Labeling too difficult for some to handle

The Renoir Cinema in Brunswick Square, London is being renamed Curzon Bloomsbury. Writer Ryan Gilbey, loyal to this theatre, feels that he will be betraying the Renoir Cinema by accepting it’s new name. He listed examples of Starbursts candy and Puff Daddy being things that changed their names and still survived strong. Gilbey was able to accept these particular name changes, but somehow cannot arrive at the idea that his beloved, memory-filled Renoir will be soon Curzon Bloomsbury.

When I came upon this article, I thought of the discussion we had in class about feminism, and the labeling we have given the word. When most think of feminism, they think of loud, aggressive, women activists fighting for equality. This is the label we put on the word. It’s strange that we don’t place it’s actual current definition as the label, but that may make too much sense.

In the Renoir article, the writer doesn’t think of the actual physical building and what it does as a business, but rather holds his personal experiences with it. Perhaps if Opal Fruits made an impact on his life as much as this cinema, he’d be upset with the label change to Starbursts.

Words strong enough to kill

Seven teenagers were arrested on November 13th in Long Island for fatally stabbing Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant. An article written on November 14th, in the NY Times criticizes Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, for the harsh words he spoke of immigrants a few days prior. There was not blame or talk about the teens that killed Lucero, but only the level of guilt that Levy should be feeling from his words. It’s interesting that this media source chose to not even address that the ones doing the prejudice killing are so young; merely kids. T

The article convinces its readers that Lucero has no level of guilt. The NY Times writer said that Levy believed, “that the killing would have been a one-day story anywhere but his home turf…Mr. Levy needs to realize that distortions cut both ways.” He thinks because of what he said, he’s getting too much attention in his community. However, what about the power of the media? Why wasn’t the fact brought up that his bigotries may have easily helped persuade the teenagers into the hate crime? After reading this article completely, I wanted to know more about what exactly Steve Levy said about immigration and why this reporter feels that Levy is learning that words have consequences.

Also from the NY Times, I found an article specifically about Levy and his talk on immigration. There was a positive feel to the article at first, but soon it began to portray him quite badly. A specific prejudice that Levy enacted about immigration was him labeling Mexicans women’s children “anchor babies” because they would go over the border so their child could be born free in America. That day, he also said a local hospital was shutting down their maternity ward because there were too many “anchor babies.” This proved to be a complete lie.

While Levy is the Suffolk County executive, he will not allow the existence of hiring sites, outreach organizations, or further negotiations for immigrants. Therefore, there will be no change in the current situation of immigrants in Long Island. After realizing this in the second reading, I can see now that the first writer would say Levy has to learn the hard way about his words. Or isn’t he? Even though something as tragic as teenagers killing because of prejudices beliefs, it doesn’t seem likely that Levy is remorseful.

MTV episodes possibly infomercials for activism

Reality television shows have been around for a while now in our culture. They are intriguing most to producers because they seem unpredictable to their audiences and are cost effective. When we were discussing reality television shows in class yesterday, we came to the agreement that some reality shows inspire their audiences, while others just poke fun for entertainment purposes, or so viewers can feel better about their performances as mother, fathers, healthy people, etc.

Being just one station, MTV has a rather large amount of reality shows. Real World, Tila Tequila, Road Rules, Paris Hilton’s Best Friend, Made, and True Life are just some of the reality shows that have aired for them. MTV claims them all to be unscripted and authentic. The reading assigned to class for Friday informs and critiques MTV’s reality shows, written by Lauren Weber for the Los Angeles Times. When brainstorming for themes of True Life, producers went looking for people who’d star in the episode, “I’m living off the grid.” Yet, usually those who don’t follow the norms and don’t want to live on “the grid,” also don’t like MTV and the culture it portrays, and even the television industry in general. This problem is almost humorous because MTV placed itself there; addressing only a specific culture lead to the loss of audiences who didn’t like that culture. “Producers had to find people who were rejecting the mainstream culture that MTV basically helped to create but who were also willing to star in an MTV show,” Weber wrote.

Another MTV show that is stirring up conversations is Exiled!. It takes people that were originally on My Super Sweet 16, and place them with host families in third world countries to live for the week. It’s supposed to be an eye-opening experience, but in many cases, what was being portrayed on the screen was the times during the week when the American is criticizing the culture of their hosts. In a New York Times article published in August, Elizabeth Jensen wrote about the hope producers have for this new show to be an “infomercial for activism.” They want to expose their pop-culture viewers to the world outside their bubble. Yet, it seems that the producers may not have thought about the impact of sending a spoiled 16 year old overseas. How does the host country view Americans if the only American they met was a Sweet Sixteener? Only time will tell if Exiled! and other MTV reality shows will positively impact our nation and its surroundings.

