Play the Game

Life is propaganda!... the board game, that is. I never really realized this until Mr. Wong told us that the Japanese had board games where the most "Western" people would win in the game, to convey that society should be Western and modern. It was so scary to think about the government brainwashing these people, and making people think something... until I realized that it happens to us too, in the modern day.
Have you ever played Life? If so, you know that is has delivered a perfectly sculpted view of the way life ought to be. It gives you a few options so you subconsciously feel like you're making your own decisions, but other than that, it basically tells you how to live your life. In order to succeed in this game, you must go to school, get married, have kids, and have a basic job like a doctor, teacher, or an actress. Now, on the surface it seems like a very fun and entertaining game, and I honestly loved playing it. However, now that I look deeper, this was the media's way of telling little kids that this is the way you must live your life. In order to succeed in actual life, you must live your life the way it is spelled out in the game. It is cynically brilliant.
I don't know when the last time I played this, or if people still do. If it is not very common, I can see why. Nowadays life is different. You can get married to the same sex. You don't have to go to school to be successful. There are so many more jobs than the fifteen cards provided in the game. Life is not the same, but people still play the game.
These changes in society are evident in the update of classic toys like Barbies, who now have curves, and more. However, the media is still displaying this image that we need to be like this. Before, we want to be too skinny and too perfect, and our society is filled with narcissistic shells. Now, it's okay to be bigger and eat what you want and do what you feel like, but now out society is filled with fat, lazy, unproductive rebels, and we have a health epidemic on our hands.
Anyways on that light note, don't forget to live your life the way you want to. Not the way a board game or toy tells you to.

*Note: the safety route and risky road is a fallacy in itself, there aren't only two choices in life.

Open Your Eyes, But Don't Forget About Your Mind

I will probably sound extremely corny and say that this media blog has opened my eyes to all of the fallacies and tricks that the media inflicts on us. Honestly, that's what it has done.
I can no longer ride in the car or surf the internet without fixating on every advertisement I see or hear and immediately revealing the secrets, appeals, and messages that it is trying to impose. I totally thought about these ideas before, but now I completely understand the purpose of it. And now I realize that my demographic is the most vulnerable of them all! It's amazing how much is directed at teenagers. I almost feel like I'm the only one awake in a sleeping society when I see teenagers glued to their phones, getting brainwashed by the media.

I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that I only spend two hours a day with media. I guess I was thinking that the media was just technology. Whether I like it or not, I am in contact with the media at every hour of the day. It's not always a bad thing, since I have become more aware of the messages that are encouraged.

This was probably my favorite class I've taken in my schooling career because of how much applies to my everyday life. Everyday I come home with a new fact or theory about the media to tell my mom. Everyday I find myself applying these concepts to my social life, other classes, and my family.
Not only has this newfound awareness shown me why advertisements are the way they are, but the reason people are the way they are. Without knowing it, we are just like the media, in more ways than one. We imitate the media with the products and trends we are sold (feedback cycle), but also the way the media is always presenting something. The whole purpose of the word "personality" is to sell ourselves in a way that people will like us. We want people to buy our personality, and often change it for certain audiences, like the media does with its messages.

I believe everyone at this school, everyone in life, should take this class and have some awareness of the media. I doubt it will change anything. We will still keep consuming, we will still keep listening to the messages of the media. But this time, when we listen, we won't be fooled. We now know what they are doing, and that's all we can do.

Sometimes the Clothes Do Not Make the Man

Of all the celebrity deaths in 2016, George Michael's was the saddest for me. Not only do I listen to him at least once a day, but his lyrics were really like no other. But I guess his death made me appreciate his music much more.

