I have included the following videos for your learning pleasures. As you watch them, please be mindful of the following prompts:
- What criticism does the video make of the mass media?
- What conflict exist between the mass media and its public?
- What traits/features of the mass media does the video highlight and attack?
- What are your thoughts on the videos?
I invite you to post your comments on these videos for our sharing and discussion.
Thank you and best regards
Mr Low
Video 1: The effects of the mass media on American women
Video 2: The Hypnotic Effects of Television & The Mass Effect
Hey peeps,
ReplyDeleteHere's a jizz of what i think:
The first vid's practically stating that mass media has invaded our lives. With the youths as their target age-group, most of the time are spent on TV indulgance rather than on studying.
Besides, it highlights on the stereotype that the public have which is: Male> Female.
This is evident from the larger percentage of male character in ads, movies etc. Or the roleplay of the different genders in the show.Male(Lead) & female(supporting role)
Also, it's addressing the irony that magazines is setting. They are supposingly sending a message of not judging ppl on looks, but they are focusing on beauty and fashion.
The video is attacking on flaw of the MM. It shows lack of good role model for the teens with the tabloids and articles of rehabs of the teens idols.
Nutshell, MM can influence the upbringing on one youth. Sadly, the females are largely affected by the media.
i agree on what faizal has said.The video is stating that mass media is affecting teenagers especially in terms of academically( 5 hrs a week and 20+ hours on tv) and also in social lives.
ReplyDeleteFrom what i hear,i feel that the mass media has affected the people socially because it can simply shape the conditions to be a pretty lady where slim artises are often featured
with pretty clothes and accessories adorning their wrists,necks,etc.Also,i feel that mass media is affecting the lives of the not-so-skinny ones(as featured with the girl walking past the plumb one,laughing at her).Thus,i feel that the mass media can inculcate wrong ideas into vulnerable young minds
In conclusion,i feel that mass media really plays a big part in our lives.It can effectively shape and affect our opinions over something,and this shows that mass media really cause an impact towards our lives.Even though mass media brings the audience entertainment,i feel that we should not be overdependant on mass media as it can bring us negative effects.
[ i hope im not talking crap]):
Hi WY and Fai
ReplyDeleteI think you both have raised excellent points. Certainly, the MM has - and will continue to - influence and impact its target audience's POVs. The best example perhaps is women and body image. Think of all the ads promoting a culture of 'silm-ness', and think of who these ads are directed towards, and ask yourselves how do these ads convince and persuade its target audience to 'buy' their POVs?
Indeed, the important question now to ask is:
WHY DO WE LISTEN TO THE MM? WHY DO WE TRUST THE MM
Well, I definitely dont have the correct answers to mr low's question but here's what i think:
ReplyDeleteWhy do we listen to the MM?
Like it or not, MM has become a major part of our lives. It is unavoidable. With MM intruding our hearing and our sights, we cannot not listen or even see it, unless u put yourself in a room with no doors and windows because the moment you step out of your house, you can probably already hear your neighbour's radio or television blaring. Besides, it only seems the right thing to do to listen to MM in this modernised society. Imagine you were to tell someone, "hey, i dont know what's the internet," the person might either think you live in the mountains or has travelled to the present from ancient times.
Now why do we trust MM?
I think it's more like a 'no-choice' thing. If we do not trust MM, what else can we trust? Ourselves? When we ourselves know nth at all? Unfortunately, ppl take MM for granted too much. The problem is, many ppl assumed that whatever information MM provides is supposed to be true and unquestionable. However, they did not realise that the truth can be distorted along the process by the 'producers' before the info is presented in front of the 'consumers'. Like what the guy in the last part of the 2nd video say, info in MM is merely controlled by 'repeaters'. eg, anchorwomen deliver whatever scripts they have, and these scripts are in turn written by the source makers, whom got their news from the reporters and so on and so forth. information may be lost, added or RE-edited in the process.
p/s: sorry if my post is too sarcastic or draggy, got slightly carried away. (x
Hi Xiu Zhen
ReplyDeleteCertainly, the characteristics of the MM make it irresistably persuasive and convincing. So what are these characteristics then? =)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletesorry! accidentally posted it when I haven't complete ._.
ReplyDelete#1. WHY DO WE LISTEN TO THE MM?
Basically, we now live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities.&because mass media is one of the space-shrinking technology that had been introduced since 1920s, there is no way to draw a clear line between us and the mass media.
