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Journal 10:

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Journal 10:

Journal #9:

Journal 9: Minority Portrayals in Mass Media

The mass media has a huge effect on audience’s views and the actions they take. All types of mass media affect how and what people think and believe. There are people who believe many people can block out the messages that the mass media is trying to get into our heads. This group of people argues that most people can block out the many different scenarios because they are not true and are not reality. Some people are able to understand that most television shows are fictional and none of the scenarios should be taken seriously, even though they may be depicted as real events during the show. Others may have a harder time telling what is “real” in a television show, so their opinion of what is happening may be skewed or distorted. What becomes an issue is that people are continuously exposed to these scenarios on television and sometimes they become more and more like reality. What has become increasingly clear in recent years is that fictional television can also play a significant role in shaping public images. Television is one of the primary mediums for entertainment in the United States; therefore, television has a massive impact on its audience’s opinions and actions.
Schema theory is one theory about mass media which shows the effects that the media has on individuals. The schema theory describes how the mass media changes the way we categorize or group information. This theory seeks to explain our interpretation of the world from a psychological perspective. Television is one aspect of the mass media that helps people to form schema. The schemas formed are both viewed as negative and positive. Messages from the media shape schema on several different issues. The schemas the viewers have may influence the context and interpretation of the message.
One of my favorite TV shows on Fox, 24, shows an example of schema theory at work. This hit Tv show is about a group of people working for the government who take down all kinds of terrorist groups and try to keep America safe. All of the terrorists are played by actors and actresses who tend to portray Middle Eastern people. Because these terrorists are portrayed as Middle Eastern people, this group of people gets a negative connotation by anyone who watches the show. After the events of September 11, 2001 many people developed the schema that Middle Eastern people, including Muslims, Arabs, and Islam, are terrorists. Anyone that resembled these groups of people was labeled as terrorists. In the television show on Fox, 24, the terrorists mostly fall into this category of race and ethnicity. None of the terrorists have ever been Caucasian or white. Throughout the show there are also many people inside the government who are working with the terrorists and giving them pointers and heads up as to what the government and the Counter Terrorist Unit are doing. A few of these people are white, but the majority of the people are of a different race. Because of the continuous examples used of terrorists being of Middle Eastern decent, people are developing a schema. The schema goes back to September 11th when people were first introduced to this idea that terrorists are Middle Eastern. When the characters are introduced in the beginning of each season, the viewers can somewhat get a sense of who will be good and who will be bad in the show. Based on the schemas that people have developed over time about different races of people, they are able to develop ideas as to who is a good character and who is a bad character.
The framework of people minds is altered by this constant exposure to a minority group having a negative effect on the world. This exposure to middle-eastern people constantly being terrorists and causing trouble leads the public to view all middle-eastern people as terrorists and bad people. The terrorists plan events that put the United States in grave danger. This idea that all the terrorists are of Middle Eastern decent is a bad image given to the people of this group. This television show is aired at prime-time on Fox and is a hit television series that many people have followed throughout the seven seasons. The show target market is both teens and adults: ages 13 and older. The show is broadcasted all over the world and can also be watched on the Fox website at anytime. There have been a total of 168 episodes and one 2-hour movie, airing from November 6, 2001 till present time. Because this show aired after September 11, 2001 the fear of terrorism in the United States was very high. Everyone who watches this show was alive during the events that happened on September 11th and were all influenced in some way, whether it be a great influence or not. With having terrorists in the show it feeds into people’s fear of terrorists. Because the terrorists of September 11th were of Middle Eastern decent, having the terrorists of Middle Eastern decent on the show increases the fear of Middle Eastern people. People have the schema that many Middle Eastern people are terrorists, and with the continuous exposure of the show 24 having terrorists of Middle Eastern decent, the schema is built up even more. This schema turns into a sort of negative stereotype against people of Middle Eastern decent. All of the Middle Eastern people in the show seem to all be antagonists. Rarely do you see a protagonist of Middle Eastern decent. This negative light of the characters reflects negatively on the entire population of the Middle East because people then associate all of these negative actions with the population.
The members of this group of people are impacted because many people in the American population view them as negative people. All Middle Eastern people are not terrorists and should not be looked at as being a terrorist. There are only a select few people who are actually terrorists. Other races and nationalities have terrorists also; it is not only Middle Eastern people. The negative connotation associated with being of Middle Eastern decent can hurt their chances of succeeding in life. After September 11th, many of these people who lived in American were treated badly and looked at differently only because someone of the same background did something wrong and hurt several people. The actions of a few individuals should not cause a generalization to be made about the group as a whole.

