Media Ethnography

For this week’s blog entry, I decided to focus on a thread that went on during Wednesday night’s final presidential debate between Obama and McCain. The setting of this chat is within a well known website for brides-to-be called theknot.com. There is an area for discussion, and a great variety of boards that people can chat through. Though most of the conversations are about everyone’s future weddings, and questions they have, a lot of the time the chats are not always wedding related. On the local Minneapolis board, which I have been a part of since I got engaged back in April, a vast amount of topics are discussed, ranging from wedding etiquette, to personal problems the women are having (i.e., a girl on the board’s fiancé was recently in a bad motorcycle accident, and it looks like he will have to be in a wheelchair for awhile. The other women on the boards have been helping her cope by letting her vent whenever she needs to, and have even put together a basket of stuff to help her and her family through this tough time), to the most recent political issues. On Wednesday, I decided to just “lurk” on the board, instead of being as active as I usually am, and just watch how those who were participating in the board reacted throughout this final presidential debate. The link to this specific thread can be found here.

During the Vice Presidential debate, many of the same users of this forum discussed how they thought the debate went and what they felt was ridiculous and what wasn’t. During this most recent debate, it is obvious as to which side the majority of the users are on, politically speaking. The women who were actively participating in this thread were: chaoticmum, woohoo2, kissinyou, Payne2b2008, Emma1125, LittleSweetie, LuckyNo7, Ahmed’s Girl, JenniferlovesJordan, jaimes57, ksugar526, anitalynn, and littlemissflip. All most all of these women are all members of theknot.com who post regularly throughout the day, but there are a few who tend to “lurk” more on the boards and only post every once and awhile.

I know from previous political conversations that the woman who goes by woohoo2 is more conservative than the rest of the board, and rarely criticizes Obama because she knows that the majority of the people who actively participate on the board are Obama supporters. So to see her comments against those who are clearly rooting for the DFL to win the election is interesting. Early on in the thread she says, “But he seems to be doing well when he's sitting. He's older, but then again you can't predict life. He might live to be in his 90's and with a sharp mind. Obama could have something unexpected happen and have his life changed. I don't put as much stock into age as others though. Nice way to dodge the question john. geez louise. I hope obama owns up to his commericals.” She never outright criticizes Obama without criticizing McCain at the same time.

The woman who goes by chaoticmum is the one who started the thread, and is very passionate about her political views. Even in her “signature” she has an “Obama Mama” bumper sticker. She is very up to date on what is going on in the political world, and knows where each candidate stands on the issues. During this debate, chaoticmum took to criticizing McCain’s physical features, along with many of the other women who took a moment to point out the excessive blinking that was going on during the debate on McCain’s side.

Near the end of the thread, anitalynn pops up and posts some of the points that she found to be very important, and discussed how and why she believed that Obama should be declared the winner for this debate. She says:

“I watched the debate over at my in-law's house. With 2 of their family friends- both are SD 41 DFL Party Chairpeople, and one is a teacher on top of that. We had a great time... :D Obama looked and sounded Presidential. He had clear, cohesive thoughts. He made statements, laid out a plan, had bullet points to support his plans. McCain had none of the above. I kept screaming at Obama during the whole talk about 'smearing' each other. McCain-Palin has been smearing Obama's CHARACTER. McCain-Palin's negative campaigns have not been about issues. They have been smearing and negative about Obama's Character. Obama's negative ads have been about POLICY. Obama has not smeared McCain's character, he's smeared McCain's POLICY. 2 very different things, and I wish Obama would have come right out and said it. "I, Barack Obama, have been releasing some negative ads about McCain's policy, because I feel his policy is flawed. I have NOT released negative ads about McCain's character, as he has done about me. McCain's runningmate, Sarah Palin, said I palled around with terrorists. Character misrepresentation and defamation. I have not participated in that type of negative advertising or campaigning" I'm trying to keep personal things out of it. Yes, McCain looks like an older Dubya, with his shaky face and shaky hands and constant stuttering and mouth opening but no sound coming out motions. It drives me nuts. His beady eyes and the way he can't open his mouth. BUGS me. That is not what I base my vote on... It certainly doesn't make me want to look at him for 4 years, but whatev. Obama laid out clear plans, clear intentions, and fully explained the basis of what he would like to establish when he is in the White House. I heard mainly avoidance and subject changing from McCain. I liked this moderator best - I like how the ground rules were established to help keep them on topic. Didn't work completely, but I like how Bob interrupted to explain - the question is this, how do you plan on doing this.” Anitalynn posts even more after this, and defends all of her points so that there are no misunderstanding as to how she views McCain and Obama.

After this post, littlemissflip jumps in to say that she believed that McCain did better during this debate than he had during the last 2. Anitalynn politely questions her, and they converse with one another on their opposing viewpoints.

