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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