Fandom

Watching the video about fandom, I found myself being very judgemental. I see those people who basically devote their whole lives to something that is fictional. I did view them as loners who are socially handicapped and have to obsess over a certain celebrity or TV show to meet their needs. I think it is wrong for people to turn to the media for their own opinions and morals. I feel that people should get that from their personal experiences, not a fictional charecter's. But I suppose some people do not have the opportunity to learn for themselves, so they must turn to media. To a certain point, I can understand a degree of idolizing media texts, but not so much that it rules their entire lives. I think it is very unprofessional for someone like the juror in the video to wear her uniform to an occupation like that. People need to learn to find a "happy medium." They do not need to completely throw away their interests or hobbies, but when it starts to rule your life, I think it is time to cut back a little. But that is just my opinion.

Parasocial Interactions

I have seen parasocial interactions from people I know, but never knew the actual concept of it. I always looked down on people who practically thought they had a relationship with someone famous they have never even met in person. I just figured they did not have the right social skills to form relationships with others in their life and they were lonely. But I see it differently now that I know there is no correlation between parasocial interactions and a person's social skills or loneliness. Even I find myself sometimes leaning toward a parasocial interaction with certain celebrities. The celebrity I chose in class to evaluate was Josh Hamilton, who plays for the Texas Rangers. I was one of the highest scores in the class with a 79. However, I think it is more that I admire him rather than feeling a personal relationship with him. I have seen what kind of a person he is, and the things he believes in and works for. I guess it is easier than I thought to feel so close to someone I have never met.

Convergence

Convergence in mass media is really interesting to me. I notice it as a cooperation among media industries a lot lately. Any time an actor or actress has a new movie coming out, you will usually see them throughout other forms of media during that time as well. Movie stars appear on shows with Leno or Letterman all the time. I have also noticed convergence as a flow of context across multiple media platforms. Many movies end up becoming TV shows, and vice-versa. Several video games have evolved from shows and movies too. The "black box" theory has only come to my attention recently. The iPhone has gained a lot of popularity lately. It really is an amazing idea to have so many types of technology combined into one mobile device. Finally, convergence as migratory behavior of audiences has never really come to my attention. But after thinking about it, I see how true it is that people will do whatever it takes to get the media they want.

Conglomerates - Good or Bad?

During our class debate on media conglomerates, I thought a lot about whether they are more helpful or harmful to our society. My initial thought was that they are harmful in many ways, and I have not changed my opinions much. The biggest issue for me is the fact that conglomerates have the ability to basically control what the mass population takes in as far as media. This would be a useful power if their main goal was to better the society. But instead their goal is obviously profit. Now I have no problem with companies trying to influence people to purchase something, that is their job and it is necessary for them to survive. But when conglomerates, who only want to gain popularity and money, knowingly use their power to influence people to dress, talk, act, and be a certain way, I find that wrong. Adults do have the ability to think for themselves and make their own personal decisions, despite the massive influence and pressure put upon them. But conglomerates target children too. Disney and Nickelodeon are now influencing children more than ever, and they are even more easily persuaded than adults. I think if a conglomerate wants to influence the population like they do, they need a better reason than monetary gain.

Signs

One sign I chose to analyze is the PlayStation controller. Its denotative meaning is simply a device used to play PlayStation games. But I have recently noticed some other deeper meanings. To many, the controller itself is a symbol of video games as a whole. Every time I see a PlayStation controller, I think of video games, not necessarily just the PlayStation console. It is not only that way for me though. I have noticed that others use the controller to symbolize video games as well. A lot of cell phones use the PlayStation controller, or something that resembles it, to stand for their games application. Once I really started to think, it was easy for me to notice this connotative meaning of the controller. But others who do not belong to the video game affinity group may not be able to put it all together. Overall, I thought it was interesting how a simple controller for one specific gaming system has been chosen to represent all video games.

Media Log #2

After keeping a log of my media diet about a week ago, I did not like what I noticed about my habits. I was wasting a lot of time watching T.V. and sitting on the computer simply because I was bored. I decided to try to be more conscience of those tendencies and make some slight changes. After another three days, I looked back on how they differed from the first three. Overall, I cut my television time almost in half. My time spent on the internet and video games was about the same, but did not bother me because television was my main concern. I am still not satisfied though since I did not substitute that time for a better use of the media, I just cut it out altogether. Either way, it was good for me to use my time for a better reason than sitting on the couch. In time, I would like to focus on using more constructive media.

Un/True Myth

I think all of the six myths in contemporary media can be both true and untrue. For the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" myth, one person must overcome a personal challenge, which leads to all of the people around them overcoming as well. A lot of times this is the case. There are many stories of single parents overcoming the problem of raising a family along, thus the entire family succeeds. There are tons of other examples of this too. But in most stories, everyone usually does not overcome. There is often one or more people who still fail in their struggles, despite the influence of the first person. Since I first started observing this myth, I have noticed that the stories usually do not match the qualifications of the myth exactly, but they do have the same overall principles of the myth.