In conclusion to observing this online thread, I like how this group of women can interact with one another and discuss touchy topics such as the presidential election coming up and stay civil about it. I have witnessed the members of theknot.com’s Minneapolis local board protect each other when someone new, or a mean AE (alter ego) pays a visit to the board. By being somewhat anonymous, these women are able to be more out spoken about their opinions and don’t feel like they are asking stupid questions. The more heated and popular discussion that happen on this board typically goes the same way. There are some women who will be very blunt in their responses, while there are others who will respond to people as they would in real life. I know for me, it is easier for me to have discussions with “strangers” over the internet rather than face-to-face because I am normally a very shy girl who would rather look at her feet then look someone I don’t know in the eye- let along divulge private information to a group of strangers. Through my observations, I have caught on to a pattern of how people respond, and who typically “rules the board.”

Who Decided that I wasn't Beautiful?

Since I have been very interested in the portrayal of women in the media since I started this class, I will continue on the same theme for this entry of my blog.

In the media, women are required to be an image of ideal beauty. They are supposed to be role models for young women across the United States, and show everyone else what Americans see as beautiful and what is not. Women are to be flawless and graceful at all times, and to never be seen in a state where their hair is a mess, and they are not wearing any make up. Women must also be thin. If they are naturally thick, then they must control and manipulate their bodies and eating habits to achieve the desired look. In my last post, I had mentioned the difference between how women were portrayed in the 18th century compared to how they are supposed to look now. Back then, women were glorified if they had some fat to their bodies because it meant that they were wealthy and could afford to eat more than what was necessary for survival. If you were skinny, it meant that you couldn’t afford to eat enough. Now days, the women who are looked up to by girls all across the United States are those who do not look healthy at all. Beach stated in his book: “these representations have resulted in adolescent females engaging in unhealthy eating habits, anorexia, and bulimia, with long term negative effects on their bodies” (pg.48).

In the world of sociology, the concept of how women are portrayed in the media is on the forefront of research. In one particular article, written by Jo Ann M. Buysse and Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert, they discuss women athletes, and how no matter how strong, or how well they excel in their sport, they are always women first. On the other hand, in men’s athletics, the sports stars are seen for what they do, not who they are. Buysse and Embser-Herbert wrote: “the reality of women athletes as strong, skilled, competent competitors is masked by media representations that depict them as good enough to compete against other women but never as good as the top men in the same sport” (pg.68). In sociology, researchers are concerned as to how popular media is affecting young women in regards to how they are portrayed. The message that the sociology discipline seems to be conveying from my limited research is that the medial portrayal of women has a general negative effect. While there are some aspects of the media that condones this kind of behavior, most of the media continues to advertise with the “ideal beauty.” They let everyone who participates in this specific media what is acceptable and what is not.


Constructions of Gender in Sport: An Analysis of Intercollegiate Media Guide Cover Photographs by Jo Ann M. Buysse and Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert, Gender and Society, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb., 2004), pp. 66-81

Looking through different lenses

To be honest, I was a little confused with this week’s post, because I am not sure if I am supposed to be summarizing the key points and giving examples for each of the different approaches, or if I am to be sticking to the two that I became an “expert” on. So, I am going to focus on my two approaches in hopes that I understood the post instructions correctly! The two approaches that I will be discussing are the psychoanalytic and the feminist approaches.

Psychoanalytic Approach: I thought that one of the best points to take away from the text regarding the psychoanalytical approach is that, “much of the focus of psychoanalytic analysis has to do with how audiences’ subconscious forces influence the subjective meaning of images” (Beach, pg. 40). The other key point from Beach that I feel is important to mention when discussing this approach is how students can apply psychoanalytic analysis to movies and films “by discussing the functions of desire and fantasy shaping their responses to film characters” (Beach, pg. 40). While I was thinking about how I would apply this in my own classroom, I started to wonder how truthful students would be, and how self-conscious they may become if they make a connection with a character whom is not universally desired. For example, if I had students get into groups to discuss their favorite characters after explaining that who they choose will often reflect their own desires to “be or become those characters,” the likelihood of getting honest answers out of the students might be difficult. Many may feel like they are exposing too much of their inner self to their peers if they reveal which characters they really liked or connected with the most.

