Medium is Singular, Media is Plural
Medium is Singular, Media is Plural
The major part of our discussion that I agree with lies in the non objectionable content we are seeing in the movie industry. With major distributors too worried about not turning our a large profit every year, there has been a large decrease in the number of challenging material that comes out and really makes the audience think. Just looking at the movies that are being advertised, half of the good movies are all remakes. It appears that Hollywood is so unwilling to promote a movie that might be found offensive that not only do they have the same plot lines in all of their movies but now they even just remake past movies or do sequels to others. This development causes the American public to not get the information they need. Instead we only look at wars and events from our an American perspective and not from a European or an African one. Many times we don’t even see an unbiased American perspective, but instead a media oriented American perspective. For example, I’m sure everyone remembers 9/11 and the attacks of the world trade center. Now I’m not saying this wasn’t tragic, but why was it blown so out of proportion that at every phillies game for at least two weeks when the clock struck 9:11pm, there was a moment of silence. The answer was that when the terrorists attacked New York the attacked the media capital of the world. No one knows what kind of work happens inside of the world trade centers, but we know of their existence because of the media. This attack on American media was thus responded by the media declaring this to be the worst thing in history.
The part I disagree with is the push to have television programs move more toward the information aspect than the entertaining aspect. First I want to say that I would now watch a show that was more educational based than entertainment based for two reasons. First in order for me to get involved in a school subject I really have to get interested in it. When I take required courses at Drexel, I really don’t want to be there and so I really don’t do the amount of work I should. However, when a professor really gets me interested in the course by giving it real life applications or maybe just throwing in some humor and entertainment I find myself really wanting to learn the subject. This same outlook can be applied to TV but in an even more extreme. If you want me to learn a message through TV, than you have to make it entertaining. Because if I am not interested in the subject than I won’t pay attention and simply change the channel. And where in school I might be forced to sit through a class to get my degree, on TV I am not obligated to watch any show, so the only reason for me to stay tuned and learn the message would have to be to make the programming more entertaining. Second, I do almost all of my learning through school, reading books and reading the newspaper and I picture TV as a break. When I watch TV I am doing so to take a break from the influx of information to relax and laugh. So to rid TV of entertaining programming would to rid me of one of opportunities to take a break. And without taking any breaks, my momentum to learn new subjects will be decreased.
This week I was able to follow and understand all of our discussions and the readings.
The major part of our discussion that I agree with lies in the non objectionable content we are seeing in the movie industry. With major distributors too worried about not turning our a large profit every year, there has been a large decrease in the number of challenging material that comes out and really makes the audience think. Just looking at the movies that are being advertised, half of the good movies are all remakes. It appears that Hollywood is so unwilling to promote a movie that might be found offensive that not only do they have the same plot lines in all of their movies but now they even just remake past movies or do sequels to others. This development causes the American public to not get the information they need. Instead we only look at wars and events from our an American perspective and not from a European or an African one. Many times we don’t even see an unbiased American perspective, but instead a media oriented American perspective. For example, I’m sure everyone remembers 9/11 and the attacks of the world trade center. Now I’m not saying this wasn’t tragic, but why was it blown so out of proportion that at every phillies game for at least two weeks when the clock struck 9:11pm, there was a moment of silence. The answer was that when the terrorists attacked New York the attacked the media capital of the world. No one knows what kind of work happens inside of the world trade centers, but we know of their existence because of the media. This attack on American media was thus responded by the media declaring this to be the worst thing in history.
The part I disagree with is the push to have television programs move more toward the information aspect than the entertaining aspect. First I want to say that I would now watch a show that was more educational based than entertainment based for two reasons. First in order for me to get involved in a school subject I really have to get interested in it. When I take required courses at Drexel, I really don’t want to be there and so I really don’t do the amount of work I should. However, when a professor really gets me interested in the course by giving it real life applications or maybe just throwing in some humor and entertainment I find myself really wanting to learn the subject. This same outlook can be applied to TV but in an even more extreme. If you want me to learn a message through TV, than you have to make it entertaining. Because if I am not interested in the subject than I won’t pay attention and simply change the channel. And where in school I might be forced to sit through a class to get my degree, on TV I am not obligated to watch any show, so the only reason for me to stay tuned and learn the message would have to be to make the programming more entertaining. Second, I do almost all of my learning through school, reading books and reading the newspaper and I picture TV as a break. When I watch TV I am doing so to take a break from the influx of information to relax and laugh. So to rid TV of entertaining programming would to rid me of one of opportunities to take a break. And without taking any breaks, my momentum to learn new subjects will be decreased.
This week I was able to follow and understand all of our discussions and the readings.
posted by Ron Bishop at 1:16 PM
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