People are exposed to thousands of pieces of media
every day in forms such as music or advertisements in television, the radio, magazines,
newspapers, or anywhere in the street. I’ll admit that before I started
analyzing things I saw in the media, I never really paid attention to the way
that the media portrays the world. However, after doing these media blogs and
analyzing the media, I see all the detail and thought put into advertisements
to get me to notice them and the way the media acts.
One
thing I realized was that many of the advertisements and commercials that I see
are aimed at my age group. Advertisers assume that teenagers have money to
spend and that they are easily fooled by appealing things like color or the
desire to be “cool.” In a way, they’re right; if people see a recurring theme
in media, it might seem like a cool new trend that everyone will want to follow
to fit in. I used to think that advertisements never really affected me, but
now I realize that if I simply notice a product, that’s good enough for the
company. Companies try to create a variety of ads to target different groups of
people. This way, the name or product gets more widespread. They also try to
associate the company with ideas like family or love, as if to seem like they’re
caring people instead of companies trying to make money.
I
notice ads even more now, but it’s probably not the way the advertisers want me
to. While an image from McDonald’s might want to make someone buy a lot of food
from McDonald’s, I notice how the background, font, and lighting make the food
seem good and how the restaurant is trying to make themselves seem prominent.
Of course, the advertisers don’t want people to think this. They depend on the
fact that people are not all media literate and won’t be able to notice how
every detail is making them think.
Another
thing that really stood out to me was how the media portrays women. This is one
thing that the media doesn’t try to make subtle—women are displayed and
objectified as sex object in pretty much every form of media. However, after
watching Miss Representation, I realized even more how every detail can effect
how someone views a woman. All that the media does is cheer it on. Whoever
decided that men were superior to woman? It’s considered normal now for women
to be objectified, and none of it is even questioned. Before I started media
blogs, I mostly just noticed that women were objectified with their bodies. Now
I realize that simply calling a woman by “Mrs.” instead of a professional title
diminishes her power. Before this, I wouldn’t have paid any attention to
details like this.
I
think that I am more media literate after looking closely at all of the media surrounding
me. I don’t try to ignore the media; it’s not like this blog made me want to
never watch TV or listen to the radio again. Now that I see more techniques
that the media uses to affect us, though, I pay attention to it more and try
not to get fooled by it. I would like to think that shutting out all of the
messages that the media is trying to embed into my mind is possible, but I know
that it’s not. However media literate I am, it attacks me from every angle and
will still affect me. Analyzing it has been very helpful to me. It has opened
my eyes to all the tactics and tricks used against me daily, and because of
this, I try to think like myself instead of how I am taught to think instead.
