Fandoms. Everyone has at some point in their lives been a part of one. Whether you were like me and hung a billion and two posters on your bedroom wall for the bands you loved as a teenager, or you saw every Star Wars film on opening night, we have felt an obsession or gratification from being a part of these fandoms. Our screening in class this week was of the film, Galaxy Quest which was a movie inspired by the Star Trek original television series and its’ iconic fan base. 

The film follows a group of actors that play main roles on a television series very similar to Star Trek. The crew of actors ends up in outer space, where they discover that a whole alien race has religiously followed their television show. The alien race known as the Thermians believes that the episodes from the show are factual, historical documents that display events that actually took place. 

The actors must embody their characters from the show in order to complete their mission in outer space. However, when problems arise that they cannot solve they turn to the shows’ biggest fans on their home planet, Earth. The films’ most significant theme is this: large fan bases are the sole reason why franchises like Star Trek exist and are significant in modern culture. They create a platform to build friendships, communicate with the creators, and simply entertain and pass the time. 

Fandoms tie into the Uses and Gratification Theory, and why we choose to consume media in the first place. This theory discusses how the audience and creators engage with each other when consuming media. It suggests that audiences are active participants in exchanges of media. Contrary to the Effects Model which suggested that audiences are passive, and will listen to whatever the media tells them. 

The Uses and Gratifications Theory actually plays into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Media can satisfy our need for social connection and self-esteem. Media has four main uses: seeking information, creating a sense of personal identity, building personal relationships, and creating a diversion from the real world. Anyone who consumes media does so for these reasons. Most of the media I tend to consume is either meant to pass the time or for research and information. As a busy college student, media platforms such as news broadcasts allow me to easily access information about what the hell is happening in the world. To be completely honest, I have stopped watching the news because networks tend to put political spins on stories and only seem to report about the worst possible events.  I am sick of hearing about the Earth dying in the next fifty years and how our president is a complete buffoon. What will always grasp my attention is comic relief. Whether it is old episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus or new comedy specials from John Mulaney,  I can always count on ridiculousness and satire to relieve me from our gilded reality. 

This week we discussed news and recent trends of news being subjective instead of objective. In the screening of two episodes of The Newsroom, one major theme follows the plot of the show. It is the idea that news in the modern era has become extremely bipartisan, and the protagonists of the show are striving to combat this trend by reporting the news as an objective item. They want to allow the audience to create their own opinions about events happening in the world. The main character Will McAvoy is the main anchor for the show and believes his viewers are not complete mouth breathers that must be told exactly what to think. 

Conflict arises in the second episode when the team decides not to report on the Casey Anthony Case. They believe the case is not worth reporting on because it replicates basic television drama. As a result, they end up losing half of their audience to a Nancy Grace show that did report the Casey Anthony Case. The team decides that because of this decline in the audience they must report on the controversial case within the next week. This creates a problem that all newscasts face. Whether they should focus on reporting stories that their audience is interested in seeing, or whether they should report on stories and issues that they believe are important for their audience to be informed on. 

Overall, I believe The Newsroom is successful in terms of presenting issues that impact the current way we ingest current events. In the first episode, Will is criticized during an interview for not taking a political stance as a news anchor. After being taunted about this, he finally blows up and chastises other news anchors for voicing their political affiliations. He believes that current events should not be reported with a liberal or conservative spin on the content, for this could alter how an audience ingests the information given to them. 

Today, we are given the illusion of choice when it comes to entertainment options. Entertainment corporations such as Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner have consolidated all media into massive media monopolies. In fact, there are only six major corporations that are currently in control of the industry. As opposed to thirty years ago when there where approximately fifty companies involved in the industry. This move towards massive conglomerates creates little to no competition in the industry. It also means that all of our information and entertainment comes from only five or six giant corporations. However, these massive conglomerates are not just a one-sided evil villain. Their massive size means they need to produce more content than ever. This creates an opportunity for jobs in all aspects of production. From directing to costume design there is a demand for workers in this field. As easy as it is to become pissed off by a mass take over of corporations, at least I can rest easy knowing that this is the best time for post-college graduates to enter the entertainment field. 

During this week, we discussed media effects and theories. One of the most popular theories in this category is brought forth by George Gerbner. Who suggests that there is a correlation between media violence and the effect it has on one’s life. This theory is known as the Cultivation Theory. The idea suggests that the more time a person spends watching television, the more likely they are to believe the world is unsafe and full of violence. Gerbner referred to this belief as Mean World Syndrome. In his research, he found that this affected people regardless of a person’s class, creed, color, or age. 

