Mid Term Exam Flashcards
Educational Goals of the course?
Inspire to think creatively and critically about media and society
- Explosion of awareness
What is the desired evolution of knowledge?
Learning new facts and so on will lead to new theories, science, and knowledge of the world
What understanding does Berry want us to have?
Understand media from multiple perspectives and be cautious of the information we take in.
What does image of telescope from “Don’t look up mean?”
Powerful telescope - Direct gaze away from ourselves and species
What does image of phone from “Don’t look up mean?”
An example of ego-media. Narrsistic view on life.
What do media technologies show that we are made up of?
The same DNA that stars/star dust is made up of.
Hydrogen
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
How much DNA do we (humans) share with each other?
99.9%
What is a meme?
Any idea, belief, or behavior that can be replicated and/or passed along.
How does McConaughey’s book title and passage illustrate memes replicating?
A green light, yellow, and red light are all examples of memes because the idea that a certain color means go, slow down, and stop had to have been passed down through communication and imitation.
What is a media virus?
A media virus is when a meme catches our attention and latches onto us. Similar to a virus latching onto a healthy cell and competing for control of the cell.
How/where do memes replicate?
Memes replicate/reproduce from one nervous system to another one. Usually by communication or imitation.
What is a 24/7 civilization?
A civilization that is always “on.” Lights glow in the sky and phones glow in your face.
What is the meaning behind Facebook data flow?
Facebook data flow is an example of media ecologies operating on a planetary scale.
What is a media ecology?
Media ecology is the study of how media and communication processes affect human perception, feeling, emotion, and value.
What are all of McLuhans ideas?
- The medium is the message
- Media tech is not neutral
- Media technology has more impact on consciousness than the content of the media
What are the layers of media from earth to galaxy?
Endo-Media, Ego-Media, Eco-Media, Exo-Media
Endo-Media
Looking inside/within (X-ray)
Ego-Media
Technology that makes you look down/introspective (phones).
- Ego refers to a sense of self. To be egotistical is inflated view of oneself.
Eco-Media
Birdseye view/looking down (drones, satellites, helicopters, etc.)
Exo-Media
Technology that makes you look away (telescope).
Who is Marshal McLuhan?
Studied the side effects of mass media on thought and behavior.
- Wrote the novel “The Medium is the Message”
What is Hot media and what is an example of Hot media?
Hot media is the media around us everyday.
- Instant feedback
- Inward gaze
- Short attention span
- Endo-Media
- Ego-Media
Ex) Social Media
What is Cool media and what is an example of Cool media?
Cool media is media that makes you look away.
- Exo-Media
- Eco-Media
Ex) telescope
What is the message of the car?
Extension of the legs.
Without cars we wouldn’t have:
- Highways
- Fast food
- Consumption of fossil fuels
- Global warming
What is the message of computers/the internet?
Networked society, global village
What are the three kinds of media networks?
Centralized, decentralized, and distributed
What is the “global village.”
Communication anywhere on earth, but instantly as if it were face to face.
How/why do tribes and social media proliferate on networks?
They proliferate because of the accessibility to anyone anywhere with networks.
What is Moore’s law?
Moore’s law states that speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years.
How do big media/tech corporations reflect the power of memes/networks/platforms?
All of the big media/tech corporations are the largest and most profitable out of all the large companies today. This shows the power media and technology has on the world nowadays.
What is the spectacle?
24/7 entertainment society, image is preferred to reality
How does Rocky illustrate the spectacle?
The movie “rocky” is preferred to the real life story of rocky (Chuck Webner).
Who was the real Rocky?
Chuck Webner
What is Debord’s concept of the spectacle?
- The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.
- Life organized around production and consumption of media.
- Image is more important than the reality it represents.
What are the messages of tv and screens?
- Viewing over doing
- Viewing is doing
- Image is reality
How do tv and and screens produce the spectacle?
They make it so image is preferable to reality.
How do the four media models fit within the basic communication models?
Meme - Message and feedback
Network/Platform - Channel
Spectacle - Encompasses everything
Hyperreality - Encompasses everything
What is said about the Social Dilemma?
The technology that connects us also controls us.
What is Plato’s Cave?
- Story about men chained in cave
- They only see the world as shadows on wall
- One breaks out and tries to tell others the truth, but they only see him as another shadow on the wall
What does Berry mean by the map overtaking the territory?
- Signs and symbols of the real replace the real
- An example of hyperreality
- Baudrillard’s map (queen and king wanted map of entire empire)
How is the Super Bowl an example of hyperreality?
The mediated version of a field is better than a real field
- Played on an artificial “field”
- More commercials, performances, etc. than actual football being played
What is the only book in the matrix?
Simulacra and Simulation
- This book was the main inspiration for the Matrix
What media theorist influenced Morpheus?
Glaucon
- He is the story teller in Plato’s cave
Simulacrum
A copy in which the original is no longer present, needed, or desired.
Ex) Oasis of the Seas cruise ship
What is a teme?
A meme which lives in a technological artifact rather than the human mind.
How do memes relate to temes and genes?
Memes are duplicated and passed along just like genes.
Memes and temes are both shared in the same manner just through different outlets/channels.
Who coined the word meme?
Richard Dawkins
Why was the word meme coined?
The word was coined in Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene and was described as the cultural parallel to biological genes.
Why do memes/temes spread?
They’re selfish information, they will get copied, if they can
- Some will get copied because they’re good, useful, or beautiful.
What are meme machines?
Meme machines are humans.
How much energy does the brain use relative to the body?
20%
Why are memes/temes dangerous?
Temes could turn us into teme machines. With drugs and implants merging technology and humanity.
How might have memes shaped the size of our brains?
Memes made the brain bigger.
- More ideas competing means more information to retain.
What is the autobahn of life?
The internet is the autobhan of life.
How is the hyperreal illustrated in the matrix?
The matrix becomes the new reality. People within the matrix don’t even know that they aren’t in the real world.
How is the hyperreal illustrated in the Dallas Cowboys stadium?
Despite the team being terrible they are still worth the most amount of money.
- This is because of the spectacle surrounding the cowboys.
What is the transgender narrative in the matrix?
The way Neo is awakened to society is similar to the expirence trans people go through when awakened to their identity.
What are the memes in cave of the forgotten dream?
The cave drawings represent early forms of media.
What are the memes in Arrival?
Peaceful aliens arrive to earth and humans have to decipher their language. This shows how language is a meme and how important memes are.
How does the matrix illustrate Plato’s cave and hyperreality?
The matrix tells the same story Plato’s cave does just in a different fashion. The matrix is a prime example of hyperreality because in the movie the fake reality has overtaken the actual reality.
How is the monkeys tv show an example of the hyperreal?
The Monkees: a TV show from the 60’s parodying the success and style of bands like The Beatles. Actors/characters assembled to play members of a band, making hit songs that were destined and curated for success from the start. Acted as a business to make music and mirror a successful band. Acted as a mirror of reality, thus being an example of the hyperreal. Eventually, the band turned into a real success, an example of simulacra.
In the Truman show, what did Cristoph say about media and reality.
“We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented.”
What are the memes in the hunger games?
When Katniss and Peeta enter the massive stadium with flames emerging from their chariot.
What is the Supra ideology of tv (Neil Postman)?
Entertainment is the Supra ideology of all discourse on television.
