Relevance of Polynomials is a one-minute video done by Jacob. Jacob discusses the importance of polynomials in everyday human activities. Most of the uses he mentions are important aspects for the survival of the modern-day human being. For example, he mentions using polynomials in the stock market to tell how the prices may vary over time. He also states that polynomials are used to solve optimization in various instances, such as calculating profits or costs (Maths with Jacob, 2017). The stock market is one area more people are investing in today to make a living. To enable them to make the right investment decisions, polynomials are essential. He has included beautiful non-self-explanatory images to supplement his content. They create a balance between what he says and what his presentation delivers. It is easy and interesting to follow what he is talking about because of his choice of simple language (Maths with Jacob, 2017). His presentation is brief but effectively covers his topic, leaving little to no room for doubts.
The importance of polynomials in peoples lives today cannot be overemphasized. Jacob discusses several real-life applications of polynomials, but there are several that he does not mention in the video. The first is predicting and describing traffic patterns that make it easier to plan and implement traffic control measures such as traffic lights (Deziel, 2018). Secondly, they are used by a wide range of people working in construction to planning for the number of materials required for different situations. Thirdly, economists use polynomials to come up with economic growth patterns (Deziel, 2018). In the same context, they help individuals with financial planning. For example, people interested in investing can use polynomial equations to calculate the number of interests that accrues from their initial deposit amount.
References
Deziel, C. (2018). Everyday Use of Polynomials. Web.
Maths with Jacob. (2017). Relevance of Polynomials. Youtube.com. Web.
There has been an increase in social media platforms in the recent past. This is due to the increasing innovation and the technological advances experienced globally. The majority of the global population is becoming addicted to social media platforms such as; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even video games (Newport, 2019). Most of them become addicted to these applications involuntarily because they often download and create accounts for good reasons. Individuals should be guided by the digital minimalism philosophy when interacting with technology. According to Cal Newport, digital minimalism is the use of technology where individuals focus their online time on a few selected activities that support their values and miss out on anything else that is not important. Satisfaction, costs of the clutter, and optimization are some of the reasons why individuals should adopt digital minimalism.
Significant satisfaction is achieved when individuals intentionally engage in activities that support their values. Through the decisions on what technology to engage in and which not to engage in, individuals become more intentional in their involvement with the new technologies and critical issues (Newport, 2019). This creates satisfaction independent of the decisions that these individuals make in their daily activities. This is a meaningful aspect of an individuals life, making digital minimalism applicable and practical.
The cost of cluttering time between several applications and engaging in various new technologies is high. First, these applications are not free; they are downloaded at a high cost. Secondly, the time spent paying attention to so many devices and applications creates a more significant proportion of the negative impact than the minor benefits accrued (Newport, 2019). Therefore, if individuals prioritize their online time for essential activities, they will reduce the costs significantly.
Through the perfect choices of technologies to engage in, individuals achieve optimization. According to Cal Newport, digital minimalist believes in adopting the best technology among the many that best support their values and accrues maximum benefits to their activities (Newport, 2019). Therefore, it is essential to carefully consider the maximum potential benefits that one is likely to achieve by adopting a given technology or application. If the technology of choice does not support your values, it could equally be unnecessary to engage in it.
The book Reclaiming conversation by Sherry Turkle agrees with Cal Newport. According to Sherry Turkle, communication between individuals in the digital era has been reduced to simply connection. The consequences of technological advancements can be witnessed in homes, workplaces, and even in the political arena (Turkle, 2017). She claims that individuals have significantly diverted their attention to their phones and other gadgets despite the importance of the conversation at hand. In workplaces, for example, people retreat to their phone screens even when conversations at hand are essential in terms of the profitability and commitment of the organization (Turkle, 2017). She also argues how individuals see solitude and loneliness as an issue that technological connection should eliminate. In my view, the adoption of technology is neither bad nor good, but individuals should strike their limits when engaging with technology. Technology should not control what one does; instead, one should control how one interacts with it. If an engagement with a given technology creates adverse cost effects, it is not worth our attention.
References
Newport, C. (2019). Digital minimalism: Choosing a focused life in a noisy world. Penguin. Web.
Turkle, S. (2017). Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Penguin. Web.
The widespread use of streaming services in the modern media space can be considered a trend of the last decade. A good understanding of all the tools and methods of product promotion is what makes the difference in this highly competitive environment. Network effect is one of the key factors any content maker should pay attention to. The essence of the network effect is simple: the more often a consumer uses a product, the more valuable that product becomes to other users. It is easy to see how the network effect works in various media cases.
