All in the Family vs. Everybody loves raymond

       Before thursday, i had never seen an episode of All in the Family. However, even though it was an older show i could see why it caused so much buzz at the time it was airing. It was a show that introduced social realism and stirred up controversy. At the time one of the very first episodes of All in the Family contained a sexual theme way too advanced and it displayed things that were never displayed before on television. Now comedy sitcoms such as Everybody loves Raymond contain an excess amount of Sexual content and focuses on social issues including race, religion, and more as well but in a very less subtle manner. It has become part of what we watch today and what was controversy before is simply entertainment now.
      In the All in the Family episode we watched in the screening we saw a the protagonist, Archie, poke fun at his son in laws friend making comments that he was a "fairy" and a "queen" because of the way he acted. It is obvious that Archie is disturbed by this and it hit home to a lot of people at that time because a lot of people felt the same way but this tv show was actually portraying what some people at home were thinking. In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymondwe see a clip where they deal with race. The father who in similarities to Archie pokes fun at his sons new relationship with African Americans and makes it clear that he is also not comfortable with the situation.
      However, in the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond we get the feeling that it is not as big of a deal as it would be around the time of All in the Family. The father comes to realize that it is something he can deal with but the show is a lot more entertaining than offensive to anyone. That is where All in the Family differs. The show introduced big social issues like race and sexuality so many found it offensive at the time. Everybody loves Raymond has grown on people and the social issues are not as controversial now then they were back then.

Radio regulation in 1920's

      Although it was intentionally formed for advertising, it set the stage for one of the biggest innovations in communication. Beginning in the "roaring 20's," the invention of the radio was widely popular. With the popularity came the need for regulation for such a highly demanded product. in this blog i will analyze the effects regulation had on paving the way for radio history.
      Regulations in the radio industry help make radio easily accessible to every person that wants to enjoy it. When the radio was at its first stage of consumption, there was so much demand for it that frequencies needed to be regulated in order for the product to even work at all. Radio frequencies would interfere with other broadcasts and Herbert Hoover then was given authority in 1912 to allocate frequencies so the radio industry would be able to prosper. This helped the radio industry put a stop to stations interfering with each others broadcasts and to limit the number of stations to a small enough number to gain profit.
      The Radio Act of 1927 is an example of a government regulation that aided in solving the problem of broadcasting stations using the same frequency and the more powerful ones drowning out less powerful ones. Another example of government regulation that shaped radio was the Federal communications commission that stated anyone who wanted to broadcast on the radio would have to obtain a license from the FCC. This made a limited amount of broadcasts available instead of having everyone trying to broadcast all at the same time. Regulations helped shape the radio industry it is significant because without rules radio would not be as controlled as it is now.

Cultivation theory

        Many people still believe advertising does not affect them as much or in any way at all. We are so naive. The fact is advertising as subtle as it may be, changes the way society acts and thinks about certain subjects. This blog will examine the cultivation theory and how it helps me understand the concepts of stereotypes and gender differences in the media.
        Before watching Killing Me Softly i hadnt fully thought about or analyzed commercials or advertisements as closely as they did in the movie. It was eye opening to see how repetitive images of beauty can be for women. It instills an idea in all women that say certain measurements or sizes of body parts equal beauty. Cultivation theory is a step above social learning because were past the point of just imitation and reaached the point where ads have taken over and over time we have grown up thinking that a size zero is the only size of beauty.
        In Kiling me softly we saw images in the media that focus primarily on looks. There was one part that caught my attention the most. When the narrator talked about photoshopping she pointed out one instance that a company named Mirabella used photoshop to put different parts of a women together in order to make the "ideal" or perfect woman. How sad is it to see that for them there wasnt a woman out there "beautiful" enough to put on the front of their ad that they had to actually create her. It creates this image that is literally impossible unless surgery was involved. Throughout time these images have evolved and are now apart of our lives. More and more we see women who become even clinically depressed if they do not look a certain way and they are increasingly unhappy with their body. Plastic surgery has increased dramatically as women are asking for the nose of the breasts of their dream because they believe that will bring them true beauty when it will ultimately make them even more insecure with themselves. Our society through print ads or commercials or internet has lead us to believe that we can not look perfect and "we are not trying hard enough if we dont." The cultivation theory states that the reality is that we will never be what the ideal woman looks like. In order for us to be beautiful there is something in everyone that needs to be changed. That is what we are lead to believe but in fact we are all unique and that is what makes us truly beautiful.

Hegemony in Society

   This post is not intended to offend anyone but it is only observing the concept of hegemony in the dominant religion of christianity in society. Since as early on as the 1st century christianity has been a major influence on the world. It is an understanding of how we got here, who brought us here and why were on this earth. Not going back too far an example of its dominance is looking on the list of presidents we have had and their choice in religion. Some if not most have been christian and their views on religion sometimes impact their decisions for the country and in their speeches we see in the media we get a sense of their views and it pushed us towards their religion subliminally sometimes.
   I was looking at a commercial earlier on youtube that caught my attention. It was actually pretty funny but the message could not have been more serious. It is a parody of the apple vs. pc commercials that intend to make mac seem like the better computer. This one is called christian vs. atheist and it announces the ideals in which we grew up that were related to christianity. It shows us that a lot of things are related to the devil and it in fact makes us feel guilty about what we do in our everyday lives pushing us all ultimately into the christian religion. The framing you see in the commercial gives you the feeling that any other religion is inferior to christianity or the "mac" in this case. At first you get a taste of what is bad about being an atheist and what you shouldnt follow and the audience now looks at atheism in a different way almost making you feel bad if you are one. Then they joke around about the differences but strikingly similarities in the beliefs in atheism and christianity. Even though they are trying their hardest to make them look equal it is quite clear that religion of christianity is the dominant "winner" because thats how we have always seen it to be.
    The framing and agenda setting in the commercial makes you want to rethink the religion you follow and it controls your opinion and sometimes even makes it for you. People are so easily influenced by the media whether they believe it or not. even when you turn on radio there are more channels that express christian views than any other type of religion. 


By the way i am a christian and these commercials are really funny there are more than this one..

First RTF 305 blog!!!

When i went into advertising i was leaning towards the texas media part of it. I didnt think i would ever get into rtf because it didnt seem like something i was interested in until i realized how big of an importance media is on society. I hope to learn media techniques that will help in my degree for advertising. I am unsure as to what else i will learn in this course so for the most part i am excited to find out soon. I included a blog i read recently above that i believe will interest all iphone users!
http://technorati.com/blogs/gigaom.com