May 2008
5 posts
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...
April 2008
15 posts
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...
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...
Bigger is Better
This Twinlab Fuel Sports Nutrition Ad is telling people that muscular, ripped bodies are always hot and in style, and that you have to have one. This advertisement is saying to the consumer that the more ripped you get, and the more you get like the models in the advertisement, the happier you will be and the more sex appeal you will have. If you are muscular you will have no problem attracting...
Glamour and How it is Cultivated in "How to Get...
In his book Ways of Seeing, author and art critic John Berger defines glamour as the quality of being envied. Advertisers, as we see in the British film “How to Get Ahead in Advertising,” use this idea of glamour when creating an ad. Advertisers do this by presenting their product in the ad as a figure of glamour which can alleviate the consumer’s state of dissatisfaction. ...
Spectacle
In our world today, we love when things are big and bright and able to grab our attention without any hesitation. In today’s world, we love spectacles. A spectacle is, generally, something that is striking or impressive in its visual display. If we consider something to be a spectacle we get “lost in the lights” and automatically consider it to be great or better than its...
List All the Uses for a Brick, Beyond Building a...
Build a house Doorstop Paper weight Weapon Weightlifting tool Wider receiver off-season training tool A canvas for a piece of art Hammer Writing utensil
I miss my lung, Bob.
I have decided that the proliferation of images is a very powerful tool. Yes, it can be funny. Yes, it is a little ridiculous. But when it comes down to it, the act of proliferating an image ultimately makes people think. And, that is something which is a tough thing to do. The proliferation of an image through reproduction means that an image can be accompanied by different kinds of text,...
More than just Word and the Internet
I am not the most computer literate person out there. You see, I’m the kid who whenever I touch the computer it either freezes or breaks. I don’t exactly know why, but I guess that is how it goes. Thus, I do not like to branch out into unknown in the world of computers, as I mainly stick to my Microsoft Word, the Internet and, at times, Powerpoint. Yet, this class has forced me to...
March 2008
2 posts
Liberal Games
I thought the games did the job their creator wanted them to do. It pushed her opinion on the country’s immigration system. I personally do not believe in what the game pushes, and do not see the relevance to why we were playing the game in class, other than trying to get students to start believing in what the game was preaching. The airport security game pushed the same types of...
February 2008
12 posts
Heroes in the Post-9/11 Era
What is a hero? Who gets to define the characteristics which we assume a hero would have? When does a “normal individual” become a hero? Were they born with it, or did they earn it? In today’s world celebrities, such as some actors and athletes, are commonly mistaken are heroes. People seek to idolize those which they feel “have it all” and are “living the...
Magazine Covers
This class is about learning and understanding the media and how it works. What better way to understand how then media works, then to actually be a part of it. Over the past two weeks, we have begun to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in class. This week, I will take the magazine cover above (the Time Person of the Year for 2006) and try to replicate it, with some personal...
Some Commentary on "The Century of the Self"
Propaganda. Edward Bernay, Fraud’s nephew, was right when he said that most of us view that word in a negative tone because the Nazi’s used propaganda to turn people in their favor during their regime. Yet, in our society, for the past century, propaganda or public relations has been everywhere, especially in big business and politics. Propaganda or public relations is used by these...
January 2008
12 posts
Mirages Around Every Turn
This past week in class we have been discussing photographs, and how a photograph of an image does not necessarily tell the entire story of the scene being shown. A photograph, like a news broadcast, goes through the hands of numerous indviduals which all have opinions and have the power to ultimatley doctor an image. We have talked about countless examples of this in class, and at the...
Star - Bucks $$$$$
Hello all. This episode we will talk about Starbucks, the most influential “food/beverage” chain since McDonalds. Everywhere you go, you see a Starbucks. There coffee is without-a-doubt okay, and it is without-a-doubt ridiculously overpriced. I digress… This entry today will be about their logo. Since the past couple of blogs have been about how companies attract...
The (Golden) Ticket
Although it wasn’t Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it might as well should have been. And, although this account did not happen this past week, it is still a relevant topic. Last year, as a junior, I walked into the McCann Center for a Marist College basketball game. Like every other student, I walked in, was handed a ticket and took my place in the stands. I had been going to...
Pop Goes the Weasal
In never thought the day would come, but we now have a modern-day version of the magazine insert… computer pop-ups. They are just as annoying as magazine inserts, yet, unlike magazine inserts, they are able to regenerate after you get rid of them. Normally, I do not pay attention to pop-ups, I just delete them like most people. Yet, this past week I decided to fall into their trap and see...
I HATE THOSE THINGS
Ok, admit it. We all hate them. They are the nuisances which fall right out of our magazines, and the very items which make it difficult to turn the page. They are your little sister complaining. They are your roomate staying up until 4 am typing on the computer. And, they are your teacher keeping you five minutes late during a night class. They are…. magazine inserts. Since I can...
Hot Tamaleeee!!!
Hello everyone. My name is Michael Rolek and I am currently a senior at Marist College. I am writing this blog for my Media Literacy class. This blog will focus on the work which we have done in this class, along with my personal experiences. Over the past five days I have noted and have paid attention to ambient media, or media which is “highly contextual and time-specific…...