Influences of Media & Pop Culture on Our Worldview.
Clever play on words. Commercial by head & shoulders. Doesn’t really sell the product, neither did I remember what product this commercial was selling later on, but still – it’s good for the creative mind. Those who need to create can always appreciate the different styles.
Click Below to see 2 of their commercials!
As almost everyone would agree, media has a huge influence on our thought patterns and the way we perceive the world. With the presidential candidates starting to gain more press, the bias found in different networks and media groups starts to become more visible. The bias of the media is always influencing us daily, it just happens to be more noticed this time of year especially networks like CNN or ABC (left) versus networks like FOX (right). The way we make decisions about who we vote for to how we live our lives to what is right and wrong is built upon what we see and hear.
Back in September 2007, Gallup surveyed the American voters and found that 45% said the media is too liberal while 18% said the media is too conservative. I fall into the 45% category so there is my personal bias! The sad thing is most of it goes unnoticed because we get so used to it that our standards of what is liberal and conservative shifts over time.
One way of determining the bias of media is to look at the people who make up those companies and publishes the material and their contributions to the political parties. The following are total 2008 PAC contribution figures and where the majority of that contribution went. I’ve noted the more well known companies. [Facts provided by opensecrets.org].
Media Industries
Books, Magazines & Paper – $12 Million [78% to Democrats]
Motion Picture Industry – $8.9 Million [89% to Democrats]
Cable & Satellite TV – $6.3 Million [63% to Democrats]
Music Recording Industry – $3 Million [79% to Democrats]
Television Production / Distribution – $2.3 Million [86% to Democrats]
Just wanted to share a great little short film. Created in 2007, students from a French Academy called Gobelins produced this short film called “Oktapodi”.
This is a updated post as promised!
We will do one better than most and do a top 11! In no such order whatsoever!
As a huge fan of art, design, and film, I decided that along with the articles, news, reviews of media I periodically post what I consider to be beautiful works of art. I will also post what I consider to be good clean, well done commercials or spots.
With the Olympics well underway there has been quite a few spots that were done beautifully and with class. With so much garbage that is thrown up in marketing and advertising I wanted to post a few videos that I personally appealed to me either artistically or simply because I found them well made. The commercials during the Olympics are often more wholesome with better messages than the type of commercials you would see during the superbowl.
Which one is your favorite? Got other ones you like not mentioned here? Please comment!
Sea Orchestra by United Airlines
• Beautiful. The mix of 3d and 2d elements make this video one to watch! The first time I saw this spot I was awed by its beauty.
Next Session: 8/22 @ 7:30-9PM
Gracepoint Berkeley Church – Alameda
2000 Northloop Drive. Alameda, CA 94502
Gracepoint Fellowship Church, a Berkeley church located near the UC Berkeley campus, is having free seminars / workshops called Life Matters. These are free courses that require no commitment or previous attendance. Some food is provided for free and the event is followed by a Board Game Night. They will have stack full of board games for people to stick around and play with one another.
The reason Gracepoint Berkeley Church’s Life Matter course is listed here is because they have a workshop called “More Than a Face”. This workshop address our media-based society and how the media shapes and affects our self-image. This specifically addresses how media affects the modern women’s self image. Though targeted to women, all is welcome. The will be showing clips from advertisements and movies and discuss the underlying messages that shape how we view beauty. These courses are also done throughout the UC Berkeley campus, in dorms and sororities.
A new report by Berkeley Media Studies Group, part of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, California focuses on the different methods companies use to advertise food to kids. It focuses on methods that have become popularized in the last two years such as the utilization of social networks. The main concern is that though mediums such as TV are somewhat regulated, but the online world still has no true regulations. Junk food advertising has been a huge concern and lawmakers have started to move to present a proposal to Congress to restrict junk food advertising. One author of the report says “With social networking, marketers are getting the kids to create the ads and share them with their friends. It is incredibly sticky and it is viral. Regulators need to understand that.”
On one side, we see life through the lens of media. We see love stories, we see excitement, we see happy endings. Then there is reality where there are life scarring break ups, daily boredom that drives you mad, and people who are not very happy with where there life is going. We watch, see what we want, expect our lives to be pan out in a similar way and when it doesn’t.. we can easily become discontent with what we have now. Why don’t I have this? Why don’t I live like that?
Last week I wrote a blog post on media’s affect on sexual freedom and how media glorifies the promiscuous, carefree lifestyle and how it has impacted our views on the merits of abstinence. Well on the other side of this lifestyle is the dark realities that go often unspoken. Scarred hearts, ruined lives, loss of trust in people after being hurt, and the big ones such as STDS and Abortion. The real life consequences that for some reason TV shows don’t like to highlight and if it does, the problem somehow wraps up in 30 minutes or an hour and all is good at the end.
