Reflection

We began studying film and media this week. There was an assignment to watch a music video, of our choice, and then we had to find ten specific parts of the video about words that we learned on Monday. The first video to be presented was Stubborn Love, by Lumineers. I loved this presentation because I enjoy that song and the music video was beautifully shot. It told a good narrative story that made good use of flashback because it showed how the child moved on from her past. It also had a happy ending with the mom and daughter holding hands and happy which left a good impact on the viewer and made me enjoy the song even more. Then, With Ur Love, by Cher Lloyd, was presented which showed an interesting video of girls pulling parts out of a guy that they enjoyed to create one man that they all loved. I wasn't very interested in the video for that reason, but the presenter did a good job in pointing out all aspects of the video. Jurassic 5 was the next group, in their music video for the song Influence they used long shots of all the artists rapping which helped show the community they lived in.

The next day we saw two more presentations. One of them was the song Words I Never Said, by Lupe Fiasco. This was a fantastic music video because it had clips of things that were happening in the world, mixed in with a narrative about Fiasco acting out in society and getting put down for it. The song has a lot of truth to it and the music video helped to show the truth because it combined the audio with a visual, only helping to increase the depth of the words. Finally, M.I.A. was shown singing her song Bad Girls. The video was used to show girls in Morocco driving cars the way they do in their home country. M.I.A. wanted to show how their lives are and that girls aren't put down in that country like the stereotypes say they are. There was good use of mise-en-scene because the presenter paused at one point and it showed a girl riding a horse which symbolizes old times and stereotypes and then behind her were girls driving girls like they do these days, contrary to popular belief. All of the presenters did a fantastic job in showing all points that we learned about and I can't wait to continue more next week because it's really helpful for me to learn the terms.

The Culture of Empathetic Humans Through Technology

Communication is a very powerful tool that has changed over time through the use of technology, which shapes the culture and leads to social change. There are many sources that help to educate the masses about how communication has changed and how it affects the population as a whole. Press Pause Play is a documentary, featuring the words of many famous individuals in popular culture, that discusses how technology has changed and how that change influences the democratization of art. Two chapters titled Culture and Communication Parts I and II from a textbook provide ideas from educated sources about how technology influences mass popular culture around the world. Another reading titled (E)dentity, by Stephanie Vie, discusses what an (e)dentity is and how that can affect the way people see who others are as a person. Also, four videos helped to provide knowledge about communication between individuals and how humans are empathetic and helpful to one another. First, The Empathic Civilisation, by Jeremy Rifkin, explained what mirror neurons are and how they affect the interaction between humans. Mirror neurons relate to why humans are empathetic towards each other and how it is changing the global consciousness. Second, Roman Krzarnic gave a lecture called The Power of Outrospection describing affective and cognitive empathy. Krzarnic introduced the idea that the 21^st century needs to be about outrospection, or feeling empathetic towards others rather than focusing only on oneself. Third, Changing Paradigms, a lecture by Sir Ken Robinson, gave a whole different perspective on the education system and how it could be changed for the better. It also looks at the growth of ADHD and how the pills that children are taking for ADHD aren’t working to help them become more educated. The last lecture, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, by Slavoj Zizek, gave insight to cultural capitalism in which people aren’t actually always sympathetic to others, but majorities of the time are just playing a role of being a sympathetic individual. Finally, the documentary Craigslist Joe follows Joseph Garner on a journey where he attempts to survive completely off of Craigslist for an entire month. He meets a number of very empathetic individuals who offer him places to stay, food, travel, etc. simply because they want to help another human being out. Throughout history, mass communication and popular culture has changed due to advances in technology and the way human beings can communicate with one another which allows for empathy in every possible aspect.

