English

profileNuty Chaves

I need help with my online English class (digital media). I am required to post a 300 word comment on the readings and two 750 words comment on my classmates post. Can you help? I have one that is due tomorrow at 8pm central time. I will provide the readdings.

classmates post:

1. Chapter one of Julian McDougall’s “Media Studies: The Basics” gives me an understanding of what media is and the history behind it, as well as the reasons why it is being studied in schools today. There are two points from the chapter that McDougall writes that stand out to me. The first one is when he gives reasons as to why one should study media. McDougall (2012) writes for his third reason, “...the idea that Media Studies might want to ‘change the world’” and later writes, “... then, studying media critically ought to be considered a serious and important project for any mature democracy” (p. 8). The explanation he gives for this being a reason to study media is something I completely agree with. Media has a great impact on what a person chooses to believe in and shapes the way they view others. Studying media and the way it works allows a person to become more literate when it comes to media, which in turn allows them to become aware of what the media is portraying and acknowledge any negative underlying messages that may be present that those who are unaware of how the media works, may miss. The second point that stands out is when he writes, “Theories of creativity are becoming more important to students of media as more and more ordinary people start to make their own media” (McDougall, 2012, p. 32). YouTube comes to mind when I think about people who make their own media. YouTube is a powerful platform where “ordinary” people have their own channels and create their own videos on whatever subject they are interested in like beauty, music, film etc. They give their own ideas and opinions on any subject they want to talk about or represent while giving their audience the choice of agreeing or disagreeing with what they have just watched. McDougall asks, “If we produce our own versions of media texts but stay faithful to the conventions of ‘real media,’ is this creative or just imitation? Or is all imitation an act of parody which is always creative, a reworking of a template and its meanings?” (p. 24). I believe media such as YouTube to be an imitation of ‘real media” since users produce their own versions of media texts and shape them into fitting what they want their message to be and like McDougall writes, this imitation is a “form of parody which is always creative” (p. 24).

McDougall, J. (2012). Studying Media. In Media Studies: The basics (pp. 1-33). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

 

2. Despite mediation’s potential to empower and expand individual participation in the development of popular culture, its potential downsides are apparent:  distortion of reality enabled by bombardment of images the Mad Men could only dream of; disengagement from local community and traditional relationships, and a marked contraction in the sphere of privacy.    With respect to “reality”, comments sections of websites seem to be evolving into bulletin boards for marketers and advocacy groups to plant memes rather than forums for authentic conversations; users of electronic media are shadowed by advertisements and messages custom fitted to their web usage habits; and the line between news reporting and advertising is disappearing.  Like high frequency trading on Wall Street, mediation may be subjecting our society to becoming a Matrix in which clicks on websites, and resulting development of popular culture, are generated primarily by computer programs employed by marketers and promoters to herd people.    The potential for the manufacture of consent that concerns Chomsky and others (McDougall 15) is apparent.   The development of popular culture in a world of no privacy where every communication is apparently recorded for posterity will undoubtedly affect its actors and content.

 

 

thanks

  • 9 years ago
  • 15
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