumer, hence the word "prosumer". Another way to describe the prosumer system is DIY (Do It Yourself) with examples such as; e-banking services and self checkout. A pro about prosumers is that you can save time and it is more efficient with cases such as online banking since you do not have to wait in line and everything can be done with a click away.

A con about this is that companies can cut jobs and people will be forced to be unemployed since it can decrease the expenses of companies. Also, some people may prefer to be served instead of the idea of self-serving but that depends on the person. The professor also touched upon DIY such as setting a store on Etsy (An online marketplace that sells handmade items). I, coincidentally have an online store there selling handmade charms (My Store)

The way i see it with my online store is that it is a good start-up for crafters who don't have a huge budget to start up a physical store and it lowers the workload for me as customers will check out themselves instead of me being attentive 24 hours in order to keep updated to what is happening in my store.

Medium Theory

The medium theory states that each medium of communication has relatively fixed characteristics that influence communication in a particular manner and that all media are extension of some of human faculty psychic or physically. An example would be that car is an extension of feet.

I have actually never thought of mediums like that because i only thought about the part where a medium helps us to complete any tasks easier. The most interaction between us and the medium is definitely the World Wide Web and the internet. We now use the internet everyday, every hour, and even every minute because that is how we have learned to communicate faster and with less effort. In a way, the internet's real message is the ability to extend human sight, speech and memory to an unprecedented degree. Moving on to the categories of hot or cool medium - which is another interesting way to categorize because hot medium is technology whose message fully engages the senses (ex. Simulation games)

while cool medium is technology whose message is multi-vocal and open ended (ex. TV, telephone)

Participatory Media

Participatory media is essentially media where the everyone including the audience take part analyzing and producing. As of now, i am taking part in participatory media by writing this blog! Other modes of participatory media includes "sharing", podcasts, vlogging (video blogs), forums (media communities) etc. One type of participatory media that i liked was fan fiction.

I was already familiar with fan fiction before this lecture and it brings back memories of when i read them (i no longer read them anymore). It is basically short stories or even series written by the fans of a particular show, movie, book, or about a real person. They can sometimes be even more interesting that the actual story line the writer produced and it sort of gives an alternative to what could have happened. Fan fiction usually revolves around romance more than plot twists and it could be between a guy/girl, guy/guy, and girl/girl - also known as slash fan fiction.

Although I use to read anime fan fiction, fan fiction covers a lot - i even read fan fic of these singers that i was obsessed a while ago. I think fan fiction is still a hype because new shows and movies come out every year and therefore fans have more characters to like and write more stories about them. Even people who don't prefer reading it can see them as memes now a days since memes are more dominant.

Monster Culture

I found that the topic "monster culture" was the most interesting part of this week's lecture because this is the hype right now in the media. TV shows such as AMC's hit Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries are very popular at the moment and so are movies such as World War Z, Warm Bodies, and of course, Twilight. Almost every part of the Twilight series has a net worth of 700 million each and that just shows how popular "monsters" are in today's world.

Thesis VI: Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire

This thesis points out that the our fear of consuming or watching these monster movies/shows is actually a kind of desire. I remember the time when i went to watch World War Z at the theater, the most famous scene was probably the part when all the zombies were "piling" over the wall that was built to keep them out.

I was terrified at this scene but couldn't help myself in watching what will happen next. Whenever i want to watch a zombie movie, i know that i won't get to sleep peacefully at night for a week but i still insist to watch it and so this enforces Thesis VI of how fear of the monster is really a kind of desire.

 

Cultivation Analysis

Cultivation analysis is first proposed by George Gerbner and it claims that individuals who watch heavy amounts of television are hyper conscious to issues of danger and violence in their everyday lives. Sadly, there is some truth to this because it is humans are motivated by fear, and when they sense fear they will believe that is is more prevalent in society and when it comes to responsibility, they push it away and put the blame on a scapegoat.

Just think about World War II when the Nazis were systematically exterminating Jews due to antisemitism and other reasons that lead to the decision that someone is responsible for the mess. That blame was brought upon the entire Jewish race and the only way it was made possible was because the population had fear plus the persuasive speeches that their leader has made.

