ALC215: Week 8: Steve McQueen vs Aaron Paul...

The main differences between the representational and the presentational modes of media are really significant in the way that public identity is presented in the modern world. Representational modes of media include film and television, while presentational modes include Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. This, for me represents the two categories represent the distinction between the old and new media, and possibly even the difference between the public and the private to an extent. Marshall's assertion that 'there is an expansion of celebrity culture outward' (2010, p.498) reenforces this in my eyes, as the advent of new forms of social media have completely altered how we view the 'celebrity'.

The king of cool

An example i'm going to point out is Steve McQueen, although for the purposes of this exercise you could look at any number of moviestars, musicians or sportsmen and women.
A quick google search of McQueen's name doesn't return a single image not taken either from a movie or a professional photo-shoot, in fact the closest thing to it is the mugshot above. Admittedly Mcqueen did die in 1980, but the search results his name throw up all follow a very similar theme, he's almost the actual embodiment of James Bond, with guns, women and cars featuring prominently in many images. This is a key point, because McQueen's public image has not been at all altered or influenced by candid paparazzi shots or photos from any other source.

Aaron Paul and a fan...Bitch!

Contrast this with actor Aaron Paul for example (again, you could really use anyone active from say 2010 onwards) and you see a stark contrast with the way he is represented through images. His search results are dominated by Paul in more candid settings, rather than his representations through orchestrated photoshoots and screenshots of his work. The fan selfie featured above is just one readily available example.

In short, the most significant two differences between representational and presentational media (or the new and the old, as I have phrased it) is the consistency of image representational media provides for people such as McQueen, as opposed to the the array of images taken of Paul by fans, on red carpets, and even by himself and distributed through his twitter account. The other related difference is the sheer amount of images available, as advanced in technology have essentially put a camera in anyone and everyone's hands.

References

Marshall, PP 2010, 'The Specular Economy', Society, 47, 6, p. 498, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 September 2013.

ALC215 Week 7: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is, in my humble opinion one of the greatest games of all time, however upon critical reflection, I start to realise the intriguing ways that race is represented in the gameplay and storyline. Using Hall's work on encoding and decoding messages and the construction of meaning I'll attempt to analyse these representations, and responses to them.

Shoot 'em up! www.g-unleashed.com

Big Smoke, Sweet and Ryder. Eerily similar to rappers Notorious BIG and Eazy-E. Via www.gtax.webz.cz

The game's storyline revolves around Carl 'CJ' Johnson, a young, African American male who returns to his home neighborhood in Los Santos (modeled on Los Angeles) after the death of his mother, the game follows his journey to find his mother's killer, but also encompasses Los Santos' extensive problems with gang violence, police corruption and even a riot which mirrors the real life events of 1992's race riots in Los Angeles. Within the game Asians are represented as Triad members who drive fast cars and wear clean cut black suits, Latin Americans are represented as 'gangbangers' who drive low rider cars, have tattoos and wear baggy 'gangster' clothing. There is limited interraction with Caucasian characters, however the ones we do see are represented as typical country 'rednecks'.


 

 

 The representation of not only CJ and his African American counterparts, but also the East Asia,Mexican and Caucasian characters was (and still is) a massive talking point when discussing this game, even though the creators didn't necessarily encode the narrative of the game to portray these stereotypes in a negative light. Hall's concept of encoding and decoding delves into the ways in which the producers of content encode their stories with meaning, and then the ways in which the consumers then deduct and decode meaning from that encoded narrative (Hall, 1980, pp.55-58). However it is important to note that the encoded meaning is not necessarily the decoded meaning. 

The racial representations can be decoded and read in 3 ways:

- Dominant/Preferred reading - The audience agrees with the text, in this context, players of the game would accept the racial representations of the characters, as they find them true to life and 'agree' with them.

- Negotiated reading - The audience agrees with aspects of the text, in this context, players of the game would accept the racial representations of the characters, however would disagree or reject certain aspects. For example if the audience was of Asian descent, they may reject the portrayal of Asians, but accept all other meaning.

 

- Oppositional reading - The audience disagrees with the text, in this context, audiences of the game would reject all racial representations contained in the game.

References

Hall, S 1980, ‘Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse’, Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, England, pp. 55-58, accessed 12 Sept 2013, >http://visualstudies.buffalo.edu/coursenotes/art250/250A/_assets/_readings/encoding_decoding_hall.pdf<

 

 

 

 

ALC215, Week 6: Political Tweeting: Ruddy Hell!

The use of Twitter in the two most recent Australian federal elections point to a dramatic shift in how Australians form, discuss and disseminate their political thoughts. As Bruns and Burgess discuss 'while the 2007 Australian federal election was notable for the use of social media by the Australian Labor Party in campaigning, the 2010 election took place in a media landscape in which social media (especially Twitter) had become much more embedded in both political journalism and independent political commentary' (2011, p.1).
This shift from online campaigning in 2007 to online discussion and interaction in 2010 and especially 2013 through tools such as Twitter represent the future in political campaigning, political journalism and political commentary, as the 2013 Australian Federal election has shown.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his predecessor Kevin Rudd presented very public fronts throughout their campaign through their Twitter profiles. This is a stark comparison to the political landscape we have come to know all too well, where every single little move or word is stage managed and run through publicists and media managers as to avoid gaffes and mistakes. 
 

