In today’s society there are 4 different functions of mass
communication; surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission, and
entertainment. With mass communication no longer being straightforward or
easily definable these 4 categories are used to break down mass communication.
Correlation, surveillance, and cultural transmission are the 3 main functions and
entertainment ties all 3 main functions together. Correlation is used by the
media to help society better understand its role on a larger scale. Uggs
recently released a commercial with pro quarterback Tom Brady in hopes it will
change society’s view that Uggs are only for women. Uggs have always attracted
more women buyers even though they’ve had a men’s line for just as long. They
hope those who know who Tom Brady is will probably think that if Brady can wear
them and look cool so can the average male. What was interesting however is
that the commercial has Brady in different pairs of shoes that are “Uggs” but
the commercial never in fact shows the brand name on his shoes. How does
society know it’s not being tricked into just thinking he’s wearing Uggs when
in fact he is not and only endorsing them. This is importantly tied into
correlation because the media is hoping to change the beliefs of some society members
that possibly thing male Uggs are not cool. Surveillance is mostly journalism
stories that inform society about the events and issues occurring in the world.
ABCNews did a report on the update of the navy yard shooting and the shooter on
Thursday morning (9/19) which is also important because media is deciding which
stories are important for society and the public to know about. ABC announced to
the public that the navy yard was once again open and that the shooter (Alexis)
was undergoing psychiatric testing due to “voices” he was hearing and the
messages he left on his gun. The most intriguing part of the report was when
the reporter informs the public that although Alexis claimed to be hearing voices
and having microwaves keeping him up at night these reports were never taken up
the chain of command to be further investigated. Lastly cultural transmission
is showing the next generation or an immigrant the dominant culture and how to
fit into society. The movie Coming to
America has a great scene that demonstrates cultural transmission. The main
character, Prince Akeem has come over to America from Africa and in hopes to
try and fit in better with American society he tries talking to his boss about
football. After describing football as a “contest” with an “oblong ball made of
pig skin” and a “big H” his boss stares at him and tells him that if he wishes
to keep his job to “stay off the drugs”.
Although Akeem is trying to allow American society to change him so that
he can fit in it’s not working at all because people within American society as
still looking at him oddly. It’s interesting how through socialization he is
still not picking up on what is socially acceptable. The functions of mass
communication play a huge role in everyone’s lives whether they notice or not
and each function has its own special role to play.
This post demonstrated that you read and understood the chapter through your definitions and excellent examples. The headline of the blog post, though very explanatory, did not flow well as a descriptive sentence. Instead of the semi colons and two different series of examples, consider rephrasing to simplify the grammar and wordiness of the sentence. The rest of the structure of the piece is very good, with an opener, description of each different type of media function, and then examples. I would, however, consider starting a new paragraph for each different media function to organize the piece a little bit better. Also, the post would have made more sense if each link for the example came right after the paragraph explaining the media function rather than putting all three links at the end. The main points of the piece were easily understood as the explanations of surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission, and entertainment and how those are demonstrated through mass media. I would, however, add more description and explanation of each media function as well as some more vocabulary from chapter one. For example, the definition for surveillance could have been elaborated and the term agenda setting should have been used in your discussion. Besides some more terminology, I do not think you need to add any more links because your examples and videos were very good. Be sure to look out for grammar errors and wordiness in future posts!
ReplyDelete