Questioning the media ch. 3

Q1:  What was your first favorite group or singer?  How old were you at the time?  What was important to you about this music?

A:  When I was in third grade, I got my very first portable CD player and a CD for Christmas.  On this CD was the song All Star by Smash Mouth.  Almost instantly, this became my favorite band due to that song.  I would listen to the same song over and over again.  I quickly learned all of the words.  I grew fond of all of the band's other songs as well.  Their sound seemed to have struck a chord in me and it ended up turning on my appreciation of music.  As a young and innocent eight year old, I appreciated their clean lyrics and I enjoyed jamming out to their poppy beat.  For the next few years they were to remain my favorite band and I even sang All Star in my fifth grade talent show.

Q3:  Think about the role of the 1960's drug culture in rock's history.  How are Drugs and alcohol treated in contemporary and alternative forms of rock and hip hop?

A:  The drug culture combined with the development of rock and roll in the 1960's and 70's created a counterculture of the baby booming youth.  Working together, these two evolved around each other leading to the rise of groups such as Jimi Hendricks, Pink Floyd and even Bob Marley.  They had a following of young people looking branch away from the conventional and experimenting with things that were totally against the mainstream.  In the rock and hip hop culture of today, these ideas have almost done the opposite- evolved into the mainstream.  Most hip hop songs today are about sex money and/or drugs.  Rock follows a familiar lifestyle pattern as many groups and individuals support the cause of often thought ill natured morals.  The youth of today has been brought up on more a a premise that these things are normal, leading to a large cultural loss of traditional morals and values.

Q5:  Do you think the Internet as a technology helps or hurts musical artists?  Why do so many contemporary musical performers differ in their opinions about the internet?

A:  In order to truly understand the differing opinions of musical artists about the Internet, one must look at both sides of the issue before drawing their own conclusion.  The internet, with sites such as YouTube and Myspace and Itunes can do a great job of promoting an artist's work and even selling it.  With these methods, even the little independent guy can get his music out there and make some money on it.  However, music is also easily stolen and shared by means of programs such as Limewire, and with torrents that can be downloaded directly off the internet.  With this,  it is understandable why musicians would be upset, as they are not getting paid for their work.  Personally, I feel that though this goes on, customers are much more likley to go out and buy an album than steal it if they really want to support heir artist.  A much wider range and variety of music can be much more easily discovered with genres only a Google or an Itunes search away, making it easier for bands to become well known and prosper.

Questioning the media ch. 2

Q1:  What was your first encounter with the Internet like?  How did it compare with your first encounters with other mass media?

A:  Way back in the day when I still a young kid, my parents bought our family's first computer.  Running on Windows 95, we had the revolutionary America Online.  This form of internet was slow, and and overall annoying to use.  I would log on, get to listen to numbers being dialed as if I were placing a call, and I would be greeted by a friendly voice telling me I got mail.  However, this whole process took about 5 minutes- just to get logged on!  I always had to devote time in my day and make sure I logged off because it would take up our phone line.  No one could get a hold of us otherwise because there were no cell phones at this time.  My only other encounter with a new form of mass media would be the cell phone.  This device revolutionized my social network as I could have my very own line of communication, much like the internet had with programs like instant messenger.

Q2:  What features of the information highway are you most excited about?  What features are most troubling?  Why?

A:  With the information highway, great advances in relaying information across the world were made.  Features that appeal to me most are those that I can benefit from most.  Advances in connectivity speed are things that excite me because it means I can access information almost immediately.  Websites such as google allow me to find out information on topics or things that just interest me in general anytime of day.  Also the advances in portability of information sources such as the Internet on cell phones really comes in handy when Im on the go, or in a situation where I cannot access a computer and need to find something out, or check email. This type of ease has its negative effects too.  With information becoming interactive and easy for anybody to display websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia can expose private matters and even provide falls information.  Since the information highway has no "highway patrol" so to speak, no one can govern what goes up and what stays up.

Q4:  Do you think virtual communities are genuine communities?  Why or why not?

A:  Virtual communities are ever growing networks of people on media forms such as the internet.  I believe that these types of communities are not genuine in that people who are part of them may not necessarily know anybody else on them.  You don't actually have face to face contact or instantaneous dialogue, which makes it easy for people to be people they are not in real life.  However, with newer developments of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, real life friends can stay in touch or communicate with one another whom they already know.  These sites also serve to to allow users to uncover music or events that they may be interested in, and express their interests with other users.  I believe that though virtual communities do not necessarily serve as "genuine" communities, they can still be beneficial to society.

Questioning the Media 1

Q: Using music or television as an example, identify a performer or program you once liked but began to dislike as you grew older and your tastes changed.  Why do you think this happened?  Do you think your early interests in popular music or television have had an impact on shaping your identity?

 

A:  Way back in the day, Power Rangers came on the air, and for some reason I was enamored by the violence and unrealistic concepts presented by the teenagers in colored costumes.  Aside from the strong influence of my parents not to watch the show, I believe as I approached the early stages of grade school I realized the superficiality that was involved.  The terrible acting and cheesy effects lost their appeal to my maturing mind.  Eventually I discontinued my Power Ranger karate kicks in the outfield during my tee ball games, and went on to engage in a normal baseball career.  Luckily I grew out of this media influenced state of mind and it did not end up shaping my identity.

 Q: Make a critical case either defending or condemning Comedy Central’s South Park, a TV talk show, professional wrestling, a hip hop group, a soap opera, or TV news coverage of the US occupation of Iraq.  Use the 5-step process to develop your position.

A:   Comedy Central's South Park is a cartoon comedy about a bunch of kids and their families in small town Colorado.  It employs  satirical situations with mature comedy in attempts to bring a sense of relief to real life issues and current events.  It often sets up kids getting in to unrealistic mischief and causing problems on a larger scale than they would actually be capable of.  Its this element that brings humor to the show and causes the viewer to often realize the humor that people in society unconsciously bring about.  I feel this type of expression is important to a society in order to realize the rights wrongs and stupid decisions we all make.  Therefore I believe South Park positive and not just cartoon nonsense.  It employs an educated look into simple minds and portrays the uses its popular comic style as a key way to convey the writers opinion to viewers. 

Q:  Although in some ways postmodern forms of communication, such as email, MTV and CNN, have helped citizens participate in global life, in what ways might these forms harm more traditional or native cultures?

 

News networks and forms of electronic and digital media can alert citizens with breaking updates twenty-four seven and at the convenience of virtually anywhere they fancy.  Indeed these forms of communication have helped transform our culture into a learning age for all.  But what happens when some things are not supposed to be learned?  And where do traditional values get lost?  The media has a habit of rubbing its own commercialized thoughts off on other viewers- especially the naive.  And when traditional and native cultures see these images of scantily clothed individuals doing provocative dances on MTV, they may begin to question their own clothing and rituals.  With this great traditions can be lost  and values be destroyed because the new generations will want to emulate these actions in order to fit in with the surrounding societies.