The Imperius Curse on the whole media industry October 24, 2010

Since this is the last entry in communications, I have decided to do on my favourite topic of films. (I know, regardless of which entry, I still say the same thing). However this time, it is not about a movie, but the massive impact the global media companies have on all of us.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -Part 1 is premiering soon, 19th November 2010– in less than a month’s time. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. (www.warnerbros.com) is its highly succesful global media company.

Warner Bros., founded in 1918 (Warner Bros. West Coast Studios) and 1923 (Warner Bros. Pictures), is one of the major film studios today. It is also the franchise of many of widely-known blockbusters like, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Looney Tunes cartoons, Batman, The Matrix Trilogy and many many more, raking in billions each year.

So what is it that makes it and other media companies like Disney and HBO so successful? A single word–Globalisation.

The impact of these global media companies have certainly reached far and wide, basically, any where with a connection and satellite access. I remember travelling to a few countries in different parts of the world, only to find HBO channel in every hotel I reside in. These U.S. based companies are certainly raking in big bucks. Granted, there are also non-U.S. based companies. However, with increasing influence from the west, who in the modern world hasn’t heard of Harry Potter or Superman?

Especially in Asia, there is a rising presence of foreign films, especially from the U.S.. Majority of the movies in our theatres are U.S. based. Though there are definitely also certain Asian flicks and U.K. films, they are the ones that garner most attention from the audience.

The power of globalisation of the mass media is stunning. Take for example this Harry Potter phenomenom. The UK-based books were definitely more widely known especially after the movie was made. Today, it has extended to such an impact that Harry Potter is translated into about 37 languages, including that of Welsh, Japanese and even Finnish.

From young japanese fans (left) to tattooed middle-aged men (right), Harry Potter has certainly caused quite a stir.

Following this, a wave of trends globally emerged. From “Wizard  Rock” (visit http://wizardrock.org/ if you don’t know what is that), fans dressing up at event premieres (bottom, left), and actual Quidditch (wizard sport played in Harry Potter) played in Universities as competition, earning the athletes the term of “fiction-obsessed” (bottom, left).

I guess you should get an inkling of the impact when you see Harry Potter pick-up lines and Yo Mama jokes on the net.

 

Fans at the premiere and book-releases:

U.S. media products definitely dominate the global mass media industry, at her domestic country and abroad. There are certain limitations and restrictions coming from the Asian industry, due to the more conservative mindset and society. However, U.S. still continues to dominate the Asian television. They have diifferent sub-channels, for example, there is the Asian version of HBO and Star Movies, showing different movies and (most probably) snipping off content deemed inappropriate by the government. It is like a “safer” version for mass Asian consumption. Our local station Channel 5 also frequently airs American movies and series, and now airing the movies of Harry Potter in anticipation of the upcoming one.

So, question for you guys is how do you think the mass media has impacted us? Especially, how has mass media influences from other countries impacted the Singaporean society?? Well, I for one certainly am influenced. Just look at my blog address.

Twitter feed for all Greater Manchester Police work October 17, 2010

I write this week’s entry based on the BBC news, “Twitter feed for all Greater Manchester Police Work”, dated 15 October 2010.

The article can be found here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11537806

Basically, a summary of this article would be that the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Force provides 24-hours tweet to give the public an overview of their hectic life, as well as to understand more about their workload and job. It is to dispel the facade that the police force is all about cops and robbers. An everyday police life also consists of  social problems like missing people, domestic abuse and people with mental health problems. These cases too take up alot of their precious time.

This is their twitter page, which includes up-to-date information of their work. http://twitter.com/#!/gmpolice

The GMP even have a Facebook application to provide updates as well as a Youtube channel to feature their action and educate the public about their job. If you are interested, it can be found on the GMP website: http://www.gmp.police.uk/

In my opinion, this is an ingenious use of the Mass Media  for communication. Using interposed channels like Twitter and Facebook ensures that all with access to the internet are able to view the messages, for these social networking sites are free. However, it still requires access to technology, countries that are without techology or those who cannot afford it would not have access to the messages. Despite that, the internet is such a widely-form of new media, which is the ideal platform to communicate with people even from other parts of the world.

Like the television or series like “COPS” to educate the public about police work, this Twitter updates have Invisible Receivers. However, despite being an institutionalized source that reaches from one to many, they also allow replies and contact with the media source. In the contrary, it is also like many media messages, the tweets cannot be individualized, and there is definitely market segmentation, mainly targeting the younger tech-savvy teens to working adults. It is voluntary and communication can be terminated at will, simply by clickling “unfollow”.

Definitely, the GMP Twitter also follows the characteristic of the media message being non-exclusive and temporal. The tweets are transmitted publicly, and reach the followers immediately. It is temporal as tweets only remain on the home page for short period of time, after a while, new tweets would surface and the old tweets would be covered by the new ones.

