acadiau-is-mrcarters-true-love

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This is the full episode from the clip I showed you in class today. (June 4th 2019)

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You’re Welcome…

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Entry #8: Working in New Media

The process of creating a blog for our main assignment associated with New Media is somewhat fitting as new media is bad for our mental health and so was this assignment. (It was just so much and it’s the end of grade 12, no personal offence intended.)  I found the idea quite interesting at first, however Tumblr is confusing and very slow at times which has made using it much more irritating than writing by hand or on word/google docs. However, I feel like working in New Media still can be great, it just depends on what that platform is. 

I found it interesting to explore different topics within Media studies using new media, however the process of finding sources and embedding them, I found to be very frustrating due to the incessant need for the internet to not listen to what I am asking of it. However, I did find having visuals helped get my point across and that this kind of form would be a great too for a lot of English assignments.

Having multiple entries to work on was also hard because it was much more work than an essay. Though there were many disadvantages (mostly stressed based), there were some advantages. Through designing our own blog, I got to create one specifically targeted to you and found this very fun. It also let me show you what I was talking about without having to refer you to a specific thing outside of my own response. This media has shaped the content of my work through images and video links as well as the informal nature of the writing and “pallet cleansers” I have put in. Also, I’m not sure how it has changed the meaning. 

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Entry #7: What do you Meme?

This meme uses a standard base used in many memes, the couple walking down the street, the wandering eyed boyfriend eyeing another girl to the dismay of his girlfriend. In this meme it is replaced with Doug Ford, a promise of his to fund rape centres 4$ million then only funded 1$ million, looking at the “hotter girl” which is 10$ million dollars he has spent on horse racing. It shows how he broke his commitment to the rape centres like the boyfriend is breaking his commitment to his girlfriend.

I believe that the audience of this meme is progressive young students and residents of Ontario. The meme itself was probably made by a young person. It’s audience is ripe for rallying points and this meme and ones like it provide an easily shareable to spread the message of resistance throughout the youth, and future voters of Ontario.

Just for fun. This meme is great too!

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Entry #6: Exploring Genre

a) Superhero Genre:

The Superhero genre generally follows in the lines of a hero, or group of heroes, with tragic backstories and who come together to fight a villain trying to destroy a planet, take over a planet, enslave a planet or galaxy for all of the previous. The hero is usually a white man who is very attractive and if it’s a group it’s usually filled with mostly very attractive white men, maybe one person of colour and one woman. For example The Avengers (first film not comics or sequels) has 6 heroes all white with only 1 woman. The structure of the films varies but only between originals and sequels. In the originals, when the team is created there is some hostility between its members, trying to see who will be the leader. In the sequel, the original team is like a family, and when new people emerge to become members there is also so hostility and a lot of mistrust. The tone some of the team takes towards a new member is probably best described by the term “angsty”.

b) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 subverts the general standard of the genre through its diversity of characters and its use language and awareness of the genre they are in.

The makeup of the team in this film is a bit better than that of the general makeup of a team of heroes. By the end of this film the group has two women among its ranks (I realize it’s sad, two is a win :(. ) The actors are still mainly white but there are a few people of colour in the main cast/team (yay, diversity somewhat), even if in the film they are playing aliens who are green and blue respectively. The blue alien, Drax, is a very buff guy but not the most attractive which is not normal within the genre.

The characters backgrounds in this film do somewhat conform to the stereotypes of the genre but they also challenge them. Rather than all of the heroes coming from their respective hero backgrounds, the characters in this film all come from backgrounds of crime for an authorities sake or for money, and/or loss and revenge.

The language used and the films general awareness of it self and the genre in which it is a part. The characters are constantly making fun of the situations in which they are put, as well as questioning them.

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Entry #5: Digital Media as a Force for Good?

Goal(s): That the children of now and later aren’t put at risk for future illness and weakness as a result of their lack of an immune system.

Target Audience: To advise new, prospective and already parents on the importance of exposing their children to the world- germs.

Platforms: Instagram (it's good for spreading the word, as well as posting facts and small videos), Facebook (good for spreading word of events like information sessions and q&a’s) and a website with all our information and stuff.  

Steps to Achieve Goals:

            a.  Instagram: My audience would, upon visiting the account, get helpful tips, facts (scientific and general parenting) with explanations on how to apply these to their parenting. They would see other parents stories on how they balance a clean environment with acknowledging the importance of letting germs be a part of their children’s lives so that they can grow to be healthy human beings, through things like playing in dirt and sand and not being afraid if they put a little in their mouths, start trying small amounts of peanut butter from a young age (baby). 

