Coming to an end

Today is the last day i’ll be attending RMIT for my first semester of university, and as I sit in building 80 sipping on my $4.50 regular flat white with soy milk I can’t help but feel a little sad my coffee love affair with this building. I have been very happy with the way RMIT has accommodated me and my learnings, being genuinely proud to be at a university which applauses and acknowledges modernity in both architecture and learning. The space provided ~ big reference to building 80 ~ allows for a relaxed vibe which compliments the university’s artistic and educational ambitions. Looking back at when Brian played and introduced me to the This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads, my happiness at RMIT was set. The song’s melody has been a track that I play regularly now, enforcing the happiness and future optimism I felt on that first tute.

It’s weird to think how quickly the time has gone by ~ maybe due to the years new coordination as Semesters, rather then terms ~, and as sad as I am to see the Semester end I am truly excited for what next semester will bring as we start workshops!! My experience in volunteering as crew in Offbeat was absolutely amazing as it allowed me to get some live-on-air experience that has only heighten my artistic ambitions within the Film and Television industry.

Who is Marshall Mcluhan?

In our Week 11 lecture, Mediums Technologies Mcluhan was introduced as one of the most influential and controversial medium theorist to date. Internationally famous in the 1960’s due to his provocative phrases and axioms, he further emphasised a Billig’s understanding of communication that ‘a message is part of part of a debate where arguments flow back and forth’ (1996, Billing, pg 85). Mclauhan explored the idea surrounding the ‘new electronic interdependence’ emerging within the post-broadcast era, investigating whether the neo-liberalism of technology could ‘recreate the world in the image of a global village’. 

This idea of a ‘global village’ I found extremely interesting, as internet providers and mediums promote their platforms connectiveness, creating a unified perception of universalism. In this ABC Interview –

– Mcluhan discussion of advertising as a public art form, the effect of the service environment on man, and man effect on himself through the search for identity. His discussion on medium being a message although is applicable and usually directed to the increasing influence of technology, surpasses just the physicality of machines and explores the spirituality of mankind’s soul. His rhetorics surrounding the idea of communication reflects our society’s changing nature and idea of post-modern truths. Thus, by observing rhetorical analysis of communication we ironically find a message, in the message, of how to message. 

Is Mankind?

Today in today’s workshop we discussed the communicative revolutions of media, and what is meant by media itself and the messages its produces today. Week 11’s lecture on Mediums and Technologies explored the historical and contextual media platforms, comparing early communicative understandings of the transmission model in contrast to our more post-modern interrelated system of connectedness present today.

As corporate privatization seemed to be a big influential factor of our media today, I decided to go a have a look at some of the more successful business’ advertisements online currently, and see whether I could make any sense of what was going (big picture style). Air B and B’s Is Mankind ad definitely demonstrates a rhetoric surrounding the sharing community concept, which I guess has recently emerged from the internet’s projection of global connectedness. As it has been discussed previously in prior classes, I do know that the sharing economy’s growth in popularity was due to the 2008 global financial crisis, which I guess in it’s aftermath put financial pressure on communities to ‘share and care’. Consequently, a neo-utopian lifestyle has emerged on social media that’s adopted a philosophy that advocated by ‘hipsters’ and boutique cafes.

Now, going back to the class discussion of the privatization of platforms, I don’t know whether this ‘humane’ idea is as legitimate as projected by huge billion dollar companies, because of, well, just that. This specific advertisement tries to unite through the campaign the diverse audience present online as it contemplates the identity of man through the symbolic gesture of a baby’s *evolutionary* progression.  This utilizations of the anonymous face of the technological community sure, demonstrating Air B and B’s acknowledged of unidentified masses (… this is starting to sound very broadcast era-esque). It is for this reason I believe, audiences must continue to challenge the sharing markets privatisation and ‘production’ of unified universalism, as once again we see businesses appeal to generalised audiences. Especially considering they’re attempting to personalise their business by identifying who we, the un-identified technological audience, actually are. It’s weird because it doesn’t take long for the audience to realise that exploitation tools and techniques used in today’s advertising world, which makes me question why privatized companies like Air B n B keep putting money into ads they know will come off as creepily boosteristic and false. Maybe, instead they should try and rehumanise the experience of the technological communication economy by setting up travel agencies etc for people to go into and book through, or maybe that part of the industry is gone and dusted as more and more people seek from the internet the possibility to live.

