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Communication as a whole is an essential part of our lives. We use communication every day with our family and our friends, thus it is important to learn how it is used. In COMS 371I hope to learn the proper skills in order to  evaluate and understand media that society faces every single day. This course interested me because of the content that we will analyze. Not only is it just history and the evolution of how things are today but also what's present that affects each and every one of us. All of the topics that we cover this semester are incredibly important and not one should be left unnoticed but I think that the critical race theory will be most interesting to me. Coming from a Chinese house hold it will be very interesting to see what impacts people face for being a minority or a person of colour.

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Throughout The Knot Enstrom tries to argue that media representations of marriage likewise of The Knot are taken as hegemony. The Knot portrays an abundance of known stereotypes and makes very strict use of them. They really push the ideas of the certain wedding style that must be done while pushing the others to the side and trying to make those undesirable. Using political economy, The Knot uses their status and branding to reinforce patriarchal ideas. While they use hegemony within their own branches such as use of media, the web, a store, etc.. also known as a go-to spot for all things bridal, which makes them and their ideologies have greater influence over other smaller media companies.

When I read this article it was very clear that it was taking apart why the Knot is so powerful within it's audience. By using multiple media platforms and giving the idea of why things are better than others is something we see every day. Some of the biggest companies such as Google, Amazon, and Apple all use the same strategies. By using hundreds of their own companies and its' media platforms they are able to market to consumers on which and why they are better and why their competitor may be worse. Before reading this article I never would have thought such a thing but now it is evident that companies can create such an illusion that you do not notice what you are getting yourself into.

Engstrom, E. (2008, January 28). Unraveling The Knot. Retrieved September 25, 28, from https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/doi/pdf/10.1177/0196859907306833

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Media has revolutionized the world we live in. From one side of the globe to the other, media consumes the lives of almost every single individual. In Ross' article he speaks on Adorno and his views on mass culture. Where that eventually media consumption will be the greatest power for American democracy. The main argument that Ross makes is how Trump has used media and mass culture to distract or hypnotize the public to believing he is the one to run the country. Some modern examples include outrageous and non-realistic laws that he tweets about and talking about the wall between  boarders. These are all things that put all eyes on him because they are interesting and appealing to the eyes of the media. He also uses these tactics to benefit when he is trying to convey the viewer a certain way and it allows to distract the audience from what is actually happening.

When Ross writes, 'Of the clouds and shadows that hung over Clinton in the press, the darkest, perhaps, was the prospect of boredom," He talks about even though there may have been rumors or bad media on Clinton, she was not as interesting as Trump. Trump made every media representation of himself interesting and enjoying to watch. And in Ross' article he talks about just that. He says that people prioritize consuming mass culture over all else because it's more interesting than looking at other issues that they believe in.

Ross' article is very familiar to the Frankfurt School. The concepts are quite similar where there is the "mass distraction and elite domination". Similar to what Adorno had predicted would happen eventually. There is the commonality of power due to media and distraction that has evidently worked with Trump's campaign. Mixing his superpower of media celebrity and multibillion-dollar net worth he has become a fight in full force because it is those traits that one finds interesting and appealing.

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For everyone in what we call the modern age/era of the 21st century, media is what consumes our lives whether we like it or not. You turn one way and you see a billboard filled with a plethora of ads, and you turn the other way you see everyone sitting on benches looking down at their phones. Media has consumed our lives and has given us an outlet to seek information or to aid us in voicing our opinions. The one component of cultural studies is how powerful it is. Because of cultural studies, we are able find an identity for ourselves, do the things we love and it aids us in connecting with one another. Media surrounds us and this is why it is part of our every day life. It is clear how powerful media is by looking at the political activism of K-Pop fans. If there was no media, how could they connect with another? How could they create such a large following without media? And make such a large impact so fast? It's most likely that they wouldn't be able to. Media is so powerful that with a single text message, such a message can be sent from one side of the earth to the other in a matter of milliseconds.

