Photography is used too

This is my week 1: posted it in wrong place

I also found the reading on "The Myth of Photographic Truth" fascinating as well, and I also agree with Jenna in that I have a hard time believing that a photograph is more reliable than a painting or sketch, especially this day in age. I am familiar with photoshop and understand all the things that can be done to a photograph, and the youtube video that Jenna posted reminded me of just how drastic you can change a single photo. I started looking at other videos on youtube about photoshop and realized that photoshop is not the only place a person can add his personal touch. A photographer can add his personal touch and make a photograph look the way he wants with the way he takes the photo. I came across the youtube video that explains some of the ways to take a photograph at high noon in order to get a certain look. The book explains that "the creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization." I believe that photographs are not completely objective. Two photographers can take a photograph of the same image or event and get two different stories out of it by the way they take it. So taking a photograph itself creates a "myth" because the photographer creates an image the way that he wants and makes it universally true to society. So advertising agencies have always used photography to influence society, but it is just made even easier with the new computer technology.

Jump Roping taken to the Next Level

I also wanted to post this video that I was sent today because I thought it was cool.  These girls, performing at the Naval Academy, can do some really cool tricks with a jump rope, or at least I think so  It really is jump roping taken to the next level.  This made me think of a topic discussed a few weeks back about cheerleaders.  These girls are obviously in amazing shape to be able to jump for that long; it take a lot of dedication, coordination and athletic ability to do this.  But are they considered athletes?  Like cheerleaders, they are made up to look pretty and made into performers to entertain.  Because of this, many people see these girls as performers instead of athletes; the video clip especially presents the girls as performers having fun.  But, also, like cheerleaders, I could see this becoming some kind of competition.  The question keeps coming up, when does a hobby or performance become a sport?

The Presence and Tone speaks loudly

When Caitlin talked about being talked to a certain way makes us believe that someone knows what they are talking about, it made me think of how we talk to dogs, in that we can say anything in an excited voice, whether it is bad or not, and the dog gets excited.  I know my family would do this to my dog; we would say "bad dog" in an excited voice and he would get all riled up and excited himself.  Dogs do not understand us, but it is our presence and tone of voice that they respond to.  Now I am not by any means saying that we are like dogs, but if we do not pay attention to or understand what someone is saying, it is the presence or tone of voice that we respond to like thinking that Stephen Colbert is a serious reporter if we do not pay attention to what he is saying.  Here is a video of a dog responding to the tone of the owner's voice; at one point she says "bad boy" in a cute voice, but the dog does not respond until she says "bad boy" in an angry voice.

Original vs. parody

In the readings it talks about the idea of the original and whether we still care about the original or the replica- which is sometimes a parody. I think that the original is highly prized over any replica. You hear people talk more about the original being worth more than any imitations. However, I think in this generation the worth of something is measured by two measuring sticks. If it is monetary then the worth is found in the original, but if it is for pleasure or entertainment then the worth is found in the replica. Since the replica is usually a parody of some sort it is probably quick and snappy and engages a younger audience that doesn’t know the significance behind it. I did not realize this or even think about it until I read about it this chapter. It’s actually pretty sad and pathetic what my generation considers art

media as a teacher

This is a video that I found a couple of weeks ago that I found hilarious. Definitely watch it; it's beneficial to your health. Anyways, in this video a sheep is wearing a Halloween mask and is trying to play with the other sheep. But because it has on a scary mask, the other sheep are afraid of this sheep & keep running away from it. This reminds me of our society & how we a lot of times judge people based on what we have been taught through media. For instance, when I was leaving Union Station one night, I felt nervous walking around because I was in the city. The city of St. Louis has a bad reputation & even though I haven't witnessed it first had, I assume that it is true. The same assumption goes for blacks & it shows through the statistics of them being charged for crime much higher than whites and other races.

success overnight

Yesterday when I was doing my blog post, my mom burst into my room & told me to watch this video. This is a clip of a show called "Britain's Got Talent," which is kind of like American Idle. In this particular clip, a 47 year old woman (Susan Boyle) is featured singing her chosen part. When she begins to sing, the audience is speechless because when she walked in, she had absolutely no star power. But the contrast of her appearance and her great voice made her an instant success who stood out. This show was originally aired in Britain, but this woman has recently become practically a house-hold name. This just goes to show the magnitude to which communication has grow throughout the years. 100 years ago, if someone became popular in another country, it was pretty much guaranteed that we would never hear about it, where as now, it has taken a matter of weeks for Boyle's success to spread world-wide.

sneaky techniques

I just finished watching Steven Colbert's White House Correspondents Dinner. Aside from being ridiculous and silly, his speech also had some hidden messages in it. Something I caught was how he would say things in an ironic and slightly insulting way, but he would say them in a professional, business-like voice so that if you weren't paying attention to his words, you might think his speech was actually serious. This reminds me of the media and how they use the same tactic to send us information. Especially with news & politics (which was what Colbert was spoofing), the information is handed to the public in a very professional manor which makes it sound much more factual. When I am spoken to this way, I know that I relate this approach to fact. So regardless of if the news (or whatever else) is speaking the truth or just beating around the bush, this type of media has done a good job brainwashing me, unless I'm paying real attention, into believing much of what is presented to me.

JOHN Stewart

Ok! so I watched the Stephen Colbert speech at the White House and it was hilarious.  He did so well at pointing out George Bush's flaws without directly saying "HEY! NObody thinks your doing a good job.  Not to mention Jon Stewart's visit on crossfire that we watched.  I thought that it was awesome how he didn't answer any questions but instead told them what they needed to do to make the show good and to tell them that they need to take advantage of what they had.  These two comedians are smarter than most of reporters that give us the "real news." Here is a link to Stephen Colbert's speech.  http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Stephen+Colbet+White+House+&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#. Here is his famous christmas video too!

along with his visit on the early show:http://beta.sling.com/video/show/84172/09/Stephen-Colbert-Unleashed

BOOB BANDIT

A women in California used a fake idea to receive someone else's breast implants. http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/dpgo_Woman_Fake_ID_Fake_Breasts_fc_200903242310024. So in the

last article a women spent a lOt of mOney to get breasts that were too big for her own health and the other woman didn't 

have enough so she stole bOObs form another patient. So not only do people feel that surperfect breasts are necessary but vital to have. Who would

have thought that surgery would be that easy to steal. I mean it's not a bag of chips from the grocery store or anything. I would also blame the doctors.

