Kinga's+Journal+Entries

__My Experiences With Media__  We were asked to do nothing but simply observe the media around us for two days. I left class thinking: “oh that should be easy, I see billboards, I watch TV, and go on Facebook every day”. But very soon I realized that this exercise was a lot more complex than I had imagined it to be. On the first day, I took the subway downtown; while on the train, eager to complete my assignment, I made a point of observing the ads. Of course, these ads I saw everyday; however, this time I was more alert. I couldn’t help but wonder whether I happened to take the same subway car every day, or did whether all subway cars advertised the same radio show. Then, I got off the subway and made my way to an Indigo bookstore. I walked inside and was astounded by the amount of magazines and newspapers they had, so I spent some time before the stand. One magazine especially amazed me, not because of the quality of the articles, but because of its cover. A seemingly average girl was posing for the latest copy of "Teen Vogue" with the heading: “Lady Gaga’s sister”. My first thought was: "Hey I’d like to read that! I wanna know what Lady Gaga’s sister is like!" But then I thought: "They’re just using this poor girl because she’s related to Lady Gaga! They had even forgotten to mention her name." And with that thought in mind I ended up not buying this month’s Teen Vogue. I then browsed through some other magazines, and couldn’t stop wondering what percentage of these magazines exploited people or used shocking stories to sell sometimes millions of copies. In the maze of books I finally found what I had come looking for: a copy of Macbeth that had the original version and a modern translation as well. I picked the “No Fear Shakespeare” brand, because it looked the most appealing to me. Yes, //appealing//. I was sure that I had just been influenced by the media yet again. I paid for the book and the sales person had convinced me to sign up and get an “Indigo Card”. Within five minutes I was outside, with an Indigo bag and an Indigo card in my hand. I had just given my phone number and email address to yet another company that will keep notifying me about their new products and special sales. I was in a complete state of shock. Was this what one had to go through in order to purchase a book in the 21st century?  The next day I arrived home tired and I was further disheartened by the fact that I had to bend down to reach for a political campaign ad that was stuck under my door. I made a quick mental note to never ever vote for this politician! Inside my room another few surprises were awaiting me: my mother had gotten Bay and Garage coupon cards in the mail and decided to place them carefully on my bed. I wanted to scream in horror! Media really was everywhere. After the second day, I couldn’t decide whether the media was our friend or a creature taking over our lives. Was the media helping to get messages across, or was it the ultimate key to brainwash and manipulate millions of people? And if it //was// a way for mankind to share messages, //how much information was too much//? In my Media Journal I will be exploring some of these questions, hoping to find some answers.



__ "Peep Culture" __ The “Peep Culture” documentary had many interesting insights on our society, but I especially liked the part about Lisa, the woman who had just gone through a weight loss surgery. Lisa had started a blog in which she kept track of her daily life after the surgery. She got quite a few readers because of her shocking and emotional stories. Lisa in fact had created something to sell: her body. At some point she said something like: “I’m getting credit for having gone through all this suffering!” I found this point of view extremely interesting, because I started wondering about our own lives. Were we engaging in social networking to get credit for things we’ve done?

The “Peep Culture” documentary says that social networking actually helps people handle depression because they feel less isolated. I started wondering why we needed all these devices to keep us from feeling depressed, when centuries ago people survived without Twitter or Facebook. Perhaps we are getting so much information by constantly “peeking into others’ lives” that WE need to feel important by having other people peek into our own lives. But why share our personal stories on the internet? Well, maybe some of us just feel more comfortable sharing personal stories with strangers than with our own friends, who might judge us. And maybe some of us gain confidence by getting many viewers online. One thing is for sure: with all these new social networking devices available to us, we have easier access to “sell” our own personal products, our bodies, our lives, our talents. Social networking, and the sensation of peeping into others’ lives is still a book none of us really knows how to read and understand.



__ Popular culture: it is current/mainstream culture that defines our society .__ Therefore, it is fair to think of movies, websites, music, clothes, and electronics, but what about something that is even more important to us? //Our bodies//.



 That’s right, pop culture defines our appearance, our bodies; but most importantly our //weight//. Our current culture portrays the idea that "the skinnier, the better". But how many people really care about this new trend anyways? It’s our body, so we decide. Right?

Not exactly. We grow up watching TV shows full of beautiful, thin women and handsome, fit men and think this is what an average person should look like. Our celebrities are mostly beautiful and thin, and if they’re not, they are often ridiculed and go through painful weight-loss surgeries. We see diet plans in glossy fashion magazines, not to mention the diet plans on television: we therefore buy „fat burning” cremes by the dozens and pop our thinning pills daily. We are subconsciously manipulated into thinking that skinny is good. Therefore, we think it is //our// decision to get thinner. But who’s decision is it //really//? Did we all suddenly come up with this new trend that "skinny is good", or is it a new way for a multi-billion dollar industry to exploit us?

