Reflection Paper- 11/22/2020

January 22, 2020

The Ending

Hey people, welcome back to the blog, with your favorite blogger, Noelle. Over the course of the past few months, I have gained lots of knowledge of media and its effects.  In learning things about media, I have looked over the roles that media has played in my life, and the more and more I think about it, the more I realize it almost consumes me.  Every time I hear a buzz, I immediately look towards my phone, for what I think is going to be only a second but ends up being at least thirty minutes. This happens not only when I hear a noise, but when I see a glow or am away from my phone for what I interpret as too long.  I never think of it when I have my phone, but when my phone is taken or is being unused, like during a class, I can see a drastic change in how productive I am and can be. It reminds me that I probably am not a procrastinator, but I am just someone who feeds into media. During nights that I have lots of homework or things that must be done, internally, I know that I should give up my phone, but the media and the way it is presented tells me that I need it to succeed.  If it was not for my critical thinking class, I may have never came to this realization and just felt that I truly needed it as I have never really analyzed the way in which the media presents itself. This awareness allows me to now be able to put my phone away when needed and remind myself that it will all be there when come back after a few hours. Previous to this class, I never really thought of advertisements as media, which now seems super silly, but I just thought of media as the social media that I used, shows and movies.  After analyzing and really learning about the media out there, I am now more aware of why I may feel like I “need” something, when in fact it is probably because the advertisement I saw for it told me that I would fit in or some silly thing like that. I have found that a lot of media and what it portrays is super obvious once it is brought to your attention, but it can be super deceiving. Keeping a journal of the media I see on a day to day basis reminded me of the ‘why’ in which advertisers put into things. Although a lot of my media blogs were on similar things, I think it really helped in that it showed I was making changes and slowly moving to being more aware.  These slow changes that are being made throughout my daily life enables me to be the best consumer I can be. I can make decisions about what I want, not based off of the way in which something is portrayed, but in what its true effect and impact it will have on my life. For example, a lot of commercials for Disney plus have been popping up, portraying that if I were to get it, I would almost become a child again as I can see all the things that I used to watch once again, not that I am not a child anymore, but you know what I mean, and if you do not know what I mean, I have just grown up more as everyone does as time moves on. Overall, the media does not seem like something that anyone would necessarily agree with due to all of the problems that it has, but it is kind of crazy that not many people notice any of the flaws in which it contains and think of media almost as a savior, and I am not saying that I am except from this although I am now more aware and am getting better about noticing the unjust errors in which media contains.  This shows how important it is for one to take a class or learn about media and its truths so everyone can be more aware and hopefully fight against these injustices. Anyway, I probably will not post on here ever again but it was nice writing and talking about media! Peace.

I guess I like Madison and Vine- 01/14/2020

January 14, 2020

Obsession of Madison and Vine

       Hey people, welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle. So I found something brand new that no one has ever talked about before. Just kidding, I bet I got you. But basically I was watching another great show, The Office, and I spotted Madison and Vine. Also, real quick, I know that The Office can be depicted as super degrading of women, but if you want to look on the bright side, I think it more so highlights the flaws in our society of the way lots of men treat women. By doing this is can open other's eyes up and they are having fun by doing it because its a show. Anyway, back to my Madison and vine thing I found in The Office during season two episode eighteen. During this scene Pam has a bag of Jolly Ranchers during a bring your kid to work day. A little bit later Pam gets the kids to talk to her. By doing this, it makes Jolly Ranchers seem as though their project will solve your social problems and will allow you to make more child friends. Kind of creepy right. This link might work if you want to buy the episode and see the scene that I am talking about. If you get scammed though that's not my fault, I have not used this website nor will I ever. Everything you do is at your own risk. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0779510/

Misrepresentation- 01/12/2020

January 12, 2020

Misrepresentation

       Hey guys, welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle. So in my critical thinking class, we watched this video about the portrayal of women in media. Something that was brought up about women in media was how women are less valuable after they have a baby. After spending time thinking over this topic that was mentioned, I began immediately thinking of the television show, Friends. Although I love the show, I cannot deny the negative aspects and stereotypes that it holds over many things such as gender roles. In the show, Friends, there is this specific episode that comes to mind where Rachel is pregnant and is not showing but when she goes on her date, she gets dumped because she told her date that she was pregnant. Just the thought of being pregnant over powered her personality as the man was focused on her body. A similar instance happened in a previous episode when there was some confusion and and she ends up talking with her ex, Tag, and he is telling Rachel how much she wants to be with her but the second she tells him that she is pregnant, he dips. This is just so degrading in that it presents women as worthless once they are pregnant or after they have had a child. It is extremely degrading as this journey a women goes through can be one of the hardest thing that someone may go through and it makes it seem like they are worthless during and after this journey. If you want to see this episode you can find it, it is season 8 episode 2. The link at the bottom is a more detailed plot description. Okay, bye. https://friends.fandom.com/wiki/The_One_With_The_Red_Sweater