Reception Analysis

The meaning of reception analysis was a little confusing at first, so after watching the lecture, i did some searches on the definition and came to the conclusion that reception analysis (from the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication approach) is the interpretation of the meaning based on one's background and experiences. Therefore, the meanings don't come from the text itself but from how one perceives it based on the relationship of the reader and the text.

To be honest, the first time i watched "No Woman, No Drive", a mockery video by Hisham Fageeh on the ban of woman driving in Saudi Arabia (which i had no knowledge of at first), i actually thought that the artist was enforcing the idea that woman should not drive because of lyrics such as "queens don’t drive, but you can cook me dinner that I will share with you" and “Your feet is your only carriage but only inside the house and when I say it I mean it”.

My experience of watching this video just confirms what the encoding/decoding model of communication approach. Due to the fact that i did not know about the ban on woman driving, i did not interpret this video as a parody or a mockery whereas to others that know about the ban clearly understands that this video is making fun of the ridiculous ban in Saudi Arabia. Therefore the meaning is not inherent in the video but rather the relationship of the viewer's experiences to the video.

Sexual Stereotypes in the Media

The depiction of heterosexuality and homosexuality is often the "norm" where heterosexual couples are seen as the loving couples and same-sex couples are seen as hyper sexual all the time. Often, when homosexuals are portrayed on TV shows or films, it is usually a comedic and made for people to laugh at. One show in particular that i am familiar with is Little Britain - A British character-based comedy show that shows the snippets of daily lives of different people (all main characters played by two actors only) in "Little" Britain.

One of the most loved character is Daffyd, who is dubs himself as the "only gay in the village" and is always seen as the most comical part of the show where they basically make fun of gays. The surprising thing about this character is that the actor that plays Daffyd is a homosexual himself. Which makes me think sometimes if he feels bad doing this himself, since comedians tend to take nothing seriously because their job is make people laugh.

Daffyed, played by Matt Lucas, is always seen wearing tight, revealing, and disturbing clothing on the show and although it is for comedic effect, it shows that the media portrays homosexuals as abnormal and deviant. No matter what the sexual orientation one has, they are still human beings with dignity and deserves to be respected in the media as well.

Queer Analysis and Heteronormativity

This week's topic focuses on the topic of queer and how our society views it from different perspectives. The definition of queer is to make strange of something and is at odds with the normal, the dominant. Therefore, there is no precise meaning for what queer really is! Something can be made strange if the majority thinks it is weird or if something is different from what the "norm" is.

The most debated topic is sexuality because we all have the emotional, romantic and sexual attraction toward others. The "norm" of how a relationship should be is between a man and a woman, because they are made for each other and that is how they can have children - this is a heteronormative view and that is how most people are taught to view things since the very beginning of time.

But as people are getting more open minded about this topic, most people no longer think of homosexuality being classified as a "disorder" because no matter what gender one likes, the love they feel is the same type of love that exists between any couple. Although the media is still portraying gays and lesbians in a misleading way, there are some others who are trying to give a message that same-sex couples shouldn't be judged. An example would be the song "She Keeps Me Warm"  by Mary Lambert which is a song that advocates an equality for same-sex couples. It promotes the pure love between a couple and it also lead to the collaboration with Macklemore (singer), bringing the song "Same Love" which has been a worldwide hit and letting people open their eyes about the love no matter what gender you are. 

Feminist Anaylsis (Part 2)

Moving on to 1984, 31 years later after Marilyn Monroe's performance of Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend, Madonna sings a different song but with similar meanings and performance.

 Madonna, like Marilyn Monroe, were surrounded by men with their eyes fixated onto her. She was the center of attention as well and singing about how we are all "living in a material world, and i am a material girl" which enforces the point that women are materialistic only and the only thing powerful about them is spending money or only desire men that will spend money on them. The "Feminism" in this video was only at the end of the video when she was dressed more modestly and got together with a man that gave her flowers instead of diamonds or jewelry. So perhaps that shows that not all women end up being materialistic like that in the end.