Journal Entry #8: Mikey Mouse Monopoly film

Media and Minority Portrayals:

The film Mickey Mouse Monopoly critically analyzes the Disney films, specifically looking at race and gender. The values that are brought up during these Disney movies are seen as being disguised by the fun and childish characters. The claims made about these films are quite disturbing and may be proven to influence both children and adults in a negative way. Throughout the film the producers interview young children on their thoughts with race. One of the major points that were brought up in the film is race. If you think about all Disney movies and their characters, there are no characters that are African-American or black. Many people came to the conclusion that the hyenas in the Lion King and the black crows in Dumbo are given a “black accent” and they speak language that is slower and they are seen as being dumb. Also, some of the children believed that the hyenas were bad and therefore came to the conclusion that all African-American people are bad or evil. The minority portrayals seen in these Disney films are non-recognition and ridicule. Non-recognition is seen because there are several minority groups that are not seen at all in the media. Ridicule is seen because some of the characters that are either voiced by an African-American person or given the stereotypical “black accent”. These characters use humorous stereotypes against the minority groups. Several of the evil Disney characters are constantly given stereotypical African-American characteristics, which leads to supporting the Schema Theory. The media is altering our knowledge structures and modes of thinking about how we categorize African-Americans. In the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly, we see this happen when a woman talks about how her young child heard a group of African-American children laughing on the jungle gym. The child immediately linked the group of children laughing to the hyenas in the Lion King, giving that group of children a negative and evil stereotype.
This is not only seen in Disney films; we can see examples of minority groups being given a negative stereotype in the show 24 on Fox. Throughout the 6 seasons of the show, there has never been a white terrorist. The majority of the terrorists are middle-eastern. This causes people to believe that all middle-eastern people are terrorists. The framework of people minds is altered by this constant exposure to a minority group having a negative effect on the world. This exposure to middle-eastern people constantly being terrorists and causing trouble leads the public to view all middle-eastern people as terrorists and bad people. In this show you can also see examples of stages of minority portrayals in regulation. Regulation is when there are minority identities are shown in positive ways by helping the authorities. In 24, you can see this through the different races and genders in the Presidents. In each season there is a new President. The majority of the seasons had white male presidents, but there have been two African-American male Presidents and currently in this season there is a white female President. These examples of Presidents as being African-American and female give these groups a more positive connotation. The public may change their minds on how they see the group as a whole, if the character in the show is successful and does their job successfully. In conclusion, the mass media as a whole portrays minority groups mostly in a negative way and therefore the public has linked these portrayals to the group as a whole.