Technology, including technology interface, is constantly changing which allows people the ability to communicate easier, but can also create two different lives for every one person. People have friends in their life, but also have the ability to be a completely different person, which can be seen in the reading (e)dentity. “…We also carry with us an ‘(e)dentity, an electronic identity composed of the digital traces left behind as we participate in virtual worlds. Every time you upload a picture to a social networking site, create an avatar in an online game, blog or tweet about your life, or buy something online, you generate digital traces that, when examined, form your (e)dentity,” (Stephanie Vie 1). Originally, nobody had an (e)dentity because there was no Internet, but technology has evolved immensely in the past few decades and now almost everybody has two separate identities. We use our online identity in various ways, such as to communicate with others, but more importantly it provides us with the ability to see what popular culture is at any moment. Humans have a different amount of access to the technology due to contrast between various societies and how humans receive mass communication. “Psychological noise refers to internal factors that lead to misunderstandings in the communication process. The concept of psychological noise comes from consistency theory research that found that people usually prefer to seek out information and ideas that are consistent with their beliefs, attitudes, and behavior and tend to avoid information that is inconsistent. Selective exposure holds that, as a general rule, we expose ourselves to information that reinforces rather than contradicts our beliefs or opinions,” (Wilson, Wilson 11). Every person has different access to mass culture because they choose what they want to see, as well as the society may choose for them. Some countries have strong religious beliefs in their law, so citizens are not allowed to use the Internet, or parts of it, meaning that not everybody will see popular culture as easily as others. Lastly, humans try to help others that are not able to access the Internet due to not having the wealth for it. Agenda setting allows for mass media to decide what news the masses can see and therefore show people that they are helping those less fortunate through their purchases. “This is what I call cultural capitalism at its purest. You don’t just buy a coffee, you buy, in the very consumerist act; you buy your redemption from being only a consumerist. You do something for the environment, you do something to help starving children in Guatemala, you do something to restore the sense of community here… This generates almost a kind of semantic over-investment or burden,” (Slavoj Zizek). Everyone thinks that they are helping an unfortunate individual, but in reality it is the mass media creating cultural capitalism so that you pay into their company rather than another company. Technology isn’t easily available to everyone, so through charity people are able to give to them, however it just turns into cultural capitalism. On the Earth, some people don’t have access to technology or may use it in a different way, and through this evolution different cultures don’t always receive the same mass communication that everyone else receives.

The impact that technology has on popular culture comes, at the root, from various changes in communication, technology, and how technology is used as a vehicle which can be seen through various sources. Democratization is the act of allowing technology to everyone which gives everyone the opportunity to get into the creative industry, rather than being as talented and having to go to school like it used to be a few years ago. “There were professional artists and now everybody’s a musician… And suddenly I understood, like, this is a different world and it’s possible for anybody to make a movie now,” (PressPausePlay). In the past few years, advanced technology has become available to the public which allows anyone to make it in the creative industry. Before this time, people had to go to school and study the professionals in order to get a career as a creative, but now that technology has evolved, anyone can become a professional creative if they produce content that the appeals to popular culture. Technology itself has also evolved allowing everyone to know what the current popular culture is. “The newspaper found its niche by becoming a medium from which the common person could learn about what was happening in his or her city… Radio’s more important function was as a mass medium for news and entertainment… Television was invented as a potential replacement for radio by adding a picture to the sound… Critics also detested the fact that the mass media conformed to average tastes and did nothing to elevate the cultural level of the masses,” (Wilson, Wilson 28-32). Popular culture was made available to the masses which lowered the cultural level of the masses because anybody could understand what was popular culture, rather than just the elite being able to access and understand the technology. This was a major impact on culture because it lower the elitist culture since everyone had access and it conformed to the masses so that anyone could easily understand it. With this new availability of technology, it changed the entire world, especially the education system to where some students no longer wanted to participate because they believe they can earn a career as a creative. “When we went to school we were kept there with a story which is if you worked hard and did well and got a college degree, you would have a job. Our kids don’t believe that, and they’re right not to by the way. You’re better having a degree than not, but it’s not a guarantee anymore,” (Sir Ken Robinson). This new idea of education has impacted culture because children no longer need to go to school. It is risky to not go, but a child could make a career as a creative and would never need to go to school because they have access to technology that can help them succeed in another industry. Mass communication can also help these children to put their creativity into the world, simply from sitting in one spot. The evolution of technology and communication has drastically impacted the culture of the world and popular culture in individual societies.

