Becoming a media watchdog
Limiting my TV-viewing has definitely reduced the effects of media pollution and propaganda upon my mind. Most mainstream TV doesn't interest me, anyway. I've never personally owned a TV set, and I hardly ever used to read newspapers or magazines. Who needs all that negative news and media hype, anyway?
Yet, I started becoming a reluctant media-watcher about a year and a half ago - though I had taken courses on the subject, years before. I've increasingly found myself observing and critiquing media trends, as I think they're tied into other important issues (eg, illegal government surveillance, corporate collusion, digital monopolies).
Occasionally, you may find some of my crazy notions on here ring true. In fact, after I post certain thoughts or ideas, news on that very subject will show up in popular media outlets (particularly Toronto ones), soon after. Or, similar analysis - with a counter-spin - may show up in TV programs awhile later. It's pretty remarkable. Had I kept track all along, I'm sure people would find the close and coincidental timing quite strange.
News article, below, is one example...
--------------------------------
July 6, 2005
(Chronological ordering doesn't always work for me, so I'm posting this article here to keep the information together.)
This news article from MetroNews.ca analyzes Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' recent engagement from precisely the 'publicity stunt' angle I was suggesting was happening in the Jennifer Aniston - Brad Pitt - Angelina Jolie love triangle scenario. Of course, when I say these things, people think I'm nuts (*grin*). [1]
Personally, I think Tom Cruise is being put on this publicity-blazing trail by his agent and PR people. I saw another news article, describing odd things that Cruise has been doing, ever since he got engaged; they seem designed for maximum publicity splashes.
Also, if you didn't know, Tom Cruise is big on personal privacy, and he has strong control over his star image. [2] (Note: The Hollywood Star System is an entire body of work within film theory and criticism.) [3]
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[1] See other posts about Brad, Jen, Angelina:
'Brad and Jen: Moving millions' - Jan. 26, 2005
'Various: 9-11, murders, movies' - June 5, 2005
[2] I highly respect Tom Cruise, as an actor, and I don't wish to denigrate his character. Personally, I think he's getting a lot of flak from the press, who are consistently *uncritical* in examining all other news stories for hidden political or corporate agendas and possible fabrications.
[3] These web resources give a sense of what film theory and criticism is about:
Yet, I started becoming a reluctant media-watcher about a year and a half ago - though I had taken courses on the subject, years before. I've increasingly found myself observing and critiquing media trends, as I think they're tied into other important issues (eg, illegal government surveillance, corporate collusion, digital monopolies).
Occasionally, you may find some of my crazy notions on here ring true. In fact, after I post certain thoughts or ideas, news on that very subject will show up in popular media outlets (particularly Toronto ones), soon after. Or, similar analysis - with a counter-spin - may show up in TV programs awhile later. It's pretty remarkable. Had I kept track all along, I'm sure people would find the close and coincidental timing quite strange.
News article, below, is one example...
--------------------------------
July 6, 2005
(Chronological ordering doesn't always work for me, so I'm posting this article here to keep the information together.)
This news article from MetroNews.ca analyzes Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' recent engagement from precisely the 'publicity stunt' angle I was suggesting was happening in the Jennifer Aniston - Brad Pitt - Angelina Jolie love triangle scenario. Of course, when I say these things, people think I'm nuts (*grin*). [1]
Personally, I think Tom Cruise is being put on this publicity-blazing trail by his agent and PR people. I saw another news article, describing odd things that Cruise has been doing, ever since he got engaged; they seem designed for maximum publicity splashes.
Also, if you didn't know, Tom Cruise is big on personal privacy, and he has strong control over his star image. [2] (Note: The Hollywood Star System is an entire body of work within film theory and criticism.) [3]
------------
[1] See other posts about Brad, Jen, Angelina:
'Brad and Jen: Moving millions' - Jan. 26, 2005
'Various: 9-11, murders, movies' - June 5, 2005
[2] I highly respect Tom Cruise, as an actor, and I don't wish to denigrate his character. Personally, I think he's getting a lot of flak from the press, who are consistently *uncritical* in examining all other news stories for hidden political or corporate agendas and possible fabrications.
[3] These web resources give a sense of what film theory and criticism is about:
- Images: In Focus - 'Greta Garbo is Sad: Some Historical Reflections on the Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910-1960' by Brian Gallagher
- The Star System: Hollywood's Production of Popular Identities by Paul McDonald
- TheatreBooks: Women, Gender & Feminist Criticism, Theory and History
- 'Viewer "Identification" with Characters in Television and Film Fiction' by Peter van Beneden
posted by outside the box... at
9:41 PM
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