WWE Universe and Beyond

Natalie Fang
CCS 313
Blog Post #2

                Two decades ago, television was still second-best to cinema. There may still remain some snobs out there who will turn their chins up on the claims that television is the better bet these days, but there's no denying the increasing credibility and esteem that television these days hold. With the previous Emmy's (forever the angsty younger brother to the prestigious Oscars) awarding shows like Breaking Bad and True Detective, it's evident that TV has entered a new Golden Age. But when the discussion of the difference between cinematic and televisual spectatorship is brought out, the success of these shows do not play with these key differences. Instead what causes critics to claim to have forgotten Fool's Gold and praise Matthew McConaughey, is the employment of impressive cinematography and strong writing, the same tools that movies work with. To divulge the differences between the two mediums, we should shift our attention from the shining diamonds to the rhinestones.

                In "Spectatorial Flanerie," Friedberg lists out the points in which cinematic and televisual spectatorship differs. One of this being the inactive/active audience. Friedberg explains the relationships between the viewer and image is "relatively passive." This is not the case with television, where reality TV competitions have allowed audiences to interact. This interaction has existed since the rise of popularity of singing competitions, where the advancement of a competitor relies on the votes that are either called in, sent in a text, or even have a chance for instantlysaving a favorite singer via twitter. But the interaction doesn't end with American Idol and The Voice. Big Brother has been a leader in audience interaction, where the viewers can pick certain challenges that the competitors take on. But I want to focus on the encompassing entertainment world that is WWE.

                Earlier this year, Vince McMahon, the CEO of WWE, launched his passion project to the world. The WWE Network is a subscription based online service, that offers 24/7 access to various shows, a hefty archive, and the project's selling point: every one of the company's pay-per-view shows. McMahon has made quite a statement to the future of television by making this move. By opting out of a cable network, which was once considered the badge of media legitimacy, McMahon has shown faith that the future of television lies beyond the television set. This opinion, however, was not simply formed by the success of the big leaders of online services like Netflix and Hulu. Prior to the network, WWE already had a large presence online, and the reason why the company is still successful is because they play into the freedoms that televisual experiences allow.

                 The WWE combines two of the freedoms that Friedberg discusses, the mobilization of the audience and interactive relationship between viewer and image. The company has taken social media to its full advantage, trying to connect to the next generation of fans and play up the entertainment half of sports entertainment. Their YouTube channel, which garners hundreds of thousands of views, continues storylines and allow their stars to further showcase their characters to the fans. Weekly, either Raw or Smackdown, the company's live shows that still run on television schedules and are not offered on WWE Network because of prior deals with networks and Hulu Plus, trends on twitter. The company also uses twitter to allow the fans to interact with the live shows themselves, asking them to make matches or decide on the parameters of planned matches. They also have allow fans to make those choices on the WWE mobile app. Another one of Friedberg's points is that television runs on reruns and although, WWE prides itself on not having them, the shows are often riddled with flashbacks to earlier shows or events that occurred in pay-per-views. This way, the audience is always engaged with the material.

                It's easy to follow the model of movies and have your show be claimed as episodic movies, but it's impressive to fully take advantage of the possibility of television as the WWE universe has. As a result of their course of action, it's not simply a show to be passively watched weekly, but something that needs active engagement.

Works Cited

Friedberg, Anne. “Spectatorial Flanerie.” Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. Berkeley: U of California Press, 1993. 

Blog Post 2

Dana Macaluso

Blog post 2

                One of the issues I choose to explore that is related to televisual technology is the relationship between television and suburbanization. Most television shows that are on now are shows based around a middle class family going through typical problems that people living in the suburbs would endure. For example, I chose to analyze the show Everybody Loves Raymond. This show is based around what is believed to be the typical suburban family.  The show consists of a husband and wife, their three children, the husbands overbearing parents and his brother who is jealous of his brothers so called "perfect life". The ideas that are depicted in this show correspond to what Morley explains in his text. He explains how the sitcom creates an idea of suburban life that many people aspire to achieve. "It is a defensive, possessive, anxiety-driven politics, based on normalized homogeneity of experience, and on a relative absence of "strangers" which is the result of the general exclusion from suburban life of all those forms of otherness associated with city life(the poor, ethnic minorities) who might tarnish the suburban idea. This is characteristically, the racist, sexist, homophobic and segregationist ideology of the narratives of suburbia's indigenous genre, the sitcom." (Morley, 129).

