Overall, the quality of your research and writing was excellent and I've learned valuable information that I plan to share with future students. Truth be told, some of the things I learned disturbed me. Nonetheless, I'm grateful to have learned them. I could share some fascinating facts from each and every paper, but I have to finish grading so I'll limit myself to a couple of examples.
- Jeremy E. Uecker studied married couples versus single individuals and found that being married or engaged "curbs drunkenness, and married adults, especially those who marry at ages 22 to 26, are more satisfied with their lives" (emphasis added). Thanks to Katherine Harper, who cited this information in her paper about A Wedding Story and similar reality TV shows.
- When methamphetamine was first introduced it was not an illicit drug. Japan used meth commercially and Britain and Germany used it to increase the effectiveness of their soldiers. Thanks to John Huffman who cited this information in his paper about Breaking Bad.
When I began writing my research paper, there were certain questions that I was looking to answer. My topic focused on the pros to using Twitter for personal branding (of a CEO and the organization they represent). I originally set out to focus on gender biases and whether or not specific professional fields were using the medium. Amidst researching I discovered a very important factor that I was overlooking: age. Social media is most commonly used by the younger generations, so this is something that definitely needs to be considered when a CEO or Senior Executive is strategically planning on communicating with their target audience. Not only was the average age of CEOs important, the average age of Twitter users in general allowed me to see who was most interested in seeking information from these individuals. Adding this demographic within my research really aided in expanding my knowledge of the topic, while simultaneously supporting my thesis.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Peale
In all honesty, I began my research paper with little enthusiasm to do the actual research. I enjoy criticizing media texts, but have always struggled in putting together research in a cohesive manner. Once I began, however, I became truly enthralled with a particular source from 1979 on body image and advertising. Until this point, I believed that body image and media were a fairly new area of study and that these images of the "perfect" woman had only recently become ingrained in our cultural context, but with this source I became aware of a much larger history and context. Not only had studies about media and body image effects been taking place for quite some time, but there were also quite a few studies examining these effects on girls that had not even gone through puberty yet.
ReplyDeleteTogether, these facts opened my mind to just how massive this area of research is and also how pervasive media can be in its reach and effect. I am happy with the amount that I chose to include for my paper, and could have probably bitten off more than I could chew with a little more examination of these sources, but my interest has been sparked. This is definitely an area that I would like to explore further in other courses and research projects, as it is obviously an area of much interest and intrigue.
Molly Haas
I actually learned quite a bit about the music industry as a whole through the writing of my paper. I had no idea that the industry as a whole was having to market to live performances over actual sales of music today. It was interesting to see where the market was failing and flourishing due to the introduction of peer-to-peer file sharing and the rise of the Internet as a whole. It was astonishing to see how the industry has come to combat the free sharing of files and where it's going in the future.
ReplyDeleteI was also very surprised that the industry isn't more up-in-arms against file sharing and that they're almost just letting it happen. Before I began this paper I just assumed file sharing was bad for the industry, but I found that there were actual positives for it and that this might be part of the reason record companies aren't starting a war against file sharing. Overall, reading through the history and development of the music industry really opened my eyes and peaked my interest in where the industry is heading as I plan to work in the music industry after college.
- Josh Stevens
After I had submitted my proposal, I found an actual study that tried to gauge peoples' reactions to Benetton's advertisements. I thought it would be a great addition to my paper, but the findings seemed a little odd. A majority of the participants said that the advertisements were offensive and a cheap way to gain attention. However, an astounding 83% of the participants said that their purchasing habits would remain unaffected by the campaign, even if they were thoroughly opposed to it. This study went on to say that individuals don't always connect advertisements to their stores.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the widespread protests of the advertisements, I had assumed that consumers who were offended by the images would refrain from shopping at the stores. It seems strange to me that someone could openly hate something yet continue to support it. It was definitely the most interesting thing I found in my research, and somewhat of an eye-opener. It reminded me of Wal-Mart in that they're the most successful retail chain, yet I'm constantly hearing about how people are opposed to their practices and such.
It seems that a majority of consumers will buy anything, regardless of moral integrity.