Step 1: Access; Step 2: Read/explore; Step 3: Research; Step 4: Understand; Step 5: Apply

           b.  Facebook: Through accessing the Facebook page for the campaign, my audience would have access to post similar to those on the Instagram. On the account I would post links to events (seminars, lectures, workshops) that relate to parenting and science that affects children’s development as well as ted talks, around the country which they would be able to attend to learn more about these concepts and how to apply them in their parenting lives.

           c. Website: The website would be the place to go for our more formal means of getting our message across. People would have access to “Our Story” (How we came to be) “Our Goal”. We would post links to articles throughout the page that back up our campaign goals through science and cultural discussion. Our audience would be able to go onto our site and find information which would educate them, ignite curiosity and show them how exposure is beneficial to the babies health and growth.

    5. Advantages and Limitations:

         a. Instagram:

               i.  Advantages: Through instagram, my platform would be widely available for spreading the word of the campaign through the explore page and people sharing it on their stories. This platform is also great for getting my message too young parents, who most of them are on the social media platform and are more likely to want to sanitize everything.

               ii.  Limitations: The limitations we could face through this platform is due to the sheer amount of content on the site and that it would take long to establish our campaign. As well trying to set clear campaign goals within the photo format. The page could possibly be shut down as Instagram has issues with its decision making on that front.

         b. Facebook:

               i.  Advantages: With Facebook I can plan events and share/promote events through my page. As well as have access to an older demographic of new parents.

               ii.  Limitations: Facebook has been facing loads of scrutiny and this can draw people away from using the service. The page can be shut down if reported and the reasons are deemed valid. I do not believe this would happen however it could. A glitch could also result in the loss of the account.

         c. Website:

                i.  Advantages: It can’t be destroyed easily by a third party. A website can house loads of information on the campaign, from where it started to its plans and why you should participate. It’s accessible to anyone, there's no need for an account on a certain social media platform to be able to see our message. Our audience would be able to sign up for our weekly newsletter, which would inform them of a fun science and parenting related facts with links attached to other sites and articles as well as a list of upcoming events if their are any near that time.

                ii. Limitations: People would only find it (in most cases) through the other two platforms, which could (worst case) render its existence benign.

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Entry #4: Internet Regualtion

After reading the article from The New York Times, I believe that Canada should try to introduce federal laws to attempt at regulating the internet. However, I worry they won’t do anything and I worry that they could be made poorly, they could be to vague, perhaps even to strict and that these will either cause nothing to change or give to much power and control to the government. I believe that the internet is indeed something that should be free, like a society, however some rules and regulations to keep the peace and try to prevent the promotion of violence, discrimination and disturbing things are necessary, and so is accountability.

Accountability is hard however when discussing the internet because of its general anonymity, and the major companies that run within it, who host most of the horrible content and hide behind lawyers and unhelpful rules and regulations of their own. When discussing the issue of accountability there is always dispute as to whom should be held accountable between the individual who posted whatever harmful thing they did and the platforms which hosted their content. Of course you can’t solely blame the platform, they try their best to monitor their sites, there’s just so much being posted they just simply can’t take down all the harmful content quickly or at all. Along the same line, you can’t solely blame the person who posted said harmful content for its effects because the platform let it stay, whether it be to lack of staff, unlikely for these large companies, or for lack of proper detection software. When trying to hold a single person accountable for their online activity the issue of privacy arises. How does one who is anonymous get held accountable without hacking into their privacy to discover who they truly are? And where do we draw the line? Doing this for someone promoting terrorism and acts of violence makes sense, but what about election interference and companies or the country gathering data secretly on its citizens “just in case”? This now becomes not only an issue of the ethical standing of the “accused” but of the persecutors as well.

There is also the issue of free speech, the regulation of the internet (if possible) could be extremely harmful to free speech if too vague or strict. Some say that having regulations reflecting a country’s own free speech laws would be the reasonable solution, however it is very naive. The internet does not fall within our made up borders, no matter where you are when you post something, anyone around the world can see it. By the standard of following the rules of the country, someone could post something in, say, Canada that abides by its laws however in the US it does not, the US can’t hold that citizen accountable for the content they posted, even though it’s also in the US because it was posted in Canada, and Canada won’t hold them accountable for the US because it conformed to Canadian law.

Trying to accomplish what is wanted with the regulation of the internet seems almost impossible now, especially when trying to do it country by country. I believe the United Nations should take a look at this so that we can have an agreed upon regulatory system around the world, not controlled by sole governments, but by the collection of them under the impartial and watchful eye of the UN.