                

               The reason this show ties so well into what Morley is describing is because of the family dynamics in the show and what makes this show a sitcom. The plot of the show is based around Raymond, a man who lives in a typical suburban neighborhood with his family. His wife Deborah  is a stay at home mother, and the comedy behind her character ties into what Morley describes as "gendered suburbs".  She is always trying to establish herself as an independent woman whose role isn't to just take care of her children and needy husband(which can be described as a problem woman face when dealing with what society believes their role should be in suburbia), which Morely explains as "while suburban conformity is almost always feminised - and it is women who "embody the shackles of suburban constraints""(Morley, 130).

                Overall, Everybody Loves Raymond is a perfect example of a sitcom that plays off of problems that families living in the suburbs have to deal with, which is why many people who live in the suburbs find it comical because they too share these everyday issues. Shows like this one and others are created to attract this type of audience, which is why this a great example of the relationship between television and suburbanization.

Works Cited

Morley, David. “The Media, the City, and the Suburbs: Urban and Virtual Geographies of Exclusion.” Home Territories: Media, Mobility, and Identity. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. 

CJ Severin

CCS 313

Blog Post #2

When Marshall McLuhan first formulated the concepts of “hot and cold” media, he had a very specific model in mind: television was hot because it provided all of the information necessary to consume it, and books are cold because they provide very little and required readers to work through the content and actively use their imaginations.  Today, however, simply putting the experience of television into the “hot” category is more complicated.  

Using the example of NBC’s recently cancelled sitcom, Community, we can see McLuhan’s concepts becoming complicated.  The original five seasons of the show aired very traditionally on Thursday nights on NBC from 2009 until 2014, “high definition” media, just as McLuhan would have described fifty years ago, but, what’s different is that the continuity of Community existed, exists, and will, in the near future, continue to exist, on more than one medium.  

On the network owned video site, Hulu, for example, there were, and, being on the internet, constantly still are, episodes that were created to be viewed between the televised seasons that expand the story and world of the characters.  This, then, takes the already high definition format of television and pushes further; no one has to imagine what, if anything, happens in the months between seasons because everything that happens is in the webisodes.  The universe of the show is also expanded in non-video format in the form of the Greendale Community College website; modeled after a real college website, this page has newsletters, hours of operation, on campus events, all to create a more realistic, and more dense, world for the characters.  Even more so, each of the main characters in the ensemble cast has their own Twitter account that posted during and after the initial airings of the show on television.  This places the characters not just into a larger world, but into our world by making them into people we can socialize with in the same way as people we actually know.  

Certainly all of this additional content falls under the concept of “hot”, as it leaves increasingly less to the imagination, but, in someways it also increases the amount of participation fully consuming the content of Community, an attribute of “cold” media.  By making the entirety of the show, episodes, webisodes, expanded digital content, social media presence, etc., the show’s creators ask of the viewers to actively immerse themselves in the world of Community, to, in someways, make it real, but not in the “low definition” way a book would, in a much higher definition way.  

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall. ""Introduction," "The Medium Is the Message," "Media Hot and Cold." Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Cambridge: MIT, 1994. 1-32. Print.

Blog Post #2

             Wired magazine recently posted an article titled “A Wearable Gadget Implanted in Your Hand Isn’t as Freaky as You’d Think,” but the title is deceiving. Not everyone who reads it will take the same viewpoint as Margaret Rhodes does.

            The invention is a small digital tattoo called UnderSkin “decked out with even tinier sensors” placed on the palm of the wearer. Rhodes likens it to wedding bands and Dick Tracy’s watch, romanticizing the coming of an age of science fiction reality.