The more times an issue is tweeted, the general public would deem that task that the GMP is handling to be more important. Moreover, there is a “Retweet” function for the public to reiterate certain important tweets. Repeated news coverage raises the importance of an issue in the public’s mind. This agenda setting highlights the power of Twitter and it’s ability to make a piece of news important. By using Twitpic, images accompanying the message also effectively helps to communicate the message to the masses.

There are definitely people who check their Twitter account diligently. Therefore I feel that the issues raised by the GMP and their tasks would effectively get people talking and thinking about it, even commenting or replying to their tweets. Do you feel that the Greater Manchester Police has adopted a clever way to communicate with the public? Tell me about your views and the power of Twitter!

How reel life groupthink is disastrous. October 10, 2010

 It seems that I’m always writing an entry on movies or television shows, and you probably expect me to say “Today, it’s different”. However, this is an entry on the movie– Horsemen (2009). It was shown on StarMovies (StarHub Cable 622)  just last week (03 Oct  ’10) for their “Hallowscream” event, a promotion whereby horror and gore movies would be screened everyday after 9pm for the whole month of October to mark the spooky month of Halloween.

 To give you a little preview, I have attached the trailer and IMDB link for those who want more information on the movie.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892767/

Also, this is the official movie website: http://www.horsemenmovie.com/

Disclaimer: This movie and trailer is not for the faint-hearted. It may contain some disturbing/intense scenes to some viewers.

Rated M18 (cut) and NC-16 (edited version) in Singapore.

This movie is about a detective’s investigation over a series of disturbing murders, seemingly committed by a group of people who model themselves after the Biblical apocalyse of The Four Horsemen. Forgive me for I am not well-versed in the concepts of the Christian Bible, as I am neither a Christian myself nor have I read the bible. To the best of my ability, The Four Horsemen of the  Apocalyse in the Bible is described in the Book of Revelation, a vision that these four beasts– white for pestilence, red for War, black for Famine and pale for Death, will set upon the world a divine apocalyse as harbingers of the Last Judgement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse

There is only a minor glitch in the movie, for they got the colours of the horsemen and what they represented wrong. Moving on, these murderers are four people who assume the roles of the four horsemen, executing their cruel and horrific murders according to their ‘roles’, believing that only through this way can they spread their mesasge to the rest of the society, like bringing attention to the abused and neglected, in a disgustingly extreme way. Their victims are hung in up in hooks,  tortured before they are delivered a final blow, and they decorated the crime scenes in blatant red paint with the words “COME AND SEE”.  They people who have been neglected and abused, and they felt that only through this drastic methods can allow the rest of the world to “see” the predicament of many other people like them, for example: parents who neglect their children and children who have been sexually abused, et cetera.

This is an example of groupthink, for the group’s personal beliefs have clouded their judegment of what is a better alternative of their course of action. They are extremely cohesive in their way of thinking, for they have experienced similar torment in their life, and hence able to relate to each other about it (they even have a website to connect millions of people into the community, ultimately also to watch the final victim die slowly on the internet, hence making a statement). They are so “together” that it becomes excessive, deciding to take drastic measures together.

Syntoms of the typical groupthink that these “horsemen” have are..

Illusions of vulnerability: They feel that this group is all they have for only people who have experienced the same things can understand them, and they can only turn to them. 

Believe in group’s own morality: They feel that torturing these victims is right, that it is essential to spread the message.

Illusion of Unanimity: They engage in the same ‘spreading of message’, even though they motives in the beginning are different.

Pressure on dissenters: (spoiler alert) One of the horsemen was killed by the others because he decided not to conform to their beliefs. This shows that theose going against are to be severely punished.

Well, this is definitely an extreme example of groupthink shown in the movies. Can you think of anymore that you have seen in movies? Or any that are in real not reel life? Maybe certain subcultures, or even North Korea?

Do many fleeting flings make up one long romance? October 3, 2010

Miley Cyrus and her on-off flame Liam Hemsworth

This week, COM 101 was focused on Unit 3, which consisted of Interpersonal Relationships. For this post, I am going to focus on this article in this issue of Hot magazine (29 Sept to 8 Oct), scrutinizing celebrities’ relationship formation, maintenance and dissolution.

To provide you with a little insight on this couple– Miley and Liam, got together after filming the movie The Last Song. Allegedly, they broke up after Hemsworth was seen “hooking up” with another woman while Cyrus was filming LOL in Detroit. Concurrently, there were also rumours that Cyrus was seen with co-star Adam Sevani. Rumours that they have broken up have plagued the couple with a multitude of reasons (they wanted to focus on their careers, they were seen with someone else, et cetera). Recently, they were seen together again, enjoying a nice time with each other’s company, less than three weeks after their supposed ‘break-up’.  Thus the reason that they have earned the term ‘on-off’ couple.