Time difference makes no difference

Usually writing for newspapers the day after elections is difficult for European journalists. With the time change, it has been impossible to have the United States' new president elect on European newspaper covers on November 5th. Much creativity has been needed every year to develop an article that is still interesting the day after the election since they cannot give the actual outcome. However, this year a Danish paper, Politiken, fixed the problem of which candidate to place on the front page, by simply placing bold, red text, reading, "Go to http://www.politiken.dk/." This website contains the results of the election for the curious Danish reader.

Not only is this a clever idea from the Politiken journalist, but also it reflects aspects of the culture we live in. Ernst Poulsen, at Poynter Online, in regard to this newspaper, notes that it has taken years for newspaper editors to allow the "www" logo to appear occasionally in publication, and now today it’s making headlines.

It makes sense to me that editors and newspaper administrators wouldn’t want websites publicized in their papers. It would seem logical that if you can get news online, you’re less likely to also want news in a tangible, paper-form; therefore bringing less demand for papers. But with the internet still growing and references to websites occuring in almost every form of print media, could print media be next in becoming extinct in the media world?

How soon are we creating and popularizing new forms of media, while older forms have no defaults? Is it necessary to get a new cell phone every six months if your previous one isn't broke? Will children in the next few generations be learning how to read from a computer screen? The crazy thing is that these ideas don't seem that far off.

"Language of film" understood and spoken by all?

When we were discussing the elements of the “language of film” and genres in class earlier this week, I wondered if these elements applied to only American and Western-society films or for all films in existence. I tried thinking about the movies I have seen from other countires, and if they used different forms of editing and sound styles. I couldn’t think of too many foreign-made films. When I lived in Spain, I saw some American movies dubbed into Spanish but also saw a few films made by Spaniards. They seemed like they could fit into some of the genres, but also have their own. Each country probably has its own style within the genre, just like a director has his/her own style. But are there some non-Western films that have completely new genres or elements of film language?

The Tokyo International Film Festival is going on now until November 5th. In an article by The Japan Times on October 16th, a writer said that usually two “high-profile entries” come from the United States; ones that didn’t get into any western festivals. The fact that the popular ones were also the ones that didn’t do well within western standards led me to believe that the language and genres are different between western and non-western films. Now that I am aware of the “language of film,” I will be more apt to critique and find differences next time I see a western and non-western film.

Campaign Ad = Camp Ad

With all the campaign advertisements being crammed into the media in the last five days before election day, it didn’t surprise me when I received a Facebook message with a link of a Youtube video with a campaign ad motif. A friend that works for a summer camp that I went to when I was a kid sent me a message informing about the following summer’s activities and a video link. Discovering that it had a campaign ad theme didn’t surprise me much because right now much of the media is using the election theme in their media advertisements and production.

The camp video is similar to campaign ads in many ways. First, the voice narrating is deep and smooth, and sounds inspirational. The voice speaks somewhat slowly without music at first, reminding viewers about how the negativity of the campaign is getting tiring and about dreaming of a better time. This then leads into talk about early registration for the camp will be that better day in the distance. The music becomes more upbeat. It is similar to a campaign ad in that there’s a clear distinction between the first half and second half of the ad; in the first part one party is negatively talking about the other, then things change around and the party sponsoring the ad gives hope, speaks inspirationally, urges viewers to make the right choice for their safety and well being.

All sorts of media are using the campaign and political motif to get viewers attention, either by poking fun or by taking a more serious tone, urging people to vote. Saturday Night Live has had some of their highest ratings with their political skits. Also, MTV is doing a countdown, shown on the bottom right of the television screen, until Election Day, along with many special tv shows and web articles about the election’s issues.

With so much media feeding off the campaign, it’s almost hard to think where they will find their ideas after November 4th, but then again, with a new president there’s always much to talk about.

Held in Iran

A grad student from Los Angeles, was arrested and thrown in jail in Iran on October 15th.  She was in Iran working on a thesis on women's struggles.  (She is a dual citizen of Iran and U.S.) She was pulled over in her car by the police, thinking she was being  stopped for a driving violation.  Instead she was forced to lead them to where she was living, where they searched her belongings and confiscated her computer which contained video footage for her study.  

In a video newscast on the Los Angeles Times website, the reporter said that the woman's family was told by officials that if they didn't go to press she would be released soon.  Yet she still hasn't been released as of now and hasn't been able to have contact with anyone.  The embassy said that she may be being tortured.

I think that its interesting that the Iranian police/administration told her family that she'd be released soon if no press would find out.  What could they be doing that would look bad in the press? Are they doing something illegal or against their rules?  The international press surely would think differently than the national press too.  

