The greatness of YouTube...

Growing short of ideas, we turned to the faithful www.youtube.com. Our journey came to an end when we came across the Team America: World Police montage. Acting as both entertainment and education, this montage gives the run down of what is necessary to show an effective character development. We chose to evaluate the Rocky montage using the lyrics of the Team America montage.

“That’s when you need to put yourself to the test, and show us a passage of time…” This will require a montage. As we see in Rocky, Rocky needs to develop his skills so that he can defeat Apollo Creed. To show the duration of progress, the montage is used to accentuate the growth of Rocky’s skills.

“Show a lot of things happening at once, remind everyone of what’s goin’ on…” Montage’s draw the viewer away from the reality of time constraints to an alternate world where the passage of time is sped up for the sake of covering a lot of progress in a short period of time. Apollo Creed is a powerful character that will take much effort to beat. So, Rocky must train significantly to defeat his foe. There is then a review of the current status of all subplots that join together in preparing the viewer for consequent scenes.

“From just a beginner to a pro…” Rocky was out of shape. He had to train in order to become a better fighter. To show all these steps would be entirely inefficient to the film. The viewer would also loose interest, according to Lexi. They can assume what happens through showing little clips.

“If you fade out it seems like more time has passed in a montage…” Film techniques such as the fade out are what help create a sense of passage of time. Without them, it would be an abrupt end leading the viewer to believe there was specific ending, opposed to a progression of ability.

So, it is clear that Rocky illustrates the main themes that Team America makes jest of. However, these points are true because they’re effective. They allow the director to control time and the pace of character development in the movie.

Stephen Colbert

We love Stephen Colbert. Why, you ask? Cause he’s amazing. F-ing amazing. He’s credible, his opinion shapes ours, we love hearing his voice in our homes, we look forward to watching him on television, and if he appeared in another media text, WE’D TOTALLY WATCH IT!

What does this all mean? We’ve formed a parasocial relationship with Stephen Colbert. In short, we have a one sided friendship with him. You may find this to be strange, however you may have a parasocial relationship and not know about it. In fact, many people do, especially with television personalities.

Walter Cronkite is a perfect example of a person in the media who became trusted and welcomed into the homes of many. During the Vietnam War, his opinions were greatly influential in drawing the American people to the opposing side.

Today, there are many people who idolize Stephen Colbert as well. Facebook has several groups dedicated to him, including one that sponsors him as president. With over a million members, it’s well on it’s way to two million. The incredible success expresses the beliefs of the people of the United States who have put their trust in such a figure.

Our love for Stephen Colbert is founded in the basis of parasocial relationships and is what drives us to engage all forms of media with which he is associated. The significance of these relationships in our lives shapes us into who we are and what we believe.

180

As movie night began in Whittier Hall, Phill and Lexi settled in for an hour and a half of Steve Carell pleasure. The movie Evan Almighty set the stage for this entertaining evening. As the movie drew to a close, the final scene depicts a conversation between ‘God’ and Evan, played by Carell. As the camera cut from ‘God’ to Evan, we looked over at each other to see if we both saw what had just happened. Sure enough, it was mutual; we had just witnessed a 180 degree plane medium shot. During the standard post-movie discussion time, the positives and negatives were clear points of interest.

We determined that there were many positives qualities to this style of shot. First, each side of the shot contains ideas and qualities particular to each character. By maintaining the placement of each character, the director is able to shape the emotions of the viewer by associating particular meanings with particular characters. Evan was kept on the right side of the screen, while ‘God’ stayed on the left. There was no way for us to mix up the order of each character, because they were presented in a clear and organized manner. Lastly, this shot enables the director to create a conversational setting for the characters. Blocking out the business of the surrounding world, this shot creates a moment between the characters into which we are given a window. These positive attributes to the 180 degree medium shot work together to form a more organized scene.

The obvious negatives of this shot include force, bland convention, and deceptive perception. Directors use force to manipulate the feelings of the audience. Emotional baggage is associated with these shots through connotative meaning. Stifling the creative mind, these shots restrict the ability to conceive new cinematic patterns. They limit our ability to conceive new forms of emotional association with characters. Pure convention does not allow for creativity. We think we’re interpreting the scene while in fact, the director has already established total meaning with very little room for audience involvement.

Through understanding each of these meanings, we had a well rounded post-movie discussion. Now we understand the positive and deceptive tools of director’s and how they shape and manipulate the emotions of each viewer.

Authors: Lexi Hartline and Phill Demarest

Mediagasm

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Moments later, a car passed us that had a yellow ribbon magnet. Messages contained within this symbol, ranging from music, war, and disease, confirm the theory of second order signification. Following our previous discussion, Phill had a Mass Mediagasm as the recognition of class material and life came flooding into conversation.

This symbol finds its origins in the song by Tony Orlando and Dawn, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree.” This brought the connotations of love, forgiveness, openness. In the early 90’s, the symbol resurfaces under the banner of the Persian Gulf War. Americans tied yellow ribbons around the trees in their yards as a welcome for the troops returning from conflict. This was done to alleviate perceived tensions relating to the Vietnam Conflict. While the ribbons still retained the connotations of forgiveness and openness, the meaning shifted more towards patriotism.

Around the same time, actors started wearing a red ribbon pinned to their lapels in an effort to raise awareness for AIDS. This gave us the shape that is now manufactured as magnets for car bumpers. Widely accepted as an easy and cost-effective way to express patriotism, the idea caught on and was co-opted by other groups.

