We have read and discussed a number of texts this semester, all of which revolved around the course themes of Media and Family Ties. Our only remaining assessment is the final take home essay. So this is a good time for us to cast our minds back over what we have covered. Please reflect on the work we have done and answer at least one of the questions below.*To what extent have the texts we read influenced your perception of the media as a shaping force in our lives?
*What new insights into family structure and family life have the texts/films given you?
*What was your favourite academic text? Your favourite short story? Please explain why.
57 comments:
Well my favorite one is "And of Clay We Are Created" from Isabelle Allende. Because it was so real. Azucena was so near that I can feel her pain and her peacefulness against the death and the other side Rolf Carle dealing with his moral, religious values and his ethical view of journalism also against the death.
my favorite text is " A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality" (Rushdie). Rushdie is right to be alarmed because like this Reality programmes will continue day after day they hold a place in media which are include more violence, more pain. I think this one is the real text and reflect social structure.
I think, indeed, in total all texts helped us in terms of self evaluation. With a more conscious angle of view, I have a better command of relations between mass media and its’ audience now. Today world media institution has being grown up like a child. Now a day they are abusing their power to make control on public opinion and to shape it. In this process, of course they take care of maintaining the largest audience, in other words their fundamental financial resources. With that, they have greater radius of action upon societies. Therefore, it gives facilities to change climate in their country with more quick and efficient sense. However, As Edward R. Murrow emphasized, it is almost impossible to detect who is charged with these responsibilities in this tough system. All in all, personally I think that media swallows the audience in its fire.
My favourite one is text about Reality TVs. Since I found it very effective and it gave me a different perspective. Also, I like the heading which is “A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality”, it summarizes Reality TVs very well. Moreover, I found every text effective, they gave me a different point of view, but I did not like short stories, I found them very boring.
All text we have read until now help me to improve my analyzing skills and also clarify some crucial points for me about media and family ties. I could see other aspects of topics, especially how media is powerful on society. Additionally, my favorite text is Rushdie's '' A dearth of talent and Death of Morality. It is very short story, however Rushdie discusses media's effect very effectively by giving crucial examples. Moreover, he emphasizes media's power on reality shows, because in today's world they are watched by high rate of population. He alarming people to pay attention this situation, I m agree with him, because reality shows make people addicted, exploit cultural values and damage private life.
DENIZ D KIPGE
Reading this texts and analyzing it increase my vocabulary i learn new words...that i learned new staff about family ties and media such as how is media controlling us how powerfull its on society the one i like more than the others is probably i will go WİTH is “A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality” it gives perfect explaination about the reality shows i knew people were crazy but not this much it was short but nice explain and people come addicted to this shows like smoking a cigarette and cant quite it
we read nearly 8-9 text this term but the most effective one for me was and of clay we are created which was written by allende becuase it was so realistic. there are millions of people in our world who need help to survive. and in some cases there are and will be disasters unfortunaltely. the important point is help! people shoul be aware that everything is not ok. i mean people shouldnt be mean by thinking ONLY themselves.
Because I am interested in media, I was also interested about the texts about media and I like to see people saying their opinions about the issues that I am curious about. When we talked about the reality TV shows in class, i realized that it was actually something to talk about. Because lots of people are addicted to these shows and that addictiveness influence their life. I knew that these shows are so popular but I never talked about it before, i would never talk about my friends if that was not our topic in eng101. Maybe there are other things that affect our lives and we know that they are there but we never spend any time to think about the reason of becoming that trendy. But after a little investigation we can see that these kinds of things can express the psychology of the individuals and we can see what can be center of attention in today’s world.
Firstly, I have to emphasize that all of the texts that we read , discussed and wrote blogs about have contributed to our perceptions in may subjects so media was one of these. If I talk about myself, it changed some point of views of me and strengthened some of my ideas. For example; we have learned that how a radio could interfere with daily lives and future of a family particularly through luring women in Enormous Radio. The Television : The Plug-In Drug made public some hidden realities such as TV makes children selfish and cuts their bonds with other members of family. Moreover it facilitates that children split off social life easily by the impacts of TV and enables them to be addictive individuals of that item. In addition to this we have talked many times about the media powers that conduct the agenda of government according to their advantages and benefits. So this point made me especially to look at the associations of big media powers who are artists and cheater with a prejudice.
