Girl Starved to Death in South Korea (article)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/korean-girl-starved-online-game

I cannot begin to imagine the insanity of this couple. If you are not capable or taking care of your own kid, then don’t have any from the start. The fact that these people are grown adults makes the situation even worse. How do you forget to feed your own child? The obsession with raising the virtual daughter, Anima, is just too ridiculous. I can’t wrap my head around it. This couple obviously has no sense of responsibility or any sense for that matter. This is why people need to have jobs and have something to do to keep them busy and away from the internet. If you have no work and are free all day, then it is possible to spend that many hours on the internet playing such a game. I actually think that these virtual life games need to be banned. I know I may sound a bit extreme but if people had only one life, they’ll take care of it. People play these games because they are not satisfied with their own lives. This is why so many of us look for another source of escape, and with today’s sense of imagination, it’s pretty easy to get hooked.

Media Free Article - University of Maryland

I honestly don’t think it’s that bad to go one day with media. I’m pretty sure it will be difficult, especially for some of us, but it’s only one day. I understand our friends will think we died if we don’t reply back to their text messages within the hour, but if it’s only for 24 hours, I think we’ll survive. We’ll just have to endure verbal assaults from our friends when we get back on to the social network.
I was pretty surprised at how serious the effects were on the 200 students of the University of Maryland. They really made it seem like an alcohol or drug addiction with their symptoms of withdrawal, anxiety, as well as feeling miserable and antsy. One student wrote that she finds it sickening to find out how clearly addicted she was. Even though I text and Facebook every day, I don’t think I’m addicted to that extent. I probably can last one day but it will be difficult and a bit irritating. I think I may become a tad bit jittery since I always feel such an urgent need to check my text messages or my Facebook page. It is sad to realize how much we depend on technology to go through our days. Even as I am writing this, I am looking around and seeing everyone on either a laptop or a Blackberry, and listening to their iPod. In the whole lounge, there is not one person reading a book. I am also pretty sure that not every single one of those people is doing homework.
Since we live in such a fast-paced world, we need some form of communication that is just as fast. So I understand why so many of us rely on texting and Facebook and other forms of technology to stay connected to family and friends. Not every person has the time every day or week to visit their relatives and friends. I still like to actually see my friends and interact with the rest of civilization every once in a while.
After reading this article, I started thinking about our own “Media Free” assignment for the rest of the week. I think I can last a day, maybe two but not more than that. Sometimes I wish we still lived in a world where technology was nonexistent, just for the simplicity of things. But yet again, with so many things occurring around the world, I think it’s necessary to keep track of these events in order to stay updated. Technology does make our lives a bit easier but at the same time, I fear what the world would be like twenty years from now. If we are so dependent on our technical gadgets now, I wonder how we would be like in the future.
I am pretty curious about how the “Media Free” assignment will go. I wonder how long I’ll last and hopefully, I will not be as addicted as the Maryland students turned out to be.

Media-Free Week

A week without texting or going on facebook is pretty bad. I mean, I can handle not going on facebook but I need some type of communication to let people know I’m still alive. If I go a week without answering my texts, people will either think I’m ignoring them and hate me for a while, or just think something is terribly wrong and I’m in need of necessary help. Not watching TV is not that bad, I think I can handle it. I wonder how long I will last..

The "Perfect" Article

The “perfect” article for me paper would be titled, “God in the Media”. This article would be about how the idea of religion has changed into something that the media uses to influence people and take advantage of them. Since the beginning of time, religion was a sacred thing to each person who believed in higher Being. Over the years, it has been thrown into ads and other schemes of media to try to persuade and push people in a certain direction. Nowadays, God only seems to want money, and this is what the media portrays. It is no longer about the core of your beliefs and that is no longer respected.

TOUGH GUISE

“Tough Guise” really explained why and how guys are the way there are today. In our society, there is a lot of violence and that violence is portrayed vividly in the media. As the movie starts, a scene from the Wizard of Oz begins playing. It’s the scene when Toto pulls back the curtain and the crew finds this nervous and weak man pretending to be a strong wizard. From there, the talk starts about how guys put up a front and wear a mask to gain respect through violence. They like to hide their vulnerability because if they don’t, they are not men. A couple of teenage guys were asked what a real man is. Some of the answers were physical, hard, muscular, tough, athletic, powerful, respected, and many others along that form. These are the qualities that make up a real man according to these guys.
Jackson Katz, who is the man who spoke throughout the documentary and is the one who examines this relationship, said this is the box that defines manhood for many young men. They are restricted to this box and if they are not what a “real man” should be, they are outcasts and called queers, sissy, etc. Where do boys learn about this? Their family and community sure do have a role in this, but media also has an immense effect. Throughout the years, media has depicted violent masculinity as a culture norm. Years ago, the bodies of Superman, Batman, and other male figures in movies were not as rippled and muscular as they are in almost all films today. Even the action figures have gotten bigger. When they compared the toys such as those of G.I. Joe to the action figures of today, I was shocked at the masterminds behind the manufacturing of these things.
A part that seemed really interesting to me in the documentary was how the “dominant” group goes unexamined in society. When we watch the news and hear about a rape or a sexual assault that has occurred, it is said ‘how many girls were raped or assaulted’ or ‘where they were raped’. I did not realize that most of the time we say ‘she was physically assaulted’, not ‘he assaulted’ or ‘he raped‘. This is what Katz means when he says that the dominant group in our community is not examined. But when a female commits a crime, it is talked about as a gender issue. When the movie, “Thelma and Louise” came out decades ago, there was a bit of controversy. Thelma and Louise were two females who were violent characters in this film and soon after, the trend was questioned by many people. Men don’t want to feel threatened and they don’t their manhood questioned. How can a weak, fragile female be a violent woman who carries around a gun? That’s what a “real man” is supposed to, is it not?
This documentary really examined the social roles and gender expectations of men and young boys in society today. Some statistics were a bit surprising but it was very interesting to see the comparisons of men today and men decades ago. I wish young boys were not expected to grow to be so violent and to learn these attributes. If we can somehow control the content of certain video games, that will be a start. But I don’t think it’s that easy. Thanks to the media, masculine violence has unfortunately become a culture norm.