Also, advertisements can be seen everywhere on the streets. We buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings, we make our buying decisions based on what we think is the best.It's very easy to get caught up in the emotions of these news&ads, especially when the media is cultivating those emotions to get the response they want, either consciously or subconsciously.
#2. WHY DO WE TRUST THE MM?
The mass media is all around us. Even leaders in many countries are using it. Especially in political campaigns, where mass media is used as a platform to deliver speech &important messages to the people.
This makes people to be reliant on the mass media.
Besides, to get an unbiased view on world issues, there's no other way to collate all information from everyone except by using sources from the mass media which can get hold of the latest news at lightning speed. This have effectively cut down the production time where today, people often equate time to money. :D
thats why we HAVE TO trust the media with no alternatives available.
BUT NOW!
So what if people are dicussing&debating on how wrong messages are the mass media delivering to us? Do THEY themselves try to stay away from mass media by locking themselves up in a cave at some rural areas ?!! haha :D
After watching both videos, I felt slightly disturbed.
ReplyDeleteFirst Video
The first video talks about the effects the mass media have on teenagers, especially girls. It is difficult to imagine how images in a ‘box’ can actually be so influential and scary. This can be seen from the way girls are being portrayed by the mass media in this video, which shows us that information on television can cause one to stereotype, judge and look down on others.
Second Video
I found the second video very intriguing and it left me with something to think about.
The part that struck me the most was the part whereby the narrator says, “the system is controlled by what I called repeaters”. I have to agree that the mass media indeed make use of repetitive techniques to “hypnotize” the viewers. I feel that the mass media has the power to spread messages by just merely repeating it (be it in newspaper, television, advertisements ect,). By just simply hearing messages that are being repeated over and over again, our minds can be conditioned to (subconsciously) believe and accept what the mass media is promoting without questioning the reliability or credibility of the source. I think that this is what makes the mass media such a powerful and sometimes controlling tool. Therefore, we should not take for granted that all that we hear or see in the mass media is correct and accurate.
Hey guys,we have been talking so much about the negative effects of the mass media. Why don't we change the topic a bit to the positive side?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily that the mass media is very useful for us to understand what is actually happening around us;all those things that could actually affect our lives. Take the recent economic crunch as an example, the mass media such as television, newspapers and radio has enabled us to keep ourselves updated on the latest happenings.Well everyone today is affected by the credit crunch and I am very sure each and every one of us has the strong desire to want to know want has been going on.
From here, we can see that the mass media has greatly benefitted the mass populace on the latest information.
However, one thing I must stress is that we have to have the capbillity to differentiate out the biaseness of the mass media. It is very crucial that we retain our own judgements and not be swayed by any views from others
I'm suddenly very 'slapped-awake' (pardon my tenses i don't know which is it HAHA) by the videos, I realize that we are ALL victims of the mass media. I say victims not necessarily meaning that the programs, advertisements or shows/movies all adversely impact us, rather, as the second video suggested, they have hypnotized us. Hypnotizing us into believing that all the information shared on the television is real, credible and always right.
ReplyDeleteThe first video is talking about the impacts of the mass media, especially emphasizing on stereotypes, the society being highly sexist and more. I think that it is true to a certain extent, given the examples provided in the video(male characters more than females, even in cartoons, etc). Also, there is all the 'propaganda' about NOT being prejudiced against horizontally challenged people, or against people whom society does not accept(those they themselves deem as 'not pretty'), yet MM in terms of television, magazines, actually have their own biasness. They show pictures of skinny celebrities, or advertise about slimming pills(TO GAIN PERFECT FIGURES) but if they ask us not to be prejudiced against them, why make them feel upset about their own figure, 'forcing' them to change it?
I don't know if i'm making sense but that's how i feel :/
The second video is about hypnotizing the consumers(of TV or just the MM). I think it is very true that the methods the MM use WORKS, (Eg the News host looking into consumers' eyes). This is very scary, it has gotten me suddenly extremely afraid of the MM, influencing us, providing us with information that may or may not be credible..
We mustn't take the MM as the greatest way to get info, or learn about global happenings. And, they are not always accurate. Thus, we must take things with a pinch of salt when it comes to the MM.
Both the videos shown seem to be very critical toward the mass media. The first video is showing how female teenagers nowadays are being influenced by the mass media in a bad way(e.g. average teenager spends 20 hours a week watching TV, and only 5 hours a week doing homework, etc.). The second video adopts a rather harsh tone and shows us some rather extreme examples of the negative influence which the mass media has over us(e.g. Broadcaster interrupting another person talking about what the Bush administration would do if someone was found out to protest against the Iraqi War). The speaker at the end of the video even goes as far as to call the material given by the mass media as 'propaganda'.