KRudd selfie. Via Kevin Rudd Twitter @KRuddMP

Although this is a massive step into the future and something that will no doubt be a part of modern politics for years to come, the real advancement in regards to twitter is what it gives to the everyday political punter.

My take on the election

Media coverage of the election and it's lead up was heavily saturated with user generated content through twitter, particularly on channel 9, who used it as a large part of their election night coverage, constantly scrolling tweets along the bottoms of the screen and occasionally giving closer attention to ones from prominent journalists, sportspeople, politicians during their broadcast. This is a significant change from traditional news-casting because it incorporates the views of the viewer, rather than just the views of the broadcaster, which obviously offers a massive opportunity for people (whoever they may be) to voice their opinions, whatever they may be.

References

Bruns, A & Burgess, J 2011 'Ausvotes : how Twitter covered the 2010 Australian federal election'. Communication, Politics and Culture, 44 (2), p 1.

ALC215 Week 5. Blogosphere/Public Sphere?

Can the blogosphere act as independent and impartial public sphere?

The concept of the public sphere was first popularized by German social theorist Jürgen Habermas. It has been described as 'a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment' (Hauser, 1998, p.86). This has traditionally been limited to public spaces such as coffee houses, markets and town squares, where people would gather to debate and discuss pertinent issues of the day, however advances in technology have meant that the coffee house or the town square can now be mimicked in an online setting. With this in mind, does the modern blogosphere now offer a new form of this public sphere?

In a word, yes. Some of the trappings of Habermas' public sphere are the disregarding of status and complete inclusiveness, and this is what the internet offers. Co-founder of social news site Reddit Alexis Ohanian discusses the equalising power of the internet below, commenting that 'my link is as good as your link', in that everyone with access to the internet is capable of having their say in equal measure, with little or no technological expertise.

     

This democratizing power can manifest itself in many ways, and is not just strictly limited to content of blogs and newsposts. Twitter can also act as a new public sphere in that it has the power to give everyone with access to the internet has equal ability to have their say on any issues, in 140 characters or less. However this model does have it's limitations, as not all opinions are not created equal. Even though the technology does afford everyone the ability to voice their opinions, comparing something I tweet to my less than 100 followers to something that goes out to the 36 million followers of US president Barack Obama doesn't exactly paint a picture of equality, does it?

References

Hauser, G 1998, "Vernacular Dialogue and the Rhetoricality of Public Opinion", Communication Monographs 65 (2): 83–107 Page. 86, 

ALC215, Week 4: Innovators or Pirates?

The record label 'Illegal Art' is an independent label which focuses on the mashup and sampling genres. There are arguments that mashup artists are nothing more than pirates and thieves because they produce music almost exclusively through using the work of other artists, however I would argue that they are innovators and artists in their own right. This is because while they do use the work of other artists, they do so in such as way as they create their own new and unique works. 
Below is an excerpt from the copyright documentary Good Copy/Bad Copy where mashup artist Girl Talk discusses his creative process and creates a new work by remixing a song which was in itself a remix of an original recording.

 In the video Girl Talk (AKA Greg Gillis) talks about how he does give credit to every artist he uses, but argues that to actually license a sample would be far too costly and would cripple his ability to have a viable career. With this in mind, is a shift in thinking necessary when it comes to copyright law? Is the idea of musical copyright an antiquated notion in a world where media and audio technology are cheap, widely available and easy to use? Gillis thinks so, stating that 'I basically believe in that idea (of Fair Use), that if you create something out of pre-existing media, that’s transformative, that’s not negatively impacting the potential sales of the artist you’re sampling, if it’s not hurting them in some way, then you should be allowed to make your art and put it out there' (Kosner, 2012). 

This is without even mentioning the effect that peer to peer filesharing and torrent sites have had on how people access music in the first place. Examples of how the two come together to cause concern for the music industry can be seen in the developments of 'Grey Tuesday' where the widely acclaimed mashup of The Beatles' 'White Album' and Jay-Z's 'Black Album' (Danger Mouse's 'The Grey Album') was released for free download on mass, much to the chagrin of record labels and managers of the artists involved.

With all this in mind, do the rules surrounding music sampling and copyright need to be adjusted to reflect the times? Should we adopt the kind of fair use model that Gillis suggests?

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tjHj-f6gLkI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2l-dvU9tOw&list=PLrsVBazougi53WxEEZv60Fg9EGdCKtF91

Kosner, A 2012, Girl Talk's Greg Gillis on Copyright, Curation and Making Mashup Rhymes, retrieved 17/8/13. http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/10/07/girl-talks-gregg-gillis-on-copyright-curation-and-making-mashups-rhyme/ 

ALC215 Week 3: Globalization, Hip Hop and American Culture

I've always wanted to go to America (hopefully one day soon), part of it is because of my love for American sport, part of it is because I just want to see the world, and part of it is because I've always had a fascination in American Hip hop culture.While I am fully aware that culturally, the real America is a far from what is portrayed in music, music videos and movies, perpetuation of these cultural stereotypes has lead to my views (and I'm sure I'm not alone) being skewed from reality. This is because me as a consumer of media texts, especially as an impressionable child, I only see extrapolated, theatrical versions of what the reality of American society might actually look like.

