Media and communication week two

Creating new, more widely available technology helped to widen the audience of mass communication. This increase in publicity helped introduce the Industrial Revolution in the mid 1800's. Victor Köhler's film Press Pause Play disuses the change in media over the years and how the technological improvements have resulted in a larger range of possible artists. With new resources more people have access to the equipment need to create music, David Weinberger says, "With just me, my laptop, an idea and five million downloads" (PressPausePlay). With very limited items now, one can create a piece of art and share it with the world; artists do not have to go through pricey studios to create music, they can just flip open their laptop. Today the technology gives this opportunity to everybody. Moby said, "Everybody is an artist, in olden days people didn't make stuff" (PressPausePlay). Any person that wants to can easily make music. This was not the case in the past. The technology has improved, opening the door for new artists, Moby explains, "In five minutes, I can do what took six months" (PressPausePlay). The technology has not only connected a greater number of people to music but the broadening happened in a shorter time. Artist can easily create music and put it out into the world. All of these advantages have come with the technology that has progressed over time.
The introduction of the Industrial Revolution started with the printing industry. In the 19th century the steam-powered cylinder press was invented, "This new development allowed for the rapid reproduction of printed materials" (Chapter Two). The introduction of mass communication allowed for the audience of newspapers and other forms of art to expand to all people. "Although newspapers had existed since the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they had been read by the educated elite, not the general public" (Chapter Two). Costs were too high because the amount of copies was so low; with the new printing methods newspaper companies were able to boost their product numbers to increase availability. "The costs of printing were too high to reach a mass audience, and the content was not everyday news items but dated information from abroad, political reports, and essays" (Chapter Two). The improvements made to technology for newspapers works similarly to how the music industry has changed; the easy accessible technology helped to widen not only the audience but the content too.  

Media and Communication Week One

Improvements in media and technology have drastically changed communication. Victor Köhler's PressPausePlay addresses how democratized culture effects art. Singer songwriter, Moby believes that advances in technology have made art a little less special; "50 years ago, people didn’t make things. People would go to photography exhibitions. They would go to record fairs. They would watch movies. Now everyone is a photographer. Everyone is a musician. Anyone can make a film"(presspauseplay). Making art so easy has made it less impressive as well, now that everyone can be an artist the real artists are being swallowed by the mass of bad art.  Andrew Keen also shares this opinion, "A young Hitchcock or a young Scorsese wouldn’t make it into the movie business today. They’d slap up their film onto YouTube and it would get lost in the ocean of garbage" (presspauseplay). The British entrepreneur and author believes that this generation is obsessed with themselves, that everyone thinks they're great at what they do but really they are poorly making art to drown out the real artists. On the opposite side, the mind blowing advances in technology is beautiful. The progress that has been made recently is too amazing to be judged so harshly. Another view displayed in the film is that this progress is a good thing, "The human spirit when it is allowed to express itself, will usually make interesting things. When humans make stuff, they tend to make interesting things. Give a human a hammer and a piece of wood, or a computer and broadband and they are going to make something interesting" (presspauseplay). The human race is amazing on it's own but with technology making preserving thoughts, ideas, and adventures makes the memory last forever. There are pros and cons to each advancement, and each will be equally disputed but overall progress is amazing. 

