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Final Exam Part II

     Media literacy has been a class unlike any other I have taken while at school.  I’ve had the usual business courses and then decided to take this because of my interest in advertising, and as the semester comes to an end I have come to appreciate advertising and the media such a great deal.  What I like most about my newfound media literacy is my ability to see beyond what is in front of me; no matter what I do my mind analyzes media now and seeks to find something beyond what is obvious or stated.  The media can be a great thing or a detrimental thing, and I believe I have come to the understanding that with patience and persistance, I can figure out just what the intentions are and what the true message is. 

      One example of my newfound media literacy is that watching the news, I see that there is nothing unbias about what is shown or stated on a news station.  I truly have come to understand what I am watching and I actually watch different news stations now in order to get a number of views so I can make my own decisions concerning different stories.  I never thought about how truly bias different stations are, but after we looked at a few different things in class, I started to watch different news stations and read different papers online, like the NYT and Wall Street Journal and I myself started to see just how bias things can be.  For instance, if you look at the WSJ about the elections, they are more conservative and therefore will give you information that favors Republican thought instead of Democrat.  The opposite is true for the NYT as they favor a more liberal or Democrat approach.

       Another example of my new outlook on the media is found with the way I view advertisements throughout the media.  As of recent, I think I was still very ignorant about the true messages behind advertisements and what their intentions are.  We have looked at so many over the past semester and broken them down and analyzed them so much that now everytime I see an ad on TV or in a magazine I have no choice but to start ripping it apart in my head and wondering what they are really trying to do.  I really started to dissect ads inadvertantly after we were talking about the Calvin Klein ad, and I will never forget how surprised I was when we were talking about it and there were so many things not obvious that were there within it.  Now, when I see a sensual ad in a magazine or on TV I always wonder and try to figure out what they are really trying to say. 

     One other example is the fact that no piece of information that is given to us through the media comes without some sort of underlying message.  We are surrounded by it all the time and above everything, it is so important to take in all types of media and create a unique view based on your own beliefs.  If not, it is possible to get trapped in the maze of information which is thrown at us everyday, sometimes to help, and sometimes to harm.  I believe that when the media talks about the war, they are in some ways trying to help, but they have the power to distort reality, and because of this, one must be very careful of what they believe.  Pictures can be changed around and look as though they are something that they really are not, with the technology we have, a simple picture of a soldier can be photoshopped in to a picture of him killing a man with army tanks in the background, and how would we know that this is not the truth?  I think the most valuable message I have learned is that above all, never take something for face value that is of importance, always dig beneath and understand that while the media is a great thing and has allowed us to know information from around the world very quickly, it also has the ability to change and distort the truth.  

      After taking this class, and now as an advertising minor, I feel like I really understand a lot more about the media than I initially did.  This information will add to my understanding of marketing and hopefully help me as I continue on in my education.  The great part about taking this class is that it was one which really emphasized the truth and how to go about finding it.  While many other classes say that things are fact and expect you to just believe, this class made me able to figure out what was the truth, and that is something a class has never done.   This whole experience truly was a valuable experience that I am sure will aid me in the years to come.  Thank you!

RESPONSE #10

   One of my favorite paintings is by Dali, called Clocks.  I remember seeing it for the first time and just looking at it trying to decipher and understand the message and the images I was looking at.  In a word, the experience was surreal for me, and I see that this painting is truly surrealism.  Its almost as if the painting is a dream within art which challenges the real and the imaginary by in a way fusing them together.  In this way, the painting takes reality and the unconsious into a state which we can view and see surrealism. 

RESPONSE #9

Some art is just art seemingly, you can tell without any further explanation.  Other art must be more closely looked at, and even further, some art is seen as just a norm of society.  For instance, pop art looks at different elements of society like cartoons, ads, etc. which are in fact art, its just that they are so common in society that people really don’t see them as art.  Pop art actually puts these different elements together to show just how artistic these seemingly simple pieces are. 

RESPONSE #8

I have always been a fan of classic art, but when I went to MOMA last year I remember seeing paintings of cubism and I really liked how they were put together.  While there are a number of different reasons why artists use cubism, I see it as different characteristics and elements that are seemingly random coming together to form a unique painting that has balance and somehow becomes an image from randomness. 

RESPONSE #7

Last year I learned a lot about Marxism and I saw the term commodity fetishism in the book. We learned a lot about how people give just simple objects this life power because they think more of them than social life. They see value in only objects and material goods and spend their time and money just trying to buy more and more material possessions to give them a life all their own. It has become a disgusting habit in American society and its done everywhere all the time, especially with celebrities and their houses, cars, and expensive possessions.