Watching TV Watching

The last time I watched TV with a group of at least three present, Gossip Girl was on, and its viewers were very loyal. Being a stranger to most TV shows, I had gone to the student center with friends who are big fans of Gossip Girl. There were others watching as well, and most people were intensely involved in the characters’ interests and showed their excitement in the form of gasps and exclamations. There seemed to be a universal understanding of jokes and surprise for plot twists, based on the substantial fan base in the room watching the show.
I noticed that a few people right behind me had come sit down, assumingly to watch, but were annoying everyone by laughing and constantly being loud about something online on a laptop. Several people gave them unappreciated looks, including me. As the show turns out to be really catchy and dramatic, I too wanted to keep up with what was going on, even though I had only seen a few episodes in the past. The intense interest of most of the audience for the show resulted in aggravation at those interrupting. Other than the annoyers, there was only very little talk between the audience, and most of it was about the show. The purpose of such talk was to gossip frivolously about the characters and be as intensely interested as if they were real people. The show’s title is quite fitting, as it does inspire gossip.
Talk about the show inspires bonding in the audience, which is how watching in a group changes the experience of television. By watching TV together, people get the feeling of identity and “team” membership. There may be comfort in knowing that indulgence in an all-time favourite or guilty pleasure show can be shared among other fans. When the television is turned on, the unspoken rule is that minimal to no talking should be going on if a group is together, because the purpose is to have attention directed at the TV. This is fine, but one reason I’m not a fan of watching show after show is because too much attention paid to the TV can cause people to become antisocial, especially if they find their source of entertainment more appealing than their friends.

Feeling Hyped

When I go shopping in grocery stores or pharmacies, I often notice that tabloid magazines really get to me. I am such a fan of magazines, but not tabloids. It’s something about the infectiously irrelevant gossip columns and their pitiful content. I even understand the want and demand for gossip, but often the subjects of such talk just get under my skin, sometimes in an upsetting way. When tabloids thrive on constantly dissecting a celebrity scandal- bit by bit, week by weekly issue, of something trivial like couple’s fights and “Brangelina’s” child hoarding- it drives me up the wall. Especially since the creators of these ridiculous texts assume we aren’t intelligent enough to know that the same huge-name stars that are always “featured” with some new drama are paying publicists fortunes to keep their names in the media at all costs. The thought sickens me- on the celebrity’s part, the tabloid creator’s part, and on part of those who love to keep trash like this circulating by buying it.
For example, I can honestly say that most of the time, I don’t want to know what’s going on in a celebrity’s private life. I feel that the invasiveness of proclaiming family and relationship dynamics to the world in a tabloid is unnecessarily cruel and almost laughable, when you think about it for a few minutes. Of course it is wrong to pry incessantly and then make a living out of publicizing someone’s privacy. All the talk a few months ago about the death of John Travolta’s son and Jennifer Hudson’s relatives made me uneasy, but those topics are nothing compared to the recent child-crazy tabloids. For example, Nadya Suleman makes me livid with her psychosis and how she horrifyingly had in-vitro for more kids when she already had several, is unmarried and unemployed. I am in total shock that everyone has been thinking of her family as “cute” and special, when it is pretty clear that this woman has an identity projection of Angelina Jolie upon herself and needs help for her mental illness. The doctor who did her in-vitro should have his license revoked. These are intensely negative feelings, no doubt, but seeing such characters (often the same ones) plastered on tabloids all the time with the same stories repeated about them just makes me feel like someone is trying to dumb me down or is completely underestimating most people's intelligence and seriousness. I certainly cannot take exploiting seriously, and being bombarded by exploit tabloids is offensive.

