Now They Tell Us

Overall I thought weeks reading assignment was an excellent choice. As a design student I thought I should comment first on it by saying that I really enjoyed the publisher’s work on it and found it to be very approachable and reflective of the subject matter. I believe if this book had caught my eye while browsing through a bookstore, I would have probably bought it. 

I really enjoyed this book because all that was written was relevant, made sense, and was well researched and thought out. The book really brought light to the subject and offered a great amount of cited information. If this book had more publicity I believe it would really change minds on the subject of the war in Iraq. 

During the beginning of the war I must admit that I was not well informed about the war, the Bush Administration, and many of the current events of the time. I had known about the claims of  WMD’s and the fact that they had not found any, but I never looked deeper into the subject. I was extremely surprised that many of the claims had come from the New York Times article by Judith Miller. I especially enjoyed the essay Now They Tell Us and felt that it really exposed problems in the media and the great power that they hold.(Power being shown when Rush Limbaugh was branding people as traitors.) Massing’s essay had really showed the power of words and the misuse of them. 

It is quite surprising that people had taken the claims of  WMD’s in Iraq with little hard evidence, and the fact that the administration had taken advantage of it. The government should have analyzed the information they had on the pipes and the conflicting views presented by scientists of what they could have been used for. 

11,12,13

I thought all of the chapters were very interesting but I found chapter 12 to go beyond that because I‘ve always had a specific interest in the field and how it affects people. I had no idea that advertising had gone back so far, but after being informed of it‘s history I am suprised that mankind had come up with such an idea so early. However at the same time I don‘t find it so suprising because advertising goes hand in hand with products and services, and can be called a basic need of a business.

I found it to be quite interesting also that the government in 1958 had placed a ban on subliminal messaging in advertisements, when in the book it clearly states that it is not considered a danger. After reading about this ban I thought further research of the subject would help clarify the ban for me because I believe an action such as that should only be placed because it poses a threat. 

I studied quite a few subliminal messages placed in advertising through google and youtube and found that such symbolism placed in ads such as sexual imagery, dollar signs, etc. were so complex that it would require special attention to have some sort of effect on the viewer. Along with special attention, I believe that the viewer would have to have something to associate the imagery with. For example, I had seen some of what some would call subliminal messages in Disney movies but because the audience are mostly young children, they have little to nothing to associate sexual imagery or phrases with. 

Also from research I read from a couple studies that it did not pose a threat to anyone and that it would require special attention from the viewer to register the subliminal item to a small degree. After reading the studies and viewing the advertisements, I could not come upon the reason why the government would step in and place a ban on subliminal advertising other than some sort of paranoid fear of mind control. 

Chapter 5,6,7

       I really enjoyed the past three chapters of the text, mainly because the authors went through the development and business of the television and movie industries. The section that sparked my interest the most was the section that dealt with the FCC regulations that were placed on cable companies that seemed kind of crazy to me. I believe that the FCC should not have had such a power over the television industry because they are private businesses. The "must carry rule" is the best example of my point. I believe a business whatever it may be, should have the option to deal with those they choose to and have the option to first consider the interests of their own business. The FCC should not have been making business decisions for them. I believe the local networks and independent stations should have to achieve the goal on their own as the major networks did.
        I would also like to disagree with the statements from critics made in chapter 5 saying that television contributes a great amount to teen sex and violence. I believe that is a very broad statement and makes it sound like a great accomplice to crime. I go by the belief that everyone has the power to think for themselves and weigh consequences of their own actions, and that if a person makes the decision to harm another it is by his own will. Even if the person watches violent programs and shows of "low culture", television is not to blame for ones careless decisions. If one can not handle the violent and sexual nature of some television and thinks that it will harm their children, they should just simply not allow them to watch. For a very simple example, I have seen many violent films as well as millions worldwide, but I am not committing any harmful actions.

