The Media’s Craze - Women in the media

Sad, but completely true. In today’s world, women have become the main focus of the media. Everything, from our body types, breast sizes, hair color, weight, and even the number of wrinkles we have are taken into the media and used as an advertising campaign. Young girls look at supermodels and Hollywood stars to see how they should look. It extends to everyone, even men, though women get the more subjective of the attention. Men are shown as powerful figures, and after a certain age it is ok to “let yourself go”. Women however are warned of the fact, and kept constantly on our toes for what the new “ideal” body should look like.
Watching “Killing us Softly” was an affirming experience. I cannot say that the experience was eye-opening in any sense; any woman or girl who watches television or looks at a magazine sees the types of adds portrayed in the lecture. So what I mean by affirming is this: it is refreshing that someone is taking a stand and revealing to a mass audience what these types of advertisements can do to women.

The lecture was very well presented. The woman giving the lecture knew her material and presented in such a way that she did not seem to be preaching to her listeners. Instead, she appeared to be sharing her thoughts and exposing those listening to a message very worth hearing. It helped the message a lot to have a woman presenting, a woman who does NOT meet the perfect criteria for women, who had wrinkles and blemishes, and is not stick-figure skinny. Her well-groomed appearance and knowledgeable disposition countered that of the image she was presenting, making it all the more real. If a supermodel were giving the message, most of the listeners would have probably thought it conceded and self-serving.

Using videos and pictures really helped to get the message of women in the media across. The speaker used many images, each more shocking than the last, to engage her listeners and make them feel more involved in her presentation. The videos were well integrated, fit the subject matter, and hit points home instead of misdirecting them. For example, the images of the women with “flawless” skin helped show the point that no one used as models ever have anything but perfect skin and bodies. And the emphasis of breasts in today’s culture as well. Her image on the bra being held up by fishing line, or the Trojan condom in the bra cup help show what images do. They sexualize everything, making two things that would be normally unconnected - fishing line and sex- natural and connected. So when a fisher sees fishing line, he or she will think sex, and then think of the add.

The author uses clear messages, short sentences, and easy imagery to stay on the level of her viewers. She does not use large words with complex meanings so as to sound intelligent. Instead, she uses her message for that. The presentation is very straight forward, using various signposts to go from one thought to another. It does not crowd the viewer’s senses with too much information at once, but takes on more of a conversational tone to get the severity of the message across.

In my opinion, the most memorable part of the presentation was towards the end. When the speaker shows the image of the lone figure, sitting upon the floor in a black dress with the words “the more you subtract the more you add.” In a society where millions struggle with weight and body issues that kind of advertising has no place. But the sad thing is, everyone will accept it, because that is what is being portrayed. I have struggled with weight and my image of myself, any woman or girl has, and its horrible that the same image is projected, time after time. It is the embodiment of society expects, and though there are people fighting it, most sub come to the pressure to “fit in.” This presentation is a step, but it will take a lot more to change everyone’s views on how women should look or fit into society’s structures.

Overall, this lecture was effective. The speaker gave clear examples, step by step analysis of the media and how it uses women and sexual ideas to sell products, and supplemented every idea with interesting and engaging visuals. The presentation was short, about six and a half minutes, so viewers did not get bored by the subject matter. Instead, they stayed engaged, were lightened by the speakers good humor and use of visuals, and managed to come away with more understanding of the media. I enjoyed the message and how it was presented; I believe that others probably did too.

The Internet VS Printed Media

There are all forms of ways to present an idea or topic to the public. And, depending on your message, there may be a form that works considerably better than all of the others. One website that I tend to frequent, or at least did in the recent past is thus: http://www.eliteskills.com/. This website does not really present a set argument or view, but rather it is a collection of views from people of all ages from all over the world. It is a place where people can come and share their poetry or stories, and then receive critiques back from other users. I started my own site after I had one of my poems published from a poetry contest; my English teacher at the time told me about it, and said that joining the site was a good way to improve my writing. It has all types of poetry and stories: teen angst, love poems, poems concerning the topic of death and destruction, and even a few stories people post, chapter to chapter.