Freedom- George Michael
"Sometimes the clothes do not make the man." I think he means to say we all appear someway, whether it be because of the way we look or because of rumors that may have been told about us. However, we are not those rumors. We are not who we may look like. There's more to a person than the eye can see.
"Everybody's got to sell/But when you shake your a**/They notice fast/But some mistakes were built to last..." What's true about rising to the top is that the most scandalous and inappropriate acts are the ones that get the most attention. We want attention, but it should be more focused on the content rather than the title. 
"You've gotta give for what you take." In life, we all want to take take take but that's not how anyone should live, nor is it fair. Give for what you take. 
Kissing a Fool- George Michael
"People, you can never change the way they feel, better let them do just as they will." We are always trying to change someone to fit our mold of what the perfect person is in our head. First of all, what fun would it be if everyone was the same? And also, everyone is like the way they are does the things they do for a reason. You can't change that. Just let it be. 
Everything She Wants
"All the things that we sign, and all the things that we buy, ain't gonna keep us together." So many superficial relationships are built on this material meaning. Is love really buying you this ring and chocolate? Signing a paper? Sure, there is some meaning to it, but if that's all that there is, it's not real. I don't know much about love, but I think it exists when two people don't need anything material to bring them happiness. They can just exist with each other's mind and soul and that's all there is to it.

Believe me, there are so many more George Michael songs that are worth hearing and understanding. He wasn't just music. He truly was a Renaissance man.

If I Stumble, They're Gonna Eat Me Alive

After hearing the song in the beginning of Miss Representation, I knew I was going to enjoy this film. It was a song I had not heard for ages, but I knew that I liked. So, naturally, I looked it up when I went home on the World Wide Web (I only had to type in a few lyrics and it popped up. Isn't that amazing?). I never realized the true weight of the song. It's not about falling, or hammers, as a literal interpretation would suggest; it's about society. 

"If I stumble, they're gonna eat me alive." In society and the media, especially for women, if you make one mistake, the masses will criticize and gossip nonstop. I feel so bad for celebrities. They have to be so perfect all the time! If they make one little stumble, they will be eaten alive by the press. We must be so seemingly perfect and secure or else we will be eaten alive. This creates some major emotional constipation as well as fear. The song is called "Help I'm Alive" by Metric. A typical cry for help is to keep one alive. This song is asking for help because one is alive. I guess in this day and age it is scarier to be alive. With all of this pressure, self-consciousness, and misrepresentation, why would anyone want to live? I was a bit skeptical of the narrator's fears for her daughter in the film (I still think she shouldn't raise her child in fear), but now I see where she is coming from. It's not easy to live anymore. We need to put so much energy in ourselves. If we put too much energy, we are conceited. If we don't put enough, we aren't feminine enough. Where does it stop?! "Hard to be soft, tough to be tender." You can't be sensitive when dealing with the media. It is harsh. It is mean. When we develop this barrier, it can create more emotional constipation and lead to future social disabilities. And also, if you are overtly sensitive, there will probably be some backlash and sexist comments. "What shouldn't I do?" I feel like those in the spotlight and basically anyone living in this world subconsciously asks this question. If we misstep, don't think people will forget it. I find it funny how we tend to remember the mean or bad things people do, rather than focus on all of the other good things that they have done in their life. The world is truly manic...

I only have one major opposition to the film. I think people have the power to not be susceptible to the influences and pressure of them media. Anyone, if they try, can realize what they are looking at. No, it's not easy, but it helps. If anyone has the power to do this, it would be us. We have these skills of a critical thinker. We have taken this class and should be able to be aware of the misrepresentation, assumptions, and fallacies the media presents. It starts with us. I also think it's important to be raised in a way that when you grow up, you'll be able to look at yourself with no criticism or comparison. You should strive to be the way you want to be, not the person you saw on Instagram. 



Listen to the song here!

Don't Discourage... Encourage!

The way women are portrayed in the media is totally wrong. Women are not just beautiful, dumb, attention-seeking boy-toys. The media teaches girls that their worth lies on the surface. In the film, Miss Representation, this fact was brought to attention with an aim to change the image of women. Even though this film is six years old, all of these points still applied. I think that people realize this fact, and always have. Nothing in the media is done on purpose. 

Now, I keep seeing jokes and "memes" on social media platforms that make jokes out of the hardships that women face in the media or how silly feminism is. I think our youth is so "emotionally constipated" that whenever we see something that doesn't sit well with us, we decide to laugh it away. We are so afraid of feelings because the media has set certain standards (for boys especially). That's why there are so many comedy accounts on Instagram and other applications. It's a distraction and wall that can take away any real emotion we may feel. 

