Communication Summer Challenge

Marina Madero

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Minds of the Future

This group tackled the issues presented by the Sony emails leaked. They dressed LGBT issues, and other racist remarks made in them through their involvement in philanthropic issues that supported these causes. I felt that they addresses the issues created and were up front about them. This made the company more likeable as they also promised that they would involve more diverse characters in future movies. They also mentioned solving the privacy issue for the company and public by introducing a new program that increments the privacy on every computer. They appealed to public concern, stood up for their mistakes, and offered plausible solutions. 

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Washington Post publishes piece and you won't believe what happened next...

After the Charleston shooting which took the lives of several African Americans controversy sparked regarding the use (and overuse) of the confederate flag. As debate sparked on social media platform regarding imagery of the confederate flag found on several state flags news giants began to take notice. Being such a social conscious issue reporters may have felt moral obligated to deliver the facts and analysis regarding the use of the Confederate flag and its possible dismissal. Exactly this was done my Christopher Ingraham when he wrote an article that described the situation. In addition to the report the writer included state flags that possessed imagery of the confederate flag. It is important to note that both positions regarding the removal of such imagery were included: controversy, and heritage; leaving the reader ample possibility to decide his stand. After the publication of this original piece minor news pages followed the Post’s lead. These include John Oliver, ABC news, Chanel 16 News, and finally the Huffington Post. However, once this story reached the Huffington Post it had been greatly altered and new events had occurred. An election had taken place in Mississippi that had voted the confederate imagery in their flag to stay. In the article by the Huffington post the writing was much more subjective, and aggressive in the way it attacked suppoters of the flag. Overall, the story, the context, and the overall quality of the piece that was originally published by the Washington Post decayed greatly into a small puff piece covering the news. 

HuffPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/mississippi-confederate-flag_n_7641512.html?ir=Politics

Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/21/how-the-confederacy-lives-on-in-the-flags-of-seven-southern-states/

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Harry Potter is arguably one of the largest fandoms in existence simply because of its popularity. Adults, kids and teenagers feel they can relate to the story and characters. The gif displayed above demonstrates a moment of camera in which one of the actors, Dumbledore, is dancing. This character is known for his wisdom and seriousness; therefore, this gif provides a humorous escape to it. This gif is an example of how fan fiction can explore recontextualization showing characters or plot events in a different light. Again, a famously serious and kind of scary character (Snape) is shown laughing with his boss. The phrase “Dumbulin’” also adds comedic value because it personifies the little dance the man is doing by naming it after his character. I am personally invested in Harry Potter; however, I would not count myself in the fandom. This gif makes me laugh showing me a different side of the character and gives me a wider appreciation for the actors that made the story available to a wider audience and introduced it to people that have not yet read the books. I saw the movies before reading the books, these people represented the story to me that later on became a significant part of my early teen years.

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Modern Family Commentary

This modern family episode could be considered “technological innovative” given the fact that it was recorded as someone speaking and living through a computer. I personally LOVE modern family; however, I particularly despised this episode because of the way it was shot. The movements in the computer made me dizzy and the lack of setting change made the episode quite bland. Even though the humour and reliability was on point (as always) I was thrown off by the constant movements. I also despised the fact that perhaps this episode was product placement as its entirety was shot on a macbook. This also makes me think that a greater differentiation must exist between content and advertisements. I watched the episode at home only because its a kind of tradition I have with my family; however, if I had been on my own I would’ve turned it off because of the way it was filmed. 

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Commentary on John Green

The youtube community is one that has recently emerged and is still undefined in terms of advertising agencies. These agencies work through demographics and focus groups as they try to appeal with certain advertisements to certain groups of people. In the 1960s the term “teenager” emerges, an untapped market with consuming power. More recently, these type of consumers have fled to social media as their main form of entertainment. John Green argues that this generation is deeply interested and committed to activities that they undertake, opposing the belief that this generation is narcisistic and purely interested in surface material. Advertisers may find themselves confounded in appealing to this particular market because changing technologies and ideologies make this focus group seem unreachable. However, Green proposes a solution to advertisers. He uses terms such as “community” and “engagement” to emphasise how caring this generation can actually be if advertising companies are willing to support them, because ultimately this is what this generation wants: to be believed in. John Green reveals this alluring fact to advertisers goading them to invest in this community hopping that advertisers, and teenagers can both benefit from their relationship. 

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Prince William, Princess Kate, and Prince George

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This gif shows beloved Prince George trashing a toy given to him by one of his subjects. His mother, Kate, and father are holding him at a public event most likely to introduce him to the people. The gif is comical because it displays him throwing away a toy given to him by a man. Furthermore, the comical value of this gif is increased by the fact that the person that made the gif added #PEASANT to the bottom. Prince George displays an emotion of disgust or annoyance, one that many internet users may feel at one point or another. The camera, or shot distance is panning out starting with George’s action and ending when the audience learns that a kind man actually gifted him the toy he so coldly threw away. The comical value is increased by the award expressions of his parents. This gif might be used in the context of demonstrating annoyance to another internet user that says something that may be “peasant worthy.” The ideological value that is being enforced by this gif is the monarchy that exits in the UK, and is sometimes ridiculed by the rest of the world.  

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Why I’m Taking Communication

Communication seemed like an interesting class in the course description. If I’m being honest, I didn't even know what it was. In Mexico its considered the “housewife class” because its for girls that want to go to college to find a husband. I’m not saying that communications is what it is in Mexico, but where I come from that is what its considered. Thats not me, I am genuinely interested in the class and want to learn more about communication. I want to learn about the media and its influence on our perspective of normality and our behaviour; I am also interested in how propaganda is used as a tool. Communication interests me because interactions between individuals are so hard to quantify and analyse those interactions. Another reason I took the class is because I watch Mad Men and advertising looks like an amazing career, and communications would help in this career as well as many others. I feel like this class would help me in whatever career I choose. I have also very lightly touched the subject in school and am interested in seeing it more in depth.