The UnderSkin Digital Tattoo (Wired)

            The tattoo could be a cool idea if it wasn’t so smart. It can be used to lock doors, pay at registers and monitor health. Its sensors can also acknowledge and distinguish the unique relationships between the wearer and another person by the type of hand contact made between the two, “because it lives within you it acquires your history”. The idea that a computer chip of some sort can learn social nuances and turn them into data is freaky, and in the realm of cybernetics.

            Cybernetics is the study of the relationship between animal, human and technology that was coined in 1940. It wasn’t until the 60’s that the study yielded the concept of “considering the observer as part of the system” (Hayles, 147). The observer being the human, and the system being technology. This integrative technology also works off of the cybernetic perspective that “human and animal bodies, no less than cybernetic mechanisms, are media because they too have the capacity for storing, transmitting, and processing information” (Hayles, 148). With these digital tattoos, the human is the power source and the media that the data is collected from.

            The article cites the biggest concerns with UnderSkin as the uncertainty of where one would acquire the device (in a tattoo parlor or a hospital?) and how, once acquired, one would update the integrated technology. Nowhere does it mention how strange it would be getting used to the product. It would undoubtedly interrupt the “flow” of everyday life (intake, processing and output of media) as Uricchio describes of the invention of the remote control device interrupting the flow of daily television viewing. The UnderSkin would definitely need time for the masses to assimilate to such an invasive foreign object being integrated into part of the body.             

            Then there is the concern of privacy that is hurried over with the mention of a “bitcoin-like block chain,” which one can only hope would keep the government from gaining access to everyone’s information in a fascist manner…

           

The point is, this invasive cybernetic technology is here.

Works Cited

Hayles, N. Katherine. “Cybernetics.” Critical Terms for Media Studies. 145-156

Rhodes, Margaret. "A Wearable Gadget Implanted in Your Hand Isn't as Freaky as You'd Think | WIRED." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 18 Oct. 0014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Uricchio, “Television’s Next Generation,” Spigel and Olsson, pp. 163-182

             

Blog Post 2

Kyle Miller

CCS 313

Professor Smith-Casanueva

10/21/14

Blog Post 2

Television is such a dominant presence in our lives and it has the power completely alter people’s perspectives. I want to key in on the show South Park. It’s a modern marvel of social commentary that is coated under the guise of a normal cartoon comedy of some young boys. A big part of their show is showcasing the impressionability of people and they always get caught in the trends. We read about Mcluhan’s “the medium is the message”, which basically is a way of saying that people become one with the media they watch. That ties in also to Friedman’s new take on viewing spectatorship. Friedman makes it a point to say that in today’s world, spectators have nearly total control over what they see.  In a way, rea people are good representations of what’s on TV. The South Park episode “Raising The Bar” is a great example of this. The episode depicts the popular show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. It’s a highly rated show but it’s noted for its stupidity. Regardless, people choose to watch it.

In 2014, the most popular type of TV show is the reality show. “In March of 2011, Jersey Shore’s Snooki was paid more to give the Commencement address at Rutgers University than was offered to Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison. “Study hard, but party harder,” she proclaimed to the students. If that doesn’t say something about the impact of reality TV on our lives, I don’t know what does. (Kondapi)“ Snooki is a reality TV star whom became rich and famous by doing nothing of any real gain to society but perhaps that’s just want the people want. People relate and often idolize popular reality TV figures and therefore production companies pump out more and more reality shows in hopes of it achieving the fame of shows like The Jersey Shore. Reality shows will always be stuck with the stigma of them dumbing down their audience and it’s a reason for some to believe that people are getting stupider, as parotic shows like South Park have demonstrated. At the end of the day, the audience truly does have the control. TV companies are out to make as much money as possible and if the most profitable option is changing a TV station called MTV (Music Television) into a station where 95% of the shows are reality shows, then so be it.

