Extra Credit.

Before taking RTF 305, I have never used a blog or even thought about using one. I found one aspect in particular very positive: the blogs helped me gain a better understanding of the topics, concepts, ideas covered during the week. Probably the most difficult thing I encountered was the technical aspect of maintaining a blog. I am not a very high-tech kind of person and at the beginning I did have some trouble with the layout of my blog. The blogs in which we would have to talk about movies or television shows that we were familiar with and relate them with the blog topic for that week were probably my favorite because they were easy to write about. I was so familiar with what I was talking about that it made it easier to relate to the blog topic. For example, the one week in which we had to describe the basic Hollywood structure about a movie we are familiar with was very fun to do. In future courses, I would recommend the usage of blogs because they are an easy and efficient way of learning. Also, they are very unique and different from the usual assignments given in other classes. One thing I would improve is not so much the blog itself, but how we attained the blog topics. It was very frustrating for me and other people to get e-mails Saturday telling us about the blog due the next day. I would say to be prompt and have a specific time and date for when the students receive the blog assignment for the week.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Globalization and Cultural Imperialism

Globalization can be defined as the international connection of people, cultures, and nations through various tools such as technology and the media. 

One result of globalization is cultural imperialism. This is the idea that the world is becoming a unified culture therefore nations losing their cultural identities in exchange for a world identity.

Started in 2003, America's Next Top Model began as a reality television show in the United States for aspiring models. Now the franchise has over 51 shows around the world in nations such as Germany, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Nepal, and South Korea. The world of modeling was seen as a western culture, but now thanks to the Next Top Model franchise, modeling is becoming a part of the world's culture.

Thailand's Next Top Model

 

America's Next Top Model

Australia's Next Top Model

SEX, or nothing at all

In a recent Calvin Klein commercial advertisement, actress Zoe Saldana is a spokeswoman for the latest brand of Calvin Klein underwear, "Envy." The ad is shot in black and white with a white background with the camera focused on Saldana and her body. She intimately claims she has nothing to hide while wearing lingerie and the words "ZOE UNCOVERED" appears on the screen. Saldana also adds that she has no need to keep certain secrets and that the more she shares, the more she feels like herself and ends the ad by saying "Calvin, or nothing at all." I believe this ad is highly persuasive because it gives off so much aesthetic pleasure to the viewer that one cannot help but watch the entire ad.

This ad focuses on the advertising technique that sex sells. Whatever it is that a company is trying to advertise, someway or another, they can make the product sexy because they know it will sell. The idea that sex sells can be seen in just about any form of advertisement such as commercial, print, or public advertisement. Nowadays we see more ads that include women in bikinis, shirtless men, or subliminally sexualized behavior or talk.

The Saldana-Klein ad exemplifies the notion that sex sells because of the way Zoe Saldana is presented and what she says during those thirty seconds. Famously known for its underwear line, Calvin Klein used Zoe Saldana because she is a sexy and beautiful woman confident enough to appear on screen with nothing but her bra and panties on, talking about her secrets. The way Saldana is shot also ads to the notion that sex sells because the camera zooms in on not only her face, but her body as well. After watching this ad, women will want to buy CK underwear because they want to feel as comfortable in their underwear as Zoe Saldana and men will be more attracted to women wearing CK underwear because Saldana makes it look so sexy.

Video courtesy of Youtube.com

"Just try it on"

Image courtesy of Rbird.com

The 2004 movie Spanglish, directed by James L. Brooks tells the story of two very different parents trying to keep insanity within their families. The star-studded cast includes Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, and Cloris Leachman. The Clasky's include father John, mother Deborah, grandmother Evelyn, daughter Bernice, and son Georgie. The Clasky's are a wealthy family living an upscale life in Los Angeles while Flor lives with her daughter in what would be considered East LA. Flor is a single mother who recently emmigrated to the US from Mexico and Christina is her daughter and also the narrator of the movie.

"Just try it on!"
Image courtesy of Imdb.com

In the first thirty minutes of the film, we get to know Flor and the Clasky family. Flor is a single mother who recently emmigrated to the US from Mexico. The Clasky's hire Flor as their maid even though Flor does not speak a single word of English. Flor does not tell the family that she has a daughter. As Flor begins to work for the Clasky's, she notices the family's troubles especially in the scene when Deborah gives clothes to Bernice in what would be considered the first min-climax of the movie. Deborah gives her slightly heavy daughter Bernice clothes that are a size too small for her. Deborah's intensions are to motivate Bernice to lose weight but Bernice and John see it differently. Bernice leaves the room in tears and John gets upset at his wife for adding more stress to Bernice. Flor sees the opportunity to take the clothes Deborah gave Bernice and alters them to fit Bernice. The first act of the movie ends when Flor tells Bernice to "just try it on" and has officially pried with the Clasky family. 

