"I Mean You No Harm..."

I've been thinking a lot about the "Presence of a Conspiracy" myth and how/why it can be viewed as harmful to certain groups of people. First of all, we talked in class about how this myth is often applied to political campaigns and politics in general. Do you see the huge problem here? If we're always being led to think that the person who is in charge of our nation(or state, or county, or whatever..) is a corrupt man/woman who isn't telling us the whole truth, then we can never truly trust them. Even when they are telling the truth, the public always has it in the back of their mind that something just isn't right--"no way could a politician be telling the truth! It's unheard of!" This is not detrimental only to politicians who must know that there will always be someone telling the public that what the politician is saying isn't true, that they're corrupt and unjust, and that they're hiding things...it also greatly harms the American public. Things can never just be plain black and white for us. We are always suspecting that we're not getting the full truth. If someone tells us one thing, in the back of our heads we immediately think that perhaps they mean just the opposite. For goodness sake, we don't even know whether or not to believe it when the media tells us someone has died--there are still people who believe Elvis is around somewhere, hanging out in a diner or something. And there are still theories going around about the big scandal with the Beatles' Sargent Pepper album and the "death" of Paul McCartney. Try it yourself. Type "conspiracy theories" into any search engine and I guarantee you'll find a ton of matches. It's absurd.

But at the same time, it's wonderfully entertaining, and isn't that one of the main purposes of media? That's why so many people are obsessed with conspiracy theories and movies or books or newspaper articles about conspiracy theories. They're entertaining. This is perhaps the main reason why the "Presence of a Conspiracy" myth has lived on for so many years. Even though it may in some way be ruining our country and corrupting our mindset, it entertains us and lets us use our minds to try and figure out who is really telling the truth.

Media Myth: Presence of a Conspiracy

Let's face it. America loves a good conspiracy theory, which is probably why this media myth is so darn popular. The guidelines for the myth are quite simple(someone, or a group of someones has a secret that could drastically change the world, and one person, usually a man, must stop this from happening,) but the ways in which the myth can be played out are endless. I have chosen to illustrate the myth with the movie "Donnie Darko." This example may be a bit abstract, but I feel as though it's a great example of the "Presence of a Conspiracy" myth.

In the film, we meet a young man named Donnie Darko. Donnie has a history of being mentally disturbed, so when we first see him encounter a "6 foot tall bunny rabbit" named Frank in the middle of the night who tells him that the world will end in 28 days, we are led to believe that this is just another of Donnie's hallucinations. However, the next morning, as he walks back home, he discovers that his house has been destroyed by a jet that crashed in his bedroom. (Still with me? I know, it's strange.) Through the course of the movie, Donnie continues to see Frank, and his encounters keep getting stranger and stranger. Frank leads him to an old woman called Grandma Death who knows a great deal about time travel, tells him to burn down the house of a child molestor, and makes him flood his school in the middle of the night. Donnie gets more and more confused as to what exactly Frank wants him to do, until finally, after the death of his girlfriend at the hands of a few evil teenager, it hits him. The world is going to end. He knows how to stop it. He must go back in time to the night the jet crashed in his bedroom, and this time, he must be hit. If this happens, the world will not have to end--he will have taken its place.

Crazy, right? But the elements are there. Frank has a secret. The secret will end the world. Donnie must be willing to sacrifice his life in order to keep the secret from happening. There are, of course, complications that keep this from being a perfect example. Frank tries to help Donnie, instead of being the "bad guy." Also, at times it seems as though other people know about this secret and are trying to help Donnie figure out his fate. However, I still think this movie fits into the conspiracy myth.

Something Unexpected

Well, I sat down just now planning to do the whole "Media Myth" blog that we're supposed to do, then realized that my notes on the matter are at school. I guess that will have to wait for now. In the meantime, I present to you...this.

Since the beginning, I've thought that the tv show Scrubs is one of the most amazing things on television. I don't watch much tv, because, lets be honest, most of it is complete crap. Scrubs is different though. It's quirky and off beat. It's absolutely hilarious, but at times can be extremely poignant and serious. It's the perfect combination of "laugh out loud" and "awww how sad" moments. The writing is perfect. Plus, how can you not adore Zach Braff? It's one of my favorite shows.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is not because I want you all to know how much I like Scrubs, but because I want to talk about Thursday's episode, which I just had the opportunity to watch. They've done it again. They've boldly gone where no sitcom(that I know of at least) has gone before. Friends, I present to you the Scrubs Musical.

