Jacob's Font of Perspicacity

Looking back on this blog and Critical Thinking as a whole, I can see that I have gained a lot from this assignment, though perhaps not in the expected areas. My understanding of media has not changed too greatly, as much of what I learned about it I already knew to some degree. This may come in part from attending a Waldorf inspired school and having parents who are quite aware of the problems media can pose. I do have a more complete picture of how advertising works than I did before the semester, but I don't think this class has or will cause me to significantly change the way I interact with media. However, I believe this blog was quite important in approving my writing ability. It gave me a chance to practice a style of writing (namely casual persuasive writing) which I have greatly enjoyed reading in the past and frequently employ verbally but have not really tried writing in. Not only that, but it provided an excellent example of how a school assignment can actually be enjoy...

Recently, to go along with its annual awards, Steam (a platform for buying computer games) released  this list of their most played games of 2017. While perusing said list, I came to a somewhat depressing realization: all nine of the games with more than 100,000 peak simultaneous players consisted, at their core, of walking around a 3-dimensional environment and shooting people to death. To some this may fit completely with their view of video games as mindless entertainment which promotes violence. But to me it was jarring, possibly because not one of the twenty games in my Steam library adheres to this formula. In my experience video games can be a fascinating artistic medium, but it is difficult to find the gems in the teeming horde of first-person shooters. The overwhelming popularity of this specific genre has distorted the general public's perception of video games, obscuring the fact that, just like other media such as books or movies, they can be used both to offer an easy...

MissRepresentation was an excellent documentary. Before watching it, I was already aware of many of the problems with the representation of women in media which it illuminates, but I was still impressed at how comprehensive and powerful its argument was. However, I disagree with the film on one major point: I do not think that media content should be further regulated by the government or any other organization, even with the purpose of reducing the objectification of women. To see why this kind of regulation could be so problematic, it is helpful to look at the history of media censorship in the United States. From 1930 to 1968, almost all American movies were produced under the  Motion Picture Production Code , a set of rules governing what could be shown onscreen. The rules were intended to safeguard public virtue by eliminating immoral content from the media and were created by the film industry itself to preempt government regulation. While the idea of such a code may seem l...

Anyone who analyzes enough entertainment media quickly begins to notice a few patterns. Every story has a (usually white and male) protagonist who, along with his band of supporting characters, faces some kind of conflict, defeats the villain, and lives happily ever after. This is (an oversimplified summary of) the Hero's Journey, that pervasive force which consigns so many stories to the dustbin of sameness. This common theme makes all media somewhat similar, but within specific genres there are many more of these similarities, so much so that one quickly realizes that the vast majority of stories are just a bunch of prefabricated parts assembled in a predictable order with a new coat of paint slapped on to trick people into thinking its something different. For evidence of this, I direct you to go to  TV Tropes , an incredible database of fictional tropes (common elements found in many different pieces of media). Once you're there, find the page of a movie you like and scroll...

I generally found Merchants of Cool  to be quite insightful, but on one point I found it rather hyperbolic. One of the experts interviewed as part of the documentary compared American teens to Africa and the corporations marketing to them to European imperialists. The essential problem with this analogy is that modern teens can choose not to be exploited. The inhabitants of Africa could not simply decide to not be affected by Western conquest, but to a degree we can choose to do exactly that. The mook will always exist as a stereotype in media marketed to teenagers, but I can (and do) choose not to watch that media. (In my case this really isn't even that difficult, as I find the kind of media inhabited by mooks to be quite boring). Likewise, the fact that what is fashionable is chosen by a few large corporations doesn't really matter to someone (like me) whose clothing decisions don't factor in what's "cool" on any given day. It's certainly possible to be...

