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Media Blog Reflection

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1/24 As most teenagers do, I consume hours and hours of media every day. Between social media, watching tv shows, listening to music, and stumbling upon numerous advertisements throughout the day, I am almost never in the absence of media. Throughout the process of writing media blogs, I have become more aware of the ways this exposure affects my life.  Learning about common advertising methods and techniques has made me much more aware of the advertisement media around me. I find myself coming upon guerilla advertising everywhere I go, but I never noticed these hidden ads before beginning this assignment in class. Additionally, I notice that I automatically think about the techniques and appeals used in each ad I see. This view has made me see through the façade the different companies represented in media create. I think that, ideally, all consumers should approach media with this similar perspective and with skepticism. This is the basis of media literacy. All consumer...
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Lady Bird

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1/15 About a month ago, I saw Lady Bird at Tower Theatre with two of my closest friends. We were amazed at how closely we could relate to "Lady Bird"'s character. I have now watched it three times, each time with a very different group of people, and they all loved it. Of course, I am aware that there are people that didn't fall in love with Lady Bird the way that I did...but nevertheless, I was thoroughly surprised by the overwhelming positive response to the movie across many different ages, backgrounds, and lifestyles. It recently won the Golden Globe awards of: "Best motion picture musical or comedy" as well as "Best actress in a musical or comedy motion picture". So why did it appeal to so many people? And how did it capture this attention?  My parents, aunts and uncles, a young couple I babysit for, and other high school-age students have all had a similar response to the movie.. they could relate to it. I think that this is the...
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Miss Representation and Princess Leia

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In Miss Representation , I learned that almost all women portrayed in movies are sexualized or objectified in a manner that makes them seem inferior to men. Of course, I was not surprised to hear this, but I only thought about love stories and romantic comedies. Then, one woman in the video made the remark that even women in films that are made to seem independent and powerful are ultimately objectified but in a more hidden manner. The interviewee in Miss Representation affectionately referred to this archetypal female character as the "fighting f--toy." I have always been a huge fan of Princess Leia from Star Wars, and throughout our learning about film portrayals of women, I tried to believe that, as the heroine, Leia was exempt from the sexualization and objectification of Hollywood. But when this was mentioned in Miss Representation , I recognized that she absolutely is not. Leia was shown as a sex slave for Jabba the Hut in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
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Joey the Mook?

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1/7 I have spent a large portion of my winter break watching Friends and growing to love every character on the show .  Today, while trying to think of something to write about, it came to me that one of the characters could be considered a mook. Though not all of his actions align with the definition of a book, I feel that much of Joey's character has been constructed to match the archetype. Many of his actions throughout the show create his lovable, but quite immature, personality: He steals and wears Rachel's lingerie, gets an uncooked Thanksgiving turkey stuck on his head, bets a man that he can fit into his cabinet and gets locked inside, bets Monica that he can eat the entire turkey by himself, talks constantly about his sex life (boasting about his favorite pick-up line "how you doing?"), lives on pizza and beer in his reclining chair, and describes his favorite acting tactics as "smell the fart acting". These actions could quickly toss Joey int...
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I Texas Texas?

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1/7 This week, I spent a few days in Texas visiting my grandparents. Immediately after arriving the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, I noticed how everything was "all about Texas". Every gift shop was filled with Texas themed t-shirts, license plate decorations, mugs, hats, blankets, pillows, electronic chargers... Anything you could think of came with a Texas state flag printed on it. I figured this could be because we were in the airport and the idea of welcoming people to Texas from other parts of the world caused this presence of state spirit. But throughout the three days I spent there, I walked around a shopping mall and noticed the same behaviors. Texas "spirit-wear" appeared in every store. Even international chain stores were unlike their sister stores in California: they all had large numbers of products dedicated to promoting Texas... At first, I passed off this behavior simply as that of "Texan culture," but the more I saw it, the more I recogn...
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WIX Super Bowl Commercial