Sources:

http://thehorizonsun.com/student-opinion/2013/08/30/reality-tv-as-a-cultural-phenomenon-2/

Blog Post #2

Fabrizia Maiello

CCS 313

Professor Smith-Casanueva

10/21/2014

                                                  Identifying the Medium as the Message 

NBC’s “The Office” has a double-edged sword in the messages it presents. Audiences have regarded this show as a satirical comedy, however its constant topics of controversy may elude to other meanings. The show is a perfect example of television programs modeling a reactionary response system with their audiences. Comedic lines and plot threads are only as good as the interpretations received by spectators. While the show does sport a reasonable plot line, the fuel that keeps it high on its marketability is the reciprocity of comedic reaction that exists between its audience and its actors. Marshall McLuhan identities this notion in his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In his statement, “medium is the message” (7), McLuhan explains two important facets of today’s televisual media: the extensions used by man in technology has a way to better understand our world, and the use of televisual programming to encourage participatory reactions to these methods of understanding. Firstly, the extensions provided with technology act as our helping hand as stated in McLuhan’s understanding that they have “accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions” (8). Since technology is never static in its development and advancement, we use medium interactions to broaden our impacts and become active in its progression. McLuhan explains that “it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action” (9). Aside from print media, McLuhan identifies that televisual medium transforms the individualistic view to a global awareness and understanding of being part of a community. “The Office” uses a medley of characters to appeal to and observe different forms of personal interaction. This in turn helps spectators to broaden their subjective view into a global community, with the acceptance of many norms. Aside from the interpersonal interactions of its characters, the show has also focused on topics of opinionated controversy such as diversity, sexuality, and gender. The satirical style of its comedy may be used as an aid to approach these topics with a relaxed atmosphere, or it may cause a spark of reaction in its spectators to respond. This point leads me to McLuhan’s second facet which targets the goal of television programming to create a reactionary response system with its viewers. He has specifically categorized mediums into two different modes of sensory participation: hot mediums and cold mediums. Hot mediums describe those of which that do not allow much space for interpretation, while cold mediums describe those that encourage more individual reactions. As opposed to print media, television is overloaded with data and does not have a lot of space for visual objectivity, characterizing it as a cold medium. Television has been used as a purely reaction-based system; it doesn’t have a purpose if the audience isn’t given adequate time and space to interpret and reshape messages for their own context. McLuhan explores this idea through which ‘the medium is driven home through involvement’ (13). Thematically, comedy is one of the most reactionary-based systems used to interact with spectators, and “The Office” is a pure example of its identifying forms.     

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall. ""Introduction," "The Medium Is the Message," "Media Hot and Cold." Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Cambridge: MIT, 1994. 1-32. Print.

Blog Post #2

Zachary Fortgang

CCS 313-01

Professor Smith-Casanueva

Due: 21 October 2014

Televisual Technology: Time Shifting

At this point in the course, we have read copious articles pertaining to televisual technology.  There has been insight given by specific authors that allowed me to understand certain concepts and theories.  For this post, I will tie in one of my current favorite television series.

It has been the longest six months of my twenty-year old life.  After one of the most suspenseful cliffhangers in television’s history, it has finally arrived.  Already gloomed with devastation, I was not able to view the season premiere of The Walking Dead during AMC’s original airtime.  It resorted to what was to be the next best thing, which was setting the DVR (Digital Video Recording) on my home Verizon Fios box through my Slingbox.  Another option would be to watch the re-run of that episode later that night.  All in all, the day was saved.  I was able find out what had happened to Rick, Daryl, and the rest of the gang in the past six months.

It’s such an incredible advancement and convenience to have technology that allows a person to record what they had missed in the present.  In Friedman’s article, he suggests six precepts of cinema spectatorship.  The result of having a form of time shifting experience has enhanced cinematic spectatorship, as the first form of time shifting was the VCR (Friedberg 132).  The VCR (Videocassette Recorder) brought upon a new idea of being able to re-watch programs.  In fact, according to Friedberg, television programming relies on scheduled reruns that give the viewer an opportunity to catch up on missed programs (136). 

In contrast, there is a downside to having this ability to control when we watch a program.  Friedberg state’s “that the recording capabilities of the VCR have altered television’s absolute presence” and that “the aura of the original moment disappears” (141).  Virilio suggests that the VCR allows for man to organize a time which is not his own, a deferred time, a time which is somewhere else- and to capture it (141).  This can be a consequence for many because there is a risk of losing any suspense into watching a program.  I agree with this theory to an extent because personally, it is a ritual for me to watch The Walking Dead every Sunday night.  If I had found out already what had happened due to social media, I would have no interest in watching the episode.  Also, maybe watching it on my MacBook will not give me the full ambiance compared to a fifty-inch Samsung LED television with surround-sound.   