This world is crazy.

price of "perfection"

I completely agree with the technology of this day and age changing our ideas on what beauty actually is. It's ridiculous how many celebrities in the previous video have had plastic surgery and, also, how before any picture is released of a celebrity or model it is practically always retouched (99.9% of the time). People look to Hollywood and its stars to know what's in style. For this generation, a big trend seems to be surgery. In an article that I found, there was a woman who has undergone 8 surgeries in order to have a bust size of FFF. An average breast augmentation is about 300-400 CCs of silicone. But this woman's implants contain 1000CCs or 2 quarts of silicone. Putting this much silicone into your body is hazardous to your back & shoulders as well as to the rest of your body (because it develops scar tissue against the silicone). Also, it doesn't say in the article, but on the original news broadcast, the reporter said that when the woman lays on her back she can hardly breathe. I find it extremely saddening that some take surgeries to such lengths to boost their self esteem and be more like the stars and models in Hollywood. The article also mentioned how breast augmentations have risen 900% in the last 15 years. So, even though not all go through such extreme surgeries as the woman in this article, women and men are doing more and more to reach their goal of perfection. The only trouble is, when will they ever be at that level? And, health-wise, is it really worth it?

January 21, 2009 7:33 PM

This was my post from week 1, but I had it in the wrong spot

artificial intelligence

A few weeks ago in class we watched a short video called "did you know" or something. One of the portions of the video said that in a few years there would be a computer created that would be smarter than humans. I don't know about you guys, but to me this is a ridiculous idea. In the condition of our economy we need all of the human jobs we can get & by giving jobs away to computers, though it may be cheaper, doesn't help our nation's financial state or the people in it. Another thing the super computer reminds me of is are the movies A.I., Terminator, and iRobot. In all of these examples, humans are almost completely reliant on technology and are inevitably screwed over because of this. It seems to me this destination is where our world is headed.

I am actually reading a book right now called First Light where it follows this privilege family as they are under a technological blackout- everything is gone from their wrist watches to their cars to their every common form of communication. It’s a very interesting book and I don’t know how it ends yet, but it makes me realize how dependent I am on technology as well as everyone else. I didn’t realize that the media via technology that I absorb everyday was practically handpicked by the same people globally. I find it interesting that on pg 236 it mentions how the same conglomerates such as Disney, Viacom, Fox, GE and News Corporation have a monopoly over telecommunications, television, news print, the Web, entertainment and amusement venues as well as food, oil, and clothing industries. It’s no wonder that those companies always remain the ones in charge- they have continuous access to promote their other products through their numerous other outlets. Though they are diverse outlets- I found it interesting and surprising that they are not run by a diverse people. On the next page it stated that only a few thousand are responsible for what is shown on television, therefore diverse television marketing is not for a specific geographic demographic but based upon “institutional incentives”.

Technology attacks

Its kind of scary that we are so reliant on technology; one small glitch in the system or technology failure and our technology world could be changed.  This kind of reminded me of the Terminator movies.  Robots are used to bring the world's technological world down causing the communication system to fail.  This brings a weakness upon earth because without communication, it is hard to organize a defensive attack.  I could see this happening with our own technology.  If we create robots to act and even be as smart at humans, they could easily be a threat to us.  I don't know about you guys, but it kind of scares me that we are looking into creating robots to be human like.  Because we are so dependent on technology for communication, we have not practiced other ways of communicating as much.  I can see the huge dependence on technology possibly being destructive in the future.

reliance on technology

I agree that communication is an enormous need in our society. And because our nation is so huge, most of our communication takes place via technology. Without electronic communication, our society wouldn't be able to function as it does. I, myself, use technology to communicate all of the time. By using email, facebook, phones, ect... I use some form every day. It's kind of a scary subject to my, how dependent our world, especially our country, is on technology. If anything were to ever happen that would take our technology away, I'm almot posative there would be disorganization to the point of anarchy. All of our system wouldn't be able to work, and it's scary to think where that would leave us.

How we are heard

In Margaret Morse’s “News As Performance: Image As Event” she says that “but to satisfy other needs for the intersubjectivity is the foundation of the sociality and civility most sorely missed…. However, those needs--to be recognized, to communicate, and to remember-belong to people everywhere. It is appropriate to ask how they are or are not being satisfied every day in America society.” Granted, the context of this piece is in regards to refugees, but I still think that it can be applied to our everyday life. How do we satisfy our need to be recognized, to communicate, and to ensure we will be remembered? To be recognized, I think some may use sports, talents, grade, etc. To communicate, there are so many options in our society now: Facebook, cell phones, e-mail, Skype, etc. And to be remembered we use pictures and try to leave some sort of legacy. We each create our own “news” and use our events to image our life and lifestyle.

CA

Last night I went with one of my roommates to WashU to listen to a speaker from the magazine Communication Arts . At first I didn’t think that there would be anything that the speaker could say that I would understand, since I have never taken a text class, but the lecture was fascinating. He talked about how the magazine began and where they are now. In their magazine they publish art work from artists all around the nation. Here are some sample pictures that he shared:


There were a ton more and I encourage you to go to their webpage at www.commarts.com or picking up one of their magazines.

WASSUP!

Here is the 2008 Wassup commercial that has nothing to do with Budwieser but is still interesting.

ROBOTS

ok, so on monday we talked about technology and the future.  We all know that you can voice command a computer on what to type and that you can type in numbers into a calculator and it will give you the answer.  So the technology for a machine to answer your questions and to configure like a human mind is possible. Well, here is a video of some robots that can do more than just answer questions.  One robot can even run!  A machine that runs! Weird!  

computer crash

I get what Jenna is saying. At my clinical site and at hospitals all around the world, the ability to function efficiently depends almost entirely on computers. All of the patient records, charts, and data are on their computer database. Plus computers are also the main way in which the medical staff communicates with one another (through accessing updated charts everyone is on the same page). I recently asked what a hospital would do during a power outage or if the computers ever crashed. The nurse said that they have enough written records to get by. But our culture has become so accustomed to having technology and information at our fingertips that I don't think a hospital or our society, for that matter, could manage. At least until the system of doing things was totally revamped.

