Chapter 46

In this chapter, Aristotle's ideas about tragedy and comedy are discussed. According to Aristotle, art should be seen as an imitation of life, this is known as the mimetic theory of art and states that art imitates reality. Art imitates "men in action", and these men are either "high types", whose actions are portrayed in tragedies, or "low types", whose actions are portrayed in comedies. The debate in this chapter deals with the effects of televised violence on an audience. One side argues that televised violence leads to antisocial behavior and imitation of this violence. The other side of the argument believes that this televised violence "purges" the audience of these hostile feelings of emotion, thus leading to less violence. This is what is known as the catharsis theory. According to different research, televised violence does lead to increased violence, though it sometimes takes years for it to manifest within a person and not all people are affected by it. Later in the chapter, there is a comparison of tragedy and comedy. Tragedy contains men higher than ordinary, a higher status, determinism, high seriousness, pessimism, pain and catharsis. A comedy contains men lower than ordinary, a lower status, freedom, not serious at all, optimism, pleasure and cathexis. Cathexis is a release of pent up energy that is a celebration, while catharsis deals with the experience of deep emotions in the tragic fate of heroes and heroins.

Chapter 45

This chapter deals with the ideas of William Fry, a Stanford psychiatrist who has done important work on the subject of humor. He argues that humor usually involves some sort of a frame. This frame indicates that the comedian does not really mean all of the nasty things he says in his jokes. Humor differs from many other things, as it involves a punch line. Punch lines are essential and there are no rules surrounding them. A punch line can consist of anything from words, sounds, movements, gestures, an expression, or even a situation. In fact, jokes can be defined as short stories with a punch line. Another term defined in the chapter is metacommunication, which is communication about communication. Through metacommunication, people who go to see a comedy know what to expect and not become angry over a comedians use of certain jokes. Sigmund Freud agreed with this as he argued that humor involved masked or hidden aggression. In this case, the humor prevents our superego from taking what was said seriously. On the other side of the argument, Aristotle and Hobbes believed that humor is based more on a sense of superiority and we laugh at people who have been made fun of. Berger goes on to discuss his own work on humor, which focuses on what makes people laugh and the 45 building blocks to humor.

Chapter 37

In this chapter, the ideas of sociologist Gustave Le Bon are discussed. Le Bon was very interested in images and the way “theatrical representations” impact the audience. Today, these “theatrical representations”, which can be found in mass-media (films, television, and video), influence crowds, audiences and public opinion. Le Bon believes that appearances play a much bigger role than reality, which implies that people feel the same emotions at the same time when they are exposed to songs they hear on the radio, see a television show on TV, or read a book. However, this has been replaced by the more recent “reception theory”. This theory argues that humans interpret mass-mediated texts differently based on our education, social background, and knowledge base. There are examples of times when humans do have a similar understanding of ideas, such as facial expression and body language. This allows people to interpret and understand simple things in a similar manner. Although Le Bon may have been wrong about people interpreting images in the same way, he was correct about the power of these texts and how they impact a crowd. I couldn’t agree with the end result of this chapter more. I thought Le Bon’s ideas on how people viewed an image and felt the same emotion were not correct, however the power of images is incredible. A person’s background plays a huge role in how a person feels about a certain text.

Chapter 36

In this chapter,the ideas of Howard Rheingold are discussed. He is one of the leading observers of the role new technologies are playing in modern society. He uses the term "smart mobs" to describe a new way of life that uses technology and has not yet reached it's full potential within society. These "smart mobs" are made up of radio chips replacing bar codes, wireless internet hot spots in cafes, hotels and neighborhoods, the way buyers and sellers rate each other on internet auction sites and one of the bigger components, texting from mobile phones. The technical definition for a "smart mob" is a group of people who organize themselves for social and political purposes through their common use of cell phones and text messaaging. Rheingold describes an experience in his life where he witnessed many people looking down at their cell phones sending text messages, instead of talking into them. In many cases the sender of the text message did not even have to look at what they were typing, allowing them to multitask. However, the most impactful idea that can be taken from this experience and "smart mobs", as described by Rheingold, is the societal changes that this technological revolution will bring about. The more significant changes will be found in the relationships, enterprises, communities, and markets that this new technology makes possible. I believe technology is definitely changing the way people live today. Text messaging is a huge example of this as people have begun to form their relationships through digital media and have lost the face-to-experience. Technology has taken over a large part of our lives.

Paper Introductary Paragraph

Digital media is heading down a path that will lead to the destruction of the human race as we know it. In today’s society, adults watch an average of four hours of television every single day, leading some to believe that people are beginning to entertain themselves to death. Immersive games, interactive television and online entertainment are all creating an atmosphere or type of environment which isn’t completely real, but rather a figment of virtual reality. The people who create and control these technologies hold the key to the future. The question that should be asked more frequently is whether or not we want to live in a society where technology has more control over the human mind than we do ourselves.

