Chapter 46

In chapter forty-six, Aristotle states that "epic poetry and tragedy, comedy also and Dithryambic poetry and the music of the flute and of the lyre in most of the forms are all in their general conception modes of imitation". He then reveals the difference of these different forms of comedy: the distinction of the medium, the objects, and the manner or mode of imitation. People often subconsciously imitate objects in their surroundings. This is produced by rhythm, language, or harmony. This is true because when you are around a friend for a long time or you start placing yourself in a similar environment everyday, you are going to start adapting to your friend's habits and way of speech. Aristotle states that comedy is "an imitation of characters of a lower type". Tragedy is "an imitation of an action that is serious".

Tragedies and comedies are different in many ways. In tragedies, men are often higher than ordinary and they have a high status, determinism, high seriousness, pessimism, and pain. Comedies involve me lower than ordinary with a low status, freedom, not serious at all, optimism and pleasure. At the end of a comedy, you will most likely find yourself in a jolly mood, whereas after a tragedy, you will leave with a big sense of emotion. In tragedies, the audience will most likely wish the ending or the plot was different.

Chapter 45

In this chapter, William F. Fry describes humor as play: "an interpersonal process or communication which either starts out contained in a play frame or which is suddenly caught into such a frame from behind when the episode is at the point of termination". The play frame means that the process is unreal and the meaning is different compared to the abstract laughter that follows it. A punch line may be expressed by any way that a human can communicate. A punch line is very important for any play. A joke is considered a play with a climax. The punch line is what combines communication and metacommunication. Metacommunication is communication about communication. When the punch line is delivered, the audience is able to differentiate the humor from play, dreams, etc. 

William Fry is a Stanford psychiatrist who has studied many different effects of humor. He informs people that no matter how crude a joke may be, there is always intended humor behind it. This is where the punch line comes in. The punch line is a big suprise in the joke and is what helps the audience interpret the humor. For example, the African American or blonde jokes people tell can be taken offensively and are quite crude and stereotypical, but there is always humor behind them which can be taken the wrong way. The punch line is supposed to help portray the humor. Freud argues that humor involves "masked or hidden agression". Sometimes this can be true, but with all the silliness and fun spirited people we have in our world, I don't think we all have anger issues. Other theorist, such as Aristotle and Hobbes, "argue that humor is based on a sense of superiority, and we laugh at people who have been made (or who make themselves) ridiculous. This can also be true at times, but there are very many people who are just genuinely funny and entertaining. 

On page 128, Berger includes a list of techniques of humor in alphabetical order. These forty-five techniques are what he thinks are the building blocks of humor. He believes that these techniques can be used to find out what mechanisms are at play in jokes and other forms of humor. Humor is used in our everyday lives and it is a very important aspect of communication when used in an appropriate circumstance. 

Chapter 37

In this chapter, Gustave Le Bon describes why the imagination of crowds is so powerful and active. Figurative events that happen in people's minds are "evoked by personage, an event, or an accident" and are almost as lifelike as reality. Crowds always refer to images that they are capable of thinking of, rather than reality. Images are what give crowds "motives of action". This is why theatrical representations have such a huge influence on crowds. When a crowd is subjected to an influential speaker, the whole crowd lives in the moment and shares the same dream by feeling the same emotions. This is why people laugh at the same time (because they are imagining the same actions) or why they get riled up at the same time.

Le Bon's book The Crowd is considered "one of the classics of sociological theory". Le Bon was very interested in images and theatrical representations. These representations are mass-mediated culture, which can be compared to film, video, television, audiences, public opinion, etc. By these theatrical representations, Le Bon is saying that people get the same reactions when they listen to a song or hear a speech. They understand the underlying message by picturing images. This theory is called "reader-response" or "reception" theory. Theatrical representations have the power to shape a crowd or society's views on certain issues in life.

Chapter 35

Bob Stein is a man who uses a moral point of view to examine television and digital media. His two main questions are, "What are we going to use these technologies for?" and "What kind of society do we want to live in?". He is trying to look at the use of television realistically. He knows how often people spend time watching shows on the t.v. and how it is portraying noneducational plots. Stein also analyzes video games and knows how negatively they affect our society. People lose their jobs and families due to obsession and addiction of video games. Like I stated in the last chapter, people are always trying to reach that next level or obtain a new goal. If only they could use this mindset for their lives, then we would have a successful society. If technology and digital media keeps advancing, people may lose their minds. Machines will take over our lives and we may not have any free will left. Instead of using all of the brilliant minds in this world for advancements in our personal interests such as telephones, televisions, computers, and digital media, why don't we use them to solve the cure for cancer and AIDS. Let's try to save lives, not waste them.