Have I mentioned yet that I'm a huge musical theater nerd? No? Oh. I'M A HUGE MUSICAL THEATER NERD. I love it. I've always loved it. I always will love it. There, now you know. You can imagine my delight when I sat down to watch this episode to find that my favorite half hour show was not only going to be hilarious as usual, it was also going to be a half hour of musical pandemonium! The story focused on a woman who was hearing music in her head, though no one could figure out why. She was admitted to the hospital and as the doctors tried to diagnose her, she saw them dancing and singing their hearts out.

Who knew that it would be possible to showcase an entire Broadway-esque production in only half an hour? No, this wasn't just a few musical numbers thrown hastily together; the episode contained the classic fun opening number, showstopping act one finale, and heartwarming ending number along with the expected silly songs. It was very impressive.

I think this is why so many people are captivated by television: like most forms of media, it's a way to escape, if only for half an hour. It's also a way to connect with people. If a conversation isn't going quite as smoothly as one would wish, you could easily bring up this episode of Scrubs(or any other episode of any other show for that matter) and just like that, people are talking. It gives us something to talk about. Perhaps that's why television is so popular. Or maybe not. I guess there's really no way to know, right?

I'm sure the Scrubs Musical is on YouTube by now, or some similar site. You should probably go watch it. Now.

That is all:)

Media Ramblings

As I was looking over my notes from Friday, I started to think of the irony of semiotic domains. You see, everyone belongs to at least one, whether they choose to admit it or not. They're inescapable. No matter who you are, it seems, there's a group of people who are almost exactly like you. Even nonconformists and anarchists fit into their own semiotic domains...imagine how mad they must be to realize this. At the same time, it must be strangely comforting. Even if you are the only person you know who belongs to a certain semiotic domain, you can rest assured knowing that someone, somewhere understands you. Your language, your clothing, your beliefs and ideologies...they are shared. Interesting. Kind of.

On a completely different note, let's talk about MySpace. Do you have one? Don't lie, I know you do. We all do. And that is sad. I don't think any of us realized, when we were signing up for an account on that crazy site, that we were in a way definining our generation. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the MySpace generation. We post pictures of ourselves looking pensive, blowing kisses, posing with millions of people to show how "cool" we are. We write blogs about how much we hate life, or love life, or how much we really just don't care at all. We worry about why we aren't on that person's Top 8 when they're obviously on ours. We define ourselves purely by the clothing we wear, the music we listen to, the movies we think are entertaining. If we care about an issue, we post a banner about it on our page. It's ridiculous.

In a way, MySpace and other sites like it(Facebook, anyone?) are slowly taking over our lives. I mean, think about it. When was the last time you went a day, or even a couple of days, without checking it? If you're like me, you check it multiple times a day. Maybe not because you really care that much about it, but purely out of habit. I think it's time to break that habit. It's been fun, but things are getting just a little out of hand. It's time for us to step back from this media and do something more worthwhile with our time. Is this really what we want our generation to be remembered for? I don't.

So there you have it, my humble opinion on the matter. That is all.

Let's Go To the Movies....

My name is Amy, and I am a film geek. I'm one of those weird people who likes movies that never come to theaters in Ohio, who obsessed over foreign films, and who visits imdb.com daily to check up on the industry and whatnot. I even used to make short films with my friends in high school...they were silly and purely for fun, but I took pride in the fact that we had created something interesting(at least to us) and unique. I don't really know why I love movies so much, but since I was 3 and sobbing at the ending of E.T. I've been hooked. There's just something invigorating about sitting down in a theater(or at home) and being able to lose yourself for a few hours, totally immersed in the beauty and pain of an experience that doesn't belong to you. A really good movie can make you think about yourself and the world around you. It can make you question what you believe in(this is a good thing, I promise) and lead you to make changes in the way you behave. Or it can just make you laugh and leave the experience with a light heart and a smile. It's amazing.
I was lucky enough in high school to have a teacher who taught me to cultivate my love for film. He introduced me to independent and foreign films, and for this I am eternally grateful. He taught me that there are movies other than the big budget blockbusters that play in every major theater in the country. He taught me the beauty that comes from a really great director and script writer. My eyes were opened to something that has since influenced me majorly.
Now when I go to movies, I look for the little things the director throws in to make a movie look beautiful. As I leave the theater with friends, I rave over cinematography and editing and they look at me as though I'm slightly insane. I'm okay with it. In fact, I think a tiny part of me loves the fact that I'm the only person I know who has this crazy adoration for good filmmaking.
I feel that film is an exciting form of mass media, because there are so many ways it affects people. I look forward to exploring it more as the semester goes on. Until then, I will say goodbye.

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