Communications via satelite

I found in interesting in Chapter 10 how it said that “Sputnik began a period in which satellites would become a primary visual force, as the means to survey and spy on other nations, as a means of transmission for television and news images, and as the means through which most telecommunications, in particular cell phones, takes place.” Sputnik caused such an uproar and there have been complaints about satellites that are used to spy… but without those satellites, our culture would not be what it is today, and what we have become to accustomed to. I went a week without my cell phone once and all I could do was wonder what I did before cell phones to communicate. I use my computer all the time and when Maryville’s internet was down, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Transmitted communication is key in our society and has undoubtedly changed our view points on communications.

Ipod

Ok, So last week i mentioned in class that there is a apple vending machine at Macy's.  Here is a video of how it works and what it looks like. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeTEz1JwQs

I personally think this is weird. I mean what is stopping us from selling computers this way. We do the same thing with movies, who needs a Blockbuster when we have

a local REDBOX on every corner. These new vending machines are going to one day take away jobs. Everyone complains about how illigal immigrants are taking out jobs

but isn't it really ourselves. We have ATMs so we don't need tellers. We have the apple vending machine so we do not need salesmen, and we have the REDBOX so we don't need clerks.

What is next on our list.

Just because!

Im gonna be honest, I just thought these two were really funny and wanted to share them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYOgaaAPuM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhE7uMbPP3w

REAL MEN OF GENIUS

Ok so we have talked about Budwieser and their strategy to sell "REAL Beer" . I am sure that everyone has heard the "Real Men of genius commercials on the radio trying to relate to men who do the jobs that no one else thinks of. Of course they do this is a comedic way. Here is a clip of one their Real men of Genius commercials.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Rm5SEmaKs . And here are some more just for fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETrWZsYYJOQ. Their goal is to relate to the everyday guy. I found it interesting that most alcohol commercials only try to relate and entice men.

Blame Canada

Canadians say they are thankful not to be americans. They say that we messed up. Well a little show called South Park got them back with this little tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSYipouABI . This explains America's view on Canada, kinda. I just thought this was funny and how they showed it on the Oscars. I'm not sure how the Canadians felt about this but I am sure they weren't completely happy. I think it's funny how Canadian's are thankful they are not American and American's are thankful that they are not anyone else.

Free Canada

This video is pretty interesting. After talking about Canada today it got me thinking about what it would be like living in Canada. Honestly I don't blame them for wanting seperation from the U.S.... With our war, faltering economy, and global animosity.

Nationalism

When talking about Canadians and how they don't want to be associated or thought of as Americans it reminded me of how Spanish speaking people get lumped together as well.  Often it is only because of their language and perhaps sometimes their profession and or skin color.  In a scene from the movie Clueless Cher tells her maid that she doesn't speak "Mexican" and the maid is immediately offended because she is from El Salvador.  These are very similar situations and show how just by referencing another country someone can be immediately offended.  

Here is a clip from the movie, the actual quote is about 8:30 into the clip (in case you want to skip ahead).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA5dudU47xQ

Whassup commerical

I was curious as to what exact commerical they were referring to in our readings so in case anyone else was... here is a clip of the commerical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16qzZ7J5YQ

Reality Shows

I am a big reader of the headlines on yahoo, and this one caught my attention this morning.
It may not relate to what we have been learning but I thought I would post it, and those of you who are fans of reality tv may get a kick out of it.

http://tv.yahoo.com/show/28908/news/urn:newsml:tv.reuters.com:20090330:us_fox__ER:28527

I think this an interesting direction to go in for the bachelor. They are going to get average looking women to go on the show, instead of the classic size 2, beautiful model. If they are going to use an average woman, then shouldnt they also be using an average man? Instead of a "Biggest Loser" meets "the Bachelor", how about "Average Joe" meets average woman?
"More to Love", this title can be taken in two different ways. There is "more to love" than beauty and looks, or you can see it as more to love of the woman, because there is more of her in a sense.
Way to go Fox, always finding a way to insult those who may not be the best looking.

Role models have insecurities too

Role models are hard to define because they are different for everyone.  Previous blogs talked about celebrities and famous people starting out as role models, but then failing.  I think this is because just about everybody, even celebrities, have insecurities.  I was looking around on the Internet I came across a quote by Miley Cyrus talking about her insecurities.  She said, “I hate my long legs and smile.”  Now I don’t know the validity of this quote, but I am would not be surprised if she does have insecurities, even if these are not them.  She is a pretty big role model for younger girls, yet because she has insecurities, she does whatever it takes to make herself feel better, even if is not a good example for younger girls. How can people be perfect role models in they have insecurities?  There must be something not perfect about them, or so they think, so I do not see how they can be role models.  I agree with Tina; people are not perfect and do make mistakes, so can there be role models?

Media's the corner stone of role models

Interestingly, last night I ended up watching the movie Role Models with my boyfriend… not exactly my type of movie, but he enjoyed it. For those of you who haven’t seen it- it’s about two men who are court-ordered to volunteer at “Sturdy Wings”, where they are matched up with a kid (their ‘little’) and they spend quality time with them. All in all it’s not a thinker movie, but we’re discussing role models and that movie is fresh in my mind, deeper things can actually be found. I like how they chose to use ordinary people to be the role models for these kids. In past blogs it was said how Barbie or famous people have been set on a pedestal to be role models, but in reality it is the people that we see every day that truly affect us. However, the whole movie isn’t like that. One of the role models mentions the band Kiss that plays a role in the movie as well. Kiss influences one of the final scenes in the movie and forms a bond between one of the mentors and his little. So, I may be going off on a limb—since it wasn’t that deep of a movie, but can any role model exist without the influence of the media?

falling role models

I think that role models are like any great nation or great ruler of the world. In Batman, The Dark Knight, one character said, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I think this is true concerning role models as well. I've noticed that, usually, the longer a star stays in the lime light, the crazier & the more problems they seem to have. As Jenna said, stars like Brittany Spears, the Olsen twins, and Lindsay Lohan are now not the best of people to look up to. But when they first started out, they were. Brittany Spears was in the Micky Mouse Club, The Olsen twins were in their own Disney show, and Lindsay Lohan was starring in the Parent Trap. Maybe like UV light too much lime light is bad for you too.

Role Models????

Do role models exist anywhere?  When I was a teenager the Mickey Mouse Club had just spit out there group of Teen "Role Models" and look were they ended up.  Most notably is Britney Spears, but the rest of them I wouldn't exactly call role models either. 

