Week 11: 'Mobilising'

Kate Crawford’s ‘Noise, Now: Listening to networks’ draws attention to the constant upgrades, transitions and technological advances threatening the structure and functioning of society. It also touches on the present-day reality of social media and technology now controlling us instead of us controlling it.
I found the comment given by a gentlemen in Venice in 1899 from Crawford’s article to be quite fascinating, ‘the nearest motorized vehicle was far away, but sporadic outdoor conversation in the alley below my bedroom window… effectively murdered sleep’ (p. 65).
This same problem is demonstrated today through social media and networking. Taking place of people below windows carrying out real life verbal conversations are the mobile phone and laptop society utilizing devices containing many social media technologies such as twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Skype and a countless catalogue of other addictive and must have technologies, continuing to deprive people of sleep and rob them of time to live productive and fulfilling lives. From my own experience as an adolescent living through such a rapidly growing period of technological advancement I can recall many times of just scraping deadlines in VCE and suffering from severe lack of sleep due to procrastination and dependency on the many services the internet and mobile phones have to offer.
Crawford introduces the reader to Adam Greenfield, who jokingly proposes opening a café chain which contains technologies that block electromagnetic interference therefore no wifi, no web, no e-mail, which emphasizes the eeriness of us as human beings needing an outside party to control and limit our use of social media created by ourselves (p. 69).

Bibliography:
Crawford, K., 2010, ‘Noise, Now: Listening to Networks’ in Meanjin Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 64-9.
http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=201006209;res=APAFT

Week 10: 'Networking'

Paul Booths ‘Rereading Fandom: MySpace Character Personas and Narrative identification’ (2008), delivers the interesting concept of ‘transmediation’, a concept created by Henry Jenkins (2006) which, from my understanding is a mode of advertising involved with creating a narrative which is then dispersed through a number of different mediums to target a mass market of people.
Booths article focuses particularly on social networks and the way in which ‘using their own fan created texts’ has not only for the consumer but producer, reinvented the structure and practice of narrative reading and consuming as a whole. It also explores the new found freedom of fabricating personas through social networks and denying who you truthfully are to attain a deeper connection with particular television show, book or movie character/s.
This creation of something you’re not in order to fit in and have easy accessibility in doing so was a facet of this concept I found very fascinating. When thinking about school and even uni life there are countless examples such as dressing a particular way, making certain life choices such as drinking, smoking or even choosing who and who not to talk to which fall into this mould of deception and reconstruction to target the desired audience.
I think this idea captures the essence of transmediation and narrative construction and identification as a whole, as in order to target the audience of interest the narrative must converge with as many point as possible and involve the audience on a much more diverse level making it more than the earlier one dimensional system of producer and consumer but now a three dimensional narrative system in which the audience interacts and has control and identity within the narrative of their choosing.

Bibiolography:

Booth, P., 2008, ‘Rereading Fandom: MySpace Character Personas and Narrative Identification’ in Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp 514-536.

http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a904854605~f rm=titlelink

Week 09 media lit blog: ‘Othering’

Article: compulsory sexuality and lesbian experience

Adrienne Rich confronts a very sensitive and critical issue in her article ‘Compulsory Heterosexuality and lesbian existence’ which, looks at the idea of heterosexuality being the ‘normal’ way of life, as well as the way in which this norm has influenced feminism and the role of women past and present. She states that ‘’A feminist critique of compulsory heterosexual orientation for women is long overdue’ (p. 229). Through juxtaposing heterosexual and lesbian existence Rich points out that feminist beliefs and concerns have ways of limiting and disadvantaging women as a collective group and is in dire need of review.

Interesting generalisations in relation to lesbian relationships are critiqued in Rich’s argument such as the act of being a lesbian resulting from a bitterness towards men (p.229) I find the ‘acting out on bitterness towards men idea’ to be quite distasteful and inaccurate in generalising the motives and feelings of lesbians. A similar train of thought could be- the generalisation that all fat people are fat due to acting out on their bitterness towards thin people, which, of course is completely ridiculous and capricious generalisation to take up.

