Synergy at Subway

I am the manager of the Century Blvd. Subway in Chanhassen Minnesota where we experience media synergy all the time. When Hannah Montana first became popular, Subway made a deal with her, they not only played her music in their store's but they also gave out toys of her in their kids packs. Montana did subway commercials. These two businesses helped promote each other to help one another profit. This is Media Synergy.

Another movie comparison that emulates our world

To play off of my last post I would like to incorporate the “spiral of silence” theory which is the belief that people holding opinions that they perceive as of minority tend not to voice those opinions due to fear of isolation. This withholding then influences others to refrain from expressing their views, creating this spiral. The brutal cycle continues to grow until one day when anger and awareness meet, mutiny happens. This is shown in the movie “V for Vendetta”. Some of the people in society see what is happening but they are to scared to voice their opinions. This may not be a fair comparison because the government is killing people who don’t go along with their movement but either way people stay silent and withstand this punishment instead of standing up and being heard. Much of the punishment could have been avoided if someone had stood up sooner. Instead Vendetta has to kill tons of political leaders who are corrupt and in the end peace is restored. This fear of being ridiculed for sharing an opinion restricts our society from liberated growth. Media framing allows the media to pick and choose/ manipulate any story information to present it in which ever way fits their interests. In V for Vendetta, the media is regulated by the government and no one dares to go against the grain, when one of the talk show hosts does, he is killed. In this example the framing is controlled by the government where as in our society, the media is controlled by profits. This allows people who are outspoken with one sided beliefs to take power. These people are usually the ones who are too arrogant to hear the other side of the argument. The winners get to make the rules while the loser’s follow. This was proven about a year and a half ago when the government was debating between giving a tax cut to middle/ lower income people or giving it to the higher income people. Well, guess who got the tax break, that’s weird; it was the higher income class. The media and governments claim was that if you give a break to the wealthy/ big business owners, then they will increase pay raise and create more jobs which in the long run if done correctly would definitely work. However, this is not human nature, and hasn’t been for the longest time. God punished Adam and Eve with one thing after they ate the apple, Desire, so it is human nature to desire things, especially the evil upper class (I don’t mean all but a good percentage of them). This has been proven many times in the near past. Communism is probably the best example. The idea is plainly beautiful, everyone works to benefit the whole, and everyone’s role is valued equally. This however is not realistic in our nature because we strive for incentives. Some people would work their heart out as others did half the amount. The way the media presented this was in a mainstreaming technique. The media presented a solution that would benefit all of the classes and heavy users of this media believed that this would work. However, the tax cut to the upper class did not work as they said it would but by the time anyone would have realized this, the whole idea was forgotten and became a ghost of a topic because the media had let it go. This could be taken as a priming tactic. The media had put a mask on this topic at the beginning to make people except it even though they most likely new it would not be executed the way they had said. This way they could get away with making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The wealthy get to make the decisions. If they would have taken the other option and gave the tax break to the middle or lower class, people would have instantly spent this money on necessary goods and instantly boosted the economy. This would have been the logical choice. I am not an expert in this field but I was able to discuss this with 2 different economic teachers here at Hamline University who have their masters. The knowledge these two sources have give some pretty good credibility to my conclusion. I would love to be able to claim that I am one person who is not affected by the media around me. However, this can not be true in the life I lead as a college student. The devices I use on a daily bases and the ideas I come up with are undoubtedly damp with media affects. However, I once was much more affected by advertisements, trends, pop culture, ect. I used to always have to have name brand clothing, new technology, and be caught up on the latest popular shows on television. Now I haven’t bought a new piece of clothing since junior year in high school, I don’t watch much television (I use it mostly as a diversion), I try to be active in things I believe in that can change the world for the better no matter how small.