A website is the best way overall to present this material due to the sheer amount of it. It allows ease as a user goes through the site, letting him or her pick where each wants to go and not forcing them to read through a variety of information before getting to a desired topic. The digital format also allows for more creativity than would printed or oral media. Here, a person can display his or her story, poem, or thought in any form and is at the complete freedom to change the format as often as wanted. In a printed media however, this would require several copies and could become costly. Same for oral media; although the author can change the context and structure of the words, there would not be a way to SEE the format as a visual.

On a Web site, there are endless topics to cover. One can add as many links, as much information as wanted. Its timeless as well. No matter how much time goes by, the Web site can be updated, changed, or completely renovated. Printed and oral/ multimedia presentations do not allow that, at least not with as much ease as a Web version. Also, a lot of information could be covered in a relatively short space. The World Wide Web is limitless. One page can have hundreds of links that would take you anywhere anyone would want to go, and it travels with the ease of internet access. As long as you have a laptop computer, you can have everything at your fingertips. Printed media would require a vast library for that - not so easy to carry around. As for oral media…can you imagine having all that information in your head? And how reliable would all that information be?

For this web site, a “translation” into printed or oral format would be almost impossible. To do such would completely undermine the freedom of it, the ability to change and revise as comments come along and as ideas change. Commenting on another’s work would also be much more difficult. The closest thing to a translation, for the live oral media anyway, would be a coffeehouse setting, where people can go to read aloud the poems or stories they have created. The upside would be that those “listening” could hear the syntax and word definition used by the author as he or she read, which is not possible over the Web. But overall, it would take far to long to convert ever poem into a readable subject. Print media would be even more difficult due to the sheer majority of the things posted onto the internet site. However, if one were to try, he or she would need to print everything off and start by organizing each post into set categories. Then decide on how to present the information. The best way in my opinion would be to make it into a sort of weekly or monthly newspaper that posted several pages of poems for each issue. This however would be very costly, and production time would outweigh the benefits of sharing a poem or story.

In my opinion, the site is best left as is. Too much would be lost in switching the Web design to a print or live oral format. It would be costly to maintain a printed newspaper or to find a suitable club for people to share poetry. Also, the fluidity of the site, one of its best aspects, would be lost. People could no longer just click a link to be brought to a poem. Instead he or she would have to read or listen through several. Same for the world-wide access it has now. It would be very hard indeed to create that through any other media. The only asset I see is the ability to better understand the author’s portal of words. Hearing someone speak is always better than reading it. The emphasis can easily be misplaced there. Overall, the Web design is the best bet.

Many people are intimidated by the Internet and the possibilities is can offer. I can understand that because, for a while, I was one of them. There is a lot of information out there and for people who do not understand technology, it is scary. But what many have to realize is thus: technology is growing. It is becoming the basis of everything in today’s world. And the older versions of newsprint or oral tradition are going out of style. There is just too much information to hold. Such things will never completely die, but they will grow more scarce as our world grows. There will always be subjects that work best for each style of format. And this site is a perfect example of one best suited for the web.

P.S. If anyone is interested in my site,: This is the link. My posts are not all that good, but I don’t care about that. To me, it is a place to express yourself and to get out much needed feeling.

Visiting The Sandbox

It never ceases to amaze me what people will come up with to make the time they have more enjoyable. The first week of class we had the assignment to explore the Military Blog site and comment on what was seen. This week, we have the same assignment and I have to say, I enjoyed it. It was not as shocking, coming back to the site after already knowing the emotional posts that some of the men and women in our military have sent. This also may have to do with the fact that all of the posts I read were really funny, except one. Hence the first sentence…when left to their own devices, humans will always find a way to laugh and turn an experience into a game.