There is a site called “abortionchangesyou.com” that has stories of real people and their real experience dealing with the emotional consequences of abortion. Some speak for themselves, others for a loved one. Either way its a stark reality check that life isn’t as simple as the fictional stories we see on our tv screens or movie theaters. It also gives a moment of pause for those battling between pro choice and pro life that amidst all the fighting and arguing, there are real people out there that we should be sensitive to especially as it has become such a prominent political issue.
Think: At current abortion rates, 1 in 3 women in the US will have an abortion by age 45.
My Child would have been 22 this year
As a teenager, I assumed legalized abortion was necessary for women to attain their educational and career goals. So it’s not surprising that when I became pregnant at 18, I had an abortion.I was completely unprepared for the emotional fallout after the abortion.
No one would argue that movies and TV shows have tremendous impact on our culture and our worldview. Where do you get your concept of courage? How about what an ideal friendship should be like? An ideal spouse? What is acceptable when it comes to violence or any moral decisions? What is culturally normal and not normal when it comes to how we treat different circumstances, especially circumstances we’ve never experienced but may experience in the future? Would you know how guns work, or how two lovers engage in love? Where did you (or your parents who told you) get the idea of “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything”? (Which I would argue goes against the grain of reality, though really nice to cling onto).
It has always been interesting to see how nonchalant viewers are to all the culture defining messages found in film. Either they don’t see it, or they don’t care. However when it comes to a faith themed movie, there seem to always be strong reaction. It is treated differently. Below are some excerpt from Breakpoint which describes this situation. Though the article itself is directed more towards Christian I found it to be an interesting read.
When the Christian film Facing the Giants came out in 2006, far more interesting than the movie itself were the reactions to it. Mainstream critics were almost universally dismissive—it “feels like an overly earnest church sketch of the type many evangelical congregations use as a teaching tool on Sunday between the worship music and pastor’s message,”
And yet some enthusiastic viewers unwittingly gave the impression that they had enjoyed the film because it was their duty to do so. That impression was perhaps best summed up by Ted Slater of Boundless, who wrote, “Let’s not knock a movie that encourages faith in God.”
Just wanted to let you all know that the onslaught video video link was fixed. If you find any other links not working please just leave a comment and it’ll be fixed right away.
For those who might not be familiar with the onslaught video, it is the one of the video that dove created in their “beauty” campaign where they tackle the issue of media’s influence on the perception of beauty. It followed a video called “evolution” that quickly went viral and had became a huge topic of discussion. It is a must-see video.
Note that you could click on one of the “categories” on the right to see the full list of entries by category. If you click on Video, you’ll see some great videos worth watching.
My Personal Favorites
Untitled – Great Video, beautifully made, wonderful story
Nickelback – Savin’ Me – Makes you think about the fragility of life. Puts life into perspective.
Please leave comments and share your thoughts!
Has anyone noticed that all media articles regarding teen sex, condoms and abstinence always emphasize and focus on the spread of STDs and nothing else? Editorials and commentaries used to make the case of abstinence as a moral stance or a wholesome alternative to the sexually active world we live in. It also focused on the emotional risk involved with premarital sex. Now our culture has bent so far into the realm of sexual promiscuity that the only way people could even suggest abstinence is by fear of STDs. If you are going to raise the sexual freedom flag, why is abstinence ridiculed while ones who “score” or get “laid” considered cool or great?
Next Session: 7/25 @ 8:30-10PM
Gracepoint Berkeley Church – Alameda
2000 Northloop Drive. Alameda, CA 94502
Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley is holding their Life Matter courses again. Couple new courses as well as continuation of several popular classes. The media class is unfortunately not available but has been replaced by class that would touch on very similar topics. It’s called “Analyzing Popular Culture”. This class will talk about the content and medium through which popular culture comes to us and shapes our worldview. Media obviously plays a huge part in shaping the way we view life, view others and our ethics.
These courses are free, requires no commitment, and food is provided. Nice. Meet friendly people and discuss important matters about life!
Several of these courses dive directly into the impact of media on our culture and our worldview. In addition to “Analyzing Popular Culture”, “More than a Face” deals with how Media directly influences our view of beauty and impacts our view of self worth. If you haven’t seen the fantastic videos by Dove in regards to the perception of beauty see our previous posts: Distorted Beauty in Media & Media Impact on Children.
Nielsen Online came out with a report showing that children consume more online streams and videos than those over 18. Kids 2-11 viewed an average of 51 streams and 118 Minutes of online video per person a month. Teenagers 12-17 watched 74 streams and 132 minutes of online video per person. The youngest group mainly watched children TV programming while older groups watched trailers, music videos and clips generated by other users.
| Monthly Online Video Consumption among Kids, Teens and Adults (U.S., Home Only, April 2008) | ||||
| Age | Unique Viewers (000) | Unique Viewer Comp % | Streams per Viewer | Min per Viewer |
| 2-11 |
7,966 |
8.4 |
51.0 |
117.9 |
| 12-17 |
11,632 |
12.3 |
74.2 |
132.4 |
| 18+ |
75,122 |
79.3 |
44.3 |
99.4 |
| Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus, June 2008 | ||||