Feminist Approach: The feminist approach seems to really go hand in hand with the psychoanalytic approach in Beach’s text, because there are many links to how people view the characters in ads, films, television shows, etc. While many think that taking a feminist approach to viewing media can be a negative thing, most people do not realize that feminism is not only for women, but to empower men as well. Just as women should not only be looked upon and judged by their looks (good or bad), men should not be made to feel like they must be muscular, and handsome to be viewed as important in society. I feel that the most important key point about taking a feminist approach to viewing media is that “gender performances are continually changing given historical and cultural forces is evident in men’s magazines that exclude the emotional side of males by emphasizing the assertive masculine side of males as reflected in magazines” (Beach, pg. 41). A good way to use this in the classroom would be to show artwork from older periods of time and compare them to clothing ads. Back then, the ideal image of a woman can be seen in Botticelli’s painting of the birth of Venus, where the women are not stick thin. Compare this to a fashion designer’s sketches, where the ideal woman who models the clothing is 6 feet tall and weights 110 pounds. You can see how hard it is to be a female or a male where all sorts of media are trying to show the public what is “in” and what isn’t.

I found both of these approaches to be very interesting and was able to connect each of them to how I would use them in the classroom. As for the psychoanalytic analysis, I thought that it was very interesting that there is “the need to move toward more acceptable, official femininity or masculinity” (Beach, pg. 40) because I remember reading somewhere that in television programs this year, there are more characters who are “out” or are openly gay or lesbian characters in these shows, and that people are still viewing and promoting these shows. Because of this, I feel that the media industry has made a lot of progress in accepting most people, instead of just portraying those who are straight, white, and successful.

Teaching Film Techniques

After completing the analysis of the commercial shoot by shoot, I found that analyzing the scene in the movie was much easier, and I was able to appreciate what all goes into a single scene in a film. There is so much more to watching a movie than just vegging out, and mindlessly watching for entertainment. While it seems like a lot more work to analyze a scene in a movie, it made the experience much more enjoyable after having viewed this film a couple of times without considering everything that went into this one specific scene. For those of you who are not familiar with this recent film, check out the trailer to get a better idea of what the movie is all about!
Film: Maid of Honor
Scene description: Tom and Hannah are meeting for dinner at a restaurant after not having seen each other for 6 weeks. Tom intends to tell Hannah that he is in love with her, but is dumbstruck when he sees that she has brought another man to the dinner. Hannah announces to Tom that she and Colin are engaged. Tom seems to be confused as to why they got engaged so quickly and is asked by Hannah to be her maid of honor in the wedding (because she expects that she would be the best man in Tom’s wedding some day). At this point he stands up and unintentionally pushes into the server, knocking him over, along with the dishes he is carrying to the other table.
Use of Camera: Circling the 3 characters at the dinner table as Hannah and Colin explain their quick engagement and the short time before the wedding. This use of the camera gives the audience the same dizzy feeling that Tom is experiencing as he’s finding out that the woman he loves is betrothed to another. Continues to circle in this manner until Tom is asked to be Hannah’s maid of honor. Then the camera does a close up of Tom.
This is use of camera technique adds to the romantic comedy’s larger purpose by helping set up the plot for what is yet to come. While we all know that Tom has recently figured out that he was in love with Hannah, we don’t know what is going to happen once he sees Hannah for the first time in six weeks. By giving the audience the same sick and dizzy feeling that Tom is experiencing when he meets Hannah’s fiancé, the camera use adds to the positioning of the audience. We all feel the same as Tom, and this makes us anxious to find out what Tom is going to do: Is he going to let Hannah get married to Colin? Or will he pursue her and try to win her away from Colin?
Lighting: romantic, soft lighting
Sound: Soft sound of the other diners at the restaurant and other restaurant noises
The sound and the lighting help give the scene the authenticity that audience is looking for in a romantic comedy such as Maid of Honor. If the lighting and sounds hadn’t been as they were, the situation would have felt unrealistic and would not have kept the audience’s attention.
Music: plucked strings, intensifies right after Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor when there is pause before Tom says anything.
The intensifying of the music during this scene builds some suspense, while the audience is waiting to hear Tom’s answer to Hannah’s question.

Teaching film and editing techniques will be helpful for students in my language arts classroom. The time that I see myself presenting this type of lesson the most is during a Shakespeare unit. There are so many of Shakespeare’s plays that have been adapted to film in many different ways. Take Romeo and Juliet for instance: This play has been made into two very well known films, created in very different ways. The 1968 version takes on a more traditional view of Romeo and Juliet, while the 1996 version has a modern twist to it. Teaching my students the different editing and film techniques would be beneficial because I can show my students two different ways of conveying the emotions and actions that William Shakespeare brought to the stage. Since these movies are so different, I would have my students take a specific scene in the play and compare and contrast how the two directors interpreted the scenes in terms of film techniques. Questions I could ask would include: Where were the scenes different? Where were they similar? What was surprising? Was there anything that you would change to make it easier to understand?

