Text & Context

Reading response week 11

2011-05-16T19:40:00.001-07:00

The reading references the high amount of accounts the author follows on her Twitter account (Crawford 2010, p. 66). The author earlier brought to light the idea of being overcrowded by noise and that in modern society social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, email and text messages affect our ability to concentrate (Crawford 2010, p. 65). The author suggests that these constant distractions may be a hindrance to our ability to concentrate and rest (Crawford 2010, p.65)

I find the distractions a welcome break from the monotony of continuous hours of study. The author’s point is not lost though, when following 100 people on a private account plus another 400 on a public account she is asking for a distraction. Her reasoning for Twitter to be considered a distraction is illogical, Tweetdeck can be turned off, and following less than 500 people may also help her out.

References

Crawford, K., 2010, ‘Noise, Now: Listening to Networks’ in Meanjin Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 64-69

Reading response Week 10

2011-05-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

The reading references a facet of fan fiction in which fans of a particular text role play the characters from the text and represent themselves as that character online on social networking sites such as MySpace. In the example used the user has claimed several experiences as their own, the experiences being described however are the experiences of a character from ‘Gilmore Girls’ a popular television series (Booth 2008, p. 515).

The reading references the increased crossover between media forms (Booth 2008, p.515) as media increasingly moves online fans are finding new ways to display their passion for texts they enjoy. This example of online role play of a character is similar to the concept of cosplay in which fans of a text dress as characters from television shows and films usually to attend conventions.

In the case of people imitating the lives of others online, the offline identities are not mentioned, it is as if the fictional character is actually running the account on the social network. The offline existence is sidelined for the online one (Booth 2008, p.519)

References

Booth, Paul(2008) 'Rereading Fandom: MySpace Character Personas and Narrative Identification',

Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25: 5, 514 — 536

Reading Response Week 9

2011-05-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

The reading for this week focused on how refugees are portrayed in the media. The reading does not openly suggest that journalists are intentionally racist towards refugees but rather that they are being what Bailey and Harindranath (2005, p. 275) suggest is a negative connotation being unfairly attributed to refugees.

The reason Bailey and Harindranath raise this issue is to promote what they call (2005, p. 275) a ‘global culture’ in which we all walk hand in hand. The culture that is promoting the discrimination against refugees is the journalist’s instinctual behaviour to best represent and defend their country. I have always felt that since 2001 and the attacks on the United States there has been a general fear of foreign people coming to western cultures. I don't claim that every western citizen is a racist, that would be ridiculous claim, what I mean to suggest is that since 9/11 western culture and western media has been quick to shoo away foreign people, whether in Australia legally or a refugee.

Television programs like ‘A Current Affair’ use the term ‘un-Australian’ openly to discriminate against those who do not meet the criteria set by them as Australians. I remember one story last year in which they reported on the high proportion of Islamic and Middle Eastern people moving to the Gold Coast; even though all of the people they reported on were Australian Citizens or legal residents of Australia the tagline of the story was ‘They moved here to steal our Holiday destinations’.

With this kind of discrimination hidden into news programs it is no wonder that bailey and Harindranath (2005) felt compelled to write an essay on the racism and discrimination in news media. Stories as obvious as the one from ‘A Current Affair’ along with the subtly placed messages in newspapers the people of Australia are being forced into a mentality of ‘Us vs. Them’. This attitude can only perpetuate a sub conscious attitude against the refugees and asylum seekers attempting to enter Australia.

References

Bailey, O.G. & Harindranath, R., 2005, ‘Racialised ‘othering’: The representation of asylum seekers in news media’ in Journalism: Critical Issues, ed. S Allen, Open University Press, Berkshire, pp. 274-286

Reading response week 8

2011-04-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

The reading opens with the description of what seems to be a pornographic encounter but reveals it to be an advertising campaign (Merskin 2006, p. 199) . I disagree on a whole with the negative connotations that are associated with such campaigns. The people buying the magazines that feature them are just as much to blame as the magazines who publish them. For example, if a magazine editor wants to sell more copies of their magazine they add more advertising that portrays men but mostly women in scantily clad outfits often in sexualising positions, revealing parts of their body that would be associated with sexualisation.

Why is this occurrence the editors fault? Parents groups would have you believe that the editors of the magazines want to sexualise young minds so as to gain lifelong readers of the magazine. But why would an editor have such provocative ads? Sex sells, cliché as it may be, no one is to blame for a humans base response to their primal urges, sex sells regardless of format. Playboy magazine is on the highest selling magazines in the world for the simple reason that sex sells.