Secondly , If I talk about the insights given about family structure by stories, I should give emphasize that marriage is not a tool that adults could set up or cancel arbitrarily without consulting any social organization or considering -if there any child- the future and psychology of their child(ren). Therefore , firstly there has to be a good future plan and later the steps must be taken carefully in the way that stretches to marriage. Because the children who would be upcoming officers,engineers and leaders of nations should have accomplished their mental education successfully , but in order to achieve that it is essential to have a family that includes strong and firm bonds among members of itself. According to me Children needs family care not to be exposed to mental problems in future.
My favorite text was And of Clay We Are Created that affected me deeply because of being a real and mournful story as well. It enabled me proud with girl who does not to defy death and behaves very bravely. Also the efforts of journalist had contributed wonderful positive feelings to the story, although it did not give a result.
My favorite text is Marie Winn's article 'The Plug-in Drug ' , in this article she mentions about the detrimental effect of television on family life and our individual lives . I assume that her ascertainment about television is similar to my opinions. Because of that reason I like her article.
The texts we have read influenced my perception about media. As long we are not warned by others around us, we will not notice the effects of media upon us.I have various ideas than before.
The texts that we read were very useful to realize how media harms our lives and what can be happen if it will expand like today's. In 'Plug in Drug', when I looked myself and my family, I understood that all the theories were true. When we turn off TV, we have a lot of things to talk and it was very enjoyable to share ideas with each other in family. However the interesting thing is, when we can not find anyting to talk about with each other, we start to mention about TV programmes, which shows the bad influence on family ties in real. The texts are not different from us and our lives, they talk about reals.
Hande, what made the short stories boring in your opinion?
My favorite academic text: The Music Piracy Text
I think that the writer's interesting arguments and references made his writing interesting for us even though the music piracy issue is familiar with this audience (at least with me). The genetically modified plant argument, CEO's earnings vs. artist earnings. vs. song downloader's earnings. (especially in a time where a maximum wage law is though about after the recent economic crisis, the banks which declared bankruptcies paid immense wages and bonuses to their employees etc.), the discussion on whether congress protects interests of its citizens or corporations with making us remember "Common Law" basis of Modern Law. Small details like these made it my favorite among the other texts.
The articles we read usually have different perceptions in different subjects. Reading different ideas made me think about these topics. For instance, after I read the texts Wedgwood’s “What Are We Fighting For?”, Gallagher’s “What Marriage Is for” and Howley’s “ Marriage Just Lets the State Back In” I really thought about why people marry, what is the aim of marriage, why as a Turkish girl, I feel I have to marry someday and situations of gay people. Also, after I read Rushdie’s “Reality TV: A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Morality” I thought about voyeurism and exhibitionism and I started to think that, Facebook is a new way of exhibitionism and voyeurism. : )
My favorite short story is Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” because I can not understand is it from Connie’s dream or her real life. It has a dreamlike quality. It also had mind games like “A old Fiend”= Arnold Friend.
The most effective story for me was 'And Of Clay We Are Created' because it directly affects our feelings due to a little girl's inevitable death. Apart from it, for the stories related to media, i learned that voyeurism is really disgusting thing to watch others' life. For example some tv programmes or The Truman Show shows how bad to watch others' life or a person's life so that tv programmes are broadcasting these just to attract much more people.The result for the media is that if we want we could use it for unnecessary or harmful things but if not it is really useful to improve ourselves or to fallow current occurences or news. For family issues,childrens who are in growing ages, must be in touch with their families and families should indeed take care of them because in that age boys or girls become irritable,rebel and a person that needs much more attention from their close relatives. The base for the good and happy future is really coming with the family that has close bonds among family members and happiness in the family.
All of texts that we have read was so good but my favorite reading is "The Key to My Father" beacuse Coben really emphasize the value of fathers and how fathers pay attention to their families. Also Coben wrote this article for fathers day so it makes this text so effective for readers.
