Watching 12 angry men was a very interesting film to watch. Seeing 12 angry men and a almost completed murder case reminded of a family guy episode I watched. Over time they changed their opinion on a case that seemed to be completely closed. All it took is for one person to speak their opinion and question the majority. In today’s society the one that has a different opinion usually is pushed away and not even allowed to voice their opinion. It also is very rare for someone to question the majority in today’s society. If someone is told something or watches the news they believe it immediately because they don’t want to look into it or speak for themselves. Instead of taking the easy route they spoke up for themselves and the group was later convinced and realized that the man had a point. What he was saying was not just lets all do this quick and get this over with. They took the time to look into it and explore all possibilities.
This year learning the inside and outs of a blog has been very interesting. Going into this class and learning we had to make a blog every week, I’m not going to lie, I was not looking forward to. I’ve never thought of myself to make a blog but this class has been very changing. I feel my blogs haven’t been bad but not amazing. I don’t see the public wanting to read my blogs but reading some of the comments that my classmates have made they must not be awful. Reading everyone’s blogs every week allows us as students to see others perspectives on topics. The topics we have covered have been very interesting and its nice to see everyone’s thoughts on these topics. I think this is kind of what we needed during hard times with COVID. Everyone being able to voice their opinions and try something new in a form of a blog. And with everything being online it allows us to social distance and able to interact and communicate through our blogs. Overall I liked the class and learning something new.
This weeks screening included documentary on the 45th anniversary of Jaws the movie. This happening just this past summer. Also there was a Jaws WeMake 45th anniversary tribute to celebrate. This was a very cool way to get the public and the Jaws fans their opinion out there on the already great movie. They recreated parts of the movie and was very interesting to see how they wanted parts of the movie to look like and it was a amazing to see. Getting the public involved in my opinion is always a great idea not only for your current movie or business but for the future of your company. Building on an already huge fanbase will help them for their future movies.
Another topic we covered this week in class is the topic of Fandoms. Fandoms are a really huge aspect of pretty much anything. There is a fan group for almost everything nowadays. Weather it be a fan group for a movie such as Jaws or a fan group for a video game like Call of Duty. There are huge fanbases and these fanbases can sometimes get out of hand but that’s what makes them special. These fan group will most likely not only buy that product but will always buy that product. Xbox fans will always buy an Xbox and PlayStation fans will always buy a PlayStation and never consider the other. They have a loyalty to these brands and will always keep that loyalty to them unless the company does something negative to lose that loyalty. Companies acknowledge this fandom and will sometimes look to their fans and see what they want to see in upcoming products. As a business student this is always an amazing opportunity for businesses to grow and better develop their products because they always have a test group to go to and confirm products with.
A huge example of a fandom that can get very crazy is sports teams. Sporting teams can have very intense fan bases that will be loyal to them to the end. Growing up some kids grow up into families that sports are crazy important to them and they are somewhat forced to be fans of that team. Others find a team they like or a player and they will go all out to show their support for their team. In the photo show is a group of college basketball fans at a Duke basketball game. They are known as the Cameron Crazies because of how hard they go to show their support for the Duke Blue Devils.
My questions to the audience
Are you part of a fandom if so which one?
Do you have a loyalty to any one brand or product?
The media has been growing larger and larger every year. Over the years there has been numerous problems that have came about. Some problems came about with the continuous growth of media that included problems with accuracy. The problem I will be talking about today though is the problem with social media platforms being biased. Over the years we have seen an increase in the amount of biased opinions in social media. This may be because of the popularity of social media or the increase in the amount of people feeling free to speak their own opinion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with speaking your own opinion but I feel like in social media or especially when on a news broadcast there needs to be a limit on what can be said or some consistency between different broadcasts. I noticed this a lot during the past election. When watching the election you would notice which broadcast was leaning towards a party more than another. Just small things you would notice such as cutting off one party during a speech and not the other or constantly talking bad about one party and praising the other. Flipping back and forth between channels you would get a totally different feel for the election process and results. I am not one to get caught up in politics because there is just too much controversy and you are constantly trying to keep everything civil between parties. Which is also strand because I never thought it was this much hatred for either party but maybe we realize this as we grow older.
The two larger broadcasting stations are FOX and CNN. Each of these keep us up to date on everything about our government and country. As you watch these station you might notice that one station prefers one party over another. CNN is felt to be more Democratic and FOX News is thought to be more Republican. Why is there a station for each side? The most common broadcasts could be portray completely different results or news. How are we suppose to know what is real and what is fluff that the broadcast in presenting to us. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when you are responsible for giving the public information on important current events there should be a line between facts and opinion that should not be crossed.
