Sunday, 27 August 2017

Media Imperialism


Media Imperialism is a theory stating that smaller countries are losing their identity due to the dominance of media from larger nations. It can be equated to small community shops closing down due to large superstores moving in, taking over and having a monopoly. As the larger media corporations begin to take over, smaller media companies are either being forced out or swallowed up. When the majority of media available in one country is that produced by a different, more dominant nation, it is suggested that the culture of that larger nation, along with its interests, displace that of the home country. Many critics argue that there is too much media coverage of the events in a limited number of large nations as opposed to the rest of the world. This coverage may be affected by the dominance of media companies in these larger countries, which have the ability to control the content and amount of coverage on a particular issue. Critics suggest that this dominance has led to important events getting little attention, and biased information and inaccuracy within news stories.


In this entry, I am going to discuss about media imperialism in movies and television. The first example is, the classic film 'Forest Gump' directed by Robert Zemeckis. This film was released in July 1994. This film also won an Oscar for the Best Picture. If you seen this movie, it is about the life of retarded Gump that we can get in touch with many aspects of American social life. In detail, this film was adapted from a novel by Winston Groom and was published in 1986. In the original book. this story is about fantastic fiction filling with iconic senses. However, the film has been delivered with beautiful storyline. The original fantastic and iconic meaning have been removed as well as the rebellious fighting spirit. The character Forrest Gump has been shaped as an 'civilian hero' who was noble morality and his way of earning life pursuing happiness is on the effort to glorify America. The character in the film can be seen as the representative of American which can be testified from the scene that Gump is endowed of congress badge.




Another example is the Hollywood war film 'Saving Private Ryan' directed by Steven Spielberg. This film was released in July 1998, 4 years after Forrest Gump was released. In this film shows a propaganda of American individualism. The story is about the group rescue of individual life. This theme similar to the Jewish traditional principle in the film 'Schindler's List' directed by the same director that is Steven Spielberg and was released in December 1993, who saves one life to ther world entire. basically, Hollywood films always put the mission of saving all the world on the shoulder of an individual.


In the film 'Air Force One' directed by Wolfgang Peterson and was released in July 1997, the image of American President Tim Marshall is a perfect example for protecting our country and reputation. He insists on not compromising over the terrorists. Marshall struggled with those terrorists by himself and then he realized the promise of zero tolerance and save the world. Within this film, American President is eager to expand the liberal democracy, the Christian faith and American concept of family to global people. Regardless, in realistic life, this kind of omnipotent heroism is merely a myth.

Generally speaking, new technology allows more people from around the world to make their voices heard, there are critics who argue that media imperialism is not the threat it once might have been. Access to social media tools has allowed the group of people who might be censored in the past to make their stories more widely known. Even older technologies can be very effective to allow voices in the media landscape.



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Saturday, 19 August 2017

How Does Mass Media Affect Socialization in Children and Young Adults?

What is Mass Media ?

Mass media is a diversified collection of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. All these mass media platforms provide information regarding political issues, social issues, entertainment and news in pop culture.

Nowadays, media has a huge influence on teenagers. It hugely impact all aspects of their life but all is not bad with the media. If used right, media can change lives for good. In this entry I am going to discuss both positive and negative media influence on children and young adults.

The positive factors of how media can influences child's or young adult's life are mass media can help develop awareness. Most teenagers or young adults live a sheltered life, but with exposure to various media they can develop awareness about society. With news channels, magazines, social networking sites, they can realize that there is more to the world than just what is happening around them. They can learn more about things that they didn't know. Mass media also can keeps them informed on recent events within a short amount of time besides keep them entertained with being able to watch live football games or music videos and concerts of their favorite singer. Next, they also can develop social skills. Many teenagers or young adults are socially awkward. Media gives them the chance to groom their social skills and expand their social circle. Not to mention mass media can inspire them. For example when they watches an action flick with a little guidance, they can use the movies as inspiration to take up martial arts training. In general, they look up to celebrities and when a celebrity or their favorite movie star or singer tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen.When your teen watches an action flick, don’t just despair about the violence. With a little guidance, they can use the movie as inspiration! Maybe your teen will decide to take up martial arts training, all thanks to a Bruce Lee movie! Teenagers look up to celebrities, and when a celebrity tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen.When your teen watches an action flick, don’t just despair about the violence. With a little guidance, they can use the movie as inspiration! Maybe your teen will decide to take up martial arts training, all thanks to a Bruce Lee movie! Teenagers look up to celebrities, and when a celebrity tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen. Furthermore, mass media can develop reading and writing skills. When their favorite celebrity talks of her or his favorite book, the teenagers and young adults might be tempted to grab a book too. Not just that, if they wants to be a part of blogs or chat rooms, they will need to improve their reading and writing skills. Another key point, television can be a powerful teacher too. By watching Sesame Street for example, toddlers can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational format.

