Media In My Life

Media Is Everywhere

It can be found anywhere we look. It can be in many different forms, showed in many different ways, anything to get people's attention. Ads, music, T.V., pictures, websites, social media, movies, billboards, books, video games, mail, blogs, the list could go on forever! It shows us what to buy, what to listen to, what to watch, or where to eat. This blog is about  how the media affects my life, and how it has, in a way, made me the person I am today.

     I believe that media is very important in my life. I use media all the time, ranging from social media to newspapers to ads. I rely on the media to update me on events happening around the world, when a new song or movie is released, or to help me find information on a subject I need for school.

   
           There are a lot of media subjects that I feel passionate about, but there are some that stand out more than others: Books, social media and music are the top three media forms that I use on a daily basis. 

          ~I love books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bookworm, but when I find a good book that really intrigues me, I can't put it down. Do you ever get those moments where you feel like you've been pulled into the book you're reading, and you forget everything else in your life? I love those moments, and that's why I read. I think that books are very important in a persons' life because of the knowledge they give us. They enhance our reading and give us a sense of imagination, and I think that's very important, especially for people around my age who work all the time and are starting to pay their own expenses and bills. I think that they need that break from the real world sometimes.

          ~Social media is huge in this day and age. The main social media sites I use are Facebook and Instagram. I love Facebook because it connects people from all around the world, and that's important to me because I have friends and family that live far away, and Facebook is a way of keeping us connected. Instagram is cool in the way that people can share their photos with the world, giving it the sense of a photography site. I love using Instagram to look at photos of places I'll never get to visit, things I'll never get to see, or just really amazing photos that classify as professional.

           ~I listen to music all the time. Kind of like books, it gives me an escape from reality. It's so amazing how artists can still create a unique sound for their songs, when there are so many already out there. People ask me all the time "what's your favourite artist?" and honestly, I don't know how some people choose just one person. There are so many artists with so many different styles, and that's what I love about music, that feeling that I'll never run out of songs that I like because there are millions out there.

     My thoughts on modern pop culture vary depending on the subject matter. I think it's amazing how people are coming up with different ways to keep the world connected via social media, but that can also pose a problem, because that's what everyone spends all their time on. For example, people can spend hours just watching random funny videos on You Tube, or just scrolling through their newsfeed on Facebook. The truth is, media is controlling our lives, taking time away from us. I'm not saying that I never use the media, because I constantly do. I just think that we should spend less time on media and more time on our lives. 

          I use the media mostly for entertainment, going on social media and watching videos. But I also use it to find information on events that are happening around the world, listening to the latest on a certain issue, and reading the newspaper to see what's happening in Brantford. I use the media to get information for homework I may have, sometimes even referencing to other blogs.

          I don't think that teenagers are portrayed positively in the media. Whenever you see a movie that revolves around a teenager's life, it's usually about the negative aspects, involving drinking, drugs, and partying on the weekend, a popular group of people that "rule the school" or a teen that is bullied in school. In movies, it seems so real, and we believe it and take it as normal because that's what we are used to, how movies have been made for so many years. 

          Take Mean Girls for example. It's typical that the three popular girls run the school and how they "find" the new girl and try to befriend her, only to get backstabbed by her in the end. First of all, I've never heard of two or three popular kids that "rule" a school, which proves that teens are not portrayed correctly in this matter. Also, bullying this serious is very rare and doesn't happen very often without being unnoticed, so that's unrealistic as well. This movie is so popular because it's not what a regular teen's life is about. If someone made a realistic movie about a teenager's life, no one would watch it because it would be boring.  

          Music doesn't portray teens correctly either. Almost all of the songs we listen to today involve drugs or sex or partying, leading others to believe that's all teens do. Yes, there are some teenagers who do that kind of stuff, but definitely not all of them. The music we listen to would be very boring if it was about an average teenage life, so the media reflects on the negative aspects to make it more interesting to the listener.
          I believe the newspaper is another good example of how teens are seen in the media. I know that there are always some good articles about teens, like awards or sports and such, but usually it's negative. Think back to the last time you read an article somehow involving teens. I know the last one I read was a few hours ago and it involved a shooting at a club, where 15 adults and teenagers as young as 11 were injured. To view the article, click here. Newspaper companies tend to write articles on the negative stories because that's what people are interested in reading.

          To view another website concerning how teens are portrayed in the media, click here(Teenagers In The Media).

          To view a website looking at both sides of this argument, click here (Does The Media Portray Youths In A Negative Way?).
         

This is YouTube video showing how teens are portrayed in the media and all of the negative news articles that have been published about them.



I find this YouTube video very realistic when it comes to how the media portrays teenagers.



This video talks about how popular culture plays a role in out lives and how pop culture can become "popular."

Analysing A Music Video

 "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore.

To start off, here is the official music video done by Paramore.

I don’t think that this is a very realistic view of the world because people don’t often complete unusual world records. Most people haven’t even seen a normal world record being completed, so it’s very unlikely anyone has ever seen the ones similar to those in the music video. I believe that this music video is supposed to be unrealistic though, because music videos are supposed to entertain its viewers and be unusual and clever, which this music video definitely is.

Reality would be portrayed like this for this song because the bands want their music video to stand out from others, so more people will want to watch it. I think that reality would be portrayed in this way for the band to give them a sense of originality and even a bit of craziness, showing the viewers that the band likes to have fun. I don't know a whole lot about Paramore, but by the looks of them, this video is exactly what they are about, having fun while working, if you could call this working.

 I think the value statements that this video is expressing is that it's understandable to be serious "in the real world," but that having fun and fooling around are encouraged. Another value statement that is expressed  is that band members need to get along in order to create music and music videos, which could be said about any band.

When I think of lifestyle choices that are being made in this music video, I think of being care-free and free living. They obviously aren't worried about what they're going to have for dinner that night, or even how they're going to get home, they're just living in the moment, making the best of life. 

Groups that are being portrayed in this video and in the song are the different gender groups. in the band Paramore, there are mainly 4 males and 1 female (Taylor York, Jeremy Davis, Josh Farro, Zac Farro and Hayley Williams). Gender equality is shown here, as the female has the lead singer role.

I believe this is a very effective way to sell the song because it creates a unique vibe through the music video this makes it interesting and makes the viewer curious as to what other records the band completed in the video, so they end up watching the whole music video as opposed to only half of it. And if the viewer likes that music video, they are most likely going to look at other music videos done by them.

I think the target audience is teenagers just because Paramore tends to be more of a teen band. I think that it does appeal to the target audience because the music video shows the band fooling around and having fun, just like what teenagers do. It also gives the sense that you can do anything you put your mind to, because that’s exactly what the band members are doing when they do the world records.

To me, the video doesn’t exactly fit the song, but it was a clever thing to do. I think the song is more about “living in the real world” as is says in the lyrics, but the video is more like how you can do absolutely anything you want, not exactly something you can do in the real world. That being said, the video and the song are the complete opposite in a sense.

I really like this music video and think that it is a very unique and fun idea. I like how the world records aren’t what someone would expect, because they are completely ridiculous but super achievable at the same time. I enjoyed this music video a lot the first time I saw it and I would definitely watch it again.

To visit the official Paramore website click here.