Chapter 34

Do people play video games or do video games play people? This statement could be true either way you look at it. People are the ones holding the controllers and going through the motions. However, does that mean they are the ones playing? In this chapter, Espen J. Aarseth stated, "just as the game becomes a text for the user at the time of playing, it can be argued that the user becomes a text for the game." This is because they both "exchange and react to each other's messages according to a set of codes" which means "there is no message apart from the play". Players are the main characters in the video games which makes playing them so addicting. Also, the player gets satisfaction if he or she can keep reaching the next level. In this circumstance, it is the video game that is controlling the player. The video game keeps making the player continue. How many times does someone play a video game or computer game for a long time and then continues to say "Okay two more minutes..." and then four minutes later, "Okay one more minute." In this case, video games can be compared to technology.  Humans will never be satisfied with their inventions. Companies will always strive to keep trying to further technology and its intricacy.

Introductory Paragraph for Creative Brief

Consumers often have trouble debating between various healthy foods and beverages. There are so many beverages that are advertised as the "healthiest" drink that someone should consume. However, not all of these drinks are as nutritious as they say they are. FUZE is the only drink that is really beneficial towards a person's health. FUZE is a line of all-natural heath drinks that are nutritious and tasty. The goal for this creative brief is to trigger the minds of consumers using different advertising techniques and commercials to get them to realize that FUZE is the only correct solution for their dietary needs.

Chapter 41

Television is a very dramatic medium because it uses traditional drama represented by characters, gestures, dialogue, etc. Dramatic medium means that it is full of expression. Television is the source of media that is most used today. A study showed that American men watch dramatic shows on the t.v. over twelve hours per week and American women watch them for over sixteen hours per week. Obviously, this is the most popular source of media. One reason this is true, is because it has the most dramatic material on it.

Chapter 40

Michel de Certeau stated that narratives, "cover the event" and make our legends out of it. De Certeau is referring to the media. In the world we live in, we are surrounded by narratives. In the morning on the way to work or school, we hear narratives in the car on the radio. At night, we see and hear narratives on the television. These narratives "organize in advance our work, our celebrations, and even our dreams". Our society is "defined by stories (the fables constituted by our advertising and informational media), by citations of stories, and by interminable recitations of stories". De Certeau describes the word imprint by meaning how narratives affect us everyday, but we are not always conscious of them.

Chapter 39

In this chapter, Neil Postman describes television as the "big bang of our century past". The t.v. is a form of technology that has revolutionized. From starting as one big giant box with antennas on top to get a black and white image, forming into what we have today: a flat screen that comes in all different sizes displaying high-definition color images. Postman's goal is to make the epistemology of television visible again. He wants to show that television promotes "incoherence and triviality" and speaks in only one voice: the voice of entertainment. He then stated that television "transformed our culture into one vast arena for show business". I agree with this fact because television is used for advertising by showing commercials. Television has gone from a revolutionary invention to a method for parents to give punishments to their children by banning their t.v. time. For example, there are shows on MTV about the lives of rich, young adults. These shows such as The Hills, 90210, and The O.C. deal with drama in the different actors' lives. Jersey Shore is another example of a poor use of television. This show has absolutely no point in being aired. They use improper language, they wear distasteful clothing, and they make immoral decisions. The goal for television now is to get the most ridiculous shows on the air, because these shows are what attract viewers, which brings in the money because of high ratings. This is not what television is used for, and Postman recognizes this issue.

Chapter 38

In this chapter, Martin Grotjahn expresses his ideas about television and art. He makes a good point that television could be used for something influential like education or learning programs. However, it is mostly consumed by reality shows and pointless, meaningless television series that fill our brains with mush. He relates a television show to a manifest function ("witnessed by the viewer") and the show's content as a latent function ("symbolic meaning of the performance which is beamed at our conscious perception and unconscious understanding"). He also relates television to a dream, because a dream has a manifest content, but a latent meaning. There is a specific reason why a dream is occurring. This could be your underlying thoughts, or it could just be relating to a memory or something that was previously in your thoughts. Grotjahn states that television avoids solving conflicts. It has drifted away from the idea of art. In art, one must interpret a message, whereas in television, the show is meant for entertainment that is easily understandable.