This technological advancement of time shifting has changed the perspective in the way people have viewed television over the years.  Whether it’s VCR, DVR, or TiVo, viewers in this generation will always have the ability to put time and television in their own hands.  Overall, it is important to understand how the opportunity to record programs and re-watch them can either enhance or take away from an individual’s viewing experience.       

Works Cited

Friedberg, Anne. “Spectatorial Flanerie.” Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. Berkeley: U of California Press, 1993.

Blog Post # 2

Michael Millus

10/19/14

CCS 313

               In this New York times article the Author describes an exclusive TV app for children. This app is exclusively for children showing how flexible microcasting has catered to a certain niche audience. Lisa Parks would agree that this is personal television at its finest as it is specifically deals with young children.  It also takes interactive television to its most extreme part as children directly are involved with their program as they control how the story goes. There visual and audio interaction with the program is recorded so that the show can interpret its next move on how the story will continue and both recordings are sent to child’s parent so that they can see how their child experiences this new interactive television. This can also be related to in class as the Fahrenheit 451 clip we saw showed interactive television and this app is directly a result of such early thoughts.

               It also can be said that this recorded audio and video is sent back to the company so they can study the footage so that the interactive part of the television can be improved on. This creates a more close connection between man and machine as the better understanding of this technology makes it easier for both entities to better interact with each other. The new thing that also comes with this new television experience on tablets is how to develop ads for these specialized television apps as none exists. With figuring that out also comes with how will regular cable program publishers fit into this new market, and Cartoon Network is on the verge of coming out with that. They will be introducing an app to release on to tablets that will provide their original programming and will also feature ads. Overall this new app brings many questions as it questions what’s next for television as now children’s programs are becoming fully interactive and begs the question when will adults have the same opportunity. But this app shows how important flexible micro casting is to TV producers among many other topics discussed in class.

Wood, Molly. "Turning a Tablet Into a Child’s Interactive TV." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/technology/personaltech/from-toytalk-a-tablet-that-lets-children-control-their-tv-viewing.html?_r=0

Blog Post #2

"Television Moving Online as Cable Takes Another Blow"

By Brett Stewart

          In a recent article for The Guardian, Brett Stewart writes about how "(t)elevision has reached a breaking point where millennials on their laptops often have a better opportunity to view new content than those with the best cable plans." (Stewart) He is expressing his concern over the fact that internet-based content is now being favored over the traditional means of watching television. Both HBO and CBS are now providing an internet-only platform for content as a standalone platform without the need for a cable subscription. Examples such as this one point to Stewart's thesis in which he explains that "(a)ll of that points to the age of cable reaching an end while internet-based television is just being born." (Stewart) We are witnessing the end of one era and the birth of another.

          Stewart's article brings to mind Anne Friedberg's essay "Spectatorial Flanerie" from the book Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. In this essay, Friedberg touches upon the issue of the VCR and other such examples of televisual spectatorship challenging the traditional modes of cinema spectatorship. Online content which airs a day or so after the television program itself is reminiscent of the VCR in terms of how it serves as an eradication of time. The "time shifting and movie rental capacity of the VCR" (Friedberg 136) is similar to the advantages offered by online content. Consumers no longer have to watch a program when it airs. It is available at any time, any place on a laptop. 

          Friedberg establishes a solid point when she explains that "(t)he market of commodified video-movies available to the home viewer has meant that the "aura" of the original moment of cinema exhibition also disappears." (Friedberg 139) It is very easy to relate this idea to the loss of aura brought forth by watching a program online. The excitement of watching a TV show on a premiere night has arguably been lost by the recent conversion of television to an internet-based medium.

Stewart, Brett. "Television Moving Online as Cable Takes Another Blow." Liberty Voice. The Guardian, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://guardianlv.com/2014/10/television-moving-online-as-cable-takes-another-blow/>.