 

 

 

Here is a parody of the Is Mankind advertisement that I thought was very hilarious

The interrelated pregnancy of globalisation, institutions, and media and their birth to KPOP.

PB4 so far has been quite a challenging task to grasp. It’s symbiosis of the topics; media, institutions, and KPOP and their demonstration within a video and audio documentary essay, proves to be quite challenging as correct structure is needed to coherently prove … Continue reading 

Making Public Television – José van Dijck & Thomas Poell

Van Dijck and Poell discuss making public television and the approaches revolving institutions, professional practice and content in the new age balance of social and public broadcasts. They explore how public broadcasters are dealing with social media. Social media’s infiltration … Continue reading 

“There are in fact no masses, but only ways of seeing people as masses.”

“… I don’t believe that the ordinary people in fact resemble the normal description of the masses, low and trivial in taste and habit. I put it another way: that there are in fact no masses, but only ways of seeing people as masses.”

Raymond Williams in Everyday Life Reader. p.98

In our week 9 lecture Brian discussed the idea of audience shifting from the previous theorisation of a passively ‘brainwashed’ commodity to a more engaged and active interpretation of the viewer being a participant. Catalyst to the second age of modernity, there has been a shifting paradigm from broadcast to the post-broadcast era. Consequently, people who were formally known as the ‘audience’ – referring to a degree of spectatorship but not influence – now have their own social platforms allowing them to engage and control content by choice. Thus, it is important when thinking about media and its ‘message’ to starting interpreting citizens’ role as less of an audience and more of a consumer. Media 2.0’s shifted approach and power structure, exemplified through the structural contrast of Australia’s first media broadcast (featuring Robert and Dame Menzies addressing the nation of Australia) to now. Formal communicative tools appealed to the ethos of the “average housewives”, credentialing through address Australian citizenship, and thus a pathos of a united country. By addressing the formal and elite addressing the less formal (women of 1960’s), the broadcast demonstrates ideas surrounding the eras influence over audience as personal approach exemplifies is sphere of influence over Australian lifestyle. Nowadays however, there is a lack of public domain and unified ethos as private commercialisation saturates media platforms, dismissing the rhetoric of nation and instead affirming an individual’s right to a ‘neo-liberal way’. By looking at audience and exploring the rhetorics of communication, societal change becomes apparent. As the broadcast era’s relationship with audience was generalised through a nationalistic unity that put faith and truth in the ‘higher powers’ of media broadcasters, contemporarily the indefinite diversities and possibilities of technology provides an abundance of choice to the audience which only further reiterates their desire for the power of choice.

This means a re-figuration of ethos appeals, enforcing the right to privatised (demonstrated in technology’s current sharing economy approach). Tailor made for a specific audiences, language is used to recognise the unified mass and categorise audience by their participation of choice. This demonstrates Brian’s point that the term audience isn’t an accurate description as the media’s interaction can be about consumption, viewing, distribution, etc. The terms complication is based around personal consumption characteristics by of each individual choice, producing an identity for the viewer that within the broadcast media did not exist. This is seen through the social emergence and acceptance of fans, where transmedia relies on the unpaid labour of an individuals to dedicate themselves to a specific forum.

Power. And what form does it come in within today’s society?

In my elective Rhetorics and Politics we discussed the idea of power, and it’s form within today’s society. We had to write about power in regards to school’s and universities, and I chose the subject of the Safe Schools CoalitionAs I had discussed it in my Media 1 practical I decided to attach it to my blog because it breaks down power relations that can be seen in the media. All my information is sourced through Media articles as well, so I thought it would be interesting to put this response on my blog and one day maybe look back and see if my perspective has changed and why (even though i don’t think it will) lol.

