Television and Fun :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A few decades ago television consisted of a small number of channels, today however there are more different channels than one can watch in a full day. Because a media company’s number one goal, like every other corporation, is to earn the largest profit possible, media companies use segmentation to target niche audiences. Moreover, fragmentation—the large increase in the number of channels—has also created niche audiences. So, what’s the big deal with fragmentation and audience segmentation? By creating niche audiences, both fragmentation and segmentation make advertisers’ jobs easier. For instance, if a company wants to advertise toys, then the company will buy airtime on the network Nickelodeon; since Nickelodeon has children’s programming. The creation of niche audiences produces certain social questions about free will and freedom of speech; because audience groups are created and constructed. The following paper wil l examine two cable networks, Comedy Central and Oxygen, to determine the effects of such programming.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First off, Oh! The Oxygen Network aired the film Whale Rider on the night of Monday, April 5, 2004. The following will be an analysis of the advertisements that were shown from nine to ten o’clock, and thus one can determine which audiences were targeted. Whale Rider is a film about a young Maori girl that wants to be the next leader of her tribe, but is at the same time shown resistance from her grandfather. Paikea, the young girl, wants to participate in the training sessions conducted by her grandfather; but her grandfather is old fashioned and doesn’t believe that a girl can become the chief. Paikea knows that she is destined to be the next chief and gets in trouble a number of times for her relentless attempts at trying to participate in the exercises. The movie has a subplot dealing with the relationship between Paikea and her father, but the film mainly revolves around Paikea’s struggle to prove herself worthy to her grandfather Koro. E ven though Paikea is much better than the boys at performing the ceremonial exercises, her grandfather is blinded by his prejudice. The film ends with a herd of whales being attracted to Paikea and getting stranded on the beach. Koro finally accepts Paikea’s destiny when she risks her life by riding on the back of a whale to direct them back to the ocean. The advertisements that were aired during the film included weight loss products—such

Discuss how this idea is highlighted in Arthur Miller Essay

Arthur Miller was a playwright who dealt with many issues and themes. His play ‘The Crucible’ involves a past parallel of McCarthyism in the form of the Salem Witch Trials. McCarthyism came about when a politician named Joseph McCarthy tried to cover up his shaping of an anticommunist policy by using scapegoats. In this play, a girl named Abigail accused almost the whole town of witchcraft. This happened because in her own cunning way she turned the accusation against her, created when some girls in the town becoming ill, and used a scapegoat to avoid being hanged. She had had an affair with a local towns-person, John Proctor. The play ‘The Crucible’ deals with many issues and themes relevant both then and now. Persecution and power are probably the most influential. Persecution, by definition, is the subjecting of a group of people to cruel or unfair treatment, for example because of their ethnic origin or religious beliefs. In ‘The Crucible’ all of the prisoners were persecuted by torture i.e. stoning, or by force i.e. being put in jail. Righteousness is a thing wanted by many humans, mainly religious ones, as they want to be seen as good in the eyes of their God. This can sometimes lead to the persecution and torture of others in order to do something seen as righteous. In ‘The Crucible’ the whole role of persecution in the trials raises the debate of human cruelty in the name of righteousness. As the persecution of the prisoners is not righteous in itself, the goal it is set out to achieve is. People’s minds work today as they did then. While they carried out hunts for witches to evict them from society, we today ‘witch hunt’ for paedophiles and terrorists to exclude them. We may think it is radical today to hunt down and kill people just because of what a culture thinks but we carry on doing it to a lesser extent today. The search to uncover paedophiles is a case where people want to know who the paedophiles are in order to avoid them and even hurt them and punish them for what they have done and to maintain a social order. Witchcraft is not a bad practice but the people back then saw it as Satanism although it was not. It was conceived from the fact that illustrations of the Wicca god were found, who had horns, and bared a strong resemblance to the Christian view of Satan. That is why which craft was frowned upon, and people were hunted down in order to stop public outrage. Wise people of the day, such as Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale, saw the absurdity of the ‘witch hunts’. They did not want to play a part in a system where if you confessed to being a witch, which was feared, you were set free; and if you claimed to be innocent, you were killed unnecessarily.  Among many others, these are the main sins committed in the play in this so-called holy society. Throughout the play, Abigail Williams had a hatred for Elizabeth Proctor, for she got to keep John. When Abigail realised that she held the power to destroy a person she quickly accused Elizabeth of being a witch, so she could have John for herself. However, John did not want to be with Abigail and so she ran away to avoid embarrassment and a revolt against her accusations. The innocent people who were accused of witchcraft had an obvious hatred for Abigail and the girls, as they had sentenced them to death. Abigail’s accusation of Elizabeth Proctor stemmed from the affair she had had with her husband. This showed John Proctors lack of self will with lust at the start, which he became to fear later. He feared that if he lusted after Abigail again he would have to stay with her and lose his wife and his clean name. Also he was disgusted with Abigail’s accusations in court and was disgraced that he even slept with her. Since Reverend Parris was appointed in Salem, he had done nothing but spend the collection on greedy things such as golden candlesticks. This was seen as valuing mortal possessions over God. With him being a Reverend it caused much uproar with Elizabeth Proctor and the whole community: Elizabeth † Pewter ones weren’t good enough he had to go and get gold ones†Ã‚  Her shock about the minister expressing such need for golden candlesticks was evidence to her denotation of greed and valuing possessions over God. Reverend Hale of Beverley was so proud of his reputation as a witch hunter that when he thought the accusations had got out of hand he wouldn’t speak up and protect innocent people. Rebecca Nurse likewise was so proud of her reputation in Salem that she would not confess to witchcraft to avoid being hanged. It was the extremely good reputation of Rebecca Nurse and her hanging that ended the madness. Abigail had sworn to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor and she did, but it was pointless as she had failed to see the consequences of her actions. John would never have chosen Abigail over Elizabeth whether she was alive or dead.