Friedberg, Anne. "Spectatorial Flanerie." Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. Berkeley: U of California Press, 1993. 133-143

          

                    

Blog Post #2

Williamscott Sorge

CCS 313

10/21/14

​Blog Post #2

​In McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, McLuhan explains that technology is an extension of the self. This can be seen in early developments like the wheel, which was an extension of your feet and allowed people to transport places quicker. Much like this, the modern age has allowed for much more complex technological developments that extend different parts of the self. In the studies of television, the most significant development has been the online streaming of shows through programs such as Netflix, both allowing the extension of the viewers psych and personal interest.

​These streaming services make television more accessible for the viewer, granting them the agency to choose what they want to watch and when they desire to watch them.

Netflix’s use of a user’s instant queue allows subscribers to compile a list a personally selected programming, giving the user the freedom to browse a variety of content and make the conscious decision as to what they will watch and what interests them for future viewings. Netflix also gives the subscriber the ability to rate their chosen program based on what they thought of the film or show. Not only does this allow for Netflix to further understand you, but it then recommends programming based on your past choices and preferences, thus making an attempt to learn more about you, creating an extension of your psych and interests. Netflix as a streaming service also allows subscribers to watch not only from their television, but from their laptops and even mobile devices, both the laptop and mobile devices are already extensions of the self, customized to your own interests and connecting you to the world and other people. With this ability to connect to so many outside sources and content through the use of the internet, accessing Netflix at any point of the day through such devices further exemplifies it’s ability to give the viewer more agency and operate around the person’s preferred time, exemplifying how television, through the use of streaming, is more an extension of the self, as opposed to the traditional black box style in which the viewer was more an extension of the programming, forced to watch whatever was being shown.

​

Blog Post #2 - Jaclyn Lattanza

Blog Post #2

Jaclyn Lattanza

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

New developments in technology have allowed networks to create many different ways of engaging their viewers at all times, even when the show is not on the air. However, as more and more television shows demand the participation of their viewers, the act of sitting back and relaxing while watching TV is diminishing. Therefore it would be fair to say that while this occurs, television could still be characterized as a cool medium, just as McLuhan suggested in 1964. “Cool media are high in participation or completion by the viewer” (McLuhan).

CBS’s show Big Brother is essentially a game show where houseguests are locked into a house together and must compete in different competitions to gain the power. It is broadcasted three times a week, including a live eviction episode when the houseguests vote to send one player home. 

The show incorporates the use of social media, viewer voting and a website to build a loyal and participatory fan base. As viewers watch Big Brother, CBS is constantly promoting the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages as a way of marketing their accounts in hopes of gaining more likes and follows. The show creates hashtags such as generic ones like #BB16 or ones that are specific to what is happening on the show like #TheHitmen, to encourage viewers to join in on the online conversation. The scrolling Twitter feed on the bottom of the screen also gives viewers an incentive for their active participation.

Viewer voting is also an aspect of the show that weighs heavily into what happens in the game. Viewers can vote on what punishment food they want the “Have Nots” to eat as well as whom they want to award a cash prize to by voting for their favorite houseguest.

While explaining the term “affective economics,” Henry Jenkins said, “Fans are seeing more shows reflecting their tastes and interests reaching the air; those shows are being designed to maximize elements that appeal to fans; and those shows that fans like are apt to remain on the air longer…” (Jenkins). The culture of watching TV is changing because networks have found a way to measure their viewer engagement through the interactions they see on social media. Through this data, they are able to determine what works and what doesn’t on the show. Their main goal is to keep the content interesting and to provide the viewers with what they want so that they keep watching.

Big Brother also has a website. According to John Caldwell, “The most effective Web sites for TV succeed by keeping viewer-users engaged long after a series episode has aired” (Caldwell). Big Brother’s website does just that. It allows viewers to watch a live stream of what the houseguests are doing, watch previous episodes of the show, watch special video clips, vote when polls are open, buy merchandise and read extra information about the current season and houseguests.

As technology continues to change the culture of watching TV, networks are constantly working to create an even more enjoyable experience for viewers.

Sources:

  

Caldwell, John. “Convergence Television: Aggregating Form and Repurposing Content in the Culture of Conglomeration.” Television After TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition (Spigel, Lynn & Olsson, Jan). Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004. Print.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Print.