Jennifer Miller also known, as ‘the bearded lady’ is a person I thought was of great relevance to this subject matter. When asked in an interview ‘Why do you think people are so interested by that? (In regards to her refusal to shave/ remove her facial hair) she had this to say ‘Well it crosses gender boundaries, so that’s fascinating, that’s just endlessly fascinating. Why is it fascinating to people? I don’t know. It’s probably fascinating to people because we’re all in constant, if not battle-dialogue or interesting levels of interaction with the many sides of ourselves that might not always fit in our prescribed gender roles.’
The idea of ‘prescribed gender roles’ is a huge component of Rich’s contention, the idea of women’s roles being to satisfy men, men who have throughout history denied women their sexuality, confined, overpowered, objectified and withheld from societies knowledge and cultural attainments. (p.233)

Bibliography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoschCAdpjs

Rich, A., 1993, ‘Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence’ in The Gay and Lesbian Studies Reader, Routledge, New York, pp. 227-254.

Found on through http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://onlineres.swin.edu.au/572513.pdf

Week 08: 'Gazing'

In Debra Merskins chapter 'Where Are the Clothes? The Pornographic Gaze in Mainstream American Fashion Advertising' (2006), there is a clear and logical sequence of arguments relating to the central question, can codes and conventions of pornography be found in mainstream fashion and advertising? Which, Merskin confirms to be true. She also talks about the different levels of pornography and the way in which sexual advertising and posing is so ‘commonplace’ now we’re almost desensitized to it. While reading this chapter I found myself thinking back to my VCE art elective and 2 of the artworks and artists I studied, these being shown below. There is a clear correlation between these two paintings, which were both created by men might I add, and advertising campaigns today featuring women. Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (1510) created first depicts a sleeping Venus, Venus being the Roman goddess of love and beauty. In this depiction there is no eye contact suggesting she is completely unaware of the viewer and submissively lying there in what seems like a powerless and passive manner making her perfectly vulnerable and helpless in regards to the male gaze and abilities of men to do whatever they want to and with her. Merskin makes the same conclusion in regards to fashion campaigns of today explaining ‘the model is unaware of the viewers gaze, her eyes are usually closed, she faces away from the camera her body is open, her genitals are just barely concealed.’ (p. 210) which I found to be very interesting. She also touches on the notion of ‘while men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at.’ which furthermore suggests male control and dominance.
‘On the other hand Titians ‘Venus of Urbino’ (1538) portrays Venus and powerful and dominating making eye contact with the viewer as if to say, I’m aware you’re there and I’m waiting for you. In this time it was most definitely unacceptable and far from modest for a women to be reclining and unclothed in public. It’s useful to make note of the maids in the background searching for something to cover her up in and the dog lying on the bed, which was said to be a symbol of ‘unfaithfulness’ in the Renaissance art period. It was also unknown for women to have such power and control over men which, I determined could have been an unconscious rebellion of the time, a rebellion of what men wanted women to be like coming through in their artwork. This kind of advertising is apparent today in the ‘sex sells’ kind of advertising featuring women seducing the camera with their gaze and wearing little clothing. I think all of the above has great relevance to the reading this week as it shows the same ideas of gender coming through in today’s media therefore suggesting the same problems and restrictions experienced then are still evident in today’s society regardless of feminism and any other future ‘isms’ we try to use to overcome them.



'Venus of Urbino' Titian, 1538

'Sleeping Venus' Giorgione, 1510

Bibliography

Merskin, D., 2006, ‘Where Are the Clothes? The Pornographic Gaze in Mainstream American Fashion Advertising’ in Sex in Consumer Culture: The Erotic Content of Media and Marketing, ed. Reichert, T. & Lambiase, J., Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, Mahwah, pp. 199-217. http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://onlineres.swin.edu.au/522396.pdf

Kuhn, A. (1995). Lawless Seeing. In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds.), Gender, race, and class in media(pp. 271-278). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

'Sleeping Venus' Found on: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/v8oltWilmCcx7ondYmQ2VQ

