megan’s media rants

January 15, 2020. I recently saw an ad for pokemon go that was quite sad. It showed a man all lonely and depressed, finding a pokemon friend and going on trips to the park with him. That plus the music made it a super sad ad. This ad was saying to the consumers, 'Hey we know you're lonely, but do you know what? We have a small blue thing that can help you get through this hard time in your life and take the place of an interaction with a real human'. It's funny how many of the messages that big companies direct at consumers, are often kind of mean. Many are about being lonely, or ugly, and often try to target our insecurities. It's odd that those things work and we just let them make us feel bad about ourselves. Whenever you see a local advertisement for a store around you, they are always really positive and happy with lots of old people smiling. I think this is how all ads should be. We should try to bring out the good in others, not the need to be the

January 15, 2020. Hey blog. The amount of media I consume impacts my life because if you consume too much media, it can be hard to escape it. There is a point where the amount of media you are consuming becomes unhealthy and it can cause you to become almost numb from real life events. I once had a friend who watched a lot of murder TV shows and once we were watching a news cast where 6 or 7 people were shot and it had a very small effect on her. Being aware of the techniques used by advertisers certainly changed my interaction with media. Over Christmas break, I was at a movie theater and I saw an ad for AT&T. Instead of ignoring it like I should, I recognized that it was targeting adults with children, because it focused so much about family values. I actually enjoy the commercial part of TV shows much more than the actual show, because I try and point out which techniques are being used and which audience is being targeted. I also am able to understand that it is never just an i

January 12, 2020. Hey there blog. Today I shall talk to you about an ad I recently watched. This ad was for the 2020 IKEA catalogue. This ad was very funny, with the implicit message that no matter how hard your life is, IKEA furniture can fix it. Not only does this ad show someone who is alone and depressed, but it also shows that this catalogue can fix your relationship with your children, your spouse or even your relatives. The first shot is a man who looks dirty and sweaty with his house a mess. This shot is supposed to be relatable. But then he picks up the IKEA booklet and he is presented as clean and well dressed but also happy. Then people all over ask him how to fix their problems. This commercial implies that IKEA can get your life back together. This is a very smart strategy because some may believe that IKEA can fix their life, and if not, get a good laugh out of it. This also used an interesting technique because it never really showed how to fix the relationships, just

January 8, 2020. Wazzup blog? Today I'll be addressing the documentary we watched in class. The movie talked alot about how women in the media are fat shamed and told to change their appearance, while apparently there are no issues with the way men look. The question was brought up, is it better now? I think while it's not as  bad as it was, it's still not great. I got home last weekend and TMZ was on (which by the way annoys the heck out of me and I always try and turn off) and something caught my eye. They were playing a game where the heads were cut off from women's bodys and they were to guess who it was. This is already an offencive 'game' but the comments they were making about the women's bodies were so mean and terrible. Maybe the worst part of the whole thing was that the women were making a lot of the mean comments. We are already in a world where women are attacked by (some) men, I just don't see the appeal to do that to another girl. Also

Hey there. I watched the Democratic National Debate and these are some of the things I noticed about different tactics each speaker used. Biden: patriotic speaking for America and its people "we" pathos - people are struggling invest in future (pathos) (think of children) Sanders: talking for the working class helping people get jobs pathos - helping families ethos - everything should be fair Warren: patriotism - loyalty to country trust for the people ethos - ethics of making everything fair for all people pathos - talks about the children Klobuchar: going back to founding fathers/ our roots trust great diction and easy to understand ethos - what's fair Buttigieg: "we" loyalty to country and people ethos - in helping the lower class pathos - makes references to families and telling stories empowerment Steyer: right and wrong logos speaks simply and easy to understand ethos - experience in taking people like President Trump

December 5, 2020. Wazzup blog? Today I'll be talking about interpretation of books. A ton of amazing movies were previously books. But it is interesting to see how others interpret the books and how it's almost always different than what you imagined. For example, I've been reading the Harry Potter books recently and it's interesting to see which parts of the books were cut out from the movie for one reason or another or how the movies probably wouldn't make any sense without the prior knowledge of the books. Then, further down my wormhole of despair, I came across A Very Potter Musical, a componation of my two favorite things, Harry Potter and musicals. While watching it I was shocked by all of their weird but genius ideas. For example, the play took a look at Quirrell's life with Voldemort attached to the back of his head. I thought that it was a genius thing to write about because that thought never even crossed my mind when first reading the book. I just thi

January 4, 2020. Whoa, that is the first time I've ever wrote out  2020. But today I'll be discussing the song 'Don't you want me' by The Human League. So I was watching yet another episode of Glee and during alcohol awareness week, all of the students get ironically drunk. Two of the characters sing this song and I wanted to discuss the lyrics because they are kind of messed up.  " You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar  When I met you  I picked you out, I shook you up  And turned you around  Turned you into someone new  Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet  Success has been so easy for you  But don't forget it's me who put you where you are now  And I can put you back down too."  The lyrics of the song are not only offensive but sexist towards women. The male part in this song is basically saying that he got the girl success and if she doesn't take him back then he'll put her back on the bottom. This