Not only are these accounts hiding our emotions, but they are telling us what to feel. We follow these accounts that have a certain reputation in our heads, and when that account posts something, we listen. We listen and like and let those feelings and comments become our own. 

The statistics shown in the film were truly frightening. However, I don't know if it is the media keeping women down, or women themselves. When a woman begins to become successful, there is always another woman behind her back whispering and criticizing her fame. Jealousy really is a disease! Perhaps it is the influence of the media that causes this, because of all the "fun" catfights we see on TV, or the drama shows that constantly absorb us. Whatever the cause, it is undeniably evident that women and the biggest haters of women. At the very least, people can stop talking about hardworking people as if success is a bad thing. 

Look Up.

"I don't use it that often! I only do it for myself. I'm not trying to please anyone. It's all for fun!" Stop trying to fool yourself. Social media has you hostage and you can't escape.
I recently watched an episode of Black Mirror on Netflix. This one was set in the "future" where what we do or property we can own or special treatments are all based on your rating. There are inserts in your eyes that allow you to see one's rating, and you can rate anyone you see. If you look nice, act nice, and be nice, people will rate you higher. It seems sweet, like this is the key to a kind and safe society. However, it's not real. People don't say what they want to say, and people only care about this number that people will judge you by. You don't have real friends, real encounters, real feelings. And if you do have real feelings, people will lower your rating. When your rating is low you can't do things or go to certain places.
The whole time I was watching this I was shaking my head and cringing at how obsessed people were with this number and their device. However, we aren't that far from this at all. When I post a picture in Instagram, all I can think about is how many likes I will get.  I think about the impression this will give people about me. I don't want to, but it's an addiction. Why do you even have an Instagram or a snapchat? It's not for some productive reason like selling something or running a business. It's because you want to see what other people are doing and wish you were them, and you want other people to see what you're doing and make them wish they were you. It's who can market themselves the best. We look like we are having so much fun, when it's actually just staring at a screen with the occasional selfie. This is so scary to me.
Perhaps people are only nice to improve this rating that people have in their heads of everyone. Impressions and opinions are seemingly so important and makes me wonder if that's all that life is about. Pleasing people and improving your rating? And isn't it true that if you're nice you get better treatment in general? I have noticed this after watching this episode, and really want to just stop trying to sell myself online. I just want to look up.

The Magic of Christmas

Angry mobs bombard the shopping mall.  $500 is spent in one night. An aroma of gingerbread, peppermint, and stress is ever present. Ah, the magic of Christmas.

Honestly, Christmas is not even Christmas anymore. It's not about spending time with your family, it's about spending money. It's not about the quality of the gift, it's about the quantity. Christmas is too commercialized to enjoy! The stress, the heartache, the money... it's all just a big rush to give people "things." It can be anything, as long as it's something. People have forgotten that one meaningful gift could mean the world. Instead, people don't think and just buy these silly presents for limited happiness. We are like children with our attention span. Adults reason with children and say they don't want to buy them that toy because they'll love it for a minute, then get bored. However, they aren't any different! This gets me to think why people buy each other anything if it doesn't mean anything.

My grandmother texted my mom the exact shoe she wanted for Christmas, then gave my mom a check for the exact price of the shoe. When my mom opened the check, she was flabbergasted. She asked why we even do presents if it's making no difference in our bank account, or if we could just buy the gift for ourselves on our own. And to that my grandma said through clenched teeth and burning eyes, "It's the thought."
What's the thought?! Sure, maybe for children the thought counts, but they aren't spending money. Why do we even give presents on Christmas Day? There are for sure historical reasons, however I also think the media and commercials make it seem so necessary to give as many nice presents as you can. In every Christmas commercial, there are people receiving gifts and a smile. Does this mean that if you don't give gifts people won't be happy? Pretty much. We tend to give gifts we would like to receive, but honestly these commercials make every present seem like the best thing in the world. Who wouldn't want to buy something that makes the whole family come together and laugh?! The only problem is that it's not real. These gifts will be forgotten in a month, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.
One year, I would like to not give or receive any gifts. Will I fell empty and incomplete? I think I will appreciate the true spirit of the season... but what is the true spirit?