Technological Changes

I believe that technological changes from men like Marconi and Sarnoff are what helped shaped the radio industry in the 1920’s.

                The technological changes started back when Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless radio telegraph that carried messages in Morse code. “This was the first practical use of the radio” (Media Now).  Another major technological change came about in 1916 when David Sarnoff “proposed a plan of development which would make radio a ‘household utility’ in the same senses as the piano or phonograph” (Media Now).

These two developments shaped the radio industry significantly. Marconi’s invention of the radio telegraph played a key role in the Titanic disaster. When the Titanic struck the iceberg it had to send calls for help over the wireless system. “Not only was radio crucial to saving many passengers, but it became central to reporting news about the disaster, which riveted people on both sides of the Atlantic” (Media Now). Sarnoff’s proposal changed the way radio was used in the 1920’s. It brought the radio into people’s homes in the sense of keeping them connected with the outside world whether it was with news, music, or entertainment.

Without the technological changes brought about by these two men the radio industry would have been very different in the 1920’s and I believe these men were also the foundation of the radio and how it has developed today. You have to start somewhere with inventions and I believe that this is where the radio industry started.

Cites: Media Now Joseph Straubhaar / Robert LaRose / Lucinda Davenport: Updated 2010

http://www.starway.org/Titanic/

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=264&ai=75187&arch=y&ssd=10/1/2008%2012:01:00%20PM

Cultivation Theory

I believe that the movie Tough Guise has helped me see how the Cultivation Theory plays out in our society today with men.  It has helped me see how games such as Grand Theft Auto show us that if you’re a guy you should be “tough.”

Cultivation theory is a way the media over time creates an image of what is “reality” in our society today. Cultivation theory suggests that overtime media can change the way we look at things because of how they are shown through advertisement or on television. The media is trying to make us believe that to be a man in our world today you have to portray the image of a so called “tough guy.” They make it seem like to be a man you have to be masculine and violent. Men today have begun to accept this theory because it is shown in all types of advertisement. Most men feel like they have to be buff and work out in order to be considered a man. They don’t want their friends to think that they are less of a man because they aren’t as ripped as they should be.

                In the video game Grand Theft Auto the men in that game are shown as these tough guys who steal cars and beat up people just because they can. They treat women badly and they use them for things they need. In this game the guys can steal cars or kill people simply because they want to. I believe the game supports the cultivation theory in the fact that boys who play this game get the idea that men should be tough guys and then they begin to adopt these beliefs and think it’s normal because it is shown in a game that they love to play.

 I believe that media can change the norm of society by simple over advertising a certain way as they have done with the males in our society today. I think that this type of media can lead to some of the problems we have today with domestic violence against women because men have seen it and they think it’s okay to show women that they are the boss.

http://favoniangamers.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/grand-theft-auto-iv-best-video-game-ever-made/ 

Framing in Advertising

    I believe this class has helped me see how the Calvin Klein ads have been framing the image of women today. They show us through their advertisements that all women have to be unnaturally thin in order to be beautiful.
    In our society the Media and Advertisement companies use their resources to portray an image of a person or an object; in a way that they think we should view it. Media framing is a way for advertisers to get people to think a certain way by how they depict images on television commercials or in magazine advertisements. Framing is a way to manipulate individuals into thinking they aren’t good enough simply because they don’t look like the ideal image that is being shown.
    In class when we watched “Killing Us Softly” it really made me think about how advertising companies have this set image for the way women should look. The Calvin Klein Ads are all very thin, super fit, and gorgeous women. Most of their ads usually involve women in swim suits or in a sexy pair of lingerie. They show women with barely any clothes on so they can show off their sexy figures. All their ads show us these women and make us think that we should look like them. They make women think if they aren’t a size zero then they aren’t beautiful, which is entirely untrue.
    I believe that some types of media framing like this one for example can lead to bigger problems such as girls developing eating disorders or getting plastic surgery. The media today doesn’t think about these things all they care about is selling products even if it means degrading the way women see themselves.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/06/23/2009-06-23_calvin_klein_tones_it_down_sort_of_in_soho.html

http://www.hilary-swank.org/updates/?page_id=454