My question is, what would cause couples to break up, yet get back together again? If a relationship is dysfunctional, could it be solved so easily? Let us analyze the Disney teen star’s relationship.

Relationship Formation:

Proximity– The duo filmed The Last Song together, starring as a couple in the movie. This allows them to have lots of chance for interaction and hence breed familiarity with each other. By physical contact through the filming process, they could also hence be more comfortable with each other over time, even when they are not on-set. Perhaps this is also the reason that many co-stars are an item.

For example,

Step Up‘s Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are married, so are TV series True Blood‘s Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer,

and famous teen couple would be High School Musical‘s Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens.

The list goes on endlessly.

Exchange– By engaging in this relationship, the co-stars can also gain publicity for themselves. It may not solely be for that reason, but it is also a contributing factor. The term “Showmance” has nevertheless formed due to these fleeting relationships, whereby co-stars partake in romances only for the period where the show is in production. It ends when the production ceases.

An example might be Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who behave ambiguously at award shows and other media events that put them in the spotlight, causing uptight fans and paparazzi to speculate if they are really “dating” or if it is just a lowly attempt to garner audience’s attention.

Relationship Maintenance:

Relational Needs– For celebrities, this is a crucial point. Relational dialectics such as autonomy would plague them. Do they announce to the media that they are a couple or do they go ‘underground’? Do they maintain exclusivity? In the case of Cyrus and Hemsworth, does being physically apart, in different areas of the world filming mean that they can see other people?

Relationship Dissolution:

Relational Challenges–  Hence, many issues like trust, deception, changes and expectations would set in. Miley met someone else, so did Liam, and this caused conflict between them. They also have less proximity and opportunity for interaction now, as the production of the movie and finished and they are now physically apart from each other.

However, like all problems, there is always a way to solve them. Liam has reportedly flown in a couple of times to visit Miley while she was filming. Now that they are back together, would they break up again? This on-off occurrence seem to prevail in many celebrities’ relationships. Do you think that couples should get together again after break-ups? Has the relationship intensified, 0r will the problems still be problems after they have rekindled their relationship?

If you would like more news of the Miley and Liam, you can have a look at these articles:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1646531/20100826/cyrus__miley.jhtml

http://justjaredjr.buzznet.com/2010/03/26/miley-cyrus-liam-hemsworth-premiere-the-last-song/

http://celebrity.za.msn.com/index.cfm?objectid=94055

What’re YOUR tell-tale signs? September 26, 2010

 

The second season of the hiliarious television series Cougar Town premiered just this Wednesday, on the 22nd September 2010.

It is a comedy series that revolves mainly around the protagonist, Jules, who is,

 Yup, her, played by Courteney Cox.

The reason that I wanted to blog about her is because, well Jules is a very interesting and animated character in this series, which makes it delightfully funny. Well to better demonstrate the meaning when i say ‘animated’, perhaps you would like to view this really short clip.

Jules “pulls out her finger guns”  and smiles incessantly when she is nervous. This would cause the character to be very predictable, as shown by her friend being able to tell that she is anxious as she starts pointing her “finger guns”. To others who do not know this habit of hers, they would not be able to tell her emotions. However, to those who are accquainted with her, they are able to read her like a big picture book on display.

She does this fairly frequently, a sure sign of her nervousness. In the first episode of the new season, she even attempts to get rid of this addictive ‘bad’ habit of hers and consults a therapist about it.

These hand gestures is a  non-verbal way of communicating that the person is nervous, without actually having to say that he or she is indeed nervous, known as adaptors in the Study of Body Movement– Kinesics. There are definitely also other ways to show that you are nervous, as different people tend to vary differently. For example, there could be clenching of the fists, gripping of the pants, and most commonly fidgeting and crossing your arms across your body. It is the way that the body reacts to hint that you ARE feeling the anxiety, despite you trying to hide it.

In addition, this clip also shows Jules’ quality of voice gradually going high-pitched as she continues her conversation. Paralinguistics, is also another sign of her nerves. She starts rambling on and muttering under her breath as she realizes that she is not speaking with coherence. This muttering may be somewhat more exaggerated as this is a television comedy series, but nevertheless also a rather accurate portrayal in everyday life. We just all have a variety of ways to subconsciously project our own emotions.

This sense of nervousness may sometimes uncover an underlying emotion, like in this case, her attraction for the man she is talking to. Through Oculesics, her unwavering eye contact shows that she is most likely interested in him. Coupled with her nervousness, it may well be a sure sign of her attraction.

As I metioned, different people have various ways of showing their emotions, be it anger, anxiety, happines, boredom or depression. Is it arbituary, due to different perceptions, or is there a meaning behing it? (Like her “shooting” her anxiety away)

So everyone, what are YOUR most prominent tell-tale signs about your emotions?

