The World of Media Through my Eyes

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Susan Sontag Analysis

After watching the documentary titled “Regarding Susan Sontag” I have a much more understanding of who Susan Sontag was and what she represented within the media. Throughout this documentary Sontag continually went against the norms that were placed in her generation. One of the norms that she continually fought against was the women should be treated as feminist she believed that woman needed to stop worrying about looks and start to look at what they think.

 As a second wave feminist Sontag was the type of woman to ignore the rules that is placed in front of woman and go on her path on righteousness this righteousness led her to become a member of the LGBTQ community in which she played a major role with her article titled “Notes on Camp” which was a collection of essays that Sontag written on the gay culture these articles were not necessarily about the gay culture and the impact it has whether it’s the actions presented by those within the culture that exemplifies the theories on it and the postmodern feel it has to it. Sontag’s own sexuality was bought into discussion as she was a straight woman with lesbian tendencies at first, she realized her lesbian experience was more prevelant after meeting Harriet Sohmers Zwerling whom she met at U.C. Berkley. Even though Sontag knew she was gay she went to marry Phillip Reif in 1950 and proceeded to have a child with she different abandoned the straight values until 1959 when she divorced him after that Sontag went on the full spectrum of being a lesbian. 

The last norm that she broke was the new wave of film in which she starred in one but after that role she went to change the film culture in entirely different way. In the documentary they feature a clip from an interview she gave for her upcoming film titled “Promised Land” in this interview Sontag says “movies never show the real on how people are marginalized they are” in the documentary of Promised Land it focuses on the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur war and in the documentary, Sontag shows the effects of what the caused innocent civilians which shows the real of people and not the marginalized.

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Blog Post 10: Social Media Revolution

Since the dawn of social media we have seen a heavy increase in the use of the internet where we as a society use it for different things whether its to communicate with family, make major announcements, keep with the news, or follow our favorite celebrities it has molded into our routine every day. With using social media though it has become a problem within race and culture as we still can’t avoid racism and discrimination in the article “From culture to Hegemony” there is an quote in which they talk about ruling class within our society “the class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.” What this quote means is that people who are rich can rule our social media production and no matter what they have a tight grip against us. 

This generation in my mind can spark a revolution but it has to work with everyone and not exclude a group of people. With the many different outlets that we have in social media I know for a fact we can create a revolution but as long as we have “Conservative white artists and critics who control the cultural production of writing about art seem to have the greatest difficulty accepting that one can be critically aware of visual politics the way race, gender, and class shape art practices (who makes art, how it sells, who values is, who writes about it) without abandoning a fierce commitment to aesthetics.” (hooks 1995, XII). 

I know for fact that it’ll be tough to try to unite everyone as one for a common but with more and more campaigns starting to erupt they’ll be one in which we all will revolt against the “the man” and create that dream that we’ve been trying to create for years. 

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Blog Post 10: Magazine Project

For my magazine project I will be focusing on the problem of racial issues within sports primarily in the NFL. I will use stories that have surfaced with players who have been outspoken with their sport and how they have been repressed and silence by others in the profession.

 For my ads I will use real sports ads that are problematic within the sport and give my commentary on the problem of the advertisement. My advice column will give help to young and upcoming athletes who want to change their profession, if there is a racial problem in the sport they play I will give advice on how to address and how we can possible change it. My feature content will have the racial issues within the  NFL, my profile will focus on Colin Kaepernick  who fights racial issues, the short article will focus on the problems in his sport, and for the photographic campaign it’ll have his stand and with my commentary. My textual analysis will be revised a little to continue on the racial issues not only in sports but in my analysis of the film El Cantante as I’ll add in photos that shows this problem. 

For my feature article I will take my old analysis of Colin Kaepernick and revise and include the theory of Patricia Hill-Collins “Booty Call” and Dustin Kidd’s Social Media Freaks Chapter 1 “Social Media, Art, and the Network Society”. Lastly I’ll interview a Patricia Hill-Collins and get her opinion on Colin’s stand against the NFL. 