As a sports enthusiast, Colin Kaepernick is one who surrounds sports activism and more specifically the NFL which is the highest level of football that can be played in the world.  Kaepernick is known for sitting and kneeling during the national anthem which is despised by most if not all teams and the league itself. For what has been an issue for many decades, media has brought the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to light. Media surrounded Kaepernick kneeling which led to other athletes following in his footsteps. And because these actions weren't supported by the league there was a lot backlash towards the league on twitter and media campaigns done by Nike which were super powerful to future sports and BLM as a whole. Since 2017, Kaepernick has struggled finding a team to take him in because of what he had done but he still remains an encouragement to many to fight injustices by sitting or kneeling during the national anthem or by protesting and boycotting the NFL. Although media can be frowned upon by many for taking away family time or enjoying the outdoors, it has also brought us all together to push for change concerning real life problems.

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Tyler Herro, a new addition to the Miami Heat, is becoming one of the best in the NBA. Putting up a large number of points and leading his team to victory they have reached the NBA finals. Game after game, Herro does not go down without a fight. One image that has gone viral is the snarl as attached to this padlet. During an amazing performance Herro pulled out an unusual face that has never been seen in the league.

One viewer may see this photo and think that it is simply just a basketball player making a funny face or is just in action(Sign). But when we dive deeper there is so much more to the photo. The snarl and player are the two main items in this photo (signifier). And when we see a snarl on Herro's face, we know he is putting up a fight and is fearless as he is playing. It means that he won't back down and will keep on going until he wins (Signified). This is the three levels of semiotics that we see in this photo. Of course only the individual truly knows why he is doing something of that nature but based off of what we know of Herro and a Snarl is what we use to analyze these pieces of media.

Citation:
Joseph, A. (2020, October 05). Even Tyler Herro didn't have an explanation for his snarl: 'I've never made that face before'. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/10/tyler-herro-snarl-face-reaction-heat-lakers-nba-finals

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Reality TV is definitely something that people watch and live through. Whether it is binging or waiting for an episode every week, it impacts the lives of many. Ouellette and Hay talk about how reality tv shows are a way we face governmentality. It isn't necessarily do this and do that, but it is the things they do and say that create governmentality.  Take in for example Caillou, a show made for kids that allows them to connect and learn different skills and life lessons. When these kids watch these episodes every week when they come home from school, they immediately turn Caillou on to see the next thing he's going to do. This creates an image in the kids mind of "Oh maybe I can do the same things" or "Oh I'm supposed to do things this way otherwise it isn't cool". This is very similar to a reality tv show where they create a "life" that people want to live and is enticing to the viewer. It's fun, free, yet it also has life problems that we can relate to. It creates a false positive to how life is really supposed to be. The viewer believes things should be that way because the tv show is so similar. However, the tv show is not actually like real life and instead it's a fake reality that people believe is legitimate.

Another example is social media. Social media is filled with governmentality, there are policies that govern the use of platforms and there a restrictions to what you can and can not post. As much as this may not affect an individual it may for another. Social media is supposed to be a place for people to express their views, tweet what's on the top of their mind. However, because there are these restrictions in place and because social media can affect work, social life, and health, one may feel as if they're unable to use social media with it's actual purpose.

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The most important concepts in these two readings is the gender inequality in all walks of life and the idea of never giving up. Feminism is something that has started a while back and is still a problem today. This is because the gap of equality between the two genders is so much larger than it should be when there should be no gap at all. Yet through constant forces we still face these problems today. Especially with the LGBTQ community and people of colour receiving greater awareness it is also important to fight these changes with them.

Harvey's readings talk about how gender representations are unfair and marginalize certain individuals. He expresses that "It may seem that representational practices have shifted recently, with more visible roles for women in blockbuster films, big-budget television series..."(Harvey 2019). However, this my be a case that many believe but he also says that "females characters speak only 27 per cent of the words in the films under review" (Harvey 2019). This means that there is significantly more male dominated movies than there are female. Throughout this article we also see various ways females and other individuals get marginalized and misrepresented which are ongoing issues that must be fixed.

Looking at Banet Weiser's article it is clear that she really expressed the act of never giving up and that females are strong and powerful bodies and when together- can be a force to recon. She states at the end of her blog that "this means challenging the normalization, and the sheet popularity, of popular misogyny, and not shrugging it off as an inevitable expression of boys being boys" (Banet-Weiser 2015). It is quiet clear that she is really pushing for females to keep fighting for change and not just brushing it off.

These help us understand the representation of gender in media because it shows that there is evident gender inequalities where most films or tv shows are male dominant and that women have to keep fighting for change and not let the boys take a hit.