 

To evaluate the idea and possession of power in reference to school and classrooms, one must address political economic foundations and therefore the role of actors and their ambitions. By perceiving power as something exercised within interactions and that ‘power relations mutually constitute production and distribution’ (Mosco, in Boyd-Barrett, p.186), the symbiosis of politics as a conflict and power as a social relation becomes clear. Foucault’s philosophy that revokes power as an asset, sets precedents in understanding how the distribution of power and its governance within schools, universities and classrooms have changed within the ‘second age of modernity’ (Dean, 2007, p.1). For each actor there is a paradigm of relationships that divides power into separate agendas. As diverse values lead to conflict however, individuals who find themselves in powerful position[s] might not always have equal opportunities to exercise such power.

Power in an academic environment traditionally connotes to ideas of ‘official’ actors: governments, school boards and teachers. Whilst these actors do indeed have a visual sense of power, the effectiveness of their ‘strategic game of liberties’ (Dean, 2007, p.9) becomes apparent as ‘political arguments depend on distinction between government … and civil service’ (Rose, 2005, p.152). Thus, the introduction of the Safe Schools Coalition in 2010, exemplifies how students and general populations can set precedents for change separate from ‘official’ actors. The Coalition’s aim to combat bullying of same sex attracted, intersex and/or gender diverse individuals through education is a response to the population’s changing conventions concerning the LGBT movement, as ‘72% of Australians’ are supportive of Same Sex Marriage’ (Jones, 2016).

Timothy Jones’ (2016) article Safe Schools Coalition: What is the Christian Right Afraid of? in The Conversation however, exemplifies how power changed through context allows actors with ascendancy to take advantage of their ability to govern. Turnbull’s request to open an investigation into the effectiveness of the Coalition demonstrates how some conservative, influential actors use their social and official power to pressure aspects of the program that contradict their beliefs. Thus, some Australian Catholic schools deliberately misconstrued the Coalition’s aim with the belief ‘that inclusive sexuality education will turn kids gay’ (Jones, 2016). This view, further projected by Senator Benardi, describing ‘the campaign for marriage equality as a masterpiece of sloganeering’ (Chang, 2015,), controls how populations are governed making ‘conservative voices … disproportionately amplified’ (Jones, 2016). The recent March changes responding to the pressures that surrounds the appropriateness of the program, has lead to a ‘strong and measured response’, criticized by Senator Simms as ‘conservatives on Malcolm Turnbull’s backbench… using this as an opportunity to flex their muscles within this Turnbull Government’ (Martin, 2016, The Australian). Ultimately, this demonstration to reform exemplifies power not only exercised through official means of governance but also leveraged from social relations.

An actor’s use of power as a ‘traditional concept … a substance’ however, exposes ‘inequality and exploitation’ (Dean, 2007, p.6) asserting Foucault’s belief ‘where there is power there is resistance’. Rose’s (2005) discussion on how contemporary Western societies’ power structures are reformed due to ‘communitarian thinking in politics’ which relies on the rationality of society (Rose, 2005, p.151) expands the idea of power as a ‘substance’ to something less visual and more mobile – a set of social relations. The Today Show’s segment Magda Szubanski breaks down discussing the Safe Schools program on the eve of Mardi Gras (3.3.2016, WhitakerBiggs) demonstrates powerful relationships that are exempted from the visible and official ability to govern. Szubkanski uses the rhetoric of community to advocate every individuals’ responsibility as actors to ultimately ‘be civilised … [and] govern themselves’ (Rose, 2005, p.151), as she urges the community to ‘open their minds and their hearts’ and the be aware of where Mardi Gras ‘all came from and what it’s all about’ (3.3.2016, WhitakerBiggs). Szubkanski’s use of social awareness as a responsibility puts everyone in a position of, and to, exercise power. In doing so she elevates her own status by becoming an advocate for change. She reminds the populations of Australia that the choice is simple, we ‘either stand with the great majority of Australians or fall a victim to the power of a small right winged fringe’ (Martin, 2016, The Australian).

Through Safe Schools and its protection and portrayal of the LGBT movement in classrooms and schools we see how power is not always visible and official, but flows through a network of actors. Although ‘protected under the grounds of international human rights legislation on education’ (Jones, 2016) we see how actors’ ‘official power’ diverts ambitions due to personal paranoia and values. However, the criticisms of this response exemplify the cognitive shift of power and governance as a mobile system rather than a domination of higher elected actors, redefining relationships and networks of relationships throughout the academic environment.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Boyd-Barrett, O. (1995) ‘The political economy approach’, in O. Boyd-Barrett and C. Newbold (eds.), Approaches to Media, Oxford University Press.