How Media Influences The Minds Of All Who Consume It

Identifying whether an audience is Passive or Active is not always as black and white as it seems. Scholars agree that an Active audience is defined as an audience member that is not simply receiving information and believing it (such as a sponge), they are active in their interpretation of the text, meaning they are able to dissect the text and come to their own conclusions. On the contrary, a Passive audience member simply soaks up all information shown to them in a media text without any user interaction, just as the creator of the media form intended. Different scholars have differing theories on how the media influences the minds of all who consume it, and it is impossible to tell which theory is correct. However most theorists agree that one theory may fit one audience member, but not the other. For example, one viewer watching a program such as 60 Minutes or A Current Affair may believe everything being said wholeheartedly and without interpretation, however another might be s keptical or decide to research the story for themselves. The three theories that are prominent when debating Passive vs Active are the Hypodermic Needle/Magic Bullet theory, Agenda Setting theory and the Uses and Gratifications theory. The Hypodermic/Bullet theory states that all media has a direct and un-interpretable impact upon whoever consumes it. â€Å"According to this simplistic paradigm, like a bullet or a needle, if the message reached its target its ‘‘effects,’’ typically persuasiveShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Media On Young Children, Teenagers, And Adults1297 Words   |  6 Pagespeople outraged by violence in the media. Whether in video games, books, radio, music, or television, there is always someone or something to blame for the violence. Violence is everywhere in the media , there is no disagreeing with that. Whether it be movies, television, video games, or music, there will always be violence, but blaming it on movies, television, video games, or music is not the answer. If blame needs to be placed why are the parent of the children who choose to commit acts of violenceRead MoreThe Effects Of Violent Video Games On Children And Adolescents Essay1325 Words   |  6 PagesOne of the hottest issues in the media in the past decade is violence in video games and how violent video games influence aggressive and violent behavior in children and adolescents. Some psychologists believe violent video games influence violent behavior in children through social learning and modeling behaviors after characters in video games that â€Å"glorify† violence and criminals (Schultz Schultz, 2013, p. 331). 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