Sonja, I cannot say specific things why I got bored. I just did not like them. In “A Rose for Emily”, story tells about a woman (in my opinion) who has psychological problems. I would be interested if there was a deep analysis of psychology, maybe there were but it was not the most important part of the story, maybe it was, I could not get the point clearly. (: Or “The Enormous Radio” I found it absurd. It has good points about how people become addicted with voyeurism and how their life started to change. However, I do not like reading these kinds of things.
Before we read text, I couldn't realize that media affects our life. I learned from texts about bad sides of media such as how it can destroy our social life and how it can deflect the appearances of events.It also help me to see how media can destroy our ethics. Murrow's text was impressive about on these contexts
Also, the movies provide awareness about importance of family ties on our work, education or personal life.
I think all short stories help us to improve our perspective in different situations.
1) yes, media could be very important as a shaping force in our lives. Especially today, people really are sleeping in front of the tv by watching unnecessary or unreal programs or news so articles which we read and are about media and it's effects were effective and useful.
2) Normally 'family' is a very basic word and everybody could think it is very easy to define but when ı was answering or writing some things to blog, ı really thought that what is a family?
Secrets and lies is very good film to focus on family ties and it shows the importance of relationship between family members.
3)My favourite academic text is ''The Plug In Drug'' because it is about the effects of television on family life and children so it is really important point especially in Turkey.
The Freshman Course improved me about the important aspects of life such as media and adolescence. I, now, have a better understanding on how media is issued in our lives and instead of looking at a teenager's clothes or tools, i see the connection between them and create superficial comments by the first look. This course provides you a mentality which aims to find the relations within both life of an individual and the capitalist world who advantage on the critic aspect of life (adolescence, media) and it teaches to prefer the usage of direct references and subjective material while criticizing on something rather than using logical explanations.
My ideas about the family hasn't changed. Everything we did about family issues, in some way, shocked me as they proved the variety of individuals who ignore parents and use others to benefit, because (for example) this course made me watched “The Graduate” and it provided me another reason why i should love my family more.
My favorite short story was “And of Clay We Are Created” and my favorite text is “is music piracy stealing”, because they focus on very recent issues and question arguments which differentiate among different societies. For example “is music piracy stealing” focuses on a different point of view which an exact answer hasn't been found yet and such focuses provide the reader a vision which not aims the answer; but the logic and the way the topics is rendered. I believe music piracy isn't stealing but i can't prove it the way music companies defend their arguments and the text “is music piracy stealing” gives you the capability to defend your argument by the strong way. Also, i prefer recent topics about computing world rather than social law-supported topics such as the ones about marriage.
About the short story, of course it is the “And of Clay We Are Created”, because it was visualizing the fight for survival, integrated to the ethics of photojournalism, so purely that it creates you the vision which states to live every possible day with gratitude. The way Ralph acts was my approval of act for a photographer (not just taking the photo and leave but to give a hand).Combining these two things were just amazing and the way photographer performs his actions were what i had in mind (helping the girl rather than taking photo and leaving).
Freshman course has showed me explicitly how media influenced people's lives. Especially reality shows triggers people's voyeurism desires. People started to accept listening or watching somebody's private life as a normal act. It is a component to erosion of someone's values in terms of violating another individual's private life.
TV, a component of media, play role in lessening the time which household spend together. All of the members want to watch different shows so, they watch individualistically thanks to having more than one TV which is a result of low costs of TVs compare to old days. When the together-spent time is lessened, the common family values will be deteriorated.
First of all, media texts show me how media shapes our lives; how effects our live without a clue. I think it makes me realize media issues for example low-quality programs affect people more than we can imagine. Secondly one of my favorite text is "A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Morality" is written by Salman Rushdie. He shows us reality tv programmes are becoming dangerous for society. However my favorite text is "And of Clay We Are Created" is written by Isabelle Allende because her technique about describe pain, death, religious and ethical issues are nearly realistic like you live at that moment when you read the text. Of course it is a usual language technique of Isabelle Allende like she used her book "House of Spirit". However more than language she can shows us dilemma between emotion and ethical issues about journalism.
