Madonna & Missy Elliot

“Nothing in the advertising is a mistake; there is a message”

The video apparently had many hidden signs on how Madonna (white artist) has more power in this video than compare to Missy Elliot (black artist). Everything done and shown in the video basically proves the message, so my question is ‘if someone doesn’t notice these signs then can it affects us and the way we think?’ I remember when I first watched this video I did not notice any of these signs; instead I only thought it was just like every other commercial that promotes its product.
The way Madonna is presented in the GAP video shows she is dominant; she has more voice in the video, her chain represents dominance. While Missy’s body language represent that she is submissive than compare to Madonna. In my opinion, the GAP video can not affect us if we are unaware of the signs, it did not affect me because I was not focus on what the hidden message was about. The only sign that I found significant was how Madonna blocked the “S” in the STOP sign which meant that she was beside the word “TOP”. Which in result means that as an artist she is on top.
After watching the video clip I wanted to become more aware of everything that surrounds my life that shapes who I am and the decisions I make. This topic amuse me so much because I am extremly excited about the idea of how there are signs all around us and every decision we choose shape who we are and creates the path we end up walking.

Image Curation: Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is my main theme in the first group task and I have decided to do it on my own. I remember our first day of class where Mark discussed Cindy Sherman, a famous photographer and he mention how her art focuses on the role of women in society. The images he presented to us I thought were simple just mainly images of women who were posing. As I went in depth with her art I became frighten and confuse by the message of her photographs. Instead of changing my idea on a theme I decided to research the reason as to why her art was so different compare to other photographer.

In my opinion, Cindy Sherman’s art work started off to be beautiful and filled with historyy behind each images, but as time went on her art became confusing and disturbing. I came across six pieces of her work and the title basically described what her project was all about, but my opinion was a bit different:
1. Untitled Film Still: In these images, Cindy Sherman used herself as the model. When I first looked at these pictures I thought she was simply just posing for the camera and trying to look sad. As I observe each and every piece of art I found a story for each of them and that they all have a similar message. A message of “lost”, her face and body language screams “loneliness”.
2. Fairy Tale Disaster: This project is definitely a fairy tale disaster, a different side of every fairy tale story that no one wants to see. These pictures are basically the aftermath of a fairy tale; still in their body language it seems as if they are saddened.
3. The Sex Pictures: As I came to this last project, I became speechless I do not know what really to say or how to react to these pictures. I was trying to find a message but I couldn’t find one. The pictures are of manikins posing in a way where it exposes their sexual features. The only message I could find in these images is that; the world views women as sex object and that is all we will ever be in the eyes of society. I did not wish to observe each pictures, because I was disturb by how these images were so graphic.

To conclude, the reason as to why i believe Cindy is a famous photographer because she dares to do what many photographer is afraid to do.

WORK CITED:
Biography Cindy Sherman, "http://www.cindysherman.com/biography.shtml" Sept 23

Presentation! Presentation! Presentation!

12:35 p.m – I am extremely nervous about today’s presentation and how Mark and Ian will be marking my report and my booklet, I am not too please with how my report turned out. I knew I had a lot of strong points to say but somehow I didn’t bring it up instead I feel that my report seems very boring and stupid. I guess I will see how it “stupid” it is when I receive my mark with a question mark on it because they did not understand anything they read. I think I should going to the Writing Centre and ask for help, which I will because I know I enjoy writing but I have a problem on how to word them. If I had the university level writing skills then professors and others would enjoy what I would have to say.

1:30 p.m – I am looking around myself right now and there are a lot of excellent and creative work that other students have created; computer, stomach, video clips, collage etc. Now I am looking at my own and I am ashamed of what I made, it doesn’t even look pretty or appealing, I guess my creativity really screwed me over this time.
Many of the girls focus their autobiography on body image and the media; even though it was not original I believe they all were creative. I couldn’t present today, I just didn’t want anyone to see how ugly my piece was and laugh. Almost everyone presented their assignment, it was kind of funny because Mark made presenting seem fun, he rushed everyone but at the same time he didn’t laugh instead he gave nice comments on what each person had done. With him taking pictures of everyone’s work made me feel that he was actually interested in what we made and what we had to say, which is a good thing.
Our class time was basically used up because of people presentation, so we didn’t do any lecture today; instead this assignment gave everyone the opportunity to allow their fellow peers to see their kind of lifestyle and issues with the media.

