Movie propaganda?

I personally believe the movie industry in American-controlled. The U.S. is the world's largest film market. Yale Global online referred to America as the "cultural gate keepers" of the industry. Basically the United States decides what goes on the big screen and what is portrayed on it.

Diversity is a big deal nowadays and everyone wants to be politically correct. But genres like comedies fuel off the opposite. They play off of stereotypes, especially regarding race, class, and culture. Look at the 2013 comedy We're the Millers: in the MTV Movie Awards it won Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Kiss and was nominated for Best Female Performance, Best Shirtless Performance, Best Musical Moment, and Best Comedic Performance. Let me emphasize BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE. People react to stereotypes of cultures and races, especially when an RV of a suburban family rolls into a Mexico drug trafficking community. People enjoy that, I thought it was a hilarious movie. Nonetheless, it adds to a certain culture we have about stereotyping others.

Let me take a stance on the opposite end of comedies: dramas. Take Lone Survivor for example: it is based off a real story with real history and is emotionally compelling. I cried, I'll admit it. But can we say it adds to the nature of Americans to kind of group all foreigners under the group of "terrorists"? That's a huge problem we have in America currently, everyone thinks everyone is a terrorist. Nonetheless, these movies sell. They grab at your emotions: whether laughter, sadness, fear, or simple enjoyment. American movies have a purpose and often that purpose undergoes in encouraging the stereotyping of another culture (whether intentional or not).

"Stop, Collaborate and Listen"

On the topic of radio, let me tell you what stations I tune into when I'm back at home in good ole Bardstown, KY:

W246AT (WBRT) 97.1 FM Bardstown, KY Country

WAMZ 95.7 FM Louisville, Kentucky Country

WNRW 98.9 FM Prospect, KY Top-40

WKMO 99.3 FM Lebanon Junction, KY Country

WLGX 100.5 FM Louisville, KY Hot AC

WLSK 100.9 FM Lebanon, KY country

Okay so the weird number/letters starting with "w" is the stations call sign. My personal favorite station that I like to listen to when I'm driving is 98.9 which plays the top 40 hits. It's called Radio Now and no suprise: it's owned by iHeart Radio. Honestly, Radio Now is keeping up with the pack of alternatives. It provides internet radio to tune in on (great for needing references on what a song is) and has podcasts and visuals. They understand that they have to adapt to what their listeners expect, so their internet availability is there. The website even has gossip news on it. Talk about convergence in media. And hey, it's Louisville's (the city closest to my small town) #1 station for hit music.

The only downside for me personally as a listener is the morning shows which put a hold on my music. That was when I would turn on Pandora, which is definitely a competitor with the basic FM stations. 

But hey, check it out for yourself: here's the link. 

 http://www.989radionow.com/main.html

A Dying Breed

I remember the days when newspapers were delivered to my house every week. Or I at least have seen that picture enough time in movies with the cute, little paper boy throwing the rolled up paper onto the cute, little front lawn of a suburban household. But is that reality? Not today. First of all, people would find some reason to lash out on the process...like it's bad for the environment. Is this where newspapers are at? I can't tell you the last time I read a newspaper. Frankly, I think holding them is awkward and somewhat difficult with its flappy pages.

But hey, let's look at my local newspaper which I honestly hope stays in good standing on the market. The Kentucky Standard (according to wikipedia, which while isn't exactly reliable I think does the trick for this blog) was started December 15, 1900 by Jack Wilson and sold to the circuit county clerk Wallace Brown in 1901. They publish three times a week (something I should have known but didn't) and have a local TV station called PLG 13, 3 websites, and a classified magazine about real estate. I grew up with PLG 13 broadcasting student events and updates (I was on it one time btw).

I have toured the building where they do the newspaper and film PLG13 and it seems like they know what they are doing. It is sponsored by tons of local businesses. Bardstown, Kentucky is extremely small town and is prided on its "Shop local" motto so everything is locally advertised. My parents still buy the paper and I know a lot of other people do too. The Standard and PLG13 have a good presence at local events so they don't exactly fade into the background.

