Jersey Shore

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/08/jersey-shore-spin-off.html


The above article encapsulates the news that two stars of MTV's Jersey Shore, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "Jwoww" Farley will both be featured in a new spin-off television show, as well as Paul "DJ Pauly D" Delvecchio will be featured in his very own. Pollizi and Farley's show will follow their search for "fun and love", while Delvecchio's will follow his attempt to manage a career as a successful DJ. The original show, Jersey Shore, followed the original seven character's lives as they lived together, partied, had romantic relationships, worked, and hit the beach. After seeing a few episodes, I concluded that series, while entertaining -- has no real point. It is not there to sell a product, all that occurs from episode to episode is nothing but a mess of dissonance; from inappropriate dancing to street fighting to sexual exploitation - and all solely to achieve the purpose of entertaining the audience. The show grabs our attention through use of all controversial material, anything that attracts our eyes as different or outrageous; sex, alcohol use, drug use, and even violence. This technique can be seen on many shows by the MTV corporation such as The Simple Life, 5 Girls 1 Gay, 16 And Pregnant, The Real World, The Hills, and Pretty Little Liars. Even worse, these shows are often exposed to youth of preadolescence, to children who haven't even been able to experience the like in real-life situations yet. As we've learned from videos in class and seen in reality, little girls are dressing more promiscuously, trying to act older, and being subjected to age compression, in older to achieve a more mature, sophisticated look, before they are even physically or mentally mature enough to act such an age. This is a product of the media, as can be expected, and is also seen in the audience of little boys in media, trying to act "tough" like the figures they see on television in order to conform to a desirable, but made-up role seen in their favourite programming.

Religious Justice

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/01/afghanistan.html The CBC above article tells the story of the death of twelve people, including eight foreigners, being shot and killed after an Afghan mob the UN office in protest to an American pastor burning the Muslim holy book. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared this a "crime against religion", and thus forth the citizens of Afghan through the declaration of judgement decided punishment was necessary. The media content really made me think of how the media itself picks and chooses what it publishes. Within this, I related to the documentary we watched last week, Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine, which focuses on the media within the US and how it affects the psyche and mentality of its fellow citizens. I remember a part in the film when Moore interview Americans on how safe they keep their home and their precautionary methods. and then by comparison travelled up to Canada and interviewed Canadians on their own as well. Canadians by example, demonstrated far less fear towards the people surrounding them, and took far lesser precautionary methods. This exemplifies how the media, through the spread of propaganda and the selective writing within written media aesthetics such as articles, affects the mentality of the audience in order to create a larger, irrational fear for one's safety. Thus, an almost addiction to the material provided is created, in order to increase "awareness" of one's safety. Finally, this therefore constitutes for a larger audience and larger need for the media provided, which in turn provides an exponential growth in that media's field. So, the media publishes and advocates the production of articles which advise the consumer on rare violent situations such as this, in order to spread and irrational sense of "fear" within the audience and therefore increase their business.