These continue to develop at a quick rate that starts with the communication of basic awareness. Many organizations have attempted to employ the use of ribbon magnets to support their mission. Pink, indicating breast cancer awareness, has also appeared on people’s bumpers conveying support for a cure. This more closely resembles the original AIDS ribbon which fought for awareness of this epidemic. Black and white, for POW and soldiers MIA, identifies closer to the yellow ribbon, still maintaining a patriotic theme.

Those in the van acknowledged that they had seen other ribbons, such as a puzzle piece design signifying autism, and a ribbon that was half red, white, and blue and half yellow, further emphasizing the mixture of patriotism and forgiveness.

All in all it was a wonderful trip as we were able to apply our communication knowledge to real-world events. Ah, sweet euphoria.

Co-written by Alyssa Pearson and Phill Demarest.

1 (330) 867-5309

On our Forensics journey back from Berea, Kentucky, a compilation disc triggered a conversation. As everyone struck up the chorus “867-5309,” the curious Ann Lawson begged the question, “Why is it that you know and like the songs I grew up with in high school?” Speculation ensued regarding this cyclical twenty-year phenomenon.

The observation was made that in the 1970’s, the most popular TV shows were “Happy Days” and “Lavern and Shirley,” both set in the 1950’s. Then again in the late 90’s, “That 70’s Show” emerged. Interest in this show, we believe, was founded in the adults’ desire to reminisce. Curiously enough, when TV producers attempted to re-create the success of “That 70’s Show” with “That 80’s Show,” it flopped. Perhaps not enough time had elapsed to create the nostalgic buffer.

The high ratings of these shows cannot come solely from reminiscing adults, so they must appeal to a wider demographic. The shows are never targeted towards people in the forties, but to the younger generation. So what would motivate younger audiences to buy into nostalgic references that they did not experience?

Returning to the music that started the conversation, we both realized that we were exposed to the favorite songs of our parents. We were constantly bombarded by nostalgic references – each song was accompanied by stories of prom, warm summer evenings, first loves, and childhood memories. Therefore, when these shows emerge, we begin to relive the stories that our parents told us, creating familiarity and a similar reminiscent experience.

Upon further investigation of this issue, the subject of recursivity beckoned. Cycles are formed through the rebirth of shared interests. Identified in this cycle are the key ideas that are the foundations of recursivity. TV producers’ ability to apply innovation to the conventional desire to recapture the “good old days” satiates the apparent need for nostalgia.

…

Co-written by Alyssa Pearson and Phill Demarest.

Pika Pika...

I ruined MTV for my cousin today. After I revealed that it was one elaborate advertisement, he began to weep. He could see it, I could see it, anyone who’s watched the documentary Merchants of Cool can see it. But why do so many teenagers not see it?

It’s because of the elaborate feedback loop that marketers engage to siphon ‘cool’ from today’s youth. Once the ‘cool’ is documented and analyzed, it is carefully illustrated in profiles. Then artificial and some natural circumstances are added before its sent off to the producer who turns this enhanced image of today’s teen into a STAR!

The lie that is the MTV Star is actually a biomorphic individual who takes on an assigned identity. False rivalries are formed between actors for the sake of publicity and interviews are staged to create an intense experience for the teen following the actor’s life.

This loop is initiated by the ‘cool hunters’ who examine the lives of normal teenagers. After identifying trendsetters, they are then able to take a unique aspect of someone’s outfit and overnight turn it into tomorrow’s fad.

The image the youth sell to the ‘cool hunters’ is then resold back to the youth, for money. Producers reuse the images relentlessly until they finally kill it and it becomes a thing of the past, for more on that just call my friend Pikachu.

The King *Insert Whip Crack* of Pop!

When I peered over my sister’s shoulder the other day, I noticed she had one of those new trendy preteen pop magazines. Then I realized, it wasn’t new at all, it was the same thing that Nickelodeon magazine and Highlights had been for me and my parents. It made me begin to wonder, what gives these magazines the edge they need to endure in an America where kids can’t hold attention long enough to read a short story?

So, after she fell asleep for the night, I went into the kitchen to find her magazine. Before I could open it, I was hit in the face with POP. I was overwhelmed wit the number of headlines they were able to shove on the cover. After counting about eight cover stories, I examined the pictures linked with each. Twins, on opposite corners of the page, were branded with different accusations of love, one boldly claiming in an interview, “Yeah, I’d totally date a fan…” In between, the cover is riddled with cool date ideas, and hip and young new actors.

Once I had been saturated in teen culture simply from viewing the colorful cover page, I began flipping through the pages. The stories looked like advertisements and the advertisements looked like stories. Embarrassing stories mailed in by supposed readers are marked by the “Embarr-O-Meter”. Each story begins with a mildly embarrassing situation which is inevitably followed by the phrase, “…IN FRONT OF MY CRUSH.” Yes, it is clear, every awkward situation will be magnified in front of anyone’s lover, yet the intentional placement of the crush in every story leaves me wondering, is it real? Perhaps it’s just another instance of pop, something to grab the attention of the reader. But how long will it last? As I picked up another issue of the same magazine, I noticed the embarrassment section was still included. Can it really be just as shocking every time? At what point does the reader begin to realize the outlandish claim of “the crush”?

Pop has determined my idea of cool before, but I wonder myself how many ‘crush’ claims I fell to. Pop is like a cheap whore, its intriguing while it lasts, but its unique nature looses value quickly.