I personally really like my local newspaper. It's nice to see local news and I grew up being on half of the pages with my Christmas list for elementary school, but the problem is, half of it I don't care about and the other half I heard about on Twitter or Facebook a couple days before. I don't see the necessity in newspapers, especially when I was doing this blog off of them and I was looking at the digital edition. I just took the "paper" out of newspapers. It's sad and I hate to admit it.

And yeah, I totally believe that newspapers are adapting. That's today's day and age. But going against popular opinion, I believe people are overlooking the fact that by adapting to digital versions the classic newspaper isn't the same thing it used to be. Is it still a newspaper? Evolutionists say we used to be apes but now we are humans, so if we put newspapers into this idea: if newspapers are the antique version what do they become? Toughie. So now I'm sad because while newspapers are still kicking in my opinion, I don't think they will ever be the same.

"I read that book"

My favorite thing to see at the movies beside the actual movie are the previews. I am that cliche person in the audience who leans over after each one and says, "I wanna see that." Movies are huge in my family, but I am obsessed with books too. Luckily with today's culture, I often see a combination of both. So I will be at the theaters and I love it when I see a trailer for a book I've read. It's like re-experiencing the book. 

Okay so I think many people will agree that seeing a movie that you originally read can be a double-edged sword. You may have loved the book and were really excited about the movie, but the movie might have in reality disappointed you. In retrospect, the movie could have amounted to all expectations-even surpassed them. Look at the movie Holes: although I have not personally read the book, all my teachers and friends said the book was a long mess and the movie put it together. I love the movie Holes. 

Creativity of movie creation is rare. Most nowadays are based off popular books. Just think: The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Lovely Bones, Twilight saga, The Giver, The Maze Runner...yada yada. And that is just what is paying in the movie industry. Hunger Games: Catching Fire had a grossing of $424,668,047. So if that's what's paying the bills, I'd say directors and screen writers are in the money. 

The point is that half of the viewers don't even realize the movie is based off a book! It's culture-shaming. Years ago, people would ask "that's a movie?" instead of "that's a book?" How many people read Twilight only because of the movie? I read the books years before the movie and can't go anywhere near either simply because how overworked the movie was. Or Harry Potter, those books turned a corner in fiction. The movies were best-selling and I loved them, but my brother always had an obsession with the books. Everyone always said it was missing some big details. So the problem with book-inspired movies: the beauty is in the details and that is often forgotten.

Okay, go look at this link and tell me which ones are books and out of those how many have you read. Were you surprised? Did it bring up a bad taste in your mouth from a bad book-turned movie? Lemme know. 

 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/past365.htm

No Media Day

So I find myself staring at this assignment: no media for twelve hours. Of course I don't want to put myself into the category of "this generation" where we have a dependency on media. So I take it on, putting my smart phone down and turning my TV off. Turns out, when you go home over Labor Day weekend it's actually pretty easy.

There I was at home, avoiding media, and actually enjoying the time with my family. I didn't care what was going on anywhere else- I just missed them. Having taken a step back, I could finally relax from the past crazy weeks of my first semester in college.

I needed to disconnect. I had just started at a new school, which equaled to a lot of overwhelming situations. In fact, the biggest lesson I had learned so far starting off new, was that technology was a detriment to my social life I was building. During sorority recruitment, sorority events, class, going to lunch, and just meeting people in the hall of my dorm, I had to be there. Honestly, college completely stripped me away from social media temporarily. A complete contrast to high school. And it was exhausting. So simply what I learned from this experience from not just the 12 hours without social media but how my life has been going recently: being part of a conversation 24/7 in person is way more exhausting and harder than being in one over social media. And that's kind of sad.

And here I am, blogging about my no media day-talk about irony.