Shot by Shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4O4f6FKYyc&NR=1

Sprint Commercial: Crime Deterrent

Shot 1: Establishing Shot of Golf Course Locker Room
*Establishes the locker room as the setting of the commercial
Shot 2: 2 Shot of two men talking about the advantages of his phone
*Places the men as the main characters in the commercial
Shot 3: Close up of man in green and cell phone
*Places the cell phone in the center of the commercial, and shows that it is the product Sprint is trying to sell
Shot 4: 2 Shot of men
*Includes a comedic aspect to the commercial.
Shot 5: Computer edited
*Gives the audience the advantages to having a Sprint cell phone
Shot 6: 2 Shot of the men in the locker room, green man is recovering from the “crime deterrent”
*Reminds audience of the “other” cell phone company’s main redeeming quality
Shot 7: Computer edited
*Remind audience to buy Sprint

We are media learners!

At Hopkins High School, media in the classroom is used very often to enrich and enhance the students’ education in the basic grades 9-12 English classes. There are movies showed after the text to help students understand the difficult pieces of literature, and the teachers use different computer based lessons to improve the lessons.

In today’s world, “going back to the basics” is not an option for schools today. While there are districts, school boards, and parents out there who wish that media was not incorporated as much as it is in modern day classrooms, it is nearly impossible for students to learn as much as they once did in a world that’s technology is growing so quickly. While I am aware of the reasons why people may object to using so much technology and different types of media in the classroom, there needs to be a balance of how much is used and what it is used for. In the language arts, media is an important part of our students’ education, because today there are so many different types of literature. Literature is no longer defined as just novels, plays, and poetry, but it now stretches out to incorporate blogs, wikis, music, and even video games. By including computers in the classrooms, the teacher does run the risk of not keeping his or her students completely on task, but there are ways to make sure they do complete their work. Even something as simple as arranging the room in a U shape so that the instructor has the capability to see every computer screen can detour students from slacking off and looking at Myspace or Facebook.

Students today are media learners. There are so many ways to include the media in the classroom to enhance their learning. Students are exposed to over 6 hours of media a day, and many of those hours include multitasking by using multiple types of media at the same time (i.e., Listening to music while watching TV, or watching TV while on the computer), so as educators, we should take this fact into account that since the majority of our students have this much exposure that these daily occurrences will leak into their school work. To use media to our advantage, an example of something a language arts teach could do is to have their students create their own blog and require that they post on it once a week. Since many people are concerned that with technology writing the students will loose their basic abilities to produce correct grammar, or formulate a decent five-paragraph essay, those could be components that would be graded within their posts.

What we don't know about the media

For this week, I watched the videos Battlefield Minnesota, and The News is What we Make it.

In Battlefield Minnesota, the creator spent time meeting with each of the major politicians in Minnesota, and getting out the message to vote. Shakademic reached out to the youth in Minnesota by incorporating his hip-hop style with politics. I was impressed by the fact that he was able to get the normally stiff looking politicians to loosen up and make themselves seem more approachable. I also felt that it was important that he did not just show one party, but that he included representatives from both the Republican and Democratic side. I agree with Shakademic’s argument that it is very important for today’s youth to make themselves aware about what is going on around them in the political world so that they can make educated choices when voting for the next potential president of the United States. I agree with this because during the time Shakademic was creating this video, I was a new adult, who had also just turned eighteen just in time to be able to vote in the presidential election. Being at the University of Minnesota for my undergraduate degree was influential on my voting decision because I couldn’t escape hearing about political issues from my friends and professors. Though I do not regret whom I voted for in 2004, I do regret not doing enough of my own research on the issues, and if the young viewers of Battlefield Minnesota understood what Shakademic was trying to get across to our generation, they should get the urge to educate themselves on what they are really voting for.

The News is What we Make it was a very powerful and informative piece done entirely in claymation which tackles the ides of media conglomeration, and how they can skew the news and make it what they want it to be and what they believe the public wants to hear. The main character gets interviewed for one of the local news stations on her school’s new school uniform policy. When the story airs that evening, she is outraged when she finds out that the news station has mangled her message into the complete opposite of what she said in the interview. Upon complaining to the news host, she goes to the other local station to get her real message out, but they turn her away. After a night of research, she learns that most of the media is owned by a small number of large conglomerates. She gets her message out to the locals by ambushing the news host. This film brings up a big issue that most people have never thought about before. The average TV viewer believes the majority of what they see, and don’t think that the media would do such a thing as what they did to the main character in the short video. I know that they always tell you to never believe what you see on TV, but when you think about it, most media sources in the US are biased one way or another and will try to make sure that the news stories are in their favor. I took a U.S. Electronic Media course at the U of MN in the communications department, and while it made me a little more wary of how the media in the U.S. works, I still gave the media the benefit of the doubt in that they would present me with accurate and non-biased information. This film made me open my eyes even wider, and I am more skeptical of what the media presents to me.