Shrinking Waistlines?

If media generated pressure on women (and men) to strive for slimmer and slimmer physiques is so pervasive and all-powerful, then why are rates of obesity steadily increasing. I recently read a study that claimed 35% of American children--the very audience that advertisements like this one are purported to influence--are medically obese. The logic doesn't work out. Weird looking models airbrushed to appear even more freakish is not near the national threat that pizza rolls, couches, and Angus burgers are.

I realize anorexia and bulimia are problems, especially within teenage girl populations, but advertising is not the cause. Why would a picture of some model drive a teenage girl to stick an index finger down her throat when Lindsay, the coolest girl in her sophomore class, has love handles? I think positions like that offered in the article are superfluous and distracting.

Meaning

Meaning is a product, and often a commodity. Meaning is a representation and representations are susceptible to strategy. Usually, the strategy is intentionally enacted, but it can be the result of circumstance as well.

I assert that the photo containing the vulture and the dying girl would not have garnered a Pulitzer Prize, nor have reached the cultural status it did, had the photographer saved the girl. The meaning the photo achieved goes beyond the actual girl. The larger narrative of the photo is famine, not this girl's life. It is that large narrative that gives the photo power. Had the photographer saved the girl, the latter narrative would have taken precedence, thereby nullifying the meaning of greater significance. Without closure in the story concerning the actual girl's fate, however, viewers face dissonance that is difficult to reconcile. It is precisely this dissonance--and viewers difficulty with it--that allows the photo to generate the emotional response it does. This emotional response has been exploited by charitable organizations for years, with this particular image, as well as others.

Idealogy

A very important aspect of idealogy is that it is an active concept. This warrants discussion since, improperly, idealogy is often understood as an abstract concept. Idealogy provides an infrastructure that has real-world consequences, from the grand to mundane in scope. Reality does not spring from a vacuum. Reality results from decisions and decisions are informed by purpose that is derived from idealogy. Idealogy wants to shape reality. As such, idealogy is clearly active.

The ability to shape reality is one reason that idealogy is commonly misunderstood as an abstract concept. Shaping reality is a highly advantageous position to occupy and those in power want to conceal their roles so as to protect them. The misunderstanding is intentionally promoted; minimizing the meaning of idealogy helps conceal the powerful.

Ch 1 & 2

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of communication from a scholarly perspective. Grossberg et. al. explores the nature of communication as it is related to the context it exists within, including the influence of technologies, institutions, and cultural forms. From there, the authors discussed mediation and identified and contrasted two separate models of communication: the first is a linear model, the transmission model, based on interpersonal communication, and the second, the cultural model, "sees communication as the construction of a shared space or map of meaning within which people coexist" (p. 22). Chapter 1 concludes by examining the role power plays in the dissemination and content of media.

Chapter 2 presents three different historical narratives of communication. The first is a longue duree that views history as progressing from an oral to an electronic culture--through the stages of writing and print culture--and the ramifications that transition had on society's perception of reality. This included a discussion of technological determinism and potential bias that can lead to. The second narrative, theories of the masses, is conjunctural and views culture presented through media as a tool to manipulate society. The final narrative offered by Grossberg et. al. describes the role of communication as the world transitions from modernity to postmodernity. This narrative explores the meaning of postmodernity at length, then posits that such a transition could not have occurred without the development of new communication technologies. The authors conclude chapter 2 by reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the narratives, as well as looking toward their implications for the future.

Facebook

Facebook did it. What MySpace and the other social networking sites before it failed to accomplish, Facebook has done. The site is mainstream and when I tell somebody I don't have a page I now have to justify why that is. And, in order not to be seen as un-cool and alienating myself from the person asking, that explanation better not be condescending. Things definitely change.

I have nothing against computers--I am on computers all the time--I just don't understand the appeal of social networking sites. Managing a profile, updating my status; it just seems like a lot of useless work. I mean, if somebody wants to get in touch I am not hard to find and I've never had a truly significant relationship that didn't include a physical component. Nonetheless, I'm swimming against the proverbial tide here.

In an unrelated note, my parking sticker flew out of my car window on the way to campus yesterday, but I'm sure a replacement won't be expensive to obtain (that's sarcasm, something I wouldn't have to explain if we were having a physical conversation and you could read my tone and nonverbal indicators).