“Current statistics indicated that approximately one in every one hundred teenage girls may develop an eating disorder. Super models in all the popular magazines have continued to get thinner and thinner. Modeling agencies have been reported to actively pursue Anorexic models. The average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height. Some models go through plastic surgery, some are "taped-up" to mold their bodies into more photogenic representations of themselves, and photos are airbrushed before going to print.” (//The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders//. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. .)



 Why is it though that a few hundred years ago, "heavy" was actually seen as attractive? Well, the ir larger bodies were thought to show great wealth, as food was expensive. Then came the time when women were squeezed into their corsets. After that, we discovered the “miracles” of plastic surgery. And nowadays we’re just simply starving ourselves. What’s next; electronic corsets that only allow us to breathe every second minute? We can all just sit back and wait for the industry’s latest “ins” and “outs” to dictate our lives. After all, we’re all slaves of the fashion industry.

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Beautiful, thin Katy Perry encourages everyone to be themselves, but is her flawless appearance helping us accept our own flaws?

__ Celebrity Analysis: Lady Gaga __ Celebrities are kind of like the „Greek gods of the 21st century”. We love gossiping about them and we love hearing about their crazy mistakes. We look up to them and spend so much time thinking about them, yet we make fun of them and critisize them all the time. Celebrities are one of the most vital parts of pop culture, and define us as a society.

Lady Gaga is definitely one of the most controversial celebrities of all times. Whether we love her or hate her, she has truly taught us to think outside of the box and to be creative. Now, some people view her artistic innovations as a bad thing. I mean, do we really need to wear raw meat-dresses to get noticed? And have a different hair colour each week? Can one only achieve world fame by dressing outrageously? Should we be concerned, that one of our most well-known idols was going around calling herself "a freak bitch" and singing songs about Judas?



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Or was the Mother Monster unleashing our craziest, wildest fantasies? One can only guess what her complicated music videos are really about. But after having analyzed some of her videos and songs I have come to the conclusion that she is not randomly outrageous for the sole purpose of being random and outrageous. She has the most carefully thought out ideas for her videos and never forgets a single detail. Her videos, if we watch them carefully, tell us stories at many different levels. Also, her videos allow us to personalize her messages and turn them into our own stories. For example, in her her music video "Yoü and I", Lady Gaga goes back to her hometown because she misses her lover, who is also played by Lady Gaga in the video. This to me symbolizes that she found her "other half". Lady Gaga then tells us that this certain love of hers is an alcoholic and the music video suggests that the two have had an abusive relationship in the past. Gaga is wearing strange "mechanic bandages" as she marches back to see her love. This really made me think about why we tend to go back to the things that have been so bad for us. Then, Gaga goes through a strange surgery in the video and is finally molded into a mermaid. Finally, she wakes up in a bathtub with her love. This all sounds strange, but to me it makes perfect sense. Lady Gaga is reunited with her other half and therefore becomes an immortal, mythical creature.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">I think we should look at Lady Gaga as a walking metaphor, rather than judge her immediately. It is true though, that at times we cannot avoid thinking she has gone absolutely "Gaga" because of the way she dresses. Whether she’s just shopping in NYC, or attending a red-carpet event she is always a show-stopper. Gaga practically defines provacative, but that’s exactly why most of us love her: she dares to be herself and is consistent about her crazy style. In fact, she is so consistent that she inspires everyone. Ever since Lady Gaga entered the music industry, fashion has changed. Not only celebrites, but "normal people" are trying out more wild looks. This may sound strange but Gaga is exactly what our modern society has always begged for: a woman who creates controversy due to her appearance and influences millions of people worldwide. Whether this is a scary or an uplifting fact, we must not ignore her, because Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta aka. Lady Gaga is constantly innovating our world by being her crazy, unusual, wicked, weird "Monster" self.







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The rather interesting music video for "Yoü and I"

__<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Provincial Elections __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Elections are all about the right marketing decisions. Most of us don’t actually vote for a candidate because we truly believe that he/she will be able to represent our views well. We base our decisions on small things like: what their flyers look like, what the candidate looks like and how we heard about this politician. Elections in Canada resemble shopping at a mall: we "buy" the most appealing "product" by voting for it. During this years’ provincial elections I decided to pay attention closely to candidates’ flyers and analyze them. But after a while, I realized that there really wasn’t that much of a variety between the different candidates. One of them made me smile though. A "Micheal Lende" flyer was stuck under my entrance door, it was a normal flyer, with one twist: "Sorry I missed you" was handwritten on it, and signed by Micheal. That’s right, Micheal. No last name, just simply Micheal to make it sound more personal. I wonder how many of these he had to sign! If it was his handwriting at all... It made the flyer memorable because it was the most desperate flyer I had seen in a long while.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">After recieving daily flyers my mother still wasn’t motivated to go and vote, even though voting is apparently made "so easy" for us nowadays. This made me realize that the marketing for the elctions wasn’t done well enough and my mother was simply not inspired to vote for any of the candidates. Perhaps it is time for marketers to examine the real needs of voters and make promises that can actually be carried out. Otherwise politicians’ platforms are no more than a cheap version of fat burning creams: the only party to benefit from the purchase is the company, or in this case the politician.