Education
Meet your new COMM122 Podcast hosted by Maxwell Gilles! Hello! Welcome to COMM122 Podcast. My name is Maxwell Gilles, and I will be hosting this podcast for Professor Wayne. We begin our first episode on the media industry and its relationship with the society we live in. We first introduce media industries as a cultural industry. What does that mean? It means media, whether they are news media, entertainment media, or internet media, crete culture. More precisely, it means: media produce and reinforce mainstream cultures, shape and adapt to the dominant ideology.You probably have heard a lot about how media products define our contemporary culture and values. It’s true that to some extent media content determines what is right and wrong, what is desirable, and what is not, what is cool and what is out of fashion. Here is an example; try searching hashtag, avocado toast, on Instagram, you will find tens of thousands of pictures of smashed avocado toast. How come people are so obsessed with avocado toast? People have been eating avocado toast since as early as the 1990s. But only until recently has it turned into a pop culture phenomenon. The pivotal moment came when Gwyneth Paltrow, an Academy-Award winning actress, endorsed the dish wholeheartedly in her cookbook. Since then, food bloggers and food magazines have started copying her recipe; people have started posting about it, making avocado toast Instagrammable. In other words, media platforms, and media personnel, as part of the cultural industry, has created the popular culture surrounding avocado toast. If you want to learn more about this intriguing history between media and avocado toast, read the Washington Post article Professor Wayne have uploaded. Here is another example. What is your view on legalizing marijuana? You may support or oppose it, but the popular sentiment in the state of Massachusetts is generally supportive. According to a poll done by W B E Z and UMass-Amherst in 2016, over 50% of the public supports marijuana legalization. Did you know that in 1988, only 24 percent of Americans came out supporting the legalization? Why has public opinion changed so dramatically? A key factor is how the media has portrayed marijuana. Media researchers found that support for legalization began to increase shortly after the media began to cover marijuana, NOT as an issue of drug trafficking, but a medical issue. You can read about the study in the assigned article from the website The Conversation.Are you a narcissist? Do you watch reality TV? This may sound like a loaded question, but give me a moment to explain. For example, I am sure President Trump is a narcissist. But, does watching his show the Apprentice make you a narcissist? Actually, there appears to be a correlation between consuming reality TV shows and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, also known as NPD, a clinically diagnosable mental issue. Of course, correlation does not mean causation, but you will find many great thinkers blaming entertainment media and celebrity culture for creating the egocentric, me culture. On this topic, I am recommending two popular books: “The Narcissism Epidemic” and “The Mirror Effect.” I have given your three examples of media creating and shaping cultures. What is your example? Can you tell us how your value, belief, and personal preference is influenced by the media content you consume? Keep the question in mind as we move to the next episode on media and dominant ideology.