-Kaitlin Hall
I got my topic idea when my roommates and me watched the Lion King. My research topic was how the Disney princesses have progressed to become more androgynous. At first, I thought this was only something that my roommates and I were thinking about. However, I was surprised to find research from England, Descartes, and Collier-Mark that agreed with what my roommates and I said. I mostly learned that parents have lots of different takes on how their daughters get to interact with Disney. I found that if a mother does let the Disney princesses into their home they will also show their daughters strong female role models.
ReplyDeleteI think reading about mothers and their daughters made me examine my own childhood. It also made me think about how I would raise my daughter, if I were to ever have one. I would allow them to watch the animal Disney videos and Aladdin and some of the more recent movies like Mulan and Princess and the Frog. People can say what they want but I would definitely not allow Cinderella, Ariel, or Sleeping Beauty into my home but I would allow famous positive female role models.
~ Jocelyn Allen
I was excited to write this paper. I wrote about what it takes to make it in the music industry nowadays--besides talent--and how to stay successful. For me this paper was very beneficial since I would need to research this information eventually since I want to be a singer/songwriter. While I always knew just being a good singer, or what have you, wasn’t enough to make it, hearing it from multiple sources really proved that to me. I guess I was surprised to learn how much of making it is based on chance, luck and timing. Talent is expected, but you have to have that star quality.
ReplyDeleteI think researching this topic helped to legitimize previous ideas I had about making it. For example, the need to market yourself, performing, and keep practicing were suggestions to becoming successful. It seems like common sense, but it’s true. In my research it was also nice to see how many sources said to stay true to yourself, or you’ll never be happy. It is a careful balance of pleasing yourself and your fans. One fact that shocked me was that only half of one percent of artists break even after their first record. The source said not to let that discourage anyone, but it’s hard not to. Despite that fact, I feel more prepared to enter the music industry now.
- Kelsey Fisher
I studied the media text television in order to analyze the way TV sitcoms portrays families and gender roles. I knew going into this paper that TV obviously used pretty basic stereotypes in order to create easy characters that audiences can identify with and laugh at easily. However I have to say I was surprised at how TV sitcoms still use such ancient stereotypes even today. In terms of gender roles, despite the statistical data that more females are in the working world than in previous years, females are still primarily portrayed as working within the home. Additionally, when females were shown as holding jobs outside the homes, they are consistently shown as working under a male boss. It is a shame that despite all the progress women have made, TV refuses to acknowledge their progress.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a great deal of research that showed the effects of these negative and inaccurate depictions on TV are damaging to children who watch them over a long period of time. Children can begin to internalize the behaviors seen on TV, such as talking back to parents, disrespecting authority, and believing women should only work at home, and accept them into their own real world actions. It is especially crucial to educate parents and children to understand the difference between what they see on TV and what they can expect in the real world in order to raise a generation of media literate individuals who can see past the media conglomerates tricks.
I find it very funny that the most popular topic for the research papers was “television” since my particular research on video games, specifically the “survival horror” genre, provided some very interesting ideas against television/film in comparison with games. I decided to research the specific aesthetics and unique challenges within “survival horror” video games because I was curious to know why people enjoyed playing games that literally make them scream, cry, and break out in goose-bumps. But, I was also interesting in finding out how these games could contribute to society in a positive way, despite being focused on fear and anxiety, and decided to do some research on the “survival horror” genre (specifically Resident Evil and Silent Hill)and video game industry in general.
ReplyDeleteAccording to famous video game designer, Jane McGonigal, activities that we assume generally make us “feel better” (like watching television, eating chocolate) actually make us feel worse because they are not engaging/stimulating activities (especially when we week these particular activities out during our bouts of boredom or even depression). Despite the speculation, video games are positive influences in peoples’ lives and create a good form of stress called “eustress” which has been correlated to producing high motivation, a sense of accomplishment, and positive self-esteem in people since game players voluntarily give themselves the challenges within video games.
