Media Globalization Remix

I chose to do my media globalization remix on Harry Potter because I feel the story is represented well in more than one type of media. I put together images from both the Harry Potter films and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. I also found some other images of Harry Potter toys like Lego’s and the game of Clue to show how popular this media really is. I also found the cover of the first Harry Potter Book in a different language and then layered the same cover over it in English (top left corner). This I thought was an interesting way to see how the books are loved all over the world. Another image I found and added is the cover of TIME magazine which had written on the cover, “Why Harry Potter Rules”, this shows how children love the books and movies and go crazy over them. I also made sure I added J. K. Rowling herself and not only was it any picture of her but she is sitting on what looks like a throne reading one of her books. One last thing I will point out is that I added the “WB” Warner Brothers logo because they are the film company making the films which has added so much to the media globalization of Harry Potter.

Media Globalization

The Harry Potter series is a great example for media globalization, given to us in not one popular form of media but two. Not only has the world become completely obsessed with J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series – always counting down the days till the next book’s release – but everyone has also fallen in love with the films made from the books. It is interesting to ask how people feel about Harry Potter because so many may see the story differently depending upon whether they are fans of the books or the movies. I know many fans who, like myself, have read the books and seen the movies, loving both. Others though have only read the books or seen the movies, which shows how different types of media are more popular to some than others. There will always be the classic arguments that reading the books will always be better vs. the view of I will just wait until the book is made into a movie. On top of all of the hype about the books and the films, the world has also gone crazy for Harry Potter products, showing how the media affects what people buy. Every kind of Harry Potter toy imaginable can be found, from board games to Legos. Clothing with the characters’ images can be found from both the books and the films. Even as a fantasy, the experiences of the characters are not that different from our own. Only magic divides their world from ours, which is why the series is so popular worldwide. No matter where someone is from, they can always enjoy the story of an amazing adventure. Harry Potter is a name known all over the world; it is almost like he is a celebrity even though he is not a real person. Because of his character, children all over the world have started up their own "fantasy worlds". Many people have made up their own stories using the Harry Potter universe as the setting. A problem that has come from some people writing their own fantasy is that they have used the Harry Potter characters in their stories and then tried to illegally publish them in their country with the characters being of their culture, not British. This shows the impact that the Harry Potter series has had on the global media.

The Media and Music - Celine Dion

After again reading the section on U2 in our text, Understanding the Media by Eoin Devereux, I started brain storming about a female (or female group) that is like U2 in the she effects the media a great amount. After looking through my iTunes list I came across someone who I believe is a great musical artist as well as someone many admire. The artist I am speaking of is Celine Dion. I chose Celine because she is not only an amazing singer but has also done many other amazing things in her life. Born and raised in Canada, Celine was the youngest of a large family who always supported her singing. Celine, now after years of being in the music industry, has released many albums in English and French, her native language. She has preformed all over the world and has become a music icon for many, reaching the top 10 list with numerous songs. Now what does all of Celine’s success have to do with the media? On top of the fact that her art is a part of the media, meaning music, Celine has been on many TV specials and shows talking about not only her career but her life as a wife and a mother to her son. People get joy out of hearing her music of hope, love, and messages of still being “alive” after going through her husband’s cancer fight and the struggle of having a child. Another great thing about Celine is that she is not only an idle to one genre although most of her fan base would seem to be women. Nonetheless young and old love her music and can never seem to get enough of her with her shows in Las Vegas (which she did for a few years) were almost always sold out. Another interesting thing about Celine’s career is that her music, depending on the album, has been more popular in different parts of the world. Not just any person can become one of the best selling artist all over the world and it is because of the media that has helped Celine’s success become what it is. We can truly call Celine Dion a media sensation and I am sure she will be for many years to come.

Understanding the Media Ch1 - Part 2

In the later half of the chapter on understanding the media I found some key points that really helped me understand more of how we can look at the media to try to follow it better. First, I never really thought much about what sort of questions we should be asking when looking at the media. The eight that are listed in the book are very useful to helping me look deeper at what I know and what I want to learn from observing the media. A second point the readings touched on, which I thought was funny, is talking about social context with blogging. The fact that we are blogging about blogging seems just crazy but then again so are many things in the media. It is like how TV covers other TV stories, such as the news covering the Emmys, informing us about how a story was covered and not the story itself. Now going back to the beginning of the chapter is where my favorite parts of the chapter are and that is using a camera to help us understand what the importance of theory is. I like how Devereux describes this by saying, “One useful way to think about the use of theory in this context is to imagine that your overall subject area, discipline or approach is a camera. As a student of the media, you have a range of lenses that you may place on the camera. These will allow you look at something in a variety of ways and perhaps result in your coming to a multiplicity of conclusions, depending upon your chosen lens or lenses. Theories work like a camera lens in this regard: they help to illuminate different aspects of the same phenomena.” This helped me understand the importance of theory so much better probably because I also love taking photographs so using that example really touched on something I understand and like doing.

Understanding the Media Ch1 - Part 1

In the first few weeks of class we started reading about the media and how much it has affected - everything. We started with the fact that The Medium is the Message as was written in Marshall McLuhan’a book, Understanding Media. I felt like reading the first chapter of this book helped me truly see just how much the mediums we have in the world today, from TV to radio - every kind of medium is telling us something. One of the opening lines states, “This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” I think in a nutshell this is saying that we learn new things and ideas from all different kinds of new technologies. And because of all of this we than change our ideas after receiving a message from the medium.
Now after starting to read Understanding the Media by Eoin Devereux we started to look more into the study of not how the medium is the message as much as how much that message is affecting us. I liked in the reading how it talked about images playing a big part in how much we took in what the media was trying to tell us. As much as we listen to what the media is telling us, like through the radio or when we are just listening to the TV, it is the images we see when watching TV, looking at a newspaper, or reading a magazine that can capture our attention and really stick with us. As the old phrase goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. I believe this to be true and I know from personal experience that images in the media grab my attention much faster than the words in a title of an article or headline. In addition to this point on images another one was on how in mass media we are all communicating through a means of a “sender” and a “receiver”. I think this point is very true in that all communications know matter how it takes place there is always a sender which the information is coming from and a receiver who is taking in all that is being communicated. Now whenever I communicate I will be thinking more about how someone will receive a message and not just how I send it. There were many other interesting points in the reading but I felt like these ones hit me the most. Maybe the others will more as I discuss them with others inside and outside of class.

I chose these three images for my "The Medium is the Message" assignment because I wanted to show how the camera is a very popular medium and how its purpose has changed over time. Originally the camera was mainly used to take portraits, mostly family portraits. Over time however the camera started being used to take pictures of everyday things, for example children smiling together making some funny faces like in my second image. The medium of the camera was not just used to take formal pictures but fun ones. Lastly I chose a picture of Maria Sharapova with Canon Cameras because in today's world the camera is used a great amount for fashion photo shoots and not just everyday life. The message I wanted to get across with this image is that the camera has changed a great amount over time with new technologies, from film to digital. Along with that why pictures are being taken has changed, now giving us a message of fun and fashion not just a family portrait.