Flor and John arguing
Image courtesy of Ew.com

In the second act, the Clasky family decide to live in their Malibu beach house for the summer and invite Flor to stay with them. Flor however, declines the offer because of her daughter Christina. She does not want to uproot Christina but Deborah insists that Flor and Christina stay with the Clasky's and with that, Flor agrees. The complication occurs during the summer at the beach house and the events that happen there such as rock hunting, hair dyeing, and the arguments Flor has between both Deborah and John are all events that lead up to the climax of the movie: the night Deborah finally tells John about her infidelity and Flor finally deciding to quit as the Clasky's maid.

Finally, the last act begins in John's restaurant where him and Flor have what she considers "the conversation of her life." The two of them discuss life while Deborah waits at home for John to come home. John finally comes home and in the morning Flor returns to the Clasky household for two reasons: to pick up Christina and quit. As Flor and Christina walk to the bus stop, the movie finally resolves when Flor asks Christina in the last five minutes: "Is what you want in life, to be something completely different than me?" and the movie ends with mother and daughter riding the bus hugging each other.

Axial Characters

For many TV sitcoms, the name of the TV show is based on the axial character (e.g. I Love LUCY, GREY'S Anatomy, ROSEANNE, REBA). Television shows usually revolve around one central character. This type of sitcom is known as axial, meaning the show revolves around that one specific character. In order to be axial, the television show must shoot around that certain character in angles that revolve around him/her. Also, the rest of the supporting characters on that television show are known in terms of the axial character. For example, they may be referred to as the axial character's wife, the axial character's neighbor, the axial character's brother, and so on.

One good example of a comedy-based sitcom that contains an axial character is the television show Reba. The show is about Reba Hart (played by country singer Reba McEntire) and her struggles as a divorced woman struggling to live in the crazy and chaotic life she has suddenly been put in while maintaining a family. Most shots have Reba right in the center as she interacts with her family. The characters that are her family are known in terms of how they are related to Reba. Brock is known as Reba's ex-husband, Barbara Jean is known as the reason why Reba's marriage ended, Cheyenne and Kyra are known as Reba's daughter, Jake is known as Reba's son, and Van is known as Reba's son-in-law and later in the series, her realtor partner. The the plot of the show focuses on Reba and how she tries to maintain a balanced family that has suddenly been flipped upside down by a sudden divorce and unsuspected two pregnancies.

Image Courtesy of Mylifetime.com

The clip below is the first clip of the first episode. Here, Reba is shot in the middle as the rest her family sits around her. She is the matriarch of the show and tries to settle her family dispute. The characters are also revealed in terms of their relationship to Reba.

Video Courtesy of Youtube.com

The Deterioration and Vindictiveness of Regina George

Camera shot and the angle from which a director chooses to shoot from are very important techniques a director uses in order to convey a certain message about a specific character during a scene.

In the hit teen-comedy Mean Girls, director Mark Waters tells the story of a high school girl trying to survive in ''girl world." Waters uses denotative and connotative film shots to show the deterioration and vindictiveness of Regina George.

Mean Girls
Image courtesy of Tvtropes.org

Portrayed as the Queen Bee of the school's most popular (and feared) clique "The Plastics", Regina George's character experiences a rebellion within her clique and suddenly finds herself outside the clique. Mark Waters decides to show the impeachment of Regina in the cafeteria scene when Gretchen and Karen both decide it's time to kick Regina out. Waters shoots Regina sitting down at the table from a high angle shot showing Regina's loss of power. He also shoots Gretchen and Karen standing up from a low angle shot showing the new authority of Gretchen and Karen as they famously say to Regina "You can't sit with us!"

Soon after Regina finds out she has been tricked by to eat fat bars, Mark Waters begins the scene of Regina running and screaming into her room and grabbing the infamous burn book via a long shot in order to establish the location of the scene. He then does a close-up on Regina to show her vindictive face as she says what she is writing in the burn book. The audience gets the idea Regina's writing is referring to Cady, but Waters then does the genius extreme close-up shot to reveal that the person Regina is actually writing about is herself.

Video courtesy of Youtube.com

The Star System

In the classic Hollywood era, a star was born through the star system. Film studios used the star system in order to turn an ordinary actor or actress into a powerful star they could use as subliminal advertisement.

Through the star system, a Hollywood star became his or her own genre. By signing a classic Hollywood contract, the studios chose which movie the star would be in. Usually, the studio would determine a film genre, e.g. musical, for a specific star. Audiences would soon associate a specific star with a specific genre and see the film as that peculiar star's genre. Classic Hollywood capitalized on the star system because it knew that audiences would know what kind of film they are watching by solely knowing who starred in the film.

Famously known as Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland's films span mostly in the musical film genre. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film company used the star system to cast Judy Garland in film musicals. MGM used Garland's voice to target audiences by associating it with the musical genre. Audiences knew that a film with Judy Garland meant that there was going to be some singing involved, therefore attracting them go go watch the film for her singing.

Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz

Video courtesy of Youtube.com

Will and Archie

The Will and Grace Family
Image Courtesy of Wordpress.com

Just as television has changed from black and white to high definition viewing, so has the idea of family changed from the typical idea of a family to a more modern century viewpoint. Television shows from the past such as All in the Family, consist of a typical family unit: mother, father, daughter, son. Now, shows such as Will and Grace have a more contemporary definition of family. Both shows deal with the concept of family but in different ways.

