Women in the Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfElbe4kvNw

Kayla Ginsbach
Abbie Guthrie
Zach Hughes
Jordan Jenkins
Luke Martin
Jessica Poore

Needing an Epic Win?

After reading through "Wii Shall Overcome" more and after our class discussion about it on Tuesday, I was really blown away by how many people spend time playing video games but also how some think it could honestly change some of the world's biggest problems. At first, I was laughing at the points of how this could be true but then I read their reasons.
The part which I want to dive in more was the "Epic win" and how these "Epic wins" truly can impact someone. These wins allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Though, getting to the highest level possible of Angry Birds is equivalent to saving someone's life? Maybe not exactly but the feeling of accomplishment is still there.
The reason that stood out to me was how we don't really let the virtual defeats affect us too much. Why would we? We can just hit re-start and try again. I know this will be a news flash for everyone but there is no restart button in real life. There is only one shot, one life and if you screw everything up then it is over. Real life problems or issues become more apparent and are harder to deal with than virtually issues.
This is why though video games are important from the standpoint of energy level and making people feel a sense of accomplishment. It is almost like just saying a nice comment to someone to help get them in the right frame of mindset. You may think simply saying "thank you" or saying "good job yesterday" is very small, but they could go a long way in determining how the person acts the rest of the day. Same thing with a virtual game in getting a high score, it can truly make you feel accomplished and want to take on whatever comes your way the rest of the day.

Duck Dynasty, Honey Boo Boo, and Reality TV Shows

We had this conversation in our class on the 15th, just yesterday, about how these TV shows make us look at a specific group of people. I really loved the example of the Duck Dynasty family and how they looked before the show, who they really were. I honestly have never seen the family photo and was stunned when I saw it in class. I mean...how could they look like a normal family? They can't be, I mean I have seen the show...right?
This whole topic and discussion truly takes us to where reality TV and a lot of these TV shows are at. We all have our perceptions and views on how certain groups of people act. I forget who it was in class but someone made a comment of how we all know how a normal "white guy" acts, "black guy" acts, "Country guy" acts, etc...we all play to those stereotypes, which is one of the reasons why these shows play to those stereotypes.
The people who run the shows aren't idiots...they know what they are doing. Being at Ball State, we are at a very strong TCOM school and I am a TCOM major. I have produced TV shows and short video segments and I am always trying to make it entertain or keep people watching. Even though these TV shows may appear to be over the top, not even come close to representing the group of people in the best fashion, people still watch because they still find the entertainment value.
Read in our local newspaper in Columbus, Indiana, the other day that Duck Dynasty is actually coming to Columbus to shoot their show in the fall, or an episode of their show. Maybe I should bring this up to them?

Binge Watching

Our class discussion on Thursday really hit home with me, as I am probably one of the worst binge watchers there are. I can remember being introduced to Dexter and Breaking Bad about a year or so ago, and I would have those shows either (1) finished or (2) caught up to where the actual show was. It is also something I thought would never happen either, because I always thought my friends were crazy, or the ones who at least binge watched.
I also really didn't fully understand the concept of the shows I binge watch versus the shows I do not binge watch. Stevie brought it up in class and we discussed as a class why we binge watch certain shows and it really took me by surprise. When I say surprise, I mean I never really thought it through. I personally just watch some of these shows because I find them overly entertaining but also making you WANT to watch the next show. I do love Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and other shows like that but they never really leave you "hanging" at the end, which is what I personally think is the biggest difference.
By far Breaking Bad is my favorite show of all time and I finished all five seasons in one weekend. I don't know how I did it but I pulled it off. Walter White and company....what a show! I still go back and watch old episodes like crazy. Maybe I will binge watch again??

Zombie Culture Review

When I saw Eric King was coming to Ball State talking about “Zombie Culture”, I was honestly clueless at to what Zombie Culture actually was.  I mean I have heard of  “The Walking Dead” and all of those types of shows, seen “zombies” at haunted houses and all the other imaginable places you could find them. Though, I never knew this was an actual “culture” or study someone of Eric King’s intelligence look at.    

            I was happy to learn that he isn’t a true believer in the “Zombie apocalypse” or actual Zombie’s coming to life and killing all of mankind, but I was really intrigued by some of his examples of how the Zombie Culture has helped in different ways.  He showed actual scenarios where communities have printed out Zombie prevention flyers and safety tips for this apocalypse. By looking at the survival guides these towns/communities made, they were identical to what a prevention guide for a Tornado/Hurricane would be. Since the Zombie culture is “cool”, it can actually do some good in getting other views across.

            The other major point I took from his talk was when a person asked him his beliefs on the actual apocalypse. I mentioned earlier how he said he doesn’t believe in the actual zombies but he brought up “The Walking Dead” TV show.  He asked who or what is most dangerous in the show or prone to more danger? The answer was the humans. He believes the craze for Zombie Culture won’t necessarily lead to the scientific form of a human transcending into a Zombie, but the craze over the culture could cause harm by the humans themselves.

            I really enjoyed his breakdown of Zombie Preppers, which was a docudrama on the Discovery channel. It was very humorous in the way he broke it down because he brought up how the scientist on the show faked the “disease”, they begin the docudrama saying how it won’t be about what we already know on Zombies but spend the rest of the docudrama talking about Zombies in the way we know them

            Despite not really being interested in the Zombie Culture and not having a true understanding of what it is, I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Watts and was very engaging throughout the hour and a half he spoke in the 

Matt Shepard

After our class discussion on Matt Shepard, I remember Dr. M going through and asking us some tough questions or at least questions which truly make us think about what happened. The one which stood out to me was would this story have been brought up or made as big as a deal if Matt Shepard did not look the way he did? Matt is obviously an attractive guy and looks like someone you will see on the cover of a magazine. I personally feel it would have not been as big as a deal, despite the tough and difficult details of his death. My stance on this is more from the media perspective and could be viewed as another side of "Framing". If he wasn't the way he looked, I believe many news networks and TV Stations would barely cover it, if they even do cover the topic, due to the way he looks.
What happened to Matt Shepard was shocking to me and something I honestly never even knew happened. That is the great thing about this class, in which we have a great opportunity to learn and talk about pressing issues with great examples.