One of the most popular broadcasters of the recent time, Netflix, can serve as an example of the positive impact of network effects. This company started with DVD delivery and then moved on to online streaming. When profit margins began to change, third-party content providers began to leave the platform, and Netflix had to re-engage and to start producing its own content. These radical changes allowed the company to succeed. At the moment, Netflixs subscriber base exceeds 200 million, and the companys revenue is expected to be around $20 billion in 2021. Disney Plus, being almost similar streaming video platform, also adheres to the subscription model, although being a fan-service for Disney company. Thus, among streaming services, it is the subscription model that looks the most competitive and profitable.
Some similarities in development can be seen between Netflix and YouTube. However, there are two significant differences. First, it is a different monetization model. YouTube has only recently begun to introduce a subscription model for users, and for most of its existence income has been from advertising inserts in the player. The second feature is that content on YouTube is produced by users themselves. As it scales, there is more and more content, so a very logical conclusion is recommendation system, for this reduces the signal-to-noise ratio. Each user gets the content based on their preferences. Each user gets the content they are more likely to like based on their preferences. It should be noted that approximately the same algorithm has been working successfully for some time at Netflix.
One of the features of personalized content on YouTube has been a kind of bias toward later content-makers, while earlier ones will get some privileges in terms of recommendations for users. A good example here is Joe Rogan, one of the most well-known podcasters, who started uploading his interviews with celebrities back in 2009. This made him one of the first content makers and led to a steady growth in audience and, which resulted in an increase in influence. However, that growth stopped with the signing of an exclusive contract with Spotify, whose monetization is mostly based on subscriptions. By moving to another platform, he lost the positive influence from the network effect that other content makers on YouTube were producing.
However, there are many positive examples of scaling after switching to a subscription model. One of such examples is certainly defector.com. This sports resource was founded by experienced authors who left their previous job and started their own site. Thus, their content reduced the signal-to-noise ratio to almost zero when compared to their previous place of publication. Their audience began to receive only the articles they liked. The network effect created a steady increase in subscribers, and the subscription model led to exponential revenue growth for the new company.
To sum up, hasty decisions can lead to irreparable consequences, both financial and image. Only a good awareness of all the principles and phenomena of the modern media market protects the content maker from collapse and leads to the top. The network effect is a very powerful factor, which can have both positive and negative effects on the media. It is very important to take it into account and calculate all possible risks before making important decisions.
Daily news and significant events are not covered similarly in different countries and by various media outlets. Some incidents and affairs are bound to be viewed in other countries through a prism of the relationship between the two states. This essay will discuss how US news media report events that are taking place in other countries. Specifically, two articles describing the coverage of events in China and Russia will be summarized and examined.
US news media often covers major events taking place in Russian Federation. Thus, Pan and Lawal (2017) compared how two major American news outlets, Washington Times and New York Times, reported on the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014. According to Pan and Lawal (2017), the discussed newspapers approached the coverage differently, with Washington Times framing the event more negatively than New Your Times.
In addition, both newspapers deviated from the narration of the Olympic Games and the sportspersons taking part in the competition. Thus, Washington Times used episodic frames to report on adverse incidents that depicted the city of Sochi and the decision to conduct the Olympic Games there in a negative light. For example, the paper covered the anti-LGBTQ protest near Sochi, raising concerns for the safety of LGBTQ athletes (Pan & Lawal, 2017). Articles that were written positively focused on US sportspersons and their achievements, diverting the attention from the games in Sochi to American participation (Pan & Lawal, 2017). Overall, the Washington Times reports on the Olympic Games can be described as negative.
In contrast, New York Times covered the Sochi Winter Olympic Games from a more neutral perspective. The paper published several positive articles about the American participation in the games and the city of Sochi, drawing attention to some of its landmarks (Pan & Lawal, 2017). However, the authors found several critical articles condemning the anti-LGBTQ protests in Russia and discussing the potential and unconfirmed Muslim presence in the region (Pan & Lawal, 2017). The paper also used Cold War references to remind the readers of the past and present tension between two countries (Pan & Lawal, 2017). Overall, the authors concluded that although the Olympic Games were covered somewhat neutrally, the newspapers ideologies influenced the reporting of controversial issues.
Similarly, the events taking place in China, a country with tumultuous relationships with the United States, are often reported by the USA news media. In the last few years, the Chinese governments treatment of ethnic minorities became highly debated. Specifically, the countrys relationship with Uighur Muslims became a point of interest for American newspapers. Thus, Zhu (2017) discussed how US media portrayed the conflict between the government and the minority mentioned above and why the portrayal differed from that of Muslim groups in the United States. Zhu (2017) described general tendencies media adopted when reporting on the events in China and over 50 articles on the Uighur minority and the Chinese governments relationship. Thus, it can be asserted that American newspapers tend to discuss China in a negative light.