Media Autobiography

So without a doubt in mind I decided to do my autobiography on my perception of beauty and the media, which I know is typical but that is the main media influence that affects my life. My report deals with how I believe being beautiful is being perfect, the media forces me to have a hard look at myself and judge every imperfect part of my body because I know I will never be this “perfect” image in the eyes of others. Everyone and anyone has their own perception of what beautiful is, some say it is confidence, personality, intelligence, body image, skin color etc. but because everyone has so many opinion it is hard to please everyone. As a result of that; myself and many other young adolescents believe that no matter how hard an individual tries to become the “beauty” they can never be satisfied because there will always be someone out there who has another opinion on how they look. I want my report to address the issue of how all forms of media (television shows, commercials, advertisement, celebrities, magazines etc) has impact my life and the one message that was pointed out which is “beauty is perfection.”

In my opinion, almost all sorts of media has dominated my life and made me who I am today.
For generations the role of a women was simple her title was homemaker, wife, and mother; and for generations society has fought to defend and change how the world would view a women’s’ importance. After all the strike and public demonstration, a new generation has been created and a women’s role in society became fascinating, they could be anything and anyone they wanted to be: business women, police officers, wrestler, public figure, astronauts or doctors. Instead of using this power for greatness, today’s culture has destroyed everything that we have accomplished. Today’s generation is more focus on a women’s body image compared to her achievements in life, now we are back to the world of viewing a women only as an object.
I have so many ideas on what I want Mark and Ian to know about my autobiography but somehow I have writers block. My main idea with this assignment is to allow them to see that “The world has not change enough for any of us to be able to change ourselves” what I am trying to say is, even though many people hate the idea of what the media is doing to today generation, but the truth is we are apart of the problem.

Say Cheese!

Ian Rielly was introduced to our class today as Mark’s assistant, my first impression of him was very simple I thought he had a nice personality and attitude, both Mark and Ian seem to be funny people which makes being in this class all the more exciting.
We started the class off by addressing each students concern or questions about this course or about anything over all and I am glad that we did because many of the students concerns were also mine as well.
There were many questions I wanted to ask, but was a bit afraid to ask. This is kind of embarrassing but today I wanted so bad to make friends that would be my friends through out my four years here at Guelph – Humber even lifetime friends.

Mark starting discussing about Marshall McLuhan and Defining the Field, at first it was a bit confusing but later on it became amusing, listening about these kinds of theories and how we could relate to them. I guess the reason why I pay attention to Mark is because he talks about significant topics that you want to hear and he uses examples that student understands. This class isn’t just talking and listening and note taking, his words allows me to visualize what he’s trying to prove.
Even though there are a lot of readings and assignments I truly believe I am going to come out of this course learning something that will shape who I am and benefit my future as a Public Relations Consultant.

First Day of Class

I do not even know where to start with this first blog, but what I am certain of; is that I am extremely excited for the this course because I truly believe this program is going to help me guide to the right career.
Last year I was a first year Business Administration student who hated the program she was enrolled in. My first semester made me realize the reality that I was going to fail this program and my future if I continue with this path. Microeconomics, Accounting, Introduction to Business, Business Law and Marketing were the required courses for first year and evened though I did acceptable in them but in the end I learned nothing and hated waking every morning to go to those classes. So one day I decided to make a choice that could possible ruin my future or make a future for myself.
As a result, here I am today pursing her “dreams” as a first year Media Studies student, who is terrified of her four years in Guelph –Humber but I am ready, I am ready for the course work, for the professors and everything that comes with this program.
Today is the first class of Mass Communication and we are welcomed by Professor Mark Lipton and the one thing I can say is this course is going to be very interesting. Mark started off the class by saying “… I am going to give you guys more work than your other four courses; I am probably going to give you more work than your four years combine…” When I heard him say that I wanted to scream out “Bring it! Because I am ready” but of course I chose not to because I did not want to scare everyone. Basically, the first day was a typical one in some ways and I am happy to see how these 14 weeks of learning Mass Communication will shape who I am going to be.