In one of our screenings this week, the focus was on how obedience to authority is used in society. The screening focused on the iconic psychological experiments brought forth by Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo; and how these experiments predicted human behavior that would later take place. 

Milgram was interested in how humans complied with authority figures. His curiosity began during the Nuremberg Trials. He wondered how an army could go about wiping out an entire race of people simply based on the excuse that individuals were expected to follow orders from higher-ranking officers regardless of what they asked. Milgram set up an experiment where he hired three types of people. A teacher, a scientist, and a learner. The learner and the scientist were both actors hired to accumulate reactions out of the teacher. The scientist wore a lab coat and asked the teacher to give the learner electric shocks if they did not answer a question correctly. The learner was placed in a separate location so the teacher could not see him, the only communication they had was through an intercom. 

Zimbardo’s experiment took place in a makeshift prison setting. He hired an equal amount of men to act as prisoners, and as officers. The officers were given mirrored glasses and a khaki suit while the prisoners were only referred to by a number they were given, and wore a nightgown. 

Both experiments proved that people do not commit horrible acts solely based on the idea that they are a “bad apple”. Rather, they proved that obedience is a necessary factor for society to function. Ordinary people can commit horrible acts because they have been taught their whole lives that they must follow authority figures. On the other hand, people who are suddenly given a position of power over others can easily abuse their authority because their subordinates are expected to follow any order they command. These experiments practically predicted the events that occurred in Abu Garaib, Iraq 2003. Soldiers who had never been experienced in acting as prison guards began to humiliate and torture prisoners of war. They abused their power, and prisoners complied with their sick requests out of fear and intimidation. 

Hollywood was once an unlimited creative outlet that was an emotional crutch for the United States. The peak of Hollywood was during the 1930’s and 1940’s when the country faced tough times through The Great Depression, World War II, and the New Deal. However, the industry was forever changed after the Paramount Decision of 1948.

 This was essentially an antitrust move by the government to create competition in the industry. Previously, the major five studios in the industry: MGM, Fox, Paramount, RKO, and Warner Brothers were vertically integrated establishments. Each studio had its own departments in charge of production, distribution, and exhibition. The Paramount Decision broke this integrated system by forcing the five major studios to sell their theater chains. This meant that studios now had to compete to book theatres for their films. Ultimately, this decision crushed the monopolies of the movie industry. 

By this time, however, television was the new flourishing form of entertainment. This was based on the suburb migration and the idea that conformity and consumerism went hand in hand. People replaced going to the movies watching Television in the comfort of their own homes. 

The rating system that has been put forth by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) is ultimately corrupt, conservative, and sexist. The screening that we viewed in class this week, This Film is Not Yet Rated, sought to expose the MPAA rating board members. The association is the only rating system in the world that keeps its members anonymous and out of the public eye. During the filming of the documentary, this was the only rating system offered to the public. If a film was to get an NC-17 rating by the board, it limited to access to advertising and theater bookings a film could obtain. 

The worst part about the MPAA rating system is that they claim to rate movies based on the idea that children need to be protected from certain content so that they do not become deranged. However, they have absolutely no child experts, researchers, or psychiatrists on the board; only ordinary people. Ah yes, this is obviously the logical route to take. You know what, the next time I have a medical emergency I will completely avoid the hospital and go to an ordinary person that I happen to find on Craig’s List so they can treat my symptoms. The logic is infallible. 

What is extremely cruel about this system is they mainly based rating violations on sexual acts. They bring us all down to a level of perversion and childish behavior when European rating systems are more strict on violence being shown in films. A film is four times more likely to get an NC-17 rating from a sex scene than from a shooting spree. It is especially discriminatory when films are more likely to get the deadly rating from a homosexual sex scene or a scene that shows female pleasure, rather than a heterosexual sex scene or male orgasms. 

Overall, the MPAA is completely absurd, limits what directors can put in their own movies, and impacts our society by shaming certain groups for experiencing pleasure.

Television in the 70’s paved the way for the following generations. For comedy specifically, women were able to find their voice and became sensations that the people of America loved. Actresses like Mary Tyer Moore, Carol Burnette, Lucille Ball, and Betty White were some of the women that began to break the boundaries for women in comedy. For starters, Betty White became one of the first women to produce her own show. Lucille Ball was a formally trained actress in physical comedy. She broke a common standard of the 30’s and 40’s where people believed that in order for a woman to be funny, she could not be attractive; and she challenged that. 