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Blog Post: 2 Different Black Sides MJ v. Allen Iverson

In sports the black male has been always targeted for different issues in the media and in the black community whether these problems are being arrested, refusing to stand, or in their own community where their judge for being accepting white people into their life and not their culture. These problems continue to arise and it has become problematic for black athletes to do what they love without being judged by their peers or the media. In the article “Booty Calls” by Patricia Hill-Collins she talks about the problems within sports as she gives the example of former NBA player Latrell Sprewell where in 97 he choked his head coach. Hill-Collins explains the actions of Sprewell which contradicts the Western ideologies “the combination of physicality over intellectual ability, a lack of restraint associated with incomplete socialization, and a predilection for violence has long been associated with African American men.” 

A player I think who enforces the idea of being a sell-out is Hall of Famer Michael Jordan who is considered the G.O.A.T. of basketball he has been seen as sell-out for different reasons. The main reason is that after making it big and becoming the face of the NBA in the 90s he rejected his black friends and started to hang with white people and the years went he became an easy market for many white owned corporations to make money. 

On the other spectrum of an NBA player who the media would see as a “thug” was Hall of Famer Allen Iverson who for many reason portrayed thuggish attitude from his braids, his style of clothing, to his friends, and his tattoos. In “Booty Call” Hill-Collins she talks about Allen Iverson and says that “he was… a walking reminder that the days of cultural crossover, when stars like Dr. J or MJ sought out for white acceptance, were over.” Even though Allen Iverson was definition of a hood player he was still a marketable player as I had many friends who played basketball and saw him as their role model for the mere fact that he grew in up in poor neighborhood and was able to make it and still be himself.  

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Blog Post 6: Gender Roles

In our society we have enforced the gender roles to both men and women and how we should act within roles and these are the rules we’ve set since media has influenced our roles we’ve acted upon these ideas and rules because we believe in what we we’re told and how we grew up.  In Cynthia Carter’s article “Sex/Gender and the Media From Sex Roles to Social Construction and Beyond” she writes about how the media plays a role in the these rules set by both genders by saying “As such, media images of women have been regarded as contributing to women’s second-class status in society, limiting their contribution to wider democratic discussions and their and their individual life chances” Carter (370) the issuing being in Carter’s mind is that with the media showing women in kitchen cooking, cleaning, or being a stay at home mom they’ll never nowhere because no matter what they do and can men will keep them down because of the roles the media have set.

For example if a man takes care his wife and his kids and does everything right it is considered normal amongst their peers and the media but if a woman does the same as the man does the media decides not to focus on how great of a mom and wife she is instead they attack her husband call him a loser and other insults and the main reason for that is the roles that were set in the beginning. No matter how hard women have tried they’ll still be portrayed differently than men in the world of sports many females only have about 2 or 3 of the same sports like men Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball.

The coverage that is shown for women lowered and diminished for the sheer fact that the media knows that this won’t get views and won’t be talked about the same as if it where men playing. As of fan of Basketball I have very hard time of knowing when the WNBA starts because there hardly any commercials of the new season starting on ESPN and there barely is any talk about it in the sports shows that I’ve watched on constant basis that covers the sport. In my opinion the only way this can change for women to have the same and equal gender roles as men is to continuing going against the motto as in other countries it has worked and is considered normal to many people in the foreign countries, as there is hope for women they have to continue to fight for what they believe in and someday the media and our society will see the equal balance. 

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Disabilities portrayed within the Media

From as long as I can remember disabilities have been portrayed differently by various media outlets from TV, Music, Movies, and Social Media. It has always been one side who insults people who are disabled for laughs among their peers and those who support people disabled people and can understand them and help them out in anyway. This is no different in entertainment with one side that makes fun of disabled people in a insensitive way but even though it is insensitive the networks that these programs air are still able to make money because of the capitalist society we live in. The other side gives disabled people more confidence and a sense of relieve that its alright to have these disabilities and for that they create characters for them to relate and give them better representation while still profiting off the money they make with characters they create. 