Sadly mass media can serve as a negative impact in young adult's life. In this case, at their age of stage, young adult normally want to be accepted by society and the media creates the ideal image that tells them the characteristics are to be accepted and to be able to fit with society. Mass media show them what they should look like or how they can look like their favorite icon or celebrity or where they can buy those things that will make their look right. This is why many young adults especially women deal with anorexia, bulimia, mental illness etc because they want to look like the ideal type that the media display. Nowadays, little girls and young women see these famous people in the media and want to look like them. Moreover, mass media making violence normal. There are a lot of violence in video games and movies nowadays and these young people or teenagers spend several hours every day watching it. More than 1000 studies confirm that exposure to heavy doses of television violence increases aggressive behavior, particularly in boys. Many of them are unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy. This make violence normal for them. This also can led them to bullying and hurting each other.

In conclusion, not all mass media is bad, some mass media can serve as a positive roles in a young person life and there is the negative roles that mass media serve that needs to be changed. Mass media is very powerful and maybe if parents spent more time with their children, it would help decrease the negative influences of mass media.


Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792691/
https://storify.com/_Mama_Cita_/how-does-mass-media-affect-socialization-in-young
https://www.education.com/reference/article/media-as-influence-socialization/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media
http://www.momjunction.com/articles/positive-and-negative-influences-of-media-on-teenagers_00107975/#gref

Sunday, 13 August 2017

How Community Video Can Make Changes In People ?

A good film does more than entertain or fills seats at cinema. It has power to change hearts and minds. The film industry has grown and evolved rapidly since its inception in the early 1900's. Over the years, it has gained the intention of every culture in every part of the world. Film industry is a big business and is much more than entertainment. Film has the capacity to change the world.

In this entry, I will explain about films that have been hugely influential and bringing change in areas from climate change to gay rights.

The first film that I am going to discuss is The Day After Tomorrow directed by Roland Emmerich. This movie is about Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist is largely ignored b U.N officials when presenting his environmental concerns. His research proves true when an enormous superstorm develeops. setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. He then trying to get his son, Sam who is trapped in New York with his friends. Jack and his crew must travel by foot from Philadelphia, braving the elements to get to Sam before it's too late. According to Yale researcher, this film help increase awareness on climate change and encouraged people to consider how their actions could help prevent environmental crisis.

The second film is Philadelphia directed by Jonathan Demme. This movie is about Andrew Beckett who a lawyer hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller, the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face on of his ex employer's top litigators, Belinda Conine. In the early1980s, it can be difficult for anyone who didn't live through the start of the AIDS epidemic to understand just how much stigma , fear and misunderstanding surrounded the disease. When this movie was released in 1993, it helped change perceptions of Americans that felt people who living with AIDS should be placed in quarantine and should be identified with tattoos. This movie was the first Hollywood film to tackle the issue of AIDS and homophobia.

Last but not least, is Rosetta directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. This movie is about a 17 year old Belgian girl named Rosetta who lives in dilapidated trailer that has no running water, with only her indigent and alcoholic mother for company. After losing her job at a food processing plant, she struggles to find work in a bid to avoid falling into the same traps as her mother, but got rejected at every turn. Only Riquet, who works at a waffle stand, seems to care about Rosetta, but even that budding friendship has a price. The movie not only touched critics, it won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. At the same year Belgian policy maker voted through "Rosetta's Law" to protect the rights of teenager workers in the country.

The conclusion is movies have the capacity to influence society, both locally and globally but the society itself and people's reactions to those trends influence the movies. In other word, the influence can be positive or negative.


Source:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107818/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200071/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/10-movies-that-changed-the-world/

Sunday, 6 August 2017

The Truman Show

Discuss a scene you find the most profound  in the movie.

Truman Burbank is an insurance salesman leading an idyllic, peaceful life on Seahaven Island. Truman also happens to be a reality star of the most popular live show in television history. The only problem is he doesn't know anything about it. His life was recorded ever since he was born. In fact, the entire island of Seahaven is a massive set surrounded by a protective dome that produces the most sophisticated effects and imagery to mimic the sky, weather and temperature of the real world.

The most profound scene in the movie is the ending part, where he wants to go to somewhere else away from that island. Christoff the director of the show, utilizes his weather program to simulate a storm so that Truman will go back to the port. Truman keep sail the boat and make Christoff angry and increases the wind and turbulance, nearly causing Truman to fall overboard. Knowing that Truman will never back down, Christoff pull the plug on the weather and let Truman sailing until the boat rocked by a strong impact. He sails through the ocean with hope to start a new life but when he hit the wall and punches it, he realize his entire life was fake. Then, he finds a staircase leading to an exit door. As he opened the door, Christoff speaks on the intercom to Truman for the first time. Christoff introduces himself as a creator of a television show that gives hope, joy and an inspiration to millions people. Chirstoff also tries to convince Truman to stay on the show when Truman want to enter the exit door. After all, knowing that he is in a television show that the entire world is watching, he looks up and says, ''In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night." and laughed. He bows down as the show is finished and leaves the set.