3 Ads

1. http://www.groove-quantize.com/grooveblog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/ethiceze.jpg

This ad promotes the product “ETHIC-EZE”, a medication that puts your conscience to sleep. If you are a man, this will help you feel better if you’re having any guilt or “nagging doubts”. It is also recommended by 4 out of 5 psychiatrists.



2. http://www.emergencemarketing.com/images/prozac.jpg

Prozac is a medication given to treat depression. In this poster, it is advertized as a household cleaner and with a quote that says, “Wash Your Blues Away!” It has a woman in a bright yellow dress opening her arms to it with a glad look on her face.


3. http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kt9gvpNtyi1qaqi8oo1_500.jpg

In this ad, they make fun of the weird and confusing names given to the Starbucks sizes and how ridiculous their prices are. It says, “Starbucks coffee: overcharging since 1946”.

SPOOF ADS

BIG MAC ATTACK :this type of ad called the McDonald MacAttack, shows what the end will be for those people living on Big Macs from McDonald’s. They actually have the “M” sign that we are all used to seeing as we drive down streets or on TV’s on the heart monitor. It’s actually a pretty neat way to drive the point across.


cK ChicKen : when I first looked at this ad, I didn’t realize what the point was. Then I realized the Calvin Klein sign and underneath the word “chicken”, it says, “Great Legs Nice Breasts”. This shows what type of shallow industry the fashion world is, but I think it’s a bit degrading to women to use chicken as the way to advertise the meaning. But I can understand why they did. In this type of industry, they don’t care about people and use them for their benefits and profits. Women with great legs and nice breasts are needed, which is the only way to grab the attention of the public.



Joe Chemo Bed : at first I didn’t understand this but I found out that this is based on the brand Camel cigarettes. Joe Chemo is the “camel” and is in the hospital, looking like he is about to die from cancer. He is obviously taking chemo therapy, hence the name Joe chemo but it’s doesn’t seem like its working. I think this is a clever way to send a message to all the addictive smokers that they’ll probably end up in the same position as Joe Chemo is they don’t quit their dangerous habit. I wish these were the type of ads that you can see out on the streets or on buses because all of the “truth” commercials are getting a bit lame.


Obsession for Women : this is not the usual ad you see in the Calvin Klein “Obsession” collection. They usually have beautiful men and women who send a pretty seductive message across. I’m guessing this is why they named their perfumes and colognes “Obsession”. But in this ad, it’s a different type of obsession. It’s the obsession for women who aim to look and be like those models who advertise basically every product out there. It’s a deadly obsession that causes them to develop psychological problems and hurt their own bodies. I think this ad was an excellent way of showing what all the advertisements of today are really selling.

How Does Media and Propaganda Manipulate Culture?

I did not know how much media and propaganda manipulate culture. In the beginning of the video, the speakers talk about the origin of the word “propaganda”. In 1622, the word “propaganda” originated from religion, when the Pope set up a counsel to spread the teachings of the Church to the rest of the world. They also showed pictures of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, while playing a piece of classical music. After the pictures stopped playing, the speakers talk about how music and art can make “a violent death seem mesmerizing”. This is completely true and I had not realized that until it was mentioned. As I was watching those slides, I really was mesmerized. If they had shown the pictures by themselves and without any music, the effect would not have been the same. This was the beginning of the video where they started talking about propaganda by introducing religion. One of the speakers said that “Art, propaganda, and ideology come in a mix.” Propaganda and media are used as means of persuasion when it comes to ideas, culture, and religion. They act as little shoves that are meant make you think in a certain way and have specific views on various issues. Through propaganda, the idea of “execution became salvation”. Leading from this, the topic of functional myths was brought up. We all look for something to believe in and media helps us find it. Historical traumas, such as that of 9/11, have a great influence on our emotion and actions. On September 11th, 2001, terrorists flew planes through the towers and thousands of people died. We decide to go to war with Afghanistan. This is a time of grieving so we are not able to think in a rational way. When we are in a vulnerable state of mind, it’s easy to believe things people tell us. I remember every single house putting up American flags on their porches following the attack on the Twin Towers. Not only that, but there were posters and commercials, as well as documentaries that promoted a sense of needed unity. If it were not for the media and propaganda, the actions taken after September 11th would not have been the same.
In the video, they showed slides of Russia and Korea during wars and political issues they faced. If you were a part of either country and saw those pictures, you would feel a strong connection to your people in a time of need. There were slides of armies at war and posters that influenced people to take action and be a part of the country. This is what media and propaganda do. They manipulate culture by influencing people to think and act in a certain way. It may seem that it completely controls us, which is not true, but it does have an immense affect on us. If media did not play a huge role in our culture, it wouldn’t be a culture. Through media and propaganda, people come together to protest, celebrate, as well as for support. The way media and propaganda manipulate culture is not necessarily a bad thing, it has been happening since the early ages.