ReplyDeletePersonally I felt that both videos were a little over-critical in their attitudes toward the mass media. Sure, the mass media may have many flaws, as shown from the examples/statistics given in the videos, but I feel that the mass media can also be beneficial to us in numerous ways. Both these videos provide a very one-sided view as to what the mass media is about and its effects toward us.
i feel that these video really show the true MM,it is really true that many parts of our lives are spend on watching videos, commercials, and advertisements. It just shows how people are easliy influence by the MM, wherever people can get in reach with the MM.The mass media targets on the obvious things, they show only certain behaviours to make people think that this is how you should behave.It does effect people's behaviour when they grow older.Due to the heavy influence of the mass media,our lives are effected by it, for example, what we wear, what me eat where we dream to go and how we behave have all been effected by the MM.i feel that majority of the people feel that the mass media is always right, as they feel that since this piece of new is broadcast everywhere, it should be right. however sometimes what the MM says may not be correct all the time and therefore many people take in wrong information sometimes.
ReplyDeletei somehow feel that the first video is so true,all the models are so perfect on screen it makes people envy and jealous and causes a lot of distortion on each person's self image.
The second video was really disturbing, i felt that the video itself was kind of hypnotizing me, and i found it irritating due to the way the narrator was narrating that whole video.It felt like a true hypnosis video talking bout the hypnotic effect the MM gave.So scary,so sorry mr low, i close it half way.
WHY DO WE LISTEN TO THE MM?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it's the only medium where we can get information widely around the world, where else can we get this information from? In additions, humans living in the 21st century are now talking about efficiency. MM has provided us with the ability to acquire essential information at the fastest speed, without it, we may need to take maybe 1000years to know what had happened 100 years ago around the world.
WHY DO WE TRUST THE MM?
Certain information that we got, at the start we roughly know what is definitely reliable and what is maybe reliable or maybe not reliable. For example, when the news in the TV show us a video what's happening in recent SiChuan earthquake, we knew it cant be false, thus trusting it. However, gossips reported about celebrities, people will definitely not have 100% trust on their information. Therefore, we must judge and process it before even trusting the MM.
*Hmm, i was just wondering...what if we do not have the MM now to listen to?*
I feel that someway or another, the mass media is therefore known as mass media because it is catered to the mass, which refers to the public.
ReplyDeleteThe MM, especially the television is so powerful because it is a tool for communication, for entertainment and for news update. In today’s society, every household owns at least one set of television, simply because it is an easy way to catch up with the world around us with just a click. Moreover, it is easy to operate, to access and is a simple way to kill time.
Of course, this is provided that television has the ability to capture our attention and makes it a irreplaceable tool in our life. This is usually done by featuring beautiful people such as the Hollywood stars. Being superficial beings, we are easily attracted to the glamorous photos and would most probably want to stay tuned to view the next episode. (I am one of the victims!) Other than that, we also turn on the television to update ourselves on the current world affairs, for purposes like preparing for General Paper (haha) and maybe for stocks update, because almost every event could affect the whole stock market.
The first video shows how mass media is stereotyping people, for example gender discrimination like “Mr muscle” and dramas with guys doing the leading role while females doing only the supporting actress.
Secondly, mass media has also sub-consciously affected the way how we think. For example, like how has the media portrayed that being thin is being beautiful, which is obviously untrue. But probably due to peer pressure, together with other forms of the mass media like magazines which are constantly surrounding our lives, we have slowly accepted their ideas. In some way or another, it is similar to the way how Joseph Stalin had controlled the Russians, making Russia a totalitarian state. Because Russia is so tightly controlled under Stalin, that historians even named it a Stalin’s Russia! Also at that time, Stalin had also carefully used the mass media to foster a cult of personality, portraying him as a great leader, a furher of the state. Even though he was not even a bit similar to the personalities he portrayed to the Russians, people believed in it. Through these examples, it already shows how powerful mass media is.
Hope that I'll make sense=X
After watching both videos, I realised that one can not fully trust the mass media (MM). What we see, may not always be the wholesum truth. There are plenty of loopholes in between, which we are not able to see directly.
