Hey You Fatty

If you are a ‘movie buff’ like me you will agree that 2012 was a fantastic year for films, I thoroughly enjoyed the wide selection of films released last year but I asked myself, surely directors and movie writers are going to run out of original ideas soon right? Or have they already? In this Blog entry I will briefly go over the year’s success in the cinemas and also whether movie remakes will get old even before being shown to the public eye.

Comic book fans were spoiled for choice with movies such as ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Amazing Spiderman’ and many more comic based movies being released (MovieWeb. (2012). 2012 Superhero Movies. Available: http://www.movieweb.com/movies/2012/superhero. Last accessed 1st Jan 2013.). These were all fantastic films but I couldn’t help but think that a majority of films being released as of late are all remakes, for example the new Spiderman film was a redo of the old franchise of Spiderman films in which the last one only came out in 2007 meaning whoever decided to do the remake only waited a mere 5 years before revamping the original films ( IMDB. (2007). Spider-man 3. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413300/. Last accessed 1st Jan 2013.). The only thing these remade superhero films had in common was that they were a whole lot better than their predecessors, the Dark Knight franchise was so good it made me want to forget the 1997 ‘Batman & Robin’ film which was seen by many as a box office flop. I personally rank both films along with ‘The Avengers’ as some of the greatest super hero films to be released in recent history, with the advances in technology it is become easier for producers to create these films in front of a green screen using fewer props each time. It has come to the point where highly anticipated films like the new ‘Hobbit’ films are being released one year after the other, a lot like the last few ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’ films. 

The New Year can only bring the promise of bigger and better films such as the highly anticipated release of the most recent installment of the X-men series ‘The Wolverine’ and the remakes of classic movies, ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’. Such high caliber films are sure to entertain this new generation of movie goers who aren’t used to the old ways of film production, before the green screens and technical advances. Hopefully the new year of films will having me and all other viewers on the edge of our seats in anticipation of the films that are soon to be released.

References

(MovieWeb. (2012). 2012 Superhero Movies. Available: http://www.movieweb.com/movies/2012/superhero. Last accessed 1st Jan 2013.)

 ( IMDB. (2007). Spider-man 3. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413300/. Last accessed 1st Jan 2013.)

Violence has existed for as long as human beings have been on planet Earth, when we were cavemen violence was needed to hunt and kill to survive and even to assert dominance. It was a harsh existence where violence came first and sense trailed behind; it’s crazy to think that hints of this still exist in modern culture and todays society. In this blog entry I will briefly cover my opinions on how violence is being pushed in peoples faces through different media outlets and the effects this has on todays society.

The media plays a huge role in the development of cultural acclimatization, how the world views certain things and can also determine what people base their beliefs on. It does not help that multimedia outlets now air violence to all those who have access TV, radio and mainly Internet. Rappers in the musical industry rap about how much crime they have committed and how many people they have apparently killed (Newsround. (2006). Do rappers glamorize violence?. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4580000/newsid_4580900/4580952.stm. Last accessed 5th Jan 2013.), releasing album after album of the same aggressive music with kids now being able to bypass age restriction laws by downloading said albums online with all the technological advances being made in recent years.

Not only is it in the music business but also in the movie and television industry, producers like Quentin Tarantino who is notorious for making films that are over the top with copious amounts of fight scenes, blood and death has recently been linked to the recent shootings in America due to his violent style movies possibly being a spark for such violent behavior (Ben Child. (2013). Quentin Tarantino says linking films to Newtown shooting dishonors dead. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jan/04/quentin-tarantino-newtown-shooting-disrespectful. Last accessed 5th Jan 2013.). One television program that has been going strong for almost 20 years, WWE Monday night raw is a professional wrestling broadcast which is one of the most popular sports entertainment shows in America. As well as being an extremely popular program it is also one of the most scrutinized, it is basically all choreographed violence with muscle bound athletes ’wrestling’ one another each week in front of thousands in attendance millions viewing them on TV. A wrestling related death in 1999 didn’t help the wrestling industry either as a seven year old boy accidentally killed his three year old brother after copying wrestling moves they had seen on the television show (Richard Williams. (1999). 7-year-old kills brother using wrestling move. Available: http://amarillo.com/stories/070199/new_kills.shtml. Last accessed 5th Jan 2013.)