If you look at sports, you got football players running dog fights, and baseball players taking human growth hormone.  The one athlete I would've called a role model has lost that title in my mind.  Lance Armstrong overcame cancer and proved to be the best of his sport numerous times, and then he left his family for Sheryl Crow????   That's a great message for anyone!  Overcome disease, prove to be a success and then leave the people that stood by you when you were down! 

Politicians....Not even going there.

 

I would love to say religious officials, teachers, and parents should be the perfect role model but sadly anyone could pull numerous examples that prove otherwise.

Role models are made, not born.  No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes.  Anyone you call a role model probably has done, or will do something reprehensible that makes that title null and void.  

What Happened to KENT

All this talk about barbie but what about Ken?  What about how girls think guys should look like after seeing a Ken Barbie doll.  I mean we always talk about how guys think girls should look like with perfect body's and nice ass with big tits, but what about what girls think about guys.  What about MTV.  Anytime you see anyone on MTV they always have the same image. 80108078_0039.jpg.  Here is Kent 2465493347_26922a1009.jpg .   So first girls grow up with this plastic image of a male figure with a six pack and then they watch MTV with guys that have a similar fake phasic. Let me tell you. It's not easy. I have gained lost and gained again my six pack and i think its overrated. Anyway there's my not so serious argument but here is also something to ponder.

Role Models in general

I think it’s interesting that Caitlin brought up how Barbie is seen as a dumb girl and sets a bad image for what is expected of real girls. When I did my textual analysis of Barbie I found that Mattel created a talking Barbie and she said phrases like “Math is tough” and “Let’s go shopping”, giving an image that shopping is the only thing girls are good at. The doll ended up being recalled and Mattel apologized for it. I don’t think Barbie is the only bad example of role modeling, a lot of the celebrities that teenagers look up to, or at least monitor their latest news through magazine and E! television, set a bad example as well. People like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, the Simpson Sisters, the Olsen twins, etc.

Barbie as a Role Model

I found an episode of The Simpsons that represented Barbie as Malibu Stacy. About 6 minutes into this video, Lisa gets a new Malibu Stacy doll. When she pulls the talking cord, the doll has several sayings such as, "Let's buy makeup so the boys will like us," "I wish they taught shopping in school," and "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl." She then goes on to say how millions of girls who own this doll are hearing this and thinking that this is the way they're supposed to act. This episode is a dramatization of Barbie and the message that she conveys, but the effect still remains the same. Barbie dolls are a representation of girls and women, so when girls see or hear them they think that this is the way they’re supposed to look, act, dress, and/or behave. So, in a way, the toys in kids' lives can have a very real effect on them.

WEEK 1

Nathan said...

I found both of these videos very interesting. I actually had previously seen the Dove commercial in my University seminar class last semester which was about interaction in the community. I found it interesting on how much makeup and Photoshop can do to one’s face to make a person seem flawless. The second video was quite interesting on how photographers use lighting of the day to better their portraits. After searching YouTube I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM. It shows how they can not only change the look of someone’s face but their entire body. It says that over 99.9% of photos in magazines and build boards are touched up. In fact most models have personal Photoshop “touchupers “and none of their pictures are released until they give the ok. After watching this video I started to think about how Photoshop is used to make us look perfect in pictures. Beauty and the perfect body is a myth as said before. Technology has changed our ideas on beauty and our view of what exercise can actually accomplish. In the video that I found the photographer says that even if someone was to work out as much as we are supposed to it would still be nearly impossible to look like what the models do in the magazines because what you see is not real. This leads me to think of how some people take this perfection to another level. It takes us to plastic surgery. Plastic Surgery is the next level of Photoshop. It is taking what is done on the computer and putting it into action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Art3m4yqJqQ This is a link to a video that shows how some famous actresses did just this and took Photoshop literally.

January 20, 2009 10:21 PM 

Asian Cartoons create "perfection"

I thought that video was really funny.  It really shows how barbie does not represent just perfection of the body.  Barbie is for younger girls to play with, so they are having this idea of perfection at an early age.  I started thinking about other things that younger girls see, and I thought of cartoons.  Cartoon network has several shows made by Asians.  This picture is from one of these shows.  Perfection here is the tiny waste, big eyes and small nose.  These girls also know how to fight (i think) and can be independent.  The boys also give an idea of perfection.  The guys in the picture not only know how to fight, but are always there to save the day.  This gives boys the idea that they need to fight and save the day like these characters.  Cartoons are drawn, so they can be drawn to "perfection" giving children an idea of what perfection is, even if it is not perfect for them.

Jonas Brothers/Disney vs. Barbie

After watching the crazy jonas brothers episode of south park, i realized how other companies do the same thing as disney when it comes to promoting a "perfect" image of what they are promoting. My dad recently sent me a video from saturday night live that did something simmilar to the south park that we watched. This video is making fun of barbie. Although barbie is looked at as a very clean cut and responsible idol for girls, however it is also promoting many other things to these girls. The idea of perfection, and that you must look like barbie to be attractive (which is impossible). Barbie is seen as a very successful woman, so there is the idea given that even though she is a woman, she can still be very successful without being married or having suport of her husband. So perhaps she is not promoted as much as disney, or be branded nearly as much, but there is definetly another side to the "barbie" image.

Here is the video:

Levi's Jeans

I found your progressive commercial very interesting. I liked it because it was subtle while this levi’s commercial is not. I found it on YouTube and I had never seen it before even though I had seen its strait version. . This is a commercial of “progressive”. The note on you tube said that levi made two endings. They made the commercial ending with two gentlemen because they wanted to try something out of the ordinary. They wanted to embrace a different community. The commercial that I actually saw on T.V. which I am assuming is the one that they untimely decided to go with was the exact same commercial but with a female. Here it is: . My question is “Why did they back out of their original idea? Is society still that naïve that a simple jean commercial can’t express an idea in a commercial. Then on the other hand why does a jean commercial feel the need to place that kind of message in their commercial. Are they trying to sell a life style, maybe that’s why they decided to change the commercial. Maybe they were afraid of what it would do to their sales, in which case just brings us back to the same old everything is money game. Maybe the commercial was just trying to be different in saying Levi’s jeans make you look sexy.

Progressive gets Progressive

Saw this on tv, found it pretty intresting. First openly Gay ad I have ever seen.

