The Media We Want Response

Do we want the media we get, or do we get the media that we want? This is a very controversial topic as there are many points for each side. After reading many other students’ blogs, I found that there are many mixed feelings about this issue. The main point I shared in my blog post was that the media would give us, the audience, what we want. Personally, I believe that we get the media as we want since media relies on us to provide them with popularity and profit. In my blog I used examples like Miley Cyrus, to prove how her crazy acts have us talking and giving the media all the attention that they want. Braiden’s blog post was also very similar to mine. He wrote, “the media constantly spits out new content everyday, but it is up to us as the audience to decide whether we like it or not. The media sees that the audience is enjoying a certain content and focuses more on that” (http://braiduhn.wordpress.com). As I mentioned, the media waits to see the reaction they receive from the audience. If it is a good one that will give them a lot of attention, they will continue doing it. If they are unsatisfied with the reaction, they will stop it and try something else until the reach something that gets a response they like. Shelby, also sharing a similar concept in her blog post, used an interested analogy to describe the connection between the media and us as the audience. She stated, “the relationship between the media and the audience is like a fisherman and fish. The audience and the fish only bite when they’re interested. A fisherman must put some thought into the bait they’re hoping will ensnare the fish” (http://shelbylafreniere.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/blog-entry-2-the-media-we-want/). This relates to the real world of humans and media. The audience gives attention to the media if they’re interested. Therefore, the media will try to provide us with what we are interested in so that we can provide them with the popularity and money that they are looking for. A post that contradicts with my own article and the previous two articles is Eric Gervais’s blog. He says, “we want the media that is given to us because it can make us feel as though we are fitting in and are approved by those we look up to” (http://cpcf1f25convo.blogspot.ca/2013/09/cpcf-blog-entry-1.html). I definitely do agree with what Eric is stating. The media makes us feel like we are fitting in with all the hottest celebrities. Although, I do not agree that we feel approved by those celebrities. All the different blogs made very good points explaining why we either get the media we want or want the media we get. After reading different blogs I am stuck in the middle of the two views. I now believe that we want the media that we get and we also get the media that we want.

 

 

1F25 Post 3: Getting the media that we want

Many people believe that the media, a huge part of everyone’s daily life, has become such a negative influence on the lives of society. But my question is, why? Why do we constantly talk about media in such a negative manner? Why do we bash all the latest celebrity stories? Why do we continuously follow all the most recent news with who has gotten into trouble with the law and watch all the performances online when society thinks so poorly of it? We are constantly doing this to ourselves, as we want the media that we are getting! The media can be seen as part of a purely self-serving and profit-motivated consumerist culture” (O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. Media and Society: Media Studies. Page 13). We are getting what we want when it comes to media, although everyone involved in the production of it is using it for profit and popularity. “The media have to sell themselves successfully to large numbers of the population: they have to win big audiences in order to be economically viable and survive” (O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. Media and Society: What Do the Media Do to Us? Page 32). Think about how popular Miley Cyrus has become. Everywhere I go someone is talking about her most recent media debuts. It all started with her video posted all over the web of her smoking salvia on her birthday. One post on YouTube had almost 4 million views, and that is just one of many videos. Her video for her song “We Cant Stop” has a lot of dirty dancing, booty shaking and crazy partying. The music video went viral and had many hits online. Then there was the VMA performance where she was seen in a nude bikini with a foam finger, which she used provocatively through out the song and was “twerking” on Robin Thicke. The performance took the title of the most tweeted about performance at the VMA’s, where it brought in approximately 360,000 tweets a minute! People today are still talking about that performance! Her most recent music video for her song Wrecking Ball, which involved her nakedly swinging from a wrecking ball and licking a hammer, has much over 250 million views! Everyone is talking about Miley Cyrus, her crazy life and how poor of a role model she has become, but yet we are so caught up in the media that we cannot stop watching it! She is the role model of many girls and her outrageous life is not a good one to follow. Miley and her production team, know how big of a reaction her performances are getting from society and will continue to give us what we want in order to continue being the trending topic in society. Miley Cyrus is just one of the many celebrities who uses this to her advantage. The media wants as much attention as possible and will continue to produce what they know we will want to see.

      

1F25 Post 2: Media Impact Response

Media is all around us. At home, at school, at work, everywhere we go we are exposed to mass media. With being constantly surrounded by media, a very controversial question arises; does mass media have an impact on society’s worldview? After reading several other blog posts answering that exact question, I have discovered that many students believe mass media does have a significant affect on our daily lives. With that arises another question; is the impact that media has on our societies view a positive or negative one? I have found that many other bloggers agree with my theory posted in my previous blog; that media does in fact affect society in a negative way rather than a positive one. Through comparison, I found that the ideas I shared were very similar to those in other students’ blogs. In Haley’s blog, she wrote “Personally, I can relate to this as one of my friends in high school dealt with anorexia. Between the pressure of media and her own personal thoughts she began to restrict herself from eating in grade 12” (http://www.hb123na.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/the-influence-of-media-a-blog-for-cpcf-1f25/). This story compares to the one I shared in my previous post about the girl from my school being bullied over her looks and committing suicide. Both blogs show that the impact of media is truly more severe and detrimental than perceived by most and is in fact a serious issue that affects people all the time! Reading multiple other posts and being able to see that many others agree with my views, have now strengthened my initial thoughts on this issue.

Being surrounded by media affects young women and their body image, which is negatively influenced by the images that are portrayed. This topic was extremely popular for this assignment. My blog post, focused mainly on the affects that Facebook has on young women, whereas other students focused on mass media as a whole.

Amongst my readings, I found a few points I found extremely interesting. Although Allie stated that she does not feel that the mass media influences her worldview, her blog says, “For example, Pink being in a commercial for Cover Girl’s newest mascara that everyone just has to go and get right this second because it is the newest and best – and hey look Pink has it and she’s famous and you want to be like her, don’t you – she’s famous, how could you not want to be like her – everyone wants to be famous – well, if you go and get this mascara you could be like her too!” (http://allietown1613.wordpress.com). I feel like the point she made was contradicting as she stated that media does not influence society yet later wrote that people want to be just like the people they see on television commercials. If media did not impact society, then why would anyone even bother with the commercials that are shown on TV? Why would people want to be like famous celebrities, if they were not influenced by mass media?

While reading Veronica’s blog, I came across another interesting point that I never really considered but found it to be true. Her blog says, “no one wants to watch a television series about a chubby fourteen year old girl who goes to a crumby high school in an even crumbier town. Nobody wanted to read a book detailing the life of someone who pretty much did what everyone else did to get by” (http://veronicatmeow.blogspot.ca). A majority of the television shows we watch star skinny and pretty rich girls with great fashion sense and nice cars.  Many people wonder why their lives are nothing like the shows or movies they watch. It’s because these lives aren’t real, it is impossible for everyone to live a lavish life. They are made up by producers in order to keep viewers constantly entertained and watching. The way the media portrays these celebrities make it very difficult for young women to feel comfortable in their own skin.

All I can say is, us young women need to understand that beauty isn’t defined by how skinny you are, what colour hair or eyes you have, what clothes you wear or how perfect your smile is. We need to stop letting media define who we are. Everyone is beautiful; we just have to realize it for ourselves.