No matter how much parents protest and complain to these media outlets, violence will always be around in the media. Even if it were to be removed from normal programming there would still be real life violence on the news. I believe modern culture has learned from the amount of violence in recent history and have tried to cut back on it and prevent the younger generation from seeing it as much as possible. This has been done by watering down the wrestling shows with the least amount of violence as possible without it being unwatchable and also the showing of violent content being pushed to a later time in the television-programming schedule. I think they are all effective methods of cutting back on violence broadcasted although the youth of todays culture and society have to learn the violence of the world sometime, its just finding the appropriate way to show them that’s the problem.

References

2002 was the dawn of the new age of social media with the birth of previously most used social networks, Friendster and Myspace. Since then only more social networking websites have sprung up throughout the years, those that come to mind are ‘bebo’, ‘LinkedIn’ and of course the ever popular online titan ‘Facebook’. This blog entry will express my thoughts towards social networking websites and their effects on how modern culture and society had evolved with it in recent years.

Ever since the creation of Facebook in 2004, the social site has only grown in popularity amassing over 800 million people, that’s almost 1/6th of the worlds population. One of the positives of social networking sites like this is that its now so much easier to contact family abroad, not only can you post a message on their ‘wall’ but you can also use a free video chat add on with Facebook, similar to Skype. Another great use of websites like Facebook and Twitter is that they are both a great source of news; either from friends or actual news you might see on the television. Facebook has recently created an app, which allows you to follow and read such newspapers like the guardian online if you don’t have time to pick up an actual newspaper (The Guardian. (2012). The Guardian on Facebook. Available: https://www.facebook.com/theguardian?fref=ts. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.). Twitter also now has major news networks with accounts on their website who distribute messages to their “Followers” in 140 characters or less (Guardian on twitter. (2012). The Guardian. Available: https://twitter.com/guardian. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.) I personally don’t follow these Twitter or Facebook accounts but I can see how it could be seen as handy to those who frequently need an update on the news.

As much as people may think Facebook and social networking benefits their lives, it also has just as many unseen downsides. It has been proven through surveys and tests that almost half of the people who go on Facebook spend up to 54 minutes or more on the social network, American surveys also listed social networking above playing fantasy sports and watching TV in a survey asking which activity was the ‘biggest waste of time (Social Networking. (2012). Social networking sites entice people to waste time.. Available: http://socialnetworking.procon.org. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.). 

Social networks are now a great way for businesses to keep an eye on their employees. When you sign a contract with a new company you are usually requested to include your email, some people may not think much of it maybe the odd job related email now and then, but what some might not realize is that companies check in on their staff’s social networking pages from time to time, its all perfectly legal as long as the employees account isn’t private. The unlucky ones who don’t realize this tend to vent their frustrations about work all over their Facebook Or twitter causing their company to see the outburst, in some cases employees who have made this mistake have been fired for violating the company’s online multimedia sharing and posting policies (Adam Ostrow. (2009). FACEBOOK FIRED: 8% of US Companies Have Sacked Social Media Miscreants. Available: http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/social-media-misuse/. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.).

Social networking websites aren’t as harmless as users may think; one mistake and it can turn your life upside down. Also I believe it is to blame for the decrease in actual face to face contact people have with each other in modern culture and society, that along with texts and emails have changed the way people communicate all over the world, I think that its pretty evident that kids now would rather sit and chat on Facebook all day instead of playing outside like how it used to be a decade ago. Slowly the human race are seeing less and less of real people and more of their profile page, real life is shifting more and more into a total virtual reality.

References

(The Guardian. (2012). The Guardian on Facebook. Available: https://www.facebook.com/theguardian?fref=ts. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.)

(Guardian on twitter. (2012). The Guardian. Available: https://twitter.com/guardian. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.)

(Social Networking. (2012). Social networking sites entice people to waste time.. Available: http://socialnetworking.procon.org. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.)

(2009). FACEBOOK FIRED: 8% of US Companies Have Sacked Social Media Miscreants. Available: http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/social-media-misuse/. Last accessed 4th Jan 2013.)