Cool stuff.

"Coolness" changing rapidly

I agree that people tend to buy more from what is “cool” like using celebrities, but not only is cool different for different groups of people, but it is always changing.  The book also talks about culture trends emerging and fading quicker with new technologies.  “Cool hunters” are able to find new trends faster with technologies like cell phones, the Internet and text messaging.  This is good for companies like the cell phone industry because people have to constantly buy a new phone often in order to be “cool.”  I found this news clip about the iphone 3G; I remember when the iphone came out in 2007, and a year later, a different iphone is introduced.  This iphone is thinner and faster, and in order to be up to date, you have to buy it, even if you already own the original iphone.  I work with a girl who gets a new phone every two months just because she wants to be up to date.  I honestly think that is ridiculous, but there are other people like this girl I work with, and advertisers know this.  Therefore they use the marketing of coolness.

the "Wow" Fasination

I completely agree with Caitlin, I am ashamed to say it, but if I see someone like Penelope Cruz using some type of beauty product I want to have it with some outlandish fascination that I will put it on and look like her. I have to wonder though that if advertisers used real people (not people like Dove is trying to use) but real people that you would interact with in their ads if people would feel this unnecessary burden to look/act/be a certain way. I also wonder if that would affect sales, but what would happen if advertisements did use this method? Do you think there would be a difference in self-esteem, especially in teenagers? Or do you think the economy would be better because there wouldn’t be that “wow” factor in the models and that desire and belief of I must have it! may not be there.

got cool?

Chapter 7 talked a lot on the marketing of coolness. This got me to thinking of all the ways companies try to entice us as consumers to buy their items. Particularly in the youth generation, it seems to me that one of the biggest ad themes is marketing through celebrities and other popular and well known faces. For example, all of the milk ads ("got milk?") that I've seen have directly used celebrities with milk mustaches. They also use a wide variety of celebrities ranging from Batman to Miley Cyrus to KISS in order to appeal to a greater amount of viewers. When we see our favorite celebrities in any ad we automatically make a connection with it. Therefore we are attracted to the item and may be more inclined to purchase that item. This is because we typically aspire to be more like those we look up to. So by buying the products the celebrity is endorsing, it gives us the impression that we, too, will have the wow factor that the celebrity does.

"American Dream"

Hey All,

I saw this on tv this morning.  Kinda creepy how much it uses all of the aspects of the "American" ideal, isn't it?  Notice the framing of each of the people like we talked about in Nathan and Jenna's presentation, especially at the end in the elevator.

Drug Companies

Huh! That's a little interesting.  I wonder where your dermatologist receives most of his/her pay from.  I mean surly no doctor would implement only one treatment or kind of medicine just because some drug company gave him/her a little extra money, or promised him/her anything. http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2007/04/30/Is-Your-Doctor-Being-PAID-OFF-by-the-Drug-Industry.aspx According to this article virtually 94% of the doctors taken in this serve admitted to having some kind of relationship with the drug companies. And most of them met with a representative from a pharmaceutical company at least 16 times a month. I mean sure maybe not all of the doctors recieved money but just free samples, but I'm sure that no real doctor would take the generosity of the drug company into consideration when they are prescribing medicine. So they way the medicine world works is that the drug companies pay the doctors who then prescribe the medicine to patients who then pay the drug companies for the medicine so that the drug companies can pay off the doctors to prescribe the drug companies' medicines back to us. Isn't America beautiful!

beauty & youth

The desire to be older but remain looking younger has become a huge moneymaking market. Yesterday, at a dermatologist appointment and while I was waiting for the doctor, I began to read the magazines they provided. But the only parts of the magazines that were in the office were the articles about cosmetic surgery. There was botox, of course, lip plumping, some treatment to make your eyelash’s growth increase and grow longer and darker, and there was even an article about taking fat from one area of your body, via liposuction, processing it, and then putting it back into your face to fill in wrinkles. To my knowledge, no other culture places as much emphasis on youth and beauty as the United States. In the US, beauty is achieved through looking young and youthful. But if aging is the natural course of life, why do we try so hard to fight it?

Beauty this day and age is all about youth.  Older women are constantly trying to get rid of wrinkles, age spots and dark circles in order to achieve the flawless skin of the youthful models portrayed in media.  But like the dove commercial, it is hard to see who the average woman is.  That is why it has become more common to use an average woman in promoting a product.  I found the article http://beckysperfectskin.com/?t202id=42609&t202kw=
that talks about a 45 year-old woman with two children getting rid of her wrinkles.  This woman uses RezV anti aging and Dermapril as instructed by Dr. Oz.  This woman is made to seem like the average woman, as she has two children and from an everyday neighborhood in Saint Charles, Missouri.  People feel more comfortable about a product when an “average” woman uses a product and claims that it works.  It seems achievable to get that flawless skin.

Most of you have probably see this video once before. This is the evolution video for dove. The first time that i saw this video I thought it was great how they too a so called average woman and made her into a super model. The campaign for real beauty video that we watched really made me question this commercial. This woman that they show is not average at all. She was picked for this commercial because she could be made into a beautiful woman. Dove wants you to think that in order to become as beautiful, you must buy their products. It also shows that no woman can be beautiful on their own. They cant just have a picture take and leave it at that. The picture has to be edited and fixed so that the "real beauty" is shown. Instead of making woman feel like they are just as beautiful as the woman in this video, they are actually taking confidence away from woman and making them feel like they cant be beautiful without having 3 dozen hair and make-up artists helping them out.

Indie-pendant Music

Liiiitle behind on my blogs so I figure I would post a quick one.

Here are two, in my opinion really good Indie bands of recent. It kinda applies to our class. Anyway enjoy.

Cold War Kids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2JNE-sgA74

(embed disabled)

And my personal favorite : the Airborne Toxic Event.

Funny thing about these guys, is that they were in fact offered major labels and told it was the only way to get on the radio,but they however opted for a smaller independent label.


Prolly heard this one on 89.1 the wood.

Proof that McDonalds will hire anyone who applies there.

Baywatch

Need I say more...?  This has numerous examples of the male gaze, and its only the opening credits!  And not just the 'male gaze' as applied to men looking at women, but also the 'male gaze' in terms of women looking at men. There are running shots of both, also when the actor/actress is standing they start low and pan up.  

