Genders Role In The Media

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In the recent MSN article, the subject of how men and women listen to music is explained as a drastically different approach for both parties. While the author does not support these views, she goes on to explain that men are considered to be more interested in the intellectual side of music and women are more interested in the emotional side of music.
This theory has ideological tensions that date back to old-fashioned conservative gender roles of the man being the bread-winner and the woman raising the children. The man, in this case, as the hunter who uses his wit to bring the feast to the family. The woman, whose nurturing spirit and warm heart, takes care and nourishes the family. This theory shows more than obvious reasoning. They might as well have said men enjoy aggressive rock music and women like heartfelt ballads. The author does a good job realizing this though and makes it clear that she is just writing about the issue, not condoning the theory in any way at all.

This theory puts a further spin on some of the ideas that we've discussed in class. With Adorno's thoughts on Free Time, it emphasizes the obviously sexist angle. Where intellectualism can be equated to agency and emotion can be equated to shallow entertainment, it's clearly showing that men are the stronger and better gender. This is severly incorrect and no such claim could ever be made. Adorno would declare these findings as incorrect, stating that every human works and every human needs to practice agency with their leisurely activities of listening to music.

This article does do a good job of revealing the more negative ideologies that go into marketing and media, while also showing that as a female who writes the article she shows that agency and intellectualism is very much a part of her music listening experience. She even shows the intellectualism behind more shallow pop music, and that everything can be complex and interesting in a more cerebral way. To look at the most shallow pop culture products and carefully dissect them is a perfect example of agency. Media is ubiquitous and we must study the media, as Silverstone states repeatedly. Men and women should be equally able to do just this.

The New New! Better Than The Old New!

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In our current world where "Newness" garners the most appeal, Shreddies has launched a new campaign that pokes fun at this idea of "new is better". Their new cereal 'Diamond Shreddies' is essentially the exact same cereal as 'Shreddies', but launched as a different shape and therefore different product. The website contains videos that show the reactions of people who are introduced to this new product. Their reactions are baffling and often hilarious because the public does not know how to react to this. The question that the company seems to pose with this marketing ploy is not so much "what should my reaction be" but moreso "why should I react"?

When I saw the billboard, I reacted immediately (that may be partly due to the fact that I need more inspiration for this media blog!) It made me think, which is good. In fact this is a very good thing because even though I was lured into researching this product and finding the website, I was also turned onto exercising my agency. I knew immediately from the website that this was a joke, and watching the videos made me realize that if you got the joke that you were already getting the message. It's clear that what Shreddies wants to point out is the overwhelming emptiness of this 'manufactured obsolence' that exists in all these 'new' products. We must consume the new, because it promises us the fulfilment of our deepest dreams and desires. Shreddies, which is almost like a 'cult' cereal: consistent and bought by the same people who have treasured it throughout their lives, is not going to give into that. They do acknowledge it, but they resist it - and do so by being ironic!

Media Is Unavoidable

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David Lynch, the acclaimed filmmaker that has created a cult following with his own brand of dark surreal narratives, is caught in a bind. Where he's spoken out against product placement in films, he's made his voice loud and clear on the subject. Lynch, even in his bold stance, is still met with the unavoidable hypocrisy that exists from this Youtube clip.
You can view the original clip on Youtube as well, and using your Iphone. As much as Lynch wants to keep his visionary films true, he must accept that film is a form of media and media is ubiquitous. It is now everywhere, as is technology, and the irony of showing this clip on an Iphone demonstrates that. Media is not only everywhere, but it is unavoidable.
We must follow the more balanced approach of Silverstone, who praises and criticizes equally. David Lynch can certainly tell us to not watch his film on an Iphone, but it is his message that is shown to us through these lesser forms of media. Even Lynch's rant is advertising. Even in his puritanical message, he is still telling you to see his new film. To not engage with media is impossible, and to preach of the flaws of media on a Youtube video will only reveal the ironic hypocrisy of your message.