People also have a kind of masochistic attraction to horror since it allows them to role-play in horrific worlds/scenarios of the “unknown,” which they know they would never be able to do in real-life which makes it fun and interesting. “Survival horror” video games were also more immersive than horror films because they immerse players within the danger rather than placing the audience as the spectator (as in films). The aesthetics in the zombie-thriller Resident Evil and psychological Silent Hill were similar yet different, and both have contributed to the success of the scary genre today! These games generally force players to navigate terrifying labyrinths (filled with clever background music, dim lighting, and gruesome enemies) with limited ammunition, resources, and even abilities to save your game file, but these challenges ultimately create challenges that, when players finally overcome, instill a positive sense of confidence and accomplishment (something that TV and film simply cannot do).
-Kaitlin Silver
The Bigger Picture | Research Paper
ReplyDeleteThe idea for this research paper first began in my Sociology class. We had just read a whole slew of Durkheim, Marx and Weber and I actually found myself really attaching to the concepts that made me look critically at the world around me. I started to reflect on how i view and construct the social world everyday; I thought about how I shape my actions based on what I am exposed to or based on what I think others will think. I began to study the role of ideology in a society and how it is reproduced and reinforced by entities with such power, its hard to get away from it.
The idea to investigate the existence of negative ideology being reinforced in Disney movies first came when I looked at Beauty and the Beast objectively. It literally teachers girls that boys who are mean to you just like you alot and that you should really keep trying to change people, because there’s eventually a happy ending, a prince. Fantasy for young children is acceptable on some level; take The Land Before Time or Fern Gully, or some other film that doesn’t directly associate the happiness or success of a female with the existence of a man in her life, or the validation that one is pursuing her.
This was just one small example of how the ideology in a patriarchal, male-centered and male dominated society gets reproduced without any sort of policing by the public. Very few people go up in arms at Disney because they have such an heir of majesty. They are a business though, and the individuals creating and pushing this content are also influenced by society and it bleeds through to that which is being produced for mass consumption.
All of those examples aside, I have learned that the bigger picture in all of this capitalistic, ideologic, messy system is to be aware and to be critical when appropriate. Lines of communication should be opened to discuss the system of inequality in this country and the negative images we are being fed through the mass media. If we don’t tilt our heads at red-flag information, what separates us from robots?
-Maddie Wigle
I decided to do some research on the “otaku” (fan) subculture, which comes from Japan’s pop culture, and its influence for promoting the globalization of Japanese animation (my media text). I was worried at first when I chose this topic, because I was afraid I wouldn’t find research articles on the topic. I was really surprised to find several relatable articles that went well in-depth about the topic.
ReplyDeleteSome of the research I found was very interesting, as I didn’t know anything about the history of the subculture and how it emerged. Since the animation comes from Japan, the subculture began there, and it was in the time of the late 1970s-1980s when VCR systems came about. This is important because the research shows that the otaku fans can be characterized as having “highly efficient referential ability,” which means that they are people who are very detail oriented. The way they could do this is by recording their favorite shows and watching them over and over to study the content and details. (This is probably a reason why the label of being “obsessed” is associated with fans of this level).
I also looked at a specific Japanese animation title to analyze aesthetics that make it so appealing for these fans. I found that the content defies animation stereotypes of being for “children” and “predictable” by utilizing adult conventions such as psychology, complex/unconventional heroes, and a stronger episode structure to allow more character development (just to name a few). These characteristics made the media text more appealing, (part of it being more realistic/relatable ideas) and explain some reasons why the fans are so devoted to participating in different activities using it.
Because of their strong love/support for the animation, the otaku want to promote it through the various participation methods I wrote about in my paper. It coincides heavily with what I read in the textbook, and when I re-read the pages that discussed the “public sphere” model, I found a lot of the research of otaku to follow the idea. There was actually one source I found, a ph.d student’s thesis paper about Japanese animation (that is over 100 pages), that I saved and want to take the time to read because a lot of their analysis was interesting. Overall, the time spent researching this topic was very worthwhile!
