Radio and Technology

One of the central forces that aided the growth, rise to prominence and widespread dissemination of radio (and radio culture) was the constant improvement of radio technology from its inception to the present.

In practically every area of the media, the force of technological change is responsible for large-scale improvement and increased accessibility by the public. What technology ultimately strives to do is to reduce the need for human effort in exchange for increased efficiency and flexibility, thus making any medium easier to utilize and spread amongst the populace. The Internet is perhaps the best example of this, as recent online innovations like iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix have revolutionized music, television, and home video respectively, each by bringing their intended service directly to the consumer’s home with increased speed, efficiency, and ease.

With respect to radio, technological innovations are what made the medium into the widely appreciated media giant it has become. This is due to the nature of radio as one of the earliest wireless mediums that could be broadcast directly into the home. When Gugliermo Marconi created the wireless telegraph, which was the first machine to use radio waves to broadcast messages wirelessly, it was restricted in the sense that it could only transmit messages through the medium of Morse code. Later, when Lee de Forest’s vacuum tube was applied to this technology, it enabled the transmission of sound, opening radio’s potential to broadcast music, talk shows, and ads to home receivers. With such technology in place, all it took was the ideas of men like David Sarnoff, who predicted radio’s status as a household utility, to launch the long and evolving phenomenon that it has become.

Social Learning, Outcome Expectations & M. Night Shyamalan

     The films and reputation of M. Night Shyamalan illustrate how outcome expectations and the social learning theory have a mass effect on his audience and their reactions to his movies, which range from praise at his initial hits like the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, to ridicule for The Happening and The Last Airbender, some of his recent critical bombs.

     Social learning theory explains how mass media may affect the behavior and attitudes of audiences. A more specific facet of this theory - that of outcome expectations - explains that we consume and enjoy specific media based on how we predict that media will positively or negatively affect us. For example, someone in the process of reading the Harry Potter books will probably read the entire series, as they expect to be entertained, gratified, or fulfilled by each subsequent volume, based upon their previous experience with Harry Potter. They will probably go see the movies as they come out, expecting a similar feeling of enjoyment that they got out of reading the book.

     M. Night Shyamalan's films are a great representative of this effect. His first film, The Sixth Sense, was a critical and commercial success, praised and loved by many. When Shyamalan released his second film, Unbreakable, many of the people who went to see it were expecting to be gratified by another great movie, based upon their experience and satisfaction gained from watching the Sixth Sense. These films were both great successes and established Shyamalan's reputation as a powerfully creative and entertaining filmmaker. When we look at his reputation now, however, we see a man who is popularly seen as a fluke, unable to make any good films at all, and far past his prime. This is due to a series of critical failures he released, which include Lady In The Water and The Happening to name a few. Because audiences have been so repeatedly disappointed by Shyamalan's consistently bad films, whenever a new film of his is announced, it is immediately met with critical skepticism. The Last Airbender and Devil (although Shyamalan didn't actually direct or write its screenplay) are examples of this - many people took neither film seriously due to Shyamalan's regrettable track record. Outcome expectations dictates that the audiences who were so disappointed by Shyamalan's films will expect any subsequent releases of his to be equally disappointing, thus destroying the reputation he had gained from the few good movies he made.

A Meditation on Hegemony, or Idealization vs Reality

     The negative effects of Hegemony through advertising can be clearly seen in this "spoof ad" from adbusters magazine, in which the typical Calvin Klein ad is parodied by the image of a nude, presumably bulimic woman leaning over a toilet bowl.
     Hegemony refers to the practice of using advertising and media outlets to instill a certain set of values in the minds of the public, with the intention of almost subconsciously establishing those values as culturally accepted norms. Those responsible for hegemony are usually people in power, or who have control over many aspects of media, and the values they project tend to be financially or otherwise beneficial for them. For example, much of the profitability of the women's fashion and beauty industry is due to the hegemonic ideal of constant inadequacy. In other words, many women spend a large amount of money on fashion and beauty products because of advertisements that emphasize the idea that they are not attractive enough without the advertised product.
     As the image shows, there are troubling and widespread negative side effects to this practice in advertising. It can be said that the media portrayal of the ideal woman is so impossibly perfect that many who try to shape themselves into that image are inevitably going to fail, leading to extremely high amounts of self-consciousness issues, anorexia, and bulimia among women. The title "Obsession" is appropriate for this "ad," because these hegemonic ideals drive many women to become obsessed with their own image, consistently reminded by media that they will never be good enough.