In 2010, contemporary music still portrays women as highly sexualized and the view that they are materialistic have not yet changed. The picture above is Christina Aguilera in the movie Burlesque singing the same song that Marilyn Monroe sang in 1953 - Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend. When the professor asked which one would we rather be in, my thoughts are that i don't want to be in any of them. I don't feel that women are all powerful only when it comes to spending money and i don't feel that it is right to portray them that way. Also, women should not be objectified by men, just because of difference in gender does not make women any lower as a human being.

Feminist Analysis (Part 1)

Women have gained more and more rights and power over the past 50-100 years and they are still fighting to gain more equality and rights in other countries. Women have often suffered from the stereotypes that are imposed on them. Some of the most obvious ones are that women are objects of men, weak and fragile while men are seen as powerful, rational, and the subjects that own women.

In this week's lecture, we were shown 3 videos about how the media portrays women in postmodernism as the typical materialistic girl. The first video we see is Marilyn Monroe, known as a major sex symbol, singing Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (1953). In the video we can see the presence of the "male gaze" and she was the center of attention the entire time. With the "power" that she has, this video doesn't seem like it is portraying feminism at all because firstly, she is wearing revealing clothing - showing off her body , secondly, the message of the song expresses that diamonds are a girl's best friend which enforces the stereotype that women are all materialistic and thirdly, she was the center of attention and wherever she went, all the men had their eyes fixed on her.

The Male Gaze

It is not new that when someone is being objectified, it is always a woman. Till this day i still wonder why is it that it seems to be always the woman who is objectified and the man is not. Just looking at magazine covers, movies and music videos, the woman is always being looked at in an erotic manner by males - also known as "the male gaze". The way that the media portray women is almost always in a sexual way where it makes men desire them.

 A simple Google search "woman magazine" show woman with revealing clothing or wearing something that accentuates their body. One thing that i find common in every image is that no matter if the pose of these women are sexually provocative or not, the subtitles all relate to sex: words like hot, sexy and sex are all the main point of these magazines!

Now i did a search for "man magazine" and this is what i found, all men are shown wearing a suit and tie, proper poses and very professional like. The magazines are usually about businesses and this one i found is about fashion. Nothing about this magazine cover is about anything sexual. 

This, i think is the problem. Men are never objectified and wherever they appear, they are always associated with hero, power, authority, and professionalism. Why is it that there is no female gaze? and are women going to be inferior to men forever? 

Production Codes

In this week's lecture, we were introduced to The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code) and i thought that this production code is brilliant in the way that from limiting the amount of indecencies on the screen, it could affect and improve the morality of people.

The many sections of the Hays Code have guidelines for what is allowed and not allowed on screen. For example, acts of murder is allowed but the way they are presented have to be in a way that it encourages people to imitate the act. Most actions have to be presented in a vague way - the less detail it shows, the better it is. Other acts includes sex, dances, costumes, locations (bedrooms), titles, scenes with vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity.

My thoughts about Hays Code is that it shows how people back in the days are more concerned with our morals and improving the behavior of mankind. Now a days, a lot of the things that were not allowed on screen in 1930 happens every single day now whether it is on screen or real life. For example, profanity (swearing) for some people, occurs in every sentence they speak. Today's people are more morally corrupted compared to the people back then and it is disappointing because children now are more likely to be exposed to these subjects at an earlier age. People should improve their behaviors as they have to role models for the younger ones and the generations to come.

Ideology and Race

After the lecture, we were assigned to watch a 1 hour long video called Reel Bad Arabs - How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Throughout the whole documentary, it was sickening and depressing seeing how a race is vilified everywhere especially in North America. The video stresses that Arabs were always portrayed as the antagonist in countless Hollywood films all the way from 60 years ago till today.

About 90% of all the Hollywood films that were analyzed showed Arabs as villains, carrying guns, shooting anyone in sight, inhumane, dumb and perverted. Not only were men portrayed with all the stereotypical "evil" villain, but Arabian woman were always shown belly dancing, seducing men and wearing sheer clothing.

Even in the infamous Disney movie Aladdin, Arabs are vilified as men that would slaughter people if they felt like it. This is extremely offensive and sickening since it was shown to millions of children and families. The media, typically the media in North America doesn't show the innocent side of Arabs, they don't show the innocent civilians that are killed for no reason, beaten, or captured by the Americans. It seems that it is justified if Arabs were punished but loathsome if Arabs kill.