I have a problem with this being referred to as male.  In an earlier post the example of Renaissance art got me thinking.  I don't believe that there are more women painted/photographed/displayed naked because it is a man constructing those things.  While that is part of it, I think it has more to do with visually the idea that the female body naked/clothed is much more beautiful then that of a mans.  It is more appealing to look at.  I don't believe that these images are constructed purely for the male viewer.  As people we are drawn to things that are attractive to us, and I'm not speaking sexually.  Similar to a female who is stopped dead in her tracks by a pair of shoes.  We crave things that are appealing to us. 

When I read about how consumer societies has become out due to “increased industrialization and bureaucratization… [meaning] a decrease in the number of small entrepreneurs and an increase in large manufactures…[creating] a contrast to feudal and rural societies of the past, in which there was proximity between producers and consumers, as in the case of a shoemaker whose shoes were sold and worn by residents in the village where he worked” it made me think of the brand The North Face. I found that The North Face is specifically made for outdoor lovers and their activities and the company began on San Francisco’s North Beach. So how is it that when I look across campus in the winter time I see more people wearing North Face apparel than anything else? Maryville isn’t located at the beach and not everyone who wears this clothing loves the outdoors. The North Face became big when they targeted students to wear their apparel around their campus. Taking their small entrepreneurship and making it industrialized. Not a bad move.

Male gaze in art

I have also noticed how, even though men were the first portrayed nude in art, nude women are far more common. I noticed this especially around the Renaissance or 1500s, when art (especially paintings) were more realistic. Paintings such as Venus with a Mirror, Venus and Cupid, Sleeping Venus, the Three Graces, Birth of Venus, and so on all feature nude women. The artists who painted these great works were men: therefore their view, or "gaze," was biased towards women. They painted women because their view towards them was one of beauty because that is what their human instincts tell them to appreciate. This trend of nude women in art has shaped our society today. For instance, the Seinfeld clip below, the Mardi Gras tradition of flashing, and the skimpy clothes that girls wear are all areas of nudity or something along the lines of it that are socially acceptable for women but not for men.

Gender and Gaze

After I had got home on Monday, I walked into my parents watching an episode of Sindfeld that had a scene that fit perfectly with the idea presented in the chapter that related to gender and gaze. There is a scene within this section of the show that shows both a man and a woman walking around naked. It is perfectly acceptable to see the woman naked, yet when the man walks around with no clothes on, he is told that it is just not right, or that it is just not a good kind of naked. In the book it says that the first art introduced was male nude, then woman came into the picture and it was said that the dominint viewer was the male. If it was men who were accepted in the nude first, then why is it in this episode on tv that it is so wrong for a man to walk around naked, yet so normal for a woman?


This is a very long clip, so I will point out the spots in it that I am talking about. The first scene starts at 2 minutes and 45 seconds and the second scene starts at 4 minutes. Enjoy!

As I messed around on YouTube I found another Dove ad that was very interesting. Did you know that Dove and Axe are made by the same manufacture? Dove has been known to tell parents to “talk to their daughters about beauty before the beauty industry does” and at the same time they create very sexual ads for Axe. I found this very interesting since the barely dressed women in the Axe commercials were probably deferred from the beauty talk by their parents and encouraged from the beauty industry that is trying to fight for “true beauty”. I was going to upload that video… but it wouldn’t work. So I found this video about “true colors” in girls, but it reminded me of the documentary that we watched in class. Is Dove really appreciating these girls’ differences and the aspects that they see as flaws… or is Dove just helping point out their flaws?

DOVE

I think that the 'Black Box" comment is very interesting.  How the theaters are trying to make people focus on just the film but yet they sell distractions.  They are working against each other.  This kind of reminds me of DOVE and their commercials.  We talked about how Dove is trying to sell beauty but while doing so they point out the women's faults.  I started looking on youtube for more commercials, and I found this commercial that was banned by the United States because it showed too much skin.

They are selling Pro Age Cream. I looked up what exactly that meant and what it is http://www.drugstore.com/qxp165708_333181_sespider/dove_pro_age/cream_oil_lotion.htm , A cream for dry skin. It seems that the only difference between Aging Cream and Pro Age Cream is the name.

Dove Changed the name of there product to seem less profiling to there older consumers. But in the commercial they are saying the reason is that if they did not change the name of the product then the models would not be able to be used to sell there product because they are too old.

"Black Box"

After the class discussion about the idea of the "Black Box" and how a movie theatre is a perfect example of that. I thought it was really interesting how the purpose of the movie theatre is to limit distractions and really captivate you in the movie yet the things that destroy and break down the "black box" are things that are sold to us at the movie theatre. The room is supposed to be black so that we as viewers are focusing on nothing but the movie. The things that break down that focus and concentration are things like people, POPCORN, CANDY, and SODA! All of which are things people love to have at movies and probably even go to the movies specifically for the popcorn, I know my mom does. So I find it hard to understand why something in our main stream culture and something commonly practiced is so contradictory to itself. Also, if anyone has ever read Plato's The Republic, there are very interesting corellations between Socrate's allegory of the cave and with the "black box" theory.

lssacademy.com/2008/01/14/shadows-or-reality/

I just thought this was a clever commercial...

very smart kid...

Library Resources

Hey all, here's that link to the library resources! http://teach.maryville.edu/library/com121/main.htm

Rebellion is a difficult thing to master.  It's almost never rebellious or unique unless you are the originator.  Just like it was said before those who patronize Hot Topic are no more a rebel than I am for shopping at a department store.  

To the left is a picture of a bar in South City, Venice Cafe.  It is most unique in every way shape and form.  This is a picture of their stairwell, which is a mosaic of mirrors, with neon lights on the ceiling.  Now if this bar was taken out of St. Louis and transplanted to San Francisco or Greenwich Village in New York, it wouldn't be anymore rebellious than owning a cell phone.  I think the idea of rebellion depends on context as much as it does on the originator of the concept.  Once it is out there, whether in clothing, music, advertising, or anything really it no longer becomes rebellious as it is just waiting to be duplicated.

Sneaky sneaky corporations...

I, too, have been noticing the current trend of "rebellion." I'm no expert in this field, but I believe those rebelling are rebelling against society's norms as well as corporate America. I've also noticed that many of those who dress the part of a rebel tend to shop and buy their clothing at stores such as Hot Topic.