In class we watched a video of a news broadcast that was about the U.S. representative and what abruptly interrupted because of breaking news about Justin Bieber. I don’t understand how anything that is happening in Justin Bieber’s life could be “breaking news” but it can not be more important than the U.S. representative. Reporting on the things that are most important should be reported and not the stuff that is interesting or flashy especially on the celebrity side of things. News stations such as CNN and FOX should cover things about our government and nation. Leave the celebrity drama to TMZ.
Over the years technology has been a huge factor in the way that children are being raised now. Children are growing up with gaming devices, televisions, tablets, and other various forms of technology. This is not the case in the past. In the past most children went out and played with the neighborhood kids and played baseball, rode bikes, or went for a walk. They would go out and enjoy the outdoors. Kids still do this today, but with the ever changing technology that has become so advanced, kids are drawn into the technology and staying inside. One huge form of technology that has become so popular is video games. Instead of playing baseball or basketball with your friends in real life, you are playing against them online using professional players on a television screen.
Now during times such as the pandemic, we are forever grateful for technology such as video games. It allows children and teens to have something to do as well as be social with friends and the public. But before the pandemic most older individuals looked at video games as a waste of time and a reason that children were becoming lazy and not productive. In some cases this may be true but in most cases this is not true. Video games can be very beneficial for kids growing up. Some of the positives of playing video games are, improved coordination, improved problem solving skills, enhanced memory, improved brain speed, and improved social skills. All of these are important when looking at what a child should be trying to do when growing up at a young age. Now there are some negatives that come along with these as well. All these positives have to come with negatives or everyone would be 100% behind allowing their kids to play video games and there are people who are very much against them. Some of these negatives include, reduction of motivation, poor mental health, relationship issues, and social disconnection. Now with these negatives comes counter arguments. This happens with any pros and cons discussion. When looking at the reduction of motivation, I feel that the motivation is still present, it is just pointed towards a different outlook that most people would not understand. When playing video games your motivation is presented through goals and achievements in the video game. When making this counter argument most people who do not play video games would say that this is a waste of time and you could be doing more important things. Having the feeling of self achievement when reaching a goal or achievement not only in video games but in life means a lot to the younger generation. Though to a parent it being pointed at a video game is not presented as an accomplishment. Now with the argument of poor mental health, video games are an outlet to most of the younger generation. When the younger generation is presented with hard times such as depression or stress, video games allow the youth to escape to the real world. Relationship issues can occur with playing video games. You will be putting more time into the video game and less time into spending time with family. At the same time you are able to build relationships with friends and people all around the world. With it being so easy to communicate with random people that you do not know, children need to be educated on what is okay on the internet and what is not. Talking to random people about personal information obviously is not okay. But connecting and making long-term friends with people in another state is very beneficial. It gives kids something to look forward to.
There is also a big problem that people look at when trying to determine weather or not video games are beneficial or harmful. This factor is violence caused because of video games. The question has been around for awhile and that is, Do violent video games cause violence in kids? With this discussion there is a somewhat simple solution. Parents when allowing to let their children play video games at a young age should always look into the ratings of the video games that they buy for their kids. These rating will allow parents to know what graphic content may be in the video games presented to your kid. Obviously we do not want 10 year old boys and girls playing GTA or other violent shooting games. This is mainly on the parents to know what they are buying for their children. Some games are very beneficial for children at young age and some are very harmful for children. Its on the parents to make sure they are not only old enough but ready for the game that they are going to be playing.
Over the years technology has become the greater factor when it comes to everything. There is very few things that are unaffected by the new and powerful technology that has come about. Most of the news that we hear today comes from social media or a media source that has not been around that long. With technology being such a huge influence on how we get our news, it is very hard to determine if the news we are receiving is real news or fake news. This has been problems in the past but when we had very little technology. This happened when we still reading newspapers. As technology has evolved how do we know the news that is being spread is true? There is limitations and laws in place to try and protect the people and limit what the social media outlets can say and law put in place to assure what they are saying is true. Now does this always work? Of course not. There is a lot of rules in this world and a lot of them get broken everyday. This is one of them for sure. Being that technology is so huge now a days, when one report gets word that is somewhat crazy to one person they spread it to the next person and then it starts a chain. With all this false information that gets spread so easily how do we tell what is real and what is fake? It takes someone to question the statements being made and look for themselves to try and find the right information. Now how often does this happen? How often do people now a-day look for information for themselves? All of this depends on the people around you and the experiences you’ve had with people in my opinion.
