May 2008
11 posts
What I Like Most of my Newfound Media Literacy
The first thing that I like the most about my newfound media literacy is the use of the Adobe applications. I must admit, at first I was a bit hesitant working with these various softwares, but after a while, I grew accustomed to how they worked. They soon became easily navigable and I was able to produce some work that I have become proud of. Specifically, I liked working with Adobe Photoshop...
Stepping Back Into Time (10/10)
An interesting tool that I was recently introduced to is the wayback machine at www.archive.org. It allows any visitor to type visit websites in the past. First a visitor enters a hyperlink and then he is prompted with a menu of dates. By clicking on a date, the visitor can view a specific website from a limited array of dates in the past, depending on the site. Depending on the date, the...
Mass Media (7/10)
Our discussion on mass media started out how television and radio had a major impact on people’s lives; we saw this blown-up in one of the most famous scenes in movie history in the film Network. Today we realize that radio and television don’t have the same power that they used to. This is also true with magazines, newspapers, and any some may even argue the internet. There is no doubt that...
Taste (6/10)
Taste is an interesting concept. Over time, our experiences and our history denotes and informs us as to what is considered tasteful. In a sense, it is a social convention that represents our culture and or represents the culture of another time. For me, taste often time goes hand in hand with fads. Someone who has style in the 1970’s, may not be seen as having style in the 1990’s. Especially...
Andres Serrano (4/10)
Andres Serrano…where to begin? Known for his controversial artwork or “shock art”, Serrano has grown to fame with his artwork that some see as beautiful and others see as disturbing. The beauty behind seeing modern art is that our initial perceptions of the art can and often change once we know what the art depicts or what the artist intended to depict. In the case of the controversial Piss...
Perspective / David Hockney vs. Paolo Ucello...
After viewing some art work of David Hockney and Paolo Ucello, I could appreciate how you can look at artwork and estimate the date in which they were created due to the use of perspective, organized space, and color by the artist. However, I questioned whether if Ucello intentionally decided to disregard the idea of perspective on purpose or because he was not educated in the mathematical...
Rear Window / Disturbia (1/10)
This week, our focus was the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock, who was an avid fan of Sigmund Freud, often infiltrated his ideals in his films i.e. Spellbound. Films allow us as viewers to escape to a fantasy that can usually be socially unacceptable. Often times we find ourselves living vicariously through the characters in these films. In Rear Window we find ourselves living...
April 2008
3 posts
Docile Bodies
A docile body, as defined in our textbook, refers to an individual who is regulated by cultural and social norms. These norms are communicated through various forms of advertising. Below lay three examples of docile bodies in three different forms of advertising. The first is a billboard advertising both Skin Deep Medical Spa and Pascal Pour Elle at the Glen Tower Center. The billboard is very...
Glamour in Advertising
John Berger is quoted in our textbook stating the state of being envied is what constitutes glamour. Glamour is a major component in today’s advertising, and has been for decades. To make consumers envious, advertisers use celebrities, happiness, sex appeal, flawlessness, and individuals with no troubles – which inevitably spurs consumers to feel self-consciousness or anxious about their current...
B player
The Different Uses for a Brick: 1. As a piece for landscaping 2. As a paper-weight 3. As a weapon 4. As a hammer to break down smaller elements 5. As a door-stopper 6. As a shot-put 7. As a step 8. As a free-weight
March 2008
1 post
February 2008
9 posts
Collective Desires & Home Improvement
After we watched the beginning of Rear Window and discussed collective desires, it was easy to find an example of collective desires as I watched a re-run of Home Improvement on TBS. A common subject found in many television shows and movies is the attraction of power. Although the episode I saw of Home Improvement did not focus on the idea of having power, a very small aspect of the episode...
Documentary Commentary
Many things drew my attention during the viewing of “The Century of the Self”. Perhaps it has to do with that fact that I am both a P.R. and Advertising major, but I was very interested in the feats of Edward Bernays. Although I have heard of Bernays in some of my other classes, I didn’t know the extent to which he has impacted the American people. A specific incident I find unique...
January 2008
10 posts
What it Means to Win an Oscar
Oscar nominations were announced this morning and nothing could be better for someone in the film industry than to be among the elite few that are nominated each year for the golden trophy. Oscar nominations deliver powerful messages as they make careers for certain people like this year’s nomination for Ellen Page “Juno” or prove that certain individuals can continue to do excellent work, like...
My Cup of Tea
I was recently offered to interview with an employee at Cronin & Co, an integrated marketing and communications firm in Conneticut, for a summer internship. I thought it was important to research the company prior to the interview and look up their successful campaigns. I came across an interactive digital medium that had been produced for Twinnings Tea, an international brand of tea. ...
Twinnings Tea Finder →
Paying for Messages
You can’t help but notice ads especially if you have to pay to see them. I recently began receiving text messages (during a time at which I didn’t pay for a text messaging service) and began getting quite heated once I began receiving them more than twice daily. The messages prompted me about whom I should vote for, what I should eat, and how to lose weight from virtually every aspect of my...
I'm Not A Plastic Bag
While studying abroad in Florence, I found myself noticing the ways media were used to bombard us with various messages. A very interesting and unconventional (or at least I believed to be) method to convey a message was a smart campaign against the use and production of plastic bags. This popular campaign utilized cloth bags as a medium and on each bag the message “I’m not a plastic bag” was...
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