All in the Family Guy

There have been countless family-based television comedies throughout the decades of the technological innovation. Almost all of them consist of similar aspects in which make them a family show, such as personal conflicts amongst the households members or just the average domestic hardships that the average person can relate to. This is indeed what makes this type of program popular. In 'All in the Family' Archie and his family dealt with many situations that are still relevant today, but it also contained more specific issues that were important when it originally aired on CBS in the 70's. For instance, in the episode from the screening two weeks ago, the characters dealt with the issue of sexual orientation. Even though this can still be considered an issue today, the subject was far more sensitive thirty years ago. Another issue, shows from that era dealt with was racial stereotypes, this too isn't that concerning of an issue.

Almost twenty years later we have another type of family comedy. Seth MacFarlane pitched his animated family sitcom to Fox and it began airing in the end of the 90's. 'Family Guy' was similar to All in the Family, in that it usually involves the father character (Archie and Peter Griffin) learning something new or understanding a misconception. The Griffin family is also like the Bunker family in that they both are average American families who sometimes disagree but in the end always have each other. Although the two may have some similarities, there are far more differences between the shows. One is that Family Guy doesn't always necessarily have a moral to every episode, sometimes they are just humor-filled. Also, when Family Guy does deal with issue of today, it often does so in a satirical manner. The major difference between the two is that television shows can get away with much more than they could in the past. Censorship isn't as harsh and shows now take more risks when it comes to violence, humor, and controverisal topics. Family Guy is a perfect example, because after three successful seasons Fox cancelled the program in 2001 thinking it's adult humor wasn't doing good enough to stay on the network. It eventually picked it back up in 2005, and is now one of the highest rated shows on television. This just goes to show that television shows, including family comedies, have evolved to be suited for the time period and what may have been relevant or offensive in the 70's isn't in modern times.

The Radio

It all started over a century ago when the italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi developed the radio transmitter in 1896. Ever since then the radio industry has evolved and impacted the world in many different ways from alerting the world of the Titanic tragedy of 1912 to redefining the music industry. The radio brought the household together long before the television arrived, and has adapted to accommodate the arising technologies it has had to compete with. It's biggest revolution however, was the rise of FM radio.

FM radio allowed several audiences to be addressed at once. Prior to the radio, it was impossible for information to be broadcasted instantly, or arguably more important for one to be able to listen to the radio while doing something else. Men could listen in on the news on their ways to work and the women at home could tune into the shows they enjoy, both without having to stop whatever it is they were busy with. This was not even concievable before the radio, but Marconi and David Sarnoff's visions shaped Mainstream America to make the impossible... possible.
Radio got to the point where it was almost in every household, but then another technological revolution occured, the television. Coincidentally, radio always found a way to keep it's flare. Around the same time television became big, the era of DJs and music on the radio began. Even today, with computers and i-Pods making music so much more personal to the individual, Satellite radio became very popular, offering hundreds of stations that allowed the individual to select very specific stations that played one particular genre/type of music. The internet Pandora, seems to be offering radio a threat now, but radio has survived a lot of change thus far... I'm sure it will be around for a while.

Social Learning Theory

The social learning theory is directly related to the uses and gratifications theory. The uses and gratifications theory states that users (people) seek out media to satisfy their needs, whether it that is to learn something new, be socially engaged, or just to be distracted from their daily lives. Instead of focusing on satisfying needs, the social learning theory suggests that how we react towards somthing in the media will directly determine how we behave when something of similar contents arises. If you like a movie you see with a particular actor, when their next movie comes out there is a chance that the first movie watched will influence your decision to see the next. The theory also discusses expectations we have of the media. If you watched that movie with the same actor and it ends with a nice conclusion that makes you feel good, you may expect the same outcome from their next movie, or if a movie is of the same genre as one you have seen much of in the past it is very common to expect a cliche ending.
One film star I find that well suits the social learning theory is Will Smith. He started out as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air but then soon broke into the movie industry with Independence Day in 1996. The movie grossed over 300 million dollars, and ever since then Smith has become a global superstar. He easily can be applied to the theory because every since that debut film was both a great success at the box-office and applauded by the critics every film he has been in has either been a box-office hit (100 million) or a critical success, if not both. When people see that a Will Smith movie is coming out they expect great things. Whether it an action movie, a comedy, or a drama every Will Smith film because a success one way or another and that is very rare.

You can view his filmography and box-office totals here:
http://boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=willsmith.htm

Hegemony

The concept of hegemony refers to the dominance of one group over everything else of the same nature. This group could be political, economical, or even cultural, but regardless of which the group clearly proves that it is superior among the rest and can manipulate it's consumers how it pleases. There are many relevant examples of such corporations in society today like McDonald's or Starbucks, but the most obvious example I can think of is the Apple Corporation.

In this day and age of technology, the usage of computers has become very essential to a high majority of the country. Many different companies such as Dell, Hp, and IBM were the forefront of this advancement for many years. Now in the 21st century, it's more than safe to say Apple has taken over, not only with computers and laptops but also in the music industry. Millions of people own MacBooks, I-Phones, and Ipods, (if not all of them) and no matter how much Apple decides to charge for their products, the consumers of America will be right there to back them up with their cash. Their sales keep rising and this past quarter they have finally surpassed Microsoft. Signs only suggest their profits will continue to substantially increase.

http://mobile.downloadatoz.com/article,report-apple-surpass-microsoft-in-quarterly-sales.html

1st Post

Why am I taking RTF 305? Well... the same reason I'm transferring from theatre to film. Film is my passion; it is what I wish to do for the rest of my life. Introduction to Media Studies is required so obviously I'm taking it but other than that I believe this class will be very interesting and a nice step towards hopefully my future career. What do I hope to learn from this class? I really want to understand how important, essential even, media is in the world today. I look forward to learning more about the various styles of media and specifically how the film industry impacts the world, both in the economy and in people.

Here is a link to my Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/marshallcopous It has some videos I made during high school. Enjoy.. hopefully!