*This endless voyeurism in people will grow larger and larger. All of the texts about the voyeurism and the effect of media showed us that the voyeurism should be controlled and media is the one to do it. There's no end to where voyeurism can take us, Rushdie's article was a good explanation for that. Effects of the media is inargueablely much and inevitable. Media bosses sell people what they demand (This is indeed related to voyeurism) and they'll benefit as long as media is an opium of the people, and people keep being tranqualized (Plug'n Drug article contained supports and claims about this). For me, after reading the texts, nothing has changed, except I realized I should be further aware of the impacts of TV. I don't watch TV and don't really think media has a great impact on me.
*We've seen different views about what marriage is supposed to be. Some authors seemed conservative and said it was for the survival of the children, and some said it was mostly for constitutional and social recognition, and economical/social benefits. We can see that the definition of marriage differs from author to author, depending on the angle. Being respectful to other views, I think marriage is fundamentally for the survival of the children and society, agreeing the conservative point of view. As we see in the movie "rebel without a cause" and Oathe's story, teenage period is hard to avoid and overwhelm easily. Parents must be caring and patient, recognizing the fact that their children are going through some tough period, and teenagers must not exceed their boundaries and cause trouble to their parents.
*My favourite academic text was Rushdie's "Dearth of talent and a death of morality". It explained pretty well, what will happen next if people can't restrain from their voyeurism.
My favourite short story was "The Enormous Radio". It was black humour, funny and sad at the same time. It highlighted the role of voyeurism in collusion of the family ties.
if i had to choose one of these texts, it will be Isabelle Allende's "And of Clay We Are Created". Because contents of this text is really influenced me. After a natural disaster, it is very normal that there will be millions of miserable ones who will be waiting for help and there is no way to help, survive them all. However, i found unethical, a journalist who takes a photo and gain money from this situation but does not help to anyone.
my favorite text is Rusdie's "A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality". I like this text because I think the same way with Rusdie about the reality tv shows. He criticises this shows and everybody who is a part of it very harshly. But I think it is needed to be done in order to avoid this kind of tv shows. I also like the title of the text. It is well choosen, striking and provocative.
All of the freshman course materials give an insight to look deeper the things which we are not able to take into consideration in our daily lifes. My favorite text is " And of Clay We Are Created" that is revealed how our grasping voyeurism is extending day to day and in the manner of achieving to the higher rating how ethical values are run over.
I always knew that media was a shaping force in our lives.It's influence on people is amazing.
I think it was a good idea to watch The Truman Show because it really emphasized the message of the texts we've read very strongly.The strongest essay we've read about media was I think,Salmon Rushdie's text.The title alone (A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality) says so much and the essay compares the TV to a dimestore mirror which says a lot about people watching reality TV shows. I also thought that the short story 'Enormous Radio' had a lot to say about voyuerism. I enjoyed reading that story a lot.My favorite short story in the family theme was A Key To My Father. It was just so real and I thought that it's beauty was in its simplicity.The son understanding and appreciating his father after his death,the key being a symbol of the father's love to his family was very touching.
I know and i can guess the influences of media, but i realized an aspect of media voyuerism. people are really curious ver much about other peoples life and it is a voyuerism. but media companies use this technique because of financial worries.
the best part of freshman english was watching a movie(Truman show). i wonder how this film was and watched it because of eng 101.
actually none of the academic reading impressed me, but and a clay we are created impressed very much beacuse of ethical way of the reading.
I am so pleased to know that there were texts you really enjoyed and learned from and that the theme of media was so popular. I am personally concerned that we presented a very one-sided view of the media to you - that is, all negative. Did anyone else feel that way?
I like all of texts about media and family ties but the texts about media's strategies attract my attention more. To give an example; Murrow's opinion in his speech is the most effective for me because ı agree with his opinion.Politics and media have to itch us instead of tranquillize
You're right Sonja, all texts about media emphasize the bad side of it. In my perspective, today's media has already many harmful impacts on society by using its power for only its aims, however low rate of population realize that situation, therefore well argumentative writers criticize and illuminate crucial points to create awareness.In this way, I like to read and learn some unclear sides for me.
sorry, that's my comment.
my favorite text is " A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Mortality" written by Rushdie because of touching on a real issue which concerns all of us. Nowadays, reality shows are playing a key role in our life especially in Turkey people lost themselves in these reality shows. This situation creates barriers between people and causes communication problems.