There is an old saying, all is fair in love and war, I take it as no coincidence that war time is one the highest selling newspaper times. Love, or rather, sex in this case is no different. The editor’s responsibility is to sell issues, young girls may be idolising the women on the cover of these magazines but as long as they keep on buying them the editors will keep on using the sexual advertisements. Why shouldn’t they? The young girls at risk have the will power to not buy them, and if they didn’t, the ads would have to change accordingly. It isn’t the magazine industries fault for these sexualised advertisements or the sexualisation of young minds that occurs because of it. The blame should lie on the customer.

References

Merskin, D., 2006, ‘Where Are the Clothes? The Pornographic Gaze in Mainstream American Fashion Advertising’ in Sex in Consumer Culture: The Erotic Content of Media and Marketing, ed. Reichert, T. & Lambiase, J., Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, Mahwah, pp. 199-217.

Reading Response Week 7

2011-04-11T04:48:00.001-07:00

I was surprised at the reading this week, it opens with an extremely organised method of preventing citizens from getting the plague (Foucault 1977, p. 195). It surprised me because I had always imagined the times that humans suffered from the plague as wild and untamed, a society scavenging for uncontaminated food.

The panopticon is extremely interesting, after reading through the article and considering Foucault’s points regarding the differences between a dungeon of darkness, and the panopticon as a prison of visibility (Foucault 1977, p. 200) it now seems almost illogical to have prisons built any other way. Foucault says ‘visibility is a trap’ (1977, p. 200) and in the case of the panopticon it certainly is, and if being watched is a trap then we are all trapped in a net of safety.

The panopticon is designed to keep all of the dangerous inmates inside of the prison by giving them no chance to escape. This keeps the outside society safe, the same goes for that same society, if CCTV operates on every street corner, logic would suggest that people are less likely to commit a crime or cause harm to others, on the guarantee of being caught on camera.

References

Foucault, M., 1977, ‘Panopticism’ in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, translated by Alan Sheridan, Penguin, London, pp 195-228.

Reading Response Week 6

2011-04-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

The reading references a Danish software program called ‘Decision Maker’ that allowed political discussion and debate on the internet (Papacharissi, 2002 pp. 13). The program was the first of its kind, through the evolution of technology a new but similar network is currently used to serve the same purpose, Twitter. The slogan for Twitter is ‘Join the Conversation’; this is an incredibly fitting title for the micro blogging service that caps its users to 140 characters.

In the context of political debate Twitter is useful to the users who do not have easy access to public political debates. Twitter allows its users to converse with each other, albeit 140 characters at a time. In reference to the ‘Decision Maker’ program that was dominated by the users with more political influence (Papacharissi, 2002 pp.13) this is also true for Twitter, those with more followers and influence usually control the direction of the debate.

Twitter connects people from around the world; all are welcome to join the conversation however those without access to internet clearly do not. This renders the internet as an incomplete public sphere; the sphere is not complete because a portion, no matter how small is not part of the conversation. Therefore the internet cannot be a wholly complete democratically fair public sphere.

Message Boards are another forum for online political debate; they allow the same interaction occurring on Twitter but in some cases in complete anonymity. Most message boards allow the users to make their comments anonymously, this may encourage bravery in word choice among the users but it also clouds their influence (Papacharissi, 2002 pp. 16). Journalists are renowned for the organisation they represent, the name power that directs the flow of debate on Twitter is not present with anonymous debate.

References

Papacharissi, Z., 2002, The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere, New Media and Society, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 9-27.

Reading response Week 5

2011-03-27T03:02:00.001-07:00

Television is on the fence of being real and reel. Real in the sense that in regards to news programs the information delivered is real and accurate. Reel as a play on words regarding a film reel, television sometimes exasperates the news in an effort to make the real seem more cinematic. In cases like those, television can be utilized as an information deliverance service, the information is being delivered but whether or not the information has been altered to make it seem more dramatic or saddening is another story.

The attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001 were heavily displayed on news programs for weeks following the catastrophe on September 11. After a few days however the at first shaky footage had been edited and edited together with other angles from the various onlookers (King, 2005, pp 52), this is similar to what occurred earlier this year in Christchurch.

