MDIA 101 Final two essays.

Essay #1 Video - Essay 1

Commoditisation is “the process of producing something predominantly in terms of its exchangeability” (Schirato). An example of this is taking an ‘inalien’ idea, like childhood or freedom, to then use them to sell or advertise a product. This is shown in the ‘Air New Zealand’ advertisement featuring the young female (Air New Zealand – November 9, 2009).

This advert draws on categories of childhood, freedom and peace, all previously ‘inalien’ categories that Air New Zealand has used to promote their company. ‘Inalien’ is defined by Schirato as something that is “intrinsic to the community and not subject to the market” (Schirato). However, the ad depicts a young pacific island or Maori female standing on a picturesque beach holding a stick bearing the colours of Air New Zealand as free flowing ribbons. She is then seen traveling through parts of the world, things which are part of the ‘inalien’ categories of childhood, peace and national identity.

Throughout the advert Air New Zealand is using the female to represent an aircraft which is traveling all around the globe visiting sharing New Zealand culture with the places she visits, For example the Hongi with the little boy as well as teaching the dance to the children. By showing this in the advert Air New Zealand is selling us the idea of childhood to advertise the company which displays the use of ‘commoditisation’. National Identity is also sold to us when the ‘perfect’ image of New Zealand is represented, for example when the cameras pans over a green lush waterfall, or while the girl is running through the forest. The music playing in the background, Pokarekare Ana is also advertising national identity as it is a song written in Maori, the native language of New Zealand.

By showing her running through a built up area in bare feet, the advert also draws on ‘freedom’, as it displays the girl as a ‘free spirit’ with a ‘carefree’ attitude. Towards the end when the voice over announces that “No matter what part of the world we see, the world sees a part of New Zealand” indicates that Air New Zealand is also using national identity to advertise their company. Both of these once again are indications of a company using ‘Inalien’ categories to sell their company to us (Air New Zealand – November 9, 2009).

By doing showing these things in their advert Air New Zealand has displayed the use of commoditisation in the advert, as they have advertised ‘national identity’ by appealing to New Zealanders, they have advertised ‘childhood’ by showing a young pacific island female as a representation of an  Aircraft. She is also shown as a representation of an aircraft while running through the built up cities.

What this advert shows us is ‘commoditisation’ a company has used the ‘inalien’ categories of childhood, freedom and national identity to promote their company. This is shown in many ways throughout the advert, the images portraying the young Maori female, the music and the voice overs.

Works Cited

Air New Zealand Advert. YouTube. Web Video. November 9, 2007. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INBbO7Ch7xo&feature=player_embedded>

Schirato, Tony. Understanding Sports Culture. Los Angeles: Sage, 2007.

Essay #2 Essay #2 - Video

  

The recent royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton exhibits many examples of subjectivity in relation to the nation state. New Zealand also holds some qualities of a nation state, through the use of enforcing laws to the entire nation. It also conforms to the Monarch state by having a governor general.

Subjectivity is “how humans are made subjects in relation to culture, place and power, subjectivity … relies on the forms of discipline, validation and authorisation in the specific cultural fields to which the subject belongs” (Schirato, Buettner and Jutel). Subjectivity is produced by the nation state in many ways, for instance creating laws. The laws set by the governing body of New Zealand are a prime example of how people are created as subjects by the ‘nation state’. If a person breaks the law they are likely to be disciplined. These laws are set to provide the ‘subjects’ a better style of life and for those people to live in safety.

Culture also can define a person as a subject, for culture to do this, the subject must identify with that culture. For instance, a subject of the monarch has to identify themselves with the monarchy in the country they reside. A recent example of this was the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. This wedding was billed to use a romantic story between a royal individual and a ‘commoner’ which is a modern subjectivity. While most were not allowed to attend the actual ceremony, an honour reserved for celebrities and foreign dignitaries, thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the pair and millions more watched around the world (The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton – April 29, 2011).

But throughout this happy event and during the lead up, there is evidence that the nation state has control of the overall event. Only inviting a select few, a high security presence as well as barriers to stop the crowds from causing a scene, this evidence proves that even though the UK has a democratically elected government it is still under the power of the monarchy and still is still party to a nation state (The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton – April 29, 2011).

New Zealand’s use of a governor general who is the personal representative of the head of state, Queen Elizabeth the Second (Govt.nz), is an example of a country being subject to a nation state, in this case, the monarchy. The role of the governor general is to represent the Queen in a nation where the “government rules but the sovereign reigns” (The Governor-General).

Subjectivity is produced by the nation state in many ways, for example the Royal wedding displayed many of these forms of production, with the millions of people who watched the wedding, but the select few celebrities and foreign dignitaries who actually attended the royal ceremony. The evidence that New Zealand is a subject of the nation state is the laws set by its government, as well as the Governor-General who represents the head of State.