The coverage of the conflict between the Uighurs and the government is somewhat biased, with the minority being portrayed positively and the government described as the side at fault. According to Zhu (2017), American newspapers attribute the civil unrest and violence to the Chinese government and its laws and policies. Although some of the articles mentioned the militant Muslim group as responsible for the terrorist attacks on Chinese soil, the governments policies were described as the primary reason for those acts (Zhu, 2017). Overall, the articles concluded that the US media adopted the villain and hero approach to reporting the issue, with the government being viewed as the villain.
In summary, reading these two articles helped me become more news media literate when it comes to international news. Specifically, these papers showed me that global events coverage could be biased due to the ideologies of the individual newspapers and the countries where they are printed. I believe that few reports today are unbiased, and they depend greatly on the difference in culture and, views, and values of the authors and the country they are discussing.
Thus, Chinese and Russian policies towards the LGBTQ community and ethnic minorities vary significantly from that of the United States, leading to political tension reflected in news media. I also learned that even various newspapers could differently cover the same events, depending on their internal policies and beliefs. Overall, I believe that it is important to consider these differences and read several accounts of the same events to better understand the issue at hand.
In the era of the Great Depression and Prohibition in the United States, gangsters became the new heroes. Perfectly dressed guys like Al Capone and John Dillinger have regularly appeared on the pages of the crime chronicle, becoming celebrities and trendsetters. They were imitated in life and on the movie screen. The best actors of the time, from James Cagney to Edward J. Robinson, portrayed tough and unprincipled guys in three-piece suits, fedora and the constant Thompson machine gun in their hands. In Scorseses films, in his own words, mafia is a mixture of the tragic fates of mobsters and the cult American gangster cinema.
Martin Scorseses gangster saga Goodfellas (1990) is considered by many to be perhaps the best film in a directors career. The Goodfellas, in the flow of the late 1970s and 1980s, is a farewell to the romantic image of gangsters who have now mastered the drug trade. The film is based on Nicholas Pileggis book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family of 1985. It tells the viewer a story of success and defeat, peppered with uneasy relationships between friends, enemies, and loved ones. Scorsese voices one of the most tenacious American myths in the simple-minded monologues of the protagonist and consistently destroys it: the charm of big money, power, risk disintegrates into ordinary meanness, senseless cruelty, and unappetizing greed. The film Goodfellas plunges the viewer into the criminal underground and, like no other, exposes the brilliance, blood and greed of gangster culture.
At the same time, this is a completely entertaining movie: Scorsese throws freeze frames with fantastic ease and flaunts super-long plans such as a textbook three-minute drive through the corridors of a nightclub. His scenery fills with blood without any transition, and arranges the massacre with a pop hit as a leading theme. Scorsese plays with scenes, uses them as he pleases to tell a compelling story without causing his auditory to recoil from the cruelty on screen.
Tommys final shot into the camera, for example, is considered to be a kind of an homage to The Great Train Robbery (1903), where in the end the bandit also shoots from a revolver into the auditorium. Costume designer Richard Bruno traces the evolution of the protagonist through changes in his wardrobe. Thirty years of mafia go from the typical double-breasted beige suit, which Henry buys for one of the first criminal fees, and the elegant suits and leather and velvet jackets, which became relevant in the 1970s. The last decade ends with a blue robe of an ordinary US citizen in the movies finale. Scorsese also paid special attention to the tight white collars of the heroes shirts, as they were supposed to symbolize the iron grip of the mafia, which firmly holds the goodfellas by their throats.
Despite his success in bringing the many-sided New York to life on screen with Goodfellas, there was one film that Scorsese could not get started on for a long time Gangs of New York. Based on a documentary detailed book by Herbert Asbury, it shows the birth of that brutal gangster world of modernity, which the director captured in Goodfellas and his other previous films. An epic picture of a living classic, the film reveals the Evil Streets of the 1860s New York. Almost a century ago, the New York phenomenon was described in documentary prose, but Scorsese created a film poem.
The first thing that attracts attention in Gangs of New York is the scale. Dozens of clans, each with its own colors, ideology, religion, interests, are tearing New York apart, which is different from the Goodfellas, where the world revolved around the three protagonists. The street hierarchy of the 19th century is also shown in much more detail; for example, each character has their own conditional rank and place. The picture is filled with crowd scenes, numerous details and features of both characters and everyday life of that era, which further enhances the grandeur of the directors plan.
