Olivia's Output

            Every morning, I wake up at 5:55am to my phone playing Rihanna’s newest song and I don’t get out of bead until I have refreshed and scrolled through Instagram.  After getting dressed, I spend another 30 minutes going through Snapchat or watching Youtube. At school, I take every chance I get to watch another video or play another game on my device.  Once I am home, my addiction doesn’t stop as I go straight to the television to catch up on my 50-minute episodes of my favorite shows on Netflix.  Then, I start my homework, but that does not stop the distractions.  If a notification pops up on my screen my muscle memory keeps me from staying on task.  After finishing an hours worth of homework in four hours, I watch my shows in my bed until I fall asleep to the bright blue light of my screen.  Then, I wake up and do it all again the next day.               I easily consume at least 6 hours of media a day and it has taken control over my life. Media has had its leash around m

     Recently, When I was looking at swimming suits in the cosmopolitan magazine I recognized the use of many different body types. The simple picture of a larger woman next to a short women made me extremely happy. I couldn't help but smile knowing that fashion magazines are starting to include all body types. This inclusion is a big step into making media healthier for the eyes of women and little girls everywhere. Now, while looking through magazines, a women doesn't have to feel like she has to change to fit an unrealistic image. My favorite part about the article was the subtitle ,” Because every body is a bikini body”. After looking at the many different body types in all kinds of swimwear I was able to find one that would fit me perfectly. I walked away from my computer knowing that I don't need to change to fit into a bikini or the more mainstream expectation of what a girl should look like in the summer time.

     My absolute favorite TV show is “The Ranch”, a show about a small family living in a small town and the crazy experiences they go through.  The show stars my favorite actors, Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliott, who I find hilarious.  I have been watching the show for a while, starting it way before I took critical thinking.  Though as I have started to expand my awareness of media, I have noticed the ways the show advertises certain products.  The products shown on “The Ranch” are mostly drinks, including Pepsi, Corona, Bud Light, etc.  The products are incorporated in light hearted scenes and never leave the center of the frame. The drinks labels are easily recognizable and a positive comment about them is usually said.  These ads have subconsciously affected me as my mom will ask me what to get at the store and I reply with a Pepsi, not knowing why I am craving one.  I now notice every time a product is advertised and it is interesting to me that I find at least one ad in every epis

     According to Miss Representation, media is a friend to none.  Media is a harmful drug, one we know can hurt us, but still crave it so consistently.  Media impacts both men and women, though at different levels, creating unrealistic expectations girls and boys feel they need to reach in order to be accepted by society.  Media builds these expectations by generalizing an entire population of young people into one being who they project on screens internationally.  The documentary goes on to say that media has created a national problem, a generation infected with self objectification and degradation towards women.  Though I agree with this, the filmmakers of Miss Interpretation failed to correctly prove these points.  They relied on false cause to portray points like: women are raped because their rapist is a man who had grown up on video games that degrade women, ignoring that fact that there are just some really bad people out there. Though, the filmmakers clearly portray the ulti

     Another subject addressed in PBS’s “Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool” was how brands attracted teens to their products.  Brands compete to find and make the newest “cool” or trend.  A trend that brands can always trust is sex. PBS believes that teenagers are obsessed with everything having to do with sex.      Big television companies rely on the appeal to attract and target teenagers. They tell women that they should be proud of being a sexual object, using cliques disguised as empowerment. In reality, they are making all girls look down upon themselves for girls as young as 13 can't walk out of the house without a full face of makeup and perfect hair.      Brands think that we are obsessed with sex because we are teenagers, but the sexual appeal was something created by media, something that we have been weaned on since we hit double digits. The appeal hurts girls and boys who don't fit its stereotypes and creates unrealistic expectations for those who do,

     PBS’s “Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool”, discusses why brands pursue the teenage population and how teens obtain and spend money on those brands.  Today, teens hold the majority in the world's population, making them one of the biggest targets for brands.  Brands sell new things everyday to this huge group of consumers, a group not yet old enough to hold an income that can provide for all of their spending.  PBS thinks the only way teenagers have this money is they are given it, out of guilt or annoyance.  They believe that parents who can not be apart of their child's life enough feel guilty for not being there, then look toward money to “make-up” for their absence.  Money given out of annoyance is happy money, money given to a child to keep them content.  Instead of having to deal with your child's emotions you buy them a purse or the newest soccer cleats to keep them smiling. Money is a bandaid in the eyes of PBS.      I have definitely been given mone

    Challenges over social media have been the biggest rave for a number of years now. Starting in 2014 with the ALS ice bucket challenge, a harmless challenge used to raise money for the ALS association, has made a dangerous turn as the audience craves more “interesting” acts today. With the past year, people of all ages have begun to consume tide pods as a dare. Youtube stars take bites out of these laundry detergent packets, encouraging their viewers to do the same. In 2017 over 10,570 cases of detergent ingestions were reported to Poison Control in America. Tide pods contain chemicals that are not meant for consumption, chemicals that can easily lead to death.      This challenge horrifies me. I cannot understand why someone would want to eat a pack of dangerous poisons. What scares me most about the life threatening dare is how big it has become. I caught my younger brother opening a pack of them a few months ago, a ten year old boy was about to risk his life for a couple of view