Chapter 41

Author Martin Esslin believes television is a medium dominated by narratives that have the power to shape our behavior and desires and is used by corporations selling products and services to do so. The statistics are amazing. Americans watch an average of four hours of television every day, which means that watching television is the dominant leisure activity for most people. Esslin goes on to discuss how some television viewers tend to think of actors and actresses they watch as somebody they know. This is called a parasocial relationship and it suggests that something is missing in the lives of people who have these illusions. The topics covered by narratives on television range from full-fledged violence to sexual innuendo. Narratives can be found everywhere and we should be alarmed by what they are doing to us as a society.

Chapter 40

In this chapter, the ideas of French social scientist Michel de Certeau are discussed. De Certeau believes the content of the media for the most part is narratives. Narratives (stories) can be found in all types of media from journalism to television. As mentioned in previous chapters, people relate a lot of the things in their lives to stories and it is a way to express oneself. De Certeau uses the term imprint to describe how the different narratives we see and hear affect us. He also mentions how different narratives are used in order to help people deal with needs they may have. This can also be related to a previous chapter in which Bruno Bettelheim discusses how fairy tales play an important role in young children’s lives in dealing with unconscious problems they may face. Narratives come in the form of many different genres as well, however it is important to realize that different genres all have a narrative structure to them that play a role in shaping a person’s ideas and attitudes.

Chapter 39 11/12

In this chapter, Neil Postman discusses how dangerous television has become, especially in American society where the average person watches 4 hours of television every day. He believes that because of television, we have lost our sense of strangeness of the world. He also mentions the world epistemology, which is the role television plays in making people see the world in the way the television presents it. Television was created to entertain us and Postman believes that it is entertaining us to death as it transforms our society. Later in his essay, postman compares the role of shopping and television. Thanks to television, we as humans need to be entertained and amused at all times. We view a great amount of commercials on TV that inform and instruct us on what products or services to buy, then after being amused and sold on a particular view, we go out and shop for these products. Shopping has become a form of entertainment as well. I feel that both TV and shopping have become a type of drug that brings out a certain emotion in people that they can't get enough of. Many social scientists have warned people about the ever-looming danger that they felt television would someday create, however it has not stopped the amount of television we watch as a society.

Chapter 38 11/12

In this chapter, psychiatrist Martin Gratjahn argues that television has not achieved its potential as a medium and instead has become another means of exposing viewers to commercials. I do not fully agree with this statement. There is a great deal of "garbage" on television, however there are certain channels that focus on worldly and educational topics that informs its viewers, such as CNN or MSNBC. He later contrasts art and television and argues that television is harming its audience by helping them to avoid coming to terms with their unconscious tension and other such phenomena in a persons life. He also adds that television is taking over our youths lives, as it consumes over 1/6 of a child's day. It should be noted that he wrote this article 30 years ago and that he would have to consider video games, computers and other electronic devices that exist in today's world. When comparing art and television, he described how art worked through unconscious conflicts, comparable to television distracting us from our conflicts. Art also deals with tensions about psychic phenomena, compared to people paying attention to commercials. Finally, art participates in facing the repressed, while television presents a show that amuses. If TV is a collective dream, what does this tell us about the psyche of the people watching it? Gratjahn believes television is taking over our lives and distracting us from coming to terms with the unconscious tensions within our minds.

Chapter 33 11/10

Are our thoughts really our own? This is the question asked in the beginning of the chapter written by Hans Magnus Enzenberger. She argues that while humans go about life thinking that their thoughts are their own, their minds have really been “industrialized” by the society in which it is in. What she is saying is that people’s thoughts are influenced by the environment in which they live in. This subject has been approached previously in this book by French sociologist Emile Durkheim who said that individuals exist in society and society exists in individuals. In the chapter, Enzenberger discusses how people tend to only focus on a certain aspect of the media without recognizing that something deeper has occurred due to the mind being “industrialized”. Thus it can be seen that media has influenced our minds greatly, while people go on thinking that their ideas and thoughts will never be touched. Enzenberger asks where new ideas come from if minds have been taken over by the media. It is believed that thought is social and heavily influenced by previous thinkers, however I can believe Enzenberger’s claim that some minds are less influenced and “industrialized” by the media than others and therefore think outside of the box.

Chapter 29 11/3

In this chapter, Bruno Bettelheim discusses the idea of fairy tales and compares them to myths. Fairy tales come from ancient times and have been changed by the teller of the story over their existence until they have been modified into a form that help the child deal with psychological pressures they deal with while growing up. Bettelheim also argues that these fairy tales are much different from other stories that have a long and ancient lineage, myths. According to the chapter, fairy tales are more indirect, include ordinary heroes and heroines, contain a simple presentation and have a happy ending. Myths are more direct, include superhuman characters, make demands on the reader, and have a tragic ending. Myths tend to be more pessimistic, while fairy tales are more pessimistic. Bettelheim even points out how Freud’s analysis of the psyche plays a role in both fairy tales and the myth. Myths, says Bettelheim, contain characters dominated by the demands of their superegos. Fairy tales integrate the ego and make it possible for the unconscious id desires to be felt by the child listening to the story. One point I found interesting in the reading is that we, as human beings, deal with pressure differently throughout life. As children, we deal with pressures by relating to these fairy tales, however as more mature adults, we use humor to cope with daily pressures.