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Entry #3: Analyzing Media Representations

a) Deodorant/Antiperspirant is a product that closes up our sweat glands a bit, keeps us from smelling like body odor all the time. But as our society loves adding flare and trying to control our body image, advertisements for this product gives out interesting and sexist messages about specifically women's bodies. For men’s advertisements women are mostly used as sex objects. In the ad for a lynx antiperspirant the tool the company used to show that the product worked was a nearly naked woman bending over to take out a turkey from an old fashion oven, with the line “Can she make you lose control?” I don’t believe an ad could be more sexist than this. The line refers to sweating of course, but the underlying meaning, which is quite obvious actually, is “will this make you lose your self control? Will you try to have sex with her right there?”, which of course has nothing to do with an antiperspirant. The image of a nearly naked woman in a 50s (?) kitchen implies both that women “should stay in the kitchen” and that we are only sex objects. When all of these elements are combined you get this hyper masculine ideology when it comes to sweating and women and control, “men always have control, don’t give up your control”.

When it comes to advertising women’s deodorant, you generally see beautiful women with perfectly waxed armpits that look like they’ve just been created. It’s very one sided when it comes to representation. You never really see “real women” in these ads (its changing now) you see the “ideal woman”, it’s almost like these ads are also being targeted to men. These ads push forward the image of the “ideal woman” to young girls and women in general. In the ad from Nivea below, the ad shows again a beautiful thin women with “perfect” armpits, and she says that this deodorant helps her escape the “issues” of having dark and saggy underarms, calling those “embarrassing”. Not only is that a terrible message to send to women, the name of the deodorant is “Nivea Extra White & Firm Q10”. “Extra White”, this product sounds a bit like its promoting skin whitening, which is a sad and toxic ideal to push on especially women and girls of colour. The hashtag for the product #fairerandfirmer highlights this.

b) The ad below is for a women’s deodorant. I believe this to be a very positive advertisement which challenges the norm. It does so not only because of its portrayal of a real woman but of the language used. Advertisements like these are becoming more prominent with the changing times and I think that they will continue to do so. The ad below features a young-middle aged woman holding a baby, this image is already challenging the norm of advertisements filled with unrealistic expectations. The language used in this ad is empowering and strong “I’m the boss of me.” “Women are strong(...)Thought women were strong before? Watch out.” rather than making women conform to societal standards its placing the power in women’s hands and real everyday women at that!

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Entry #2: Assessing McLuhan

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7. “All media exist to invent our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.”

I feel that McLuhan’s statement about media reflects the way social media is used by, and has changed our society. McLuhan has predicted how we will have an “online life” that we have created ourselves to show the online world. These portrayals of our lives may be completely different to the lives we live in the real world, or they may be very similar with some things added or others left out, we have the power to reinvent ourselves and the lives we pretend to lead. Instagram plays a large part in this, the images we choose to post tell the story we want it to, there are people who travel and document it on Instagram to hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers. However amazing their lives seem to be we are only seeing what they want to show us and as it turns out a lot of their lives aren’t as picture perfect as we think. YouTube is another place where we can find examples of this, all these good looking young people from around the world showing off their wealth or their privilege, putting others down. I think that this form of reinvention can be good but can also be very toxic. On the positive side, if someone has a past they wish to block out for fear of judgement or hate but they’ve moved past it and/or recovered from whatever it may have been that shouldn’t hold them back from making connections with people or sharing their content. However, on the toxic side people can invent “lives” to put themselves above others and this can be very damaging for youths who are looking for people to look up to. Also, people could invent a persona, keeping themselves anonymous and use that platform to rally hatred and try and pit people against one another.

When McLuhan speaks of artificial perceptions and arbitrary values I can’t help thinking about Instagram Models. Most Instagram models are young women who are always wearing loads of makeup and will almost always use Face tune, which is an app that lets you edit your photos to give you a more “desirable” look. They are also using filters which can give skin the look of being clearer, brighter and fairy like (perfect beauty). This practice is very harmful, not only because that means that they aren’t comfortable putting images of themselves as they naturally are on their platforms for either fear of judgement or because they feel they aren’t good enough the way they are. It’s also very harmful because the majority of their followers are young early to late teenagers who are already struggling with their identity and body image issues, and to have these “perfect women” paraded in front of them on their Instagram feeds every single day just makes these body image issues worsen. These girls who follow them will not only develop self-esteem problems but many, as a result will develop eating disorders and all of these things combined can lead her into a state of depression and self harm.