Discovering Politics

Thinking of when I first remember seeing politics in the media takes me as far back as second grade. Being an avid fan of reading anything at age 7, I would often scan newspapers for something of interest and come across political coverage. A year later I began to understand politics, their significance to society, and that they were a frequent subject of the media. Without media messages I still would have knowledge of politics through my parents, who educated me about it around this age and whom politics are of great importance for. But media did help shape my interest about some political topics that could get controversial.
The TV news is frequently on in our house, primarily CNN, since we like to catch up on the news while too busy to sit down and read the paper (say, getting ready for work or school). In third grade one day, I listened closer to some of the political opinions of a newscaster, interested in the topic. Two announcers were commenting on a politician for something he was doing, what he stood for. I believe it was Bill Clinton with the subject of his second presidential term coming to an end. Because the announcers started to get boisterous and opinionated on it, the excitement was slightly infectious and it caught on to me too. Exposure to this is hardly intrusion, politics should get voices to rise because that what it’s about! Coming to a middle ground of what’s best for society based on different people’s opinions.
Eleven years later, politics remain very important to me. Knowing that some media like to present politics in a biased manner I try to stay away from those, and fortunately I can usually tell between facts in politics vs. embellishment. Without a doubt the media helps create interest and hype surrounding politics because it calls attention to what’s going on in the government. People who are ignorant about politics can still get a taste of it if they occasionally come across some media regarding it. Sometimes political controversies are silly to get all twisted up about, but I don’t blame media for creating that kind of attention because people really should be interested in politics. Rarely do I find a topic impossible to take seriously as I have a strong opinion on most political issues.

Seeing Gender

Even though gender stereotypes in media today are different from those infamously presented in the past, they still send messages about how a “true” man or woman should behave. We often look, shocked, at media images of the 1950s and older thinking of how sexist they are. In the pre-modern era, advertisements targeted towards women reinforced how they should aspire to be housewives and mothers, taking up duties such as caring for the home and children instead of pursuing “men’s ambitions” of a career. Other forms of entertainment media like movies and TV also showed set gender roles. Men were the breadwinners, women were subservient.
We have come very far from these ideals, and some of the boxes certain media like to put gender roles in have shifted. A factor that plays into gender portrayals is a recent obsession with delaying aging for both sexes, clinging to youth as long as possible as people today are marrying and having children at much later ages than ever before. Young adults also seem to stay in college well into their 20s and are in no hurry to get a serious job. In a youth-obsessed culture, there isn’t much room left to enforce gender stereotypes based on “home”, “head of the family”, and “raising the children.” Now the gender ideals focus amply on the differences in coveted lifestyles between men and women of generations X and Y.
I do believe that gender roles are not as set as they once were, simply because both sexes are part of the workforce. What it means to be “masculine” has therefore not changed quite as much as what it means to be “feminine” over the years. However, women are still used based on sex appeal to promote in advertising, for men’s and women’s products. Today’s stereotype for the male is that he should be suave, intellectual, envied by other men for a great job and the chic, sophisticated women he gets. The female gender stereotype is to be those women- ones that can do it all by juggling career ambitions, very lively social lives and sex. Because women today seek power like men do, some media suggest that it is feminine to dress and act in ways that draw attention to a woman’s strong sensuality as well as show her career power. By showing women in collared shirts, pencil skirts and heels in the office, looking beautiful yet commanding attention professionally, media today is forming a brand new ideal for what it means to be feminine.

Forming a Style

Having been in many situations and around many people in my life where appearance matters, I am defensive of clothes and the importance of the message they carry. It is an understatement that not all nice clothes mean whoever wearing them is “superficial”, because appearances do matter depending on the environment and situation that the wearer is in. Maybe in a perfect universe someone could always show up for work being underdressed and not be judged, but depending on one’s career it is usually best to be presentable out of respect and acknowledgement of coworkers, position, and the formality and seriousness of one’s job. What kind of message would be sent to clients or customers if they were to be met by someone of an important position in casual clothes like t-shirts and jeans? Incredulity would ensue if someone showed up to a cocktail or black-tie event like a wedding underdressed- it would show an assumed lack of respect.
Unfortunately, some people seem to think that dressing nicely is the opposite of having an individual style. This is often not the case and slightly more formal clothes only restrict what may look tacky in a certain situation; not necessarily restricting one’s entire style. I am all for individual style and think it should be fostered as a statement of one’s self. Designer clothes may understandably be controversial to some, considering where they come from, but anyone can wear less expensive items and still look appropriate for work or an event that requires dress-up. However, when it comes to pondering if a very individual look might be “in style” or not, deciding gets tricky.
Being honest with myself, there are times I covet clothes and a certain appearance, as do most people I’m sure, whether they like it or not. It is interesting to see how some people try so hard to be in style and some try specifically hard not to be in style, wanting to look different and often to project an attitude of “I don’t care about trends at all- just try to make me conform!” Of the two I laugh more at the former when taken to an extreme. A “chav” in Great Britain refers to a guy who thinks himself fabulous because he is decked out in several big labels advertising their logos in one outfit; a “chavette” is a female version. Occasionally around campus I’ll see a chavette and laugh at how she is trying way too hard to be trendy and show off that she can afford designer stuff. If someone wants to be taken seriously he or she should probably avoid either extreme of being a chav or a style rebel; both of these are “trying too hard” and looks that are effortlessly suiting tend to be better taken to. We learn to read people by their styles because looks represent what a person feels about himself and his environment. For this reason outfits will continue to be significant in society.