With all of the power that media has in today’s society most would think they would try and promote good things in today society and try to help the public. They do this as well. Social media and just media in general has been very good for our society. The ease of being able to find out about important news that is happening in our country is just unbelievable. An example is the constant information on the current election. If it were not for social media or television we would be in the dark for a majority of the current election. Now there has been problems with social media and spreading rumors of illegal ballot information and that has spread. Weather this information is false or true I have no idea. The point is the ease of information to get spread and the very few limitations on what can be said and the accuracy of this information.
My question for the readers is, Is media becoming to much of an influence on the public opinion or is it on the public to know what is true and false?
Growing up I always saw that movies had a rating and a lot of people would pay attention to those type of things. I really never paid attention to them but I knew what they meant. My parents were very lenient when it came to them. But growing up and wanting to watch movies with my friends, their parents would not allow them to watch movies because of the rating of the movie. This was always very disappointing as well as confusing to me because I was not used to this. Although my parents were okay with me to watch these movies does not mean everyone is okay to watch them. Should there still be a rating though there are parents like mine that do not look at these ratings? Of course! Though some do not care about the ratings, these rating give parents or guardians a heads up on what is to come in the movie. Some families swear more than others in the household and and if a movie is rated higher than G because of language parents might be okay with their child to watch the movie because they are used to it in the household. Now if there is nudity parents may tend to shy away from the kids being able to watch the movie.
I feel like rating like this are very important to an extent. Movies are a great example of media that should have ratings. You want to know what to expect before watching the movie. No parent wants to be watching a movie with their family and then having a sex scene start in the movies. Now some say there should be a rating to all media. Such as TV, Music, and social media. And there is rating is there own way. Music is categorized as explicit or clean. TV has parental guidance warning before shows that need it. Social media has parent locks and filters. Now some like all of these filters but some hate them. My question to the audience is, should there be all of these filters or should people have a lighter handle on the children’s lives?
Movies have been around for years but they have been ever changing. It first started with stop and go films that were 2-D and sometimes had no sound. You would have to read the words that would come on the screen after the person said it. Now these were the movies of the past and most likely will never be seen again, but it shaped movies of the future and the movies yet to happen. Everything has to start somewhere and more often than not the starting point will seem like stick figures compared to the end result. Now these movies started off very simple as I said before, but for their time this was a whole new world being discovered. The movie seen that was just a group of photos flipped through quickly and music playing in the background was beyond amazing for its time. Though these movies do not sound like much it is basically the same as what we experience today with the help of technology. The movie are still structured how we would see a movie today. An intro, plot, and a climax. People during the older movie time really looked forward to this planned out structure of a movie. In today’s world people are a lot less patient. They are looking for a plot and climax very quickly. Not looking for a build up they just want it straight forward.
Back when movies were first created there was a sense of togetherness when going to see a movie. It was a big deal back then. The family would get together and go to a movie theatre to watch the movie. Though we still have movie theatres today they are much different than they experienced at this time. Today, movies theatres are not a big as they were back then. Size wise they are huge, but not a popular. Why go out and pay to leave your house and watch a movie when you can stream it right to your television at the comfort of your couch. Streaming has become the way of the future. Is this because its the new technology that everyone feels they have to be a part of? Or is it just significantly better? In my opinion just the option of having to go out and deal with the public to watch a movie or just sit on my couch in my comfy clothes, I will choose to stay home every time. Streaming surfaces such as Hulu and Netflix have become huge. Both provide the same service but doing so in different ways. Hulu is known more for television shows and live television but also offering movies. Netflix is known for having most movies and their own original shows. In my opinion, movies theatres are on the way out, especially with COVID right now. Do you, the audience, think so as well?
This weeks reading entailed discussions on where our future is going because of social media. Social media has impacted the way we live in various different ways. Some of them have been outstanding for the way we live but some have been very negative both on the ways we live and the impacts it has had on people.
Social media first took off and not many thought it would be as popular as it was. It first started with Facebook. Started by Mark Zuckerberg. Mark first started Facebook when he was in college and it was intended to be used the way we use it today. Facebook is used for several different reasons today. Some include, selling items to those around you or in a group with you on an extensions called, Facebook Marketplace. Others may be connecting with family and friends that you may not be able to see very often. Mark Zuckerberg was not planning on doing any of this. His original intention of the social media platform was so that he could talk to girls at his college that he couldn’t face to face. Now as crazy as this sounds his idea created one of the greatest social media platforms and he is doing very well to say the least. And you might think, “Who is their right mind would use a social media platform to try and find someone to date?” You would be surprised. There is numerous apps that have a sole purpose of finding someone to date or other things to keep it PG. Some of them include tinder, eHarmony, and bumble. These have become very popular and are very helpful to some people to find someone to be with. Other have different opinions on these applications.