We all need to learn to not believe everything we see in the media, especially stereotypes and depictions of a particular race being only 'evil'. Hollywood needs to stop vilifying a race because how would Arabs feel watching Hollywood movies? Hollywood is giving no chance for them to be entertained without being offended and insulted. We should all think about the the results of all the acts if injustice through our history and learn to not repeat our mistakes. The holocaust and many detainment of innocent people do not, and should not ever need to happen again. 

Ideologies

Ideologies are a system of ideas that can be forcefully imposed of willingly subscribed by our society. Things that we see in our daily lives, such as washroom signs, or signs in general, are all ideological because they convey authority and the idea that "that's just the way things are".

There are 3 ways in which ideologies work, and they are (1) Myth, (2) Doxa, (3) Hegemony. Myth is a sacred story that confirms and reproduces ideologies in relationship to a cultural object such as media artifact. Doxa is the "common sense" aspect of culture and hegemony is the unspoken message. After being shown a touching and inspiring video where a scarecrow is sad about how all the food is produced with poor treatment to animals, it turns out that it was just an advertisement for Chipotle's app on Apple's App Store.

The mythical element of this advertisement is a living scarecrow that scares away crows from the farmer's produce. The same for how the scarecrow dislike Crow Foods Incorporated. The doxa is that we can be a vegetarian or a vegan and therefore avoid any intake of all meat that were treated in a inhumane way. However, the most interesting part is the hegemony, the unspoken message is that WE as an individual is at fault for not avoiding the brands that produce meat that were slaughtered. They never show that it's the industry's fault when all major food brands or restaurants get their meat from the same factory! It is all just plain advertising to promote Chipotle.

The Power of Signs

There are about millions and millions of signs all over this world and without a doubt, they are certainly helpful for us as humans to communicate to each other. Whether it is street signs or safety signs, they were made for the purpose of communicating a message to its readers.

The interpretation of the signs, however, are not always universal. I remember taking the Business Communication course here at UTSC and on lesson was on business language and how it differs from around the world. A gesture or symbol could have different meanings in two different countries. My professor demonstrated this by calling up two students, one from Singapore, and the other from Canada. Both students' backs faced each other and they were told to raise and use their hand to symbolize the each number from 1-10. Surely enough, the hand signs used to symbolize these numbers were a little different.

Therefore, signs are all arbitrary - their meaning depends on its social, historical and cultural context. Also, the meanings of signs are not all naturally understood, traffic signs correlate to the action involved, but the depiction of the sign has to be taught to us in order for us to relate a sign to its meaning.

What is Culture?

What is culture? There are simply too many ways to describe culture and it is impossible to define it with just one word. The dictionary's definition of culture is "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively" but another common definition is "the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group".

when we learned about Mathew Arnold and his theory of how to elevate oneself from the industrial revolution, i thought that it was good at first, but after realizing what he meant by how culture is going to "save" us, i didn't really agree with him. He states that "culture will save everything" but by that, he meant that culture is how people will pursuit in perfectness. No one can be flawless, and that is not the right way to live. In contrary, i feel that pursuit in perfectness is restrictive and isn't a practical way to save people from their obsession on the industrial revolution.

Also, Arnold was rather 'picky' on what was considered culture. The definition of his 'culture' is to go for "the best which has been thought and said in the world" - which includes opera because it is higher in monetary value. Other things such as a comic book is considered to be 'low' culture, and that leads to the question - if you don't go and watch an opera, does that mean you aren't perfect? and, if you have watched an opera before, are you perfect now?

Media Regulation

We all enjoy being surrounded by media, because that is how we connect to the world and it has also become a way for us to express ourselves through social media. Much of the world still watches television, and of course, that is where mass media is concentrated - whether it is the news, TV shows, reality shows, advertisements, and movies.

Being part of the general public, we often prefer to have some regulation in the media to help filter out some things that aren't necessarily "good" or "healthy" for our people. I am talking about regulating media content where it they try to filter out obscene, sexual, indecency, and profanity contents. All these regulations help to manage our morality. Without them, I cannot imagine living in a society where everyone is not longer innocent, children who aren't mature for these materials will all be exposed and will go on for the next generation and so on.