Interpreting Technologies

Of all the types of technology devices I can think of that exist today, none jump out at me more in terms of usefulness than computers. They have been around for a while, but they’ve come so far from their initial models, their intentions for us constantly growing and taking us very far as well. Although there are disputes as to who invented the first computer in what year and based on what definition of what constituted a “computer”, it is assumed that the first programmable computer was built from 1936-1938 in Germany and called Z1. The first digital computer was built from 1937-1942 at Iowa State University (then Iowa State College), and was called the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) named for its inventors, Prof. John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry. It weighed 700 pounds, had over 300 vacuum tubes, contained a mile of wire, and could perform 1 operation about every 15 seconds.
From Z1 and ABC until today, modern computers have gone through as much evolution as the human race. They are not even built the same way as their first ancestors. Computers have gone from being the size of a room to today’s claimed “smallest computer in the world”, the picotux 100 at 35x19x19mm. The first computers were basically experiments and not widely used, but they have gone from calculating and storing data to being used every day for the internet, research, medicine, science, art, and countless programs. Although the very first computers were not of great use and could only be studied by scientists, they fostered technology that lead to today’s computers opening up a world of possibilities to almost anyone, in unparalleled comparison to other media.
What my computer means to me is that I get to access a vast amount of information, explanations, opinions, ideas, and entertainment that I would have no access to otherwise. It allows me to reach people I wouldn’t be able to, to express creativity in a unique way through social networking sites, blogs, and the creating and sharing of digital art. I received the laptop I am writing this entry on as a 16th birthday present from my parents; until then I shared the big un-portable computer with them and didn’t have as much freedom to use it when I wanted. Getting my own computer for the first time opened up the world to me even more. I didn’t have to worry about how much time I was selfishly taking up to be online and write papers. I believe the affect computers have on most people today means these devices shape how they can view the whole world, have their voices heard potentially across the world, and participate in a number of engaging activities.

Reading Places

Because our lives are spent going from location to location, the message sent to people upon entering various places is more significant than we think. I notice now that messages each place sends are mostly very clear; I’m sure we learn at a young age to easily read places at once to know how to behave within the area. Or maybe we don’t even learn, but the knowledge of what a certain place is all about is ingrained in the mind, based only on recognizing the objects in the location, how many people are there, and what it looks like.
In fact, this idea seems probable to me when I think about when I was much younger and knew exactly how to behave in a certain place (although not always doing that). A few observations and I notice similarities in places of similar purpose that I hadn’t realized before. Most private places are small in size, meant usually for just one person and occasionally more than one (places such as bedrooms, bathrooms, spa-like luxuries such as saunas and hot tubs, and vehicle interiors). The more public the place in general, the larger it is. Parks, office buildings, shopping malls, and hotels are all public and spacious, especially if they are found within a city- also a location containing many more public places than somewhere suburban or rural. Backyards, beaches, clubs and parks are all places of leisure and are the most open, with little to no objects obstructing free range to let loose by running, swimming, dancing, or playing sports. Workplaces on the other hand, contain many manmade objects for workers to use. Factories, offices, kitchens and hospitals do not have large space and instead have machinery, desks, computers, and utensils.
It’s quite easy to see that if a place looks isolating it’s probably meant to be private; if it’s filled with manmade things the location is meant to be occupied by people using those things correctly while doing their jobs. What might not be as obvious, for example, is to know how to behave in a library. If someone were raised without ever seeing a library or knowing what it was, what would prevent him from being boisterous and distracting upon entering? Such a person would have to make a keen observation about the new place; a library is filled with books, meant to be read. And no one can read very easily if there is a lot of noise around. So, the person would need to infer that all the books, research tools and search engines found in a library would mean people go there to concentrate instead of socialize, being at their very basic quiet instead of loud in the environment.