A prime example I can think of is the cartoon series Family Guy where on a few times they have made fun of the people with disabilities for a cheap joke or laugh. During season 9 episode 16 called “Tiegs for Two” they’re is a flashback where Peter talks about having his shirt ruined because of Michael J. Fox’s disability Parkinson’s and when he was shaking he spilled wine on him. It wouldn’t be so bad until Peter goes back on his word about taking the high road and not showing the flashback but still does anyway. This was very uncalled with many people saying did they take it to far with the joke. 

On the other spectrum where disabled people are portrayed in a better light is in Marvel comics where the superhero Daredevil deals with being blind but still able to fight crime both day and night with lawyer by day and hero by night. Matt Murdock is able cope with the fact that he is blind by using his superhuman senses to guide him through his life. Daredevil is one of the more unique characters in the Marvel Universe even with his inability to see he has achieved some very impressive feats without his sight. Also in the Netflix original series Daredevil we see a gritter and darker portrayal of the character which fans can enjoy it also gives people who are disabled a cooler take in media where they’re not used as the sympathy character, the one character who is made fun of ,etc. they can an enjoy a representation of them and not be offended in any way.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KgcCLzxxr

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Blog Post 4: Consumerism and LGBTQ

For as long as I can remember watching TV many different shows have had their take on the LGBTQ community and have used some the characters in these shows as cash cows and as reasons for the shows liking. One show I think fondly of that exploited the LGBTQ community is the animated hit series South Park as there many different that are represented through LGBTQ lens.

 For the lens of queer theory in Michael Warner’s “Introduction to Queer Theory” in his section Sexual Politics and the Social Order Warner talks about the social reflection of what the LGBTQ community goes through. He says “social reflection is carried out in such a manner which tends to be reactive, fragmentary, and defensive, and leaves us perpetually at a disadvantage. And it is easy to be misled by the utopian claims advanced in support of particular tatics”. Also in Warner’s article he continues further about the Social Environment by talking about the relations between the different fields of politics. Warner quotes Sedgwick “a damaging bias toward heterosocial or heterosexist assumptions inheres unavoidably in the very concept of gender... Although many gender-based forms of analysis do involve accounts, sometimes fairly rich ones, of intragender behaviors and relations, the ultimate definitional frontier between different genders.” This gives heterosocial and heterosexual relations a conceptual privilege of incapable consequence. 

A character that I had thought about  in the South Park franchise was Big Gay Al who is a gay man who was the former boyfriend of Mr.Garrison and now husband to Mr.Slave. Big Gay Al is also huge advocate for gay rights which has been documented on the fifth season and second episode called “Cripple Fight”. In this episode the boys are in boy scouts where Big Gay Al is the scout leader which makes the fathers of Stan and Kenny weary of his leadership. Eventually Big Gay Al is fired for the fact that he is gay and for that the boys decide to protest to let people who are of the LGBTQ community allowed into scouts. At the end Big Gay Al sues the boy scouts and wins the case but refuses to came back by saying “it isn’t right for them to think our way” and while they should be talked into changing their minds, he begs for people who supported the scouts to not cut their funding or the support saying that he enjoys the scouts for the work they do and that they’re a private organization. 

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Blog Post 3: Queer Identities

Michael Warner’s “Fear of Queer Planet” he explains the issues that people who have different sexualities and different problems. Warner writes this to make people who don’t identify with people of the same sexual preference. With this we understand they have to go through on a daily basis in our normal lives. 

For example in the article Warner talks about The Social Environment of Queer Politics he says “ it requires bringing differently sexualized and differently politicized people into a movement that can address broad questions.” He goes on further to explain the movement and queer social theory which must reflect the queer politics. He gives the examples of the following partially disarticulating itself from other kinds of identity politics itself. “The first necessity here is to understand the historical constraints that stylize sexual politics as a form of identity politics - often with the result of major distortions”. 

In the media movies and short films many different of times they have supported people of different identities and sexual preferences. A prime example is the movie Philadelphia 1993 in the movie a man who is diagnosed with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his disease he then hires a homophobic small time lawyer who helps him in a wrongful suit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4B9AU45P4

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Blog Post 2: Instagram

Since Instagram’s rise in 2012 I’ve been an avid user ever since. Instagram has been able to give me what I want in a social media perspective with giving me three different things I need to get through in a day.