Kristin Silver
My research paper topic evolved constantly from the day we turned in a thesis statement until the weekend before the paper was due. At first, I really wanted to talk about the political nature of Hip-Hop music being hard left and Country being hard right. The more I read about the two genres of music and the more I listened to the actual music I was planning on writing about, I started to think about the fact that the two genres go much deeper than being political. Ultimately, I thought about these two genres representing two conflicting ideologies that are racially motivated. I started listening to the songs and thinking about them in the way that they talked about the Disney films in "Mickey Mouse Monopoly", on the surface the songs I wrote about are catchy and fun to sing along with but if you really listen to the words, not only what they are implying but explicitly saying, they support extremely problematic behavior and ideologies.
ReplyDeleteI found it really fascinating to think about the music my generation listens to in this way. I can't really make any direct connection between the music we listen to and the problems in this country. However, I think it is important to consider that if we listen to this type of music all the time and don't stop to think critically about what we take in and repeat, we might be absorbing and internalizing some of these flawed ideologies. I was really happy with how my paper turned out and it was probably the most enjoyable academic paper I've written.
^^^^ Mason Alls
DeleteAfter writing this research paper, I have found out how cultural shifts in our society have had a massive role in the influence of politics in our music. Although we have more political news making history during the past decade, the influence of our news has had very little impact in our music today. The uprising during the 1960s and 70s created a streamline of protest songs and strong subcultures that continued the force till the 1980s. However, when I researched my topic, I found out that many media companies slowly submerged these genres together creating a general genre mixed with pop, hip hop and rock catering to the mainstream audience while making massive profits.
ReplyDeleteIt took a lot of time researching my topic to prove my claims but the research I found was very informative especially when I found a lot of statistical figures about the psychology of music among the younger audience. I hadn’t noticed how much of an impact it could possibly have had throughout the decades but I’m glad I took the time to research it in order to strengthen my viewpoint. Although political music still has a vital force in the present day, commercial success has ultimately reigned over musicians to divert their attention to creating lyrics with less of a political stance.
-Sarah Hasnain
My paper, about sports media, made me consider a lot of things that I would never have noticed before. For example, if I told my friend that sports media was sometimes racist, they would most likely laugh at me. But every book I looked at about sports in the media had huge sections specifically about racism in sports media. It is getting better, and most of the studies cited were from around the 80's, but it is still there in some ways. That was probably the most surprising thing I found about my research.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was just surprised that sports is such a big consideration for media outlets because of the money it pulls in.
Braden Tanner
I wrote my paper about The Office, and I originally planned on just focusing on the aesthetics and the way The Office is shot using the "mockumentary" technique. However, upon doing research I found that there were many implications of the mockumentary genre on the television culture as a whole. I found that the postmodern techniques employed by The Office, such irony and intertextuality, allowed for an interactive user experience. The viewer no longer just passively consumed the media, one of the heavily criticized aspects of television. With The Office and other "mockumentary" type programs that use irony and "inside jokes," the viewer has to be actively engaged and must think about what he or she is viewing.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if a character makes a certain cultural reference, or another character does a serious action while another character pokes fun at the action, creating humor for the audience, the viewer must be aware that these instances are occurring. If the viewer does not understand the reference or isn't aware that a certain situation in a program is meant to be ironic, not serious, then the message is completely lost. As a result, the viewer has to be actively engaged and have a level of intelligence and cognition beyond the average television viewer. Through my research, I found that many individuals felt that this interactivity within the mockumentary genre meant that television was transforming from a passive to an active medium. I thought this was the most surprising because I knew from before that many people thought the mockumentary was cheap and tasteless; however, after researching the topic, I think it is more innovative thought-provoking than anyone imagined.
My original plan was to prove that violence in the Walking Dead was justified, used artistically even. That was flipped on its head when I researched more into violence's effect on not only children, but on society at large. The mean world syndrome by George Gerbner, which theorized that media violence makes people afraid of the world and more unfriendly because of their fear rings true with every example I have seen. The Walking Dead is a great show, but I would never suggest it to the faint of heart, especially not children.
ReplyDeleteConsumers need to be more critical of their media, even exceptional products. Violence has its place in media, and can be used to increase drama, cause emotions etc. but when it is used to excess its effects are dulled. Audiences need to be aware of how much violence they are consuming to curb its effects. Gerbner was right when saying that it has become much too prevalent in our society, and his writings were easily my best sources to help me prove that.
Daniel Benn