McLuhan, Marshall. “Media Hot and Cold.” Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994.

             

            

Madeline Gergen

Blog # 2         

            Almost all of the theories learned in Television studies can be used to describe a new talent television show called “The Voice”. The show is on ABC channel and is obviously networked by an extremely powerful base. The show, unlike well known American Idol, offers a different atmosphere, in that each contestant is only judged by their voice (not their appearance),it offers several different ways for the audience to interact with the show, but does not allow the viewers to vote.  This show, in my opinion practices the theories of affective economics, flexible microcasting, neoliberalism and cultural citizenship.

            Affective economics a term coined by Henry Jenkins is the “new scope of conditions in advertising strategies evolving as a result of the changes in the television industry.” Affective economics determines where a product is placed in a television event. “The Voice” is a talent show just like American Idol, but what is different about this show? “The voice” not only places the product in the show through the judges holding a Coca-Cola cup, but they are also signed with I-tunes, target and beats by Dre, a new headphone that offers the perfect sound.  As you can see a lot of products are being placed through out the show, but this show unlike any other, goes even further with their advertising. As a contestant auditions for the show, the audience whether at home or in the real audience, can download and buy the song that they just heard on I-tunes, After the talent is judged and the person who had auditioned made the “team”, their whole outfit that they were wearing is showed on the television, and the host tells the audience how much this outfit would cost at Target. Each contestant, after making a team, is given beats by Dre head phones. As you can see, through technology and television enhancements, the way that products are being advertised today has changed immensely. Not only does this show use affective economics but they also bite into what is called flexible microcasting.

            Flexible Microcasting, a term that was coined by parks, is “where computer and television technologies are combined to produce the effect of enhanced viewer choice in the form of a stream of programming, carefully tailored to the viewers preferences, tastes and desires.” This show, along with many others can be tailored to what people prefer and like. What I think is an impact for this show, is that people can rewind and fast forward through each audition they do not like or do not wish to hear. This flexible microcasting was not available when American Idol was big on the television. The audience had to sit through the bad auditions and were so tired of the bad ones, they didn’t want to watch the good auditions. Due to this flexible microcasting, the network behind “The Voice” came up with the idea to stream the auditions online at any time because the audience doesn’t have a say in the vote until the last episode. The idea of having a show with talent that doesn’t need the audience’s vote, was a smart one. Due to the enhancement in television technologies, people can watch the singers at any time, any where on their computer and may miss the “audience vote” time but it doesn’t matter. I think that the networks behind this show were able envision how they wanted their show to not be affected by these new technologies, therefor made it so the audience could not vote.  Each viewer of this show is not only participating by watching, but they are also interacting with each other, whether it be on the social networks  ‘twitter’ or ‘Facebook.’ With this use of a social network, individuals are also creating their own cultural spheres and participating within that sphere as the consequence of watching this show. The industries can use these ‘tweets’ or ‘posts’ to see when the audience is watching this show and for how long.

            This show also taps into “culture citizenship” and “neoliberalism.” Culture citizenship “promotes respect for cultural differences against homogenization.” This show, unlike any other talent show, allows people from countries all around the world to participate and audition. In my opinion, this brings in more viewers and definitely promotes respect for those who have different cultural backgrounds. One example of this practice is that one of the judges of the show was Shakira, a well known singer from Colombia. A plethora of contestants sing in Spanish or German, and bring in those audiences that have different cultures. This cultural citizenship is “measured by participation in cultured spheres,” meaning, individuals who do not even live in America are watching this show and participating in the buying of the music and the shopping of the outfits offered etc.

            All of these theories of televisions studies can be seen as being used by different networks. The obvious point of all of this is that ABC, like other networks is trying to build a conglomeration by offering advertisements and licensing through I tunes, target and Beats by Dre. The way we view television is always going to be changing, and the networks need to for-see these changes and make alterations, so that they are never losing profit. I believe that one day the audience will get around ads as a whole and advertisers and networks behind commercials will have to find a way to show ads. Maybe someone will come up with interactive commercials in the future and change the way television is viewed for good.