First of all all the texts of this course showed me some crucial points about the media and family ties and values. my favourite one was Isabelle Allende's "And of Clay We Are Created". I influenced from its actuality. The journalist did his job and couldnt help the girl. I think it shows us how are run over today.
Sonja,it is true that only the negative side of media was presented but people aren't very much aware of the negative side of media so in a way i think it was better to make people think about and critisize that side.
My favorite text is "Plug-in Drug". Because it confronted me with the plug-in drugs in my life, which made me realize how i am addicted to them.
I think "And of Clay We Are Created" is the most fascinating text for me. This short story is very closed to real and includes interesting moral issues. In this text we can see the several point of view from several people. The situation that Azucena was in has devastated me very deeply.
My favorite one is " And of Clay we are created" from Isabelle Allende. Because it was so real. Everyday we read same stories in newspaper. It tells us dreams, beliefs, childhood, our fears,etc. that we don't want to face. This story helps people to think again about their responsibility about humanity.
I think all of the texts we read miss a very crucial reality that the politician and politic manipulates the media. In my opinion, this fact is the most important thing that affects the media and indirectly the our lives.
Actually i did not learn so much about the relationship between the adults and the adolescence, but i witnessed some interesting points about same-sex marriage. I found it interesting because the the subject is interesting and at the same time, the subject is not very common in Turkey, this fact also makes me curious about it.
my favorite academic text war Edward R. Murrow's "Speech to Radio-Television News Directors Association", because he foresees the problems that the society would face if the media would not change it's policy. he warns the directors and shows the right way to follow.
In Eng. 101 course my favorite text is Winn's "Plug in Drug" text. In this article writer aim to show how easily media can affect people life and people's family ties. The movie "Truman show" is also another affective course theme. In this movie director shows the affects of reality shows on people psychology.
my favorite short story was 'where are you going? where have you been?'
i really liked it because it was talking about a typical topic (adolescence) but the way Oates told it and the story he created seemed different to me. It was really fluent and easy to understand according to those stories with so many different words. It never bored me and i wanted to read more to see what was going to be next.when you read it carefully you could see messages he was trying to give. another point i really liked was that he created unique and complicated characters from the ones we usually hear like 'rebellious daughter' 'perfect sister'
My favorite text is Plug-in-Drug. Marie Winn explains the effects of tv to the family life. This is a daily topic. Technology is improving day to day and thus addicting to technology is increasing such as watching tv. My favourite short story is Enormous Radio. It explains the effects of Reality shows on family life. These reality tvs effects are increasing day to day. This is very important topic which she mentioned, that is why, I liked it.
I think the themes of this semester were well selected. Some of them influence my thoughts but some of them is not. For instance before 'The Plug-in Drug' text, I have already does not like TV but when I read it, I had an extent information how TV affect the family life. I decided if I have a child in the future, I won't pass into my home TV. However, my opinions about music piracy could not change after Moore's text.I do not think that it is a victimless crime, but I still use it:S
I am happy to watch American Beauty because it shows American family ties from another aspect.
My favorite short story is the Rose for Emily. It shows that when somebody keep spiritual problems to himself/herself, how this problems improve and produce terrifying outcomes.
my favorite film which we have watched in this semester is 'The Truman Show'. the film is about reality tv and its disadvantages. truman which is main character of film always on the camera and can be watched by whole world. But he don2t know this situation. I'm very sad about his relationship with his bestfriend. because all of the things which they shared was fake. and also his wife was fake. I really like the love between Truman and his lover. In addition, i think that the producer was selfish. In my opinion reality tv is not necessary because everyone didn't want to be watched all of or some parts of his or her life.