In Gangs of New York, Scorsese places great emphasis on such a difficult topic as interethnic relations, rather than focusing purely on the aspects of gangster life. Not unlike in Goodfellas, he decides to touch upon acute issues of patriotism, law and duty, equality issues that are still relevant in the world. Baker (2021) explains that the struggles of American immigrants, the prejudices they faced, and their varied means of overcoming them are central to the film Scorseses most explicitly Irish one (p. 19). Within Gangs of New York, the director discusses who the real American is a native who was born on this land or an emigrant who came for a better life.
However, the key idea of the Gangs of New York is similar to the Goodfellas it is the cyclical and dynamic nature of life. Nothing stands still, the world is constantly in motion, each life process has its own cycle. And this has its own splendor and its own tragedy, which Scorsese both painted beautifully in each film, granted that he used different cinematography tools for them.
The story of street gangs and organized crime in New York, about which Scorsese shot the Goodfellas in 1990, interested the director since childhood, when his father first told him about the New York riots of 1863. Scorsese continued exploring this issue in Gangs of New York, where he chooses to tell the story of the street gangs of the 19th century Lower Manhattan a one of the natural urban systems of the city of immigrants. Both films revolve around mafia, mobs and gangsters however, both explain the peoples places in them in different ways.
Reference
Baker, A. (2021). A companion to Martin Scorsese. Wiley Blackwell.
Objectivity in the media revolves around highlighting and criticizing important information and facts that are relevant to the audience. Therefore, acknowledging the need to use neutral language and avoiding writing stories that characterize institutions or people as positive or negative is critical in the presented content. As a transgender and a reporter, I feel journalists should fight to ensure truth-telling and power in the media is accounted for when presenting information that tells the truth in a neutral language. Defining and maintaining a sense of purpose is essential since it is the medias job to tell diverse stories in a manner that does not present positivity or negativity about any community.
For long, neutrality in the media has been an impossible thing to admit, especially among members of the LGBTQ. The opportunity to pretend that members of this community can be neutral, to say the least, has never existed. For many years, the media has picked up stories about LGBTQ members; however, the nature of the debates involving this group has been whether they should be allowed to participate and live in the same communities. Moreover, the stories picked by the media, specifically about transgender people, are about whether they should use public facilities and expect not to be harassed, fired, or even killed. People should be central or neutral when debates are raised about their humanity. Whether transgender or a member of the LGBTQ community, the notion that these individuals do not have a right to exist is falsified.
Similarly, African Americans are expected to give credence to both sides of a dispute with a white supremacist, an individual that holds a morally and unscientific perspective on the basic nature of human beings. The centrality of what is considered neutral in the media can and indeed shifts. When one looks at the history of journalism, a great understanding comes out of how centralism is a marketing tactic used to reach a broader audience than actual neutrality. Many journalists that tell the truth in key historical moments have been considered members of the opposition, outliers (Perkins). As the norms of governments shift towards a post-fact framework, investing in factual news no longer remains neutral.
In the media, the people making editorial decisions influence the neutrality of the published information. Therefore, editors must include members of the marginalized communities in the editorial team to shape the tabled stories. People crave uniqueness, honesty, and the depth of presenting actual perspective to the covered content. The audience expects journalists to be truthful and fair, not machines (Perkins). It does not require journalists to be male and white, as this creates a situation where status quo bias is created through male power and white racism.
Moreover, journalists should check facts and tell the truth. Truth-telling is a job that is not going away; however, it is getting complicated in a world filled with unknown datasets, federal leaders, and liars (Perkins). The dominance of the Facebook algorithm and a changing but also an opaque market for online news brings out the foamiest of fluff to the top, which confuses even the savviest of consumers. As such, as journalists, checking the facts, telling the truth, and holding the line without pretending that an ethical basis does not exist is essential in an ever-shifting center of neutrality.
Three premises, checking facts and telling the truth, editorial decisions, and neutrality, have been argued relative to the issue of objectivity in the media. The premises relevance to the established conclusion is that they contribute to the understanding and significance of the need for bias-free content. From the premise journalists should check facts and tell the truth, establishing reports that rely on complicated datasets makes it challenging even for the savviest of consumers to determine facts from fiction. The editorial decision premise shows that bias can only be minimized when members of the marginalized communities are involved in deciding the information presented. The third premise shows that neutrality has long been sidelined due to social constructivism that defines what gender and race should be involved in content presentation.
