TV sitcom

       Colin Tain, discussed on Wednesday, some of the characteristics of TV sitcoms. One of the characteristics of a sitcom is that they are usually only a 30 minute show. Another characteristic discussed was that sitcoms are episodic, this means that each episode has a storyline, but the stories don’t necessarily build on one another. This makes it easy for the viewer to watch a sitcom, because if you miss an episode you still know what if happening. Sitcoms are usually based around the same characters, and every episode has a central point or problem, that is solved at the end of each episode.

       The characteristic can be applied to one of my favorite sitcoms, The Nanny. The Nanny was filmed in the 90’s as a 30 minute TV sitcom. The show was about a women in her 30’s that was desperate to get married and have a family, but since she has not married Mr. Right yet, she is working as the nanny for a high class family in New York, raising three children. In every episode the central point is the Miss Fine (the nanny) makes a mess of her bosses life or work, the episode is usually a storyline from the beginning of the mistake, to when the mistake has been corrected. Even though Miss Fine makes many mistakes she always keeps her job as The Nanny because of her love for the children and because of the unspoken love that her boss has for her.

Cast Away- 3 Shots

            A good example of the three types of shots that are discussed in Mondays lecture with Professor Ramirez-Berg, could be the scene in Cast Away when Chuck Noland, (Tom Hanks character) is about to be saved.

            In this scene the first shot we see is the long shot, this shot shows us Chuck, asleep, floating on the raft that he has made in the middle of the ocean. In this shot we see the open water, Chuck on his handmade raft, and we understand that chuck is all alone. This shot also helps us to connect the dots to where he is and how he got there, and that he is all alone.

            The next shot is the middle shot this is where Chuck Noland is waking up, in this shot we get a better view of the character, and a ship enters the scene. The middle scene is the information scene, the information we are receiving is that Chuck has drifted near civilization, and hopefully about to be discovered.

            The last shot of the sequence is the close up; this shot shows the face of Chuck Noland clearly. This up-close shot conveys the emotion to viewer that Chuck is feeling when he notices the ship is near. The emotion we see is the exhaustion, and determination to survive, even though Chuck is physically and mentally exhausted he does everything is his power to get the attention of someone on the ship.

Studio Systems

       Studio systems were an aspect of vertical integration in the film industry during the time of Classical Hollywood. The studio system was the use of famous actors and actresses (stars) to promote a studios film. This was done by studios having contract with these Stars. This affected the movies that studios made because the Stars usually played the same type of character in each movie; therefore most movies done within a studio were of the same genre. An example of this would be Warner Brother’s studios producing many crime and gangster movies during the time of classical Hollywood. Many of these films Warner Brothers films featured Humphrey Bogart, were he usually played a gangster.  This studio system made it easy for movies watchers to associate Stars with certain studios and the use of Stars made for easy film promotion.

Week 4 All in the Family

       “All in the Family” is a family-based TV show that aired in the 1960s, the show deals with issues that people of that era were starting to talk about and deal with.  “All in the family is different from contemporary family-based shows because they are very much more conservative. Even thought the 60’s were a time where society became more liberal, the language and physical nature of the show was still more conservative than the TV shows of today.

       The TV show “All in the Family” is the same as modern day TV shows in that the parents and the children have different opinions and views of the world. Neither of the views are wrong but they demonstrate a generation gap between the members of the family. The generation gap between family members can be seen in many TV shows that air today.

       “All in the Family” show the mother of the family being very agreeable and air-headed, in this show the man is very much in charge of the household. In today’s contemporary family-based TV situation comedy the man and women run the household together, with the mom sometimes being shown as the boss of the house. This shows how society has changed. “All in the Family” deals with some of the same prejudice that we deal with today.  Even though society is excepting homosexual people more and more, it has not been widely excepted everywhere.

Week 3-Radio

            I think that regulation and government intervention is the main force that influenced the formation and the shaping of the radio industry in the 1920s; I feel that the regulation and government intervention took charge of the radio industry and helped organize it so that all users could enjoy the benefits of the radio.

            The United States government during the early 1900’s was able to set up regulations and intervene in the radio industry to create a radio that useful to the users in which profit from it. The government is able to pass laws and acts that effect the uses of the radio, the laws and acts passed because they were directly involved with the military and/or the American people best benefit. The government intervened in the radio industry several times but the first time was helping to settle patents disputes between early inventors which helped standardize the radio. They also set up regulations the involved licensing which helped the radio from becoming to chaotic.

            The United States government noticed a military need for the radio, after the sinking of the Titanic where the radio was able to aide in saving lives by asking for help over the Marconi radio.  The government created the Radio Act of 1912, which gave the airwave to the military. The US Navy used the radio in World War I for quick communication. After the war was over the radio was released to civilians from the navy, so many people were interested in the new broadcasting medium that the government issued hundreds of licenses for frequency in 1923; the frequency was used to organize the radio waves. And finally the Radio Act of 1927 created the Federal Radio Commission which defined a number of regulations for the radio which lead to a more organized radio.

Week 2

     I think the concept of social learning has helped me understand how we interpret everyday events and how these interpretations effect the social decisions we make concerning our media choices, how we look, and act around others. Social learning is how a person feels about something or someone after they have had an experience with it. For example if one has a positive experience going to the movies, they are more likely to go back to the movies than someone who has had a negative experience. Social learning affects the decisions we make after we already have expectations about an experience. Social learning can also be when someone mimics another person’s behavior. The behavior being mimicked is could be observed by a family member, friend or even the media.
     The media effects social learning to a great extent, a good example of this can be seen in the film Killing Us Softly. The film shows how advertisements in today society affect the way young girls and women behave. Girls are portrayed in the media to be passive, from these images girls are taught to be gentle and loving. In other sources of media we see images of beautiful women, with a perfect body and perfect skin; these images send the message to girls that looks are all that matter. In the film Killing Us Softly we learn that advertisements and media play such a role in women’s life that 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day. The Film Killing Us softly is a great example of how social learning affects or behavior and our thoughts.

Concept Blog

The screenings on Thursday helped me to understand the concept of hegemony because it showed me how a reinforced cultural ideology affects a society and can become an everyday norm. James Lull states that, “hegemony is the power or dominance that one social group holds over others.” Another way to understand hegemony is one group of peoples ideology impressed upon others outside the group; the ideology is so dominate that a society adapts the ideology in part of their belief system.  Hegemony is a process that can be changed when challenged; however these ideologies are heavily reinforced. Hegemony is when societies or cultures think something is normal or that things that are opposite of the norm are unacceptable.

            The film, “Tough Guise” is a great example of hegemony. It is a film that shows how Americans have hegemony about boys being tough. Lull states, “Hegemony requires that ideological assertions become self evident cultural assumptions.” I think “Tough Guise” did a great job showing that as Americans we think boys should grow up to be tall, strong, an emotionless. Two common phrases little boys hear growing up are, “boys don’t cry” and “boys don’t play with dolls.” It is perfectly fine for a male to cry or for a boy to play with toy dolls, but since we as Americans have adopted such a strong hegemony about boys being tough we as a society have force male into being more self conscious about their masculinity and have therefore pushed males into feeing that they are not real males if they are not tough.