I very recently had the good fortune to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi , and while there were a host of things I liked about the movie, there was one which especially stood out: the identity of Rey's parents. Now, if you haven't seen the movie yet, please go do so before reading the rest of this post. It really is excellent and will be better the less you know about it going in (I purposefully did not watch any previews or trailers beforehand, and that definitely enhanced the experience). Now that you've returned (or have already seen the movie, or just don't care about spoilers) I will continue. In The Last Jedi , it is revealed that Rey's parents were... (drumroll, please)... not named characters, but a pair of inconsequential nobodies who sold her to buy alcohol. Yes, that's right, Rey is not descended from anyone important. It may strike you as odd that I would be so excited by this, so I will endeavor to explain why it's one of the better parts of...

As you probably remember (if you're in Mr. Starace's class at least), Ms. Heitz semi-recently gave us  this article  explaining what magical realism is and how it differs from fantasy. As I read it, I became more and more irritated, finally deciding that I needed to write something demonstrating how it is emblematic of a significant problem in how those who analyze literature view certain genres. Luckily, I have a blog where there is a possibility that someone might actually read my rant on the subject, so here are my thoughts on why magical realism is not a distinct literary genre, but a category of fantasy literature. Literary critics, wanting to feel more discerning than the average reader, are loath to ascribe literary merit to popular "genre fiction": fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, etc. They were thus presented with a conundrum when a new style of writing arose in Latin America. It was full of supernatural elements, and thus fit the standard defi...

The discussion of narrowcasting we had in class reminded me of this fascinating video on the surprisingly complex process which determines what ad you see when you click on a video on Youtube. The short version is this: In the millisecond between you clicking the video and the ad playing, Youtube's algorithms analyze the video (looking at its title, views, comments, etc.) and analyze you (trying to determine your age, gender, location, etc. based on your watch history) and then give those pieces of information to the algorithms of the advertisers, which have been programmed to target certain kinds of videos and specific viewer demographics. The advertiser algorithms then hold an auction to determine what commercial you see when the video loads. While this process is certainly useful for Youtube, advertisers and content creators, it has some disturbing implications. If you and someone else watch the exact same video, you may well see completely different ads. This, as with all ...

The Senate's Republican majority recently passed a bill which would dramatically overhaul the American tax code; on this fact everyone seems to agree. However, the varying language used by different news media outlets reveals that despite their pretensions of objectivity they have directly opposed opinions on the bill's merit. For example, the word choice of  Fox News' article  on the subject is quite supportive of the legislation. The headline is resoundingly positive, including words like "victorious" and "confident" and speaking of "avoiding shutdown." It goes on to quote a number of Republican politicians who voted for or otherwise supported the bill, without including any opposing viewpoint. In fact, the only reference to Democrats in the article is a segment about how Republican concerns that they would attempt a government shutdown in protest of the bill were averted. Throughout this, word choice remains consistently positive, with t...

I recently watched Thor: Ragnarok , the latest in Marvel's seemingly endless torrent of superhero comedy/action movies. While I generally enjoyed it (at least compared to other films in the same genre), I found myself rather bored during many of the scenes which were intended to be the most dramatic. The movie puts an enormous amount of effort into epic music, gratuitous explosions, and intricately animated fight sequences, but many of its action scenes just felt like something to be waited through until something more interesting happened. In fact, I think you could cut out a solid 10 minutes of absurdly acrobatic duels and massacring of minions and the film would't actually lose anything of value. Now, I should say that I am not bored by all action scenes. For example, Mad Max: Fury Road  managed managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, and that movie is probably around 50% giant explosions. So what exactly did Thor: Ragnarok lack? After a fair amount of thought, I have...

When I think of media, several related but distinct concepts spring to mind. Most obviously, the word refers to social media and news media, but in reality it encompasses any means of conveying a message to many people, and thus deeply affects the life of anyone living in a modern society. As I am part of such a society, I am greatly influenced by the barrage of media to which I am exposed. While it is an integral part of my life, the type of media I consume is relatively atypical. For example, I barely use social media. My forays into that thicket have so far been confined to using Twitter for the singular purpose of following  @RealTimeWWII  and creating a Facebook account in order to join a group chat. This form of media has thus not yet significantly affected me, though this may well change in the future. The news media, on the other hand, is quite important to my thinking, as it provides the majority of the information I use to formulate opinions about the world. As I...