The fact that this woman is detained is thought of as a terrible thing to us in the United States, but the media in Iran most likely isn't thinking the same.  They may think its a good thing, to check her out to see if she's a threat or something.  Still there are many, many women who are upset because of the treatment she's getting in the country.  

public art artist makes a statement

World famous graffiti artist, Will Banksy, visited New Orleans a few weeks ago leaving a semi-permanent impact on the city.  Banksy tagged about 12 walls while he visited.  It was the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  Most of his works are somewhat of a visual commentary of the disaster. 

Banksy is perhaps the most famous graffiti artist around today.  He has tagged illustrations in dozens of different countries.  His taggings are being removed from their walls, wooden boards etc. and are being sold for hundreds of dollars.  The reason for all of his popularity, besides his great talent, has been the fact that his art is public.  

The media helps Banksy become famous through the advanced technology and communications of today.  Word of mouth and seeing his work firsthand lead people to notice his work.  Website postings and bloggers raving about his tags, have increased his popularity.  

Also, the media has developed the stereotype of graffiti taggers being criminals, defacing property.  Taggers are also known to be involved in gangs, which are also associated with violence and vandalism.  Yet, Banksy's work has challenged this stereotype and all that the media pushes us to think.  Even though Banksy is illegally spray painting illustrations on others' property, his work has become known as art.  Few see it as a bad thing or as defacing property. 

The media doesn't shine favorably on people who graffiti in our society, yet the media also helps to make it known; through internet and word of mouth communications.  Graffiti art has become the latest art movement, with Will Banksy being the key figure.

spain arrest 121 for child porn

In Spain on Wednesday, October 1st, there was a nationwide raid of internet child pornographers.  121 men were arrested.  Millions of images were on the internet, reaching to over 75 countries.  It was said that two of those arrested used their own children in pornography.  Four arrested were under the age of 18.  Spain had partnered with the Brazilian police last year in July to begin work on this operation.

When something like this can happen with todays technology; when something made in one country can span out to 75 other countries, I wonder what type of laws and restrictions, if any, there are for illicit material on the web.  The easy accessibility of internet sites has helped communication, knowledge, understanding, and much more in recent years.  Yet, it has also made child pornography all the more easier to exist.

This relates to the discussions and study of ideologies that we have had in class recently.  During last semester, while studying and living in Spain, I learned a lot about the contemporary social issues being faced as a country.  The media has a large say in how news is presented to their viewers.  Spain's censorship is very loose in comparison to the United States'.  I remember seeing graphic photos of a little Gitano (gypsie) girl who had been kidnapped and murdered.  It surprised me that one of the articles presenting this story today noted that the child footage was too graphic to be aired on the news.  This seems unlike the censorship I experienced while in Spain.  An ideology I had about Spain nearly censoring everything was challenged and changed after reading the articles.  Also, the idea of holding children at a different, perhaps higher, level than women or minorities in general seemed apparent here.  The gitano, Mari Luz, that go a lot of press while kidnapped, was said to have been taken by other gitanos for revenge on her family.  Even thought this wasn't proven, it makes me think that since Mari Luz was a minority, she may not have been censored as much as she could have, perhaps by those who don't have favorable views of Gitanos in general.  Would they have not shown her dead, decomposing body if she was born by Spaniards, and not viewed as a second class citizen?    

Fired U of I official claimed unfairly singled out

The Des Moines Register on Tuesday printed an article regarding two top University of Iowa staff members being fired.  Sally Mason, the president at U of I, fired these two top officials after an independent report came out critically analyzing their actions after a sexual assault last year involving athletes.  One of the staff members fired, Marc Mills, vice president of legal affairs and general counsel, said he was unfairly singled out by the report by Stolar Partnership.  He thought that the U of I board should have got more than just one highly critical view of the situation.  

Regardless of if the two should be fired or not, the fact that the University of Iowa fired them after the report was written less than a week ago just seemed like they took the information without thinking of who wrote it and their biases.  The report was very critical of the two's actions.  I just wonder if the report wasn't as critical, if these two people would still have their jobs.  The report writers had a lot to do with the outcome for these U of I staff.  

In general, writers hold a lot of power with their words.  If they are bias or raise a certain issue, and the other side isn't there to fight back, a writer, like of the Stolar report, could potentially affect the lives of those they are reporting.  I think reader/consumers need to be aware of the context of every text.  I don't know if reading the report for Sally Mason affected her decision to fire the two or not, but it seems like, from the reading, she was persuaded a little.  But by me deciding this, it means that the newspaper article swayed me into thinking that.  It seems like a never-ending cycle.

There doesn't seem to be any way to not be influenced by the media.  

rumor sent city scrambling

I seem to think that all means of communication are slowly moving to the internet.  Yet, it was refreshing to read that gas pumps had ran dry Friday in Nashville all because of a rumor.  Word of mouth caused the city's citizens to go into panic mode; filling up their cars and even gas cans and other containers.  There is no hint at who was the originator of the rumor, but it's pleasing to know that our society can still communicate on a more personal level to one another.  

