Call the Bomb Squad
Technology is Exploding
What is Media?
When I head the word “media”, I connect it to the mass communications. Media can be the web, television, magazines, the radio etc. The media has always been around for our generation, so it’s like a second nature for us to have the media in our lives. To be “media literate” is to be able to critically understand the techniques, nature, and impacts of the media and its productions. If you are media literate then you know what’s going on in the media world. To be literate is to be educated. To be media literate is to be educated about media; it’s as simple as that. I believe that today the people who are most media literate are my generation. We’ve grown up with the media, as I said before, older people in our lives such as our parents and grandparents had to learn about the media later in life. I mean, even Google wasn’t up and running until 1998. The media has grown so much every year. More and more technology is invented every day. The fact that there are celebrities with more followers on twitter than there are people in certain countries is just mind blowing. The media has taken over our society and from here on out, I believe that it’s only going to get more intense. Overall, my opinion of the media is anything really that communicates with the masses and the people who are most literate about the media are people in this generation. It’ll be interesting to see where the media will lead to in the future.
Social Media
Wordle
Different Types of Media
America Is Beautiful Précis
Coca-Cola in the commercial “America Is Beautiful” (2014) illustrates that they are a universal drink that unites the diverse cultures in America by “opening happiness.” Coca-Cola supports their illustration by having each verse in “America the Beautiful” sung in a different language by American children with differing cultural backgrounds. The company’s purpose is to portray to people that America’s demographics are changing and growing so that Americans can feel more united and drink Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s commercial conveys a sense patriotic sentimentality addressing all Americans and perhaps the world.
The Deadly Drug
The drug known as marijuana has been around for at least 50 years. People always see it as such a harmless drug, but new studies have shown differently. Ever since Colorado and Washington State have made this “harmless” drug legal, there have been many deaths and illnesses accounted for. In the state of Colorado, a 47 year old man was found dead in his car holding a "joint" in his hand. In Washington there was a 19 year old girl found passed out on the street and she smelled of marijuana, so that must have been the cause. The popularity of marijuana is growing more rapidly than ever imagined. The sales have gone up, but so have the hospital bills. “I knew my daughter enjoyed smoking weed, but I didn't think she could possibly die from it” says Wendy Floyd. Many parents around the United States are worried for the children, spouses, and friend’s lives. The spread of marijuana is continuing and there is no stopping this deadly drug. People just don’t know when enough is enough.
Resistance
Reflection on Media Literacy
I still feel the same way about the media as I did in my initial writing. I do still think that it is mind blowing that there are celebrities with more followers on twitter than there are people in certain countries. I still think that people in this generation are the most media literate because it is what we grew up with and we've always been surrounded by it. I learned a lot from this class about how many different social media cites there are and how they drastically can affect certain things. I learned what a précis is and more importantly, how to write one. I learned the power that satirical writing has and for the people who don’t know what satirical writing is, then they may take the article literal and make incorrect assumptions. I’m taking away better writing skills and more knowledge on the different types of writing from this class and I feel as if it will help me a lot in my further education. This class was very different from all of my other Language Art classes and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it more than my 3 previous years in high school. I enjoyed learning about dystopian societies, satires and especially the manner of V. I liked that we worked together with our classmates because it helped a lot with getting a better understanding and having other people’s opinions involved. I enjoyed learning about the media side of things because that is where our world is headed to so it’s important to be informed. In the future, for this class to be better I would say that maybe we shouldn't have done Shakespeare because it kind of threw off the flow that we had. We were learning all about media and then we took a complete 360 and then read Macbeth. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and it was definitely my favorite language arts class that I've ever taken in high school.