My favorites are "And Of Clay We Are Created" and "A Rose for Emily". Altough I think all the texts which are related to the media are interesting And Of Clay We Are Created was so real and impressive. It was so staggering. There is death and there is conscience which are deep issues for people. Also the reality of that when you are in your sweet home in somewhere, someone could be suffered from poverty or imposibility. The other short story that I like was A Rose for Emily because it is dramaticly shows us what can loneness blow away people to the gaps. Also the symbolism and ironies are realy good.
My favorites are "And Of Clay We Are Created" and "A Rose for Emily". Altough I think all the texts which are related to the media are interesting And Of Clay We Are Created was so real and impressive. It was so staggering. There is death and there is conscience which are deep issues for people. Also the reality of that when you are in your sweet home in somewhere, someone could be suffered from poverty or imposibility. The other short story that I like was A Rose for Emily because it is dramaticly shows us what can loneness blow away people to the gaps. Also the symbolism and ironies are realy good.
My favorite is one "The Key to My Father". Like before is said, i liked the way he tells the story, it was flowing. Also all descriptions Marc's father very impressed me. These topics that we've worked on, reminded me importance of family. Because, nowadays nobody knows preciousness of the family. Nearly, i agreed with all texts about media.I was thinking already that media has a big role in shaping people's lives, now, i have improved my ideas with studying these texts.
There are some mistakes in place of the words, i did sent it by mistake before i check it, sorry
My perception of the media became more accurate after reading the texts in The Blair Reader. I had already watched "The Truman Show" which gave me an idea of what kind of a role the media plays in our lives. Now I am much more aware of what's going on around me just because of the media's attitude towards things.
Unfortunately most of the texts we have read this term are boring and each of them have not an interesting content which might influenced us in a kind of different ways. However my favorite text is "And of Clay We are Created". Because this text refers to real memory of a journalist and from that aspect its really affective text
My favorite text was the continuing myth of adolescence. I really wondered why adults despised the young people. Why the older people was angry when we were playing soccer in front of our house:) And I learned why. But now I wonder am I going to be like these old men?:)
*The texts we read about media influenced me a lot. I was already aware of most of the ideas and problems argued in the texts but reading them helped me to put together all these problems and see them more clear. By seeing the different sides of media i started being more sensitive and thinking about them more and observing the media better.
*Thank to the texts i realized how family life influences the kids and especially teenagers. I saw some of the characters were facing the same problems like i did and still doing. The reactions the characters gave were also similar to mine. It made me realize why i was giving some weird reactions and where they came from.
*My favorite academic text was What Marriage Is For by Maggie Gallagher. It affected me a lot because i had been thinking about marriage, importance of it and the place it takes in society since i was about 11. I've always been confused about marriage and if it's a useful thing for individuals. This text didn't give all the answers that i was asking to myself but it helped me understand some stuff especially why the people marry and care about marriage a lot. My favorite short story was And of The Clay We Created by Isabelle Allende. The reasons that it's my favorite is firstly, the topic is so effective and make you think of life and people. Secondly, the language Allende used was so impressive like signs he used and the point of view. The story affected me a lot that is was almost going to cry.
In my opinion, the texts we read in this semester, gave us the opportunity to analyze the life from different perspectives. The texts, which are focused on the theme 'marriage' are good examples.
I like reading a documentary or an analysis, which is focused on a culture or an age range connected to us, as teenagers. The reason for it is that I can make a comparison between me and the youth, which is analyzed in the texts. Therefore I liked mostly “The continued myth of adolescence” by Sharon Nichols and also “The plug-in-drug” by Marie Winn. They both make us aware of how we behave; because of the affects of the media and the pressure of adults.
I found the story about a little girl 'And of Clay We Are Created', very interesting and emotional because we can see the bad effects of media, and 'voyeurism', 'exhibitionism' in a clear way. It is a touching story because we can see how valuable a person's life is. The story was very affective in a way to awake people.
The texts we read about the media has increased my awareness about the subject a lot. I learned that the motives of the tv executives aren't innocent at all. The things we read about reality tv just annoys me.
And of Clay We Are Created is my favorite story. I think the story is very real in terms of showing the emotions of both Azucena and Rolf. The deep connection between them was written with excellent skill.
Most i like is rose for emily because it remembers me turkish girls because in easterns of turkey girls in same condtions they stand to presure
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