The only trouble is, Hot Topic is a chain of stores that is being run by a money-grubbing corporation. Those running this corporation must have realized at one point that there are always going to be people who rebel against society and what ever else, and realized there was big money in selling stuff to advertise that fact to others.

I agree that when people rebel, they typically try to define themselves as individuals. Their way of doing this is by buying clothing and accessories from a store; a corporate company where millions of other people shop for the exact same clothes, with the result that those rebelling and attempting to individualize themselves end up looking the same as the rest of those trying to rebel as well as supporting a multi-million dollar corporation.

The unfortunate result of this is that all of the things people were rebelling against are now a huge part of what characterizes them as a rebel. In short, they are now a part of what they're supposed to be rebelling against. They've fallen for the exact same corporation trap as the rest of us. So is rebellion in this way actually possible?

As I read the article Why Johnny Can’t Dissent, I noticed a common theme: rebellion. It mention a lot of rebellion in the corporate world of setting companies apart through outlandish tactics that would turn their way of advertising around. Companies even went as far to convince the consumer that by taking part in their product or listening to their music, they would be individualizing themselves and rebelling against the norm.
Now, I don’t have much experience in the corporate world and being a “rebel” there, but I have been a sucker for their slogans and advertisements. Mostly make-up advertisements like Maybelline and their slogan: “Maybe she’s born with it… maybe its Maybelline”, and L’Oreal’s “Because you’re worth it”, who have me, and several other hundreds of women, that when we use their product we can achieve the flawless looks that their brand advertises.
Besides my weakness for make-up and their empty promises, I do have experience in going to high school… and my observations of the “rebels” there. To be a rebel, as the article says, is to stand out from the crowd and go against the norm and what society deems as a “regular lifestyle”. However, when I think of rebels at my school what I picture in my head and what I saw would be something similar to this picture up above.

When I look at this, I see a definite act of going against what people would consider the norm, but if these kids are rebelling and trying to stand out in the crowd, then why do they look so similar within their crowd. Can you truly rebel against something if everyone else is doing it too?

Americans saving more... spending less

I agree that Americans are addicted to shopping, but that is changing right now.  I was recently sent this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_bi_ge/savings_frugal_society_4

This article explains the economy from a macro-economic perspective. Because consumers use credit cards to purchase flashy new things that they cannot afford, they have become deep into debt.  Americans have come to the realization of this debt and become afraid to spend money.  They have started to save money, causing the economy to go down the drain.  I don’t think this poor economy is going to be an easy fix.  People need to spend money in order for businesses to survive, yet people are saving their money to pay of debt.  This causes businesses to close; therefore employees get laid off.  These employees are then without money to put into the economy.  It is a downward spiral that I see, and the only way to fix it is if people start spending money again.  This economy down spiral is going to bring out the strong businesses.  The weak businesses are going to be weeded out of the economy.  I used to work at Linens and Things and saw the store close down six months after I left.  I am not surprised that they went bankrupt because the business was run poorly, at least from what I saw.  Right now business are in need of strong structures and good advertising.  The goal is to get people to push beyond their fear to spend money and use it towards their services or products.  We need to start having better spending/ saving habits to get better, but until then, it just may be painful.

addicted to... shopping?

This video is kind of dumb, but it relates to the Edward Norton's (who by the way kick ass) early character in Fight Club. He was basically "addicted to shopping". The video talks about how people feel such a need to have the latest and greatest material items that they go on to spend all of their money and eventually rack up credit card debt and spend money they don't have. I can see how playing into the type of life style that the media feeds us, can eventually cause certain "addicts" to slip down this slope, and at times it may not even be about aquiring the goods, but merely making a purchase and succumbing to the addictive urges.

I believe this relates directly to the guy in the video that we watched about rap music and branding. He worked multiple jobs just do have a bunch of silly shoes.

I think this in a sense is tied t something much much bigger and can go on to partially explain our current pickle of our faltering economy and deteriorating housing markets.

Planet Starbucks or Project Mayhem?

I love watching movies, especially psychological and confusing movies. After our first class we had for Intro. To Mass Comm this video clip from the movie Fight Club popped right into my head and I have been thinking about it a lot since then.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS

I remember when “The Passion of the Christ” came out and I personally thought that it was a very good movie. I did not realize that Mel Gibson never did talk out against the anti-Semitism of the movie. I do know that he had an interview about the anti-Semitism against himself. The ideas of Christianity being involved with movies have been an issue for more movies than just “The Passion of the Christ”. In 2007 a movie called “The Golden Compass” came out. The Catholic Church saying that the movie itself was attacking them attacked the Catholic Church. (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20164193,00.html) The movie was about a 12 year old girl who is trying to save her friends while facing evil. Every person has a demon that expresses the other side of the person, such as the little girl is brave and her demon is scared while she travels on her journey. She also learns about the magic of “Dust”. I find it interesting on how the church can take a simple story that is quite interesting and exciting and turn it into anti- Catholic. This also goes for “The Passion of the Christ” . I mean I don’t even understand what the argument was. Jewish belief says that Jesus was not Christ and history says that their was a profit named Jesus that was in fact nailed to the cross. If they don’t believe it was God then why do they care and its no different than someone making a movie about time in America during the time of slavery. No one comes out and says “HEY! This movies portrays white people persecuting black people” Anyway here is the intro to the Golden Compass:

The pull of controversy

I agree in full about the whole controversy=money concept. Where there is controversy, there is press and media hype, and where there is media hype there are people there to see just what all the fuss is about. One example of this theory was a few years back (I think it was in 2004), and was centered around a movie that was to be released; "The Passion of the Christ."
According to this news clip that I found,

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/22/earlyshow/leisure/boxoffice/main595101.shtml,

much of the controversy stemmed from the film's visually graphic and violent scenes, from the fact that it was a religious story, from the Pope's reaction to it, and also from some critics saying that the film was anti-Semitic. The news clip also mentioned how many of those critics who were criticizing the film hadn't actually seen it.

"The Passion of the Christ" was released as an independent film. Usually when films are independent, they don't get as much publicity or money. Yet, for this film, this was not the case. Because of all of the controversy the media and press were making over it, people came to see it not only because of their religious affiliation, but also because they wanted to see what what was so controversial. Mel Gibson (the film's creator) must've known this too. Not once did he try to reason with the press about how his movie wasn't graphic or anti-Semitic. He just let the controversy take its course, bringing in more viewers all the while, because where there's controversy, there's money.