If a journalist doesn't do there job, they don't get paid, they don't feed there family, and the company just finds someone else who will do the job. This is just like a lawyer is paid to defend a client whether or not they know for a fact that their client is guilty. What is the world becoming, money is manipulating everyone and its the people at the top, the ones in power, the ones who make the choices, that control it all. Many successful corporation owners don't need any more money to survive though they continue to cut corners and find ways to make more money as though its just a game, the affects of this are clear as day. I just recently watched a movie called "Devils Advocate" starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. The movie follows the descent of keanu reeves who at the beginning is a successful small time lawyer in Florida and gets recuited by a Big time New york law firm. He is found defending large real estate owners and corrupt corporation ceo's who he knows are guilty by the way. Pacino, the boss, offers him undeniable incentives. Reeves thinks it is everything he has ever wanted but like most plots unravle it is the exact opposit. Pacino emulates the devil in every trait he possesses, this allows Reeves to be tricked into thinking he is something he's not. Like society in the U.S. today, people are so busy, they are unable to see the door of truth as its being slammed on their face. Idleness is the most shameful thing an American can possess, proof of this is the law that most cities especially where i live have laws regulating the length of your grass, and to make it short they have a bunch of laws regulating the way your lawn can look. What is the underlying affect of this ignorant people would ask, which would be most of America, well this little law does quite a lot to our culture. It keeps us from doing the one thing our Government fears, an idle citizen, because someone who may be idle, may take the time to think, for God's sake, if someone were to think to hard or look into what is going on in the world, they might catch on to the darkness our world is radiating as the sun radiates light. This is shown in the film, since Reeves is so busy worrying about his job and doing it well, he is blinded, while two pure figures represented by his wife and mother can see all to clear what the truth is infront of them. The wife does not have a job and therefor has plenty of time to step back from the wreck and see what is happening to her husband. Reeves is seduced by the devil (Pacino), he becomes an agent of power just as media journalists and pop culture producers have in our world. This intoduction Reeves and his wife have is very similar to "The Faerie Queene" written by Edmund Spencer when Redcrosse, a holy character who's faith is constantly tested throughout his journey to save a princesses parents, and Duessa are brought to the "House of Pride". It is beautiful and lavish, with a very broad door, Redcrosse and Duessa are brought in and marvel at the wealth and beauty. This scene directly corelates to when Reeves and Pacino first meet. Pacino is showing Reeves what could be his, a intoxicatingly exquisite apartment at the top of a tall building in New York. The next characters that follow are much like the characters in the Faerie Queene. They are welcomed by the whole court but especially by Lucifera, the Queen of the palace. In "Devils Advocate, Reeves meets the Lucifer of the movie, she is everything our society tags as beauty. The next characters are introduced as follows, Idleness, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice, Envy, and Wrath, their appearances appropriate to their names. In "Devils Advocate" most of the characters hold very similar traits however they aren't named by their vice but rather you can see it in their actions.

Everything this movie shows is how media (and the entire world) is completely dictated by money and profits which is understandable. But what we must ask ourselves is, how much is our dignity worth? Are our actions really justified by the fact that this world is so corupt. Is ignorance a legit excuse, when someone doesn't check their blind spot because they are ignorant cutting you off which could end in your death, is her ignorance to blame, of course it is, if someone doesn't have the consciousness to look behind them and hold the door for an extra second or two to help a fellow human being out, they are a problem, when did parents stop teaching their kids to say please and thankyou, Ignorance is obviously bliss because you never have to think about the person next to you or anyone else in the entire world. Are we doomed to fall into this vicious cycle, are our kids going to enjoy living in this world that we so took part in creating so unconsciously. I hope, I really do that something changes, we need a leader, we need an idol, someone who shows good morals and can relate these to a generation saturated with selfishness. We don't need rappers on tv saying how cool it is to be in a gang and throw money at women and pull out guns and wave them around like that makes you important, anyone can buy a gun and fire it, how can possibly make you powerful, your not, your a joke, a piece of kleenex used for someones snott that is sitting in a dumpster. Yet our pop culture portrays these people as hero's, idols to our world. How can someone idolize garbage, it's like smelling dog poop and thinking to youself, yea, ok that smells really good, no, it doesn't, it smells like dog poop. I am so confused.

My look into some new media

This swelling popularity of social groups such as facebook and myspace to online dating and video gaming has opened new doors to a new world that is growing at an alarmingly fast rate. New technologies have only gave people the ability for instant gratification but has also created a social crowding around their own interests. Instead of going to the park to play with friends and potentially meet others who differ from you and may teach or learn from your perspectives, people are logging on and consolidating to their own feelings and interests. Groups on facebook, such as a hockey team who now only converses with their own kind, or own friends who share their same ideas and goals. The real world is now being emulated in every way in the virtual world. I recently came upon a website called "secondLife" whose moto is "your world-your imagination.