Functional myths and how media shapes reality

If we think about it, we all need and look for something to believe in. It’s a part of human nature, I suppose. We don’t only have one functional myth, but many. For many of us, there are cultural gender expectations and if we do not follow society’s norms, there is something that is wrong with us. Even though we are different people and personalities, what is expected of us is not that different. And media feeds on the things that oppose the norms of society. If everyone did whatever they were expected to, media would not have such a huge impact. There would be no drama and no entertainment.
Functional myths also include those that deal with appearances. If we notice, all the ads and commercials always have good-looking men and women. These men and women have to appear perfect, as if all people should look like that. All these ads are successful because they drive their point across very well. Many women now go on endless diets and they are constantly after the next beauty product or fashion trend. Sometimes, we don’t realize that we’re good enough. Media promotes that idea, always showing that we need to look like certain people and dress in a certain way, otherwise we are not good enough.
In the video of “What Orwell Didn’t Know”, there were a few comment said that stuck out to me. Mazoor says, “Man’s desires must overshadow their needs”. This was such a genius quote and I think this is the basis of all corporations that use media to sell their products in order to keep consumerism on the right track. We all have basic needs but they’re not enough to keep consumerism running. So all the things that we want and desire are shoved in our faces in order to tempt us in the form of advertisements, billboards, and commercials. These desires also have to seem more important than our needs. The people behind all the media, are great masterminds. They know how to use the weakness of the masses to their own advantages and profits. A quote stated in the “What Orwell Didn’t Know” video says, “If we understand the group and how it groups, we can manipulate them without them knowing”. This is exactly how major businesses and companies work. They know what really reaches out to people and their flaws, and by understanding this, they are able to influence and control what we think we need. A commercial of 30 seconds is full of well-thought thinking. Even if we think the commercial is stupid, it always grabs our attention.
Everything we believe in has a link to media and this is how it shapes our reality. We are brought up with certain values and virtues and media promotes them, not always in a bad way, but in a way that has the ability to manipulate our feelings.

Relationship to Media/Consumerism

Everyday, the media tightens its hold on us and its effect in our lives gets stronger. Media tells us what to do and how to do it. From what we eat, to what shampoo we should use. It is what sets seasonal fashion trends and dictates the economy to a certain extent. Media grabs people of all ages, from toddlers to senior citizens. I have never actually thought to count how many ads I see in a day. It would be way too much for me to realize. There are numerous ads on TV, as well as the various ones on the internet. You always see them when you’re waiting at the bus stop, as well as when you get on the train. You also see them when you drive. They are everywhere in malls and supermarkets. You cannot go 30 minutes without seeing an advertisement. And I did not realize this until I had to write the last few sentences. There’s an ad about everything, whether it’s orange juice or underwear. They also send the same message, regardless of the product. ‘You will be a better person if you buy this, or do that, or look that way.’ That’s the message. We sometimes underestimate what 30 seconds can do.
In schools, we are encouraged to think on our own and have our perspectives and opinions on the happenings in society. But it’s a lie. If everyone was able to speak for themselves and be our own person, the economy would be down and the country will not be running the same way it is today. If advertisements were not successful, there would not be any consumers. If there are no consumers, there’s no strong economy which is a major factor of a strong country. The media has a great influence on the way we think and the way we feel. For example, a few years ago, when skinny jeans were first beginning to show, I was really into them and wanted to buy a pair. After a few weeks, I went to the mall with my friend, Jess and decided to look for the jeans. Jess totally hated them and said they looked disgusting. Months later, almost every girl has a pair. Same thing happens on the radio. There’s always this one song that you hate yet, they play it over and over again. After a while, you’ll get so used to the song that you’ll probably go home and pay the 99 cents for it, or if you’re like so many others, you’ll download it for free, illegal or not. Even the foods we eat are influenced my media. I love to cook and try out new “experiments” in the kitchen. So as I flip through the TV channels and get Food Network, I’ll watch a few shows and hopefully get an idea. Once the show is over, I’ll head to the supermarket to get the ingredients to make the recipe.
Media has a very strong control hold on us, and we have become so used to it. It affects our lives every day since it indirectly tells us what we should buy , eat, wear, and use.