Beanka

Beanka
 * English Language & Literature Higher- response to //Defining the Media//**

The world is developing and evolving at such a rapid speed that we are obliged to be informed and study about the media, which may turn out to be “an agent for social change” or the ultimate weapon used for political brainwash and cultural degradation – or both. I am awestruck by the mere power and influence of manipulation of the media. Thus, it is not surprising that while reading the chapter, I am most captivated by the question “why study the media?’ (P.5) It is true that the following section on P.6 provides a useful insight into some of the common reasons for and against the rise of media, but I do criticize some of the points the writer suggested. As explained in the latter part of the chapter, the information that the media provides is often influenced by media moguls or other external forces of economics, and, also taking other media bias into consideration, these serve as effective rebuttal on the point on P.6 that “the media are truthful and informative” and “enable free-thought and speech.” Although these might be true scenarios in sometimes, I think it is the usual case that people are shown what producers want them to see rather than the truth. On the other hand, I cannot agree more with the writer that the current media impact on the public negatively – particularly the fears about its political use, as well as its influence on morals and culture. Yet, I do believe in Nelson Mandela that media can be used as “a great weapon for eradicating ignorance and promoting democracy.” Adding to that, I believe that media can serve much greater and positively influential function than it is now. As the writer has pointed out, the media is controlled and shaped by its owners and their commercial (or political) interests, leading to “simplification (or generalization/standardization) and sensationalization” of information provided. Hence, my question would be: how can we make better use of the media (to our advantage) and its potential, and, at the same time, to lessen its negative impacts (for instance, reducing the bias)?

Salma: Just like you Beanka, I am in absolute awe regarding the influence the media has. I would like to respond to your last question which concerns how we can lessen the media's negativity namely bias.A thought struck me,what if a greater number of people were educated regarding the media just like we are? I feel so much more enlightened about the media than I did before and will probably never fall prey to stories and take them at their face value without thinking about the hidden factors that have an influence on the content. Because the media is such an integral part of our lives, shouldn't it be taught in all institutions, to the young and old? In my opinion, the people behind the media will be more wary about the bias they have in their output if they knew that they were dealing with an alert audience. I hope I have offered a solution of some kind:)

Tinny: In response to your question, I think that people have actually made good use of the media to their advantage in the modern days. I believe the value of media lies in its accessibility and the width of information it provides, and most would agree that while we're bombarded with so much information, we did receive many messages (whether it be truthful). As the audience, we also have the responsibility to critically analyse the media while we look through their filter. In this case we would then be able to absorb information with different perspectives, and hence broaden our horizons to learn without the physical constraints of time and place. I am also very concerned about media's influence on morals and culture. To my personal observation, popular culture nowadays are very much moulded by media, and the explicit images of sex and violence are commonly found. Different cultures integrate and increase people's tolerance toward such ideas, and I hope that people can hold on to their personal values and withstand the media's flood.

Sana: Beanka, I agree that the media is most definitely not always "truthful and informative" but I think that it can indeed be useful for anyone to express how they feel and to state their own opinion. There are so many outlets for this these days, especially youtube, blogs, and such. I also agree with your next point about the media's negative impact on the public. There are so many fears and doubts about the media these days that it's hard to know what to believe. With everything you see or hear you have to take into account factors such as bias and politics. However, many people may not be aware of these things and that is when the media can have a very negative influence. I believe that as Nelson Mandela said the media can be "a great weapon." There is so much potential and such a wide audience that can be reached but it is all about how it is used. I don't think it is possible to prevent all bias in the media but I think Salma's idea to educate people is a good one.

Jennifer: I think that it's because the media is such an influential tool in our society today, we have to study it in order to understand its influence and the potential harms it has. I was also taken aback by the in depth analysis of the media and learnt loads that I had never even thought about before reading this. Through studying it, we stop being only passive receivers and can start to reflect on what we are receiving. As a reply to your question, I think that at the end of the day, it all comes down to the audience. We can't possible pull all political and economic influences on media away, as they are essentially what fuel the industry and what media reports, but we can try changing the way people accept these messages through education or just by opening their minds to more sources. As Sana and Salma said, many things, such as biases and stereotypes are set in stone, but the audience is always the flexible factor in the equation.

**Japanese McDonalds SpongeBob Commercial**

[] When I was given the assignment, I did not have a particular “favourite” advertisement in mind, so I asked around to see my friends’ favourite ads. The link to this ad was given to my by a friend, and I find the ad so adorable that I need to share this with the class.