“The Golden Rules of Care Packages”
This post was very amusing, and even came with a warning label. The author stated upright that his post was going to be a stab at humor, whether everyone got it or not. The warning was well-noted. The author went on to give a list of the things to, and not to, send in a care package for our soldiers overseas. He gave it is such a funny, humors manner that I did not take too much offence, but can easily see where others can. He was rather rude in his attempt, but I believe he just wanted to make a shocking tribute to the rather interesting things that people have sent in care packages. The confusion goes both ways. People who send care packages just want to help, to feel good to help because they cannot or do not want to face the horrors of war. But often such individuals do not know what to send, and resort to the generic brands of household items and puzzle games(the author had a unique view on this…he would rather have the name brands than generics and encourages those who send generics to save their money for “a real house”). What the soldiers may not realize is those are the exact things people who put care packages together are TOLD to pack. My church sends out care packages regularly, and in letters were told to send generic household items and puzzles to help with boredom. it’s a never-ending continuum everyone needs to realize.

“Instant Vacation”
I have to say this Blog post was one of the best ones I have read so far. It spoke of all the jokes and things many of the soldiers resort to when faced with a boring or hard day. I can honestly see every one of these pranks being pulled: the fake cigarettes placed in various places and offered to other people that blew up when you lit them, the cornbread challenge where people were betting against several men trying to eat a certain amount of chow hall cornbread in set minutes, and the joke maze online where the Exorcist pops out at you. This post got me to laugh out loud at the author’s antics and the way the mood of the entire camp was lightened due to some lighthearted poking fun. Like I said before, it is amazing what a person will come up with in order to have some fun. (link is the title if you would like to read it)

“New and Old Thoughts”
This post was the sad one. It talks of a man and how much he as been changed by what he has seen and had to deal with. One quote from his writing that touched me beyond belief was when he spoke of his thoughts and how he must “sweep them into that black hole inside me where I send memories to be buried for a while.” It is so hard to imagine the things these men and women go through. No one can ever truly see into their lives and views, so no one will ever completely be able to understand why they think or act the way they do. It is incredibly sad that this man had to deal with friends who’s wives left them because they could not put up with a military husband, broken dreams and forgotten promises. He is remorseful and wants the world to change, but does not see much hope. I wish there was a way to give it to him. But hope is of the heart, and he is close to it, he just needs understanding and compassion.

Sosnoski Response

The Sonoski reading for our very first blog post was a challenge. I honestly did not get very much from it because I did not understand it. Web scripting, hyper-reading, and stuff like that is a mystery to me, and because I did not truly understand the basic overview, I had trouble trying to distinguish the deeper meanings, though I will attempt to explain what I saw. The “design” concept threw me for a loop.

First of all, the overall structure of this essay was well done. The author formatted his ideas with a use of support from several colleges and went in depth with details on each subject. He stayed to a set structure, going from one topic to another in an understandable series. The introduction to the essay set the stage for what was going to be discussed, and in that thesis the author did not deviate too much. I do believe the essay was a little wordy, as in the author was not precise with words. He elaborated and went off into separate anecdotes often, which made my mind wander and made his main point harder to understand. Though he often warned the reader before going into the anecdotes, they were still hard to understand and it took awhile to get back into the flow of writing. But as is usually the case with distinguished authors, wordiness is accepted. In my opinion, it made it a lot harder to understand.

I did like the part of the essay where the author went into detail about the problems of hyper-reading like filtering, skimming, imposing, filming, fragmenting, and others. I see this problem in many areas as a college student. Many students “skim” textbooks and take the easy way out of reading by watching a movie or reading cliff notes. Like the author of this text, I find this completely criminal. I love reading and cannot stand to just skim over a text, even if it is a boring textbook. And, personally, a movie can NEVER do justice to reading a book. All of the topics the author covered have relevance to both reading online and reading in the hardcopy book form. In my opinion, books will never go out of date, even if many chose to read online in today’s world.

Although this article was very hard to understand, I did come away with some good advice about structuring an essay, how to organize in a set list of ideas and explain them with examples, and I learned how to introduce separate anecdotes. I hope at a later date I will be able to better distinguish messages within text and learn how to structure my essays to the best of my ability.

Views of the Military

I have never before thought about what the soldiers of our military go through on a daily basis. It is one of those things that I just, put out of mind. I know there are soldiers in Iraq, men and women who give their lives for our freedoms and to help others in the world, but I do not think about it. It is not part of my daily life. I do have friends, very close friends, who have married military men and have to face the realities of war on a daily basis. My uncle just got back from a deployment in Iraq as well. But as I said, nothing seemed to tough me personally about the war and the sacrifices people make toward it.

