chapter 33

Hot Media: starved rock photo

Cool Media:
charlie brown


"What is going on in our minds has always been, and will always be, a product of society."
I'm not sure how I feel about this statement, though I know we've discussed it in class before. I just feel that we truly do still develop some of our own thoughts. Perhaps it really is all influenced by society in some distant way but that is the same as to say we're all "distantly related" or something.

It goes on to say that we do not completely control the contents of our minds. This, I agree with because we could never completely control our minds. There is of course a great amount of influence from our surroundings and past. However, I can't believe our entire mind is a product of society.


The notion people carry that their minds cannot be broken into by media is of course ridiculous, that's exactly what advertisement does; and it works!

chapter 26

The most interesting thing I found in this reading is that consumption is now a source of pleasure. This is an interesting take that I believe to be very true.

chapter 24

It's interesting that they compare Miss America to a goddess because when I first read this, I compared her to a provocateur. It's not that the Miss America women aren't real, but it's a naturally unattainable beauty. The amount of make up they wear and dieting they do is ridiculous. Also, they say Miss America does charity work and things as her "duties" after she is chosen. However, how often do we actually see what they do post competition? It says her duty is actually to function as an "icon for the American culture." However, is this really what most American's look like? Most Americans are not tall, skinny and flawlessly beautiful. Though, the reading does say that the cause used to be that Miss America was indeed an honor to be proud of and young girls did strive to be like this role model, unlike some of society's rather different role model women of today who are not as classy.

chapter 22

We as humans use symbolic terms to understand things we couldn’t necessarily comprehend without a representation through another form. There are three types of signs we use. One is an icon which is a resemblance, another is an index which is a casual connection we may make, and the last is a symbol which is a convention. We have to give symbols meaning and teach others and our society what they mean before they will work to communicate.

Icon: we recognize this as obama-resembles him 

Index: weather icons mean types of weather to us (this may be more of an icon)

Symbol: red cross-symbolizes safety, help, first aid, etc.

chapter 21

The most interesting part of chapter 21 to me, was the quote: “seemingly common matters, as William James reminds us, have important meaning for the religious mind.” This says a lot because when it talks about how before the days where we could or at least tried to explain everything, anything we did not understand was connected to God. Religion was the explanation that didn’t need explanation. This is probably why I’m atheist, because I have something in my genes that just wants an explanation for everything, I can’t help it. It’s interesting to think about because people still use symbols to connect them to a divine being, but it says that for people like me symbols are still important. This seemed obvious to me when I read it, however, I didn’t think of them as being important because they connect to an “unconscious part of my psyche.” I actually first thought of symbols being important to me for the use of communication on a broad level including advertising and even things like facebook. The idea of there being hidden meanings common things is interesting because we previously discussed how the things may only have meaning by the meanings we assign to them or associate with them. This could cause many common things to have a very different meaning for each individual person. I believe this is true. I somewhat think that Freud and others underestimate our ability to recognize the unconscious significance of our actions. I think now, I at least often over analyze what I do and say and what others do and say and what it might mean aside from the obvious meaning. I do agree though, that everything we do and common things we see everywhere are “loaded with symbolic significance.”


when you can't decide what to do...flip a coin. not because of where it will land, but because in that brief moment when it's in the air you realize what you're really wising for.
-manifest vs. latent functions of something

chapter 14

Dating all the way back to Aristotle, writers have agreed that in narrative, sequence is of great importance. In this case a narrative responds to the question “and then what happened?” The fully formed narrative has six common elements which are:

1.      Abstract- summary of the substance

2.      Orientation- time, place, context

3.      Complicating action- the sequence of events

4.      Evaluation- meaning of the action

5.      Resolution- what happens in the end

6.      Coda- returns perspective to present

Riessman says that our conversations are narratives or stories. She states that not all conversations are stories because some may be debates or statements but in most personal type of conversation there are stories brought into play. Bakhtin said that conversation involved thinking about past, present and future dialogue and now Reissman says there are these six additional steps involved as well. This shows even more so how language is a game and there are many rules and factors and strategies connected.

In our Terry Tate commercial:

1.      Abstract- the new Reebok program at Feltcher & Sons

2.      Orientation- typical day at the office after much progress has already been made with Terry Tate being at the business

3.      Complicating action- the program was established, Terry Tate enforced rules and productivity increased at the office

4.      Evaluation- by bringing a sports/athletic attitude into the workplace people can develop skills of determination and teamwork

5.      Resolution- the boss just loves Terry Tate and highly supports Reebok’s plan

6.      Coda- Reebok supports a team-player, strong and determined attitude at all times, even at work, not just while playing a sport

chapter 13

Dialogism is, in Bakhtin’s theory, an over simplification but it’s relatively true. It infers that dialogue is communication. Dialogue is when we mean the two-way aspect of communication. When we think of a conversation between people, what was said, is said and will be said all come into play. We must take into consideration beliefs, surrounding situation and the means by which we’re having this conversation. All of these elements were discussed by other theories in previous chapters.
Bakhtin also talks about a theory called intertextuality which is the notion that almost all “text” being produced currently ties into or has a relationship with others previously created. Sometimes we’re not as aware of what previous works are influencing our current works be it in terms of style or content. However, it can also be intentional to include intertextuality.

My group’s ad (Terry Tate Office Linebacker) includes a lot of dialogue especially between Terry Tate and the employees of Feltcher & Sons. It also includes a little intertextuality with phrases such as “when it’s game time, it’s pain time” and when the boss says “outside the box thinking.”