The first one being art I follow different photographers and artists with each one having a different style their able to express on Instagram.

The second one being keeping up with sports as an avid sports fan I come across different pages and team pages all the time and by following them I can stay updated on the various topics going on in the sports world.

The third and final one being I’m able to see what my favorite celebs are up to whether it be there touring around the world, relaxing at home with their family, promoting a TV show their going to be on, promoting their new album, or just enjoying life I feel almost attached to their lives on Instagram when seeing what their up to. 

Instagram has always been an app where it divides people into groups without us knowing. Whatever we like on Instagram their able to change your search and the recommended pages for us to follow. With this there able to put everyone of us into different groups and have different pages follow us whether it be a real page or fake page. Even when we see ads that accidentally like there pages start appear more and more on whatever platform where on whether it’s Google, Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, etc. 

Instagram is a page where divided by the norms of our peers without us even knowing it. Instagram has become something of a social media freak divider because separates us by our interests, likes, followers, and who were following. Who knows if Instagram could change in the next few years but for now it will stay the way it is. 

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Blog Post 1: Freak

For me the term freak was always a derogatory term to insult someone who was different because of something there into or it was used to describe the looks of someone who was not the description that society wants us to look. For a long time from the age of 10-15 I used to use that phrase to make fun of people that I didn’t know and didn’t want to know it wasn’t until I turned 16 when my father had told that in Puerto Rico that me being a Afro-Latino I would be judged different because I don’t match the requirements as a stereotypical Latino. For which the requirements where being light skin or looking white and having no Black or African American ancestry.

When finding this out I automatically thought it was a lie but it was true when spending time in Puerto Rico I started to see the realization of that portrayal which was that in any form media whether it’s music,telenovelas, movies, American TV, etc. For these reasons my perception about the term freak changed and I started to use it more as a quality and trait of mine whether it was race, my love for video games, movies, music, sports, and comic books.

Freak to me is a personality we take on and embrace it apart of our persona and it doesn’t matter what your background says as long as you know what freak means it could never take you.

https://www.facebook.com/perolike/videos/1619134461507272/

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Media Fragmentation

Within Media there has always been a new wave to come out in every decade that has somehow revolutionized our mediums and how we used them. For the 20s it was the newspaper, 30s radio, 40s Hollywood cinema, 50s television, 60s colored television, 70s the cellphone was invented, 80s the Macintosh Computer was invented, 90s the google was created, 00s Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, iPhone, and YouTube were all created, and now in the current generation we have new ways have sharing media and consuming the stuff we love in our media. 

With Segment making media the fragmentation is Reddit as there are different communities to get people to interact with people they’ll probably never meet in their but for the topics or groups their those certain people are able to get that sense of convenience of talking to the people with the same interests as them. 

In Society making media there are many different forms of media that can get people together in fragmentation. The one I will be focusing on is YouTube and Twitter. The reason for these two mediums is the fact that their able to gain many people across the world to follow a star and know what there up to and possibly get the chance talk and meet them in real life. The reason it works it’s able to take a YouTuber’s subscribers to leave messages in the comment and those who following that Youtuber is able go to their channel and communicate with the fans about certain things good or bad. It also leads to more fans for that Youtuber in both subscribers and followers with that their able to have certain events that these people together and they able interact within that realm of the event. It not only helps those youtubers it also helps the average looking to gain more fans or followers through their interaction. 

This is how media fragmentation works within the Segment making media and the Society making media as both sides are able to work even though they’ll never be a connection between both sides. 

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South Park Fractured But Whole Distribution and Aggregation

On October 18th, 2017 Ubisoft partnered with South Park studios to release their anticipated video South Park Fractured But Whole which was based of the episodes of South Park which were called The Coon, Coon 2: Hindsight, and Coon vs Coon and Friends. This game allowed players to make their own character in the South Park universe and go on an adventure with all the kids from South Park. 