Mass communication is a powerful tool for empathy because humans can see what others are feeling, react to it, and help them for the better. Everyone has empathy inside of them because they learn about life at a young age which makes everyone want to help each other. “When a child learns that life is vulnerable and fragile and every moment is precious and that they have their own unique history, it allows a child then to experience another plight in the same way. That that other person or other being, could be another creature, has a one and only life, it’s tough to be alive, and the odds are not always good. So if you think about the times that we’ve empathized with each other or a fellow creature, it’s always because we felt their struggle. Is it really a big stretch to imagine that new technologies allowing us to connect our empathy to the human race writ large in a single biosphere?” (Jeremy Rifkin). Every individual has empathy inside of them because they understand that every creature has one life. People are able to extend this empathy to humans in other parts of the world because through mass communication and mass media anyone can see what is happening to humans on another part of the world. Through this availability of mass media, people feel empathy for others on a different part of the world because they can see their struggle and relate to it. Humans originally only felt this empathy towards people of the same religion, ethnic group, or country, however that has evolved over years and now the majority of humans feel empathetic towards all humans, some even toward all creatures. “Socrates said that the way to live a wise and good life was to know thyself. And we generally thought of that as being self-reflective, looking in at ourselves, it’s been about introspection. But I think in the 21^st century we need to recognize that to know thyself is something that can also be achieved by stepping outside yourself, by discovering other people’s lives and I think empathy is the way to revolutionize our own philosophies of life, to become more outrospective and to create the revolution of human relationships that I think we so desperately need,” (Roman Krznaric). This century needs to be about helping others because we feel empathetic towards them. Mass communication can let anyone empathize for another person that is anywhere because humans see what they are struggling with and feel empathetic towards them which can lead to helping them in some way. The use of technology can let people help others because people empathize with others they see through a technological interface and then can help them using another piece of technology. Years ago, there was only the newspaper or maybe radio, so it was difficult to help people that lived far away and before that people didn’t even know what was happening to others outside of their own community. Now-a-days anyone that feels empathetic toward another human can find a way to help them. Currently, a great example of this is the documentary Craigslist Joe, where Joseph Garner meets people through Craigslist that help give him shelter, food, travel, and a good time for an entire month. “Meeting everyone and telling them my story and the journey and having people, like, invite me, a complete stranger, into their homes, and feed me, and go out, and, you know, share themselves and their lives with me. It was truly inspiring, just you know, on humanity, to know that we can take care of each other,” (Joseph Garner). Empathy is possible through technology which can easily be seen through this documentary. Every single day Garner has to go online to see if anyone is offering shelter or travel so that he can survive. For an entire month, Garner was able to survive off the empathy of others that he found through technology. This would have been incredibly difficult years ago because the interfaces wouldn’t have allowed for him to see what people were offering on that exact day, but with the evolution of technology, anyone can easily see what people are offering at that exact moment. Empathy is easily possible through technology these days, especially with the current technological interfaces.

Throughout history, mass communication and popular culture has changed due to advances in technology and the way human beings can communicate with one another which allows for empathy in every possible aspect. Many sources can be found that demonstrate how empathy has changed in humans, yet, at the same time, remained the same because everyone realizes that all creatures have one life. Originally that empathy was only between people of the same tribe, religion, or region, however technology has evolved so that any human can communicate with any other human on the planet which allows for people to feel empathetic to all humans and creatures of earth. Technological advances have shaped that empathy as well as the popular culture of societies. Culture changes because mass communication and agenda setting show the public what the popular culture is. This has changed the many industries because now, anyone can succeed as a creative if they follow popular culture and use mass communication to get well known. School is no longer needed for people to get educated on the technology that creative use because they are made for anyone to use. This has changed education because children don’t necessarily need to go to school anymore since they can now learn how to use the current technology to get a career in the creative industry. Technology is constantly changing and nobody knows where it could lead to in the future with the education system, mass communication, and popular culture, but hopefully no matter where it goes, humans continue to feel empathetic towards other, if not even more empathetic towards all creatures. 

