Thursday 6 September 2012

Week 8. Odd Culture Wolf Gang Kill Them All


Celebrities have become a commodity. A resource that is promoted, advertised, invested in, and retailed. Hollywood will fund a film because 50 Cent is interested, rather than because the script is superb or Darren Aronofsky wishes to direct it. Producers are willing to pay Mr Cent 10 Million for his contribution because they know his involvement will return 20 million. Similarly, ghost writers will write songs for artists who are more attractive or marketable. Celebrities are nothing more than bank cheques to these media empires. Don’t get me wrong, there are celebrities who have earned there fame. Apart from being one half of the world’s most attractive couple, Brad Pitt has proven time and time again to be an extremely talented actor in such iconic roles as Tyler Durden and Jesse James.

Brad Pitt as Jesse James in 'The Assassination of Jesse
James by the coward Robert Ford ( http://jerfalerf.wordpress.com )

Old media has crafted and perfected this art of manufacturing celebrities and frankly, why would they change anything about it? It works. Artists are sick of this fame train and that is why they have begun turning to the internet as a means of sharing their art. Perhaps the best example of this is the eccentric rapper, Tyler, the Creator, co-founder of OFWGKTA. Tyler has spent his entire short career doing it his own way. He releases his music online for free, he made his own record label instead of signing to one, He’s rude to paparazzi and jokes about suicide. Simply put, he is a PR nightmare. But his fans just love him all the more for it.

A .Gif taken from Tyler's music video, 'Yonkers' ( http://frozensecond.tumblr.com/).

References

Marshall, P.D 2010, 'The Specular Economy', Society,Vol. 47, Issue 6, pp. 498-502, retrieved 7/9/2012, EBSCOHos
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Week 7. YouTube and the Media.



( http://mattsmarketingblog.com/)
Since the website’s initial launch in 2005, YouTube has managed to cement itself as not only one of the world’s most powerful websites, but also one of the world’s most powerful media empires. Unlike other media empires, YouTube has a very limited degree of control over the content that it broadcasts. This is because the site’s content is entirely uploaded by either users or unaffiliated companies. Some users of YouTube have managed to use the site as a platform to launch successful careers as independent film makers (A.K.A ‘content creators’) thanks to YouTube’s partner program. The site is truly empowering to the individuals who arrange its intrinsically diasporic ethos. Embedded within YouTube’s nature is a sense of equality and freedom. Any user has the ability to have their voice heard and projected on a global scale. Logically, this means the users are also free to support any voice or any opinion.

However, with YouTube’s rise in power has come a change in mentality. The fourth estate has become aware of the power and possibilities of YouTube. Whether intentionally or not, the site has slowly begun to associate itself with the practices of old media. Once upon a time, the most recognisable videos were cute home videos, and opinionated vlogs. Today, they are music videos owned by Universal, television snippets from NBC and trailers to Hollywood films. YouTube is still a great platform to show your creative side and voice your opinion to the world. Just don't be surprised if no one listens, and don't count the views.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AJtdKW6Nsg



An interesting Vlog by Dan 'Pogobat' Brown on the YouTube 'community'.

References

Gaidan, B 2007, ‘My life with computers on a remote island’, in LE Dyson, M Hendriks & S Grant (eds), Information technology and Indigenous people, Information Science Publishing, Hershey, Pa., pp. 58–60.
Desai, J 2004, ‘Reel a state: reimagining diaspora homeland, and nation-state in Srinivas Krishna’s Masala’ Beyond Bollywood: the cultural politics of South Asian diasporic film, Routledge, London, pp. 101–31.
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Saturday 1 September 2012

Week 6. What is the Redditsphere?

http://www.forbes.com/

The website’s tagline quite accurately claims it to be “the front page of the internet”. The website’s main function is to share, promote and discuss everything and anything that can be found on the internet. The website's layout resembles a simple bulletin board system and operates on a very simple voting system and comment section. A post’s number of ‘upvotes’, ‘downvotes’, comments, and all around activity determines how high a post shall rank on the website’s page and the subreddit it was posted to. There are thousands of subreddits that each relates to a certain topic and area of interest. Some of the larger ones, such as r/askreddit and r/pics have over 2 million subscribers while some smaller niche ones,such as r/mysterybox and r/onetruegod have only a few thousand. The subreddits are self-governed by dedicated moderators (link) and contributors.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Reddit is the quality of its community (link). It is well noted that the quality of a social website’s community degrades as its fan base expands. The users are no longer necessarily directly interested and the sense of anonymity increases. The Reddit community however, is constantly trying to help not only its own community but that of the globe. Reddit users have saved lives, protected an orphanage, globally protested for their beliefs, and even talked with the president. But how has Reddit’s community managed to say positive? Perhaps it’s a result of the site’s reddiquette, or is it the personality the site appeals to?

References

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