The distributors where Ubisoft who help South Studios release their 2nd game. Ubisoft would sell game to different retail stores and online for different gaming platforms whether it be the Xbox store on the Xbox one, Playstation store on the PS4, or Steam for PC gamers. Ubisoft also made a deal with Gamestop which was that if people who pre-ordered the game would get a free copy of South Park “The Stick of Truth” which was the game before Fractured But Whole. With Ubisoft doing this there was incentive for consumers to pre-order South Park. Also within the game Ubisoft allows players who have Ubisoft accounts to log in and they are able to get Ubisoft exclusive gear for you character. By doing this it benefits both Ubisoft and South Park studios as the studios takes in money from and Ubisoft benefits from new members who want the new costumes for their character. 

For the aggregation process both companies had to appeal to different audiences and make sure it wasn’t only going target the South Park fans or the fans of the previous game Stick of Truth they had to find a common ground. So South Park decides to delay the game for a year and cash in on the popular film genre Superheroes and parodies the joke of Cartman’s team Coon and Friends and Kenny and his team the Freedom Pals as two franchise that wanna start venturing into the movie scene like DC comics and Marvel Comics. By doing this the game becomes a bigger success as you wanna keep playing to find what happens and who becomes the better team and group by the end. While also keeping up to South Park’s roots with the sense of humor and issues that affects as a society their able work that and make game like an episode of South Park. 

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Netflix emergence

On August 29th, 1997 Netflix was born and 20 years later it would change movie and TV streaming before we knew it. Netflix has shaped our media culture by its original shows that it has aired and how it has affected media culture in the ways that it attacks the culture we live in. With shows like Black Mirror and House of Cards which has different ways at handling the culture we live in. Netflix also works in our social media by what’s trending with the certain shows like the Marvel original shows that are on the show many people go to twitter to show their excitement. 

Netflix became dominant in 2008 with the decline of Blockbuster and many people converting to Netflix because of the subscription price and the better variety of shows for viewers. Also Netflix converted to mobile and computers as YouTube did as well converting to mobile devices to up the mass customization for users. 

Netflix change in production with the actors/actresses they acquired with the value of the business increasing in money and stock. Netflix’s distribution changed in the beginning at first they allowed subscribers to rent DVD’s and bringing them back when their down. After 2006 in 07 they converted to streaming movies and TV shows while still keeping renting DVD’s. At first with consumption it was rent DVD’s online but competing with Blockbuster was aspect they where losing so they changed with streaming from computers, mobile devices, and game consoles by doing that it helped them get ahead in renting and streaming.  

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Iron-man in the context of Economic History

On May 2nd, 2008 director Jon Faverau directed one of the more popular comic book character’s in the Marvel Universe he was able to bring Robert Downey Jr. to play the Iron avenger Tony Stark. In the case of the economic history with Iron man there are 3 different types that gave the reception to the film Iron man. 

First within the context of the political side for Iron man did not get that much heat from politicians as Iron man character was not controversial with the government even though the film series challenge the government by having the government wanting Tony Stark to give them the weapons he created for the Iron man and create more super weapons to help the government in war. 

Second with the economic stand for Iron man there was a lot of money put in the film’s budget to make this movie for it’s amazing special, visual effects for the film. With all this there was a lot of pressure on Faverau to make the movie amazing because had the movie been terrible and not produce the popularity that Iron man has had there would’ve been a lot of critics and fans bashing the actors and director for a abomination of a film. But this was not the case for this movie as Iron man’s budget was 140 million dollars and the films box office was able to gain 585.2 million dollars and was at the top of summer blockbuster film. 

In the social climate of Iron man’s film was very smart with partnering with SEGA to produce a video game, a commercial spot in Super Bowl XLII, 7/11 also helped with the films gain and Burger King partnered with the film as in a scene Tony Stark eats a cheeseburger after being rescued from Afghanistan. 