I'll freely admit that my knowledge of (or lack thereof) American culture has been completely shaped by artists such as Ice Cube, Tupac and the Notorious BIG amongst many others, as well as film and television such as 8 Mile, Coming to America, White Men Can't Jump, He Got Game and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

 

Unambitiousus.com (2013)

However, representations through film, television and music very rarely stay true to real life. This is because film and television often rely on assumptions and stereotypes to make characters recognisable and relateable. Benshoff and Griffin explain these stereotypes as 'oversimplified and overgeneralised assumptions' which 'inevitably create erroneous perceptions about individuals' (Benshoff and Griffin, 2009, pp.42-43). These representations and stereotypes of gangsters, rappers and streetballers are fact to me, partly because I don't know any better having no actual experience to base my opinions on, and partly because these stereotypes are enforced to such a degree that they have almost become impenetrable parts of popular culture. 

 

http://www.defjam.com/artists/beastie-boys/

The rapper for example is almost always an African American male, laden with chains 'bling' and baggy clothing, and often associated with gangs. This stereotype is occasionally challenged by white artists such as Eminem or the Beastie Boys, however the stereotype still endures because it is still embedded in the psyche, and to an extent perpetuates itself when people recognize it and act accordingly.

References

Benshoff, H, Griffin S 2009, America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies, Blackwell Publishing, United Kingdom, pp.42-43.

ALC 201, Module 1, Topic 3, Surveilance Case study

Note to all ALC215 readers, this is work for another unit, by all means comment, but you won't be able to submit it.

 The recent release of Microsoft’s new Xbox One (the successor to the Xbox 360) has thrown up a couple of intriguing elements of electronic tracking and surveillance. Firstly there is an issue of activity and use tracking through a compulsory Internet tether for a daily check in, (which has now been scaled back), but primarily the controversy centres around the console's Kinect motion capture camera. As part of the Xbox One's perpetual standby mode, Kinect is always active, and picks up any movement, voice or hand movements, and beams footage back to Microsoft's central servers.

This is disturbing enough in and of itself, however when coupled with allegations made by American hacker Edward Snowden that all Microsoft products are equipped with a 'backdoor' which grants access to America's National Security Agency. This, you could argue is similar to the communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which as Gates and Magnet (2007, p.281) explain as being an act that 'requires telecommunication carriers to design their equipment, facilities, and services to enable electronic surveillance'. One could argue that this is no different to allegations made by Snowden, and that NSA access is just another part of the modern surveillance society, however CALEA is written into law, and freely available to anyone to view, while the NSA's PRISM operation (detailed below) was run in complete secret, without the knowledge of the general public. 

Snowden paints a picture of an extremely effectively and sophisticated surveillance scheme, which can monitor every facet of everyday life, and while Xbox One's Kinect camera is only a small facet of this, having an omnipresent video recording capability built in to what is essentially a children's gaming device is something that many would view as a trivial and invasive perversion of their civil rights, especially considering at the time of release facts about where footage might end up and what it might be used for had not revealed.

It should be noted here that there has been no confirmation that any Kinect camera footage has been or is being monitored as part of the PRISM program, however the possibilities of such a system are pretty much endless. Furthermore, much has been made in the past about the 'threat' of surveillance, chiefly through the analysis of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, a concept of self-regulation, predicated on the idea someone 'could be' watching. The Panopticon was furthered by French sociologist Michel Foucault, who analyzed it as a way 'to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in it's effects' (Foucault, 1977, p.201). This sentiment has now become very relevant again with Snowden's revelations that the American government has the potential capabilities to monitor a person's every single movement and connection. Does the concept of the Panopticon still ring true today, even if the medium has changed from a prison guard to a computer technician? Will the mental image of a dark room somewhere with hundreds of television monitors have any influence whatsoever on the human condition?
 

References

Foucault, M, 1977, 'Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison'. A. Sheridan, (Trans), Penguin, London,  p.201.

Gates, K, & Magnet, S 2007, 'Communication Research and the Study of Surveillance', Communication Review, 10, 4, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 12 August 2013.  p.281.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5yB3n9fu-rM

Pazarino, M, 2013, 'Microsoft reverses course on Internet connection and used game policies of Xbox One', retrieved August 7, 2013, http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/06/19/microsoft-apparently-reverses-course-on-xbox-one-always-on-internet-connection-and-used-game-policies/ 

RT, 2013, 'Microsoft helped the NSA bypass encryption, new Snowden leak reveals' retrieved August 7, 2013, http://rt.com/usa/microsoft-nsa-snowden-leak-971/ 

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