Warning of mass men

In Chapter ten of Berger, he presents the idea of a group called “mass men” and “mass women.” These are people who define themselves according to standards presented by the mass media. Although this idea has been discredited in recent years, it was incredibly popular among critics during the mid-Twentieth Century. Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 is perhaps the most famous example of a society in which “mass men” are the norm. In the book, people no longer read books, and firemen are employed to burn them and the houses in which they were kept. The narrative follows a fireman who realizes that books are necessary if he wants to live a happy life. At one point in the book, he and his boss discuss why books are no longer seen as beneficial to society. At some point in the book’s past, political correctness reached a point where it was impossible to publish a book without offending any minorities, so people stopped writing. Soon after that occurred, broadcast media became the most important aspect in most people’s lives. Texts were so important that people valued characters over their own family members and could not survive long without being exposed to noise of some sort. This resulted in an unbelievably hostile world, something that media critics of the 1950s worried about.

Media ethics and government

One of the most important aspects in the study of media artists, especially in advertising and journalism, is the role of ethics in their work. Often times, the characteristics that make the best reporters and advertisers are those that break with society’s standard for appropriate behavior. This is especially true when the subject of the report is someone famous. Society has reached a point where performing artists and politicians no longer have any privacy. In the case of politicians, this is a result of Baby Boomers’ loss of trust in government following the 1968 presidential election and Watergate in the 1970s, and in the process reporters have gone from being the heroes of All the President‘s Men to scapegoats and villains. However, there are times when journalists throw ethical considerations aside in the interest of a good story. Reports usually don’t think about the danger they could be putting people in when the information revealed in these “breaking” stories becomes public knowledge. These same reporters are the ones who put a career advancing story ahead of national, community or individual security, which can result in unneeded deaths for many people. Hopefully, one day reporters will reach a point where they place ethical concerns over their personal desire to win awards and praise.

 

Solution to pirating music

In a recent class we discussed the music industry and its battle against copyright infringement, especially when dealing with internet downloads. Two separate extremes exist on this matter. The first calls for complete freedom to download music with no consequence while the opposite demands payment for every file copied to a computer or music player. Despite the support for these two views, from consumers and producers respectively, the only possible solution must be drawn somewhere in between the extremes. One potential solution would call for a progressive system that charged different rates depending on the category the music fell into. Because they have the smallest potential fan base, local and regional artists would be allowed to charge the highest rates for downloads. The second most expensive tier would be recently released songs. The third level would be songs that were available for up to one year, while the fourth would be songs released more than a year prior to the downloading date whose creators were still alive. The fifth group would be songs by artists who were no longer alive and could no longer profit from them. A special group of songs, those recorded or released to raise money for charity, would be included at prices similar to the second tier of songs. Songs would only remain in this group for up to eighteen months.

 

Media violence

Since the appearance of yellow journalism in the 1890s, there has been an increase in sensationalism in the reports of major news sources. The result of this movement is the profound amount of violence appearing on television. In the beginning, no one had a problem with descriptions of violence in newspapers because they could find far worse descriptions in novels. Similarly, viewers and producers downplayed the impact of violence on young people in the years following television’s debut. In recent years, parents and critics have begun to question the actual impact of televised violence on today’s youth. This resulted in an increase in criticism of primetime network shows and Saturday morning cartoons. I remember reading a report in 2005 that claimed that there was a higher body count during primetime network television each week then there was during the costliest weeks during the Vietnam War. Weekend cartoon are experiencing an increase in criticism due to the large number of violent acts that occur in a half hour program. While the average network program has only three to five acts of violence, cartoons have five times that number, with twenty to twenty-five per segment. These statistics show that television truly has become far too violent.

 

Bottom up: history and media

Jenkins’ comments at the Google author’s forum reminded me of something I read in a book for my American Intellectual History class. Both contemporary historical research methods and media output utilize a bottom-up process. In history, this emphasis resulted in the expansion of what was considered appropriate to study. Since the arrival of the “new left” in the 1960s, it has become permissible to spend the bulk of one’s time researching spent learning about people and events beyond politics, war and economics. On a related note, the internet has allowed consumers to create their own texts and present them, through narrow and/or broadcasting, to the entire world. In both events, revolutionary thinkers expanded their fields from the study of dead white men, in history, or the presentation of a story or report that a large portion of the population will accept. These expansions have led to an increase in the level of involvement of the average individual by promoting personal research and creativity. It is also clear that both transitions are a result of increases in equality, for both through access to education, to the first after a marked increase in employment and research positions and the latter through the distribution of consumer electronics capable of competing with commercial equipment.