The earthquake footage of Christchurch as shown in Australia was at first a repetition of an office building collapsing and then the same loop of a church falling to pieces with the people surrounding it screaming and running in a panic. Similar to the 9/11 disaster the Christchurch disaster evolved cinematically to include several other angles, viewpoints and in some cases the addition of music so as to incite emotion in the viewers. The hyperbolic display of the news causes the broadcasts to become less of a news program and more of a television drama using news footage.

References

King, G., 2005, ‘”Just Like a Movie”?: 9/11 and Hollywood Spectacle’ in The Spectacle of the Real: from Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond, ed. Geoff King, Intellect Books, Bristol, pp. 47-57.

Reading Response Week 4

2011-03-20T05:26:00.001-07:00

The reading refers to how writing has become the dominant form of testing the capabilities of students (Game and Metcalfe, 1996, pp 92). Even in tertiary courses in music, essay writing is a major component. The text goes on to mention that students often resist the idea that writing requires daily practice. In his book ‘Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing’ (2009) Richard Walter also makes reference to what he calls the ‘writing habit’. He goes on to explain how important it is to write a little everyday in order to gain fluency and efficiency.

Rhythm in writing may have something to do with walking. The text references a quote which implies only thoughts conjured whilst walking have any value. This implies that walking, a generally rhythmic activity, may affect the rhythm of one’s writing. Rhythm is especially important in writing dialogue, characters have to flow and sway, just as people do when walking.

The self may be absent from academic writing as the text suggests (Game and Metcalfe, 1996, pp 102), writing academically constrains the writer to standards acceptable for an academic audience. The self is likely to be embellished into creative writing, for it allows the writer to be passionate, not to say that academics are not passionate about the research that they write but rather that the creative writer will put more of themselves into their endeavours.

References

Game, A. & Metcalfe, A., 1996, ‘Writing’ in Passionate Sociology, Sage, London, pp 87-105.

Walter, R, 2009. Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Plume

Reading Response Week 3

2011-03-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

The reading refers to a ‘Three Act Structure, and suggests it may be prevalent in any form of media (Stadler and McWilliam, 2009). For example a standard three act structure film involves a beginning, middle and an end. The reading references Snakes on a Plane (2006) as an example, perhaps a more relevant example would be the 2010 film 127 hours. The beginning is the set up for the story; Aron Ralston is seen hiking and rock climbing and all is well. However for a compelling dramatic narrative a catalyst must then change the direction of the story, in this instance that catalyst is Aron’s arm being jammed by a fallen rock. The middle see’s the Aron struggling with this catalyst by trying to escape. The end of a three act structure answers the narrative question (Stadler and McWilliam, 2009) and in this case Aron makes the decision to amputate his own arm to free himself answering the question “Will Aron survive/escape this situation?”.

More complex narrative structures that distort the audience’s perception of liner time and cohesion also exist in order to question the cause and effect structure traditionally utilized in three act structure films and classical narration (Stadler and McWilliam, 2009). Time in a film narrative can be presented in numerous ways, whether it is retrospective, using flashbacks like American Beauty (1999) or in reverse order like Memento (2000). Time may also be distorted by fragmenting it into episodes such as in a television series. The effect of the three act structure of an entire story must be altered if it is to become a television series, instead of pacing the plot point along a single 90 – 120 minute screening, the creators must now pace significant events across episodes leaving hints along the way.

References

Stadler, J. & McWilliam, K., 2009, ‘Screen Narratives: Traditions and Trends’ in Screen Media: Analysing Film and Television, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 155-182

Reading Response - Week 2

2011-03-07T04:11:00.001-08:00

The subject of the text is looking and the sense of sight. An interesting note is made in the text; the image with the six men gazing at the audience is referred to by the author as potentially intimidating (Lacey, 2009). This is interesting because of the range of ways the image could be interpreted, depending on race, class, gender and socio-economic status six men facing someone could be viewed in a variety of ways.

It would also be interesting to compare how this image would be interpreted if shot at different angle, specifically the low angle, as referenced later in the text the low angle gives the subject in the image a position of power (Lacey, 2009). This new angle would likely change the connotations of the image.

Applying further theory from the text, the image may also be perceived differently depending on the medium it is shown in. Medium can have an effect on the way we perceive a text (Lacey, 2009). For example the image could have been perceived differently if instead of being shown in a textbook it was shown on television as part of a commercial for cereal, which is generally cheerful, or as part of the Crime Stoppers broadcast which again would have different connotations.

References

Lacey, N., 2009, ‘Introduction to Textual Analysis’ (extract) in Image and Representation: key concepts in media studies, 2nd Edition, MacMillan, London, pp 6-33.