This ad is launched at Japan, selling the new SpongeBob toys, Sponge Bobble, which is a set of toys with faces of SpongeBob, and the amazing thing is – this SpongeBob can talk! The ad appeals to children by displaying children of their same age on TV obsessing about the newest “trend” – Sponge Bobble, and the screaming and excitement contained in the ad serve as a natural attraction for the younger audience. Hence, the target audience of this ad is obviously children, who, though do not own “real” purchasing power (i.e. money), are prompted to exert their “pester power” over parents.

One of the features of this ad is the concept of “synergy”, the combined marketing. The cooperation of McDonalds (Japan branch) and SpongeBob SquarePants (an American animated TV series) to promote the Sponge Bobble can be seen as “synergy”. The two multi-national corporations (aka MNCs) both obtain benefits out of this ad: McDonalds attract younger customers to consume happy meal by means of free Sponge Bobble, and SpongeBob SquarePants raises its popularity and hence “branding”. On a side note, the SpongeBob SquarePants TV series can be seen as a “package unit” – production and promotion of numerous tie-in and/or spin-off products from the series.

Another feature of this ad is the rather subtle hint of “planned obsolescence”. Corporations promote “trends” by producing products that are on seasonal sale. McDonalds (Hong Kong branch), for instance, only sells Shake Shake Fries in autumn every year. Starbucks promotes Summer Specialty drinks only in summer as well. The same concept applies to the Sponge Bobble featured in this ad, as the “trend” that McDonalds creates in this ad is bound to be replaced by another “trend” soon, be it Powerpuff Girls or Transformer. Thus, these “trends” give rise to “planned obsolescence”, which is a result of over-production of goods and the unlimited wants of consumers.

Personally, I find this advertisement very successful in appealing to children and prompting them to use “pester power” to nag their parents. There is hardly any persuasive language, but the children uses screams and jumping to convey their excitement intrigued by Sponge Bobble, which certainly fits the mind set of the ad’s target audience.

//**Reflection on class discussion**// Being somewhere in between agnosticism and deism (I'm not entirely sure if these are the right words to use...), I was rather confused with the religious aspect of the discussion yesterday. I did noticed that, as Alaa has pointed out, the piece of news contains certain bias and is possibly trying to portray a picture to mislead the readers. I would like to grasp this as an example to show how we should use information provided by the media, despite the possible contradictions existing between various sources, to determine a more reliable version of the story. As we pointed out the various misconceptions and bias in the news story, we must have other sources to support our views. This is where we apply knowledge obtained from other readings. At the same time, we should realize that all media sources have their limitations, and be aware not to be confused by the seemingly "neutral" sources. Some newspapers may be quite objective in general and put forward a lot of facts and figures, but we should remain critical and establish our own opinions of the story. What Linda showed us about the Orange County protest against Muslim is another intriguing topic. There are two "big topics" that we can investigate concerning this particular incident: religious stereotype and point-of-view in the media. Religious stereotyping is still common in the so-called First World today - as a matter of fact, I grew up in an environment that provided us little exposure to diversity in religions, given that Hong Kong is saturated with Christians and Catholics. I was almost as familiar to Bible stories and controversies as a real Christian, being raised in Christian/Catholic schools before coming to LPC. (A little side note: most local schools are religious because they are funded by respective churches. Christianity/Catholics are the most abundant source of sponsors and hence the religions of most local schools, but there are also Buddism and perhaps Confucianism as far as I know) My knowledge of Islam is limited to the 5 pillars and the Crusade in History when I was in Grade 8 or so, and the few chances that I get to recognize Muslims are when I shop around the jama3 in TST on Saturday mornings. Fortunately, I had the chance to know more about the religion in the past summer. //A Thousand Splendid Suns,// an insightful and heart-wrenching book that I read over the summer, displayed some older measurements in Islam that was forced by the Taliban. I was horrified. My brother, who was in a religious studies course then, showed me related excerpts from his book "The World's Religions" by Hudson Smith. It provides a more objective point-of-view, and at times justify the religions as they are, instead of the common misconceptions. That was somewhat an inspiring moment to me, when I read about so many religions in the world, and finding out that they are fundamentally very alike. (But popular news sources just would not say the facts out loud because that would cause intense aggression from religious groups) Stereotyping and judging a person because of his/her religions is typical in any religiously exclusive environment, one that is saturated by a dominant religion. I am glad that I have the honour to get to know people from a diversity of cultures in LPC, and it is undeniable that education is always a good idea for a head start for changes in stereotypes.