The content of film in the cinematography aspect with the effects and realism of seeing a Ironman as a real life human machine fighting crime and saving the world. The effects to make the suit come to life was something that we haven’t seen since the Star Wars films. Also within the production crew and cast was a star stellar especially with Robert Downey playing Tony Stark as his Downey real life was almost identical to Tony’s lifestyle with being a struggling alcoholic and RDJ being a struggling drug addict and after this film’s release we as an audience saw an improvement in Downey’s behavior and characteristics also Downey’s performance was so spot on and that he bought the character Iron man to life and we almost believe that he is Tony Stark because of his performance and continuation of the series and the Avengers and also Spiderman we see his performance of Tony be true to life.      

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Non Advertiser Media vs Advertiser Media

A well known example of a media advertiser is the radio stations by the fact that these radio shows are sponsored by different ads and have different sponsors to gain revenue for their stations network. Radio stations content is formed by topics that are trending in the news and are given a straight to line to follow. They also play music based on the listeners they gained which is big way advertisers work with radio stations. For example if you listen to a Hip-Hop radio stations the advertisers will be more current for young adults like clothing stores, popular TV shows, etc. 

A well known non advertiser is Spotify, Spotify is a subscription based app for music streams to gain their revenue. Spotify has different subscriptions they have premium, premium family, student discount, and premium with other companies. Spotify content is to bring music to their listeners and other audio type content such as podcast and stand up comedy short clips. Also Spotify will recommend you artist depending on the type of genre or artist you listen to. 

Radio stations income is heavily affected through their content because depending on the advertisers or sponsors that help you out you have make your content work for the sponsors so that they will continue to work with you. 

Spotify income is heavily affected through the type of artists who content is on the app. Their income has to work with their listeners so that music that is on their app works for us as the consumer. If Spotify doesn’t have the artistes that we may like, we as the consumer may not use the app and go to a different music streaming app.  

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Regulation in our Media

The process of regulation in our current media culture is very different today verses media in the 1960s. The process now in our media culture has a new approach by the medium not being conservative with what they have to be careful on. When you watch television now it is more risque, violent, and strong language within the content regulations the social panics which was heavily influenced in our media content is no longer a fear now which shows such as Family Guy, South Park, Robot Chicken, and even reality shows such as The Real Housewives, Love and Hip-Hop, etc. takes the risk and airs it on television. The reason for this new wave television is capitalism because of capitalism networks like Fox, Adult Swim, MTV, VH1, and others air these types of shows is because of the money that the network makes from their viewers. Now networks don’t mind airing shows that include these factors which at one mediums where afraid to do. 

In the 1960s television and movies where very limited and restricted. The reason for it mediums where heavily watched under the government and FCC and wouldn’t been able to air shows that where deemed inappropriate for viewers the reason behind that was families spent a lot of time watching television and if networks back in the 60s aired programs that where unfit for television that company would lose their business in a heartbeat. One of the most prime examples of a television show getting trouble with the FCC was when Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan show on October 28th, 1956 this was his second appearance on the show during his performance Elvis was dancing and when the camera showed his dancing many young girls screamed and after that night he was only shown from waist up the reason being his dancing was considered provocative because the shaking of his waist and hips. 

In conclusion we see the difference in media from the 60s to now there was a change to where now shows aren’t afraid of pushing the line when it comes to censorship, social panics, etc because of capitalism these are able to do what they do because of the revenue that these networks bring 

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MTV’s Mandate

Since I can remember I’ve watched MTV with my older brother watching Daria, and Beavis and Butthead. Then watching MTV’s top 20 countdown when watching these shows I was entertained by their shows and they where able to relate to my generation through the music, shows, and commercials they aired.

Even though MTV was one of my favorite networks that was on cable my mother wasn’t very found of MTV’s programs and what they’d showed on television but I knew what show’s that I liked that express my generation and how I felt in my society. 

Networks like Fox and MSNBC have views to support their viewers whether Libertarian or Conservative people to ensure their demographics. Also when you watch their shows the advertisements they show are for middle aged, older adults. 

MTV’s mandate is now to show more music, more live, and more fun these 3 things is the reason why I like MTV so much through the reason of expression and representing their demographics through what we like. 

In conclusion this what MTV’s mandate looks like and how they get there views by representing demographics in a way where we as a society can be ourselves while television.