Media and Culture Chapters 1 & 2

The textbook Media and Culture I found to be a lot more enjoyable than the previous assigned book because of it’s great amount of detailed information, written mostly from an objective point of view. The first to chapters were very informative, provocative in their topics, and exciting in their expression of achievement. 

I especially enjoyed the section on culture and the hierarchical system that was mentioned. I found the system to be very accurate in its placement of art in hierarchy and it’s differentiation of “high” and “low” culture through aesthetic choice. In my opinion the reason for placing art such as Beethoven’s symphony and James Joyce above all is not only based upon the challenge of understanding, but the individuality and creativity of the works that places them at the top of the list. Pieces such as the works of Beethoven could not be placed next to modern pop music because of Beethoven’s individual approach to music. If one heard Lady GaGa and ten other pop stars, they would be able to pick her out of the lineup but the basic chord structures and lyric choice seems to blend with others. However, if one was to listen to a Beethoven sonata and sonata’s of ten other romantic composers, there would be a great difference between them, in structure, expression, intent, and style. Leonard Bernstein, the famous conductor & composer, once analyzed the structure of a Beethoven sonata in his Harvard lecture series by taking the music and creating a conversation with it. The conversation expressed emotions that a modern pop star could not remotely create, even with the use of blatant lyrics. 

Another factor must be mentioned when analyzing an aesthetic choice as culturally “high” or “low” is effort, and time invested in the piece of art. In criticism of modern music, I will say that most songs created today(top 40) can be easily written within a week or less, not including production time of course. When compared with a composer of the romantic school or previous to so, the effort and time invested in a single project creates a great distance between modern music and classical. 

In my opinion art reflects a society’s values, and from the values being expressed  through art today(pop music, blank canvas’, fantastic literature) I would say there is a shortage of creativity, and the individual is in hiding. 

Another section of the Chapter that enjoyed very much was the progression of the internet. Aside from the great amount of information given, there was a great expression of human achievement in the section. The creation of the computer and the internet in such a short amount of time shows the great value of the human mind, and it’s need to innovate. I also thought that the light shed on some of the companies whose services we use on a daily basis was very enlightening. Even though I had known that most internet resources obtain their revenue through advertising, I still find it kind of strange. Mainly because when I think of these billion dollar companies I first think of the service they provide directly to online users such as Facebook communication, E-mail, etc. I believe however that their income is an accurate resemblance of their online innovation and is a great tool to measure their value to society. 

Media Unlimited

I did not especially enjoy the book Media Unlimited for a number of reasons that I will state before I mention the positive aspects of the book that I found interesting. 

First, I thought that the book seemed very rushed and unskillfully composed. I say this because of the amount of unnecessary information that was added in order to expand the the rather simple ideas the author was trying to express. One example of this was the “lists” that are seen frequently throughout the entire book.(ex. television, radio, magazines, books, E-books, internet, movies, video games, cell phones, cassette players...). The only decent justification for such a method could possibly be derived from the cover which states “how the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms our lives”. If the author was trying to express the overwhelming nature of the media through these “lists” I would say he was very successful, however I do not believe the author had such a motive. 

Also, I did not find the book to be very informative, mainly because through many parts of the book I felt I was being fed information that I had already known. I felt as though the book could have been simplified and compressed into a long essay format. 

I believe the philosophies of Marx and Stimmel and their perspective on media should have been explained more in order to give the reader a greater understanding of their ideologies. Mentioned a few times with little background information, in my opinion, did not represent the philosophers or their ideals in the best way. 

Some of the positive qualities of the book I found a bit interesting were the personal situations and the outside opinions. When he had his words twisted by the media after being filmed at a protest, I felt was a great addition to the book in that it shows not only why the media twist words, but how. Also I thought the great variety of opinions given throughout the book was a great way to show the different elements of the media. The extremist opinions, although impossible and kind of comical, seemed to show either a great hatred or love, but always, a strong position (strong positions in my opinion are always admirable, but not when they cannot be backed up and fought for intelligently).

Overall I would say I probably wouldn’t consider reading this book again, however some good information came from it so I am not regretting the read.