 

Chang, C. (2015), ‘Penny Wong and Cory Bernadi to debate same-sex marriage’, News; Date accessed, 17th March, 2016
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/gay-marriage/penny-wong-and-cory-bernardi-to-debate-samesex-marriage/news-story/2638da14e2bc695ae49cfdfcc8bb7c8b

Dean, M. (2007), ‘Introduction: Setting the Scene’, in Governing Societies: Political Perspectives on Domestic and International Rule, London, Open University Press.

 

Gauntlett, D. (2008), ‘Foucault on Power’ and ‘Power and Resistance’, in Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction, London & New York, Rutledge.

 

Jones, T.M (2016) ‘Safe Schools Coalition: What is the Christian Right Afraid of? The Conversation, available ; accessed on 16 March 2016.

 

Magda Szubanski breaks down discussing the Safe Schools program on the eve of Mardi Gras, The Today Show (2016); Date accessed, 17th March, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVwsHu2Ltak&feature=youtu.be

 

Martin, S. (2016) ’Safe Schools program: federal government unveils changes’, The Australian,     available; Date accessed, 23rd March 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/safe-schools-program-federal-government-unveils-changes/news-story/ce2d4751b2068f6b3ecedede317954fd

 

Rose, N. (2005) ‘Government’ in T.Bennett, L. Grossberg & M. Morris (eds.), New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Oxford, Blackwell.

 

 

 

 

 

‘If’ to ‘Need’. The shift of conjunction to verbs.

If i… vs I need. Robert McKee in his article The substance of story discusses the foundations of story laying focusing on the protagonist and their relationship with the audience. Within this reading, McKee briefly touches on the differences of reality … Continue reading 

Mr McGee, Alan Mckee and their textual analysis tree

Alan McKee’s A beginners guide to textual analysis (2001)* deconstructs the approach and motive of a textual analysis whilst studying Media and identifies approaches towards interpreting texts. McKee’s interpretation of textual analyses being a central methodology within Cultural Studies, usually developed through accounts of semiotics, acknowledges that when interpreting a text one has to be mindful analysis’ methodological abyss (Mckee, 2001). When the word ‘text’ is identified through a linguistics interpretation, we see that the word itself is not a singular noun but has many mediums and thus, reasons for connotations. The word text, detaches the medium from it’s physical restrictions, whether its a tv show, film, radio, image etc, transcending it’s mode of communication allowing textual analysis on a much wider circumference as it engages a spectrum of enargia reflective on experience. When we surpass analysis constructed through the science of it’s medium – understanding the physicality of a text is still important – we broaden our minds from a previously linear approach of analysis and inherit McKee’s multilateral approach. Seen in John Hartley’s example of television accentuating hidden undertones of political life through watchers’ D.I.Y citizenship of choice to watch what and when, exemplifies how even though we can annotate the text as ‘tv’ and therefore study it’s physical characteristics such as what is being produced by the tv (sounds and visual), we can also interpret it as a mobile community that generates messages that is part of a flowing debate, where skills are needed by each individual to process media’s message.

Therefore, McKee’s emphasises to never claim that a text does or does not reflect reality – similar to Leeuwen’s* discussion of perspective. Edward Hall stated that each individual “carry with us an invisible set of boundaries”, enforced through years of cultural experience. Although we might see a text and our reaction to it is that it contradicts or leaves out elements of subject matter and thus, isn’t a ‘whole’ representation, one must never discard it as ‘untrue’ or ‘false’ as there is no one singular truth. Therefore, we must see it as a reality, and not just the reality. Textual analysis revolves around the desire to make sense of the world we live in through others’ interpretations. Instead of approaching text analysis as what, we must  cognitively shift to the concept of who, when, where, and why.

  • McKee, Alan (2001) A beginner’s guide to textual analysis. Metro Magazine, pp. 138-149.
  • Leeuwen, Theo van. 1999, ‘Perspective’ in Speech, music, sound, Macmillan Press ; St. Martin’s Press, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York