The knowledge associated with the journalists should check facts and tell the truth makes it acceptable since it informs the audience of the significance of presenting well-informed content. The same goes for the second and third premises due to the realization that journalists must move beyond the existing social constructs to present neutral information regardless of gender and race. Based on the significance of the premises, the inference is adequate. The importance of the premises and how they contribute to the thesis is underpinned by the need to maintain the need to tell diverse and bias-free stories. When journalists transition from the traditional to a more modern way of presenting information, they must factor in every audience and question the relevance of the published content. Therefore, a modern presentation of information must consider that the world has grown into a more diverse community, and every reader must not be made to feel sidelined by the content.
Work Cited
Perkins, Adam. The Scientific Importance of Free Speech. Quillette. 2018.
Editing is an important activity in the film-making process since it allows for establishing a clear and evident relation between shots. One should carefully approach this process to ensure that appropriate shots are used and that they are effectively arranged (Bordwell et al. 217). The essay focuses on Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. and comments on how editing is used in a sequence when Chantel is going to school and having an argument with her lecturer, Mr. Weinberg. This sequence has numerous characteristic features, including graphic temporal, spatial, and rhythmic relations, as well as continuity editing.
To begin with, one should comment on graphic relations between two shots. Graphic discontinuity is present when Chantel is shown on the left side of the frame, while her interlocutor, Mr. Weinberg, is placed in the middle of the next shot. Even though this decision does not clearly reveal discontinuity and opposition, this relationship becomes evident after looking at the characters eyes. In particular, Chantel is looking upwards since she sits at the desk, while her lecturer is looking downwards because he is in a standing position (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.) Consequently, these contrasting features are used to demonstrate visual discontinuity, and gaze direction plays a leading role in achieving this effect.
Temporal relations are used to control the time of the action on screen. The sequence under analysis is presented in chronological order, and editing contributes to this effect by showing shots of Chantel and Mr. Weinberg alternately. Simultaneously, elliptical editing is also present when the bell rings, and the next shot displays students leaving the classroom (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). Bordwell et al. admit that this editing is used to condense the duration of the action (228). As a result, the shot with the lecturer concluding the lesson is immediately followed by one displaying how the students are leaving the room (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). That is why one can state that temporal relations are adequately addressed.
Spatial editing is important because it can construct film space. Editing can be analytical and constructive, and the two types are present in the sequence. On the one hand, an analytical approach implies displaying a spatial whole, while the next shot shows a part of its space (Bordwell et al. 225). In the film, a building interior is displayed, while the following shot depicts a classroom (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). This type of editing makes spectators believe that the classroom is within the building. On the other hand, constructive editing is used when Chantel is walking, while the next shots display her in the classroom (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). In this case, the Kuleshov effect makes spectators believe that Chantel was walking to her college a few moments ago.
When it comes to rhythmic relations, it is worth considering a specific aspect. One can state that rhythmic cutting was used in the sequence. Since the characters are arguing, medium shots of Chantel and Mr. Weinberg are shown one by one for a few seconds (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). Even though the characters do not obtain equal time on screen, spectators do not typically draw attention to this fact. Instead of it, quick changes of shots are supposed to convey the atmosphere of tension between the two people.
In addition to that, it is reasonable to demonstrate how continuity editing is present in the selected sequence. Firstly, the 180-degree line rule is met because Chantel is presented in the left part of the frame, while Mr. Weinberg is placed in the middle, meaning that he is to the right of her. This relationship is evident when the two are in the shot, meaning that the axis was not crossed. Secondly, the shot/reverse-shot pattern is present when the shots with Chantel and Mr. Weinberg are switching. Prior to it, the 180-degree line was established when the lecturer was passing through the girl sitting (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). Thirdly, the eyeline match is established because the shot with Chantel depicts her looking at something off-screen, while the following one demonstrates that Mr. Weinberg is doing the same (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.). This information allows for understanding that the characters are looking at each other. Finally, the match on action is a powerful device that involves carrying a movement across a cut (Bordwell et al. 235). This peculiar tactic is not presented in the selected sequence.
In conclusion, the essay has analyzed how editing was used in Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. Numerous characteristic features of this process were present in the selected sequence. In particular, one found the signs of graphic relations, elliptical editing, constructive and analytical editing, and rhythmic relations. In addition to that, specific elements of continuity editing were present, including the 180-degree line, shot/reverse-shot, and eyeline match. One should also mention that the match on action, another powerful device of continuity editing, was not identified in the sequence under analysis.
Work Cited
Bordwell, David, et al. Film Art: An Introduction. 12th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2020.
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. Directed by Leslie Harris, Miramax Films, 1992.