Dishes That Are Never Truly Clean

My family has been having issues with our dishwasher. We've noticed that for the past few years our dishes have remained far from spotless. Residues, bits of food, water stains, all dried onto the kitchenware as if they were never truly cleaned at all. I thought we were the only ones, but after visiting other households and noticing this same problem it dawned on me that this piece of technology may be flawed.

Lynn Spigel's article on setting up domestic family life for the arrival TV brought to mind the dishwasher predicament. It's as if technology has always been catered to the elimination of chores. Self-cleaning stoves. Electric can openers. These all eventually break down at one point while your own limbs remain in tact to do these chores thoroughly and completely. I have grown up in the age of mechanical reproduction, where everything is electric and microwaved. When the microwave breaks down, what do we do? Buy another one? And when that one breaks down? This brings to mind Silverstone's managed obsolesence. If these products are designed to give us more time for leisure and relaxation, yet these products are also designed to be constantly replaced or fixed, there is no real safety.

As we are now seeing with the computer age in full effect, children are becoming more and more unable to be self-sustaining. So, in the future, who will fix our broken dishwasher? Who will build us new ones?

Radiohead In The Vice of the Culture Industry

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EMI is in perfect stature as the Culture Industry in this case of an artist being turned into a commodity. Releasing music from an artist because they can and because they can't release anything new or original. The turning of music into a commodity, through which mass production kills the aura, now has the final 'nail in the coffin' as it is rearranged and reformated against the artists wishes.

It seems as though a likely move for the record label to release their most commodity-based tactics on the artist just as they try to loosen the grip of the Culture Industry. As the article noted, artists that stay signed forever do not have to endure a forced Greatest Hits compilation because they are still producing commodities for the label.

In regards to my last blog on Radiohead and their ability to defy the Mechanical Age of Reproduction, it seems as though the aura killing beast is revealed as the Culture Industry. Art is not disgraced by the machine, but those who use the machine. The media is only a mechanism of engagement if it has people to engage with it.

Teen Pregnancy In The Media

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Teen pregnancy has had a major influence through it's portrayal in the media. The extent of it's impact brings forth the boundaries and layers that exist within the media. When I say layers, I mean the degrees of media that are all connected. A young girl can have a child in a film or on a TV program, which has an obvious effect but allows for more subjectivity and deciphering by the viewer. A young girl who is an actress in a film or on a TV program can become pregnant and this is portrayed in the media through tabloids, news shows, etc. There is a distinction between the fictional and the non-fiction that we all recognize, however in the case of this article it's as though each form of media is regarded with the same care.

This shows the media as Play in all it's forms. Even in it's most non-fictional presentation, it still presents the audience as an arena for playful speculations that lack permanence in our lives. This is where the pregnant teens are faced with the reality that Play cannot exist outside of the media. The boundaries of Play and Reality have been crossed, and it's as if we peer into the arena of Play without the safety of being within that arena ourselves. This shows how ubiquitous the media truly is, as it is inescapable to the point where we would rather have media than our own true life experiences.

Hiding Behind the Sunglasses

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Corey Worthington is a young Australian boy he held a party that went too far and erupted into an event that made news around the world thanks to this entertaining Youtube video. Corey hides behind his glasses throughout the entire interview. In further interviews and reports, Corey dons the bright yellow sunglasses and a colourful baseball cap as if it were his trademarked look. However, this look has become a disguise. Creating and sustaining this image, Corey is able to not own up to his responsibilities and transcend the boundaries that the media has created for me.

Further coverage of Corey gives him more realization that he is in a public space to play and not experience the harsh consequences of his actions. He knows the minute he takes off his sunglasses is the same minute he returns backstage and back to the punishments that await him.

This is a perfect example of Silverstone's concepts on Play and Performance within the media. It also is a fairly humourous example to relate to Bakhtin's Carnival theories, as the party itself became carnivalesque and now it has extended itself more theoretically into the media coverage of the event.

As patronizing and condescending as the reporter is in the interview, she needs to realize that her interview with Corey further redeems his lack of responsibility of the event. With every second that he is on the screen, he is living longer in the arena of play and does not have to follow the rules of society. Corey has transcended the boundary, and the longer he can sustain his own conception of a media image, the longer he can stay out of the painful consequences of his crimes.