Chapter 9 Synopsis

Chapter 9: Scientific Looking, Looking at Science

Interpretations of images are not based on one event; they are normally based on many different factors and conditions. Any form of images, such as art, TV, films, advertising, and visual data are all considered to be visual culture. All of these images are said to be separate from culture. Images that are scientific are normally seen to be true and objective because of the background behind the information. For example, when you see statistics about how popular a certain brand is, you may believe this statistics over just an advertisement that is broadcasted about the brand. This chapter focuses on how scientific images are in fact dependent on the culture just as art, TV, and film.
The first example used is the development of the x-ray. The first x-ray taken only looked like a silhouette of a hand. Because of developments in film and photography the x-ray is now what it is today. Photography has played a huge role in the development of scientific, medical, and legal advances. This shows that scientific information depends on the culture. Without the cultural developments that happen every year, we would not have the scientific and medical technology that we have available to us today. “Science and culture are mutually engaged” (350).
Many artists have studied the human body and developed beautiful artwork that explains every muscle of the human body. This also allowed scientific and medical advances to happen. DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man is a good example of this. This image is a human figure whose proportions are in reference to geometry. This body image of this man portrays a real ideal human body image. This image is now used in medicine and health practices because it shows the relationship between the human body and the laws of mathematics and the structure of nature (351).
In the late nineteenth century, many artists were very interested in the human body: both the outside and inside. Back in these days, surgery was not done in a sterile environment, but it was done in a theatre. Many people would stand around and watch a surgery take place. This was fascinating to many artists at the time, who wanted to better understand the human body. The Visible Human Project also helped to understand the human body to the full extent. This exhibit used two frozen dead bodies, one male and one female, and each body was sliced into thin slices. The slices were then each photographed, which in turn allowed them to create a virtual body. The images were then released to the public. This exhibit is also an example of the relationship between art and science. These acts of scientific advancements were later able to be used as art all around the world, while still allowing for research of the human body. The development of the x-ray, CT scan, and MRI were all big advances in the practice of medicine. The x-ray allowed for researchers to look inside a person’s body to either diagnose a problem or to better understand the body. Ultrasounds are another example of how technological advances in culture allow for a better understanding of both medicine and science.
Photographs and art also help greatly with the law and medical evidence. The advancements in mechanical and electronic image producing systems, including photography, motion picture, film, television, computer graphics, and digital photography, help in the process of evidence. Positivism is a “philosophical belief that the true and valid knowledge about the world is knowledge derived from objective scientific method” (355). Positivism helps in the fields of law, medicine, journalism, and social sciences in cases in which these scholars need to measure the reality without having any kind of bias in the situation. By using this philosophy they are able to mechanically observe, measure, and study the real world in a way in which they could redo and recheck their work to make sure the evidence is precisely accurate. A camera is considered to be and “objective device for capturing reality” (355). Because of this, photography became a powerful medium for the practices of science and medicine. The use of the camera could be used by managers, in mental hospitals, in crime scenes, and in identification of people.
It has been said for many centuries that the “truth lies beneath the surface” (369). It is also said by other critics that when looking inside someone you are able to see their “true identity” (370). By introducing the new photography machines that allow you to look inside someone has allowed these statements to be true. These images taken of the human body by these new machines have been seen as the “primary avenue to truth” (370). We now can understand the way the body works and who each part of the body, both inside and out, react and work with each other. These images taken help medical professionals and scientists understand and experience how their bodies work and how other people’s bodies work. The brain scans are said to have the most power culturally. This is because the brain is the most complex part of the human body, and with these brain scans we are able to see how this structure works.
Science and medicine has also advanced so far as to be able to make a blue print of the human body by figuring out the DNA that each person is consisted of. These blue prints show all the human genomes. With this knowledge, in the 1980s an instrument was invented that used computer software to make an image of what a person would age to in a few years. This helped with finding people who were on the most wanted list and criminals. They were able to age the photos of these people in order to make them look as if they were the age that they were at that point in time.
In conclusion, in order for there to be scientific and medical advances, there also needs to be cultural advances and vice versa. Because of this relationship we can see that science is not only based upon facts, but is based upon a variety of other things based on the culture around it.

