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The Final is Posted After These Three Images

Just in case your looking for it.

The Final

This past semester has been an exploration through the world of media, the power that it has and how it utilizes this power.  Throughout this class I have learned a lot, but there are three examples that stick out the most.

The first is the concept that the viewers of every media create the meaning of that media.  Every advertisement, every television show and every internet Website, has its own meaning.  Although specific images generate meaning, the meanings of works of art and media images do not lie in the work itself, rather it is mainly left up to the viewer to uncover their meaning.  Each piece of work rarely sends the same message to everyone, as everyone uses their own experiences and knowledge to define a piece of media and what it means to them.  For example, the Calvin Klein Advertisement above is using sex to sell its jeans.  However, some people look at this ad, and see that the woman is in power and has control over the man as she takes off his clothes.  Other people would look at this ad and come to the conclusion that the man is in the dominating role and that the woman is, literally, kissing his ass.  What you see depends all on your view.  This to me is one of, if not the most important lessons of the class: that the viewer controls the meaning of the advertisement and that the business world knows this concept and utilizes it. 

The second thing that I like about my newfound media literacy is that now I can literally use other forms of media that will help me in the real world, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.  Being told how to use these tools has opened up a whole new world to me.  Although frustrating at times, these programs are changing the world that we live in today.  Anyone can be their own journalist, or producer or director with these tools.  Yet, it is important to note, that since these programs have come out, it has made it easier for the common man to doctor images.  Yes, these programs allow people much more creative freedom and the ability to be their own “media center,” but it also allows people to change images with the click of a button.

Finally, the third thing that I like about my newfound media literacy is that it has made me more aware of the media in general.  The media is not just the television show that we put on at 8 pm.  Rather, the media is all around us.  It is the ad on the side of the bus and the pop-up window that we always get on the Internet.  This class has made me realize that the media is a business too.  They are trying to push their own agenda.  Just because it is on the television, radio, newspaper or Internet does not mean it is true.  Although I still trust the media, this class has caused me to become more skeptical of it, and has forced me to examine each piece of media one piece at a time.  I cannot look at an ad or another piece of media without trying to break down its parts and see its different angles.  This class has truly changed my way of thinking, and I cannot say that about the majority of classes that I have taken here at Marist.  It has changed my train of thought and my daily habits.  This has definitely been a worthwhile class. 

And with that… my college career is officially over.

Master of Your Own Domain

This Harley Davidson Advertisement is selling the docile notion that if you want to be happy you have to be the master of your own domain.  The only way to truly see the world and master it is to be a free spirit, who can go anywhere wherever you want.  This ad does not play to society’s docile notion of beauty or scent, but rather plays to society’s docile notion of desires and urges.  American society says that people should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want.  This Harley Ad is playing to that notion, and waking each consumers’ free spirit.

Think of the Possibilities

This is an advertisement for Ann Taylor’s scent: Possibilities. This is an advertisement which says that if you use this scent it is possible you can get what the woman in the advertisement has: a terrific body, sex appeal, strength and independence. This ad sells the idea of a docile body, as it plays to the norms of what our society perceives beauty to be, namely a thin body. Looking at the ad, one would think that the advertisement is selling a dress, yet this ad is for perfume. Nowhere in the ad does it give you a hint about what the perfume might smell like. Yet, it does not have to. All it has to do is sell the lifestyle which Ann Taylor wants the scent to be associated with. This lifestyle is one of beauty and independence.