'Venus of urbino' Found on: http://c41blog.wordpress.com/

Week 07: Watching

The idea of ultimate control and surveillance at all times has a certain eeriness and oppressive manner to it. Michel Foucault (1977) encourages the reader to question the roles of observer and the participant. This suggests power and control are a result of which of the two positions you are in. He also covers the idea of surveillance in general and the way structures such as the Panopticon which contains ‘so many cages, so many small theatres, in which actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible.’ (p. 200). The ‘actor’ in this case being a prisoner. The notion of ‘he is seen but does not see’ prompted me to think of my work environment.
Where I work the boss and owner of the store has a camera system set up in store, which has 4 cameras covering the entire area of the store. This system is hooked up to his computer at home meaning that at any time he could potentially be watching us from home. The fact we don’t know when he is or isn’t watching us prevents us from doing things we shouldn’t e.g. checking our phones or standing around (most of the time) because of the confidentiality of the observer. Although he probably isn’t watching there have been instances where he has caught people out meaning, we just assume he’s watching ALL the time and are reluctant to take risks.
‘The Panopticon, on the other hand, must be understood as a generalisable model of functioning, a way of defining power relations in terms of everyday life of men.’ (p. 205) When applying it to my work environment it is clear how the control and mastery of the survellience of his workers is what defines the power relationships between us and him.
It says a lot about the power of paranoia and it’s ability to motivate ones actions and suggests that maybe the greatest disciplinary tool comes in the form of the confidential and unknown.


Bibliography
Foucault, M., 1977, ‘Panopticism’ in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, translated by Alan Sheridan, Penguin,
London, pp 195-228.

Week 06: Speaking and listening

This weeks reading by Z Papacharissi (2002) touches on the idea of the public sphere as well as the potential advantages and disadvantages of us making the transition from face to face communication to the Internet, as our new medium for public opinion and rational debate.

‘The term ‘public’ connotes ideas of citizenship, commonality and things not private, but accessible and observable by all.’ (et al page 10) When referring to the Internets use for the ‘public’ its interesting to note that it is not entirely compliant with these terms. The Internet does in fact have ways of alienating particular groups through passwords and lock out systems. This demolishes the idea of citizenship, commonality and ‘accessible and observable by all’ as with different groups being excluded not everyone is on a level playing field. The fact that many people in the world also fall short of access to the Internet let alone a computer also adds to this sense of discontent with such methods. As well as this, the ability for users to be anonymous online removes incentive for being civil and loyal to each other and invites sinister notions of secrecy and deception being endorsed in an area already overpowered by conflicting parties trying all matter of tricks to get their opinions permanently approved. I feel the suggestion of the Internet being an advance in the public sphere to be a negative step and think in this case the saying ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it’, is suiting.

Bibliography
Papacharissi, Z., 2002, The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere, New Media and Society, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 9-27

Week 05: Mediating

‘Just Like a Movie”? By Geoff King (2005) inspects the barriers between reality and fiction in regards to news and cinema, and the difficult task of establishing a middle-point between the two conflicting parties.

9/11 is given as an example for comparison of breaking news, therefore reality, against cinematic constructions, fiction. The observation ‘to have this imagined fantasy of destruction realized in actuality was potentially very unsettling for those who might have enjoyed the fictional version’ (page 49), points out the idea of everything being light and exciting until it happens to you, in this case, happens in reality.

The view of such events being ‘the just desserts of ‘sinful’ American hedonism and materialism’ established by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (page 49) is an idea that attracted my attention, as I found it extremely offensive. My personal view is that regardless of ‘sins’ or crimes being committed, NO ONE should have to wear a punishment such as 9/11 or equivalent.

I think this idea alone has volumes to say about different peoples views on karma and influences of such views as well as the eye-for-an-eye notion and examines the cross over between cinema conveying reality and the effect this has on reality in actuality.

Bibliography:


King, G., 2005, ‘”Just Like a Movie”?: 9/11 and Hollywood Spectacle’ in The Spectacle of the Real: from Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond, ed. Geoff King, Intellect Books, Bristol, pp. 47-57.

Week 04: ‘Writing’

‘Writing’  Game, A. & Metcalfe, A., (1996) sheds light on writing and the array of mechanics and elements illuminated through it’s practice and administration.  It focuses on the process and journey of writing in detail and the use of writing for not just English and literal purposes, but creative processes in general, art and daily routine inclusive.

