Latinos in Films:A Guide to the Cultivation Theory

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My Theory: Hispanic Males As...

BIG BANG THEORY--Cultivation Theory??

So while watching one of my favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory, I never realized how scripted and planned it was so that the cast had their specific roles based on their gender.

1. The main characters include: Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Penny. Penny is the only female and she works as a waitress at a local restaurant. The four males are all students and also doctors/scientists because they have such a high degree. They're all  Caucasian (except for Raj-he's Indian), in their 20s, and living a pretty good life.

2. There was no violence used in this episode.

3. This definitely fit into Gerbner's Cultivation Theory. One proof of evidence that shows how the roles of men and women are portrayed in society is on page two when Gerbner says, "No one is born a minority. Minorities are trained to act like minorites..." That just goes to show how minorities, in this case women, are basically trained throughout their lives to act like a women should according to society and the media. Penny plays a waitress who doesn't really care much for her education while the guys are all doctors and scientist and very smart. I never realized it before, but after watching it while keeping the Cultivation Theory in mind I was surprised at how true it ended up being.

HARRY POTTER...Successful Franchise?

As you all know, Harry Potter started of as a series of books and eventually became extremely popular with its eight action-packed movies. So was this movie a successful franchise? ...YES!

According to this website, just the box office profits alone were sky-rocketing with a $2,390,073,877 gross in the U.S. The worldwide gross was more tremendous at $7,708,805,984. The safe plot for this movie was definitely an advantage because it was based off a best selling book series by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter has set the bar high when it comes to being a successful franchise and also with the way that marketing is being done. In the article "Peer Pressure? How About, Like, Fighting to Death" by Pamela Paul, she mentions how Harry Potter succeeded in getting the right audience's attention. "...Succeeded as perhaps the first middle-grade novel to bring in adults to both the reading experience and the movie theater. As Harry and his Hogwarts friends made their way into the upper grades, the stories themselves became darker and more sophisticated-- decidedly young adult."

There were many ways of marketing for this movie. One was obviously the releasing of trailers both on television and online. Check out the link below to watch one of the epic trailers that was made for the last part of the movie. The picture above is one of the many posters that was made for marketing purposes. Another marketing strategy that was used was showing the trailers on TV, showing all that was necessary while at the same time leaving out all the crazy important stuff of the movie that tends to leave people hanging and in suspense. In the article, "How 'Hunger Games' Built Up Must See Fever" by Brooks Barnes, by not showing all of the good action parts of the movie in the trailer it'll persuade people to want to buy a ticket if they want to see what happens next. They definitely did not give everything away.

Ancillary profits!! Boy oh boy, were there many extras from this movie. From toys, to games, to theme parks (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida) this franchise has made a huge amount of money and the fans are enjoying every bit of it!

And of course the stars of the movie made the whole movie franchise even more fun, relateable, and memorable for the audience. Harry Potter, the main character, is the hero of all the movies. Hermione and Ron are the sidekicks throughout this journey. It's been that way since the beginning, but towards the end of the series the relationships between the trio definitely change for the better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYt1qirBWg

Digital Nation!!!!! We're the "Tech Babies"!

After watching the documentary Digital Nation and reading several articles on technology and how much of an impact it has had in the lives of younger generations like my own, I realized that too much technology can possibly be bad for your brain and just your health in general. Many people are researching the positive and negative effects it can have on the human mind and body. The two main points that are talked about here are the effects technology can have in our everyday lives, and how technology is changing the relationships we have with others.

In the article "No Cellphone Vacation", I read that more and more hotels, resorts, and travel companies are offering certain packages that allows travelers to be away from their digital devices. Several aspects that they focus on are the amenities offered to the travelers like having kayak lessons, spa treatments, and other form of  therapy-like sessions. I personally like the idea of having a no cellphone vacation. As difficult as it may seem to unplug ourselves from the everyday dependence of technology, clearing our minds from the digital media that we always find ourselves using can be refreshing and healthy!  :) In the documentary Digital Nation, the idea of living in a fast paced world is talked about. Sure, technology can have its advantages like it allows us to communicate and receive things faster than normal, but it seems that we still are oblivious to our surroundings. A woman described her family as being "all in the same house, but all in different worlds." I find that very sad because it can relate to many families in that all the use of technology is becoming more of a distraction and an addiction than ever before. Many relationships have changed for the better and for the worse because of it.