I enjoyed watching The Empathic Civilisation, The Power of Outrospection, Changing Paradigms, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, and Craigslist Joe during class this week. All of them made me think about an aspect of my life and how I could change it for the better. They were all fantastic videos and it was important to show the class these because I think they help everyone realize what this world is like, how we can improve, and to be sympathetic towards others. First, was The Empathic Civilisation which discussed how humans feel empathetic towards each other and how that has developed over time in different ways. He talked about mirror neurons which are neurons that make us feel whatever emotion we see another person feel. If we see someone crying then we feel bad for them and get sad because our neurons mirror the emotion they are experiencing. "All humans are soft wired with mirror neurons, so that if I'm observing you, your anger, your frustration, your sense of rejection, your joy, whatever it is, I can feel what you're doing. The same neurons will light up in me as if I'm having this experience myself," (Jeremy Rifkin). I could relate to this because whenever I see anyone crying I feel sad as well because I want to make them feel better and know that they are crying from something that mad them sad. It makes me sad in the same way that they are crying. Later, Rifkin went on to explain that we feel empathetic towards others because we all realize that everyone has one life and that their life could end just as easily as ours, so we feel emotional towards everyone. This helped the class because everyone can relate to feeling bad for someone else and it helps us realize that we are all humans living our single life. Then, we watched The Power of Outrospection, where Roman Krzarnic describes stepping outside of our bodies to really feel the same emotions as others, either from mirror neurons or because we can relate to them. "We need to shift to the age of outrospection, and by outrospection I mean the idea of discovering who you are and what to do with your life by stepping outside yourself  and discovering the lives of other people and other civilizations," (Roman Krzarnic). Affective empathy is the same as mirror neurons which we saw in the last video, but cognitive empathy is where you can relate to someone which makes you feel the same emotions. It's interesting seeing the different ways that we feel empathy towards one another and I think it helps the class realize that we are all related and should be kind to everyone.

The next video we watched was a lecture by Sir Ken Robinson called Changing Paradigms. Robinson discusses how a majority of the world wants education to change in the way that it is taught. Specifically standardized testing because that is simply memorizing facts and regurgitating them on paper rather than actually learning material and being able to apply knowledge to something. He compares the growth of ADHD with standardized testing. "It seems to me, not a coincidence totally, that the instance of ADHD has risen in parallel with the growth of standardized testing," (Sir Ken Robinson). He then goes on to talk about how ADHD pills are an anaesthetic, which is unhealthy. "An aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak... an anaesthetic is when you shut your senses off and deaden yourself to what is happening. And a lot of these drugs are that," (Sir Ken Robinson). Everything about those statements is completely true and needs to be progressed. Robinson knows what he is talking about and I think that that he brought up many good points that made the students re-think about everything and question the entire education system. Which led into the last video, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce by Slavoj Zizek. Zizek lectures about cultural capitalism and how everyone plays roles rather than actually being a true, compassionate human being. "When you go to a store, probably you prefer buying organic apples. Why? Look deep into yourself. I don't think you believe that those apples, which cost double the good old genetically modified apples that we like, that they are really any better. I claim we are cynics, they are sceptics, but you know it makes you feel warm that 'I am doing something for our mother earth'," (Slavoj Zizek). I agree with Zizek in the fact that some people play a role and don't actually feel sympathetic towards something, but that they just do it to seem good. However with this example of the apple, I, respectfully, disagree because genetically modified apples are bad for human health and nature. It causes insects to die that are part of the environment and growth to apples and the GMO's in apples cause cancer in humans. Other than that, I agree with all four videos that we watched and I think they were beneficial to the everyone in class and changed some perspectives for the better.