Media Through A Magnifying Glass
By: Phaedra Craig
Media
When I initially think about media, nothing really comes to mind but social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. But the more I think about it, media is simply the heart of what our world revolves around today. Media is everything from magazine tabloids, Twitter and other social media sites, the internet and television. Media is the mass communication era we live in. When you think about it, mostly everything you do is media; whether it’s grabbing your phone to refresh your Instagram feed, turning on the radio in your car every morning, FaceTiming your mom from college, or chatting on Facebook with a friend on vacation out of the country. Because of media we are able to communicate, obtain knowledge, and research with the touch of our fingers. Even though everyone today is in touch with “media”, I don’t necessarily think everyone is necessarily “media literate”, including me. I think being media literate is the ability to understand and comprehend media, but also be cautious of the things that the media is capable of doing. People might think they are geniuses of media and know everything about it, but I think everyone could learn quite a few things that the media is capable of doing. Another thought that comes to mind when I think about being media literate is the ability to read and comprehend media. Being literate is being able to read, so being media literate is the ability to read media like magazines, newspapers, and the internet.
Social Media
Media Wordle
Media Cartoon
"Hum" Superbowl Commercial by Heinz
In the Super Bowl commercial “Hum” (2014), Heinz, a popular condiment brand, expressed that “where there’s happy, it has to be Heinz.” Heinz developed their idea by incorporating the melody of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” being hummed while everyone in the commercial is smiling and tapping on a bottle of Heinz ketchup as the claps in the original song. The commercial took you through Heinz ketchup being a part of many joyous occasions like weddings, tailgating, family dinner, and picnics in order to show wherever there is happiness, there’s a bottle of Heinz. Heinz brought a jubilant tone to everyone who has ever enjoyed Heinz ketchup on their hamburger or hot dog.
Sports Hooligans: Help is finally here
Phaedra Craig, Sports Reporter
Wed March 5, 2014
ATLANTA - A new rehab facility for football hooligans will be opening in 2015 for all of the men who are depressed or overly attached football addicts.
Mike Smith gave his comments about the new facility in an exclusive interview with the Atlanta Journal. He stated, “The new rehab center will really help all of the football fans who wanted us to do well this year. Unfortunately with great sorrow I have to admit we have not been measuring up to our fans standards this year therefore, it is only right for me to support this idea. Our fans need help. The rehab center for extreme football fans will be there to help them recover.” The nation will get on the bandwagon now that Mike Smith has come out and supported it.
The idea of FFWD (Football Fans With Depression) is to provide a 4 step program- in honor of how many wins the Falcons have had this year- that guides the fans back to a normal life with less yelling at the TV. Step one is to get the recovering addicts to adopt a new favorite past time like crossword puzzles. At FFWD addicts will be encouraged to work their inner brain cells and get them stimulated on more words and not plays and scores. With the ability to finish a crossword puzzle every time this will make the addicts feel a sense of victory they never got from their favorite team. No one does crosswords anyway.
At step two the facility monitors the attendant’s diets that will ban carbohydrates, sodas, beers, hot dogs, and peanuts because these could lead them to remember what the food was like in overpriced football stadiums or at home tailgate sessions.
Then, step three is to get the fans to watch cooking shows when they aren't filling out crosswords. It reminds them of the finer things in life. All football channels will be blocked anyways.
The final step at the rehab is to attend the psychology counseling sessions in order to deal with the “I think they can hear me syndrome.” This syndrome is very common in the crazy fans because 99.9% of them yell at the TV’s thinking that their screaming has an effect on the way the team plays. Step four is the hardest step to get through but FFWD promises to not give up on these football hooligans.
With a foolproof four step program, FFWD can cure the crazed fans that can’t help themselves. Together we can take on this national issue.
Imagine Dragons by Demons
When the days are cold
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold
When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood’s run stale
I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There’s nowhere we can hide
No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come
When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
When the curtain’s call
Is the last of all
When the lights fade out
All the sinners crawl
So they dug your grave
And the masquerade
Will come calling out
At the mess you made
Don’t want to let you down
But I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don’t want to hide the truth
No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come
When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go
Your eyes, they shine so bright
I want to save their light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how
When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
I chose the song “Imagine Dragons” by Demons to describe George Orwell’s 1984. The reason I chose this song is because I feel like it exemplifies the Party and Big Brother’s thought process on how they want to control London and everyone living in it. The verse “I want to hide the truth, I want to shelter you” I think explains the motive of Big Brother. He wants to hide the past from all the people by rewriting documents and newspapers so the people think what Big Brother says happened in the past really happened in the past even though it didn't, the people of London would never know because the past is altered. In the book there is a quote, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”, which is exactly what Big Brother does. There was also another verse that stuck out to me when listening to this song, “At the curtain’s call is the last of all, When the lights fade out, all the sinners crawl, So they dug your grave and the masquerade, Will come calling out at the mess you made.” This made me think of when Winston and Julia got caught in the room above Mr. Charrington’s thrift shop by the troops. Winston was taken to the Ministry of Love where he was tortured which was like them digging his grave because of how badly he was treated. “Imagine Dragons” by Demons is a great representation of 1984.
Media Literacy Class Reflection
Looking back at my first Smore entry on what I thought media was all I really could think of was social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instgram. I also thought media was only concerning the 21st century, but going through this Media Literacy course I realized media is much deeper than just that. Now I think media is everywhere and it controls everything. I think media is persuasion, attention grabbing, advertising, entertaining, and manipulative. But how can all those words describe media. Scrolling through my completed Smore entries, media controls us and we feed off of it. We rely on media for entertainment like videos and movies, media persuades us through commercials like how happiness comes in a bottle of Heinz ketchup, and media can make fun of us without us even knowing with a satirical news article on crazed football fans going to rehab. I think the one major thing I learned that I’ve never learned in a Language Arts class is to look deeper and analyze everything, whether it’s the Terms and Conditions you are accepting on a new Facebook account and to look deeper into political issues and things that are going on around the world, because I’ll admit, I don’t pay enough attention to presidential races and the news. The in-depth thought process that was required in this course was I think a much needed course for our age group as seniors about to take on the real world. In other class you are basically just reading and comprehending everything we do, but in Mrs. Hick’s class we aren't just reading and restating what we just read in our own words, but looking deeper into the text and comparing it to our world today. This 12th grade class wasn't your typical text book class but a more thinking and analyzing class. Although I didn't like a lot of the assignments and I felt like some of them were pointless, I did love reading 1984 which is odd because I normally hate reading. I think incorporating more “text book” aspects into this class along with the real life analyzing we do would be a better balance because I feel like students don’t get the point of some of the assignments we spend time on until the last few weeks for school. Other than that, this was a great class! I want to thank you, Mrs. Hicks for opening my eyes at the right time, when I’m about to graduate!