Editing and layout drastically impacts the feel of a piece. In Jason Silvia's video "Existential Bummer" his message is strongly conveyed through the moving narration accompanied by interesting images. He opens the video with a quotation from Sigmund Freud's essay "On Transience" which is said while beautiful images of nature play in the background, as he switches to talk about love the images change to match the topic. "And I was really struck by this, because perhaps that’s why, when we’re in love, we’re also kind of sad. There’s a sadness to the ecstasy. Beautiful things sometimes can make us a little sad. And it’s because what they hint at is the exception, a vision of something more, a vision of a hidden door, a rabbit hole to fall through, but a temporary one. And I think, ultimately, that is kind of the tragedy. That is why love simultaneously fills us with melancholy" (Jason Silvia). The video changes to a very relatable matter and the images help the viewer to remember how they felt while they were in love. As he continues on this topic the images help the audience to feel the words he is  saying instead of just hear them. As he says "That’s why sometimes I feel nostalgic over something I haven’t lost yet, because I see its transience" (Jason Silvia) the viewer watches a heavenlike clip of a man and a woman, and a golden retriever. This clip leads the audience to feel as if they were looking through old memories; while it is sad because that moment is gone it is also beautiful to look back at how things used to be. The things being said up to this point have made the video feel relatively sad, but he changes the pace as he talks about what we are supposed to do knowing everything will end. The music picks up a bit and the pictures match what is being said. "I think that we defy entropy and impermanence with our films and our poems. I think we hold onto each other a little harder and say, “I will not let go. I do not accept the ephemeral nature of this moment. I’m going to extend it forever. Or at least I’m going to try” (Jason Silvia). This makes the viewer believe they have a little more control over their fate; they are not destined to be wrecked by the transience of life they can make a promise to keep holding on. This video is very moving because of the images, music, and words. The piece came together perfectly and encourages the viewer to watch it repeatedly.

Smoke Signals

Media has the power to define a human being by forming strong opinions. People learn from the shows, movies, and books that are presented to them; being exposed to media that always follows the 'good white guy, bad Indian' stereotype will form an astigma in the viewer's subconscious. The way Native Nations have been portrayed through media has affected every aspect of life on and of the reservations. This can affect the way Native people are treated. When Thomas and Victor were involved in a crash the drunk driver tried to blame them, and since the driver was white the officer was going to blindly went along with it. The only reason the officer let them go is because a white woman stood up for them, "Mr. Johnson's wife Holly says he's, and I quote, "a complete asshole". So, you two are free to go" (Smoke Signals). Media has burned the idea that the white guy is always right into the minds of every human exposed to it. Even the Native people have a slight prejudice against themselves. They have grown up being ashamed of their culture, especially how they are depicted in film, "Thomas, don't you even know how to be a real Indian? How many times have you seen Dances with Wolves? 100...200 times?" (Smoke Signals) Victor falls under the stereotype of 'savage indians'; he puts up a front that makes him look tough and mad. He asks Thomas if he even knows how to be a real indian. He explains that you need to look tough and regal like you just killed a bear, but Thomas points out that the Coeur d'Alene did not hunt they were fisherman. "You want to look like you just came back from catching a fish? This ain't Dances with Salmon, you know" (Smoke Signals). Victor has been taught through movies like John Wayne that every Indian is the same and that the white guy is always the winner. He tries to accept this by playing into the mean, scary indian he saw on tv. Media creates an opinion on everyone involved.

Healing happens at different rates for different wounds and different victims, but once the ceremony is over the victim can see the situation in a different light. Storytelling helps to clear the situation of any misinterpretation. While traveling to Victor's fathers house Thomas narrates "I told Victor I thought we were all traveling heavy with illusions"(Smoke Signals) Every person creates reasons and explanations to everything that happens to them; when something bad happens without explanation a story is created as a way to cope with the pain. Victor grew up writing his father off as a bad person because he treated him and his mother poorly an abandoned them when he left. Through the trip, Victor realised that his father had so much more going on than he knew about; he suffered from pts which he self medicated with alcohol. Once Victor understood that his father did not mean for everything to happen as it did he began to heal. When Thomas asks Victor one last time why his father left he replies, "He didn't mean to Thomas" (Smoke Signals). The trip was a ceremony that Thomas needed in order to heal, through the stories he heard and the things he saw he began to understand the real story about his father. Thomas developed a new attitude about his father and he was able to forgive him. Thomas states he will take the ashes and spread them in the river for a spiritual ceremony and Victor replies "It would be just like cleaning out the attic, like throwing things away when they have no  more use" (Smoke Signals). This shows that Victor's ceremony is over, he is healed and no longer needs something from the ashes. Victors healing process took a little bit longer than Thomas' did, but after the ceremony was complete both people were benefitted.