Arturo González Villaseñors Documentary, All of Me (2016), follows the lives of a group of women in Mexico known as La Patronas (The Patronas). These women make food and toss it to the immigrants aboard the train that passes by their town daily. The director uses an intimate approach by documenting the personal stories of each of the women as they defy all odds in a world that appears to have lost all hope and help those in need despite not having much for themselves. Thousands of migrants are exposed to danger every day as they attempt to cross the border to seek a better life, and The Patronas are first-hand witnesses of their experiences. The documentary highlights various aspects of standpoint and muted group theories, but it counters the very idea of muted groups to some extent.
Due to their personal experiences, The Patronas were able to pick out gaps and biases within the system, which prompted them to help, consistent with the standpoint theory. The theory suggests that ones location or experiences in society determines their ability to know certain things (Harding & Wood, 2009). More specifically, different genders have varying experiences and, thus, what they know, how they know it, and their capability of gaining the knowledge differs. Some of the women in the documentary, for instance, document their difficulties since childhood. One lady says that she would like to leave the country for a better life as her current wages are meager, and she barely manages to keep her family from starving (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:19:10). Another woman narrates how she had to start working at 11 or 12 years and take charge of her home (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:31:05). These women understand the immigrants suffering to decide to leave their homes and search for a better life. They are also first-hand witnesses to the migrants problems since the train passes by their town. This knowledge and personal experiences have enabled them to quickly determine what the immigrants are going through and how best they could help them, consistent with the standpoint theory.
The problems faced by The Patronas and the immigrants they help also highlight the muted group theory. This theory suggests that every society has traditionally muted cultural groups with less access to public discourse and platforms where their concerns can be heard (Ardener, 2005). In the documentary, one of the women says that she had an alcoholic and aggressive husband, and she could not say anything (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:03:40). Another woman says that her father told her that women are to marry and have children, and they do not need to study, and she could not argue with him (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:39:54). The immigrants also demonstrate muted groups as the police violated their rights. One of the women says that she felt helpless watching what the immigrants were going through, and she could not do anything (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:53:09). The police took advantage of them, and they were kidnapped, stolen from, and murdered, and they had nowhere to report these incidences. These two groups had their rights violated, but little has been done since they are muted or ignored when they try to speak up.
However, this documentary appears to also counter the idea of muted groups as The Patronas defy oppression and keep pushing for their voices to be heard. Despite the threats and the issues they faced, more women kept helping the immigrants (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:33:53). One of the women states that she spoke up to the police about mistreating immigrants and tried to get a common ground with the law to keep helping them legally (González Villaseñor, 2016, 0:52:54). The women also suggest that they get invited to talks where they could sell jars of pepper and get donations. They say that they may not have been able to continue helping the immigrants without these donations (González Villaseñor, 2016, 1:13:10). This means that The Patronas may not have persisted for more than two and a half decades if not for this help. Besides, this documentary is also a form of public discourse to tell the world about their problems. Thus, their ability to create a common ground with the authorities, get invited to talks, receiving donations, and this documentary defies the idea that they are a muted group.
González Villaseñors documentary follows the lives of women who show unconditional love in a world where all hope seems lost. The director focuses on the individual women and their life experiences. The standpoint theory comes into play where their experiences have shaped their decision and determination to help the immigrants. By focusing on their lives from childhood, viewers can see that the women have also had bad experiences, and some still hope to cross the border in search of a better life. Both the immigrants and the women, to some extent, also highlight the muted group theory. The immigrants are treated poorly with little help from the authorities, while some of the women have been muted by their husbands and fathers. However, the women have managed to defy all odds and fight the system to do right. The Patronas story exemplifies unity and love in a world full of discrimination, cruelty, and violence towards immigrants.
References
Ardener, S. (2005). Ardeners Muted Groups : The genesis of an idea and its praxis. Women and Language, 28(2), 50.
González Villaseñor, A. (Director). (2016). Amores [All of Me] [Film]. Acanto Films, Pimienta Films, UAM-X.
Harding, S., & Wood, J. (2009). Standpoint theory. In E. Griffin, A. Ledbetter & G. Sparks (Eds.), A first look at Communication Theory (pp.441-453). McGrawHill Higher Education.
Contemporary American society depends on various sources of news media because every person has to receive timely updates on what occurs in their area or across the country. Even though traditional news outlets are not as popular nowadays, there are people who prefer reading newspapers and magazines to learn the latest news (Tandoc Jr et al., 2019). It means that news media providers have to appeal to at least two cohorts of the population by sharing the updates both online and offline. A larger number of audience members prefer to go to social media to learn the latest news. Nevertheless, the chances are high that a negligent user would repost fake news and help spread misinformation. It is a crucial threat that has not been mitigated to a reasonable extent (Di Domenico et al., 2021). The only way for the audience to avoid being affected by fake news is to learn how to distinguish between the real and the fake and help other social media users do the same.