The topic of relationships was also discussed in both the article and documentary. The documentary has said that many relationships from the virtual world have blossomed into relationships in real life. It may be useful for distant relationships and it supposedly could save money as well. However, there could also be many cons to letting digital media take over our relationships. One such is technology becoming an addiction. Some families can't even talk to their other family members because they're so attached to the internet/technology. In "No Cellphone Vacation" a man by the name of John Peters was interviewed about his addiction to his phone, and he said that being on the kind of vacation that he was really helped him open his eyes about how his much his actions are affecting his relationship with his wife and daughter. His daughter is four years old and she had asked him while on vacation where is phone was. Mr. Peters was surprised and a bit sad when his four year old daughter asked him that question. It made him realize that even young kids can see a difference in someone when that person is addicted to using something all the time. And when that person isn't using whatever it is that they're addicted to, the other person will just ask about it because now it is normal to them, and they've become somewhat desensitized by it. For some of us, having technology/digital media in the middle of our relationships can actually enhance them, and unfortunately for others of us it can really make things worse.

There is no doubt that technology has had a huge impact in our everyday lives. Digital Nation and other articles have said the pros and cons of using it and also made the reader/watcher think of the question "How much is too much?" I think we can definitely benefit from the use of technology in the future and learn from it. However, I also think that we may need to learn self-control again when it comes to using digital devices that can interrupt our everyday activities. It's up to us, the younger generations, to see how far we'll allow technology to rule our lives.

Personal Media Profile

Throughout the week while I keeping track of my media intake, I was surprised at some of the habits I had. Before we recorded all of our media intake, I thought I wasn't going to have so many hours written down, but in the end I kind of did! I knew that the music and radio category would fill up fast, and that the reading and writing would probably have the least. This assignment showed me that media (especially music) is like an addiction for me in that I always find myself around it, using it, and craving it.

The chart clearly showed that the radio and music category had the most hours. Music is one of my passions and is a very big part of my life. Whether it is classical, indie rock, R&B, salsa, or hip-hop I always tend to find myself surrounded by music. I listen to the radio to and from school and pretty whenever I drive somewhere. I also listen to music at school during guitar class and band. Even when I am at my house the radio, the iPod, the CD’s, the cassette tape (Haha!), or Pandora is always playing music. Every day I try to listen to a different genre of music so that I can expand my musical horizons and appreciate all kinds of music. One thing that I am guilty of is leaving the radio on all night while I’m asleep. I love to sleep to music and wake up to it, but I know there’s probably a better way of saving energy rather than just wasting electricity when I’m not even awake. This assignment made me realize how much of an impact music and the music industry has on my life.

Two of the categories I had the least amount of hours in were reading and writing. I feel like as time goes on, reading and writing aren’t being done as much especially with all of the new technology in the world that sometimes does the work for us. Sure I may read an article about the world falling for American media or read about the cover girl of Teen Vogue’s latest issue, but other than that I’ve never really taken the time to read an actual book. I was able to read more than two books last semester in my Critical Reading class, which for me was impressive. Along with that I’ve noticed that I don’t write as much anymore as I used to. I used to write a lot whether it was writing in a journal everyday or writing a letter to my friend. Now the only writing I do is for homework. I was shocked to find out that I spent more hours on Facebook than I did on reading and writing. I hope that I never become addicted to using the Internet for everything I do. Although I don’t do these things as much anymore, I still enjoy writing letters and mailing them, reading the newspaper, and going to the library to check out an actual hard copy of a book that I want to read.

The last two categories that I wasn’t consuming much of either were television and movies. Throughout the week I’m usually too busy with homework, school activities, and other stuff to even turn the TV on. I never watch TV unless I’m really bored and have nothing else to do. When watching movies though, I tend to prefer watching romances and comedies. The same goes for TV show preferences, and that is a habit that I’ve noticed. It seems like as I get older I get pickier on what I would like to watch and sometimes that just leads to me not watching anything at all. Another habit I’ve noticed when I actually do watch TV is that I always watch the news when I wake up and get ready for school. I like to watch the news because it keeps me informed on what is happening not only in our country but in the rest of the world.

Those are all of the habits that I’ve noticed when doing this media diet. Now that I know approximately how much time I spend using, watching, and listening to the media, I'm definitely going to be more cautious now of what I do and how much time I spend on it. I'll admit that a lot of what I did was unnecessary (like watching Kourtney and Kim Take New York! That's my guilty pleasure!) and that I could've done something more productive like read the newspaper and find out what is going on around me. I'm definitely going to keep this in mind now whenever I do something that involves the media.

Where I'm From.

I fixed my link, hopefully it works now......

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BLTEA/My-Presentation-1