The All in the Family Family
Image Courtesy of Dvdtalk.com

In All in the Family, the Bunkers consisted of a typical family with the dingbat mother Edith, the young and hip couple of Gloria (daughter of Edith and Archie) and her husband Michael. Unlike the typical family, Will and Grace consisted of the gay lawyer Will, his straight interior designer best-friend Grace, and their two goofball friends Jack and Karen.

Image Courtesy of Wallblooms.com

Both shows contained the same characteristics of what we define family: a group of  people that always bicker and fight with each other but still love and care for each other no matter what. However, All in the Family's idea of family was more of "blood related" and Will and Grace's idea of family was more of the "people we hang out with and build strong relationships with are your family".


Homosexuality is an issue brought up by both of these television shows. In the All in the Family episode "Judging Books by Covers", the Bunkers squabble over the issue of homosexuality because of the characters Roger, a highly flamboyant gentleman and Steve, a sports-loving man, who force Archie to re-evaluate his conception of being gay. Unlike All in the Family where they devote only one episode to the topic of homosexuality in a self-questioning way, Will and Grace dealt with it throughout its entire run in a more modern and normal way. Both Will and Jack are gay men living in New York City trying to live, work, and find love like anyone else. The gay lifestyle is more accepting in Will and Grace than in All in the Family. Nobody needed to question Will's and Jack's sexuality because it was of non-importance. However, both shows still contained the stereotypical gay characters of Roger and Jack and not-so-stereotypical gay characters of Steve and Will.

Heart of Radio

As radio became highly popular in the 1920s, broadcast companies noticed how important listening to the radio became, both culturally and financially. Commercial advertising soon became an important money maker for radio stations and has become the heart for radio.

Broadcast companies made a profit from commercial advertising through a simple way. In order for a product to advertise on the airways, they had to pay a fee to the broadcast company. The fee depended on how long the commercial would run. Soon, advertisers began to sponsor certain programs and eventually led to the program advertising the product in their program.

AT&T's WEAF Radio Advertising 1922
Picture courtesy of Flickr.com

Commercial broadcasting began in the early 1920s and soon became the heart that keeps the radio alive today. Advertisers realized the popularity of radio among audiences and began paying the broadcast companies to advertise their products on the airways. Commercials have kept the radio alive because they essentially pay the broadcast companies to continue broadcasting from the early 1920s to today.

So I Can Get My, SATISFACTION.

While the Rolling Stones famously sang of their lack of "satisfaction" in the sixties, a new way to attain satisfaction began around the same time. The internet made it possible for people obtain a certain satisfaction or gratification they were looking for. People use the media in order to satisfy certain needs.

This satisfaction may be seen as the uses and gratifications theory. In this theory, people, or the active audience, use the media as a means to gratify their needs. Furthermore, the needs the audience seeks to satisfy are not unplanned. People know what they want to satisfy and know how to use the media to get what they want exactly. This can either mean through gratifying their knowledge of what is going on in the world such as watching the news or gratifying their social needs by interacting with people via the internet.

One prime example of using the media to satisfy their social needs is through the social networking internet site, Facebook.com. Facebook allows users to virtually connect with friends and share their thoughts and ideas to them. People log-on to Facebook because they want to share what they are currently thinking, feeling, viewing, etc. In a world where people feel they need to express themselves, Facebook is a great example of how they gratify their desires.

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Hegemony and the Media

The media has a strong influence on the opinions and choices of the public through the use of hegemony.

Like a puppeteer who controls its puppets with strings, the media controls the public with hegemony. Hegemony can be defined as the control and/or influence a ruling group has over another. The powerful group may refer to hegemony as "leadership" or "guidance" but, for the unknowingly public, hegemony may be easier defined as subtle submission by their part. The only difference between the puppeteer and the media is the strings for the puppet are physical whereas the strings for the media are naturally planted into the public's mind.

Steve Jobs is the ultimate modern day puppeteer and the way he advertises his products are the strings to his success. The products of the Apple Company are advertised to seem as the "cool" and "modern" technologies of the "cool" and "modern" citizen. The classic example of the hip Apple customer is of the commercials of the MacBook where a cool and young fellow tells the viewer that he "is a Mac" and an older, less cooler man proclaims that he "is a PC." This kind of commercial tells the audience that Macs are cooler than a PC and in a country where it is essential to be cool, the public unknowingly succumbs to the Apple Company's use of hegemony.

Video Courtesy of YouTube.com

Why RTF?

Me, my friend, &PRESIDENT POWERS @GTT. Get. Jealous.

As an incoming freshman, the process of shifting from high school to college can be quite challenging and immensely different. The University of Texas at Austin has a great program for freshmen called First-Year Interest Groups (FIGS). I chose to be in the Reel America Fig partly because of the Intro to Media Studies class (RTF 305). This class specifically interested me because growing up in the “technology” generation, the media has played a big role in my life. I do not go a day without technology and the use of media and this class seemed interesting to take because it will allow me to learn more about the media and how it has shaped modern society in so many ways.

The current blog I am following: Jezebel.com