The key responsibility of the news media is to validate all the information before posting it and make sure that the source is credible. This duty stems from an increasing volume of information that has to be processed by the audience. Hence, news media sources should serve as cleaning agents and get rid of all fake information for the sake of a healthier society (Tandoc Jr et al., 2019). Data conveyed through newspapers and magazines might be wrongly perceived as correct and truthful at all times, which is not correct. Knowing that little to no young people read newspapers, publishers might exert efforts to appeal to their long-time readers by sharing bizarre, borderline inappropriate stories. Even though it might drive publicity, it would destroy the news media outlets credibility at the same time.
A similar approach has to be taken when discussing the approaches taken by social media news accounts, as the volume of fake information on the Internet is even higher. Thus, online news anchors can be held fully liable for their Facebook posts and Twitter tweets. The larger the audience, the greater the news medias responsibility should be, as the public is not hard to direct and confuse. The majority of users tend to pay attention to the header without checking the remainder of the article and the wording (Di Domenico et al., 2021). This is why social media platforms have to remain vigilant and create an environment where fake news would be banned instantly. The problem is that the age of digital innovation imposes certain limitations on the human capacity to distinguish between what is real and what is fake. Therefore, the validity of social media news should be questioned even when the source is available.
One example of fake news being spread was Donald Trump noting during his press conference that bleach could be utilized to inject COVID-19 patients to help them get well. This piece of news is covered by OReilly (2020), who claimed that Trump got most of his information from social media and did not take the time to fact-check that information prior to the conference. Another example of fake news also relates to the pandemic and how popular opinions might affect the public health sector. According to Morrison (2020), Eamonn Holmes, a Northern Irish broadcaster, sided with a conspiracy theory related to how COVID-19 could be spread using 5G towers. He went even further and suggested that it was beneficial to the state to keep people under control. There are numerous dangers to social media news because influencers could eventually affect how the majority of users perceive information.
References
Di Domenico, G., Sit, J., Ishizaka, A., & Nunan, D. (2021). Fake news, social media and marketing: A systematic review. Journal of Business Research, 124, 329-341.
Morrison, S. (2020). Eamonn Holmes under fire for saying 5G coronavirus conspiracy easy to dismiss because it suits state narrative. Evening Standard. Web.
Media proliferation is putting pressure on advertisers and content creators to understand the impact of medium choice on the audience. The target population encodes communication from the different forms distinctively and may assign various meanings to the same message. The objective of this paper is to discuss messages in a film, podcast, and magazine issue. Particularly, the illustrative film used for the essay is Beauty in the Broken, The Seann Hannity Show Constitution Wins Podcast aired on June 23rd, and the Elle Magazine. Although the content creators determine the message feature in a media, the audience interpretation is always influenced by the medium.
Film
The content in the film is unique due to its different ways of sending signals and structure. Notably, while watching a film, the audience gets cues from the actions, costumes, words, and music. In addition, movies have storylines that people can follow and relate to the characters. Each scene has unique visual cues, so even if the movie is mute, information is passed across to those watching. The implication is that the viewers personalize the message as they dive into the emotions of the actors. Communication in the film medium is a creative configuration that produces accurate observation of occurrences when obsolete. Interestingly, films allow people to read cubic pictures with dramatic patterns per the focal point, color, texture, and lighting.
The message of the message is the central theme that the director is passing across. For example, the central message in the movie Beauty in the Broken is dignifying people with mental health challenges such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, other minor messages include love and romance, grieving, and restoration. The ideological perspective is a busy world where people are going about their errands, yet there are people with psychological challenges. The deeper meaning is conveyed through the characterization of the actors (majority are battling a psychiatric condition) or working in a mental health institution. The choice of film help conveys the deeper meaning due to the dramatization of the theme in real-life scenery.
Stuart Halls theory of representation is about the ability of people to imagine or make a description from content. The model posits that representation is vital since culture is always formed through language (connoting a symbolic form) and meaning (Robb 65). For instance, while watching the movie, Pele is portrayed as a creative young woman with a great potential cut short when she was raped. While seeing the movie, I related to her creativeness since I am talented and believe that if I get the proper reinforcement, as she did, I will become great. Motion pictures, like film, have worldwide reachability making them the best medium for promoting social awareness.