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFsDLXEfmU The commercial begins with a cook in the kitchen of a restaurant putting on headphones and beginning to set up a website using Wix. Then, out in the restaurant, the camera shows Gal Gadot and Jason Statham sitting at separate tables but making eye contact as if to say "it's go-time" as a group of obvious villains walks in. Then, Gadot slips off her high heel and starts fighting the 'bad-guys', defeating them one by one until she and Statham have wiped out the whole group. Then, Statham blows up the whole building. Finally, the cook, who has been oblivious to the entire incident, emerges from the kitchen and looks around as a narrator says, "To succeed in a disruptive world, Wix makes it easy to create your own stunning website." Within the first few seconds of watching this ad, I noticed that Wix was using the actress famous for playing "Wonder Woman". After watching the ad in full, I underst...
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Cadillac Ad

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12/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsNgZ4amAM In this advertisement, Cadillac hoped to target ALL Americans, not only those on one side or the other of the divide in United States politics. To accomplish this, they chose to support an idea that would appeal to all of us: Unity. The ad begins with a loud scene of fighting and protesting and a narrator saying, "We are a nation divided," painting the picture of desperation to entice the viewer to watch the entire ad. Then, the tone quickly changes as the narrator says optimistically, "But what they don't tell you, what doesn't make the news is this: We carry each other forward, no matter who we are or what we believe." I noticed that the first scenes of protests and fighting were depicted in black and white, but as soon as the narrator began talking about the love and togetherness of the American people, the pictures came to life in color. I found this tactic to be very interesting and well though...
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Covergirl Ads

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12/10 Ayesha Curry ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqVg9QepxWk Zendaya ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjyV0_JE1-Q First, I came across a Covergirl commercial featuring Ayesha Curry in which I immediately noticed the implicit message, 'If you wear our mascara, you'll be a star like Ayesha'. The ad opens with a close up of Ayesha Curry applying Covergirl's new mascara in her glamorous dressing room. Then, she walks onstage in slow motion as her voice says, "No matter the arena...I'm always in the spotlight." I feel that this line perfectly showed the technique Covergirl used to appeal to the audience. Covergirl focused on Ayesha's glamorous celebrity lifestyle, which translated into heavy use of Transfer/Association to satisfy the 'need for attention' and 'need to achieve'. I know that these techniques are very often used in the world of media, and that made me think about Covergirl's repeated messages and techniques. I...
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MSNBC vs Fox News on Trump's "Pocahontas" Remark

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12/3 MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/event-honoring-native-american-vets-trump-cant-help-himself Fox (0:00 to 2:59 relevant to this discussion): http://video.foxnews.com/v/5665923514001/?#sp=news-clips While reading the news today, I encountered a news story about President Trump's most recent offensive comment. During an event to honor Navajo Code Talkers, he said, “You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.” I immediately wondered, "What does Fox News have to say about this same incident? Do they deny that Trump's comment was racist? Do they defend his case?" So, I searched the website for Fox News and found the video above, in which this event is discussed for the first few minutes. I immediately noticed the tone of the man reporting the story. He said with a mockingly dramatic voice and a grimace on his face, "Alright! Acc...
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Gilmore Girls Trailer

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12/2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGGNNSmGDpU This morning, while I was scrolling through Netflix, the trailer for the newest season of  Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life,  started playing automatically. The first line was, "Did we order Chinese, Greek, and Italian food last night?" This goofy line made me immediately intrigued in the trailer, so instead of scrolling past it as I usually do, I watched it until the end. From the beginning, I noticed the use of music in this trailer to convey the message of this season of  Gilmore Girls . Theme music carrying a carefree and happy vibe played in the background while the main characters, Lorelai and Rory, argued over tater tots and organic tacos. The music became calmer or more powerful in order to add to the 'dramatic effect' of what the trailer was displaying. The light, silly vibes portrayed in this trailer were used to target Netflix customers who like easy-going, relaxing TV shows or who have watched pre...
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My Relationship with Media

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11/27 As many teenagers of the 21st century do, I spend hours of my life consuming digital media. I use platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to communicate and connect with my friends every day. These social media platforms allow me to maintain friendships and connections with people I don't see often, which I truly enjoy. In addition to these programs, I listen to music on Apple Music while hanging around the house or running. I also use Netflix to watch Friends or  Grey's Anatomy and unwind on the weekend or during a break .  I am almost always surrounded by one sort of media or another in my daily life. I keep updated on current events in the world by reading the newspaper or the News App on my iPhone. I believe that while it may help me keep in touch with my friends and family far away, relax when I need time to myself, or keep up with current events, it can distract me from schoolwork or even social interaction. I notice that when a homewo...
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