Grotjahn also believes that the main purpose for a t.v. is for the display of commercials. Instead of spreading the arts and important information, it is "sold out to the hucksters". The manifest content (which is similar in television and dreams) is what the viewers see and hear. The latent content is the hidden symbolic meaning that is perceived. Three main differences between art and television are that art works through unconscious conflicts, has tensions about psychic phenomena, and participates in facing the repressed, while television distracts from conflicts, pays attention to commercials, and presents a show that is used for amusement. Television is not always negative. There are some beneficial informational shows on a couple channels. The television is also helpful when viewing political speeches, or while watching crucial news stories. However, most people do not spend their time watching the informational, educational shows. At the end of the chapter, it said that on average, young people spend three hours a day watching television. These are most likely pointless shows. If reality t.v. would add morality and useful information into their shows, television could become beneficial.

Chapter 33

This chapter starts off with Hans Magnus Enzenberger's ideas of the human mind. He includes the statement, "What is going on in our minds has always been, and will always be, a product of society." This is a very true statement because how we perceive things affects the way we act, speak, and think, which also affects society. The media targets our minds to attract them to their brand or whatever they are trying to sell or convey. Enzenberger argues that our minds are "industrialized" because we cannot completely control the contents of our minds. This is also a true statement because sometimes our minds tend to think of things that you do not want to imagine. He also argues that the media is what has made our minds industrialized and can be known as the "mind-making industries". Our minds are triggered to think of what the media wants us to think. If a company is advertising a very expensive, fashionable pair of shoes, then the mind is going to always revert to the idea that shoes that are expensive are more fashionable then shoes that are cheap. Even if shoes may look the same, but have a different brand name, the mind has convinced us the more expensive pair are better.

Chapter 29

Chapter twenty-nine compares and contrasts myths and fairy tales. Fairy tales help humans to understand their inner problems and how to solve these problems in a correct manner. Fairy tales are often used to teach children the difference between right and wrong and how to make correct decisions. Hence, most every fairy tale has a moral of the story. Fairy tales have both overt and covert meanings. This idea came from Bruno Bettelheim. Bettleheim believed fairy tales "came to speak simultaneously to all levels of the human personality, communicating in a manner which reaches the uneducated mind of the child as well as that of the sophisticated adult". This simply means that even though most fairy tales are targeted towards children, the messages may apply to adults as well. Fairy tales carry important messages to the conscious, the preconscious, and he unconscious mind.

Fairy tales come from ancient times and continue to play a very important role in our lives. Over time, the tales are modified by their tellers to help children deal with different psychological pressures of growing up. Fairy tales often include a hero or heroine and a villain. Fairy tales are similar to myths, but are not the same thing. A myth "shows idealized characters who are dominated by the demands of their superegos" and a fairy tale "shows an ego integration that makes possible the satisfaction of unrecognized, unconscious id desires felt by the child".

Chapter 27

This chapter elaborates on the double meanings within the book. These two meanings include ideology and semiotics. Saussure's ideas of semiotics were located in the beginning of the book. Roland Barthes uses this chapter to discuss ideology and the way it is used in the media. He noticed that newspapers, art, and common sense were often "dressed up by reality". Basically, this means that society has changed the perception we have by looking at different things in media. Barthes also stated that "myth is a language". This is a very interesting idea because it can be interpreted differently. It is kind of confusing because the statement makes it seem like you can communicate by telling myths to each other. Barthe defined a myth as the way in which an object utters its message.

Roland Barthes was a very intellectual literary and cultural theorist that wrote the book, Mythologies. He believed that anything in society has a different meaning that can be perceived differently. For example, he used the idea of professional wrestling. One group of people may see professional wrestling as a revolutionary sport or activity, whereas other people may see it as a very fake performance. This is how Barthe studied. He would find the underlying mystification "in the way popular culture and everyday life is presented to the public". Then, he would compare his findings to semiology and find the deeper meaning of the signs and meanings.

His book, Mythologies, is "characterized by fascinating insights into aspects of everyday things that generally escape our attention". For example, the detergent Omo claims that it can clean "deep". However, linens and clothing are not "deep". Myths are all around us in our everyday lives, and it is our job to find them and understand their true meanings.