Topic: Many scholars believe that we have moved from living in a "print culture" to living in an "electronic media culture" which is in many ways more similar to an "oral culture." They argue that people now get most of their important information from "conversations" on radio and TV. Would you agree or disagree with this? Why?
I think that I disagree with these scholars. While many of us receive information via electronic media, how many people communicate through conversations more than print/reading? I know that just watching students in class, so many people are communicating via text message and email. In my opinion, these forms of communication are forms of a “print culture” which we are clearly still immersed in. Even watching TV or the news, we have to read the TV guide to discern which programs appeal to us. We must read the sports highlights at the bottom of the screen on ESPN to find out how the competition is faring. We read the headlines as we walk past newsstands and tabloids in the grocery store to discover the new hot gossip and breaking news stories. On the news at night, they always have the important details of stories written on the screen so that we can comprehend what is going on in the world around us. They provide video footage and photos to help us understand, but we get the main points of the story from what is written. Even on the TV, our weather warnings are typed across the bottom of the screen. We are clearly in an “electronic media culture,” but I do not agree that our culture has descended the ladder back to an “oral culture.” Our culture has combined the best of both worlds to inform and reinforce what we know and learn everyday. Research shows that everyone learns differently. Some people prefer to read and memorize information, others like to hear what they are learning, while others like to learn in a more hands-on manner and see what happens. Our culture has combined all of these learning techniques to effectively transmit information to our society. We have not gone back to the “oral culture” of our ancestors; we have learned what works for us and applied our knowledge to create a hybrid culture of our own.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
UMSC blog 1: Twilight. don't judge me!
Hello to whoever on the world wide web might decide to read my blog! I am a senior at NDSU who has NO IDEA what she wants to do with her life! I just switched my major from Zoology/Pre-Med to Management Communications with a PR & advertising minor.
This blog is intended for my Comm 112 class… I’m hoping to exceed all expectations in this class. It would be a great start to my Comm. career!
Our first assignment: apply any analyses to and media artifact. This topic is broad, and leaves a lot of room for experimentation and fun for our first assignment… So here goes!
I’m going to make this VERY easy for our first assignment. The media artifact I have chosen is the “Twilight” saga by Stephenie Meyers (for those unaware of the growing epidemic of “Twilight”-obsessed young women – it is an intense romantic series about a vampire, Edward, and a 17-year-old girl, Bella, who fall in love and the trials and controversies they face). I will be doing a mythical analysis of “Twilight”
There are a few myths represented in the series. First, there is the obvious myth of vampires. Vampires are creatures that drink blood and apparently do not die. According to some sources they only come out at night, other s say that they will die if exposed to sunlight. According to Stephenie Meyers, they sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. Meyers portrays the Cullen family as a “vegetarian” family of vampires – meaning they drink the blood of animals instead of people. This myth might be brought in as a metaphor for what kind of people the Cullens are - they may have the opportunity to drain the life out of everyone around them, but choose to be ethical and let the humans remain alive. It might simply be a myth used to create the fictional and creative background of the story. We are never sure of a writer’s motivations for writing.
The second myth is one about werewolves, or shape-shifters. These are young men from a nearby Quileute Indian reservation that can morph into enormous wolves due to a genetic defect. This myth is employed to create a conflict between characters and strengthen the plot of the book. If there is one mythical creature, why not add another?
The last myth is that of a perfect fairytale love, that can last eternally. In the story, Bella becomes a vampire so the love will quite literally last forever. This myth is applied to maintain the rose-colored tint the whole story is lined with. It’s what we all want: to have a perfect love with a perfect lover who has all the time for us that we need and listens and cares about us, and that we are also fiercely attracted to this person and we work well together, and that we’re willing to push all boundaries for this love. In reality no person and no love is perfect. No one finds love that easily, and has it last for the rest of their life. It makes the readers feel nostalgic to believe that this could happen for a fictional character, because it gives them hope that they can still find this love. The truth is that love is work. You have to work hard to have a healthy relationship with a significant other and communicate well to avoid controversy and confusion. To be truthful, very few of us will push all boundaries for love, and it is impossible for anyone to be perfect, so a perfect love is an impossibility. We can keep trying, but until then – keep picking up Stephenie Meyers’ books and live vicariously through Edward and Bella!
This blog is intended for my Comm 112 class… I’m hoping to exceed all expectations in this class. It would be a great start to my Comm. career!
Our first assignment: apply any analyses to and media artifact. This topic is broad, and leaves a lot of room for experimentation and fun for our first assignment… So here goes!
I’m going to make this VERY easy for our first assignment. The media artifact I have chosen is the “Twilight” saga by Stephenie Meyers (for those unaware of the growing epidemic of “Twilight”-obsessed young women – it is an intense romantic series about a vampire, Edward, and a 17-year-old girl, Bella, who fall in love and the trials and controversies they face). I will be doing a mythical analysis of “Twilight”
There are a few myths represented in the series. First, there is the obvious myth of vampires. Vampires are creatures that drink blood and apparently do not die. According to some sources they only come out at night, other s say that they will die if exposed to sunlight. According to Stephenie Meyers, they sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. Meyers portrays the Cullen family as a “vegetarian” family of vampires – meaning they drink the blood of animals instead of people. This myth might be brought in as a metaphor for what kind of people the Cullens are - they may have the opportunity to drain the life out of everyone around them, but choose to be ethical and let the humans remain alive. It might simply be a myth used to create the fictional and creative background of the story. We are never sure of a writer’s motivations for writing.
The second myth is one about werewolves, or shape-shifters. These are young men from a nearby Quileute Indian reservation that can morph into enormous wolves due to a genetic defect. This myth is employed to create a conflict between characters and strengthen the plot of the book. If there is one mythical creature, why not add another?
The last myth is that of a perfect fairytale love, that can last eternally. In the story, Bella becomes a vampire so the love will quite literally last forever. This myth is applied to maintain the rose-colored tint the whole story is lined with. It’s what we all want: to have a perfect love with a perfect lover who has all the time for us that we need and listens and cares about us, and that we are also fiercely attracted to this person and we work well together, and that we’re willing to push all boundaries for this love. In reality no person and no love is perfect. No one finds love that easily, and has it last for the rest of their life. It makes the readers feel nostalgic to believe that this could happen for a fictional character, because it gives them hope that they can still find this love. The truth is that love is work. You have to work hard to have a healthy relationship with a significant other and communicate well to avoid controversy and confusion. To be truthful, very few of us will push all boundaries for love, and it is impossible for anyone to be perfect, so a perfect love is an impossibility. We can keep trying, but until then – keep picking up Stephenie Meyers’ books and live vicariously through Edward and Bella!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)