Thanksgiving

Besides the fact that there was turkey and stuffing, Thanksgiving just didn't feel like Thanksgiving this year. About a week ago I stopped at the Willowbrook mall for a birthday gift and was shocked to see Santa already set up and waiting for families to arrive to take their pictures with him. My friend argued that Santa always arrived a week before Thanksgiving but it didn't seem right that stores were playing their commercial free christmas music courtesy of 106.7 so early in the holiday season.

Thanksgiving Day I slept through most of the morning festivities of cooking and watching the parade, and to be honest if I hadn't woken up to the distinct smell of a Thanksgiving dinner I probably wouldn't of given it a second thought. For some reason this year we have completely skipped over giving thanks and straight to giving gifts. The only type of media coverage I seemed to notice were the "one day only" sale alerts flashing on my laptop or on TV reminding me that Black Friday was on its way.

If i could guess I would say that its safe to assume that the state of the economy is to blame for the rush of gift-getting. Any sort of bargain seems like an outstanding deal to somebody wondering how they're going to afford gifts for their entire list of relatives during this recession. It seems like every year society becomes more obsessed with the idea of "Black Friday" and the "Day After Thanksgiving" sales but this year it seemed the response was outstanding. It just seems wrong that Thanksgiving was completely bypassed. A holiday with such meaning as this one deserves way more recognition then it received this year.

Marshall McLuhan

"The medium is the message." - a statement by Marshal McLuhan implying that the way the specific channel of communication determines its importance; That the impact of a particular message is affected by the medium it is sent through.  Take into consideration the Kennedy/Nixon debate we've talked about in class.  While television viewers deemed Kennedy the winner, radio listener's argued that Nixon had won the debate.  Different mediums provide different versions of certain scenarios leaving the audience to interpret specific messages much differently.

Media Effects

Research Question: Are young girls' body images affected by what they see on television, in magazines, or general advertisements?

Hypothesis: A girl's image is greatly affected by what she sees on television or reads in a magazine, I'd hypothesize that yes, girls are extremely affected by what is portrayed in the media.

Method: To test my hypothesis I'd conduct a countless number of surveys, polling girls of various ages (focusing on the most impressional age group 12-18..ish) on the way they view themselves, they way they think others view them, what they would change, etc.  I would then connect that to the types of programs they watch and media they are exposed to on a daily basis.  By analyzing the different responses it would be clear whether or not the media influences the way a girl dresses, behaves, and perceives her own self.