 

Creators and fans

In Jenkins book, Convergence Culture, he presents the idea of a symbiotic relationship existing between creators and producers of media texts and fans of those texts. From his arguments, it is clear that Jenkins sees true fans as the market that must be tapped and satisfied before any other. He believes that respecting fans’ input and ideas while permitting them access to information related to the text will aid the text, and the world it creates, in the long run. This view is the correct one to take. There is strong evidence that fans of texts whose creators afford them sufficient allowances when dealing with the text, especially in legally gray areas, are increasingly likely to appreciate the brand while avoiding outright piracy. These fans use ancillary products, the original stories, and holes in the telling of the story to provide two services to the creators. They are widening the scope while increasing the depth of the text. This creative participation ties the fans closer to the texts. Additionally, this fan created material provides a, usually, free form of advertising. Fans use their creations to draw in friends and acquaintances, which widens the potential market creators are attempting to exploit. As this indicates, there are many ways in which the relationship of fans and creators is symbiotic.

Jenkins and Fan Fiction

In Jenkins’ speech to the Google staff about his book, Convergence Culture, he presents an interesting perspective on intellectual copyright laws and the stance media conglomerates have taken toward those they see as pirating it. At times in the book, he seems to hold corporations that strive to protect their investments as short sighted and greedy, while simultaneously praising those, such as Lucas Arts, who have overlooked these infractions for years. However, he presents a much more balanced view in his speech, almost praising those who make some attempt to protect their properties. In the book he describes one situation that almost no copyright holder is willing to abide, erotica. In both the book and the speech, Jenkins advances the position that most fan fiction, which erotica falls into, is written by females, albeit without any evidence. Because his decisions seem to be based on preference alone, Jenkins should take a more logical approach to the appropriateness of these company’s actions. It is more than reasonable for a company to oppose the creation of fan fiction that is sold, even if sales are only used to recoup funds spent on publishing the work. Throughout the speech, Jenkins presents a problem that must be solved in the very near future.

Cult films and transmedia storytelling

Since Thomas Edison invented the motion picture camera, some movies have captured small audiences who are often unable to explain the affinity they feel for the film. These films are cult movies. The author Umberto Eco claims that these movies are complete worlds that allow fans to quote characters and scenes as though they were events that actually occurred. The single aspect that lifts a film from forgotten to cult status is the degree to which is creates a complete world. Those films that present entire worlds are the ones that best fulfill Eco’s prescription of what they are to do. At times, the world created by the films can be so full and complete that they spawn other media that extend the story advanced by the initial film. The best examples of this phenomenon are Star Wars and The Matrix. However, many of the scions of The Matrix were planned by the creators of the Matrix trilogy as equally important aspects of transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling is the idea of telling a complete story by publicizing small portions of it across multiple media. Like cult films, a complete world is necessary to properly tell a transmedia story, otherwise there is no basis to build upon and consumers will never come to love the story the way they do the cult film.

American Idol’s Audience

In the chapter on American Idol, in Jenkins’ book Convergence Culture, Jenkins avoids explicitly asking the reader to identify the show’s target audience. However, he provides large amounts of data to drive the reader to a certain view point. Although he mentions early in the chapter that the target audience is 12 to 24 year olds, one must read the entire chapter to fully understand this claim. The three major sponsors of the show, Ford Motors, Coca-Cola, and AT&T Wireless, have the same goal in mind. They are striving to brand people. Consumers become branded when they are convinced that a company’s products, and only that company’s product, will provide them with whatever service of thrill they need to experience. They target this young audience for a variety of reasons. The first is the potential profit earned from a consumer who buys from a specific brand for a preponderance of their purchases. Another reason is that individuals in this age group tend to have a large disposable income, in the older portion it is the result of a recently accepted professional position, while many in the bottom half don’t even pay for the services they use, rather they use money gained from their parents. Were it not for these three reasons, American Idol’s major advertisers would not be nearly as interested in sponsoring the show.

Advertising in American Idol