Parasocial Relationships

I definately have a parasocial relationship with Abby Wambach. She is a soccer player that i have been watching since she first made it onto the Women's National Team. When i was in high school, she first started playing in the WUSA a league for women. My soccer number in High school was 23. When i came to Malone there was already another girl on the team with my number so i needed to pick a new one. Ironically i picked 20 which was also Abby Wambach's number. During World Cup season i go online and watch her video blogs. Alot of them are her and her teammates playing pranks on each other, hanging out, playing cards, and practicing. The blogs definately help me feel as though i am a part of her team its very interesting. She also has a group of blogs where she gives advise on how to shoot better, or new tricks she has learned to help you score (finish) and speed up with the ball. Because she is who she is (the greatest soccer player since mia hamm Literally!) I hang on her every word. If it works for her, then i have to try it. Usually it turns out that the skills she suggests or the tricks to use actually do help. This is an upside to following an athlete...she is actually honest about her advice. I like the fact that i can idolize someone in the media that is more like me. Its funny to say that because i do not truely know her. But i am connected to her because we both play soccer. I got to meet her once and as any soccer player knows...its as if every girl in American instantly connects with each other based on their ability to play. I talked to her for probably a minute and it was like we knew each other just based on playing. It was really cool.

Celebrity switch up

I was watching some movies this weekend with my family. There were too many to name but i began to notice that the same actors and actresses where suspiciously popping up in almost every movie that we watched. The funny thing was...it was a completely different role. Its weird how they can put on a mask for one film, be completely hilarious dropping one liners every second, and then the next minute in a different movie be someone totally different. This time maybe dark, sinister, or evil. Why do we accept this?! is it because we love Jennifer Aniston and don't care if she is the querky girl in Marley and Me or the disturbed housewife in The Good Girl. I don't have an answer but it is interesting to me. So many times i have watched certain characters in different movies and accepted their acting as who they really are. But when Angelina Jolie doesn't play in an action film i am slightly thrown off. Or when Will Ferrel isn't making me laugh i feel kind of confused. Its like we learn to love these celebrities based on the characters they play. We think we understand and know them...if we saw them in the streets they would be our best friends! DUH but when they change that in the slightest we or at least i have a hard time accepting it. Maybe the sign of a good actor is when we as the audience can never truely understand who they really are....

YouTube

Last night i stayed up late with my little brother. We talked alot and watched TWO HOURS of youtube videos. It was so much fun. I think it is so interesting how something like youtube can bring people together on a common ground. It was definately a bonding experience. I also got to know my brother through his video choices. The things he and his friends thought were funny where much different than my tastes. Watching his videos were still hilarious though. To see his face light up, and he actually fell off of his chair at one point. My brother is a senior in high school and it was even more facinating to see that his generation, and mine have a different set of popular youtube videos. I think that the videos are spread by these exact means. I showed him the popular videos that my friends and I have recently found humerous and he showed me his. Because of this i have a new set of videos to share and so does he. The trend will continue as groups spread the trends and humerous videos around to their friends. I think it is amazing how something found on youtube can have so much power. We will probably refer to these videos for days secretly quoting them and laughing at them during church (shhh don't tell our mom!)

Class Debate & Reading

When we first started discussing having a debate with my group, i was really worried that it was going to be hard to talk about. No one had done the reading except for a view of us, and i was nervous we would not be able to come up with enough points to argue. When we started discussing how conglomerates do more harm than good in the media, i began to realize that even with out the reading we all had good points to make. This is because we are all effected by media everyday. With out even realizing, it seems like common knowledge that disney owns abc, and general electric owns nbc. We are faced with this reality everyday. Conglomerates are sure to make themselves known in our everyday life and we begin to see their advertisements leaking into our shows. Their symbols are everywhere and we know who they are. When discussing whether they do more harm than good, i am still definately on the fence. Although i argued that they are harmful, i am not entirly sure that statement is true. Afterall, they do provide us with television and entertainment, sports and news. I feel like it would be much more difficult to recieve information and be entertained if it wasnt for thsese massive companies. Also, the reason they are so big is because they are so good at what they do. They have worked hard to become one of the big six and there is a reason for that. Althought they often stoop low, lowering their standerds to higher ratings, they do know how to get an audience. I do feel they should take some responsiblity for effecting peoples lives. I mean, violence, sex isn't good to overly consume, but if some people can avoid it, it isn't impossible. I could go on for ever but its a never ending question, and i don't feel like there is one answer.

Twilight

My friends convinced me to read the Twilight series over christmas break. I was hesitant because i am not a huge fan of science fiction. after reading the first book i was completely hooked. It took only 4 days to finish the entire series, and i have seen the movie twice. I am not as obsessed as some fans, but still. I have entered this strange new domain of vampires and darkness that seems to be entrancing everyone in the world. How can an author generate so much enthusiasm for books? I love books because they allow us to use our imagination. Unlike movies we can picture the characters ourselves, and depending how we read the books, we may like or dislike(JACOB!) characters. The characters develop a voice in our minds. It is usually highly dissappointing to see a movie that is an adaptaion of the book we are so in love with. The characters do not look the same as they do in the movie reel in our minds, and their voices are different. Producers and directors can make the characters more lovable or interesting and can twist the story ever so slightly so that the general public, not just book readers, will love the story. I was surprised to see twilight in the theaters and was even more surprised that the story was surprisingly similar to what i had pictured it to be. I was pleased that my imagination was being portrayed on the big screen with only small differences. I can't wait to see the rest of the movies.

"Quiz Show"

This was the first time that I had watched Quiz Show the entire way through. My aunt and I watched it together and it was really interesting to talk to her about it. Because it was a true story, she was able to attest to events that took place after the incident in the movie occurred. She mentioned to me that at that time, broadcasting companies took all of the quiz shows off of the air. There was a stigma around the validity of the shows, and it took a long time for the American public to trust the idea of the show itself. Ironically, as mentioned in the movie the American people did not have a problem trusting the television companies themselves. I guess these people could be considered the conglomerates. NBC controlled everything in this movie, including the pharmaceutical companies and the contestants. As we talked about in class it was evident that the pharmaceutical companies controlled the production of the shows. One call could get a contestant off the air and replaced immediately. Everything was done for money. Van Duran was expected to keep winning because the conglomerates were making tons of money off of him. Their ratings were going up because of the viewers. With more viewers, more money was being put into the drug companies. In the end the contestants were the ones hurt. NBC is still a huge business, but the contestants lives were practically ruined. Everyone covered up the lies for the companies. This was hard to understand. It seemed as though if one person would have just told the truth than the companies would have been hit hard. It makes me wonder how often things like this happen. How often we, as the American audience, are fooled into believing thing that television wants us to believe. Reality television can be twisted into a staged production, where everything turns out the way the production companies want. In this way the viewers are constantly tuning in, and the ratings are constantly going up. I know that my life is not as dramatic or exciting as the lives of those on the bachelor or the real world, therefore I have to believe that these people may be in some way provoked to act the way they do or “fed the answers.” Why do we so willingly trust the people that make television? Television is definitely better now than in the time of the quiz show. Monopolies do not exist as they did but conglomerates are still able to protect themselves or cover up for things like what happened in this movie. Talking about these issues in class, as well as watching the movie gave me a clearer understanding of what happened with television and posed a lot of questions for me as a viewer.