On page 98 of ‘Writing’ et al (1996) I found the mention of Cavalcanti, who wrote a sonnet in which pens and other writing tools addressed the reader to be quite interesting. The rhetorical question on this same page ‘are pens speaking any less metaphoric than writers walking simply because we imagine the hand holding the pen? Brought me back to an idea my year 12 English teacher proposed. He told us about a quote he had once read, the quote being  ‘If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.’ said by philosopher Ludwig Wittengenstein. He explained it to mean, even if we could understand what a lion was saying in plain English from another perspective we wouldn’t because the conversation a lion would have would refer to a lions way of living and seeing the world not a humans.

Alternatively to ‘pens speaking’ being less ‘metaphoric’ because pens are controlled by the hand, I found a correlation between the lions point of views appearing less valid simply because we couldn’t understand them and the pen speaking being a silly notion due to its inanimateness and human control.

I think these two examples point out and encourage writers to be more creative not just see and accept things for how and what they are in a literal sense but question why they are that way and how they can be changed or moulded into a more interesting and dynamic idea.

Reference:

Game,  A. & Metcalfe, A., ‘Writing’ in Passionate Sociology, Sage, London, (1996) pp 87-105

Week 03: 'Reading'

‘Screen narratives’ –‘analysing film and television’ informs the reader about the presence of narrative structures and styles present in media, in particular film, television shows and interactive digital media. The article informs the reader about how different structures are suited to different demographics which, in turn, impacts on the viewers interpretation of what they are watching. The technique of Structuralism which ‘attempts to disclose the deep structural architecture and patterns like binary opposition beneath the surface of the text’ ibid (page 162) is fluently examined and is a central feature of the article.

The discussion of digital game narratives on page (179) ibid, was a feature that I found great interest in, as compared to the other media structures, digital game players can, ‘become’ the central figure in the cinematic environment’ (page 179 ibid) and ‘become authors of their own multiple story lines’ (page 181) ibid. This suggests an element of control and structure perhaps not attained in reality by the player. An example I find relevant to this notion is the Virginia tech shootings and the many arguments in regards to video game subjectivity being a catalyst of the event.

Jack Thompson, an attorney for girls who were shot in a similar incident in Kentucky 1997, is a strong opponent of violent computer games as seen in this interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMGuh3_3JE

He reveals his theory that the game taught Seung Hui-cho (the shooter) how to conduct the murders with such precision. He announces that the games ‘drills you and gives scenarios on how to kill people’ The most powerful statement I got from this interview was when Thompson stated ‘video games are imitating life and then you get a bleed over of life imitating the art that he was into. This was all a game’ (4:33-4:44) which poses an interesting notion in regards to the media controlling us opposed to us controlling it.

‘The audiences active construction of meaning’ (page 182) ibid, in regards to the media they are consuming is interesting when studying such a case. It’s amazing how different screen narratives and the way in which different people read into them, can have such an adverse effect. They abuse the power they are privileged to through a digital alias, reflecting a grim and tragic situation in real life.


References:
Screen narratives’ by Stadler, J. & McWilliam, K (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMGuh3_3JE uploaded by 'FRONZ' On April 19th 2007

Week 02: 'Looking'

‘Introduction to textual analysis’ is an article concerning itself with how the tools learnt in media studies can lead us to gain a better understanding of the world. It points out that there are many ways to see one entity and emphasizes that there is more to interpretation than simply ‘seeing’  (R. L. Gregory page 1, ‘Introduction to textual analysis) It encourages the reader to see that one must delve beyond the surface to gain a worthwhile perspective and there are many ways in which to do so.

As Lacey points out ‘Different societies have a different understanding of the world because they learn about it in different ways’ (ibid. Page 7) I personally experienced this when going on a school trip to China for 5 weeks and living in such an unusual and diverse place in my eyes due to my modelling by the Western society and 'norms'. 
A large majority of people riding on bicycles opposed to cars was one thing that stood out to me as well as the dirty and bleak exteriors of many buildings with an alternatively spotless and meticulously kept interior. Compared to Western society the Chinese don’t see as much value in keeping the outside of their houses clean and the point of importance to them is a well kept and clean interior with an emphasis on removing shoes once inside and wearing 'inside shoes' which are not worn outside the home. 
From the eyes of someone simply gazing upon such traditions it would be easy to feel puzzled and slightly perplexed, it’s only when one goes beyond this initial sense of just looking they can benefit and gain further insight.