Critical Thinking - Media Blog

Reflection: a thought, idea, or opinion formed, or a remark made as a result of meditation. Consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose. We have come to the end of a long journey. Surprisingly, I’m sad to see it ending. Writing these media blogs has forced me to realize how much media I consume daily, and how it impacts me in life. Let’s just say, I consume a lot of media. Between watching YouTube and TV, to seeing advertisements in my daily life, the amount of media I consume is large. Despite the fact that the amount of media that I consume has stayed the same after writing these media blogs, the perspective I have on the media is different. In a way, I have learned techniques to help me “break through the clutter” that is media. Although blogging about media didn’t really change my habits, I definitely became more aware when consuming media. For sure, when I am watching advertisements, I criticize them and am aware of the techniques they’re using to sell their product. No

I'm sure many of you have heard of the new Disney+ show that has recently ended its' first season: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series . In a nutshell, this show is about high school students who want to put on their own production of High School Musical at their school. Ironically, they also attend East High, the school where High School Musical was originally filmed. The show goes into the lives of the students, and the love triangle between the main characters. Now, although this show is cheesy, it is addicting for many people - including myself. Why is that? I feel like the popularity of the show is due to the sort of lovemark from the original High School Musical. A lovemark is a brand that creates loyalty beyond reason, and I feel like in a way, the original High School Musical film did that. Throughout my years of school, countless people have talked about High School Musical , and they are always surprised to hear that I've never seen it. I even al

This week in class, we watched a documentary called "Miss Representation." It was really impactful, and it challenged the role media has played in portraying women. In addition, it brought up the misrepresentation of powerful women in American politics. When I watched an ad for Curology, the customizable skincare brand, I noticed that many stereotypes that were similar to those in the documentary were being portrayed. The advertisement was simply of a woman trying out Curology products for the first time, and it documented her journey with the products. It showed the progression of her skin once she started using Curology products. First of all, I have never seen a Curology ad with a man in it. Although I could be wrong, and there could be Curology ads with men in them, I most often seen them with women trying out their products. This ties into the stereotype that women want to look pretty, and that it is important for women to have a good appearance. Since I haven't see

Whenever you watch YouTube, do you notice how there's a short little advertisement that pops up before you even watch the video? Moreover, have you noticed that the advertisements relate to things you're interested in? For example, as I was about to watch this one video on YouTube, and ad for a MasterClass with Itzhak Perlman, the aMaZiNG world-renowned violinist, popped up. Of course, since I'm a violinist, I actually ended up watching the whole advertisement, and I was intrigued. But that got me wondering, "How did YouTube know what ads I would actually watch and slightly enjoy?" Well, the reason YouTube knows what ads to show to its viewers is all thanks to data mining. According to Wikipedia, "Data mining is the process of discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems." This basically means that YouTube looks at all the videos you've watched and tries to show a

A few weeks ago in my Japanese class, we learned about an interesting topic - sumo wrestling! Throughout the week, we did many sumo related activities. At the end of the week, it all culminated when our teacher showed us matches between different sumo wrestlers and we were supposed to bet on which wrestler we thought would win. Let me just say - I did not do great, and I lost a lot of "money." (It was really extra credit points called *my teacher's name*-Bucks, but it was still disappointing!) Anyways, you're probably wondering, "How does this relate to media?" Well, when watching the opening ceremony, my teacher explained how all the wrestlers walk into the ring wearing an apron. The apron they wear basically shows their sponsors and who supports them. I immediately thought that this was a form of guerrilla advertising! Guerrilla advertising is when a company uses surprise or unexpected interactions to promote a product or service, and it's a ty