Nabeeh

=Nabeeh=

Defining the media - an introduction to media and society.

First of all, i see the author has cleared all about defining media studies. So, i think this is a very important and a very helpful guide in the introductory phase of media studies. And here are some things i found interesting while i was reading the booklet.

- the table construction of different ideas about media is really nice, but some of the comparisons between pros and cons conflicted. - Famous people, such as nelson mandela, defining sources of media. the phrases used by Mandela to define the importance of television were quite realistic and is in a way of convincing the truth. - The common question of the topic "Why teach about media". I found the love-hate relationship interesting, as it defines the importance of media studies in both sides of assumptions. - The fact that media is always empowered by politics.

So, I think it is useful to approach different aspects while defining media studies. It include sociological, aesthetic aspects. All of these information about media studies leave me with some questions. 1- How can the media be used positively to benefit the society and how can the negative ideas of media be reduced? 2- How can media be separate from political influences?

Nabeeh, I think it is extremely difficult to separate media from political influences, as politics is a part of the society and society is closely linked to media. Politicians make use of the media to promote themselves a lot, sometimes in the form of advertisements, but then if a certain medium allows the advertisements to appear, does it mean that it's in favor of that certain party or candidate? Or it's simply a profit-making decision? -Michelle

=** REFLECTION : Response to the advertisement I like most.**=

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(This is an indian commercial which i found really interesting. Sorry i couldnt found a one with English subtitles, but i do hope i can explain what is said in it.)
This is an advertisement which grabbed my attention quite effectively. I saw this advertisement before i came to LPC, and my mutual response toward the commercial was just "cool". Evidently, the media lessons have changed how i saw about the advertisement, but the change made me like it even better. let me give a little summary about the commercial - in case you want to watch it!.

Summary of the commercial: A boy is sitting on the stairs of the university with her girlfriend. A pretty girl walk by and the boy observes her, and it grabbed his girlfriend's attention. At that moment, he couldn't come out with a reasonable response. Then an imaginary person shows up with the idea of Sprite, explain how to check out other girls in front of his girl friend. Drink sprite and yeah! you come with the perfect idea. Now then, he explains his girlfriend how girls dress awfully and clandestinely keeps on checking out other girls (was it short?).

Now here is my response to the commercial; My __//Initial response//__ was, as stated before, I felt the commercial was superb in terms of grabbing my attention. I felt that the advertisement will win over thirsty minds. I also felt that the advertisement is one piece and it was a success. //__As a result of intense reading about media studies__ and the strategies used by the media on mass population//, I was struck by the fact that the commercial became successful not only because it was cool. While we read the first given handouts and made google doc presentations about Language and mass communication, i picked up many hidden perspectives of creating a successful advertisement. One of those was how media uses rhetorical and persuasive means to control our attention. After getting the concept, i felt that the same type of idea was used to make this commercial a success. The idea of an imaginary "professor at University of Freshology", The ice green background, the floating ice cubes and the boy quenching his thirst just makes up the mind of a thirsty person. The creative ideas of checking out girls, an angry girlfriend and how Sprite freshens your brainpower to give you better ideas make it a good commercial.

__//The advertisement is trying to achieve//__ many things. One of the key focal idea is to get more market for the good, which they are trying to promote. Hence, the advertisement plead with the minds of the people watching the commercial. The other thing which the commercial tries to achieve is the attention of a wide mass of people. By gaining that, the company can get the interest of those many people and they can promote other goods in future, without doing such hardship on promoting those.

Before getting into the media studies, i thought the target audience was youth. It was because the commercial was made for two young lovers and checking out girls usually refers to youth. But now i realize that __//the target audience//__ is not only youth, but an open audience. I came to this conclusion because the commercial is also aired at evening, which is the usual time for youngsters to watch cartoons. I do not think there should be an age restriction for this commercial because the main idea is to drink Sprite and getting intelligent.

The __//context of the commercial//__ is also remarkable. The language use and the conversations are not typical but attention grabbing. When the girlfriend becomes discontented and the idea by Sprite hits the boy, he uses the words "Did you see how that girl was dressed? completely erroneous!" This kind of compelling language use is found in the commercial. Besides, "Freshology lesson 22" on a text board also gripped my attention. Therefore the context usage for the commercial is appealing.

The advertisers have used many __//persuasive ways to grab the audience's attention//__. this includes both the the language use and the creativity of the video. For an example, the idea of an imaginary "University of Freshology" is alluring. Lets just think what would be the difference with or without the idea of the University and the Professor. It would be quite ordinary and the fact that it is included brings newness to the ideas. This is very important to find attention. Apart from that, the effects of drinking Sprite is shown in a remarkable way. the bottle exploding with freshness, the icy green background makes the mind of a thirsty audience. Consequently, I find this advertisement as a piece of great work.

In conclusion, I like to state that the advertisement was very successful. This reason with the high demand for Sprite in India.


 * REFLECTION ON CLASS ACTIVITY - RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS **

The conflict between the largest religions dominating the world extends long back into time. But if we study Christianity and Islam, there are a lot of common beliefs between both the religions that allows a lot of comparisons to be done. But the question is, why don't Muslims and Christians get along together in peace and prosperity? Both Christianity and Islam emphasis good human values, such as respecting each other, no matter where they come from or what their faith is. In my opinion,** terrorism has no religion **. People who use religion as a reason for inhumanity and massacre are disgrace to their own faith. As a Muslim, i believe my religion forbids acts of inhumanity against any other religion. Islam itself means peace and Islam recognize Christians and Jews as people of the holy books. My point is, you can't relate the inhuman acts to religion.

- hundreds and thousands of innocent Palestinian Muslims are killed by Israelite every year. But it doesn't mean I have to show act of hatred towards normal Jews. - Christians burnt alive by Muslim Extremists. This doesn't mean that Christians should punish me or other normal Muslims. - Adolf hitler claimed that Jews killed Jesus, thus they are killers of god. He slaughtered thousands of Jews. But Jews shouldn't hate normal Christians.

In fact, the common point is the role of media, burning fires of hatred in our minds, and tearing peace apart. Be aware of media! Give respect and gain it. Live together, share and love. let us believe, **terrorism has no religion** **Dear Nabeeh,** **Your point of view is very interesting and the thing I was thinking of was : why conflict actually exist only between Muslims and Christians?Why not Buddhism vs Confucianism?** **And the only cause of appearing such deep gab of misunderstanding is media, how we actually appreciate it.** **The whole world acknowledged the Hitler's idea as a wrong one and still there are people, who consider it correct. We all see the consequences of the attempt of domination in the world through humiliating, but still Christians are trying to take over.** **Of course every religion wants to have more supporters, but is it worth of lives of innocent people? I don't think so.** **Both sides of an argument should accept that there is no winners or losers and replace the willing to revenge by the willing to spread peace.**  **Anna**