Halls theory of message encoding and decoding proposes that viewers play a significant role in interpreting content. They rely on their social context and may twist the intended meaning through collective action (Robb 72). In this case, before the intended message affects the viewers, they must first appropriate a meaningful discourse and encoding. People use codes and structure to understand the theme. For instance, in the movies opening scene, David goes to a hotel but walks away to visit a cemetery because he sees two lovebirds (Beauty in the Broken). The audience can decode that he is mourning a person he loved and died. The aspect of my personality that aid in decoding the message is being imaginative and interpreting each scene based on interactions of words, drama, lighting, and color.
Magazine
Magazines are unique advertising print media for consumer and industrial needs. They provide entertainment, convey information, and meet business needs to create brand or product awareness. Magazines give room for presenting detailed marketing messages along with colorful illustrations. The medium targets specific audiences who know the content they will get from the magazine. For example, Elle magazine is known for fashion advertisements. Therefore, the medium determines the information that its brand portrays.
It is essential to understand the central message amidst the many cues a magazine presents. For example, the key message on the selected page black is back (figure 1) is that the people with dark skin are now being recognized in the fashion industry. Noteworthy, the magazine used portraits of some Instagram icons with many followers to pass the news that African women are super. The deeper meaning is portrayed by showing how ordinary black girls build huge communities on Instagram. The form helps in creating the intended meaning by giving a reality that readers can confirm.
Halls representation theory is evident in the message portrayed in the magazine. For instance, the six women are supposed to exemplify the rising of black women in the fashion industry. Notably, the audience should interpret their faces as complementing the tag line black is back. The aspect of my personality that I feel is portrayed in the message is superiority because I am resilient and always emerge stronger even when I have failed.
Halls theory of decoding and encoding mental stigma helps in making interpretation of new information. The role of Elle Magazine is to advertise and update audience on fashion. Yet, the content on Black is Back received a backlash because people interpreted it as only accepting African women when they started to succeed. One of the accusations was that the magazine had been in existence for a long time but only focused on white models. Moreover, even now that they recognize the dark-skinned women, they still do not portray them professionally (Elle: Black is Back). The implication is that the audience decoded the message negatively even though the author intended to praise it. The media portrayal of beauty influenced by some aspects of my personality. Specifically, I felt that Elle magazine still does not acknowledge the beauty in black, which is why they use the word super.
Figure 1: Image of the Elle Magazine
Podcast
Podcasts are a series of audios based on a specific theme and can be listened to from computers or smartphones. Attention and following the content from the beginning are crucial for this form. The rationale is that the message is often persuasive and reveals factual data or stories in beat. For example, the Sean Hannity show follows emerging news that conflicts with the constitution and tries to bring a perspective (Hannity). The lack of visual representation in podcasts implies that the audience must concentrate to get the message.
The main message is the relevance of disproving the people who show no regard to the constitution. For instance, in the Sean Hannity podcast Constitution Wins, Hannity affirms the Supreme decision to protect the 2nd amendment law against Liberal New Yorkers. Notably, the issue was contentious, implying that there must be appealing to reason, emotions, and ethics for the listeners to concede. The ideology uses a person with perceived integrity and authority in American law to come and break down the legal content for the common citizens. The main issue is the rule of law, and the subtext is connoted by the specific supreme court case. Thus the more profound meaning is portrayed, mainly from the voice of the host and his ability to defend his stance.
Regarding Halls representation theory, the voice in a podcast is symbolic of an image. A podcast is almost like a one-man show where the central figure is the host. The message is portrayed by both Sean, and the content is backed up with the facts. As a citizen of this county, listening to the podcast motivates me to stand firm in defending the constitution. I feel it is my civic duty to not only obey the rights and freedoms but also teach others to have respect for the constitution.
Encoding and decoding of messages in a podcast are done against the backdrop of related news. Relative to Halls theory, the podcasts audience must be familiar with the 2nd Amendment law and its limitations in the United States. Moreover, many of the audience must have some background knowledge about the case. When listening to the podcast, they reflect and compare the information they already have to decide whether to accept Seans argument or dismiss it. I am critical and love debating, which implies that I interpret the message from the point of critique and counterchecks all information to determine that they are free from fallacies before accepting the message.
In summary, the medium generates effects that are distinct from the message. A person watching a film has many signals of getting the themes but must look at the overarching meaning. Conversely, a person reading through a magazine while viewing the images gets a different perspective from the brand. For podcasts, listening and following up on the series while getting familiarized with the source of discussion is relevant in decoding. Thus, the form is vital in conveying a message to any audience.
Works Cited
Beauty in the Broken. Directed by Max Leonida, Summer Hill, 2015.
Elle: Black is Back. Elle Magazine, 2019.
Hannity, Sean. Constitution Wins. The Sean Hannity Show, 2022, Google Podcasts.
Robb, Michael. Making Media Literacy in America. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