Though social media can be very helpful to connect and give people something to do, social media has also been very negative. With everything great there is always negatives that come with it. Some of these negatives include smaller things such as connecting with people who you do not want to. Weather this be a random person or someone you had a negative experience with in the past. If it were not for social media you could avoid these people very easily. Other negatives can be very serious. These include stalking or cyberbullying. Social media can cover your identity very well it is scary. These allow you to keep up with someone’s life very closely without them knowing and it is wrong. Some use this masked media platform to talk bad or down on those who do not deserve what is being said about them.
My Question to the readers is, Do YOU think social media has been overall positive or negative?
Over the past few years the internet has been rising in popularity its becoming a new norm. Most people’s everyday lives solely revolve around the internet. Some are fortunate enough to make a living off of the internet. The internet has had such a global impact both positively and negatively. The internet allows you access to so much information that could help you find anything from, information on your essay for class or a friendly bet you have amongst friends.
Another huge reason the internet has been so positive is it connects so many people all around the world. This can happen in several different ways. The obvious one is social media such as, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, and so many more. Some that are not as obvious is the online gaming industry. This is a very large and upcoming industry. Millions of people play video games and there are even hundred of thousands of people who actually watch other play video games. The online streaming service called Twitch allows you watch some very popular people stream the game that they love and interact and ask them questions. Some might wonder why would people stream their games and have to deal with thousands of people asking them questions and have to respond to them. These streamers are making millions of dollars by playing video games. Viewers can send streamers money as a form of donations to ask their favorite streamer questions or just say what’s up. They also receive money through subscriptions that vary from $4.99 a month to $24.99 a month. Most people would think this is crazy and never donate but these streamers can actually change the lives of many individuals. Some people who feel helpless and alone have nobody to reach out to so they reach out to these streamers and most streamers will talk to you and realize you need someone to talk to. They can brighten up people’s day and give them something to look forward to. This is how streamers build a community. There are negatives to the internet though. There are a lot of helpful people on the internet but there are those they are far from it. Over the years there has been various problems with cyberbullying. With internet being such a private source of communication, bullies use this to their advantage. They will talk bad about people and not see any consequences.
The documentary Digital Nation, talked on how when using the internet you drift into another universe. Rachel Dretzin talked on how her whole family had been engulfed into the universe of the internet. Coming home and its like her family is not there. In some aspects they are not there. When using the internet most people feel like they are in a different world. When scrolling through the internet its almost as if you are in a different would where each post is someone sitting in front of you saying the things they post. I will admit it is very engulfing using the internet but at the same time I cannot imagine life without it. Do you feel like you are engulfed when using the internet?
How can something as simple as a television change the world we live in? There is so many other crazy inventions today so why the TV? For the past few years media has came through technology in many different forms. As of late it has been the internet and social media, but it used to be television for the longest time. At a very simple time in 1927 the television was created. This was when there was one or two channels on the television. They were very simple times, so I’ve heard. Being almost 22 years old I did not experience it for myself. With one or two channels catching your favorite TV shows could be very difficult. They were on a specific times and kids of that era knew that. They would gather around the TV or change their schedule to make sure they could see their show when it aired. There was no DVR so if you missed it you were screwed.
The first film that we watched was called “Tuning into media”. I somewhat liked this film. Although they talked about a lot of interesting things, I didn’t necessarily agreed with all of it. The film talked about how TV is becoming outdated and a thing of the past. I do not feel TV is becoming a thing of the past. It is still constantly involving into new forms of TV. There is so many different types of TV’s unique in their own way. I feel there has been so much innovation with technology Television is being push into the background. They might not notice how important Television has been, and will be for the years to come. Television was one of the first well trusted sources of news, behind the newspaper. TV is part of my everyday routine if I have time and I feel like that is the same for many other people my age. Hard to see TV being called “outdated”.
The second film we watched was Rob Serling, submitted for your Approval. The film talked about the large impact that television had on his life. He questioned us as a viewer about our moral’s. He would ask such questions that some would say picked our brains. His tow best accomplishments were Playhouse 90 and The Twilight Zone. Both of which were very successful shows that he took large part in. Unfortunately, Rob later died on June 28, 1975 of a heart attack. There is no doubt that today’s television is a large part of what it is because of the great Rob Serling.
My question to the audience is, do you feel like television is fading away?
Mass Media and American Life 