Other female comics such as Joan Rivers, completely redefined what a woman was allowed to say on television. In her stand-up performances, Rivers pushed the limits and discussed topics that were considered taboo at the time. She would talk about relationships between men and women and how many phrased it “she would say things everyone else was thinking, but no one would say.” Rivers was heavily criticized when she went on stage and performed while she was pregnant. At the time, no woman would be caught dead pulling that move. As a huge fan of stand-up comedy, I know that this stunt was probably what inspired American comedian Ali Wong. She performed her two Netflix comedy specials while she was very visibly pregnant. Another parallel between the two comics is that while watching Wong, you also notice that she tends to talk about taboo subjects such as sex and relationships in graphic detail. 

These women paved the road for more to follow. I have such an admiration for female comics because I feel like I can relate to nearly everything they discuss. Women in comedy are not often praised as much as their male counterparts. The Funny Ladies screening in class meant a lot to me. 

ER was a medical drama that aired in the middle of the 90’s until the late 00’s. The series was built off previous medical dramas such as M.A.S.H and ST Elsewhere. It features doctors who work in the emergency room of a hospital in Chicago. Although the series has been off the air for ten years, the content within the show is still compelling, timeless, and relevant. Viewing the show during class was engaging. While watching this show, you feel as though you are actually immersed in the suspense and trauma of a real emergency room. The directors do a great job of making you forget that you are actually just watching a television show. I personally watch the show Grey’s Anatomy on my downtime, and the two shows are often compared to one another. Grey’s Anatomy is another medical drama that came out in 2005. It was inspired by ER, except it focuses less on procedures and cases within the hospital; and more on the main characters’ soapy lives and personal relationships with one another. 

-Miriam Radwan

  Television was invented in the late 1920’s however it was not popularized until the age of consumerism in the 1950’s. During that time television programs were basically experimental. The new medium allowed for creative thinkers to broadcast their ideas to a nationwide audience for the first time. It also allows advertisers to reach these nation wide  audiences in between programs. Essentially, television was a tool used to sell products during the age of consumerism and conformity. Previously, visual entertainment was only available through attending a theater or other live performances. Advertisements were only seen in newspapers or were received through the radio. Television changed the way we consume entertainment and advertisements. 

One of the most impactful influences in the medium was Rod Serling.

Before watching the piece in class on Serling, I had only known him as the man who hosted The Twilight Zone. I have watched a variety of episodes from the classic series beforehand, and I always thought they contained timeless themes that dealt with qualities that differentiate humans from beasts. Regardless of how dated the show was, I still thought the themes of ethics, moral concepts, and mortality were universal and still relevant today. It is not uncommon for creative minds like Rod Serling to believe the work they produce is worthless or not well done. For example, Van Gogh did not sell a single painting during his lifetime and suffered from a plethora of mental illnesses; but he is one of the most iconic painters of all time. With Serling, who originally began writing to deal with the trauma of being a war veteran, I sympathize heavily with his story. For creative minds, the best work originates from the darkest places. He had so much success from the series because his stories were well thought out and contained relatable tales of death and misfortune. His downfall came when he was overworked and practically burning the candle from both ends. As a writer, he felt that he had to constantly prove that he was a master of his time. To simply have a handful of successes was not enough, he needed to confirm that his best was not behind him. Rod Serling was one of the most influential minds in the history of television, The Twilight Zone is the timeless work of a genius and went on to inspire horror films and other thought provoking television shows. 

The popular television shows of the 1970’s were created as a direct response to social issues that presented themselves in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. More women began to enter the workforce in the 70’s. It had been an uncommon occurrence for a woman who was not single to work since World War II. The Mary Tyler Moore Show complimented this social shift by showcasing a single woman, who lived alone, with a job that kept her financially independent. 

Shows like The Jeffersons or Good Times were a direct response to the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s. The United States citizens needed to realize that the African Americans they live amongst deal with the same problems and experience the same joys as White Americans. Some groups such as the Black Panthers, critiqued the show Good Times because it was based on the stereotype that all African American families were poor and resided in the projects of urban cities. 

Television shows from the 70’s dealt with controversial topics in a situational comedy format, so that it was easy for the everyday American to digest.