If we impose regulations, then it will be in the public's interest and if we don't impose regulations it will be in the free market's interest. As long as we can balance out the amount of regulations, then it will still be better than no regulations at all.

Metaphysics and Pragmatism

Humans have always wondered how things came to be and it is normal as we are curious creatures that have a high intellectual to think and reason. A branch of philosophy called metaphysics is the study of being and existence (ontology). With many abstract theories, we humans will have never-ending debates about how the world was made, and on many other subjects.

Having theories and thoughts are needed so that we are not trapped - it allows us to think outside the box and have reasons in our lives. However, sometimes these questions can't help us move on. They aren't practical enough, and here is where pragmatism comes in. Pragmatism is also another branch in philosophy that focuses on everyday practical affairs; what works, what doesn't work, and why - so that improvements can be made.

My aunt has once told me a story while she stayed at my house temporarily before moving back to her home country. She has a very religious friend which is a close friend of hers. When my aunt has put her house up for sale, her friend gave her a bible as a gift. when my aunt's house got sold, her friend gave her a call and said, "See? I knew your house would get sold! That's because i prayed everyday for you, and also gave you a bible." After hearing that, my aunt just smiled but thought that what she said was not practical at all! Her house got sold because another person is looking for a house, not because of prayers.

There is nothing wrong with being religious, but sometimes pragmatism is safer in regards to everyday life, it is local, contingent, contextual, historical and helps us to measure and produce tangible results!

News Reporting Conventions

There are different types of biases when the news present their information. In the end, underlying all news production is The Profit Motive. And since news is a huge part of mass media, they will of course try to control what we should know and what we should be interested in. All sorts of news is biased these days, depending on the economy, the country, and even the situation itself.

Some biases that the news have when reporting include treating the news too personalized. They often focus on the individual and not on the larger social structure, which is also similar to 'authority disorder' - meaning that when a situation occurs, the news doesn't focus on "why the problem surfaced" or "why is it a problem" but only on the voices of the officials. One reason why they would do that is to try to gain public trust when there is fear so they can handle the situation however they want with the public on their side.

There was a video which i watched about half a year ago. This video was alleged as clip of the news that aired in North Korea and it shows the modern day America as well as how its citizens are living today. Now, the so called "modern day America" would definitely shock you as the video showed that Americans seems to be living in really bad economic times. It shows that Americans drink water from the snow and other things which is not true - but how will North Korea's citizens know? They've never been outside their own country. This is shown to the public so that every citizen will feel more powerful than the US.

However, that doesn't mean the US is better off, over in the states, news about North Koreans are always biased when any situation arises. News can be over dramatized by either countries so much that we really need to filter for ourselves as to what is true. We shouldn't believe every word that the news reporters say because then we would have a biased opinion as well.

Theory

After today's lecture, the professor gave us an analogy on theory. To me, theory is usually a persons' thoughts about an idea that is yet to be proven. But the analogy that the professor gave was comparing how an eyebrow looks like under an electron microscope; which is magnified 50 times, and a cover of a model showing her eyebrows just like how everyone perceives how an eyebrow looks.

And so, the meaning of a theory was that "it shows us things otherwise that we couldn't see". I thought that this was an interesting approach to look at theories, and the more i think about it, the more it makes sense. When the world was made, no one knew how it was made. We believed that the world was made by God (Whichever religion people belonged to), or there will be fancy stories and legends of how the world was made. People didn't have other views toward the issue until Georges Lemaître came proposed an idea that would later become the Big Bang Theory.

Without theories, humans would all be blinded by what they believe only and would be too scared to explore all the other possibilities. Just imagine if today we still believed that the world was flat, then no one would dare to sail the seas and would have never found out that the world is round.

Virtuous or Vicious Cycle?

Even before mass media came through, societies way back have already started implementing feudalism which is a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.

it all made sense to these people why they belonged to their rank in the hierarchy that they didn't even question why because they thought that it's how it's supposed to be. Till today, the society, or the economic system, shapes everything such as attitudes, values, and culture.