Yet, internet still had some to do with this rumor's rapid spread across the city.  Many consumers went online after hearing the rumor to see if it was true; to see if it was worth running and getting gas immediately.  The immediacy of the internet sometimes makes things like a gas shortage rumor seem real.  If you read it online, it must be true, right?  

hill now mountain

Last week three hikers turned a hill in Whales into a mountain.  The Mynydd Craig Goch Hill was noted to be 2,000 feet short of mountain status for over 200 years.  But John Barnard, Myrddyn Phillips, and Graham Jackson, with borrowed equipment, surveyed the land and discovered that the hill was in fact a mountain, with 6 inches to spare.  This is now Whales' first mountain, with hope of boosting tourism.

 

The act of labeling affects much in this case of renaming an area formerly another identity.  The thought that it will boost tourism isn't an incorrect statement, because it definitely has the potential to do so.  The ideas that are associated with a mountain are definitely powerful and will be a good tool for advertising.  Yet, even though the area hasn't physically changed much in the past years, it's new name of "mountain" changes its identity and way others view it.  The way we label and call things affects the ways we react to them, sometimes unknowingly.  It's unfortunate that tourism will grow now that something is labeled differently, yet it wasn't able to hold itself as an interesting tourist spot until it got that mountain status.

 

This raises more questions.  What in our society has a label that isn't correct with it's identity, or is it's identity defined by strictly a name that someone gave it?  Could there be multiple uses for certain things but labeling causes us to only see them a certain way, therefore missing out on their full potential?  

gas prices on the rise

It is painfully clear every time we fill up our gas tanks that gas prices have continued to increase.  Latest news say that the average price per gallon in the U.S. has reached over $4.00.  Crude oil and fuel costs have increased in 2008 because of many reasons.  One reason that interested me most was because of the decrease in the U.S. dollar.  We buy oil from other countries with U.S. dollars; so when the dollar is worth less, gas prices are more costly.  This reason seems quite obvious, yet since I failed to notice this reason, it has become even more shocking.  When living in Europe last year, I quickly became aware of the value of the U.S. dollar.  I figured that it would only affect me when I was in another country, trying to live off my money in their economy.  But I've overlooked that every product that is connected outside the country affects me greatly here.  The media usually doesn't speak of the numerous reasons that add up to the increase in fuel, but rather focuses on the more controversial reasons.

  

Another reason I thought interesting for gas price increase is within it's distribution. Operators, truckers, and station owners all affect the price in gasoline.  There is even a level of competition within stations.  I was in a grocery store the other day waiting in line to check-out, when I read a sign that stated if you spend more than $100 at the store, you get $0.10 off per gallon of gas at their station.  If you spend anything between $1-$99.99 you get $0.03 off per gallon.  This seemed like a very good deal until I walked out to realize that their prices per gallon are about $0.04 higher than the gas stations down the street not affiliated with a grocery store.  So, unless you spend over $100, you are actually paying more than the average.  In reading the notice in the store, the text seemed so great and promising.  

 

What I failed to do as a reader was take into account the context of the text.  The distribution context of the text was in a good place for success.  While waiting in a check-out line a customer is more likely to read something, rather than stop while in an aisle searching for food to read it.  It is also the last thing that the customer is thinking about as they leave and get into their car.  This text targets and catches an audience that is often in a hurry and enjoys finding savings.  

 

No help from the constant reminder of driving a car, gas price increases continue to annoy and anger us as consumers.  This is extremely understandable in todays economy, yet, why isn't it newsworthy the fact that deaths in American oil fields has risen sharply in the past 6 years?  Perhaps by ignoring this, it seems that we are saying it's almost necessary for death tolls to increase in order to have a potential for lower gas prices in the U.S.   After all, if we could get more oil from within the county, then it wouldn't matter much in this case that the value of the dollar has decreased.

gas prices

U.S. oilfield deaths rise sharply

blog 1

Until recently, I hadn't realized the impact that censorship has had on my life.  Last semester, while studying abroad in Europe, I witnessed many television and newspaper articles giving information that I would never expect to see in the media in the United States.  I was not oblivious to the censorship going on in America, but I became aware of the vast differences between Spain and the United States.  One afternoon I talked to my host family about the censorship in their country Being so different, it was often shocking and a surprise to witness.  I learned from my family that they did not think of the news, those that I was shocked by, as shocking at all.  They grew up with a certain amount of censorship, just on a different level than I had.  What interests me is that most likely, the individuals of Spain are not more prone to violence or mentally corrupted somehow because of the lower level or censorship portrayed in the news.  Yet, in reading the first few chapters of Media and Society, there has been much fear towards the media of being potentially damaging and corrupt, especially for youth.  Would it matter to individuals if we as a country had a lower level of censorship exposure from birth?

  

Links:

stories China's media could not write

mapping censorship

olympics and net censorship