Connecting with Celebrities

When it comes to how famous people are viewed and treated, I believe Celebrity should be one thing, and Politician another. However, as of late especially and to annoyance on my part, that line is being consistently crossed. It seems like Sarah Palin is frequently on the cover of People magazine, and the Obamas, as much as I am a huge fan myself, are being paraded incessantly around like Hollywood superstars. Although politicians should not be treated as celebrities, they often are. And the envy I feel for my family having seen/met Barack Obama in the past few days is as deep as if they had all met a mainstream Hollywood star.
For my parents, and for me in the summer when I work, famous politicians often become much less distant and we are able to meet them for visits and important conferences. But most people interact with celebrities in entertainment through the media, unless they happen to work with them just like my parents work with politicians. If someone is able to meet or see a celebrity for whom they have great admiration, it almost seems like an out-of-body experience even for grounded people. It seems so silly but I must admit I’m more “star-struck” than I think, because on the rare occasion that I’ve seen someone famous I’ve been left in awe. Seeing Sarah Jessica Parker on accident while filming her perfume commercial at Opéra led me to exclaim that I was so lucky, it didn’t matter if I never saw another celeb again!
Sarah Jessica has star power, just ask any of the millions of “Sex and the City” fans who love her for the cleverness, wit and high-fashion sense of style she embodied in the role of Carrie Bradshaw. But while she is the persona of a much-coveted New Yorker lifestyle, SJ provokes my interest through her other achievements. She has proved her acting skills by turning down countless typecasting film roles about a single woman in a cosmopolitan setting to take roles in independent, lower budget films very different from her signature Carrie. She also did more theatre acting when she was young and is married to Matthew Broderick, of whom I’m a fan as well. An “ordinary” person’s relationship with a celebrity is meaningful because often the celeb stands for something of great importance to the fan and embodies what the fan aspires to be.

Identifying with Music

Being an extremely broad subject with countless definitions, music is so integrated into just about everyone’s life that it’s difficult to determine one’s exact age upon first feeling the effects of it. Most people I am sure were exposed to music during infancy; this initial exposure and the health benefits that come with it being even older than the onset of memory. Speaking of infancy and early childhood, the music listened to during this crucial stage is even, at these early ages, a creator of identity. The lullabies and soft, maybe classical music often thought to be appropriate for children conjures images of fantasy and fairy tales, and children can pretend to be whoever they want to be (a princess, an explorer…) while listening to this music.
You or I might not consider it pleasurable listening to pots and pans clanging on the floor, a 2-year-old percussionist singing along. But it is music to him. During the onset of electronic music in the 50’s, composer Edgard Varèse had a definition for what he called “The liberation of sound.” It was “the right to make music with any and all sounds.” An important idea lies here. Of all the types of media that help create identity through how they are experienced, music is the simplest yet the most powerful, so powerful that a toddler can feel its affects and is even able to create it himself. That’s certainly influence.
I am sure that young children are aware of how powerful music is, because in my oldest memories this is the case. First seeking music at age 2, I took piano lessons and may have learned whatever a toddler is able to learn on piano. Unfortunately I can’t play the piano today. Around this age I developed a love of opera and attempted to “own” the music by “conducting” and singing along upon hearing it. To this day I love opera. But now my favourite is jazz, I love how broad it is. Without a doubt it shapes my identity because I believe it’s more open to interpretation and diversity than any other genre, and often I feel very changeable with different moods. For me, the type of jazz I hear can affect my feelings almost instantly and draw me in more than other genres do. I am a fan of almost all music, except for certain country, metal and pop- these genres rarely have any meaning for me, but all others I can think of I can enjoy for being able to relate to in some way.
My musical influences range widely as well. I play the clarinet and saxophone. Having lived in the Bahamas, Germany, Brazil and France I enjoy music from all of those places. I’m especially a fan of Brazilian artists such as Sergio Mendes, Ivete Sangalo, Cidade Negra, Jota Quest and Charlie Brown Jr. This type of music is rewarding for me because it’s a link with the country closest to my heart. A type of music that conjures images of a place and people, through its unique melodies, rhythms, and other dynamics is a quality that draws people to it.