I am glad that we had to read these posts from people who are in the military. Truth be told, I was all set to kind of skim these sites, comment a one or two word response to a few of them, then write a response that was just general, or generic. But I could not do that. I read the posts and felt a connection with some of these men. They opened themselves up, not caring what people would say. And it really touched me what these people had to say. So much has happened that I can never understand. But I want to, and I believe that makes all the difference. Reading these thoughts showed me more respect for those who fight for us. They chose the hard life they live, and if they do not do it, who will? It takes an extraordinary person to go through the trials of war, and then to share those experiences so openly on the web. And the best thing about this is that the men and women do not want credit. They just want to share their thoughts.

The post that touched me the most was one by a man with the name Citizen Soldier Sojack. He wrote about his experiences in the war zone. Though he was not physically wounded, this man was wounded mentally, and has changed dramatically because of it. His post talks about his feelings, how he wishes that he was the same man, but cannot possibly go back to how he was. War changes people, and his post explains that in a way I had never imagined. He even goes on to talk about the veterans of previous wars, and how they are treated today. It is a realistic fear of the soldiers today that in twenty years, they will be in the place of today’s Veterans. It is incredibly sad that those people who the soldiers have put their lives on the line for, will not be more understanding and help support those who come back from war mentally wounded.

Overall, this military blog site was an eye opener. It is a great way to get a feeling for what soldiers go through in their lives. If you want to view the overall site, here is it’s web listing: http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/ . And if you want to check out the site that I spoke about, here is the site: http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/2008/01/the-realities-.html?cid=97915954#comment-97915954.

The Dangerous World Online

Personally, I never got into all the Facebook or Myspace raves that all of my friends did. I could never see what the sites were all about, and my computer skills were limited at best, so why challenge them? My brother had both a Myspace and a Facebook, as did most of my friends and all of them wanted me to get one too. But I did not want to “jump on the bandwagon” so to say. I was content with talking over the phone or in person, at least a few years ago I was.

If you saw me now, however, you would see that I have both a Myspace and a Facebook, and that I update the Myspace quite frequently. Though reluctantly, I started a Myspace page a few months ago to stay in touch with friends and family while in college. And I believe it is a great way to keep in touch. I can talk to my cousins who live in Texas, write a message to my Aunt in Pawpaw, and talk to my brother who recently moved to Arizona in just a few seconds.

To tell the truth, due to my technology failings, I have not been as careful as I should have been in starting the online Blogging that has become so popular. Reading these two articles opened my eyes a little bit. I am not naïve enough to say I did not know people would post their home addresses or phone numbers, but I did not realize the depth and detail that some people will put into their Myspace profiles. Young kids posting about drinking and sexual activities just to make themselves look “cooler” and more popular. The Blogging on the web has basically become another type of popularity click; if your site does not look cool and attractive, then no one will add you as a friend. A sad statement to make about something that was designed for people to keep in touch, and as a way to express oneself.

Then there are the dangers of the sexual predators online. Too many people view this as a joke and do not take the warnings of adults seriously. But as the articles stated, many kids are subject to the perverts online who take a profile seriously. And the risks of posting online. I did not realize that anyone could read these sties, if the setting was not set to private(and even then I guess there are ways to get around it). This is serious in the fact that a person can lose a job or get kicked out of a university for the things posted on Myspace or Facebook. Honestly, if you think another person can read it, DO NOT write about things that will get you in trouble. It is a horrible thought that something you think is private will become broadcast all over the web, and might possibly cost you a valued position in the community.

I believe these are serious issues facing people today. Everyone blogs, down to the shy teen trying to make friends all the way up to the executive businessman who wants to stay in touch with his/her family. And if the benefits and risks are not understood, serious problems could arise. The issue facing the world today is how to get the word out. No one wants to believe his or her personal space can be invaded; but that is just the problem. The internet is NOT personal space. I know my views have been altered a bit. No, I will not stop using myspace or face book. But I will think about what I am saying before I post now, instead of just trying to make an impression.