IWC Media Ecology

A Face in the Crowd

Radio was simply used at first to broadcast news live and entertainment came later. Either way, radio was the quickest way for word to spread at the time. Eventually, radio was soon overpowered by television, as seen in Standage’s novel. According to him, sleeping required less effort than the pervasive medium of television.

Lonesome Rhodes made the perfect star for both radio and television because he was a “man of the people.” He knew how to appeal to them, so he used these skills to build his crowd. Most importantly, he knew how to appeal to the female crowd, since they were the main listeners throughout the day. After pulling a successful prank on the local sheriff, he realized the power that he had in his crowd. When television came around, he continued to use his power. At first though, he did it to build up his image, such as helping raise money so an African American woman can find a new home for her family. Then, when advertising came around, having his face on an energy pill helped sales skyrocket. He knew what the people liked and what they wanted to hear. His ads are a good example as to how the media in this film is very American. As Americans, we want big. Go big or go home. If we don’t see that, then we don’t want the product. Not only that, but we, as a people, love our stars. If we see them promote a product, then it must be good. If Michael Phelps promoted a certain brand of swimming goggles, then many swimmers in training will want the same brand because of his image. We also are very willing to allow several celebrities have monumental things. Lonesome becomes a “national treasure’ and has a mountain named in his honor. In real life, Ronald Regan, who started as an actor, became president. History has shown that if it wasn’t for TV, John F. Kennedy might not have won the presidency, as many loved his image. Lonesome comes very close to entering the political party as well. However, once the public realizes that they have been duped, they immediately pull all support from a celebrity or a product. When Marsha turns on Lonesome’s microphone, and the audience can hear his true opinions, they immediately stop watching him and stop supporting the products he’s associated with. This would be the case today, if it wasn’t for the presidential election. When Trump’s face was in the media, about the latest scandal he did, he rarely lost an audience member. However, when fake news was released about Hillary Clinton, or when her e-mails were brought up again, everyone couldn’t stand her. Trump has simply too tight of a grip on the media from his years of experience being in it. Even when media tries to fight back, he already has appealed to such a large demographic of people that nothing can break him. He appealed to people’s fears and their anger. These are some of the strongest, and most destructive emotions in humanity. If you can do that, there’s very little chance of stopping it from growing.

9/27 Assignment

Either way you look at it, the printing press led to revolutionary changes in both the social and art world. In Burke’s piece, he states, “the church was the main source of information” (2). If you wanted to know something, religious or not, you would have to go to the church. Everyone went, so you would find out the local news by word of mouth, stained glass windows depicted Biblical stories, and the priest delivered sermons. Mumford states in his piece that, “the first application of printing was in the domain of art, the printing of woodcuts” (75). From there, printing would turn to manuscripts. Because of the printing press, people could read religious works, the daily news, and see art without having to travel every Sunday.

While the printing press did a lot of good, it also did a lot of bad as well. With it came the destruction of oral tradition, and the feudal system. Burke talked of how before books, news came in the forms of travelling troubadours, people travelled in groups with no maps, and scholars used “memory theaters” to remember vast quantities of material. With the invention of the printing press, the availability of books and manuscripts changed everything. Manuscripts of daily events could be mass-produced and hand delivered to people, such as the theses of Luther. Anyone could travel by themselves with the use of maps. With the production of how-to books, peasants could learn how to act like nobility, which angered the upper class. The common man was able to gain access to a culture he had never known before. Eisenstein also states that with books came the “silent instructor” (83). In medieval times, instructors spoke lectures in Latin, and students would have to follow along, writing everything he said. Naturally, that leaves plenty of room for error, depending on factors such as how fast the teacher was talking or how slow a student was writing. With books, there was no need to speaking aloud. Students could copy notes from them with ease. Not to mention, but books were available in many languages, which lead to Latin now having the status of a “dead” language.

9/1 Prensky vs. McKenzie vs. Betcher

Prensky argues that because of the Internet, the students of today have now become “digital natives” and that “digital immigrants”, who were not born in this new age, must devote their time and energy to keeping up with this new system. He argues that the same, current methods used for education will not work on these “natives” and that everything must be completely changed to match their needs. Betcher, however, argues against this case. In the second paragraph, he states that, “To be a native implies that you are not only comfortable, but knowledgeable about the culture in which you have grown up.” I have to agree with this statement. Seeing that I could qualify as Prensky’s so called “digital native,” I am not entirely native to this new, online world. I was raised in a household that used both past and current techniques. My parents and I read and studied with books and flashcards. At a young age, I only used the computer for Disney video games. I did not know about the Internet until a later age. Even today, with my Macbook Pro, I still do not know about everything the Internet has to offer, nor am I interested with all of it. Where my best friend is infatuated with new apps like Snapchat and Instagram, I either (A) do not see the appeal or (B) do not use the app with such enthusiasm and dedication as her. When my parents come to me with technology problems, assuming that I would know the answer, half the time, I do not. People much older than me seem like they are better natives than I am. I remember I was checking out a customer at work, and she was playing Pokemon Go as I rang up her purchase. We talked for a good while about where the Pokestops were and how to get certain Pokemon. Betcher agrees with this, stating on page 3, “I’ve seen 80 year olds who can surf the web effectively, use a digital camera, carry their music around on an iPod and use a mobile phone. And I’ve seen teenagers that can’t figure out how to Google a piece of information properly, don’t’ realize that Wikipedia can be edited, and have no idea how to listen to a podcast.” I didn’t realize that Wikipedia could be edited until seventh grade. McKenzie also states that Prensky’s argument is, “A rather shallow piece lacking in evidence or data,” on the first page of his paper. I have to agree with that. Prensky only talks about a certain amount of students who are into this new online world. He didn’t bother to factor that many students prefer learning the old fashioned way, with a textbook, pencil, and paper.