Banet-Weiser, Sarah. “Popular Misogyny: a Zeitgeist,” January 21, 2015. https://culturedigitally.org/2015/01/popular-misogyny-a-zeitgeist/.

Harvey, Alison. 2019. “Representing Gender”. In Feminist Media Studies. Oxford: Polity Press

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Watching the Disclosure was definitely an eye opener to the film industry and the acting industry as a whole. You will rarely see media talking about the stuff you see in this documentary and it gets swept under the bus. I learnt a lot about how the industry treats transgender people and what they may call "other" bodies. It has also come to my attention that the media asks inappropriate questions- something I have never heard about before.

The most compelling thing to me in this documentary was how people would say that the more representation and even positive representation can put their community in danger. Who would have thought that would be the case? While watching this documentary it made me angry when I heard the stories of people not feeling like they were being treated as humans. This should never be how people feel especially when they are trying to find their own identities.

Throughout the documentary we saw the negatives of being transgender however we see that the community never gave up. They are able to get the good publicity that no one expected and directors are now looking for these specific actors and actresses. However, despite still being treated as an “othered” body the progress of positivity for transgender people seems to be growing every day. People are becoming more accepting however with inequalities still happening within the industry there are times where directors make them seem different or that they don't belong in this world.

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Famous bell hooks - a black feminist scholar and social activist has creating the phrasing of "eating the other". She expresses that this idea of eating the other in consumer culture must be address. (Keller 2020).  Hooks main argument in this chapter is that there is something known as cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is like taking something from one culture and adopting it for themselves which leaves the other with nothing. According to bell hooks it is not just one person but the entirety of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. And she quotes this by saying "within commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture." (Hooks 1992). Essentially what she does here is create imagery to the situation. The idea that white supremacy will take these minorities, or some may call them others, and strip them from their beliefs and culture to then make them seem lesser to the society.

The spice quote quoted above is the quote that stood out to me the most. Being a person of culture and colour who uses different spices when cooking at home allowed me to completely understand the context of the message. I do also think this quote is extremely important because it can resonate and allow so many people to understand what bell hooks tries to convey. There is also semiotics connected to this as with spices you usually pinch them and sprinkle them onto your food. Spices are also very small and you can grab a lot in your hand at one time. Which can mean that within this white supremacist view, they believe they can pinch the minority all at once.

hooks, b. (1992) “Eating the other: Desire and resistance.” In Black Looks: Race and Representation. pp. 21–39. Boston: South End Press

Keller, Jessalynn. "Critical Race Theory & Media Studies." Coms 371. University of Calgary. 2020. Lecture Slides.

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After this weeks readings and listening to the podcast I do believe that there are more opportunities than limitations. Some opportunities would include being able to create social movements, use hashtags to take over the internet, and speak your voice. There are so many ways to reach specific audiences online whether it is through social media, search engines, and other apps. However, there are platforms that try to prevent political messages and free speech. And with some trying to fact check non political bodies. For some companies it was very risky. Both service and retail, they had to choose how to act and what is right or wrong for the company while  not ruining brands image. In terms of Black Lives Matter Activism I believe that having online available to us aided us in creating such a large social movement.

My biggest takeaway from this week's content is that the world is so political and they worry way too much about what is put out online than the real social problems like those of Black Lives Matter. The fact that most of these social media platforms were created so that you can voice your opinion- clearly these platforms can turn that off at any time they desire.

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This semester was very fun! Probably one of the most content filled classes that I have taken. Being able to explore different cases and being able to analyze various media texts made it very interesting.  The most compelling thing I had learnt was overall the way our society is set up. There is no love all and have peace, rather it is just everyone stepping on top of one another. I found it compelling because I always wonder when the time will come where we all love each other and have peace with one another.

Almost all of the content challenged what I thought about media culture. There were things like bell hook and disclosure that were eye openers in terms of how media treats people and how people think of others. There are a lot more things that need to be addressed that never get shown in mainstream media.

Before coming into this class I mainly looked at the surface level of most articles and issues. But after analyzing and looking further into certain issues I must say that I am missing a lot. From now on for articles that talk about real world issues I will read them with an analytical view and try to find the meaning behind certain actions.