ReplyDeleteFor the 1st video, it is said that children are being exposed to all kinds of commercials before they even attend kindergarten. Too many mixed views will affect the young minds of the children. Male characters in cartoons outnumber female characters. Now, what is being portrayed here? That male are superficial, as compared to female. Putting this mindset in children at such a young age will really cause harm to them when they grow up, as they may become sexist. Sitcoms protray the importance of finding love, being accepted, being successful and being funny in life. Also, 70% of the content in magazines for young adults focuses on beauty and fashion, while only 12% focuses on important issues, such as studies and career. If children watch such programmes and read such articles, they will naturally give more importance to their beauty, than their careers. Many fret so much about this statement : "Fit in or fail miserably".
As for the 2nd video, it is talking about hypnosis. Unknowingly, each and every one of us are being hypotised every day(be in while watching television, or playing computer games). The purpose of hypnosis is to create an unified mindset among everyone, making them all think in the same way. I am against this as this restricts people from expressing themselves freely.
Also, a shocking truth! Journalists do not REALLY know what is going on in the real world. They are merely repeating what public figures have just told them, for them to tell us, the public. Journalists do not check and verify if the information received is bias or not. They ASSUME that whatever information receieved from public figures is always correct.---> Propaganda!
Hence, in conclusion, I believe that one should not soley rely on the mass media for information and should not trust the mass media blindly
cheers, shelveen :)
Both videoes, in my opinion, are totally one-sided, which strongly argues about the harmful effects of the MM. For the first video, the target group would be the teenage girls which they mention about the alarming statistics and the MM portraying sexism in almost every medium such as American children programmes and action-packed movies. The second video, the speaker mentioned that everyone's just doing their jobs and hence, we are constantly brainwashed by the MM. The MM gradually changes our opinions, becoming our listening point.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the MM has also inevitably provided more information of beauty/fashion as compared to school/career due to the preferences in the teenage girls in America. Obviously, as a profit-motivated producer, he/she will just provide more beauty/fashion tips. Futhermore, MM has created a mentality in females that not having a good body is the end of the world.
Why do WE listen to the mass media?
ReplyDeleteIt is almost impossible to avoid the mass media. We have entirely no choice because the mass media is affecting us in any other way during our "awake" hours. Be it walking down the streets or watching television, the mass media is engulfing the whole society. Advertistments and more that can gradually change our mindsets and you would not realise this change till you think about it. The world now is based on technology, communication, speed. We dont have a choice to avoid the mass media, neither can we not live without it.
Why do WE trust the mass media?
Just one reason, just because we have no other alternatives to get information. Everybody is reliant on the mass media, be it whether its the truth or the "truth", we still get information about the outside world. It's only a matter of choice whether we want to believe it. In conclusion, I feel that if one relies on the mass media, it is down to having his/her own judgement according to what information he has been "given".
Hope someone knows what I'm saying.
Hi everyone, Sean here.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing the two videos, I became more certain of my theories on the mass media, knowing that there are also people out there who share the same opinions.
In the modern era of the mass media, the mass media has the power to distract, convince and most importantly, they have the ability to transmit propaganda messages. If the propaganda message is beneficial, naturally it will have a postive impact on the society, however, if the mass media is used in the incorrect way, there will definitely cause the consumers of the mass media to either doubt their own beliefs or ideologies.
On example is seen in the first video which shows how teenage girls were affected by the programmes shown on the television. The programmes aired on the television cater to diffrent age group, hence the mass media is able to attract a person to watch television right from birth. With such a feature by the mass media, the mass media therefore could determine how the character and mentality of a person should be just by airing programmes according to how they want their consumers to behave. For example, the mass media would like to ensure that the television rating would be sky high all the time, therefore they would be airing programmes that convinces people that the mass media is reliable and entertaining. Such an action would thus, instill beliefs into the minds of consumers especially children who are more innocent.
The first video also did mention about magazines affecting the way how teenage girls judge themselves. As mentioned, attractive women were seen printed on the cover page of magazines, appealing to teenage girls to follow in their footsteps to achieve perfection. This can lead to many consequences if the teenagers becomes too obsessesed in their physcial appearance. For example, they might even skip meals just to maintain their figure and this would ultimately put pressure on their health. The teenagers might also recommend the magazines to their peers, ( which is what the mass media wants ) hence causing more teenagers to hop on the bandwagon of physical perfection.
Lastly in the second video, the guy seems to be commenting on the reliability of the mass media in transmitting information. Personally, I feel that the mass media has lots of propaganda and thus might be unreliable. In the mass media, there is always a motive in airing this particular programme or producing such magazines. One possibility is because producers would like to maximise profits, hence such actions of propaganda were taken.
All in all, I believe that the mass media has the ability to shape one's self and if the mass media did not transmit the right messages across to the people, severe impacts would be dealt on the society.
