Reflection

As a teenager, I would say that i consume my fair share of media.  Whether it be Instagram or Snapchat, I find myself spending hours a day on my phone.  Wherever I go, no matter the place, I will always find time to check my messages or scroll through my feeds.  Media has basically imbedded itself into my life and I can't tell if this is a good or bad thing.  On the positive side, media provides me with a way to communicate with friends and make plans, but on the other hand, it distracts me from homework and even makes me feel isolated at times.

Being aware if this consumption definitely changes the way I interact with this media.  Without my parents lecturing me and having me acknowledge how much time I spend on my phone, I don't think I would know my boundaries.  I think that awareness of media consumption is crucial and helps to fix the problem.  I am definitely noticing a lot more when it comes to advertisements etc. through media and I catch subtle techniques that companies try to use to reel me in.

My media habits have definitely changed this semester.  I would say that I was a bit out of control freshman year due to the fat that the work load wasn't too much and I could manage it.  This year however, I have an extra class and the workload is overwhelming, which I think allowed me to reflect and limit my screen time.  Now, I know when to put down my phone when it is time to work, and I don't check it until all of my homework is done.  This year I was able to figure out prioritization and what comes first.

It is important to have media literacy because media surrounds us.  Media is everywhere now a days and we live in a world where you can't go anywhere without exposure to media.  Media Literacy is important because it allows you to understand, analyze, and evaluate this media, which ultimately allows you to enter understand the world around us.

Being an educated consumer is important because most companies are manipulative and just want you for your money.  If you are an educated consumer, you are able to recognize the advertisement techniques and your experience when it comes to buying products will be much better.  Once you are able to recognize these strategies, you can determine which companies stand by you and have the same goals as you do.

From keeping this log, I was able to learn a variety of new things.  Through the logs, I was able to look deeper into media and discover new things about the topic.  Ad techniques were especially interesting, because I now understand how companies attract consumers, and I have started subconsciously noticing these techniques in everyday life, which I thought was pretty cool.  For example, one of my first blogs was about the newest Avengers movie and I was able to recognize the product placement that occurred throughout the film.

I honestly think that media and literacy is such a useful thing to understand or have.  Like I said, I think that media is everywhere and constantly around us, so it is necessary for us to learn about this media because it gives us a better understanding of the world
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evolution of rap

Now a days, there are so many different styles when it comes to rap and music.  Rap has become the number 1 most listened to genre of music, so it makes sense that there are so many different artists with different styles.

Rappers get popular through social media platforms and through other rappers. Many have grown through Instagram and Soundcloud, two major platforms that allow people to attract an audience.  Other popular rappers will also shoutout growing artists to help them gain popularity.  Through this spread through the media, rap has grown into such a diverse genre.

There are also mumble rappers, which is a genre that grew through Soundcloud.  This branch of rap involves the artist mumbling their words over a beat, so that the words are inaudible but still rhyme and go with the beat.  I think this is a dumb but funny form of rap.  There are also super lyrical rappers, who create lyrics that have meaning and enunciate their words.  I like this branch the best because it allows the artist to be smart with their lyrics and create songs with clever lines.

Another way these rappers gain popularity would be through collaborations.  Many will create songs with other popular rappers to attract fans from the other side, ultimately making both of the artists grow.  The songs they create are spread through social media an many get millions of listens within hours.  It's as easy as recording a song and pressing send for that song to become a hit.

I think that many people in the rap game shouldn't be famous at all and have zero talent.  Many yell or scream over a beat and people like it, which I don't understand, but as long as you have an audience, you can make it.

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misrepresentation in media

Women have constantly been represented in media for as long as I can remember.   In most cases, women are portrayed strictly as sexual objects with 2D personalities.  If a woman is the star of the movie, the movie is commonly based on that woman trying to find a man.  In the end, women are only portrayed in the media for their sex appeal and don't have much freedom when it comes to media.

The first movie I really remember when it comes to women's misrepresentation is Transformers.  In that movie,Megan Fox really doesn't have a personality and is only there for her looks.  They dress her up in revealing clothing and hope that the male audience builds a connection with her.  This is the case with hundreds of other movies.  Women are constantly shown on the big screen only for their looks, which needs to stop.

Advertisement is another culprit with the misrepresentation of women.  They frequently inappropriately display women for attention, as seen in the picture.  They disregard a woman's personality and just want her for her body.  This is happening all across the world and it is disappointing to me.

Although this misrepresentation has been going on for quite some time, Think it is definitely getting better.  More women are getting the star role in movies with plots that don't involve the woman being objectified and I feel that society is finally coming to this realization that women are not just sexual objects.  Women empowerment movements are also happening more frequently than before and I feel women are stronger than ever when it comes to misrepresentation in media.

In conclusion, women have been misrepresented in the media for decades, and although it is getting better, they are still objectified and this needs to come to an end.
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Memes

Memes are constantly evolving and you can't surf the internet without seeing one now a days.  Memes have changed so much over the years that I don't even know how to define them.  I would say that they are any social media post that is made to make the viewer laugh, because the concept of a meme has become so vague recently.

Memes spread most commonly across social media platforms such as Instagram, and they spread whenever they are sent from one person to another.  Through social media, memes are able to grow and grow until it is all you see when you go on your phone.

Around 2014, memes were simply pictures or videos with witty captions, posted to make people laugh, but they changed drastically within the past year or so.  What people find funny is so much different now and for that reason, memes are so much different now.

I know from personal experience what memes have turned into and I can say that from an outsiders perspective, they are definitely perceived as weird or odd.  Instead of pictures and captions, memes now are all about being weirder or edgy.  It is no longer about making the viewer laugh through wit and humor.  Now, the memes posted all across social media have one goal.  To weird the audience out so much that it is funny.  There are multiple meme formats and they are constantly changing.  Once one meme starts to get old, another takes its place.

Another form of memes are just plain stupid.  Some posts are so dumb ad pointless that people find them funny.  I personally think these are the best types of memes just because of how dumb and harmless they really are, but I can understand how an adult would react strangely to these jokes.  I think that  have a very dark an twisted sense of humor, so sometimes I find things that aren't funny as funny, but it is all preference.

Memes spread across social media like a wildfire and once they become popular, nobody can stop them.  The only way a meme dies is after it gets old or becomes repetitive.

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The Mook Frontline Pt. 2

What is the Mook?  To start, the Mook is a persona used by a variety of entertainment networks.  In the early 2000's, the Mook was primarily used by MTV in order to boost ratings.  This character is portrayed as reckless, crazy, and irresponsible, which is supposed to connect with the viewers but does it really?

 MTV used this character primarily.  People such as Steve-O and Howard Stern were Mooks in multiple MTV shows.  These characters were partiers and did crazy things to entertain the viewers.  For a time, this character was extremely effective and the channel's ratings went through the roof, but eventually people caught onto the gag and stopped watching.  A variety of shows have Mooks in them today, but they aren't as effective as they were 10 years ago.

Personally, I don't find Mooks entertaining at all.  When I see them on shows I don't feel compelled to watch more.  They just don't establish any connection with me in general.  In most cases, I actually find characters like that annoying and reckless, which does no good and just creates more problems.

The reason why I think the Mook has a lesser impact on audiences now is because teenager's values have drastically changed.  We think different things are funny and the introduction of technology, specifically phones and social media have changed our views on certain topics.  I just feel like we don't humor or value the same characters as we would have 10 years ago and the entertainment industries need to realize this.

Marvel and the X-Men

Marvel has been making movies for decades now.  These movies and characters have had huge impacts on millions of lives and I would even say they are a part of American culture at this point.  Throughout the years, Avengers an the X-Men have never step foot on the same screen, but this may all change within the next couple months.

The reason that the two franchises never shared the screen was because they were apart of two different branches of Marvel.  One was owned by Disney and one was owned by Fox.  Disney recently bought out Fox and currently owns the X-Men franchise, so naturally fans started to get excited about the possible collaboration.  Hopes were raised even higher with the release of the new Spider Man Far From Home trailer.

In this new trailer, the characters talk about a multiverse and how it has been opened up after the events of Avengers Endgame.  Fans are speculating the collaboration will occur through this multiverse.  An X-Man or someone from the Avengers could possibly cross through to another Universe and every Marvel Fan's dream would be reality.  Millions of people, including me, have been asking for this collaboration for years now, and the new Spider Man movie could just be the way we get what we want.  I grew up on X-Men and Avengers movies and I would love to see the two franchises finally come together.

Personally, I am really excited for this possible collaboration, but even more excited to see if Deadpool makes an appearance.  Deadpool is an extremely funny character in the Fox owned Marvel universe, and seeing him with all of the Avengers would be so cool to see.  I have been wanting these two universes come together for years now, and I think the new Spider Man movie would be the perfect way to do it.

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Searching for what is cool/Frontline

The common goal of all growing companies is to appeal to the largest audience possible.  It has shown in various studies that teens are one of the biggest consumers on the planet when it comes to buying products, so naturally they would be the first on the target audience list.  These companies try their best to find out what teens think is "cool" and want to incorporate those ideas into their advertisements in order to make maximum profit.  These industries conduct hundreds of focus groups with different teens.  Not just normal teens, but the ones who are "cool" and trendsetters in order to obtain information on what is popular before it reaches the population or becomes too out of date.

In many cases, these occur groups are unsuccessful due to the fact that once teens realize the marketing strategy, they immediately move on and the word "cool" is redefined.  When these teens realize that companies are trying to incorporate what is "cool" into their commercials, they don't like it and move on to the next trend.  It is an :unsolvable puzzle" as someone said in the Frontline episode.  

Personally, I think that companies will never be able to truly appeal to the teenage mind.  I think that there are so many complex and different ideas teens find cool or funny that adults will never be able to understand or laugh at due to the fact that our generation grew up in a much different environment than the pervious generation.  I also think it's a little annoying how us teens are seen as a "country ready to colonize"  These companies only want one thing and that is money.  I don't think that their marketing strategy will ever work because trends hit teens first and constantly change.  Once  the adults or companies find out about them it is already too late and the trend has just become outdated an annoying.  

From personal experience, I don't think I have ever seen an ad or commercial and thought "dang I really relate to that"  I just don't think that companies have the capability to correctly appeal to a teens sense of humor or mind.  The only way that companies would be successful with this marketing strategy would be if they let a teen take control of the entire operation.

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Sonic the Hedgehog

The newest trailer for the live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie has received can unreal amount of criticism.  Fans are complaining about how the CGI Sonic looks nothing like he does in the cartoons. Some things i noticed was that in the new preview, Sonic has a fur like texture, which should not be there because Sonic is a Hedgehog and is supposed to have quills.  Also, the new sonic had human like features, such as eyes, teeth, and body shape which I thought was extremely creepy.  Fans across the world have responded negatively to this trailer, and it has received almost half a million dislikes on youtube. 

I grew up playing the sonic DS games and watching some of the cartoons, and to me the preview wasn't too upsetting.  I think mostly because Sonic wasn't a big part of my childhood.  The people who have criticized the CGI developers most likely grew up with sonic and are disappointed because he is incorrectly drawn out, as I would have been if I grew up on the same cartoons.  I did think the new Sonic looked extremely weird and creepy.  Almost like a furry, which are weird people who like to dress up as half human half animal characters.  

The criticism has gotten so bad that the director announced that they will be changing the entire movie, and recreating Sonic to resemble his traditional appearance.  Hopefully the updated version meets people's expectations.  Personally I thought the movie didn't look like it was going to be good.  They had Jim Carrey as the villain, and although he is a funny actor, no amount of jokes can justify how corny and cheesy the movie looks, just from the preview.  The colors are so bright and cartoonish, which I guess they should be because Sonic is a cartoon character, but it just looks cheesy and isn't my type of movie.  I could be wrong but as of now the movie isn't looking to good

Song or Confession?

A recent rapper named YNW Melly has blown up in media with the past year.  His hit song, "Murder on my Mind" currently has hundreds of millions of plays on various music platforms and media.  The song got popular during the start of 2019, attracting people from all across the world, and describes how to rapper shot one of his best friends in detail.

In media and music, rappers especially like to brag about their guns and how many people they've "killed" but nobody really takes it them seriously as it is just a song.  Melly however, describes in vivid and disturbing detail how this supposed "murder" went down.  He is currently in police custody after turning himself in for murder.  It turns out that Melly's confession directly correlated with the song.  He was already under investigation after the song released due to the detail the song had, and now he could be facing the death penalty for the premeditated murder of best friend.

I personally question Melly's decision to confess to murder and post it on media across the world.  The song is melodic and has a great sound, but if I killed someone the last thing I would do is confess and post it for everyone to listen to.  I think that the rapper turned himself in for the fame, but once he realized he could be facing the death penalty he instantly regretted his decision, because now he is denying that he murdered anyone, even after turning himself in.  It is just such a strange situation and shows how much media can spread a message world wide.  What bothers me is that Melly actually had a great singing voice, unlike most rappers in the industry these days and he had so much potential, but regardless he is still a murderer and deserves whatever punishment comes for his reckless actions.  I still listen to his music because I was a big fan of him, even before the murder allegations, but now my views on him have changed and listening to the music is so much different knowing that he is a murderer.

Avengers Endgame

I recently watched Avengers Endgame and it was the best movie ever created.  While enjoying the movie, I couldn't help but notice a few interesting techniques used throughout the film.  To start, I was able to notice a lot of product placement throughout the movie, specifically Audi.  In many scenes, the heroes drive u to the seen in a new Audi, logo out and shining for everyone to see.  I also noticed a phone company who's phone appeared in the film once but the logo was clear and easy to read.  Not only did I notice the various ad techniques used during the movie, but I also picked up on a few film making techniques.

During the movie, there was music playing constantly and I realized how much music can change a film.  There was sad music at the right time, which almost made me cry, and exciting music during the action packed scenes.  The music made the movie so much better and the same goes in different genres. When you look at horror movies for example, it really isn't the screen that makes us jump, its actually the music and the sharp noises that play after a long period of silence during jump scares.  During Avengers Endgame, the music was so good and iconic, which I think made it that much better.

Also, humor was used at the right time, which contributed to it winning the title of best movie ever in my mind.  The balance between jokes, action, and sad moments really made the movie and I would argue that it was one of the best, most well made movies ever created due to the fact that everything was tied up so perfectly.  Another factor would be the build up.  Marvel has been making movies forever and when they first made Iron Man in 2008, they created an era.  The build up of films over the past decade made this movie so great and amazing to watch.

The directors of Avengers, The Russo Brothers, love to confuse the audience and make the endings as unpredictable as possible, so in the previews they inserted a bunch of fake scenes that never made it to the actual movie, which threw me off a ton and made the plot a lot more surprising and unexpected.  In the end, this was one of the best movies I have ever seen and I will never forget it.

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Ad Techniques and Appeals

Advertisers love to use different techniques and appeals in order to attract the maximum amount of people to their product.  For example, many use the "Avant-Garde" technique, which appeals to the consumer's sense of pride.  This ad technique "encourages kids to be the first on their block to have the newest toy".

There are many other techniques, such as weasel words and magic ingredients.  Weasel words are words with positive connotations, which companies take advantage of and use when describing their product, even if the words have nothing to do with the product itself.  Magic ingredients are when companies talk about a "magic new ingredient" which supposedly makes their product better and puts them above the competition.  

When advertising, companies main goal is to appeal to people's emotions.  As you will see in diaper commercials etc, the companies put cute helpless babies in the ads to appeal to peoples need to nurture.  In many car commercials, companies will talk about how their car is better than the competition and how they are the best car company out, which appeals to peoples need to achieve and dominate.  Companies will also establish a persona and try to appeal to people's need for guidance.  For example, progressive created Flow and she is seen as someone who can guide you through the insurance process.  Vacation companies or travel agencies try to appeal to people's need to escape, so in their commercials they show someone relaxing on a beach to show that "this could be you" if you choose our agency.  

These companies all want to sell their products, and they do this by appealing to peoples emotions and using various ad techniques to get their point across.  In reality, these companies are all selling the same products.

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Politics in the English Language

Politics and language do not mix well.  When they do mix, language is constantly twisted and changing order to fit people's political agendas.  Politicians constantly use words to make certain things have either positive or negative connotations.  For example, take the topic of Gun Control.  On the right, people use this term to turn people against the policy, and by using the word control which has negative connotations, they are creating a subconscious bias within the audience's mind.  On the left, politicians will use the term "Gun Laws" which sound formal and orderly.

In the article written by George Orwell, he says that politicians use big words that have almost nothing to do with the topic to make their arguments sound sturdy, but in reality by using these meaningless words the politicians are changing the meaning of the argument to both the audience and the politician.  The use of language within politics is just the politician trying to persuade an audience, even if the words don't portray the proper meanings.

Orwell also mentions the use of metaphors in politics, which he says is bad and should not be used.  He says that metaphors just prevent people from thinking of their own words.  In short, metaphors are unoriginal and don't represent the intelligence of the speaker due to the fact that they have been used before.  The main thing is that whenever politicians use metaphors, they don't represent the true meaning of the argument and prevent the person from thinking of words themselves.

In conclusion, in politics, people misuse certain words in order to fit their own political agendas.  Word choice is key when it comes to politics and can make the difference when trying to persuade an audience.  If you use words with positive connotations, the audience will respond better or accept the argument, but if you use words with negative connotation such as "control" as we saw in the gun control articles, people are more likely to reject the argument due to the fact that nobody wants to be controlled and the word has too many negative connotations.    Politicians will use these words to sway an audience and make certain things sound better or worse than they actually are through the use of just words.  It's amazing how much one word can affect an argument.

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Persuaders

In this modern world, you can’t go anywhere without the appearance of advertisement. You could be walking down the street and a bus drives by promoting the newest McDonald’s in your neighborhood. Advertisements appear a ton in the media now a days. I feel this is because companies know what people spend the most time doing, which is being on their phones and going on social media. Especially the teenagers. I know  that I spend hours a day on media with ads constantly popping up. Companies will target certain websites or social media’s in order to find an audience who will respond the best to their advertisement. The reason that ads appear so much in media is because companies want to reach out to the most people possible, and since media is used by millions, companies pay money to promote their product through these outlets.

From personal experience, I know that ads appear through Snapchat, Instagram and even Spotify. These social media outlets are paid by the companies to promote a certain product and it is how many of them are able to make money, despite the app or account being free to create or download. Instagram has sponsored pictures and messages that will appear randomly in people’s feeds, Snapchat has sponsored stories that pop up and promote products, and Spotify has ads that play every half an hour which also promote products and encourage people to buy their premium account in order to get rid of the ads. As you can see, these ads are just ways people are trying to make money, and within media these ads target specific groups of people in order to attract the max amount of buyers for the product being sold.

Advertisement is everywhere, especially in media, and it is how people make money and promote their products.  Media is the perfect environment for ads, not only because billions of people use it every day, but also because it helps the companies to target specific groups of people who would want the specific product.  Say there is a website that sells books.  A company that sells digital books or another form of literature would advertise on that website because people looking for books are the ideal audience and are going to be the people seeing the ad.  There are also cookies that companies use.  Cookies analyze the users history and send that users ads that would interest them based on the things they have looked up in the past.

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News Storm (CNN and FOX)

Words are extremely important and have the ability to change the entire meaning of a statement.  Words choice is crucial when trying to covey a message, and in politics, many attempt to use different words with either positive or negative connotations to fit their own political agendas.

Take Trump for example.  Trump is an extremely controversial man when it comes to politics and on both sides of the argument, people are using word choice to portray different messages.  When you look at an article about Trump written by CNN (a primarily liberal news source) you will see that they use words to criminalize Trump or make him sound like a villain.  In this specific article, they use the word "pressured", which has negative connotations, to make Trump sound like some sort of villain or criminal.  We see this a lot in political media now a days and it applies to the conservative side as well.



When you read about Trump in Fox News (a primarily conservative news source) you will see that the word choice when describing president Trump is much different.

In an article about Trump and the controversy over sending detained immigrants into sanctuary cities, Fox News repeatedly made the opposing side sound unintelligent or dumb, while they never insult Trump's decisions and make him sound like the logical person in the situation.

The headline of this article, written by Fox, is meant to make the Anti-Trump side seem unintelligent or irrational.  It say "Anti-Trump Oakland Mayor Insists She Did The Right Thing In Tipping Off Illegal Immigrants About The Ice Raid" The  words "tipping off illegal immigrants" have negative connotations and are used in order to make the opposing side sound stupid or dumb.  Also the use of "insists she did the right thing" is used to show how the anti-Trump side is unintelligent and thinks their so-called wrong doings (tipping off illegal immigrants) are actually right.

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My Relationship with Media

Media is bad?
I personally find myself constantly distracted by my phone.  When I put it down, a loud voice tells me to pick the phone back up, but is the use of media as a whole good or bad?

I have an extremely close connection with the current media.  One might even say I depend on it.  I spend hours a day on my phone, checking snapchats and swiping through Instagram, but I have my boundaries.  On days where I have excessive amounts of homework, I know how to put my phone down, which is crucial when trying to stay on task.  This mindset or sense of priority is why I feel I am a healthy user of social media.  Sure it sounds pretty bad, spending hours a day looking at a screen, but I feel that if you know how to prioritize work and put your phone down, you are a completely healthy human being.

In this day and age, technology and media has become a significant part of everyone's lives.  Companies advertise through this media, people are able to socialize in a way that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, and so many other aspects of life have changed through this use of media.  Many abuse this privilege, constantly looking at their phones and never really tapping in to reality.  People will listen to you rant while on their phones, which is almost impossible to do and others use media to bully or speak differently than they would in person.

I don't see myself as any of those people.  I use the basic Snapchat and Instagram whenever I get bored, but for the most part I feel that I use media productively.  I usually communicate with my parents or ask friends about school related issues.  While many are distracted from school work due to their phones, I feel that media actually helps me when it comes to academics.  My favorite thing about media in 2019 is how easily you can become friends with people or how easy it is to socialize and connect.  I think social media has become a huge part of my life and without it, I might have turned out significantly different than I am now.

In the end, I feel that media has become a big part of not only my life, but millions of other teenage lives across the world.  It helps to connect people and allows people to interact in a way that was once thought of as impossible.  Media influences almost every aspect of my life, whether it be the shoes I buy or the people I talk to and without this media, life would be a lot different.

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