     Stranger Things is one of Netflix's most popular shows and it has been since its release in mid-July 2016. With every episode and season published the audience has gotten to watch the characters develop and the actors grow. People have fallen in love with them, so much so it is kind of creepy. Last year, 27 year old model, Ali Michael, posted a very controversial picture of one of the shows stars, Finn Wolfhard, who was then 14 years old. The picture was captioned “Not to be weird but hit me up in 4 years @finnwolfhardofficial”. Within minutes of posting Michael received immediate backlash from the 700-800 million users on instagram. People from every where were naming her as “disgusting and gross” or as a “pedophile”, arguing that if the gender roles were reversed, it would be on the front page of every news article in the country. After the uproar, Michael wrote an apology that satisfied the audience as it has now almost been forgotten.     I, on the other hand, have not fo

     With the expansion of my studies concerning media, my use of media has been changing. The most explicit change that has occurred reflects on my growing awareness of the false realities that brands promise us. I have stopped buying into the idea that certain products will bring me happiness or change me into my dream self. I have learned  that I can love without a Subaru and I can go as far as I want in life without a Ford. Brands tell us that they are the key to what we need and crave, ultimately telling us the biggest and greatest  lie we have ever heard. I now know that Maybelline cannot trick people into thinking I was born with a flawless face, as they tell women everyday that with their product others won't be able to tell if “She's born with it” or “maybe it's Maybelline”. My happy place is at home with my family, not at a loud amusement park with kids throwing up at the end of every ride. Media awareness has allowed me to see past the faulty hope that brands say

     Brands occasionally lose product towards controversial messages portrayed in commercials. In 2017, Pepsi released a commercial that depicted the white supermodel Kendall Jenner solving racism with a can of Pepsi soda. The commercial depicted Kendall joining a crowd of protesters, then handing a can of Pepsi to an officer. The officer then opens the can and takes a drink as the crowd goes wild, cheering and celebrating as it seems that the 12oz has ended a problem that has lives for centuries.  With this commercial Pepsi told its audience that their product is the key to racially based police brutality. National outrage and uproar came with the publishing of the commercial due to the ignorance the brand showed to the thousands of groups and movements, such as Black lives matter, that have spent decades working to solve this societal problem.      Dove has faced a similar controversy.  In 2017, Dove received the most attention for a commercial that many saw as explicitly racist. Th

SONG LYRICS/MUSIC VIDEOS: Lorde, ‘Writer in the Dark’ “Stood on my chest and kept me down” “But in my darkest hours, I stumble on a secret power, I'll find a way to be without you babe” This is the most empowering song I have ever heard. Lorde is telling a story about herself, a woman who was a great writer before a toxic man entered her life and an even greater writer when he left. She shouts a message that I will forever try my hardest to live up to, ‘you can't change me’. Hundred Waters, ‘Show Me Love’ “Don't let me show ugliness, Though I know I can hate” “Aliens hanging on, Release me” Everyone in this world can learn a little from these lyrics. Love is what our world needs right now, love can overcome anything. It overcomes evil and unkindness, negative feelings and unhappiness within a population, it can change any wrong our world contains right now. I listen to this song every morning and it helps me put a more positive outlook on my day. TV SHOWS: Frien

     PBS’s documentary, The Persuaders, shows how brands persuade our consciences into thinking we NEED their product. Brands depict themselves as lifestyles and their products as identities. They pull you into the ads, tempting you with an image portraying how much “better” your life would be with their manufactured article in your world.  A great example of this was Apple’s commercial for iPod/earbuds that came out in 2003. The ad portrayed black silhouettes dancing and singing with white earbuds in that were connected to their white iPods.  Audiences all across America were able to identify with these faceless figures, pasting their own image upon the dancing people.  They craved Apple’s product and the look it came with, a look that promised happiness through style. This false solution was bought by millions over the US, ultimately becoming a social construct. If you had the iconic white earbuds, you were cool, and if you didn't...you weren't.      Today, brands blur the l

     Recently Sacramento had an awful incident take place involving the Sacramento police department and the unnecessary murder of a young black man named Stephon Clark. Stephon Clark was killed on March 18, 2018, unarmed with no known intentions of causing the officers any harm. He was fired at 20 times and hit 7 times in the back. The officer who had shot him was previously on leave, but is now working once again.      ABC news covers this by using the world the “police officers involved in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old African-American man in Sacramento, California, last month have returned to work”.  While CBS states the “officers who shot a man to death in the backyard of a home are back on the job”.  ABC softens the terror in the act the officers have commited, specifically with the use of “fatal shooting” while CBS clearly and explicitly states what they did “shot a man to death”.  ABC news uses negative connotations to refer to to Sephons murder. Unlike ABC news, CBS uses

            I have been born into a generation where media plays a parent role in my daily life. I grew up watching television shows that taught me my abcs and 123s and made my Christmas list based off of the advertisement that played during the commercials. My relationship with media is like a circle, without a specific beginning point and never ending.              As I have grown older the role I allow media to play in my life has grown too. Everyday, I spend hours on end scrolling through different types of media. Social media is now the media type that I give most of my time up too, specifically the apps Snapchat and Instagram. I can't concentrate on my homework without deleting the two from my phone because I unconsciously pick it up and stare at the screen, wasting precious time. Social media is my main source of communication with my friends, another factor playing into my almost abuse relationship with media.              Media has had a huge influence on how I view m