Personally, I feel that the two videos provide a similar and harsh tone in addressing the issue of mass media as both the videos provide a strong arguement about the harmful effects of mass media. It might be bias in a way as it is one-sided and does not talk about how the mass media benefits us. However, i must agree that the mass media has indeed played a major role in our life and has influenced people be it a good way or a bad way. The two videos also serve as a reminder to everyone out there not to be lead blindly by the mass media as it has become part and parcel of our everyday life.
ReplyDeleteThe first video basically talks about how the mass media can cause one to stereotype and how it has caused discrimination in our society. For example, male and female , pretty and 'ugly'. Similarly, the second video talks about how the mass media has been influencing us(hypnotising). For example, consumers nowadays are being hynotised to buy a product probably through advertisements.And through this video, I realised that I am also a victim of the mass media being hypnotised almost everyday.=x
In conclusion, the two videos give us the idea that the mass media are so powerful that they can 'inject' their messages into the audience, or that, like a magic bullet, they can be precisely targeted at an audience, who irresistibly fall down when hit by the bullet. [quoted]It also shows how people are reliant on the mass media. I feel that although it is rather impossible for us to remove mass media from our everyday life, we should not be too dependent on it as it indeed has many flaws which can be harmful to us.
After watching the first video, i realise that the media plays a big part in american women as they spend much more time watching television rather than studying.This watching of television will definately have an impact on them such as cause them to care more about their image.Not only that the magazines also set a bad example to american girls as most of the magazines are about actress or actor going to rehab.Therefore the actress and actors are not being good roles models.Instead they are polluting their minds.
ReplyDeleteThe second video is television creating the same mindset for people and also that the ads that influence us to buy goods.After buying the good, we realise that good is redundant and wonder we bought.This is the power that ads has on us.I think that it is trying to say that journalist actually do not have the idea of what is going on but they just repeat whatever the minister said.Therefore, the thing is that can we trust the mass media? As the mass media has alot of bad impact on us.The answer to the question varies as people have different opinion.
The mass media is a very influential source and exists dominantly in our everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteThe first video implies that sexism exists dominantly in American television programmes and advertisements. Women are portrayed as the weaker sex when in this era of globalisation, we claim that equality between men and women exists. Isn't this video's content ironic? It conveys the message that women are unable to take the lead. This causes a negative impact on the younger generation as they spent a substantial amount of time watching television. It cultivates and nutures that wrong values in the new generation.
The second video emphasises on the point that the media can be very influential. It can brainwash us with its hidden propangada and motives by making us change our perspective on things. For example, producers have advertisements in the bid to convince consumers to buy their goods or services. These producers aim for profit maximisation.
In all, both videos portrays the mass media in a negative light by showing us the bad side of the mass media. It also shows us just how powerful and influential the mass media can be and how much it can impact us.
Yes, the mass media do sterotype people. but who forms the mass media? it is us. the normal, oxygen-breathing human beings who created mass media. no doubt that the MM is largely influence by many other factors, such as the government and advertisers. but arent they all human too? so in this case, it's more of a human sterotype human situation, rather than a MM sterotype human situation. therefore, i feel that we, the people should change our way of thinking and beliefs and pressure the MM into disintegrating the illusions of sterotyping, instead of letting the MM brainwashed us into shallow consumerism to enable us to fit into the society, and live up to its expectations.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it really boils down to media literacy. In video 2 we saw how journalistic ethics are undermine and in video 1, we saw how certain types of american females are consumed by television and magazines into what they think they should be, and not actually who they really are. Media is everywhere. We live and breathe media. And if we cant escape it, then fight it! Take responsibility in what to trust in the media and what not to! ok i'm starting to sound like some overly-optimistic preacher.
Personally, I feel that both videos are a little biased over their views. All they touched on were just the negative impacts of mass media but not how the mass media has actually benefit us.
ReplyDeleteThe first video is showing how the mass media has convince teenage girls that been slim is the "in" thing. Mass media reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a woman's worth, making them internalize these stereotypes and compare themselves with other girls.
The second video talks about hypnotising. Like for example they hypnotise women to buy their beauty products when they actually doesn't need it. This is how influential the mass media can get. It has the power to change our mindset on certain things and make us all think in the same way.
The video is also trying to say that journalist do not actually know the true and what is going on. Instead, they are just repeating what others have been telling them and then tell us. They themselves don't even know the truth of the information they're reporting.
Hence, I feel that we should not depend too much on mass media for information and always think that whatever we hear from the mass media is always correct.
Really sorry for the late post D: