Video Game/App Reflection

  I don't play many games on my phone except for the game called What's the Phrase. It's kind of like Wheel of Fortune. I love this game. I don't think many people play it, but it's still fun for me and I enjoy trying to figure out the different phrases. 

  When I first started to play I had to figure out how to play and what certain symbols meant, and what things to press in order play correctly and earn points, and eventually win. 

  That brings me to realizing that while playing this game there are many semiotics that are involved with it. 

    Semiotics is a question of interpretation and interpretation is “the process by which people understand or make sense of something” (Semiotics lecture, 2013).

  This game involves semiotics because there are many symbols used throughout the game. For example, the thunderbolt is a symbol for Power ups. The big question mark (shown below) is a symbol for the game itself.

  Once you open up the power ups there are many other symbols for the different types of power ups. All of these symbols help the understanding of the different power ups.

  With these symbols signifier and signified can also be applied. The signifier is the material form and the signified is the meaning. For example, the big question mark in the middle of the yellow square is the signifier and it signifies the game, What’s the Phrase. 

Scripted Television Show

One of my favorite TV shows is That 70's Show. I love the show because it is funny and extremely relatable to real life. I often find myself relating events that happen in my life to certain episodes. Watching That 70's Show on Netflix is usually my go to before bed. But not only is this show relatable it also has so many intertextual elements, which also helps make it so relatable.

Intertext is a text consisting of connections to other texts (Grossberg, 2006). Intertext can help us understand certain texts better and it could also help us interpret texts. Intertext can also make things translatable to help people understand better (2006).

The other night I was watching Season 1 Episode 20 “A New Hope”. I like to call this episode the “Star Wars” episode. The episode opens up with words scrolling similar to a Star Wars movie.

For example: 

The main character Eric, and his friends Kelso, Fez, and Hyde go to the movies to see Star Wars. They love it so much that it’s all they can talk about. The whole episode focuses on Star Wars and about how much the boys loved it. Throughout the episode there’s parts of intertextuality between the episode and Star Wars.

For example:   

Although That 70's Show was focused on Star Wars for this episode there are also many other times that intertext is a part of this TV show. 

Other examples: 

( I Love Lucy) 

(The Three Stooges) 

(Psycho) 

Something Media Related that I Enjoy

  On my way to work Saturday morning I listened to the radio. I don't usually enjoy listening to the radio because there are always so many commercials and I feel like they play the same songs over and over again. It makes my head hurt. However, I do enjoy listening to talk radio in the morning. They don’t play as many songs and the radio is sometimes how I get my news in the morning. Plus, I like the radio broadcasters on 103.5 KISS FM.

  While I was listening to the radio I remembered McLuhan’s argument that with the invention of the radio speech was reduced to only one sense, auditory (Gordon, 1997). However today, people are able to call the radio stations and talk to the radio broadcasters to comment on stories or request songs. The two-way communication between radio and the listener definitely keeps listening to the radio a lot more interesting.

  I also remember talking about the evolution of media, specifically the radio. It came out in the 1890’s and people thought it would ruin society. But it was only popular until the television came out (Evolution of Media lecture, 2013). Today, it seems like radio is not as popular anymore. People have smart phones to listen to mp3’s or Internet radio. I think it is interesting to see how radio has changed over the years and it’s exciting to see how it will continue to change. 

Radio in the 1930's 

(interesting link I found) 

Assigned Reading Reflection

  Today I read part of “McLuhan for Beginners” by W.T. Gordon. This reading was about Marshall McLuhan’s warnings to the public about the power of Television.  He called it “the timid giant”.

  The reading then went on to talk to about the power of the media. For example, he says that the medium is the message (Gordan, 1997). He redefines the message of a medium as, “any change in scale, pace, or pattern that a medium causes in societies or cultures” (1997).

 

  McLuhan also believes that there are many media gains and losses. For example, when the radio was invited it extended speech but at the same time it could only be heard, therefore people were only able to listen and not talk (1997). He says that radio is not speech because we can only listen even though it creates an illusion of speech. Writing also creates the illusion of containing speech (1997).

  McLuhan was not a big fan of television. He did not even want his grandchildren to watch it (1997). He thought it was bringing down society and wanted people to take a step back and be aware of what is going on around them. He was a technological determinist. He knew the world was changing and that technology was advancing. He also believed that the technology was shaping society, and that people are not aware of what is really happening around them.