Escaping

To describe the origins and purpose of entertainment, the idea of escaping comes to me immediately. Entertainment is probably just as old as the human race and is necessary for a sound mind and relaxed demeanor. It stimulates or sedates us, and in all cases I can think of, offers an opportunity for escape.
Escaping through means of entertainment can be quite powerful; media such as music, novels and film especially create ulterior environments in the mind. I believe there is an innate demand to escape occasionally, and entertainment is experienced because of a desire to experience, not a need to. An aspect of fantasy is definitely involved, but the main reason for escape is to take oneself away from the outside world for an enjoyable, personal experience of his or her choosing.
If entertainment had an “opposite”, it might be most of what has to be done in one’s everyday life that can be found boring and is done out of necessity instead of desire. This could have the reverse effect of escaping, it can be confining because the person doing the things he has to do doesn’t have the freedom of choosing what to experience and for what reason. On a larger scale, fantasy involved in escaping can mean different things for different people. Fantasy is always part of someone’s quest for a new destination through media. If someone is very unsatisfied with their life, chances are they’ll have more of a need for consistent entertainment of some sort through which they can transport themselves to a happier state of being.
Even though escaping is necessary, it is frowned upon at times for indulgence in a certain form of entertainment or for being experienced at the wrong time. A child will get yelled at if he is watching TV instead of doing his homework. Someone might wish that his or her friend would not listen to a type of controversial music nor to be as addicted to social networking sites as they are. Many of these media are also coveted because they can be so relaxing and require no work on part of the viewer but to simply watch or listen. Most people escape everyday, looking forward to their freedom away from mundane responsibilities and the “ordinary” in life.

Keeping in Touch

“Keeping in touch” with what goes on in the world provides indispensable information that is necessary to know in today’s butterfly effect of global affairs. I use the term butterfly effect (in which a small occurrence somewhere in the world can lead to larger repercussions) because we have easy access to the rest of the world. International relations of any one country to another are strong today, and any overseas decisions or affairs the U.S. decides to get involved with ultimately affects the lives of Americans in some way.
The media, especially the internet, is useful for keeping in touch with the world. Of course news in the papers is the closest to unbiased (although often small biases in news are unavoidable). I prefer to hear more about what’s going on in the whole world rather than just the U.S., so I try to keep up with that. I am lucky to have grown up with that interest; I’ve lived in 5 countries and most of my friends are from very mixed backgrounds or nationalities, so I also like to keep up with news for their sake. For example, my good friend who is half Israeli and half Brazilian temporarily served as a soldier in Gaza very recently for the crisis with Hamas. My parents who work for the government and are living in Frankfurt keep me informed on American political relations with foreign countries.
I like to hear about global politics most steadily as well as political affairs within our country. I also like to closely follow a presidential campaign, so up until the recent election I was watching very carefully to always see what was going on with the candidates and their parties. Despite the importance of the constant global news-flow coming our way, “getting away” from it all is also enjoyable in small doses. Many people have stressful jobs and are frequently tied to keeping in touch with family and the outside world. In this case quiet vacations and meditative time away from the blackberry, pager and internet is good for the health! Following global current events is a good idea as long as one can strike a balance, and is able to occasionally part from his or her PDA!

A Day in the Life

As I write this entry, music is playing from a YouTube video by Norwegian Recycling. The artist’s clever name comes from what he has done; he’s taken several popular songs that already exist and blended them well like a professional DJ. Whoever this young man is, he is probably well aware of the chord progression in a song having to match that of another, creating a mix that is pleasurable to listen to. I have no doubt that his exposure to a fantastic amount of media and ability to get music from multiple locations off the internet has contributed to, if not entirely led to, his talent for mixing these popular songs to create something fresh and new. He has done this many times, mixing new songs as well as older ones from the 80’s and 90’s.
The immense network of mass media today is available in some form or another to almost everyone in the U.S., certainly to anyone with internet. Norwegian Recycling is allowed to share his art with anyone who is willing to listen to his compilations thanks to the internet. My life would be affected most drastically by the loss of internet than by any other medium. I do not watch TV except very occasionally with friends who enjoy it, but thanks to the internet I can get my news as well as extensive forms of communication, entertainment and information. One cannot deny that the internet has helped global communication grow and contributes almost perfectly to modern life. Of course everything has its fallbacks, and it is an understatement to say that many things on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt and questioned. Appropriateness of subject matter on the internet leads to an entirely different subject and complicates how we should go about using this medium. For the most part however, I believe the internet is more beneficial to society than degrading.
As well as the internet, my preferred media includes anything that can be read, music, and talking on the phone! Yes, I am one of the very few in my generation who actually prefers talking on the phone over texting, instant messaging and emailing. I don’t get to read newspapers as often as I’d like, but I read my parents’ Washington Post when I’m home as well as the New York Times. I love magazines, my biggest media weakness. Cosmopolitan is my favourite, and now that my friends bought a subscription for me as a Christmas present I’ll be careful to not let it distract me too much.