Free Choice (Week 4)- 01/03/20

January 03, 2020

Analysis of a Show

       Hey people, welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle. So recently I have been watching Wizards of Waverly Place, and I have realized that a lot of their episodes contains messages relating to the time. For example in episode twelve of season three, "Detention Election," the children are having a school election for the different hierarchies that the school held. As the children are to vote, there are a few that decide that they do not vote because they think it is cool. In the end, the people end up voting. Their vote ends up making the largest difference. In real life during this time, there is a presidential election that is to come in a few years in the United States of America. This show is important to the upcoming event as it explains to the viewers, who are usually teenagers of this time who are turning of the voting age, so that when the time comes they can see that voting is cool and each vote truly makes a difference as seen in this episode. I found a link to this episode that you can click on at the end of this blog, but I am not to sure how good this link is. A better place to watch this episode would be on Disney, but you do not need to if you do not want to!

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50relz

Free Choice (Week 4)- 12/27/18

December 27, 2019

Madison and Vine Part 3

       Hey people, welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle.  So basically my sister and I love watching Just Go with It and while watching it I was telling her that I am sure there is plenty of things I can find and use in my blog. Turns out I was completely right because within the first few minutes I saw Madison and Vine pop up.  In this movie there was plenty of name brands that they specifically of that stores name that they went into.  One of the most prominent ones was from the brand Gucci.  They specifically highlight Gucci in movie by showing the stores name and when the two main characters leave the store holding a large Gucci bag with its name pointed at the camera.  By doing this they highlight that to be visually beautiful, happy, and to get what you want, you must shop at Gucci.  This is seen as after they leave the store Jennifer Aniston has a huge smile on her face and Adam Sandler is able to get this girl to go along with his schemes.  You can also see that after shopping at these stores, Jennifer Aniston is magically transformed into this woman of which is what society considers to be beautiful.  If you want to see the movie I think you should, but it is not for everyone so you may not like it but you can figure it out. There is also a link to her transformation at the bottom of this blog so you can see the beauty that comes from shopping at Gucci and the other name brands presented. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9jVNWurxVo 

Free Choice (Week 3)- 12/17/19

December 17, 2019

Madison and Vine Spotted Again

       Hey guys, welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle.  Today we are going to be talking about Madison and Vine once again because guess what, I have spotted it out while watching a show that is not that good.  The show that I had spotted it in was Fuller House during episode five of season five. During this episode, the mom, DJ, is trying to better communicate with her son and does this through playing video games of which is considered to be the best game and cannot be stopped playing.  Throughout the episode there is a clear view of one of Nintendo's new products, the Nintendo Switch, and even has multiple shots with the logo just out in the open.  Throughout the episode, DJ is able to communicate with her son and understand him better, and by them end they can confront each other with the issues they feel of which brings them closer together.  The message that is being presented is that Nintendo products bring families closer together and allow for better communication when played by all.  It makes viewers feel as though they may need this product to have a wholesome, family bond, of which otherwise would not have came without the usage of the Nintendo products. If you would like to watch this episode, please do it may help give more context as to what I am talking about, but also you do not need to and it was not that good of an episode. But you do you!

Grey's Anatomy (Week 2)- 12/9/19

December 09, 2019

The Meaning Behind it All

     Hey guys welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle. Today we are going to talk about Grey's Anatomy and the episode of "I want a new drug." This episode in particular has highlighted modern day issues such as addiction. As this crowd of people come into this hospital, all suffering of an overdose, it represents the amount of people who suffer from addiction yet are not given the proper help or care but are suffering in silence due to the wall the society has put up around this disease. this message is all being portrayed throughout this hospital as they cannot help everyone, the huge crowd of people come in and there are people who look completely normal, although they are really suffering. there is also a stigma around this disease of addiction that it portrayed as the wife of someone is suffering, but the father just becomes angry and hateful towards her rather than seeing that she needs help and medical treatment. This episode of Grey's Anatomy can be found in season 15 episode 1,if you would like to watch it to get a better understanding as to what I am talking about, but you do not need to. 

Madison and Vine (Week 2)- 12/9/19

December 09, 2019

Madison and Vine

      Hey guys welcome back to the blog with your favorite blogger, Noelle. So recently we have been talking about Madison and Vine in my critical thinking class. So basically, for all those who are confused, it is basically product placement. This is key in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada, in respect to the product placement of Starbucks. There are many more advertisements throughout this movie, although this is one that I found was huge but sneaky. Many scenes are centered around Starbucks as the the center of her plans as she must go there everyday to get her bosses coffee. In doing so, it allows viewers to see that this coffee from Starbucks is an essential part of her day and cannot be skipped out on no matter what. This further makes viewers feel as though Starbucks is super good and only the cool, fancy people get it, making them want it.