Journal #7:

Journal Entry #7: Advertisers and being socially responsible with advertisements

There have been many debates on whether or not advertisers should have to ensure that cultural norms illustrated in advertising are socially responsible.
An advertisement is by definition is any kind of announcement or praise of a product or service in a public medium of communication in order to make people aware of the product, want to use the product, or want to buy the product. The obvious forms of advertisements are print advertisements (newspapers, magazines, billboards), broadcasts (radio, TV), and internet advertisements. With this definition of an advertisement, clothing that people wear to advertise a brand or something they believe in or anything posted on the internet (such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and other social networking cites) falls under the category of an advertisement. How would it be possible to ensure that all materials posted on these types of sites would be socially responsible, while still allowing for freedom of speech? No one, even advertisers, should be limited as to what they want to say in an advertisement.
Cultural Norms and what is considered to be socially responsible is always changing. Cultural norms are formed by family, friends, and peers – not just media and advertising. Social responsibility is a set of values that is also made up by your family and peers. So who is to say what cultural norms are considered to be socially responsible or not?
The critics who argue that advertisers do not have to ensure that they are represent cultural norms as socially responsible use the Uses and Gratifications Theory to back up their argument. The Uses and gratifications theory was developed in order to address the different uses an audience has for particular types of media. Consumers have control over and can mutually engage with the media they are consuming. For example, individuals pay closer attention to media which they can relate to or display their values.
The second argument that people make is the media’s effect on women’s body images. There have been many studies done to oppose this argument. One is a meta-analysis of studies concerning body image and media was performed by Holmstrom from the years 1990 till 2002. The study analyzed whether or not the media had a significant impact on women’s body image. When reviewing all published articles, it was found that depictions of thin women may have little to no effect on viewers. And images of overweight women seemed to have a positive effect on women’s body images. This study found that a large percentage of past studies did not adequately define abstract terms such as “body image” or “self esteem” leading to inconsistencies. During the experiment the researchers showed women advertisements with thin women, average size women, and non-human subjects. Because there was little difference between the control and experimental groups, the findings suggested that viewing images of average women or non-human images was equivalent to viewing images of thin women. With the time of exposure to the images, the length of time had a positive correlation with how the women felt about their bodies: the longer exposure time, the better the women felt about their own bodies. This negates the concept of cultivation theory, which states that the longer an individual absorbs media, the more they believe media to be a reflection of the “real world.” The opposing side can argue that advertisers need to be socially responsible when showing cultural norms in advertising. The statistics they can use is the increase of eating disorders among both men and women. Media always portrays models and beautiful people as being skinny. In reality most people cannot be as skinny as models. This depiction of skinny women makes other women want to be like them and emulate what the models look like. This leads to the increase of eating disorders throughout the US population.
Another issue if sex in the media and advertisements also raises an issue to some people. When dealing with advertisements an important distinction to be made is the difference between obscene and indecent sexual content. Some people see the use of attractive and sexy models in advertising to be a problem, but the majority of the people believe that these ads are socially acceptable, while others may not. The use of sexual appeals is a good marketing tool because of its arousing, energizing, and attentional qualities. These characteristics produce a favorable response for the advertisers and the target audiences more frequently will buy the product because of the association. This process is also known as Sexual Conditioning or Classical Conditioning. Classical conditioning is when you pair an uncontrolled stimulus with a controlled stimulus together to produce a response. In this case the advertisers pair a product with an uncontrolled stimulus, for example a sexy model. The goal response would be that whenever someone sees that product they associate it with being sexy. This leads advertisers to argue that sex appeals are a good marketing tool. The opposed argument argues that sex in the media should not be used because it is not socially responsible, especially with children. Depending on the audience being targeted, it may or may not be appropriate.
In this argument I am in the middle with my decision. I think that advertisers need to be socially responsible to a point. I think that sex in the media should be allowed to be used as long as it is not very heavy on sexual content. Also, depending on the target audience there should wither be more or less of a filter on what is shown. When dealing with children, it should not be the advertiser’s responsibility to make sure that the children do not see the material. The parents should be the ones who decide what their children can and cannot watch. In order to decide what should be allowed to be shown, there should be a panel or group of people who are from different backgrounds and have different beliefs to decide what should and should not be shown.