The Broadcasting act of 1932 was popularized by Prime Minister R.B Bennet. Adding on to the already existing radio broadcasting system the broadcasting act was really an expansion. Radio itself already has a very strong case to be made about cultivating a collective viewpoint. With the broadcasting act it was now easier for Canadian news to be at the forefront of all media. National media was incredibly implausible in the early stages for fostering the Canadian identity to the ever growing geographically dispersed, multicultural, and politically diverse population. The ability to easily spread ideas through the country helped to construct a “Canadian”  identity.

The connotative meaning is where the ad gets interesting. The alternative meaning for rival is enemy in the popular saying "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer". The ad is playing off of that phrase by advising us to use our Rival guns to battle our enemies. The boys are also facing back to back showing that they further help to make a point they are enemies. Additionally, the tone of this ad is very dark, with the boys shown in shadows. The ad makes me think that Nerf guns are for intense battling with friends or foes. 

I have this friend Alana who absolutely hated the Five Nights at Freddy’s games if you know what those are. Basically she used to play them but then would get jump scared so bad that she used to not even talk about them without getting jumpy, sounds like she was just really bad at the game if you ask me. She is better now this was a few years ago. Nonetheless, we went to Chuck E Cheese together with a few friends and the whole time she was not having fun and kept telling us it reminded her of this game. This is an example of “mean world syndrome” which is basically where an individual thinks the world is a more threatening place than it actually is. It links to cultivation theory as she has created a world that in her eyes is dangerous and scary when in reality we were in a Chuck E Cheese on a friday afternoon and there was no real risk to her or anyone. 

The concept of Brand Nirvana was brought up in the film. This concept is essentially the idea that we must eliminate all competition. This was present in the Disneyland neighborhood that was shown. Because Disney ran the neighborhood and was the only brand advertising to consumers it was an example of Brand Nirvana. Disney had the opportunity to eliminate all other competition within their neighborhood as it was a confined space that they had complete control over. The citizens in the area were being consumed by the disney brand with really no other options of an alternative one around. 

I think that overall brand culture has not really changed over the years. There is a big emphasis on brands rather than the products itself and I believe this still rings true today. Today brands want to make an impression more than anything. For example, Apple vs Android. The products are essentially the same thing, they sell phones. However, whether Apple excels is its brand. They have a dedicated fan base because their brand is strong. When a new iphone drops everyone knows about it, on the flip side I can't tell you last time Android had a new phone launch. 

A panoptic society is essentially the theory that people can be controlled when they believe they are under constant surveillance even if no one is watching. I believe that for some people this theory rings true. People who constantly use public wifi may be subject to more surveillance than others. For me I don't believe that I am constantly being surveyed every second of every day and even if I am I don’t let it control or change my daily activities. For everyone else I believe some may feel like we live in a panoptic society as they may feel subjected to constant surveillance. 

Many policies have shaped Canada's media landscape, the most obvious and apparent one to me being the Aird commission Royal commission which led to the 1932 broadcasting act. Essentially to simplify, certain radio airwaves fill channels with advertisements or religious information, but there was uneven service distributed across the region. Its goals were to make recommendations and provide advice for a federal broadcasting policy. The recommendations provided were to make Canadian programs, and to create a national broadcasting commission across all of Canada. The radio would also work to support national unity.  

I found that the content wasn't necessarily challenging but rather it was informative. I especially enjoyed learning about the Frankfurt school and their theories / remarks about communication studies. I also enjoy history and thoroughly enjoyed how technology was able to cultivate the Canadian identity and the elements that went into that. If I had to pick one element that was challenging I would say encoding and decoding just because I felt it was boring. To me this concept is very obvious and therefore boring as I didn't learn anything new besides finally giving this observation a name. 

The course has impacted my approach to communication and media in a number of ways. Academically the way I look at and choose sources is different then before because I make sure they are peer reviewed. Before this course I had no idea what a peer reviewed source is and treated them like any other. Now I know that they have been looked over by other specialists in that area. In my personal life this course has impacted the way I look at news. I am now more aware of why certain news is being directed to me whether that be impact, location or other means. It's made me more aware of how I come across certain stories. 

I did NOT plagiarize.

I don't know we were supposed to cite the book until after I was done with my entries so I didn't pull quotes. I got all of my information from the Textbook so I've cited it anyway.

Gasher, Mike, et al. Media & Communication in Canada: Networks, Culture, Technology, Audiences. Oxford University Press, 2020.