Would an Alien epidemic change the social norm? September 18, 2010

In everyday life, we talk to friends and family, smile or cry, get angry or delighted. It is certainly not ordinary to stare relentlessly at a stranger on the street, or walk away unfazed after witnessing a car accident or suicide.

Well, in this 2nd entry on communications, the movie “The Invasion” challenges these usual social contexts. (aired 13 Sept 2010 on Channel 5).  What is deemed normal when an alien virus takes over the bodies of the entire world? 

  In a nutshell, this movie centres on a woman and her son, who are desperately trying to escape this alien epidemic. Thousands of people each day are infected by this virus, making those who are exposed to it unemotional and unfeeling. The full change occurs when the host goes to sleep. The virus-infected insists this is the best way to maintain a war and violence free world. Her son, incidentally, might be one of the very few immune to this viral infection.

 More information can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427392/ 

Due to copyrights, I am unable to post the link to the full movie here. But if you would like to watch the movie, I will gladly lend the original DVD to you.

In this m ovie, those who show too much emotion would be taken away and ‘converted’ with the alien virus. Are you the real you when you retain your personality and physical looks, yet are emotionless and infested by an alien virus? The context (stable set of rules and norms governing a large system of interaction) has now turned into an emotionless society, whereby police will drag people in hysterics away and daily attempts to spread the virus to those not yet infected. To fit in, now, the woman (played by Nicole Kidman) has to act like them, pretending to be emotionless and that she has had the changing ‘sleep’.  The attribution is the alien viral infection that causes the change in her behaviour. Circumstances dictate that she has to behave in a calm and composed manner as there is the risk of being discovered as the black sheep of the altered society.

 The perception of the ‘normal’ society now changes such what is initially deemed as normal is not the usual behaviour anymore. Actually, in this day and age, what determines what is ‘normal’? If you are the one different from everyone, are you the normal one, or are you the one that is out of the ordinary?

The influence of the Internet September 10, 2010

In this first entry on communications, I decided to focus on this very apt topic about– communications. This is an article from “The Straits Times” Home section. Online Grouses do get heard(September 5, 2010) by Irene Tham, which I have provided a scanned copy below.

For those who are not going to read it, this article focuses on the increasing number of companies acting on online feedbacks. Realizing the importance of online communication with its customers, these companies now monitor their reputations on widely-used networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, The Online Citizen, et cetera, leading to the rise of social media monitoring companies on the scene, like Brandtology and JamiQ.

Their programs can scan article and postings, extract the relevant comments about the companies and sort them out into positive comments or negative criticisms.  Brandtology and JamiQ have seen an increase of clientele from Banks, governmental agencies, telecos and even brands like Nestle, BMW.

In the medieval period and renaissance, letter writing and preaching were the main means to communicate over large distances. However, in the contemporary period today, modern technology has greatly aided us with the invention of the Internet as well as portable devices like the mobile phone and the laptop. This major evolution has made communication much easier than before, with wireless access readily available, hence giving us the liberty to stay in touch at anywhere, anytime.

I feel that these companies are prudent in adopting this strategy of watching the online chatter. The most recent DBS computer fiasco proved this. The online community was flooded that day, with tweets, comments and postings about its crash on forums and various networking sites. Hence, DBS could gauge the customers’ response to its crash and determine the most pragmatic way to handle the situation.

However, the invention of the Internet has received criticism. The most significant debate is that with communication made this convenient, would interpersonal relationship be made redundant?

Mankind now relies heavily on the net to discover the truth, stay in touch and search for information whenever any doubts arise. The Internet offers vast amounts of information that we would have to search millions of books and sources in the past to acquire. Despite that, who’s to say that the web is entirely accurate? Our personal biasness and experiences teaches us to trust some sources and distrust other sites. Idols of the tribe tell us that it is our human nature to make an assessment instead of investigating.

Communication is evolving in such a way that online communication is now just as important as interpersonal communication– perhaps even more. People find it hard to tear themselves away from their mobile phones or refrain from checking their emails for one day, further reiterating the influence of electronic media now. Advertisements on the sites we visit, keeping in touch with emails and instant messaging, all point to the fact that the Internet is rapidly taking over interpersonal communication.

Apart of connecting people who are apart from each other, the Internet can also alienate those who are not involved in the online community. Daily chatter involving slangs that arise from the use the Internet can also exclude the people unaware of them.

It is also important to note that the Internet also bonds people who are culturally different. With the anonymity of the Internet, it can also mean that personal prejudices are set aside, having not able to see the person you are chatting to on the other end. One can also learn more simply by Googling information about another culture, race or community.

The advantages and disadvantages of the Internet still remain debatable till this day, especially when it is now so heavily relied on.