Ultimately, the government, institutions, legal systems all are equivalent to the ruling class back in the day and so their ideas are popularized in their own interest while making it seem like it is in the best interest of everybody.

The mass media will always stand with the ruling class, so where ever you stand differentiates whether you are helping to "create" a false consciousness or the one that is experiencing the false consciousness.  Like all citizens, we are mostly unaware of the true nature of the system. Even if we do, we just turn a blind eye to it because that is how the world is and there is nothing we can do about it but to follow and live with it for the rest of our lives.

Moving on to the title of my post today "Virtuous or Vicious cycle". I just thought that even though they associate a virtuous cycle for the ruling class and the vicious cycle for the lower class, the lower class might not even see it as a vicious cycle because they also believe that it is how it's suppose to be. And so we are just going to work, buying things and repeating it everyday, believing it as a virtuous cycle.

Commodity Fetishism and Advertising

When the professor first introduced this term "Commodity Fetishism", it took me a while before truly understanding what it means. To my understanding, it is the social relationship that the consumers have with inanimate objects and to them, under capitalism, their relationship with anyone has an economic value to it.

For us consumers, when we purchase an item, we don't see the value of the item coming from behind the item, instead, we see the value of the commodity coming from the item itself. That is an illusion which we call a 'fetish'.

when the professor showed us the video of where a woman was lining up to buy the Iphone 5 and what is it that she liked so much about the new Iphone that she is not willing to leave her spot after lining up for 2 days, we all just thought that this woman sounded dumb - she answered how the Iphone 5 looks so cool and that she would use it to text and take pictures (as if any other phone couldn't do the same).

However, after giving a thought, i realize everyone including me, is no different from this woman here. We are all sort of blinded by advertising in a capitalist society where it is necessary to work harder in order to buy more.

The cycle keeps going in order to sustain the economy system. This gave my chills down my back but it is unavoidable and it applies to me perfectly. I have a part time job and every time i am available, i ask my boss to give me extra hours in order to earn more money. I use that money for transportation to school but another reason is that i have the urge to go shopping every time i get i paycheck. Even though i really dislike my work, i am still willing to work longer hours in order to get more money.

After this lecture, i will definitely think twice the next time i am about to buy something. I know that it is 'normal' and that's how everyone has been living in a society but i would still try not to be too extreme in working more hours just for the sake of shopping.

Why study media?

Since we are constantly being surrounded by media, we often get confused by our reality and the virtual reality from interacting with social media. That is why by studying media, we can have a clearer understanding of the difference between the two realities.

I think that since the social networking websites have started to gain popularity, everyone is more connected virtually than in person. Everyone can just sit behind their computer screen, or on their smartphone, while they browse the net in their alternate persona.

 People spend so much time on updating their own online profiles, it's as if it's their job to update information about themselves. As they spend more and more time online, they naturally will turn into another person to the point that they will start believing that it is their real self.

Because of the endless possibilities of characterizing yourself when you are online, people can be deceiving and be obsessed in building their online personality. I think for some it is a good thing that they get to create another persona because they could be experiencing tougher times in real life. For example, someone that is always being bullied in real life might feel happier and more welcomed when they are online. Media realities could be an escape for some but ultimately, we should not mix up the two realities because all the things you think you can do or achieve virtually is pointless when you are offline. So think about who you really are and don't use virtual reality as an escape.

What is media studies?

Before watching the first lecture of MDSA01, i thought we would be talking about all the social media around us such as websites that include Facebook, Twitter, etc.

However, after watching the lecture i realized that a media does not only mean the things that we watch on TV or on the internet. The definition given to us was that a media is information that  comes to use through some indirect channel or medium. Most people in our day and age, particularly our generation is surrounded by social media more than ever, and it is no surprise that we only think of social media when hearing about media studies. 

My thoughts after watching the lecture was that media studies is for us to learn about the form of communications that humans have had since a long time ago. The quote "We make our tools, then our tools make us." by Marshall McLuhan (1964) is very true in a sense that the things we make, such as a watch, helps us to be able to know the time and make life more efficient. At the same time, we are being bounded by this watch because of the time - everything that we do in our daily schedule is all depended on time, and that comes from the watch.