Post oNe. [1]

         In our past five readings, each piece has it’s own unique way of relating to one another through the power of media.  Each reading gave different examples of how the media has the ability to shape, mold, and brain-wash us in a sense into thinking a certain type of way.  

The term power can be defined as “the ability to do something or act in a particular way.”  This is the force that media uses to control our minds.  Bell Hooks’ demonstrates how stereotypes are perceived via media outlets. The term popular culture can be defined as “ the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture,” according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture.  

Hooks states “popular culture is where the learning takes place.”  If certain actions, behaviors, and/or beliefs are represented on TV, those naive and less knowledgable people will suck up those images into their heads and adapt them as their own.  Power fuels the culture to become popular.  She gives examples of rap music and the image the “Hip-Hop community” gives off to those who might not be familiar with that lifestyle (eg:white suburban kids.)  If you rely on straight media outlets to make full assumptions about different races, you will most likely come back thinking that all black people are criminals, all white people are racist, all Latinos are illegal immigrants, and so on.  Stuart Hall brings up how African-Americans have a reputation of being two things from the slavery era: 1) “innate laziness of blacks” 2: “naturally born to and fitted only for servitude but, at the same time, stubbornly unwilling to labour in ways appropriate to their nature.  Clearly those things are not all true, but the media has the power to make generalizations appear to be a false sense of reality.  

Aside from racism, sexism is an issue that has been around for years.  Sexism can be defined as “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.”  Bottom line is that when it comes to media, sex sells.  Half naked females who lack morals seem to hit the jackpot when it comes to getting the viewers attention.  As a consumer, who can be defined as “a person who purchases goods and services for personal use,” this is where they are most likely to spend their money.  Moral of the story:  SEX=$$.    Just as Berger states in “Ways of Seeing,” publicity is usually explained and justified as a medium which ultimately benefits the public.”  The consumers are being benefited by their sexual desires being fulfilled in fantasy form via advertisements, television, etc.  

According to Stuart Hall, representation is a complex business and, especially when dealing with ‘difference’, it engages feelings, attitudes and emotions and it mobilizes fears and anxieties in the viewer.”  This ties into a great point that Hall makes in his piece when he talks about pictures and their meanings.  Hall states “it can carry more than one meaning.  If you didn’t know the context, you might be tempted to read this as a moment of unqualified triumph.”  By putting a semi-controversial picture that could have multiple meanings reels the consumer in by catching their attention.  

This creates a spectacle, which is “a visually striking performance or display.”  How a picture is represented on a magazine cover could be have a completely different meaning when you read the story it is attached to.  It all boils down to the way you look at a picture.  The media often portrays women as objects, which is described as “a material thing that can be seen and touched.”  Of course women can be seen and touched (realistically speaking,) but the media tends to show a lack of respect when representing females. 

Pedagogy, the method and practice of teaching, enables young men to think it is acceptable to degrade women since that’s what they are taught on TV and in music.  Just as Kruger states in Remote Control, “but doesn’t so-called popular culture have the ability to do some of the same things: to encapsulate in a gesture, a laugh, a terrific melodic hook, a powerful narrative, the same tenuously evocative moments, the same fugitive visions?”  Kruger brings up female rappers such as Queen Latifah and Salt-n-Pepa and their movement of creative music to empower females, as apposed to being constantly degraded.  Woman DO have a higher calling than just cooking, cleaning, and giving her husband sex every night.