Research for Final Paper

My research is going well. My topic is on the expansion of MTV through music videos and how it has contributed to artist careers. There is alot of information on the web about it. I also have a pretty good musical background which is helping me to shape this paper. Most of my research is done and I am about to begin to write the paper.

Fishing for Whales

I saw this controversial commercial on youtube that is played in Australia. Also, I payed attention to it because right now on Animal Planet, one of my favorite channels, there is a show called Whale Wars that is basically about a group of Aussies that are trying to stop Japanese Whale Fisherman from killing the near extinct whales in protected waters. The show truly makes the Japanese look like monsters and the Aussies look like heroes. The Japanese continually get a bad reputation, but most of it roots back to WW2.

Based off of what today’s society of standard beauty is, I challenge anyone to find an ugly news caster. I think it is a smart strategy for them to use good looking people, but are these folks credible? I think that we need credible sources to feed us our important news on today’s influential subjects. These new casters throw in their bias and we get misconstrued information. I dont mind looking at these people because they are good looking, but I would rather have accurate information if it means getting rid of them and putting in some articulate, credible sources.

Conferences Taking Place in Different Countries

This is far from a new idea, but now Google is adding a new feature to their website, which is online video chat. Companies, friends, family, and everyone in between will be able to chat with each other through the internet, but also see each other at the same time. Other search engines such as Yahoo do not offer this. Although web cam chats have been around for quite some time, it just goes to show that this idea has pushed toward acceptability and how media technologies allow us to communicate more freely and easily. It is very exciting that we can have a “face to face chat” with someone miles away from us. Although it is not truly face to face, its the closest we have to that real life interaction.

Sadly, the day has come where the long lived TRL, Total Request Live, will see its final episode in a few weeks. This show is made possible by the music fans in today’s pop culture. The fans call, test, or email in their votes for their favorite bands hot new music video to be played, and only the top 10 make it. This show goes way beyond the music videos however. Bands such as Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and the Jonas brothers all got a great start and became popular from this show. This show made many people’s careers. What is sad is the fact that this show was one of the last remaining shows on MTV that was solely about the artists and their music. MTV should now change their name to RTV(Reality Television). I grew up watching TRL after school when I was younger even though I do not watch it anymore, it is still a sentimental show to say goodbye to.

The Success From Using English

I find it very interesting how English became the universal language. These are two European DJs. They are two of the world’s largest DJs and all of their songs are in english. David Guetta, the first video, is from France, and in Tiesto is the DJ from the second video, from Holland. In the first video, I felt like it was a Beach Boys video, because of the California feel to it. We all know France is not like that. It is so interesting how he sells his music by showing American icons. Because Techno, Trance, Electronica, and Dance music is still absorbing into American culture, these songs would never work if they were in the DJ’s native language. I also feel that Tiesto, the second DJ, uses English because it simply sounds better than someone singing in Dutch. David Guetta from the first video also has many American ideals in his songs. The chorus of one of his songs is, “get rich or die trying.” America truly has had a profound influence across the globe. Art was seemed to be one of the few cultural aspects that stayed unique and loyal to each culture, but now we see this world’s most popular art form becoming westernized.

Picture Perfect Values

My theme for these three pictures is values. Values differ from culture to culture. My three pictures were taken in three different countries, all of which have their own belief systems. The first picture was taken in Costa Rica last spring break while on a trip with my family. I captured this photo during the sunset and I stood between two palm trees. I captured this because I thought it was neat, and when we see an image of this, we might think of a relaxed lifestyle, sandals, tee shirts, and margaritas. Costa Rica’s lifestyle is much different from America’s. It is much more relaxed and the mentality is much different, however neither America’s nor Costa Rica’s is better than the other. This picture reminds me of the Corona ads we have all seen, whether in a magazine or on the tv. It always involves a beach and it has the exotic feel. The company, through their visual images, trys to transcend the ideals behind the images onto the beer, so we will want to buy it. The idea is that we should buy Corona if we want to have that slow paced lifestyle with beach-front living.

The second image I captured is a very famous one. I took this one recently as well. For those that do not know, that is a row of houses in San Francisco’s Alamo Square neighborhood, and it also happens to be the location of the famous show, Full House. In the entrance clip for every show we see the family having a picnic on the law I was standing on when taking this picture, overlooking the homes. The values behind that show are very strong. Although they were not the traditional American family, they were what we would consider the “perfect” family unit. America values strong family ties, friendship, freedom, care, support, and many other ideals that this show represented. I think this image is popular because the ideals that we mentally receive from this show transcend into the San Francisco background. San Francisco is a very open, loving city and this is a value brought out in the picture.

My third and final picture is a very controversial one. This was taken this summer while on a trip to Holland. I was in Amsterdam, a city known for its liberal ways. This image is showing a female, standing half naked in a window, in the red light district. For those that do not know, prostitues have this neighborhood where they stand in windows with a red light on above them, and when a customer wants to use them, they close the window curtains, turn the light off, and handle business. The values in Holland, or Europe for that matter, are much different from the values in America. Holland allows prostitution, open marijuana use, and many other things that America demonizes. What is interesting though is that most citizens of Holland do not use the prostitution services or marijauna coffee shops. These are primarily for tourists.

The Male Gaze

This Jockey ad is a great model and example for the male gaze. As you can see, the lady is looking into the mirror at herself. We assume this role of a peeping tom because her eyes are not focused on us, so we have this power over her because she is acting as if we are not there. Although the ad is about the underwear, it uses this females body to show us “what a female would look like if they too wore this underwear.” Subliminal messages are sent to us when they show us this beautiful woman. As we can see in any couture or glamour magazine, they never show an overweight person in a underwear ad. This is because you are selling the person, which ultimately sells the product.

Myspace’s New Music Service

Myspace\’s new music service

The article is mainly about the new music service Myspace will be offering if everything pans out right. Unlike Itunes, once downloaded from Myspace, people can copy it to endless ipod’s or computers and unlimited playlists can be made. Record Labels are all for this new music service because they are betting that the millions of myspace users will bring back some revenue to the music industry. The songs will hopefully be shared between friends and it will spark interest in different music for all people.

According to Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy and business development for Warner Music Group, “We have to unlock the social value of our music.” Everyone is hoping that Itunes is surpassed by myspace, because Itunes is the largest music retailer, having sold more than 5 billion songs since 2003. Because itunes almost runs a monopoly, they set the prices of songs, which has hurt the music industry because a very popular song is the same price as a not so popular song. Chris DeWolfe, MySpace’s CEO said, “And we think it can create an ecosystem for both music artists and labels to make more money.”

I hope that the Myspace music service works out but the music indsutry is falling apart quickly. Music is the most popular form of art in our culture, and soon many artists will simply make less and less music if everyone is pirating or downloading songs for cheap. I think that the cd prices used to be crazy, but I also think there should be a medium in which we are able to find a fair price where everyone is happy. Myspace is the largest online community and its impact in our culture has been great since it came out. I think it can keep moving further with this new music service.