Works Cited

Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books, 2006.

Govt.nz. Nau Mai, Haere Mai. Welcome to the website of the Governor-General of New Zealand. 1 January 2011. 1st June 2011 <http://www.gg.govt.nz/>.

Schirato, Tony, et al. Understanding Media Studies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Governor-General. The Role of the Governor-General. 1 January 2011. 1 June 2011 <http://www.gg.govt.nz/role>.

The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. YouTube. Web Video. April 29, 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/user/theroyalchannel#p/u/15/schQZY3QjCw>

A Dowloaders Tale.

A Downloaders Tale.

As i will explain in an overzelous, highly opinionated, one sided, fan obseesionistic way, there is a good reason for downloading. Well that is the message i hope to portray. There are a few different reasons for downloading, release dates, money issuses and a general disregard for the effort and money that has been put into the creation of the thing downlaoded.

The New Zealand release dates for many of my favorite Television shows is the main reason i download. Take for Example, Chuck, The release date of each new episode, is many months after it has screened in the US. Due to this long wait many resort to downloading or watching it via the internet. A more appropriate example may be the recent series of Doctor Who, due to be screened here on the 7th of may,even though the first episode screened in the England on the 23rd of April. Although this may seem like a relativley short wait when compared to the wait for "Chuck" with the acsess to mass media via the internet, due to things like Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia (hell even having friends overseas) makes avoiding spoilers for the shows very difficult. (Doctor Who was A Twitter Trend in the days leading up to its Airing) While the argument could be that i simply avoid it, that is something much easier said than done.

For Example, My facebook news feed and friends list contains friends from New Zealand and many other countires around the world, with practically all of these screening Doctor Who before New Zealand and due to the nature of the internet these days, many of these people began to post updates giving away the most of the plot details, to be honest I have no idea. What this is similar to is going into an test with the answers given to you. It removes the vital aspect of the show, the enjoyment factor (I am in no way saying tests are enjoyable). Even though I download the episodes, I will still follow up and buy them when they are released on DVD after which i delete the downloaded files from my computer.

Downloading TV shows and movies is quite differnet. While TV shows often are screened on free-tp-air channels (I .e Doctor Who on the BBC in England) you will usually have to pay to see a movie, meaning every time a movie is illegially downloaded, money is being lost (This happens to TV shows when people don't buy the DVD sets upon release). Due to the technological advances it has become far easier to simply go to the movies, record it and then distribute it via the internet. With the most popular generating thousands upon thousands of downloads (Fast Five, Source Code). This way however, is very sloppy, with the quality of these downloads being very low, although this does little to deter people. In countires in America and England, where the montly internet caps are a lot higher then New Zealand (200gb or unlimited plans, oppose to 60gb) internet piracy is a worse problem, I know people who claim to have stacks of hard drives full of movies, music and television shows.

While i admit to downloading movies in the past, In recent times I have taken up paying to go to the movies (Thank you Student ID Card). Not only do I find this far more enjoyable than simply downloading and watching on my TV, it is giving back to the companies that produced them allowing for more movies to be produced, developed and made. However, there still are movies which I do but upon release I will still pay to see (if it's good), for example, I have followed the movie 'Paul' through it's various stages of development.I am unsure of the exact date of release in England, but in the days following, there had been a low quality version posted to one of the most popular torrent website (Not named for my own reasons), i obtained this copy, but only because the release date for New Zealand, had not been confirmed (With some of my favorite movies never getting a release in New Zealand, i felt the need). I watched, and in deed, was suitably impressed by the movie, i like ever aspect of it, casting, production, setting, story line and the way it was written. But what this did not give me was the experiance of going to the movies to watch it. Once the release date for 'Paul' was announced, i made plans to go and watch it. after which i deleted the horrible quality 'Cam version'. I will also follow up this by buying the DVD when it is released.

While i do donwload my favorite TV shows, i will also buy the Box set's upon release and even though I download movies, I will follow it up buy usually going to see them in the movies and eventually buying the DVD. I think downloadig becomes a problem when these things do not take place.




Authors added bit.
I would like to follow thing up by breifly touching on downloading music. I reccomend downloading music, but only if it is mainstream, i reccomened illegially downloading Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Katy Perry and Kanye West, but only to have the satisfaction of deleteing them.

 Authors Notes,
I got reall bored waiting for a lecture and decided to formulate an opinion on something, i came to the conclusion that Downloading, whcih has features heavily in the news would be a good focus for it. I do't expect many, or any to agree with me, as it may come across as just an Opinion and nothing more. It is not really academic, however it is written in such a way, if i get more time, i may come back and reference it to provide proof for that i mean. Although a lot is factuall as it is, i felt i didnt need a reference because it was from my own personal knowledge.