Controversy = Money

While I haven't finished reading this chapter what Jenna had said about the mazda commercial made me think.  Whether woman are being objectified are not is not the issue, in my opinion.  Because this wasn't just a car commercial but something that got peopled excited, angry, or simply curious.  By causing controversy Mazda has produced more press for themselves than if they would have just showed the car driving on winding roads.  

This immediately brought my attention to the idea of publicity and controversy.  The latter leads to the former, ALWAYS.  The best example of this is Pink, her husband (whom she is separated from), the video for 'So What', and her new album funhouse.  

Here's the timeline, roughly:

Feb. 2008 - Pink and Carey Hart separate.  It's big news in Hollywood when there is a break-up and this one had people talking.

Aug. 2008 - Pink releases her video for 'So What'.  Her estranged husband makes a lengthy cameo and it seems odd that an ex would stand to be publicly humiliated.

Here is the video if you haven't seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJZDsJ8UU64

Oct. 2008 - Her album Funhouse is released.

Dec08/Jan09 - New years Eve a picture is taken of Pink and Carey Hart sharing a New Years kiss

And then this article was written on Jan, 23

http://www.news24.com/News24/Entertainment/Celebrities/0,,2-1225-2108_2457902,00.html

Is this a coincidence? I don't believe so. When the video came out this summer I already had a hunch

that this was a massive publicity stunt. After the first People magazine for 2009 came out, and had a

picture of their New Year's kiss, I was even more convinced. And after the article from news24.com

there isn't a doubt in my mind.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this type of advertisement. In fact I think its genius. The more

that people have to talk about something(good or bad), the more people will be talking about it! And

the best form of advertisement is word of mouth.

Methods of Decoding

I’m not sure if I found Chapter Two not very interesting, or I found it hard to follow, or what, but I did not really like this chapter. I did, however, find it easy to understand the different modes of engagement which was introduced by Stuart Hall. These modes were dominant-hegemonic, negotiated, and oppositional. In the book these modes were related to the television show American Idol, which I found interesting, so I messed around on the internet and I found this Mazda commercial:

and decided to apply the modes of decoding myself. In my opinion, a dominant-hegemonic reading of this commercial would be that the car is so nice that NO ONE would want to leave it. After some research I found that some people actually took an oppositional reading towards this commercial saying that the commercial was “was offensive and that women were being shown as sex objects”, claiming that the mannequins were becoming arouse (26 April, 2006; BBC News webpage). These complaints did not hold, however the controversy of the commercial and the mixed feelings stayed. In our book it states that being able to negotiate, when it comes t o images, is a key factor within a complex relationship consisting of producers and viewers. Even though it is impossible to please everyone within advertising, I think the negotiable way of looking at this commercial would be that the Madza commercial insinuated that the turn-on is really the car itself, with all its attributes, and a woman mannequin was the best way to describe that to avoid sexually exploiting women. What do you all think?

HAMSTER ON A PIANO

This video is hysterical.
***Warning*** 

This song WILL get stuck in your head!

If you think you've seen this, still watch it.  There are a few versions out there.  And the song makes the video.  

Funny Foreign Commercial

I was sent this in an email this morning and i thought it was funny.
Im amazed at some of the foreign commercials. They seem to have less restrictions as far as the content goes. This would never be seen on a U.S. network.

Week 1: When Have We Gone Too Far?

Haha, the post below me reminded me of a video of an advertisement form another country that I had seen years ago.



These types of ads are something that I have never seen in the U.S., but seem to be acceptable and possibly even normal in other countries. Is this because we have laws against them? Because the powers that be in the television industry would not allow it? I for one don't have the answer.

To me this "suggestive" advertising is funny, but I can't help by being caught off guard. I know that many countries in Europe have more relaxed standards and views of nudity and what they deem appropriate and I often find myself thinking that it is better to have such ideas. I would say most can agree that the giagantic backlash after the wardrobe malfunction in the superbowl was a bit overboard.

But at the same time I can see the U.S. traveling down the road to such standards, when one looks at the relaxation of regulations with the use of profanity and violence in mainstream t.v. and often I feel that this is something that may not be in our best interest, and I consider myself to be more liberal then most.

What do you all think..Do you think that the U.S. as a whole would be better of if these types of "open" commercials were allowed to air and not thought of as inappropriate?

I can't say for sure, but I know if I had a child, I certainly would not want them to ever even have the thought of a human and a dog having sex, even if they were in the form of a balloon.

There is nothing like viral marketing.

I'm sure we can find a way to work this into class.  Enjoy. :)

click me!

Ideology

When reading the first chapter in the book, the section on ideology caught my attention more that the others. I think it is interesting how a persons particular ideology about a person can be impacted so greatly by the media. I think that today it is seen a lot towards Obama and his beliefs and plans to change our country. There was a news program that was supposed to be non-bias, yet it was flashing pictures and videos of Obama that would give a person a horrible opinion of him. Its amazing how in todays society, we can be so easly manipulated by pictures in the media that may not be realistic. We each have our own opnion on certin things, but whether we realize it or not, we are influnced by the media. The way we look at things is what seperates us into our groups. an example would be republican and democratic, members of the groups have the same ideology on politics.

Myth of Photography

In Chapter one, I found the reading on “The Myth of Photographic Truth” pretty interesting. When mentioning the philosophy of positivism and how the use of machines to capture a moment or represent a frame of time were regarded as more reliable than a painting or sketch done by human hand, I had a hard time applying it for today’s world. Granted, this description was formulated in the mid- 19th century when today’s technology was not in existence, but it stated that “a photograph is often perceived to be an unmediated copy of the real world, a trace of reality skimmed off the very surface of live, and evidence of real”, however in today’s world, you can rarely look at a professional photograph that has not be altered in some way. If you checkout this youtube video you can see how easy it is for today’s technology to alter a simple photograph. So, how much of what we really look at in our magazines and television ads are real, and how much are altered in order to appease what we want to see as reality? So when the book defines “myth” as a “hidden set of rules and conventions through which meanings are made to seem universal and given to the whole society”, I have to apply it to how people and advertising agencies use the magic of photo shop and all the other fancy gadgets they utilize to create an image of beauty, in this particular case, that influences our society.

Hi!

Hi class! I hope your 3-day weekend was great! Can't wait to see you all next week!

-Sarah

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